The Filmography of James Fox: A Retrospective - Preface

While his first film, 1997's UFOs: 50 Years of Denial, hasn't aged particularly well, James Fox returned to the UFO documentary scene in 2003 with Out of the Blue, which soon set the standard for future films on the subject. Since then, Fox has come back every few years with a stellar new documentary that displaces his last as the most credible, up-to-date, and professionally-made. His films usually include a historical overview of the subject combined with archival footage and talking-head interviews—the latter notable for being from highly trained and intelligent observers who were previously hesitant or outright refused to go public with their stories out of fear for their reputation. These witnesses, usually ex-military service members or government employees, were the main focus of Fox's follow up film, I Know What I Saw, a collaboration with journalist Leslie Kean. I Know What I Saw remained the best UFO documentary available until October 6th, 2020, when Fox released the his next blockbuster, the hotly anticipated The Phenomenon.

(https://ufocongress.com/james-fox-2019/)

It's an alien concept to me at this point (pun absolutely intended), but I'm just old enough to remember there being a time when it was common for certain movies to be hard to find. Back when I began my adventure into Ufology, Out of the Blue was just such a film. My father and I were unable to find anything but trailers on the few, still-burgeoning streaming platforms of the time, and thorough searches of the local video stores and public library DVD sections yielded no results.

Our desperation to find the film stemmed from the stellar online reviews and our dissatisfaction with the material we had already watched—mostly old 80s and early 90s TV documentaries I found collecting dust at my local library. Out of the Blue promised to be the most credible and up-to-date documentary made yet...if we could find it. Since then, I've seen it a few times and I can't recall when or how we ended up watching it, but at that point, James Fox had already released I Know What I Saw—again being touted as the UFO movie to end all others.

Following in the footsteps of his previous work, The Phenomenon once again ups the already high bar of quality set by Out of the Blue and I Know What I Saw. What makes the film particularly special, however, is the intention to have it released theatrically. While COVID-19 has unfortunately put a temporary hold on the film's arrival in theaters, we were lucky enough for it to be released on VOD for digital rental and purchase. Needless to say, this film was definitely meant to be seen in a theater: the production value is leaps and bounds ahead of Fox's (already solidly-made) previous films, everything from the crystal clear picture to the vivid sound gives the film an extra layer of credibility. Once again, Fox has made THE UFO doc, and I suspect it will be a major resource for investigators for years to come, especially as we seem to be inching closer to something resembling "disclosure."

With The Phenomenon's release, I thought it would be fun to go back through James Fox's filmography for a brief retrospective, not only on the information presented but the technical aspects as well. We'll be looking at UFOs: 50 Years of Denial, Out of the Blue, I Know What I Saw, and, of course, The Phenomenon, as well as some of the supplemental material released alongside each of the films.

Stay tuned for Part 1, where I travel back in time to my birth year of 1997 to watch UFOs: 50 Years of Denial.