Disclosure Day

Next up in my double feature last night was Disclosure Day and I was so excited because it was one of my most anticipated movies of 2026.  It did not disappoint!  With the world on the brink of another war, Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), a cybersecurity specialist for the Wardex Corporation who has stolen a piece of alien technology and multiple digital files documenting secret interactions between aliens and humans, and Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a TV meteorologist who discovers latent abilities to empathize with people and communicate with them in languages she doesn't understand including an alien language, form an inexplicable bond based on their own experiences with aliens.  Wardex, a covert arm of the U.S. government, has kept all of these alien interactions a secret in order to reverse engineer their technology for monetary gain and the CEO, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), uses the government's vast resources to pursue them in order to recover the files.  Daniel and Margaret are eventually aided by Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), another whistleblower from Wardex, and they decide to release the files to the world after they realize that humanity needs the message offered by the aliens.  I really loved the story because it is filled with so much hope and I think that is something that is really needed right now.  The third act, especially, is really affecting and I was absolutely riveted. I also really enjoyed all of the action sequences because Daniel and Margaret have some close calls as federal agents chase them from place to place and having Scanlon use alien technology to form a bond with Daniel's girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) to get her to betray their location adds a lot of tension, particularly during a car chase to get away from the farmhouse where they have been saying.  I really liked the more subdued and atmospheric score by John Williams because it creates a sense of unease but it is also incredibly emotional.  Finally, the entire cast is outstanding and Blunt gives a career-best performance but I was incredibly impressed by Hewson (Jane's character arc is my favorite because she wrestles with the theological implications of knowing that we are not alone).  This will undoubtedly be one of my favorite movies this year but people who are expecting a sci-fi thriller about aliens might be disappointed with the more contemplative tone.

The Furious

Last night I went to a double feature for two movies that I have been super hyped about (but for very different reasons).  I started with The Furious and I can't remember when an audience was as vocal (with cheers, laughter, and audible gasps) as they were for this action thriller!  When a journalist named Matia (JeeJa Yanin) is captured by the child trafficking ring she has been investigating, her husband Navin (Joe Taslim) attempts to infiltrate the group in order to find her.  However, his meeting with Mr. Song (Sahajak Boonthanakit), a low-level crime boss for the organization, is interrupted by a mute and mysterious laborer (Xie Miao) looking for his kidnapped daughter Rainy (Yang Enyou).  They eventually join forces (after fighting each other in a nightclub) in their search for Matia, Rainy, and the other missing children until they ultimately meet up with the real boss Pak Lung (Joey Iwanaga) and two of his henchmen, Ho (Brian Lee) and Tak (Yayan Ruhian), in an epic final confrontation.  The action sequences are violent and unrelenting and feature some of the most innovative fight choreography I have seen (I especially loved a scene in which the father fights while holding his daughter above his head).  Characters use a multitude of weapons, both conventional and unconventional, as well as every day objects that are found close to hand (my favorites are a ladder, a bicycle chain, and a large block of ice with a corpse frozen inside).  The cameras put the audience right in the middle of the action and it is exhilarating to see the villains (and they are truly evil) get what they deserve.  I loved the performances from both Taslin and Xie because, in the middle of all of the mayhem, they imbue their characters with a bit of vulnerability.  I also really enjoyed Yang because her character is so feisty!  This is an adrenaline rush from beginning to end and I had so much fun watching it.  Fans of the genre are sure to love it and I highly recommend seeing it with the biggest crowd possible!

Back to the Future at the Eccles

I am not a big fan of adapting popular movies into stage musicals but, since Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies, I thought I would enjoy the Broadway touring production last night at the Eccles Theatre and I did! The musical follows the movie pretty faithfully, with one key change that mostly works, as Marty McFly (Lucas Hallauer) is transported to 1955 after his eccentric friend Emmett "Doc" Brown (David Josefsberg) tests his latest invention, a time machine made out of a DeLorean powered by plutonium. Marty decides to find Doc to help him get back to the future but he inadvertently disrupts the meeting between his parents, Lorraine (Kathryn Adeline) and George (Mike Bindeman), and this puts his own existence in jeopardy. Will Marty be able to get his parents back together? Will Doc be able to get him back to 1985? As with most movie to stage adaptations, most of the songs in this show are contrived and not very memorable (my favorites are "Gotta Start Somewhere," "Something About That Boy," and "21st Century") but it didn't really matter because the production itself is so much fun! The special effects are absolutely incredible, especially when the DeLorean travels to 1955, back to 1985, and then when it flies to June 11, 2026! I actually gasped out loud during these sequences because they are so immersive and I was definitely not alone! The visuals are also a lot of fun and I loved all of Doc's big production numbers, including "It Works," "Future Boy," and "21st Century," because they feature psychedelic projections and dancers dressed in gold lamé haz-mat suits, tuxedos, and futuristic lab coats, respectively. I also really enjoyed the projections used as Doc tries to harness the power of the storm as it hits the clock tower because they replicate the tension during this scene in the movie very well. One of my favorite scenes from the movie is when Marty is chased by Biff on an improvised skateboard through the town square and I wondered how that would be staged. That sequence is actually even more exhilarating in the musical because Biff (Nathaniel Hackmann) chases Marty all over the school and the scene changes happen seamlessly and in the blink of an eye with perfectly executed choreography! The performances are very much informed by those in the movie and Hallauer is incredibly appealing as Marty, Josefsberg is suitably quirky as Doc, and Bindeman is adorably awkward as George but I was most impressed by Adeline because she nails the physical comedy as the love-struck Lorraine and her renditions of "Pretty Baby" and "Something About That Boy" are highlights (she also sounds a lot like Lea Thompson). I didn't love this as much as some of my favorite shows but I definitely had a lot of fun watching it and I recommend getting a ticket (go here), especially to fans of the movie. It runs at the Eccles through June 14.

Bright Star with the JAKS Theatre Company

I was very impressed by JAKS Theatre Company's production of Hadestown: Teen Edition last year so I was very eager to see their version of Bright Star, a favorite of mine, last night at the Regent Street Black Box Theatre. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing such enthusiastic performances from these talented young performers. After World War II, Billy Cane (Colin West) returns to his hometown of Hayes Creek to see his childhood friend Margot Crawford (Cairi Swenson) but he eventually decides to try writing at a magazine in Asheville for an uptight editor named Alice Murphy (Livy Garner). When the magazine staff teases Alice about her boring existence, she literally transforms back into the wild and rebellious girl she once was in Zebulon during the 1920s and falls in love with Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Dylan Thomas). The narrative goes back and forth between these locations and timelines as Alice learns to deal with heartache and loss and Billy learns the importance of home and the one who really loves him. Some members of the cast are stronger than others but everyone on stage gives it their all and are clearly having a lot of fun. I really enjoyed Garner's performance because her characterization is fantastic, especially her differentiation between the older and younger Alices, and she sings with an incredible amount of emotion in "Please Don't Take Him" (this song always brings me to tears and her rendition was no exception), "I Had a Vision," and "So Familiar/ At Long Last." I also really liked Lauren Hunter as Lucy Grant, because she is completely over the top (almost too much so) but that energy makes her performance of "Another Round" a definite crowd-pleaser, and Caden Feller as Mayor Josiah Dobbs, because his rich baritone voice gives him the gravitas that is needed for "A Man's Gotta Do." However, my favorite vocal performance is from Swenson in "Asheville" (my favorite song in the show) because she imbues it with such longing. The ensemble does a great job with both the exuberant choreography, especially in "If You Knew My Story," "Way Back in the Day," "Picnic Dance," and "Another Round," and the innovative staging, particularly as Billy travels to Asheville in "Bright Star" and as Mayor Dobbs makes a fateful decision on a train in "A Man's Gotta Do (Reprise)." I was also quite impressed with how efficiently they move multiple set pieces on and off stage (my favorite is a rustic wooden cabin). Finally, I love the bluegrass music in this show and I was beyond impressed by the musicians, including Jack Thomas on guitar, Daxton Feller on banjo, Izzie Kewlish on fiddle, and Jacob Stoddard on double bass, because they play live on stage (this was also a highlight of Hadestown: Teen Edition). The audience last night was filled with lots of friends and family members of the cast (I talked to a few of them sitting near me) and they should be very proud because it was a great show. I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) for one of the six remaining performances (including several matinees) through June 13.

Note:  I also really liked Hunter as Persephone and Feller as Hades in Hadestown: Teen Edition.

Power Ballad

I am a huge fan of John Carney (I really like Flora and Son but I absolutely love Once and Sing Street) so I had a lot of fun watching his latest movie, Power Ballad, at the Broadway last night.  Rick Power (Paul Rudd) is an aging American ex-pat who gave up on his dreams of being a rock star to marry Rachel (Marcella Plunkett), an Irish woman, and raise their daughter Aja (Beth Fallon) in Ireland.  He is now the lead singer of a wedding band based in Dublin but he still has dreams of writing and performing his own songs.  While at a wedding gig at a castle, he meets Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a childhood friend of the groom who was once a member of a popular boy band but is now working on a solo album.  They end up jamming all night and share the songs they are working on with each other.  When Danny returns to Los Angeles, his manager Mac Darling (Jack Reynor) tells him that his record label is not confident about his new music because they don't think he has a hit single.  He struggles to write one but, when he starts playing Rick's song "How to Write a Song (Without You)" on the piano, his girlfriend Marcia (Havana Rose Liu) loves it because she thinks it is about her.  He ends up recording it and it becomes a huge hit which reignites his career.  Rick immediately recognizes the song as his but he can't prove that he wrote it and his obsession with getting credit alienates both his band and his family.  He travels to Los Angeles to confront Danny but ultimately remembers his reason for writing the song.  I really loved the message about appreciating the life you actually have rather than mourning the life you thought you would have and I was really struck by the differences in how Rick and and Danny sing "How to Write a Song (Without You)" in the final scene.  I also liked the discussion about the high price that fame exacts when trying to stay authentic and I appreciated that Danny isn't portrayed as a one-dimensional villain.  In between the poignant moments are some hilarious ones, especially a scene in which Rick performs one of his songs at a wedding while fantasizing about adoring crowds in a large arena before realizing that the dance floor is empty.  Finally, Jonas and Rudd have great chemistry and I was really impressed with Rudd's singing chops (I can't decide whose version of "How to Write a Song (Without You)" I like better).  This is not quite as good as Once and Sing Street but I really liked it and would recommend it to fans of Carney.