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Saw this today and it was excellent. Best Spielberg since the 90s.

It’s a tight conspiracy thriller wrapped with Spielberg’s philosophical musings. I loved it.

It’s nice to have an earnest optimistic movie in the sea of cynical pessimism that is the modern media landscape.

Highly recommended.

I didn't love it.

I think Spielberg elevates the material with clever camera placement, movement, and framing.  But even that came across as weirdly showy in some spots.  For example the opening shot of the film is the POV of a pro-wrestler getting clotheslined.  It is very stylized and showy.  So far as I can tell, though, there is nothing about the story plot itself or the themes that have anything to do with that character or the concept of a clothesline.  It seems like he just made a weird shot to make it.  But it's kind of a waste of the opening or your film and I made note of it, trying to figure out what it meant.

I also thought that (more than usual), the trailers give away the ghost.  It's not like "the best stuff is in the trailers" but the trailer itself is like a 2 minute video of the entire concept of the movie.  It pretty much shows the whole story, including the reveal.  Had I not seen the trailer and was watching this like a mystery (with the animals and the alien voices and stuff), I imagine it would've been much more interesting.  But it's hard to give a shit about the mystery of one red bird when you've seen a trailer full of animals approaching and surrounding the house.

I found much of the action to be interesting and it had some new ideas, but it also had several moments of corny, outdated tropes, like people sneaking away from an investigation like the Scooby-Doo gang.  There'd be some really cool action sequence and then character would sneak away behind a fence or a rock.

It doesn't really add or have much to say about alien lore and instead acted as a greatest hits of imagery we have seen in movies before: gray aliens, crop circles, mothership emerging from the clouds.

Lastly, while I appreciate the sentiment that we would all come together for something like this, having lived through the last decade, I just think this feels naive.

The acting and production and craft is all good across the board, but it just didn't come together as more than just "ok" for me.

However, there is one news reporter that gives the performance of the year -- it's incredibly real and and I was moved by it.

I haven't seen it, but one astrophysics described it as all Fi no Sci. 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eR0BY_mnyaA

I saw someone said he did the same things he did with Jaws and used the camera for much of the effects. I haven't seen it although I'm sure I will. I have to admit I was a little turned off when Spielberg said it would cause Christians to question their beliefs. Not that I fear that actually happening, I just don't think it should be the selling point of a movie.

I like movies that challenge my beliefs, give me a different perspective, or cause me to rethink an idea. 

I am not surprised you find that to be distasteful preferring to only consume media that affirms your beliefs. 

Yep ... that's it. You apparently are a genius. Not sure how you have time to spend with us low intelligent beings but thank you for gracing us.

Saw it on Father's day and I was not impressed. I don't think this comes anywhere close to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, pardon the pun.

I didn't really understand the point of this movie or maybe a better way to say it is this movie didn't need to be made. I kept waiting for the big payoff and it never happens. The whole theme of it throwing religion into chaos was totally forced. We have folks that don't believe the world is a sphere, some because of religious beliefs, you really think they are going to give up on their religion because aliens exist? C'mon.

Another thing that didn't work for me is that the closest anyone had ever gotten to knowing the truth is Roswell in the 40's. Before everyone had access to a cell phone. So I'm supposed to believe that all these more recent events were kept completely secret? Not a single cell phone video exists of any of it? Yeah right. You really have to suspend disbelief to enjoy this movie.

It's an OK sci-fi, but I expected more from a Spielberg film.

Can you source this? 

Because it doesn't happen in the film at all and I haven't heard him say that.  The movie does have a character say "this can't get out, people will stop believing in God" but that is absolutely unexplored and another religious character refutes it later on with one line.

It's not even a thing and if someone told you otherwise, they were likely rage-baiting for clicks.

Which is a shame, because I actually think that's a decent question -- not that people would abandon faith, but we would definitely have religion have a take on it that would contradict with certain current beliefs.  The movie wrestling with that would be something to say at least.  This does not.  It asks the question with one sentence and then answers it with another.

To be fair Spielberg is asking the question though. No, he's not made statements that said it would cause Christians to question their beliefs, but he has said that was one of the themes that he wanted to explore in the movie. It's definitely a theme in the movie. At one point a character is quoting the bible to a nun who corrects her and adds the line "on Earth" implying that the bible verse only applies to Earth and could be different elsewhere. At least I think that's what was being implied, I've seen it interpreted differently online.

Is the claim that the MOVIE would cause Christians to question their beliefs?  Or is the claim that the DISCOVERY OF ALIEN LIFE would cause Christians to question their beliefs?

If the former, I doubt any sci-fi movie could do that. Most American Christians are pretty committed to the sci-fi story of a virgin birth and resurrection while completely ignoring the parts about caring for the sick and poor or being kind to strangers.

If the latter, it should but in the end it wouldn't.  A foundational component of most religions is the idea that life is unique to earth and humans are uniquely intelligent.  The discovery of intelligent alien SHOULD collapse most religions.  But it likely wouldn't.  The discovery of scientific facts that contradict religious beliefs typically is followed by a two-step process.  Step 1.  Deny the science and label the scientist a heretic. This can include killing or jailing the scientist and outlawing teaching the science.  Step 2 (takes longer and doesn't always occur) Accepting the scientific fact and warping the religious belief to claim that the scientific fact doesn't actually contradict or change any of their deeply held beliefs.

Examples: 

At one time it was heresy to say the earth revolves around the sun rather than earth being the center of the universe.

There were laws in this country against teaching evolution.  And many continue to try and teach religious sci-fi calling it "intelligent design"

When I was a kid the leading reason why homosexuality was wrong was because it was unnatural and no other species on earth engaged in it.  Then when it was discovered that a huge number of species do engage in homosexual behavior and hundreds of species even switch their gender and now these scientific facts are ignored.  The religious continue to demand schools teach the completely inaccurate statement that humans have only two sexes, when it is a known scientific fact that approximately 2% of the population are intersex.   

So, no doubt the discovery of intelligent alien life would pose problems for Christians, but any group who can read Matthew 25:35 and think that the passage justifies ICE's tactics will not be rethink their faith because of any future scientific discovery. 

       

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/movies/steven-spielberg-says-disclosure-day-may-leave-people-of-faith-questioning-their-place-in-the-universe/ar-AA2558FT

Steven Spielberg says disclosure day may leave people of faith questioning their place in the universe

In all honestly I didn't read anything but a few "outrage" headlines. Looking through some of them now it doesn't appear he meant anything negative when he said it.  I've read one review, other than this one, and it was from a Physicist. She basically was saying it was entertaining but definitely was much more fiction than science. Sher then went on to say a couple of things that were wrong but work for the movie.   

Not surprising, the director says a movie cause people of FAITH to think and the perpetually aggrieved Christians go into full fledge "We are being persecuted" mode, just like they do every time someone has an inclusive holiday party rather than a Christmas party.     

Just because you like freaking out over anything you don't understand I'll share this with you so you have something to talk about.

-Demons rule on this world and are with you every step of the day with whispers and thoughts.
-Psychics talk to demons. These are the demons that follow you your whole life and tell the psychic about your great love and everything you want to know. You are never hearing from anyone who has passed.
- Demons or satanists cannot get to a child's mind that is continuously being prayed over.
- In prayer one day (I had been doing a study on the Gifts of the Spirit), God spoke to me and told me some sensitive information about someone I didn't know very well, and that I never could have known. At His prompting, I told her what had happened and she started crying. Turns out another lady from church had told her the same story earlier in the day. 
 
-Lastly, there is a ton of evidence out there for anyone who is looking for God. That's why some of the most intelligent men in the world went from passionate atheist to Christianity. 

0ne of the most famous conversions to the Christian faith is the case of Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis. He was an Oxford professor, scholar, and author. In his early 30s, he was an avowed, staunch atheist. Through discussions with Christian friends such as J.R.R. Tolkien, he gradually became convinced of the rational and moral coherence of Christianity. After his conversion, he became one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century (Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia).

Alister McGrath, a biochemist at Oxford, was a committed atheist during his youth in Northern Ireland. His scientific training initially fueled his disbelief in God. As he probed deeper into the mysteries of existence, he became convinced that Christianity provided a more coherent understanding of reality than atheism. He later became a Christian apologist and author. His book, The Dawkins Delusion, was his response to Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion.

Anthony Flew was an English philosopher famous for his arguments for atheism. He argued that one should “presuppose” atheism until empirical evidence was uncovered suggesting the existence of God. In 2004, he announced that he had come to believe in a Creator based on scientific evidence for design. After his conversion to Christianity, he authored There Is a God.

Another amazing life transformation occurred in the case of Lee Strobel. He worked as an investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune and was a self-proclaimed atheist. After his wife converted to Christianity, he was determined to disprove Christianity and tried for two years to do so. However, much to his surprise, during his investigation, the evidence he uncovered for the historicity and truth of Christianity led to his own conversion to the faith. Since then, he has written numerous inspiring books, including The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for a Creator, among others.

Dr. Francis Collins, leader of the Human Genome Project, identified as an atheist during his early career. After reading C.S. Lewis and reflecting on moral law and the origin of the universe, he became convinced that Christianity was true. He describes his faith journey in the book “The Language of God.”

Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez’s journey from atheism to faith is another remarkable story. He is an Astrophysicist who once focused exclusively on naturalistic explanations for the existence of life, including consciousness, thoughts, and emotions. His conversion experience came through his research on planetary habitability and contemplating the uniquely fine-tuned parameters necessary for life. He is the co-author of the excellent book and video The Privileged Planet (written with Jay Richards).

I say all of this to say ... I would rather be in the club with these brilliant men than some hack on the internet who has never actually searched for God for fear of having to change if He did reveal Himself. Make all the jokes you want ... one day you will be forced to bow to the Lord and it won't be so humerous.

Hahaaha ... Progressive liberals literally have their own personal trigger diagnosys in "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

TDS does not exist other than within MAGA.  It is the default whine anytime someone says anything anyone criticizes the dear leader.  

And I am sure you can find quite a few people out of the billions on the planet that switched from one religion to another.  Doesn't prove anything.   

My question is why is it always people where christianity is the dominant religion that switch to christianity?  I would find it much more persuasive if someone who had no real exposure to christian doctrine would spontaneously convert based on divine revelation after growing up in myanmar or nepal.

CF, I read that article, which IMO is a clickbait headline.  There is one quote from Speilberg and that quote is: "Is God our God only on this planet, or is God a God for every system where there's civilization?"

Additionally, I have seen the movie and I disagree that it's even a theme.  It's a sentence that someone says, but they don't really explore those themes in any meaningful way, IMO.  It is one of the failures of the movie.  One character asks the question, another answers "no", basically. 

I think it's an interesting question, but the movie doesn't put any work into addressing it.

It is a Glorious Miracle that CF and the vast majority of his fellow Christians were fortunate enough to be born in a blessed land where it was already that case that Christ Is King, instead of some other backward country where the deluded savages worship the sun, or are Jews.

It is almost like there exists this infinite money glitch to be had.... 

Step 1. Be raised Christian.

Step 2. For 2-3 years claim to be an atheist.   

Step 3. Convert back to Christianity and write books in which defeat strawman arguments about atheism that are completely disingenuous and sell millions of copies to the incredibly gullible.     

You're really underselling this. Even Speilberg said it was a theme of the movie. It wasn't just some person with 1 throwaway line, it was a former nun talking with another nun. How much more obvious does it need to get? This isn't 2 random folks by the water cooler, this is 2 very religious people talking about the consequences to their belief system. It's a theme Spielberg wanted to address. Ok, maybe it's not the central theme of the movie, but it's there. The central theme is what consequences would this have and for people of faith the religious consequences are important.

I understand that he put it in the movie.  I'm saying that as someone evaluating it as art, I don't think it explores the theme effectively.  I think the script fails us on that.  It seems to wish it was about that and they SAY it, but it isn't explored in a meaningful way, in my opinion as a viewer.  It's like one throwaway moment without any exploration.  We don't see anyone question their faith or struggle with that in any way.