Daniel (Josh O'Connell), a cyber security expert, steals classified government information pertaining to evidence of alien contact in Disclosure Day. Soon enough, he and his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), go on the run from Noah (Colin Firth), the head of a mysterious organization called Wardex. Noah and his team also hunt down Margaret (Emily Blunt), a TV meteorologist who suddenly develops superintelligence and speaks an alien language, along with her boyfriend, Jackson (Wyatt Russell). Meanwhile, Hugo (Colman Domingo), a Wardex defector, helps Daniel and Margaret. Director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp have made a vapid, bloated, unimaginative and tedious sci-fi thriller with a solid cast and great production values. He takes a simple premise and stretches it thinly while trying to make it seem complex and initially confusing by withholding important exposition, but he just makes the plot seem needlessly convoluted as though it were the kind of intricate, cerebral plot Nolan movie like Inception. The systemic issue is that once Disclosure Day reveals within the first thirty minutes what it's really about, it doesn't know to do with those ideas and doesn't take them anywhere interesting. There are plenty of chase sequences including one involving a train, but the narrative momentum comes to a near standstill during those scenes which feel more like padding to make the film feel more cinematic. Even Duel has more palpable thrills and handles exposition (or the lack thereof) more effectively, organically and intelligently.

       Do Spielberg and Koepp not trust the film's dramatic elements regarding Daniel and Margaret's struggles with their past to be cinematic enough for the audience? This is the kind of movie that juggles a lot of themes, but fails to explore them in any insightful way. Surely, by now, Speilberg has something provocative to say about government cover-ups and conspiracy theories or about extraterrestrial life, so it's a shame that he chickens out with the exception of an ephemeral scene when Hugo has a speech that attempts to add much-needed depth and meaning. That scene, though, comes across as preachy, clunky and where the wheels of the screenplay turning can be felt the most. Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo and, especially, the charismatic Josh O'Connell try their best to rise above the shallow screenplay and manage to make the film at least moderately engaging. Everything from the editing to the sound design, camera work and visual effects are top-notch, so Spielberg has mastered the film's Spectacle on a purely visceral level just as expected. Unfortunately, that's enough to help Disclosure Day to come close to holding a candle to Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., his sci-fi movies which still reign supreme. Moreover, it's never a good sign when you can feel the weight of a film's lengthy running time. Although Spielberg has ultimately failed to surpass himself, at least he knows that he tried. At a running time of 2 hours and 25 minutes, Disclosure Day opens nationwide via Universal Pictures. In a double feature with Arrival, Contact or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it would be the inferior B-movie.  

 

      Wang Wei (Xie Miao), a tradesman who's mute, desperately searches for his kidnapped daughter, Rainy (Yang Enyoy), with the help of a journalist, Navin (Joe Taslim), whose wife disappeared in The Furious. They fight against a ruthless human trafficking syndicate. Director Kenji Tanigaki and his screenwriters, Mak Tin-shu, Lei Zhilong, Shum Kwan-sin and Frank Hui, have made a rousing, exhilarating white-knuckle action thriller. The plot is uninspired, but it remains lean and straightforward enough without being confusing or dull. That allows for the audience to focus more on the stylishly shot and well-choreographed action scenes that are up there with The Raid and John Wick. It's consistently gritty and doesn't hold back on the violence and gore, so this isn't for audiences with a weak stomach. However, there's just enough comic relief in the form of dark comedy, absurd comedy and slapstick comedy---you'd never guess that fighting someone with large blocks of ice could be so funny.

      Ultimately, The Furious is a B-movie, nothing more, nothing less, but it's a very well made one that's also a crowd pleaser that delivers the goods. Prepare for nearly wall-to-wall action from start to finish and for a rush of pure adrenaline. It's a total blast. If you can imagine Taken crossed with John Wick and The Raid, it would look something like The Furious. At a running time of 1 hour and 54 minutes, it opens nationwide via Lionsgate.   

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

      Gaslit is an enraging, illuminating and heartfelt documentary about how fracking, the increasing demand for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) exports, and petrochemical companies damage the environment and harm the health of people living along the Gulf Coast near the oil fields, refineries and LNG terminals. Director Katie Camosy follows activist/actress Jane Fonda as she talks to people from the communities on the Gulf Coast from the Permian Basin in Texas all the way to Louisiana.  She also speaks to former oil workers, cattle ranchers, shimpers and more while listening to them with empathy.  By giving them a voice, both Camosy and Fonda shed light on their struggles and their emotional and physical suffering as a result of the harmful effects of fracking and LNG production. You'll learn a lot about what LNG is, what fracking is and the toxic black smoke that can clearly be seen coming from  flare stacks. It also doesn't shy away from heartbreaking moments like the ones when Fonda visits people along the Gulf Coast who lost their loved ones to cancer as a result of being exposed to carcinogens released during LNG production and petrochemical extraction. In some ways, Gaslit can be seen as a horror film and tragedy because it shows many harsh realities, but it does provide a sliver of hope that through the awareness of the dangers of LNG production and fracking and how they harm human beings and the environment, the road to change can be paved.

       To be fair, more focus on the alternatives to fossil fuels like wind turbines, which are too briefly mentioned, would've been helpful. Ultimately, Gaslit manages to achieve the feat that great documentaries like Food, Inc. achieve: it finds just the right balance between entertaining the audience, provoking them intellectually as well as emotionally. People have the right to be indignant about what's going on---indignance, after all, is a healthy and justified form of anger, so indignant audience members will find plenty of validation for their indignance in Gaslit. At a running time of 1 hour and 51 minutes, Gaslit opens at IFC Center ia Suncatcher Productions.   

Number of times I checked my watch: 1 




 

      The Gas Station Attendant, directed by Karla Murthy, is a genuinely heartfelt and candid documentary about Karla's father, Shantha Murthy, and how her he has affected her today. She assembles archival footage, audio recordings and photos from her childhood to tell the story of how her father immigrated to the US from India and moved from New York City to Texas where he raised her with the help of her Filipino mother. As the sole breadwinner, he started many small business that ended up failing. He didn't give up his many attempts to succeed, though. Karla talks a little bit about what it was like for her to grow up as an Indian-Filipino in Missouri, Texas, and how her mother dying of cancer at a young age affected her. To be fair, there's a voyeuristic aspect to watching The Gas Station Attendant because you'll feel like you're prying into the private family life of a stranger. However, Karla's narration warmly invites the audience to join her on her emotional journey down memory lane.

       Karla comes across as emotionally mature, emotionally generous and, most importantly, introspective as she looks back at her relationship with her father without the rose-tinted glasses of a child now that she's an adult with children of her own. If anything, this documentary might inspire audiences to want to learn more about their parents' past and struggles to get a better understanding of how it has shaped their lives and relationships today. At a running time of 1 hour and 23 minutes, The Gas Station Attendant opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema via Greene Fort Productions. It would be a great double feature with Doug Block's 51 Birch Street. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 1 




 

      Abby (Maria Bakalova), a neuroscientist, copes with the recent death of her father, Warren (David Strathairn), by letting a programmer, Sam (Adam Pally), create digital version of her father that she can communicate with in O Horizon. Writer/director Madeleine Sackler has made an initially intriguing drama about grief that suffers from clunky dialogue, a shallow screenplay and a mediocre performance by Maria Bakalova who's miscast. This yet another movie that has an interesting concept, but suffers from poor execution that leaves the audience feeling emotionally detached from all of the characters, especially Abby. David Strathairn gives a decent performance and makes the most out of his role. However, that's not nearly enough to enliven the film. None of the emotional beats land even during the third act where they're supposed to land the strongest during an inevitable heart-to-heart scene with Abby and her father. There are much more powerful, sensitively written and engrossing movies about grief and fathers and daughters or father and sons, e.g. Contact and Frequence. O Horizon would be the inferior B-movie in a double feature with either of those movies. At a running time of 1 hour and 47 minutes, O Horizon opens at Quad Cinema via Variance Films.   

Number of times I checked my watch: 4




 

      Three women from the Ivory Coast, Marie (Aïssa Maïga), a pastor, Jolie (Laetitia Ky), a student, and Naney (Debora Lobe Naney), a young mother, living in Tunisia take care of Kenza (Estelle Dogbo), a young orphaned girl who survived a boat capsizing, in Promised Sky. Writer/director Erige Sehiri and her co-writers, Anna Ciennik and Malika Cécile Louati, have made a mildly engrossing, well-shot and understated drama with strong performances, but it's undercooked, underwhelming and, ultimately, less than the sum of its parts. It's yet another movie where the premise sounds more compelling than its execution. Jolie arrived in Tunisia illegally, but there's not much suspense that comes from that fact. The filmmakers opt for a "slice-of-life" without finding enough Spectacle within those many Truths.

      Unfortunately, the screenplay fails to design enough of a window into the heart, mind and soul of Marie, Jolie, Naney or Kenza all of whom  are underwritten and could've used more backstories to humanize them. Why leave that at such a cold distance from the audience? There are a few heartfelt scenes, but they're ephemeral. The film's modicum of poignancy comes from the performance, not from the vapid and dull screenplay that doesn't manage to breathe enough life into any of the characters. At a running time of 1 hour and 32 minutes, Promised Sky opens at Film Forum via Film Movement.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3