E.T.'s have always been home

 DISCLOSURE DAY (2026)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Whenever I see any recent UFO's or UAP's footage, I am less than thrilled and feel I have been conned. Everything is grainy, out-of-focus or simply a case of people who refuse to get to close to anything resembling an alien because, in a sense, it lends credibility for some and for others it just proves the visual evidence is hogwash. "Disclosure Day" sort of mimics the grainy, black-and-white and out-of-focus footage during its grand finale - I think it is suggesting that any real disclosures of alien intelligence suppressed by the government will be far more glorious, unimaginable footage than any movie can provide. There's not much in "Disclosure Day" that you haven't seen before yet there is enough here to provide intrigue and entertainment value until, well, we will see.

A young whistleblower and cybersecurity expert named Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) is being chased by the secret government agency, Wardex Corporation, because he has stolen files copied to thumb drives that holds over 70 years' worth of visual proof of extra-terrestrials on this planet. He's on the run with his exhausted girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), a former novitiate, and they hide in a nunnery and then some house in the middle of a rural area that surely can be pinpointed by the government in seconds. 

Meanwhile, a Kansas City meteorologist, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), with bigger aspirations to become a news anchor, has a moment live on air where she makes clicking sounds and then collapses. It is not a language anyone can understand except for Wardex and the fugitive doctor who immediately get wind of this situation - the language is extra-terrestrial. Wyatt Russell is Jackson, Margaret's boyfriend, who has no idea what is going on and is in constant disbelief over Margaret's amazing psychic abilities that have been dormant for some time. They too go on the run when Margaret realizes she has a connection to Daniel. I sensed a little throwback to Spielberg's "The Sugarland Express" here but I digress.

"Disclosure Day" is a Steven Spielberg chase picture and who else can do this like nobody's business. Spielberg and writer David Koepp allow time for some introspection and philosophies over Daniel's wanting to disclose the files online - would it cause a national discussion and interest in what the government has been hiding from us all along? And what about those who follow any religion and have faith in God, would this cause a rupture in their religious belief system that only humans exist in the universe? These are fascinating questions that are brought up but never exactly followed through. What would the existence of alien life actually do to us in our planet? Would people even care in 2026? My suspicion is, unfortunately, no. 

There are some unnerving scenes with Colin Firth as the Wardex CEO Noah Scanlon, who can telepathically communicate with Margaret and Jane thanks to an alien wand of sorts. This wand can cause him pain and turns his eyes black or turquoise blue, and Firth conveys that tension beautifully. All this is to gather information on the whereabouts of our protagonists which begs the question, what sort of alien "thingy" is this? The most unnerving and scary moment that gave me major goosebumps is when Jane is almost held in a trance and pierces her hand with a crucifix while Scanlon confronts her telepathically. 

There are some hair-raising moments including a freight train and a car (recalling Spielberg's own "Duel") that had me holding on to my seat in ways that only Spielberg can manage to. "Disclosure Day" is solidly entertaining and never feels long, always keeping one invested and interested in knowing where the eventual cosmic revelations will lead us to. I felt closer to the strenuous emotions of Margaret and Jane than I ever did to Dr. Kellner, who always seemed a little aloof and uncertain. I like the inclusion of Wyatt Russell as Jackson and he has some good comic lines of bewilderment, though he's unfairly cut out of the film midway through. This is Spielberg's more frenetic approach to his "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and it has already raised discussions on its religious themes and whether we are getting close to a real-life alien disclosure. Perhaps. Any day now?

Mattel Movie Decides Fun is out of the question

 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987)

Painfully Endured by Jerry Saravia

Back in the 1980's, I always watched the slight, goofy He-Man cartoons with my younger brother. They were a diverting and virtually painless 30 minutes that my brother thoroughly enjoyed (my 70's equivalent would have been the animated "Super Friends"). It was wonderful to see my brother excited and amped up as a new weekly cartoon episode unraveled featuring the further adventures of He-Man and She-Ra facing the primary antagonist, Skeletor. Fun, diverting, painless. These adjectives would not describe Cannon Group's live-action 1987 adaptation of "Masters of the Universe," which landed with a severely towering thud. A movie like this should be infectious and fun and, alas, it is about as much fun as being forced to eat rotten apples - this movie looks rotten as soon as the "Superman"-like opening credits roll.

Dolph Lundgren is He-Man, who just doesn't fit snugly in the role. He is tall but not nearly as muscular as in the cartoon. Lundgren looks tired and exhausted after running around shooting robots with laser guns and holding a heavy sword at the same time. That must be exhausting! Frank Langella is Skeletor wearing a largely inanimate mask - other than his lothario voice, you would never know it was Langella which means almost anybody could have been handpicked to play the role. I will not describe the plot except that it has to do with a device that lands on Earth (along with a few of our chivalrous heroes) and some musician finds the device and thinks it is some synthesizer! Courteney Cox appears as this musician's girlfriend who lost her parents in a plane crash years back. Cox tries to bring some nugget of emotion and acquits herself, seemingly, but I can't say the same for the rest of the cast.

Purportedly based more so on the He-Man action toys than the popular 1980's TV cartoon, "Masters of the Universe" shows that Cannon productions could mishandle this franchise worse than Superman. The same summer saw "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" which at least was funny (with worse special-effects). I'll say one thing in He-Man's rather fruitless favor - James Tolkan as an irate, straight-arrow cop brandishing a shotgun and realizing he's out of his league next to these cosmic monsters and He-Man. Charismatic Tolkan (and a DeLorean sound effect liberally borrowed from you know where) are mildly entertaining and have some heft. The rest is disposable junk.

Jedi lovers will doubly be jaded again

 THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU (2026)

Endured by Jerry Saravia

Perhaps what made "The Mandalorian" work in most of its three seasons on the Disney+ channel was its intimacy. The Mandalorian himself was a bounty hunter modeled on Boba Fett and something of an enigmatic gunslinger in the fine tradition of the good old westerns. Once he finds a Baby Yoda (Grogu, a tiny green creature with wizened ears who can use the Force and has a propensity for eating anything within reach) and rescues him, we all Jaded Jedi lovers developed a love for this unusual buddy-buddy in the world of the vast Star Wars universe. "The Mandalorian and Grogu," a feature film extension following the first 3 seasons loses all intimacy and a sense of adventure or genuine action scenes with purpose. I hate to report that this is the first Star Wars movie in eons, in 12 parsecs maybe, that left me bored.

The movie opens with a council meeting where there are discussions on bringing back the Empire that had long vanquished. Before long, one inquisitive associate is gunned down. Mando arrives (played once again by Pedro Pascal and two other stand-ins) and laser blasts the entire council room of its Stormtrooper guards and successfully knocks down a few AT-AT's with the help of the cute-as-a-button Grogu. It is a snowy landscape a'la Hoth and Mando kills an Imperial warlord whom he was to bring in for questioning to the New Republic. Yeah, Mando bringing in someone for questioning is like asking Grogu not to use the Force. Since that incident got "messy" according to the New Republic's Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), Mando is sent on another mission - to rescue Jabba the Hutt's son, Rotta (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), who is imprisoned and forced to fight gladiator-style battles with various opponents. The idea is to return the son to the Hutt crime clan who, in exchange, will spill the beans on some new members of the Empire and their dastardly plans.

Some of this could have lent itself to more dramatic confrontations and deeper character exploration about everyone's favorite masked bounty hunter. I'd also would have liked to learn more about Grogu. Worse yet is that other than some ugly monster guards that look like rejects from the Cantina Bar and a mysterious bounty hunter villain with a flat-rimmed shield over his head, there is no real villainous presence here. There's Janu Coin (Jonny Coyne), a devious warlord and Rotta's master but he is seen too fleetingly. We get endless rescue attempts and sheer repetition and monotony of action chases and shootouts. The one chase scene thru what looks like a "Blade Runner" city is quite lamely composed and thrown together with no sense of geography. Nothing that appears on screen is exciting, humane or thrilling because the characters are mere window dressing. Only Grogu shows his sweetness and dedication to his adopted father particularly towards the end when mortality looms near. 

There is a mild humorous exchange between Mando and Rotta about fitting in at the New Republic's headquarters but other than that (and Scorsese's wild animated cook character), nothing else will entertain. I never thought the day would come when I would call a "Star Wars" movie generic. Time to explore new worlds.

Quintessential Liminal Space Horror Movie

 BACKROOMS (2026)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Liminal spaces in abandoned, closed-off areas are slowly becoming a subgenre of horror. Early in 2026, I saw the unsettling "Exit 8" which has liminal spaces in the form of endless subway corridors. "Backrooms" might become the quintessential liminal space horror movie, a most unsettling and unnerving movie experience. It is nightmarish, subversive and elliptical particularly as a surrealistic experience that may drive you up the wall. It has driven me up the wall and beyond.

There's a dank-looking furniture store, Cap'n Clark's Ottoman Empire, that is reducing prices though it makes little difference. The parking lot is expansive with this store existing in the middle of it, and no customers ever come by. Chiwetel Ejiofor is the store owner, Clark, and you would think that dressing up as a pirate in commercial promos would help build sales but it doesn't (the store's name could use some revision). Clark is an alcoholic, a failed architect, and he has been forced out of his home by his unseen wife - he now lives in the spacious store. Problems circulate like wildfire with Clark not being able to pay the electrical bills, barely pay his two employees, and he sees an attentive therapist, Mary Klein (Renate Reinsve), who can aid Clark though she may not admit what his real problems are. Electricity malfunctions with lights going on and off at odd times in the store. Eventually, Clark notices something odd in the basement wall and finds he can walk through it to endless backrooms. One has furniture and a TV set in the middle of one room, leading to a dead bird, and more backrooms where chairs are embedded on ceilings and floors. There is also a surveillance camera and a couple of cardboard cutouts of people. What in creation is going on here? Is this another world created by aliens? (Perish that thought). Are these rooms part of other unfinished stores? (Perish that thought as well). Or is this all in Clark's mind, a gradual symptom of his alcoholism? (You can strike and perish that from the record as well). 

"Backrooms" is not just content with Clark's vivid perceptions but also with Mary's perceptions as well. She came from an unhappy childhood home where her agoraphobic mother sealed the windows with newspaper clippings and blocked their entrance door with furniture, afraid they will come for them if they are seen. The home is eventually demolished and, in a metaphorical sense, so is Clark's. These two eventually find themselves in these infinitely creepy backrooms because memories linger, for better or worse, and they become visual representations embedded in their own past. Not to mention that the destruction of a home or even other places long remembered by some also become represented in these backrooms. Maybe, maybe not.

20-year-old Kane Parsons has astonishingly directed "Backrooms," his first feature based on a Youtube web series which I must check out. There are no easy answers in what is the film equivalent of Salvador Dali surrealism crossed with Picasso's Cubist ideas poured in rather thickly. It is a mesh of visions that can startle, fascinate and deliberately question what you see on screen. A staircase leading to a door on a ceiling in the middle of dozens of rooms without partitions is one of the more notable examples of a Daliesque moment. Three characters existing in this vacuum with deformed, fragmented faces (they are Still Lifes that definitely echo Picasso) stand by idly. Silence pervades with echoes of music heard somewhere in the distance while everything is lit with fluorescent bulbs. All this would be striking in its own way yet the inclusion of Ejiofor's anxious Clark and Reinsve's subdued Mary is the icing on the creepypasta cake. Forewarning: if you suffer from anxiety, do not watch this movie. 

Close Encounters with Stephen Sondheim

 WEST SIDE STORY (2021)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Steven Spielberg always wanted to make a musical. The only real example of it in his career was the thrilling opening of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" with its bright, colorful "Anything Goes" dance number. I am conflicted by his decision to remake "West Side Story," the 1961 version that could use a new spin. After all, it is about the whites vs. the Puerto Ricans in a 1950's slum neighborhood that is about to be demolished. The gang members of this impoverished area include the Jets (with the white kids) and the Sharks (the Puerto Ricans). In the midst of all this hoopla and impending violence, there's the "Romeo and Juliet" love story angle of the Puerto Rican Maria and the white Tony who likes to be called Anton. As in the 1961 version, I still think this mixture of love and gang violence doesn't quite gel but it is nice to see a real master like Spielberg try.

The story follows the original film and the stage musical pretty much beat by beat. Maria lives with her patriarch-like and overprotective brother, Bernardo (David Alvarez), a boxer, and his feisty girlfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose) in one of those tenement apartment buildings with clotheslines stretching from one building to the next. We also get those fire escapes where Tony, having fallen madly in love with Maria at the dance, hangs on to those railings as they both profess their love for each other. I never bought it in the original and the revved up gym scene doesn't really convince me of true love either. I will say that the dynamic, emotionally forceful Rachel Zegler and the charming Ansel Elgort (who rises above blandness by showing his tougher side) are a more charismatic pair than dear Natalie Wood (her most passionless performance) and Richard Beymer who expressed love to Maria with the attitude of a pigeon (sorry to the fans of the original). Still, the whole rumble of both film versions with the tragic denouements carries a charge of volatility. What doesn't function from a narrative point-of-view is Maria's response to her brother being killed - it is like she lost an expensive bracelet and her character gradually grows unsympathetic. She cares more about Tony and I never understood why this glaring character flaw still persists.

If you like the Shakespearean love angle and the electrifying Stephen Sondheim musical numbers of "West Side Story" with its uplifting early musical numbers (my favorite is the rousing, stomp-your-feet-and-celebrate "America" with its defining lyrics about what it means to be an immigrant), then Spielberg's whiz-bang treatment will knock your socks off. Ariana DeBose holds her ground as Anita and Rita Moreno has the new role of the pharmacist's wife who tries to talk her son, Tony, out of having an interracial romance. Moreno sparkles the screen especially when she sings "Somewhere" with great sorrow. This 2021 version will entertain like the original and, despite noticeable improvements and minor changes, there is little to distinguish between the two. I just wish Spielberg opted to make a musical we have not seen countless times before.

Myth, Legend but short on the Man

 MICHAEL (2026)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When you look at the end credits of "Michael," you'll notice a lot of Michael Jackson's family members were the executive producers. It would not be farfetched to think they dictated the content of Michael Jackson's life story in this biopic and the do's and don'ts. Regardless of their aims to present a sanitized, holier-than-thou Michael Jackson, they have not avoided some notable characteristics of the biggest pop music superstar of all time. "Michael" is a bedazzling entertainment, a showstopper of a movie when it comes to Michael Jackson performing his pop hits and that is most of the movie. If you like Michael Jackson's world-renown music, you'll enjoy hearing the Dolby soundtrack upping the ante on the bass line of hits like "Thriller" and "Billie Jean." You might even want to jump up and down the aisle while watching it.

"Michael" begins with the singer ready to storm the stage with his electrifying song, "Bad." Then we shift to young Michael (played by 12-year-old Juliano Valdi) staring outside his window at kids playing on the yard in Gary, Indiana. The stern, no-nonsense patriarch of the family, Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo, bearing an uncanny resemblance), tells Michael to sing with his brothers and prepare themselves to go on tour. Week after week, Joseph preps them, being their serious manager, and when Michael refuses to practice after already performing on stage, dad whips out his belt and hits Michael. We see a few Jackson 5 numbers performed including my favorite, "ABC," and a Motown rep showing up to see the incredible Mike (of course, the never-satisfied Joseph makes it clear that their singing pitch needs work).

The film swiftly moves to an older Michael, now presumably an adult although you wouldn't know from him still living at the parents' home in a room full of stuffed animals and Peter Pan toys and books. Michael does make one major adult decision - he wants to break free of his father and become a solo act. Joseph won't have it, asking Michael to participate in a reunion of the Jackson 5 on a world tour because "the brand is family." The movie progresses with the firing of Joseph as Michael's manager and the singer releasing the most popular album by a solo artist ever, the resounding success of "Thriller" (which also became a diverting 15-minute short film directed by John Landis). Aside from "Thriller" and other classic cuts such as "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Bad," Jaafar Jackson (Michael's actual nephew) astoundingly recreates all the moves and that darn moonwalk with grace - he is a replica of the real thing. His smile is perfect and his life is seemingly perfect except for that fact that he feels he needs a nose job. There is also the brief foray into his vitiligo, a skin condition where he lost pigmentation on parts of his body. Rumors at the time were that Michael was trying to turn white when that wasn't the case at all.

"Michael" does deal with the father-son friction as its main focus, and only slightly with Michael's man-child fascination with childlike things. We witness scenes of Michael turning the Jackson home into a zoo with a giraffe, the chimp Bubbles (seemingly done with CGI), and alpacas (some of this made me laugh, especially seeing Michael walking down the street with an alpaca). But there are fleetingly tender moments where Michael visits sickly children in hospitals, perhaps an attempt to show his more human, compassionate side. 

Directed with some style and panache by Antoine Fuqua and featuring spectacular choreography of Michael's dancing on stage, "Michael"is worthwhile for any fans of the universal superstar. Not unlike other recent musical biopics such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Rocketman," it is bound together by the expected cliches with little to no interest on Michael as someone beyond an iconic superstar. There are micro-hints here of something beyond his iconic energy but not quite what I hoped for. The myth, the legend is always pitch perfect on stage, ready to take on the world and try to make it a better place. In that human spirit of optimism, it would have been fitting to conclude with Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" than "Bad." We already know he's bad.

Brazilian cries, whispers and pulsating with life

 THE SECRET AGENT (2025)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Best Film of 2025 

(shared with "One Battle After Another")

Nothing makes me smile more than seeing an intricate, involving and entrancing film that takes you on a leisurely ride where its destination is not predetermined. Swiftly moving from past to present with acute timing and precision, "The Secret Agent" is our 2020 answer to a risque political film from the 1970's probing deep questions about truth and the political machinations of an era few have experienced in our lifetime. It is absolutely riveting entertainment.

Our titular secret agent is Armando (an ideally cast Wagner Moura), a university professor who has been labeled a communist. Truth is Armando is not affiliated with communism nor capitalism in the Brazil of the late 1970's. This is Brazil during a time of military dictatorship and he is stopped at a gas station (where a corpse is on the ground covered by cardboard) and questioned and searched by the police. Armando complies and what is a little amazing is how often we see scenes like this in modern-day movies and expect a bout of violence to emerge. There is no violence and the police take off, yet tension rings in the air. Armando is headed to Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state Pernambuco, to see his child who is living with his in-laws. His in-laws love and miss him but they also know it is dangerous for him to be present (his wife Fátima had passed away). Armando stays with some political dissidents in a sort of hidden refugee enclave, and finds a job at an identity card office building where he tries to find information on his late mother. He has adopted an alias, Marcello, so as to not be discovered by others. Meanwhile, two unlikely hit men are hired by a racist and sexist (to say the least) industrialist named Ghirotti (Luciano Chirolli) who had a past blow-out at a restaurant between Armando and his wife Fatima (Alice Carvalho, in a firecracker of a performance that lasts only a few minutes).  

Directed with a virtuoso power by Kleber de Mendonça Vasconcellos Filho, every scene clicks and involves us, from the mundane existence of living in close quarters inside an apartment building, to the identity offices that look and feel banal, to the carnival sequence itself that vibrates with a vivid energy, to the movie theaters showing "The Omen" and "Jaws" where a one couple indulges in fellatio in the crowd, to the busy and crowded street scenes that feel lived in, "The Secret Agent" pulsates with the flavor of life. The film has a burgeoning golden glow throughout, not quite sepia-toned, in its look at a Brazil of carnivals and alluring women, not to mention gays indulging in sexual acts out in the open as one cruises through the city's various parks. 

The performances are sublime including the quiet magnetism of Wagner Moura as Armando; the seen-it-all 77-year old woman, Donna Sebastiana (Tânia Maria); who provides a refugee home, or the captivating belly-laughs and charms of the insidious police chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes). The present day scenes involve a female journalist listening to recorded sessions between Armando and a patient political resistance leader Elza (Maria Fernanda Cândido). What is most stimulating about the film is that it is mostly cries and whispers, as if the world will collapse if anything leaks in this dictatorship because all ears are open. 

What is also special about this film is that it brings back memories for me as a 6-year-old living in Sao Paulo in 1977-78 (the film is set in 1977). The golden glow of the streets seems just right to me (though Sao Paulo was heavily polluted at that time so I can't speak for Recife). I also feel I have seen older spirited women like Sebastiana and I do faintly recall those close quarters in homes where adults would discuss politics. My father even had a beard like Armando has in the opening scenes. So, personal memories aside, "The Secret Agent" deftly works as a passage of time that no longer exists. I would compare it to Costa-Gavras masterful "State of Siege" which dealt with Uruguay's political strife in the 1960's through the 1970's. "The Secret Agent" is a cinematic powerhouse and a real treat.