DISCLOSURE DAY : Tuesday 16th June 2026.

I saw the M Rated 'DISCLOSURE DAY' earlier this week at my local multiplex, and this American Science Fiction film is based on an original story, Co-Produced and Directed by Steven Spielberg, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Spielberg is no stranger to the world of Sci-Fi having helmed 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in 1977, then 'E.T.' in 1982, 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' in 2001, 'Minority Report' in 2002, 'War of the Worlds' in 2005 and 'Ready Player One' in 2018. This film saw its Premiere screening in Paris early this month, went on world wide release last week, has generated positive critical reviews and has so far recovered US$121M at the global Box Office from a production budget of US$115M.

The film begins with a staged wrestling match, and in the audience sits Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) watching nonchalantly, while the rest of the crowd rise to their feet enthusiastically to cheer on the champion. From behind a man pulls a revolver and jabs it into Kellner's side, telling him to stand up and release his back pack next time the crowd stands and cheers. He does so, the back pack is removed and he is taken outside. It is quickly revealed that Kellner is a cybersecurity specialist who up until that day had spent the prior eight years working for the Wardex Corporation, a secret arm of the US government, and that he had stolen a piece of extraterrestrial technology and dozens of related files, detailing various events of human and alien contact dating back to the Roswell incident, some 79 years ago, and right up to the very recent past. Wardex CEO Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) discovers the theft and has Daniel branded a foreign spy, making him the target of federal authorities. Once outside, Scanlon and Kellner come face to face, but Kellner is able to thwart his would be captors by revealing that he is in possession of one of three very powerful alien devices, and so Scanlon reluctantly chooses to let him go. He goes into hiding at a convent with his girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson), a former noviciate of the convent before she lost her calling three years earlier. 

Meanwhile, in Kansas City, television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is preparing for work at home when a cardinal bird flies in through her kitchen window, briefly observes her, and is then chased away through the window by Margaret's boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell), a jobbing musician. The incident awakens latent psychic abilities, so giving Margaret the ability to understand the thoughts and emotions of others, and unconsciously converse in foreign languages she has never learned. 

After the two news anchors have finished their story of an imminent World War III currently unfolding, they cross to Margaret's live weather broadcast, during which she unexpectedly begins speaking in an unknown language, and then collapses on the studio's stage. Footage of the broadcast goes viral and draws the attention of Wardex, which identifies the language as extraterrestrial in origin. After being hospitalised and nearly captured by Scanlon's agents, Margaret also goes into hiding with Jackson in tow.

Having been extracted from the convent by Dave Santiago (Tommy Martinez) and taken to a remote safe house, Kellner reveals the stolen files to Jane, explaining that Wardex has been experimenting on live alien captives and reverse engineering their technology for years, and states his intention to make the information public, and how the world deserves to know the truth. Jane while horrified by the footage seen on the laptop, is reluctant to broadcast this news to the world because of her religious beliefs. Kellner learns of Margaret and discovers that he is the only one who can understand the alien language she spoke in the broadcast. 

Through one of the three alien devices that grants him telepathic capabilities, Scanlon forms a psychic bond with Jane and uses it first to make her attempt to kill Daniel and to track them to the remote safe house, and then to track them to a hotel. Jane escapes with the alien device in Kellner's possession, but Kellner is captured. Meanwhile, as her abilities evolve, Margaret has visions of him and follows them to a black site where he is being held. 

They escape when Margaret learns how to use her abilities to empathetically influence their pursuers into standing down. Scanlon's head of security Casper Boyd (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), intentionally rams their car into the side of a passing speeding freight train, and the pair are dragged along in their vehicle by the train into the path of an oncoming train. Kellner pulls Margaret out just in time for them to climb onto the train and make their way to safety. Margaret has a panic attack once inside the safety of a carriage, and Kellner calms her down. 

Margaret and Kellner are rescued by a team of a dozen or so Wardex employees who have become whistleblowers. Their leader, Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), who has been working with Kellner and in regular communication with him, shelters them in a warehouse containing a near exact reconstruction of Margaret's childhood home and encourages her to recover suppressed memories connected to the extraterrestrial phenomenon. 

Inside, Margaret remembers that she and Kellner were both abducted by extraterrestrials as ten year old children and subjected to experiments that gave them their powers. Kellner was given almost superhuman mathematical capabilities which made him a shoe-in for his cyber security role at Wardex recruited by Wakefield. And Margaret was bestowed with the ability to speak and understand any language and taps into people's minds. She also learns that the unusual animals that have appeared throughout their lives are extraterrestrials, assuming harmless forms to observe them, such as a moose, a fox, a racoon and that cardinal bird. 

Margaret and Kellner, accompanied by Wakefield and the other whistleblowers, return to Margaret's television studio to make a public broadcast they name 'Disclosure Day'. Scanlon and his team arrive en masse and attempt to halt their broadcast, disabling the power grid and the station's backup generator, but Jane arrives and gives her device to Margaret, who uses it to restore the power. Defeated, Scanlon decides to watch instead of continuing to stop them, but Boyd leaves in anger, with most of his team leaving with him. The transmission reveals to the stunned world historical evidence of alien encounters and the ensuing government cover-ups. As the broadcast reaches a global audience, halting the imminent war, the whistleblowers reveal one of the extraterrestrials, whom they freed. The alien privately communicates a message to Kellner, who is the only one who understands their language as though it is English, who in turn relays it to Margaret. With the world transfixed to their TV screens and their phones and computers, Margaret prepares to deliver the alien message, saying, 'Listen'.

With 'Disclosure Day' here Director Spielberg has delivered his audience another masterful story that could act as a companion piece to his seminal 1977 movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. While this film doesn't quite reach those same lofty heights, what it does deliver is a thrilling chase movie laced with plenty of expertly choreographed action sequences, conspiracy theories, emotional heft, and perhaps a career best performance from Emily Blunt, and while we're at it Josh O'Connor puts in a convincing turn too. Make no mistake, this is a blockbusting effort from the master storyteller, that will have pondering over that timeless question of whether we are alone in the infinite universe, and if ever, or whenever, the truth does eventually come out, will we be prepared for it and what will the consequences be? See it on the big screen, you won't be disappointed, and at a run time of 145 minutes it doesn't outstay its welcome. 

'Disclosure Day' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THUNDERBOLTS* : Tuesday 13th May 2025

I saw the PG Rated 'THUNDERBOLTS*' earlier this week, and this American Superhero film is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serves as the final instalment in Phase Five of the MCU. This film is Directed by Jake Schreier who made his Directorial debut with 'Robot & Frank' in 2012 and would follow this up with 'Paper Towns' in 2015. Since then he has helmed numerous TV series including multiple episodes of  'Lodge 49', 'Kidding', 'Brand New Cherry Flavour' and 'Beef' as well as music videos for the likes of Benny Blanco, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Kendrick Lamar. This film saw its World Premiere screening in London on 22nd April and was released in all major markets from 1st May. The film has generated positive critical reviews, and has so far grossed US$280M from a production budget of US$180M. 

The film opens with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) sitting with her feet dangling over the edge of a tall skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She stands and promptly launches herself off the top, parachuting down about half the length of the tower before gliding inwards and stepping gently off about fifteen stories from the bottom. Once inside, she sets about destroying a laboratory on behalf of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to cover up her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's 'Sentry' superhuman experimentation project. 

As de Fontaine faces imminent impeachment for her work with O.X.E. Group, she separately sends Yelena, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) to a secret O.X.E. facility buried a mile underground atop a remote mountain, under the pretense of killing a thief. In the ensuing confrontation, Ava kills Taskmaster and a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) is released from a suspended animation pod in the room. 

After coming to the realisation that they were sent by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with any evidence of her misconduct, they put their differences aside and work together to escape from the deadly trap. De Fontaine learns from her Assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the group has survived, including Bob, who was presumed dead during the Sentry trials. When she arrives at the site, the team have made it to the surface, and so Bob creates a diversion by drawing fire from de Fontaine's small but heavily tooled up army, allowing Yelena, Walker, and Ava to escape, only to sustain no injuries despite being shot at close range multiple times. Bob then uncontrollably ascends high into the air before passing out and crash-landing back at the compound, where he is captured and helicoptered back to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, which is mid-way through a serious make over and is now renamed the 'Watchtower'. 

De Fontaine intends to introduce Bob to the press as a super-powered protector akin to the Avengers, hoping the PR stunt will avert her impeachment. Meanwhile, Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (David Harbour), who had overheard details of de Fontaine's plot while working as a freelance chauffeur, rescues Yelena, Walker, and Ava. Referencing Yelena's childhood soccer team, Shostakov refers to the group as the 'Thunderbolts'. 

De Fontaine's agents chase after the Thunderbolts before they are ultimately caught and tied up by Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), whose intention it is to have them testify at de Fontaine's impeachment hearing. Learning that Bob was a subject of one of de Fontaine's top-secret experiments, Barnes joins the group to head to New York to infiltrate the Watchtower. The Thunderbolts discover that de Fontaine has convinced Bob to join her side as a new superhero she plans to pitch to the media as a replacement for the Avengers called the Sentry. 

After easily overpowering the team and forcing them to retreat, Sentry develops a god-like delusion of superiority, turning on de Fontaine. However, Mel, incapacitates him with a failsafe kill switch. This triggers the emergence of the Void, Bob's destructive alter ego and the embodiment of his depression and insecurities created as a result of the procedure and his fractured psyche, who begins engulfing New York City in supernatural darkness, trapping its citizens in pocket dimensions based on their worst memories and fears.

Yelena realises that the only way to stop the Void is from within, and so she enters the darkness to reach Bob's consciousness. There, she faces her haunted past as a Black Widow and finds Bob hiding in a recreation of his childhood bedroom, where his father abused him. The other Thunderbolts join them, and together they travel back through various 'rooms' ultimately to the memory of Bob's initial experimentation in Malaysia, where he volunteered for the procedure, hoping to improve himself after becoming an aimless drug addict. The Thunderbolts confront the Void, but are quickly overpowered. As the struggle threatens to fully consume Bob, the team intervenes, affirming their belief in him. Their solidarity empowers Bob to regain control, overcoming the Void as light and normality return to the city.

With the threat now past, the Thunderbolts are all set to apprehend de Fontaine. However, she manipulates public perception by staging a press conference in which she introduces them to the public as the 'New Avengers'. The Thunderbolts go along with this, but Yelena threatens de Fontaine if she betrays them again. Remain in your seat for a mid-credits sequence which really is something and nothing, and for the end credits sequence which gives a nod to 'The Fantastic Four : First Steps' the upcoming 37th entry in the MCU and the start of Phase Six, and set for release at the end of July this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by 'Thunderbolts*' with its rag tag bunch of ne'er do wells that are all damaged, traumatised and emotionally scarred in some way that makes them vulnerable and more relatable than some of the other characters we have seen in more recent MCU offerings. It was also somewhat reassuring to see an MCU film grounded in the present day NYC rather than going off on some tangent and taking us deep into the multiverse as has been the want lately, or at least so it seems. Florence Pugh holds the team together and hers is the standout performance in what Director Jake Schreier has pulled together as a coherent, concise and controlled entry into the MCU, while setting up Phase Six of the MCU. The action sequences are well realised and don't overstay their welcome, and there is enough emotional heft and well delivered humour here to make this a well balanced film. 

'Thunderbolts*' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

OVERLORD : Tuesday 18th December 2018.

I saw 'OVERLORD' this week, and here we have an American WWII horror offering that spins a new slant on the historical D-Day Landings. Directed by Western Australian Julius Avery, whose only other feature so far has been 'Son of a Gun' in 2014, this film is Co-Produced by J.J. Abrams and is set on the eve of D-Day. Initially thought to be the fourth instalment in the 'Cloverfield' series, this rumour was subsequently denied by Abrams earlier in 2018. The film was released in the US on 9th November, cost US$38M to make, has so far grossed US$42M and has generated mixed or average Reviews so far.

On the eve of D-Day in early June 1944, American paratroopers are preparing to drop in behind enemy lines to penetrate the walls of a fortified church and destroy a radio transmitter. When their plane is shot down the five remaining soldiers Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), Private Boyce (Jovan Adepo), sniper Tibbet (John Magaro), photographer Chase (Iain De Caestecker) and Dawson (Jacob Anderson) must continue on foot.

When Dawson inadvertently steps on a landmine and is killed, the remaining four must continue steadfastly onward. In doing so they encounter French woman Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier) who agrees to escort the group to their ultimate destination. They learn en route that Chloe lives with her younger brother Paul (Gianny Taufer) and her aunt who was the subject of Nazi experiments in the vicinity of the church and has consequently been horribly disfigured and is in serious ill health. The group arrive at Chloe's home in the village where the church is located, and take time to take stock of their munitions and rest up, agreeing to start their mission at 3:00am, and have the church destroyed to rubble by 6:00am - the planned time of the commencement of the allied forces landings on the coast of Normandy.

Corporal Ford orders Tibbet and Chase to check on the planned rendezvous site in the event that any of the other soldiers from their downed aircraft survived and made it. Meanwhile, Ford and Boyce hang back while a routine inspection is conduced on the household by a Nazi patrol, led by SS Hauptsturmführer Wafner (Pilou Asbaek). The two soldiers remain motionless upstairs in the attic looking down on the unfolding events below through cracks in the floorboards. When Wafner attempts to rape Chloe, Boyce intervenes and they take him prisoner, with Ford rendering the Nazi Officer unconscious with a swift headbutt.

Boyce goes off in search of Tibbet and Chase to the rendezvous point, but en route comes close to the perimeter fence of the church. There he sees a cart load of naked disfigured bodies all lined up and torched several time with two flamethrowers, overseen by some official looking doctor type wearing spectacles and a white coat. Boyce is chased down by a very angry dog, and hot on his heels he manages to evade attack by jumping into the back of a truck containing the dead bodies of several of his paratrooper colleagues. The truck passes through the heavily fortified gates of the church, and the bodies are unloaded by two German soldiers. Boyce escapes the truck and begins to snoop around. He comes across a lab where seemingly bizarre experiments are being undertaken on humans.

Boyce is shocked and horrified by what he has witnessed and notices a black tar like substance that is rising up from under ground that seems to be distilled into some kind of serum, which is being injected into the less than willing patients. Boyce takes a sample of the serum already prepped up in a syringe, and rescues Rosenfeld (Dominic Applewhite) a fellow paratrooper being prepped up for experimentation, who was captured by the Nazis. The pair escape the church building through a waste tunnel.

Boyce and Rosenfeld make it back to Chloe's house, where Rosenfeld has his wounds attended to. Wafner refuses to explain what the serum is when questioned and as a result is strung up and gets a serious beating at the hands of Ford. As the squad prepare their assault on the church, Wafner attempts to escape, shooting and killing Chase in the process. Boyce is distraught by his death, and seeing the syringe close to hand injects Chase with the serum. Within minutes the serum brings Chase back to life, but he immediately begins to mutate, showing inhuman strength, a resistance to rapid close quarter gunfire, and turns hostile, forcing Boyce to pulverise his head with his rifle butt to stop him. In the ensuing chaos, Wafner escapes taking Paul as hostage, although he sustains a serious gunshot wound to his face by Ford in the subsequent shootout.

With time quickly ticking down the zero hour of 6:00am, Boyce convinces Ford that their priority must be to destroy the underground laboratories. So Tibbet and Rosenfeld are dispatched to create as much mayhem as they can at the main entrance and kill as many pesky Nazi's as the can possibly mow down between them, leaving Ford, Boyce and Chloe to enter the church through the same waste tunnel that Boyce had fled from earlier. Ford and Boyce split up to plant explosive charges - Ford to the radio control room and Boyce to the labs, while Chloe goes off in search of brother Paul.

While setting the charges, Ford is attacked by a mutated Wafner, who had previously injected himself with a potent mix of untested serums, which gave him near superhuman strength, the ability to heal his wounds while driving him increasingly insane. A fight breaks out and Wafner this time gains the upper hand. Boyce intervenes and is able to distract Wafner, so allowing the now badly injured Ford to inject himself with a sample of the serum.

They fight again, but the combination of Boyce and Ford this time forces Wafner down the pit where the compound was discovered courtesy of a gas bottle explosion. Wafner is down but he's not out, and in the ensuing minutes it takes Wafner to climb out of the pit, a badly injured Ford forces Boyce to leave him behind to finish what he started. Ford ignites a fuse to a stick of gelignite and waits for an advancing Wafner and now a number of other Nazi soldiers risen from the dead to approach, before kaboom!

Boyce successfully blows up the laboratory and with it the radio tower and the church escaping just in time for the church and radio tower to collapse behind him in a ball of flame and rubble. Following the destruction of the said target building, Boyce reports in to his commanding officer who has set up a base in the village, that is was Ford's decision to lay the explosives inside the church rather than outside to ensure its destruction, while electing to not mention the serum or the lab as Ford believed that neither side should have ownership of such a product. The officer in charge accepts Boyce's recounting of the story, and advises him that his company, what remains, will be reassigned to a new company as the war rages on.

'Overlord' starts out as any WWII actioner might, with a plane carrying its cargo of Uncle Sam's paratroopers flying over enemy lines at night with a clear cut mission in mind. As the tension mounts and the sky all around turns orange as the enemy anti-aircraft fire explodes in comic book colours of that era creating mayhem aboard and downing a squadron of airborne troop carriers wiping out too many lives in an instant, you just get a sense that this film is gonna be in yer face! And this where the normalcy of a war film of the modern era comes to an end, giving way to a horror Sci-Fi mash-up that delivers on the body horror, the gore and the nigh on immortal almost indestructible Nazi soldiers and French locals that are the subjects of clandestine underground laboratory experiments. The film is good fun, at times intense, often completely insane, the FX are well executed and it provides an alternate D-Day Landing account possibly like none you have ever seen before . . . . which is no bad thing! That said, it was not quite the horror gore fest I was imagining, and Boyce as the lead character seems as indestructible as those other antagonists all around him and manages to stumble around the old church with all its hidden secrets for the duration with nary a scrape. That said, for lovers of WWII actioners, blood and gore, wanton death and destruction underpinned by a reasonably tightly woven (alternative) story, then this is the film for you.

'Overlord' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-