Disclosure Day

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Footcandle Films. Film news and reviews from two guys who really like movies. This episode is brought to you by the Footcandle Film Society. For a schedule of upcoming screenings and membership information, visit the society's website at www.footcandle.org.

[00:00:35] Hello everyone and welcome to Footcandle Films here on the MESH.TV podcast network. My name is Alan Jackson. With me is Chris Fry. We are with the Footcandle Film Society, the annual Footcandle Film Festival, and this here podcast called Footcandle Films. So Chris, how's it going? How's your weekend? Ready to talk some movies? Yeah, yeah. Kind of a maybe what we would call a big deal movie.

[00:01:03] I think it's considered, it's Steven Spielberg, Disclosure Day. I mean, the guy, when he, it's like, he's an event filmmaker. When one of his films comes out, you know, if you have the slightest interest in movies, you want to go see it. You want to see it in the theater. Yeah. I mean, like how the entire world was raptured for the BFG when that came out. I remember that weekend. That was ginormous. Well, now, okay. He has had a couple, a couple that maybe didn't hit as big, but yes, you're right.

[00:01:33] No, I think you're okay. How about a Spielberg sci-fi film in big kind of. So important distinction there. No, this isn't just a Spielberg film. This is returning to a ground that he's familiar with. You know, people are more inclined to go see it when he does this type of thing. Playing a little more in his, in his original wheelhouse or what he's kind of known for. Yeah. Well, that, that will be the film we're reviewing today.

[00:01:58] It is Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day starring Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor, O'Connor. And also with Colin Firth. We'll be discussing that film here in just a moment and giving you our thoughts and opinions on that. But we also have some trailers we're going to get into after that review. We like to show movie trailers from time to time. Yes, it does spoil us a little bit on the movie, but it's the best way we have to kind of get some idea of what the movie may be in store for us later in the year.

[00:02:26] So we're going to watch a couple of trailers of some new films coming out in the next few months to get some thoughts on those. And then Chris, I forgot to ask, but do you have a recommendation for us this week? I do. Oh, okay, good. Then you're great. We have Chris's recommendation. Almost fail safe every single week. There have been a few weeks, a couple of times, you know, a couple of times. Chris was busy, couldn't quite squeeze in one more recommendation that week. But for the most part, Chris's recommendations are a mainstay on the show. So we're going to have that by the end of the episode as well.

[00:02:55] So you need to stay tuned and listen to that. But Chris, are we ready to jump into our review of Disclosure Day? Let's do it. All right. If you found out we weren't alone. If someone showed you, proved it to you. Would that frighten you? Good morning, Kansas City. Let's take a look at today.

[00:03:28] Let's, let's. Today is. Today's.

[00:03:56] Disclosure Day has the tagline of, if you found out we weren't alone. If someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? From that, you can guess that the film has director Steven Spielberg returning to the well of sci-fi cinema, a well which has given us below films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, A.I., Minority Report, War of the Worlds. And I guess one of those more recent ones, which had varying degrees with different people, Ready Player One.

[00:04:25] Give a brief, I guess, kind of vague synopsis of the film or just kind of outline so we can get down to talking about it. As well as I'll give you some of the character names as well as who plays them because a lot of, a lot of people, a lot of characters running around in this film. So basically, the film has Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild and Joshua O'Connor as Dr. Daniel Kellner. These are two of the more key people, I guess, in the film.

[00:04:53] And then they, let's start with Kellner. He has worked for, I can't even remember the kind of acronym, but basically kind of a government agency, okay? Running this government agency is Colin Firth as Noah Scanlon. And Coleman Domingo, as Hugo Wakefield, did work for this government agency before he decided to split off because he disagreed with some of the motives. Splitting off with him is also Joshua O'Connor.

[00:05:25] You're doing great so far, by the way. This is good. You're doing great. Through the events of the film, Daniel Kellner and Margaret Fairchild end up uniting because they share an experience. The aliens, they have a bond with the aliens, let's say. And that is what the government is trying to cover up. So it's all about government.

[00:05:50] This is all about basically, essentially government covering up aliens having been on Earth and the disagreements about why they're doing so. So, and most obviously from the title, Disclosure Day, what does Dr. Kellner, Daniel Kellner want to do? He wants to disclose this evidence to the world. And so that is more or less kind of the idea behind the film. I think you did a wonderful summary of it. It's good. It's a lot.

[00:06:18] I mean, the film is, I mean, you're given length of films nowadays. It is over two hours, two hours and 25 minutes. So Alan, you know, I happen to know, I think you probably mentioned it before on the podcast. Steven Spielberg, you're a fan of his. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. You're a fan of that film as well. It was the first film that we showed when we originally formed the Film Society that this podcast spun off from. True.

[00:06:47] It was, you know, we showed Close Encounters of the Third Kind. So what did you make of Mr. Spielberg's return to the sci-fi genre and this tale of aliens being on Earth? It was fine. Okay. It was fine. It's fine. Look, it's good. Okay. It's good. It's definitely not great. And I think I know the reason in my mind why I don't feel like it's great. Okay.

[00:07:16] Because it has so many of the right elements to make a great Spielberg sci-fi film. And I did notice in the credits that Spielberg has story credit. Yes. Somebody else, David Kopp, came in and helped do the screenplay. Yes. But I don't remember Spielberg always having story credits on his films, which is cool. This is a little unique, I think. Okay.

[00:07:43] So that means basically, you know, Spielberg had the idea and he kind of had the formation of what this film was. I'm wondering if Spielberg's original story idea for this might have been the film I wanted to see. And I get the feeling that this is a film that got bloated and added on a lot of unnecessary elements that I think distracted from the film for me. Okay. I will just say, you gave the whole kind of plot synopsis. Right.

[00:08:12] And there's actually more things going on in the film than even the plot synopsis you just described. I didn't mention any of the action set pieces. Well, there's that, which that's one thing. Sure. There, you know, there's, there are uses of, I guess I'm going to say powers, devices that have certain abilities. It's just all this extra things added onto this that I think made it less of a Spielberg

[00:08:39] film for me and made it trying to just be as big a spectacle movie as it possibly can. But I actually think it was distracting. I think it took it away. What Spielberg does best when he works in the sci-fi genre is when he can put real human beings that you can relate to, to it. And with Emily Blunt's character, Margaret Fairchild, we're really close. I mean, she's a very relatable character.

[00:09:05] I loved all the scenes of her and her boyfriend played by Wyatt Russell. I think there's a lot of great energy there and a lot of great relationship kind of exploration of people. It was really good. And, and, but yet there's a whole nother layer of things added onto her character that I'm just like, okay, I think this film could have worked without those extra layers of things.

[00:09:29] And I'm, I'm, I'm being very broad in my discussion because I don't want to get too nitpicky on the details of the film. But just say Emily Blunt's character, Margaret has an ability that I think is, works really cool in the essence of, of, of, of showing some really interesting scenes with it. But ultimately it just bogs the movie down and gets it further away from the core story. To me, this story, this is a film that's like, all right, take people on the run from the

[00:09:57] government trying to get something to someone or to somewhere to have this disclosure day event. And then the disclosure day event becomes the culmination. And that's at the core of what this film is. But then you add all these other layers of things going on on top of it. It really pulls you out, or at least it did for me, pulls me out of that, that core story that I, that's why I say, I think I'd be really curious to see if Spielberg's original

[00:10:22] story idea was just, here's a people that have evidence of alien presence in the United States and government coverups. And we're going to follow them as they're being chased down as they're trying to race to get it disclosed to the public. That's a really good movie and story. It didn't need, in my mind, all this other piled on top of it. So that's, that's where I am with it. I did, I did enjoy it.

[00:10:52] I just, I think there's a lot of things weighted onto the film that kept it from my mind of being a great Spielberg sci-fi or just a great film in general. So, all right. I've rattled off. Chris, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you think of Disclosure Day? Chris, so I liked the film. Sounds like, uh, I think I'm maybe higher on it than you seem like you maybe are.

[00:11:18] Um, but I will agree there, there's a lot, you know, I tried not to, because I try not to spoil things and given the rundown, but I wanted to give people kind of an overview, but there, there is a lot. And I think for me, um, at times it was a little overwhelming and maybe a little grating. I was like, okay, they're just, you're covering a lot of ground here.

[00:11:42] Um, however, uh, what saved it really saved it? Like really just kind of, I thought it was masterful. The entire film, obviously you get to the last scene and actually the last words that are spoken and then the cut to black. That was like, yep. Wow. I agree. That was, that was great. So, and actually because of the way the cut to black happened, you're expecting maybe a

[00:12:11] bigger moment or a bigger reveal or more, more of a disclosure, let's say. And it just leaves it, it kind of leaves it there. And I thought, okay. And the choice to, if it had been a little bit more expansive and what's going to happen on that Disclosure Day, I think I would have kind of shrugged and been like, okay. But I just thought that was really masterful. And I will say, I think this comes from if I had a, maybe a disappointment while watching the film.

[00:12:40] Um, and then like maybe immediately after I love, I love sci-fi. I love aliens, but what I really like is getting to see the aliens and getting to like, learn a little bit about them or, you know, it's just something more than just like they're in the background. And for me, I was kind of frustrated maybe, uh, you know, originally because I wanted this to be more of like an alien movie or something.

[00:13:05] But I realized, you know, sitting with it, that's not what this film really is. It's more about us as the human race, more about the people that are on the earth, about how we interact with each other as opposed to really being a sci-fi film. So I think if you're going into the film wanting kind of what I was wanting, it was like, oh, Steven Spielberg aliens. Although I guess technical war of the worlds was maybe more of that close encounters, very similar. We're like, they are very much in the background.

[00:13:35] Um, so if you think about it, Chris, I mean, this structure wise, this is close encounter. Well, yeah. I mean, two people kind of both drawn to an experience with aliens, rushing to find proof of such aliens existing or sharing that proof or something. And then you get to the end and you've got, you know, aliens. And it's like, yeah. So it's like, yeah, the structure is very, very similar. Oh yeah. And yeah. Anyway, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[00:14:05] Um, I think because of where I am right now in 2026 and kind of things going on, I felt like this was very much a film for right now. Um, one of the key takeaways, um, which brings to mind another scene that I really, really liked and, you know, it wasn't, there are a lot of action scenes. Those were okay. You know, they're impressive or whatever. It was kind of like close encounters of the mission impossible conned.

[00:14:34] It's kind of how I felt like this. It was like mashing up those two kind of genre action film and like alien film. But there were three major moments that worked for me. I've already talked about one, like the ending, which is not going to spoil, but like that. Um, prior to that, we have a meetup between Noah Scanlon, who's gone for earth and Hugo Wakefield, Colman Domingo. And they have this kind of, I'll just say confrontation conversation. Yes.

[00:15:03] I really liked that. And I really needed that at the point in the film because it was just a bunch of running around and I needed a little bit more of like meat about kind of what was going on. And I was like, okay. And let me just say, the actors in this film, I feel like are really, really at the top of their game. Like Colin Firth, everybody knows who he is. Colin Domingo, everybody knows.

[00:15:28] But like, I think if there had been lesser people delivering those lines or in those scenes, I don't think I would have bought it as much. And Joshua O'Connor, he's relatively, we've talked about him here on the show with like challengers and stuff. So he's fresher on the scene than somebody like Emily Blunt, but still he's doing, I think he's great. And Emily Blunt, like you already mentioned, you caught her up. Emily Blunt's amazing, I think. Yeah. I think in somebody, you know, she has moments of humor, but then she has moments of obviously drama and stuff.

[00:15:57] She just seemed like a real character, which is, I think the key for this is to be in such an extraordinary situation as a character. She still came across as such a real character coping with what it is. She's experiencing and what it is she's going through. You mentioned, you said there were three scenes. Yeah, I've got one more. Yeah, one more. What's the other one? So the, and you know, the other scenes, but this is like kind of stand out.

[00:16:23] Margaret's unique rescue of Kellner from the baddies. She kind of, he is captured. She shows up and just what kind of transpires in that scene, which I could see some people saying, oh, it's cheesy, goofy, dumb. But I feel like not having talked to Mr. Spielberg, he hasn't returned any of my calls. Kind of his reason for making this movie. Kind of the, you know, his, maybe a story idea.

[00:16:52] It was like, no, I want to focus on today's world and empathy or lack thereof. Yeah. And, and that scene and using that idea, I was like, okay, that is something very different that I have never seen before. And, and that actually comes back around in the final scene that we've kind of alluded to. So yeah, there were script things that kept, you know, which we've talked about some films

[00:17:21] that he's done. He did presence with Steven Soderbergh. He did black bag, which I feel like sometimes when things got a little piled on to like too many things going on to me, plot threads or whatever, did kind of get a black bag government conspiracy thing going on. Maybe that that may be diluted, like diluted the alien part that I wasn't going on or something, but it's still overall.

[00:17:48] It's still, I think if this movie had just honed in on, okay. The Emily Blunt, Margaret Fairchild character. Yes. And the ability that she has. Mm-hmm. I'm okay with that because it led to so many good scenes. So I won't, I won't that ability to be in the film. Okay. I don't really understand the rationale why we had to have Dr. Kellner, Joshua O'Connor character

[00:18:18] having any kind of ability, any kind of, to me, that was like a superfluous thing that's just like more piled onto this film. And then I'll tell you, I think I've knelt it down to Chris what I didn't want in this film. Okay. The little doodad, the little alien doodad, the little, the little, it's in the trailer. The Wii remote. Yeah. Right. The Wii remote that makes anything happen. It just seemed like it's like, it was kind of a magic thing.

[00:18:47] It's like, oh, we need some cool set pieces. We need things to go invisible. We need to be able to have people talk to each other in different locations. We need to, I'm like, oh, it just, it pulled me out of what could have just been at its core, a really good human drama commenting on the role of empathy. Also calling on the role of responsibility, of sharing knowledge and information with the world. You know, there's just, there's great themes there. Sure.

[00:19:15] But then it's like, it just, the whole doodad, the whole alien thing became such a critical thing in so many parts of the film. It's like, I don't really understand what it does. I mean, maybe we're not supposed to understand what it does, but it's like, it just seemed like a catch all. Like, oh, we need to get out of this situation. Okay, we just use this thing and boom, it does it. And it's like, it turned it more into a, not like a superhero, but like a, like a, like a bigger, bigger, a bigger movie than what it needed to be.

[00:19:43] You know, the big moment should have been when we get to the end and that should have been the culmination. And I, I will say from the minute they arrive at the, I'll just say at the TV station, I'm everything at that point on, I'm great with. I think it was really good. Like, that's what I wanted out of this movie. That should have been the culmination. We shouldn't have had any. So it still ended strong for you. We should have had any other big, huge sci-fi effect scenes or events until we got to that, that part.

[00:20:12] And I, that's when the wonder comes in. That's when it's like, oh my gosh, they are explaining all this, but we've been watching for an hour and a half already people holding a little glowing stick that makes things go invisible and makes things. And it's like, okay, well, you've already just, there's no sense of wonder anymore for me. It's like, this is, this is no longer about humans dealing with this knowledge and information and what it means for how we treat each other as a civilization.

[00:20:36] It's, it's becomes a, a big special effects spectacle movie. And that's, that's where I feel like it just got weighted down and lost sight of what it could have been really, really strong with. And again, I don't want to keep referring back to Close Encounters because there was a little part of me that like when this film was announced, I'm like, okay, is he making like a pseudo sequel to Close Encounters? I kind of hope not. I wanted this to stand on its own.

[00:21:05] But the reason Close Encounters work so well is we don't have magical abilities that Rhaeny develops. I mean, the best he does is he's building statues of Devil's Tower. I mean, that's that, that he doesn't have artifacts that are giving him abilities and powers and things to kind of see. It's all the unknown that we're building with him, that we're trying to learn it as well. And then when we get to the end and we're just confronted with this huge spectacle, it's

[00:21:33] like, that's, that's human emotions that we're facing. And I just felt like it, we lost what we could have had from this film by being piled on with so much other stuff. So anyway, overall, it's a good movie. It's just, I'm going to review Spielberg's films with a little higher level of criticism than I might others because the guy's earned it. He has developed and made some of the best films ever made. He's, you know, I don't think he's made a bad film that I can think of.

[00:22:03] I will say I've never seen the BFG. I know I joked about it in the beginning. I never saw it. It's a kid's movie. You're right. But I, but I, I can't think of a bad movie he's made. Right. I thought Jurassic Park, the lost world, the sequel was bordering on bad, but it never got bad. So yeah. Okay. So even that he's, he's got a huge, great batting record. So I'm going to give him, but I do, I do have a higher standard of what I think he's capable of doing.

[00:22:30] And I just felt like this just fell just a little short of being a really great Spielberg movie. So, okay. Okay. But let me call some things. You've already mentioned some of the things that are good. I mean, again, I'll just say Emily Blunt, really, really strong. All the acting across the board. Really good. I agree with you. The scenes, the scenes between Noah, Colin First character and Hugo Coleman Domingo. We're all really good.

[00:22:55] I like their respective roles when they're just talking and when they're just exploring what this means and their different philosophies towards what they should be doing. With this information and all that. That's fascinating. That's, that's what this film is about. And that's what I wanted it to be focused on. I also liked Eve Hewson. We haven't mentioned. She plays Jane, who's kind of a partner of Dr. Kellner's. Yeah. But she's also a former nun.

[00:23:24] We find out early in the film or had been in the monastery for something, not monastery, the combat, combat for a short period of time. Yeah. And her conversations with Sister Mara, played by Elizabeth Marvel, I also thought really good. And again, that's another element of the film that worked because it was human. It was, we are exploring what this knowledge means that they're working to share and distribute. So those, all those elements really worked good.

[00:23:51] There's also a really interesting scene that I thought was really well handled. Emily Blunt's character, Margaret Fairchild, having a panic attack. So let's talk about that. Okay. All right. So I thought that was really interesting, you know, but anyway, go ahead. Yeah. What would you think? So that is a scene that I was, I was confused by and I won't say disappointed, but I was kind of like, yeah, I don't really get the point of the scene.

[00:24:20] And so they're in a train car and they've just had a major action set piece and she has a panic attack. Yeah. And in this train car, they have a lot of pianos. Yeah. Which, you know, and they're like clanging around and she has a panic attack. He calms her down and I was like, okay, but I didn't, I didn't get what was going on. And most importantly, we haven't talked about this yet.

[00:24:50] I thought the music in the film was really awesome. It's great. Not a surprise because who did it? John Williams. I was a little disappointed because I thought, okay, this scene is here. The pianos are specifically here because we're going to hear the notes, the musical sequence from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, just kind of in the background, like hinted while all this clanging is going on, we're going to hear that. And we didn't. And so I was like, okay, yeah, I don't get that.

[00:25:17] So yeah, I didn't really, it didn't, it didn't really have a lot to do with anything in the rest of the film. And he calms her down seemingly. And I didn't understand. Like I got the impression that, you know, the film is, is couched around the idea of her, Emily's ability or Margaret's ability is around empathy. Yes. And I think part of empathy is also feeling and kind of absorbing. Things going on around you and being a little more heightened to it.

[00:25:47] It's not often we see people, two people that are not action heroes, characters. They're just normal people. Normal people. All of a sudden put in a really, really high stress action sequence. Correct. And then normally in movies, what do we see? We see them like stroll off. Like, Ooh, that was crazy, wasn't it? And like going off to the next adventure. It's like the fact that we actually see her immediately afterwards, like having a panic attack. I'm like, okay, that's real. So because of her superpower thing, she's a little bit more. Okay. Maybe a little bit of that.

[00:26:17] It's like, that's kind of the trade off is like, that's a little bit of the side effect of empathy is like, you do become a little bit more sensitive to so many things. Um, and you could say, I guess this gives a, uh, so Kellner's kind of superpower is different than hers, but maybe he has a little bit of the empathy thing because he can then calm her down. Maybe. I don't know. I think that also is just commenting that we learned that there's a bit more of a bond between the two of them than what we realized. Well, okay. Yeah.

[00:26:45] Which is also hinted at in the scene that I talked about where she has an unusual rescue of him from the bad guys. Yeah. I don't understand the pianos other than it's just, well, they had to be in a train car of something. Okay. What could it be? Oh, pianos. That sounds interesting. Well, I will say, uh, so there's a scene with it's dark, their umbrellas and their humans and aliens. And that made me think of the scene in close encounters kind of towards the end where they're like, you see silhouettes of it. Yeah.

[00:27:14] Train scene in close encounters. Correct. Not of the same action type, but he's at a crossroads. He's at a train crossroads and there isn't actually no train that comes in. And there's, okay. But there's an event that happens. So, so I feel like maybe it's an echo of a previous Spielberg film that I either I haven't seen or I don't remember, but I felt like it was, you know, there were little touches that that's kind of, like I said, why I expected the close encounters key scene, which or anything to happen. But yeah, that, that scene was weird to me.

[00:27:44] Um, and I think, yeah, there, there was a lot and you could say the Eve Hewson girl who almost became a nun thing. Maybe that's part of the script that is helping the pile on feeling. Although you liked, you liked that. I did. It's just, yes. In the grand scheme of things with everything else that was going on, it was another layer that I'm like, yeah, this is a lot. But it's like, if you could have, if we could have reduced some of those other layers that

[00:28:12] I just felt like were not as necessary and kind of distracted me from the core elements of these films, I would have liked to have just been left with Margaret Fairchild has, uh, she has, she had an alien experience when she was young. And because of that, she's now been tapped into that. She has this enormous, uh, a gift of empathy and she can feel and sense what people are facing and dealing with and all that. Great.

[00:28:38] And then, uh, Jane, uh, is also wrestling with the religious impacts and her spiritual beliefs of what it means to have this now information about the world and all that. Right. You know, all that, those are great because they're human. They're like, I feel like it's, we're, we're discovering things with people and we're learning things with people. Again, honestly, I get down to, if we just got rid of the little, the little wee remote, I actually think this could have, but then I realized so many of the, uh, action set pieces

[00:29:08] throughout the film rely on that device. I'm like, okay, if you took that out, are people just going to be bored? Is it just gonna be boring watching two people on the run from the government wrestling with their crisis of faith and, you know, uh, learning more about who they are, uh, on their way to this, uh, disclosure day event? Uh, you know, maybe it, maybe it needed some punching up and maybe the, the doodad was the way to do it. Hey, this will give us some cool action set pieces and some cool effects we can show that people will like. I don't know.

[00:29:38] I, uh, yeah, overall, I'm fine. It's good. I like it. You know, I don't think it was a misfire completely. I just, I think it was a less than missed opportunity to be a great movie. Okay. In my mind. So I've been overall very glowing. I mentioned the piano scene, which was just kind of odd to me, but you've, you've talked me through it, made me appreciate it a little more.

[00:30:00] Um, Alan, how we're supposed to think that Margaret and Kellner are the same age? Cause that was a little bit of a hangup for me. I mean, I don't know how old Emily Blunt is. I also don't know how old Josh O'Connor is. I guess in my mind, I'm thinking because I've known Emily Blunt a lot longer, I'm just thinking she has to be older than Josh O'Connor. I think she was playing a little younger here.

[00:30:27] And I think, you know, that's one of the downfalls of bringing in an actress that we're familiar with. Right. We've seen for a lot longer. It's hard for us to buy her as early thirties, you know, where I think Josh O'Connor's character was kind of playing in the range of my idea. So, so yeah, it just, that was a look cause that's a, it's important for them to, well, it was kind of like, wait, she's supposed to be the same age as him because they shared something like, I was like, huh?

[00:30:54] So that was kind of a, not that it, you know, it's a problem. I understand it's a movie and they play, you know, but it was just kind of like, I don't really understand. I don't really understand why maybe she couldn't have been five years older than he like, I don't understand why. Well, if you've gone with my idea of how this movie should be played out, uh, you didn't need to have Dr. Kellner with any, well, okay. Any connection, spiritual connection with Margaret's character at all, because that added a whole another level.

[00:31:26] I'll just say when you get to the Hansel and Gretel house and you get to the animals and you get to the, like, it was just, those were all the elements. It was like, oh, okay. This is just kind of piling on adding mythology to mythology that I just, I felt like. I actually really liked, I actually really liked that. Um, and I think one of the reasons I did was you and I talked about this trailer and trailer top us, you know, we said, and we're like, oh, it's a Spielberg. Of course we're looking forward to it.

[00:31:52] But, but when I think the thing that you and I both had a little bit of reservations about was the CGI. Yeah. And specifically for me, it was the CGI, the animals. And I was like, eh, okay. Um, the way they did the CGI in the movie, but the reasoning behind the animals appearances and anything, I was like, huh? Interesting. Yeah. And I liked kind of what they did and it made a little bit more sense. And I was like, okay, I now bought that.

[00:32:21] And actually in the trailer as well, like the, your term of it. Uh, I will use Hansel and Gretel house. You can use we remote, but, um, but yeah, the Hansel and Gretel house trailer. I was like, uh, yeah, uh, not, not really looking good for me now, but there again, the animals, it all kind of, it really worked for me. I'm like, okay, I like that. And actually I didn't capture catch this in the trailer, but when I saw it in the film also works. And now I get it, it was snowing up.

[00:32:50] I don't know if you caught that instead of snowing down. And I'm like, okay. And then you're like, what? But then I think in the context or anything that's going on, it kind of, it kind of worked. All the, all the visual things I was concerned about in the trailer kind of got resolved for me in the film. My issue was just more of their inclusion in the story. Like it was just extra elements. Okay. Think if you really think about it, you could honestly strip a lot of those elements out of this movie and you've still got what I think a better, but a really tighter, more

[00:33:19] focused film that still really works and still delivers the ending that the film is building to. So anyway, that's, that's kind of where I'm standing on this is I, I, I think it would have worked with some reduction in some of the elements that it felt like it had to put in there to keep people excited and to keep people, you know, our typical movie going public engaged.

[00:33:44] I don't know, but my last little, you know, I've been overall part and I'll say those things in the film for me, I think kept me engaged because I was looking for sci-fi nerdiness. And so that gave it, if they'd been stripped away, I think it would have been true. It would have been very little sci-fi. I mean, again, it would have been close encounters. Close encounters had very little sci-fi nerdiness up until the last 30 minutes of the movie. Right. Same idea here. It would have been, yes, it would have been a very routine people on the run, uh, uh,

[00:34:14] government conspiracy, talking through their emotions, talking through their feelings. Yeah. It would have been a lot of that and like government shadowy people talking and plotting. And yeah, I could see where some people may find that less engaging and less exciting and all that. But that's what I felt like from my mind. Gotcha. This movie needed to be. So anyway. Yep. Yeah. I mean, that's. Were we good? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I felt last thing I'll say is just really odd for him to start.

[00:34:42] Not the, I liked how the film started in that you kind of jump right in and it's an action scene and like you're trying to figure out what's going on and you see Keldor and he's trying to do something. I liked that. They didn't explain a lot right off the bat. It was like, nope, this is. I love the exploration of it. But it was really jarring to me that it was basically like, um, what do you call those kind of, I'm blanking on the kind of camera that you, um, people use them for extreme sports and GoPro.

[00:35:13] Yeah. It was very jarring for me that it was a GoPro at seemingly like a WWE or MMA fight or whatever. And I was like, whoa, that just very, it was a shocking opening to the point where Chris, you know, I have to queue up these movies at the theater in advance and test them and make sure that I'll play. Sure. When I queued this up and started playing, I'm like, they sent me the wrong movie. I'm like, what is this movie? This is not the right movie. Right. And it took a few minutes to get in to see, oh no, no, this is it. I see Joshua Conner there.

[00:35:40] A very unique opening to, uh, first several shots of the film. Yeah. So, you know, Spielberg still got surprises. He does. He does. No, it, it, it's good. It's good. I'll tell, I would tell people, people have already asked me this weekend, how was it? I'm like, it was good. I just, I just, I just felt like it lost sight of what it could have really been. So. I really, I, I liked it.

[00:36:04] Um, I wonder, you know, as we get down the road, you know, months later from this film, if it's too, it worked for me, but I wonder if it's too like messagey for people and that will distance them from maybe liking it. Cause it was just like, oh, you know, I just wanted an action film or I just wanted a alien film. I didn't want to. Well, I will tell you, uh, the crowd, uh, I watched the film with, um, not a fan of the

[00:36:33] ending as a crowd. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. I loved it, but yeah. Like Sajj, like, oh, like kind of really? Okay. Oh yeah. So it was, it was, uh, I think this one's going to have a hard time. I think it will be, I think it will probably gain in its reputation over time with, with true Spielberg fans and people, you know, but I think the general public is really going

[00:37:02] to just kind of wash over this one and not think much about it after the first week or two. Gotcha. That's what I'm predicting. Okay. All right. Well, that is disclosure day. That was our thoughts on the latest Steven Spielberg story and directed film, uh, is playing in theaters. We'll still be playing in theaters for a little while. So, uh, but you know, it's getting to be a crowded summer. So it had to kind of get out there early in the first part of the summer and try to stake its ground and see how it does for the next couple of weeks.

[00:37:30] So, all right, Chris, we're going to take a quick break and we come back. We've got three trailers to watch and discuss about films coming up soon, and then we'll get to Chris's recommendation of the episode as well. So stay tuned. You're listening to Foot Candle Films and we'll be right back. Want to discover great podcasts or maybe even start one of your own? Welcome to The Mesh, Western North Carolina's podcast network built for creators and listeners alike.

[00:37:57] From local sports and business to comedy and culture, The Mesh is home to unique voices and fresh perspectives. Do you have something you want to say? The Mesh can help you bring your podcast to life with the tools, support, and platform you need to be heard. Check us out at TheMesh.tv where great podcasts live and new ones are born. Welcome back to Foot Candle Films here on The Mesh.tv podcast network.

[00:38:26] Chris and I are still discussing Disclosure Day. Which is a mark of a film that's at least, you know. It's definitely discussion worthy. Yeah, absolutely. It's all good. So let's move on though, Chris. Let's move away from Disclosure Day. Let's talk about some films that we haven't seen yet, but we're now going to be tempted with little morsels. We call them our trailer tapas. Little blurbs about these films.

[00:38:55] Little bits that we can watch and see what we think about these films before they actually hit the multiplex here in the coming months. So I've got three of them to share with you. I think I've seen two of these trailers already and I've not seen one of them. Okay. I don't know where you are with these, if you've seen them or not, but let's get up to the first one I want to talk about. Okay. We have talked about this film in the news section of our show before, but this is our

[00:39:23] first viewing of anything from the film. And it is The Social Reckoning. As you might be able to imagine, it is, yes, a sequel, follow-up. A sequel may be a strong word. It's a follow-up to The Social Network. The Social Network was written by Aaron Sorkin, but it was directed by David Fincher back in 2010, winning Oscars.

[00:39:52] It was a big, big, big movie. This is now The Social Reckoning, the follow-up to that film, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, which kind of a little hit or miss. Aaron Sorkin as a director. I think he's an excellent writer. Directing work, it's been a little hit or miss. I know he did Jessica Chastain, Molly's Game, which I did like. I know he did the Chicago 7 film. Yes. Are those the only two directorial films?

[00:40:21] No, he also did the one about Lucille and Ricky, Lucille Ball, Meet the Ricardos. Okay. I saw that film, but didn't remember if he was when he directed it. I'm pretty sure he directed that one as well. Okay. Interesting. Which are all fine films, but they're not, I don't think any of them turned out great. I don't know. But I mean, he's definitely known as a writer of this work. So, he's coming back writer and director for this.

[00:40:47] This film is going to tell the true story of former Facebook engineer Francis Hogan, played by Mikey Madison from Anora, that we would know, Best Actress winner from a couple years ago. And the Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horowitz, played by Jeremy Allen White from The Bear and Jabba the Hudson, as you may know him. Rata. Rata. Yes.

[00:41:14] His reporting exposed the company's internal research and decision making, and the work culminated in The Facebook Files, a 2021 investigative series revealing Facebook's harmful effects on teens and its role in spreading misinformation. So, we have a trailer here. I'd like for us to watch this trailer. Have you seen this trailer? I have seen it. Okay. I've only seen it once. That's fine. We will all watch it together. And I have a question for you I want to ask after the trailer is over.

[00:41:43] So, please pay attention, especially in the first- So, you've also seen it? Yes, I have. Okay. But please pay attention in the first couple moments and first couple lines of dialogue in the film. I have questions. Oh, okay. Okay? So, I'm asking you to play very specific attention in just the first couple lines of dialogue for this film. All right. Here we go. So, let's watch the trailer for The Social Reckoning. Listen, before I go on, I want to make something clear. Okay. I have a hunch you're not a fan of Facebook.

[00:42:13] But I am. I am here to help Facebook, not hurt it. Okay? You send me a message. What would you like to talk about? The chairman gavels a session to order. You'll read your opening statement, which we'll skip past for now. That's a separate session. And we'll move to witness questioning. Spell your name and state your current occupation for the record.

[00:42:42] M-A-R-K-Z-U-C-K-E-R-B-E-R-G. And your occupation? I'm a professional defendant. I ran class fires on political groups where 30% of content hits multiple risk factors. Hang on. I don't understand what you're saying. Aren't you a tech reporter? Ish. Ish? These guys are counting on the next round of congressional testimony to make you likable, Mark. I'm happy to lend a hand, but I think you're doomed. Yes. Okay.

[00:43:12] So your question for the little bit of dialogue there. Yeah. Well, okay. I'll say this. Or statement. There's been a lot of chatter from people. On Facebook? Yeah. From Facebook. No. And actually from me as well, because I remember watching this trailer the first time. And honestly, I think that they, I think they've cleaned it up. Her, Mikey Madison's first couple lines of dialogue. First time I saw it, I did not understand a word she was saying.

[00:43:40] And I thought it was something with me. I'm like, okay, what am I missing here? Because I even played the trailer back a couple of times. I'm like, I don't know what this first line of dialogue is. And I went online and yes, tons of people saying the same thing. It's like trying to decipher what her first line of dialogue was. I understood it better now, but I also knew what it was because I'd read about it and people had kind of deciphered it and all that. I don't know if there was some re-editing they did and reposting edit to the trailer, but I'm not alone.

[00:44:10] I thought I was crazy for a little while that it was just me not understanding English language. But no, I was not alone. There was like a whole community of people watching this trailer when it first came out, like the first day or two. Like, I don't understand what her first line of dialogue is. It's the whole, I get the hunch you're not a fan of Facebook. Right. Again. Again. I want to make something clear. I'm here to help. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I didn't. Okay. This is only the second time I've seen it.

[00:44:39] And I may not have seen the earlier version that you're referring to. Yeah. That's probably now been wiped off the internet. No, I always understood. Maybe so, because again, I thought I was crazy. Just I couldn't understand human language. I went online. I'm like, oh, no, no. This is actually a thing everybody is like talking about. It was the reverse Joshua Connor in Disclosure Day. You couldn't understand English language. Exactly. Somehow I had been affected by aliens where now I do not understand English language, even though I've been speaking it for 50 plus years.

[00:45:10] Yeah. So anyway, outside of that, that's just, that's more of a technical foible thing, whatever. Outside of that, what did you think of the trailer for The Social Reckoning? Micah Moore, Michael, what's her name? Micah. What's the girl who? Oh, Mikey. Micah. Okay. Mikey. Mikey. Mikey Madison. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I am so excited to see her in another film.

[00:45:37] She obviously, she won the Academy Award, Best Actress for Enora. I liked that film, but, and not that I thought she did a bad job, but I guess she was playing this just really loud character that for me, for the most part, was one note. So I was like, I'm looking forward to seeing her in something else because I kind of need to see her like, okay, and this is it. Because I'm like, okay, talk about somebody completely different, you know, very different type of character. Yes.

[00:46:06] Complete 180 turn. I'm like, oh, wow. And just the thing she's saying, and it helps. I think I may have recommended it on the show a couple of years ago, probably, maybe not, but it's probably still on Netflix if people want to watch it. The Social Dilemma. Yes. Which is a documentary that basically is what this, this is all going to be about, I'm assuming, because it interviews her, the person that comes forward on Facebook is like, uh, I don't like a lot of stuff that's going on. And I just want people to know about it. And you, you know, you heard the trailer.

[00:46:37] I think it'll be very interesting, but, um, I think it'll be very polarizing because like Social Network, I love the film, but I've also always kind of not been a fan of Facebook. So for me, it was kind of like, of course you like that movie. You don't like it. And this one, it's like, I don't really feel like it's going to tell people anything they don't already know now. So then one would ask, well, what's the point in making this? But maybe just so you reach some people, but that maybe a documentary wouldn't reach

[00:47:04] or you just make people realize, uh, and not having Eisenberg come back. I remember I was like, huh, interesting. But having Jeremy, Jeremy strong. Yeah. Jeremy strong. Um, having him come in and be Mark Zuckerberg. I'm like, nope, just seeing him in the trailer. Totally, totally works. Uh, mannerisms, everything. I'm like, yeah, it's, it's a genius way of having him like be a different person, but it still works. I have no problem with the, the, the recasting or changing the casting.

[00:47:34] That's fine. And I really liked Jeremy strong as an actor. I think he's probably going to nail it performance wise, but I got to harken back to your disclosure day question about the age of actors. I, I'm just, I'm struggling with Jeremy strong's age playing Zuckerberg because we see Zuckerberg in real life. I know how Zuckerberg looks and how age, what age he looks to be. And I'm sorry, but it's not there.

[00:48:00] So he's going to have to, unfortunately for, I think for some people, he's going to have to outperform that perception. And I think of anybody who could do it. Yeah, he probably can. So I think it's going to be interesting to see the performance and overall, um, Jeremy Alan White as like a reporter and like that. I think that's, I think that is going to play to his strengths.

[00:48:27] So you're kind of like just ask questions, kind of brains and pass or whatever, but, and can get maybe angry or forceful at some point. We talk about favorite scenes. Once we've seen the film, a favorite scene for me just out of the trailer was Billy Magnuson, I think is saying like, you know, we're post government or whatever he said. And he's like, please let me quote you on that because it's like, it was just, that's a clever scene, but it kind of talks about, you know, the power and the mechanics of corporations going on.

[00:48:57] I'm like, wow. Yeah. So I would be surprised if I don't like the film, but I mean, it's kind of like, you know. So no, it's got all the right elements in place. It looks good. Uh, I think the key is going to be for this film. It's not necessarily that people, you know, you want to learn the, the, the dangers of Facebook. You're right. That's that people know it. If they, if they believe that they're already bought into it and if they're turning a blind eye to it, they've been, they're going to keep turning a blind eye to it.

[00:49:25] I think, I think it's more the drama behind the scenes of just what exactly was transpiring that we don't all know about. So anyway, all right. And just before we move on to the next one, just to make sure I'm clearing the air, cause I don't want people listening to this podcast. What does Aaron Sorkin have against Facebook? That's what I want to know. It sounds like he's got a lot. Did something like, was he, was he, was Zuckerberg, was he Harvard? He was Harvard, right? Harvard or Yale. Okay.

[00:49:53] So did Sorkin go to Harvard or maybe he didn't get a date on Facebook? He's like, okay. There's like some, cause it's just like, wow. Pent up contempt. Yeah. All right. Well, just to make sure people don't assume Alan's losing it. Alan's having issues, understanding people. The Hollywood reporter. Okay. One of their big elite articles was when this trailer came out. They said opening in what looks like middle earth, Mikey Madison's Facebook whistleblower tells Jeremy Allen White's reporter, I want to make something clear.

[00:50:21] And then proceeds to deliver a nearly incomprehensible sentence. And then I tries to decipher the sentence that the internet has been having fun with and links to all these places where people are talking about it. So it's not just me. It was not just me. So then they made the trailer disappear. I think, I think they edited the trailer differently. Cause now I listened to it and I'm like, oh yeah, I, I got what she said this time, but man, maybe it was like a glitch where like the audio was actually sped up or something. I don't know. I really don't.

[00:50:52] Somebody trying to hide something from us, Chris. And I think we need Steven Spielberg and we need Aaron Sorkin to work together to kind of help us discover what's being hidden from us here and how do we disclose this information? Okay. Fair enough. All right. That was the trailer for the social wrecking that is coming out. Surely near Oscar season. August, September. October. Yeah. October 9th. Fair enough. Sony will be releasing it October 9th. Okay. Okay. Let's move on to a second one. Trailer.

[00:51:21] This is a trailer that Chris, I, um, I've only watched because, uh, I was about to program it and putting it in front of some movies at the theater. Okay. And it was sent to me and I had the option of putting it, attaching it to some movies to play before a movie. I'm like, oh, this would be cool. I want to see this movie anyway. Kind of curious about it. It's called whale fall. And, uh, I will tell you though, and I, I, because I test everything before I put it on

[00:51:51] display for the general public watching this movie. Uh, I got so stressed out watching this trailer that I'm like, nah, you know what? I don't think I'm going to put this in front of the movies I'd plan to put it on. I'll wait until later. So this is not going to be before Toy Story 5? No, no, no, no, no. Uh, whale fall is the story, uh, of a, a true story. Oh, I didn't know. It was based on a true story. Uh, hold on. I don't have the right information in front of me.

[00:52:19] I know it was based off a not awful, but maybe it was like a true, not, or not. But I know it's based off a book. So I didn't know it was a, I didn't know it was based off a true story. Yeah. I'm trying to, wow. I pulled up the wrong article. I had an article about it that when the trailer came out, but it, it's not giving me the, uh, information I'm looking for, uh, the background of the film. I want to just verify that it is a true story because that's my understanding when I first heard about it, but we will see. Okay.

[00:52:50] Um, well, fall an American, uh, survival thriller film directed and produced by Brian Duffield based on a 2023 novel. Um, yeah, my understanding it was a novel. Okay. Nevermind then. Not a true story. Okay. Cause, um, yeah, because I would be surprised if it was, but you know, stranger things have happened. Well now I'm disappointed. Oh no. Cause I thought it was a, but it's a story about a, a scuba diver who searching for the

[00:53:18] remains of his father gets swallowed alive by a whale and attempts to escape. That's, that's the movie. So next, yes, I am disappointed that it's not based on a true story because now I I'm going to be questioning. Can this really happen? At least if it was based on a true story, my answer would be yes, because it did happen. And now I don't know if it happened or not, or it could have happened anyway. Uh, regardless, we'll look at the, we'll watch the trailer on its own merits. Okay.

[00:53:45] Uh, we do have, uh, uh, the lead actor here that we're going to see Austin Abrams, uh, playing the scuba diver and his father that he is looking for the remains of is played by Josh Brolin. Uh, obviously in some flashback scenes and all in things, because if he's looking for his father's remains, you would assume that his father is no more later on. Um, all right. So let's watch the trailer for this and, uh, see what we think about the trailer for whale fall. Here we go.

[00:54:20] Teach you things. You can do all the tools. You can do whatever you want. Anything you want. When it matters, you know what to do.

[00:54:56] So that was the trailer for whale fall. It looks like it could be the first, like two and a half minutes of the movie. Maybe there's a little bit, but you know, normally trailers tend to be like, you know, a lot of different scenes put together, but this looks pretty much like a, and I know for people just here, obviously hearing the sound only. Yeah. Basically, Austin Abrams is being swallowed by well.

[00:55:20] I mean, that's basically what you were hearing, um, fighting against, and then eventually being swallowed by well. Um, yeah. What, what, I mean, what'd you think as a, as a trailer or do you have any interest in seeing this now after seeing the trailer or, or not? I am interested because it just seems like an interesting concept. Okay. Guy gets swallowed by a whale. Okay. Then, then what's going to happen for the remaining, especially, you know, they've shown us this. I'm assuming this does not happen halfway through the film.

[00:55:50] I guess. I assume not. Yeah. Right. So, um, yeah, I'm just interested in could be, you know, a survival story, you know, a tale of human resilience. I don't know. It has, there's, there's potential there. And Josh Brolin, I like him. I don't know how much he's in the movie. Um, but yeah, I'm kind of, I'm kind of curious what, uh, what happened to it. So I'm, I'm interested in, um, and I'm, I'm kind of shocked that they did show that entire

[00:56:18] sequence because it seems like something they would kind of allude to. That would be a big, big draw for the film. I would think to see that. So yeah, I agree. A little surprised by it. It's pretty intense seeing the way they, they shot it and put it together. Um, yeah. And seeing that on the big screen with like sound and everything. Yeah. Yeah. That's the problem is I had the volume up at a good, good theater level and it was, it was very intense. Okay. All right. Well, that is well fall. That movie is coming out.

[00:56:48] Um, hold tight. Uh, I will let you know. And also feel bad. I had the wrong article pulled up on this thing. October 16th. Okay. If it was just going to be an action movie, I'd probably be like, okay. But the fact that gives me faith, I mentioned before based on a novel. So I'm like, okay, something substantial, not to be a short story, but to be a novel. Okay. There's gotta be something more to it.

[00:57:17] No, I'm still interested in seeing it. Still looking forward to it, but just, uh, and we'll see. I'm just, yeah. This is what I really thought was a true story. Oh, well, maybe it is. Maybe a novel based on a true story. No, I doubt it. They would have said that somewhere. Okay. Well, that was my own. I guess my thinking was, oh, they're going to make a movie about a guy getting swallowed by Will. Obviously it's a true story because, you know, you got to be able to buy into the idea that this could actually happen. Right. Right. Okay.

[00:57:46] Uh, let's move on to our third and final trailer. This is one I have not seen yet, but just curious. Okay. And I'm only curious about it because it is the newest film starring a Mr. Brad Pitt. Uh, Brad Pitt's kind of in that stage in his career where he's kind of doing the high profile projects. I mean, he doesn't really dabble in a lot of just random projects. It seems like it's very intentional to ones he's involved in. And this isn't the David Fincher sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

[00:58:14] No, it's not, which is coming out later this year. And that's just on Apple. Is it Apple TV? No. Or is it? Oh, what is it? Or is it Netflix? It may be Netflix. I think it's Netflix. I think Netflix is running. Yeah. But maybe has a theatrical run. Right. So this one, I think is coming out before then. Okay. This comes out September 25th. And I think the, uh, what's his name? I want to say Cliff Booth, but that's the guy from Cheers, isn't it? No, no, no. No? It's Cliff Booth?

[00:58:44] I think so. I think. Now you got me. Cliff Booth sounds like a guy from Cheers. It's like, uh, that's Cliff Clavin. Yeah. No, no, no. I think it is. Is it Cliff Booth? I think so. Hold on. Hold on. We're going to find this out. It's like his adventures pre Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or post. I can't remember where the story supposedly takes place. Adventures of Cliff Booth. Okay. All right. We're right. Okay. All right. Good deal. Um, okay.

[00:59:12] Anyway, before that movie comes out, which I think that's coming out at the end of the year. Okay. I think that is more of a, yeah, that's like November, December kind of release. But before that, we're going to have a film called Heart of the Beast starring Brad Pitt. Um, it is a survivor thriller film. So coming right for Wellfall. Maybe there's a little connection there. Uh, uh, Brad Pitt plays James Belmont, a former army special forces soldier who must find

[00:59:40] a way to return to civilization after his small plane crashes deep in the Alaskan wilderness joined by a retired service dog named Odin who protects him from bears, wolves, and other beasts. Uh, is this based on a true story? You know what? I don't know. I don't know anymore. Okay. Um, sounds like, no, no, it doesn't say anything about it. So I'm assuming no, uh, it's directed by David Ayer who, if you recall, David Ayer and Brad

[01:00:10] Pitt were in the, uh, did the film together. Fury. Yes. Which I liked. 2014. Yeah. David Ayer also did the first version of the Suicide Squad movie. He did. Yeah. Not, not a big fan of that. There's a couple other films David Ayer's done. Okay. Over that time. Those are the two that I'm most familiar with. Uh, so anyway, this is what we've got coming up and this is going to be released September 25th, Heart of the Beast. Let's check out the trailer. I have not seen this yet. So it's going to be new for both of us. So here we go. Let's watch it and see what we think.

[01:00:41] Put it there, pal. Damn, you're handsome. It's okay. Come on. Just a bad dream. We're not there anymore.

[01:01:08] You are the first person I've ever seen this far out. What kind of line of work are you in, James? Army Special Forces retired. Hey, did I notice some silver in your dog's mouth? Odin was a combat scouting dog. Target hit him in the mouth with a brick. Same asshole get his leg? Yeah. I hope you gave that fellow a piece of your mind. I shot him in the head. He shot him in the head! All right.

[01:01:35] That was the trailer for Heart of the Beast coming out in September. Brad Pitt, Odin the dog. Chris, thoughts? That's, you know, it seems like it's a movie targeted for a specific audience. That said, if any harm, if Odin doesn't make it to the end of the film, they're going to burn theaters down. Yes. So, but yeah, what's the name of that?

[01:02:06] Castaway, but with a dog. Well, it's Castaway, The Reverend, and yeah, all kind of mixed in together. So Survivor Story, which we've seen a lot before, but this time, guy with a dog. Yeah. So, yeah. Can I just say, I'm curious on this one. Okay. I mean, it could be a really good adventure, thriller, survival story.

[01:02:35] I'm just happy to see that the dog appears to be real in most of the shots I noticed. It looks that way. Because there have been films in the last decade or so where there's a dog as a main character, and because they needed the dog to do so many different things, it becomes an animated thing. And I'm just happy to see that this did appear to be a real dog. I'm sure there are some instances where because of potential danger to that dog. Some of the action sequences. And that's fine.

[01:03:04] I don't mind it as a supplemental tool for that. Got you. I think that just, I was kind of just happy to see that. You wanted Brad Pitt to be acting, for the most part, with a physical dog as opposed to a blob, a green screen blob. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which this film does appear to be doing. So that's good. And look, I like Brad Pitt. I'm bored to check out anything he works on. So we'll see. I don't know. Could be okay. Yeah. J.K. Simmons has a small cameo, it looks like. I like J.K. Simmons.

[01:03:34] There you go. So, all right. We'll see what happens with this. Heart of the Beast coming out in September. So, yeah. You know what it's actually going to be for me, Alan? I'm curious. The arc, the character arc for Brad Pitt's character. They're setting him up one way. I want him to develop over the film. And I think that's going to be the challenge for me is like, does he grow? Does anything happen? Or is it pretty much?

[01:04:03] Do you understand? Yeah. I understand. So, I think that'll be the challenge for me. Or is it more of just the thriller and there's not really some character growth? Yeah. If it's just a, okay, we're following this guy and his dog. And at some point, he's going to be hurt or lost. And the dog has to go find him. Then in return, dog gets lost or hurt. He has to go find the dog. And at the end, they're all survived together. Like, yeah. That's not a very interesting movie. If there's something more going on with this character, I think that would be interesting to see.

[01:04:33] Sure. Something else for the Heart of the Beast title to kind of speak to. Yeah. Would be good. All right. So, we'll see if that comes true or if we are just looking at a pure action survivor thriller movie. So, okay, Chris, we have arrived at the end of the show. We have done three trailers in our trailer top of section. We did our review of Disclosure Day. Now, we turn it over to you to wrap us up and take us home here with a recommendation of your own.

[01:05:01] A film you think is worth our time checking out. If we were so inclined to look for something to add to our watch queue here in the coming week or weekend, what do you recommend we ought to check out? So, I'm going to recommend a film that came to theaters, I think, relatively briefly. We actually talked about it in a trailer top of section, I believe, on the show. But it's now available to rent at places like Apple TV. You can probably do it at Amazon.

[01:05:26] I actually rented it from, because I wanted to try it out, the video store on Letterboxd. I popped up as an option there. I was like, oh, didn't know this thing was available to rent. It is Exit 8. It is by Jinki Kawamura. And it is a man trapped in an endless, sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of this quest are simple. Do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately.

[01:05:55] If you don't, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor? So sounds, in some ways, I guess, similar, like liminal spaces. Kind of might remind people of back rooms that we reviewed on the show. I was curious about this film. We'd seen the trailer. And I was curious, especially after seeing back rooms, how is this going to work for me?

[01:06:24] Am I going to feel like I wish these would have been spaced out more? No. Obviously, recommending it. It worked for me. I think for folks that found back rooms interesting, but maybe frustratingly light on kind of an overall plot or a little bit more of a theme going through it, I think they will be more satisfied with Exit 8. I like the film a good bit.

[01:06:50] It did kind of have a little bit more going on than just like an experiment of what happens if you keep replaying the thing over and over again. And I think it is discussion worthy because you could agree, disagree, interpret certain things differently, possibly. But yeah, Exit 8, I recommend people check it out, especially if you're fans of – it's different from back rooms with the whole idea of weird spaces and wondering what's happening.

[01:07:19] You really, really liked back rooms. I did. So is this kind of – I mean, I know they're different films, but the little thread of similarity between them. Did you like this more or less than back rooms or is it just so completely different it's kind of hard to compare them? It has a similar idea, but yeah, completely, I guess, completely different. I don't know. I would have to probably see back rooms again to see if I liked it more or less. I definitely – I think it's on equal footing with back rooms, which me speaking is a big fan of back rooms. Yeah, yeah. That's good. That's good.

[01:07:48] I don't know if maybe giving you a little bit more of like in a way kind of what's going on, if that kind of ruins the whole mystery. You know, like back rooms, they kind of have similar complaints there. So I don't know. But if you like back rooms, I think you'd like this. Or if just the concept sounds interesting. Interesting, and it is based on a video game, which I'm not familiar with. Is it? It is based on something – based on a video game, but not on a true story.

[01:08:18] That'd be amazing if it was based on a true story. All right. Based on a video game, but I have not played it from what I understand. Yeah, based on a video game. All right. Exit 8 is Chris's recommendation for this week. Thank you, Chris, for that. I encourage people to add it to your watch queue, especially it sounds like if you're into the kind of films like a back rooms type of thing, where it's just some mystery, some visual space appeal.

[01:08:44] And this is – I think you could be – it is labeled as kind of a horror film, but I think kind of like back rooms, it's more of like psychological thriller type thing. So, yes, there's some disturbing imagery, but it's – and actually, I think it's rated PG-13. So, yeah, it's got some weird kind of freaky looking stuff in it, but it's more like what's going on as opposed to like jump scare type thing. Cool. Good deal. All right. Well, that wraps us up for today.

[01:09:13] Disclosure Day Review, trailers for Heart of the Beast, The Social Reckoning, and Whale Fall, and then Chris's recommendation of Exit 8. So, Chris, anybody that wants to chime in, have a discussion with us, what can they do? You can contact us by sending an email to info at footcandle.org. Leave us a voicemail at the mesh.tv website, where you can also check out past Footcandle Film episodes, as well as other podcasts on various subjects from barbecue to comedy to mental health.

[01:09:42] We're also on Facebook at Footcandle Film Society and other social platforms as just Footcandle Film. Individually, we are on Letterboxd, where you can give us a follow there or possibly rent, exudate if you're interested. Do us a favor, if you like the show, consider leaving us a review on whatever platform you receive your favorite podcasts on, because it will help us reach new listeners, and we'd appreciate that. By the way, guys, 2026 Footcandle Film Festival coming up September 18th through the 27th.

[01:10:11] Probably in a couple of weeks, we will be releasing the lineup for that, so check it out. We'd love to have you come visit us in September for the festival. Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you, everybody, for listening to Footcandle Films here on the mesh.tv podcast network. We'll look forward to talking to you next time. Take care. See you in the ticket line. Watch films in the company.

[01:11:10] Special thanks to Carpal Tuller for the show theme music. For more about Carpal Tuller, visit www.carpaltuller.com. You've been listening to The Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community. All programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube.

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