MidSommar is more fun to relive than to watch

Every time we begin to doubt A24's ability to remain the freshest and funnest and most reliably high quality distributor, they remind us to continue in the faith. Look, for example, at this brilliant insanity they've cooked up to promote MidSommar...

You may have seen that already but we're sharing it as an excuse to discuss the movie again.

Though it's no secret that your host here at The Film Experience is not a fan of the movie (hear the podcast discussion) Murtada was correct in his assertion that the film has inspired some great critical writing. Whether you love the movie like our own Chris Feil or dislike it, like me, it's quite easy to enjoy after the fact. It's already inspiring great fan art, silly memes, and fine critical writing. CONSIDER....

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DGA: The Spikes (Jonze & Lee), Bradley Cooper's Loss, and the Gowns (yes, the gowns)

by Nathaniel R

The big news coming out of the weekend's DGA ceremony was not Alfonso Cuarón's second win from the Director's Guild (he previously took the DGA for Gravity and had won nearly every award of note for Roma, making a repeat a foregone deal). Instead it was Bradley Cooper's surprise loss for First Time Feature A Star is Born and Spike Lee's speeches, which inevitably have a way of shaking up a room because Spike Lee always says what he has to say, unapologetically. The best element of the non-televised DGA ceremony is that they make a big deal of the nominees and not just the winner, giving all 5 top nominees a moment at the mic and a presentation of their nomination in medal form...

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Review: The Emoji Movie

By Sean Donovan

The internet has spent the past few days savagely ripping apart The Emoji Movie, the animated film about sentient emojis and the adventures they have within your smartphone. This is a film made specifically for children of the internet, who might gaze upon this Sony vertical integration monstrosity of app references and infomercials for about a minute before heading back to their own smartphones. It’s tough to review The Emoji Movie, because it’s tough to take its lack of creativity and basic construction seriously when such cynicism and apathy burns off the screen. It singes your eyebrows. No one cared about making this movie; I can’t imagine anyone coming up with a criticism the filmmakers would even protest. The Emoji Movie is the unadulterated heart of capitalism pumping out disinterested beats, an infomercial for WeChat here, a paid ad for CandyCrush there, Sony everywhere you look...

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A softer side of Daniel Craig via... puppies!

The James Bond films, and even, come to think of it, his films outside of his most famous role, often present Daniel Craig as a rather icy fellow. Those cold blue peepers have helped typecast him as a rather dangerous sexy beast. Perhaps unsurprisingly when you pair him with puppies, he's suddenly an adorable softie as most people, come to think of it, when you pair them with puppies. 

And it's for a charitable cause to as you can see in this video after the jump...

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Director Richard Linklater Fights Against Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bills With PSA

If you thought the gorgeous cadre of jocks in Everybody Wants Some!! was the extent of what Texan ally Richard Linklater had to offer in all things LGBT this past year, be sure to take a look at his recent PSA: "Taking A Seat, Making A Stand." Acting in solidarity with the transgender community, he steps up his game with his most recent project in a major way. Linklater teamed up with the I Pee With LGBT campaign to produce this bright and sharp comic short in response to the anti-transgender bathroom bill that’s currently awaiting a vote in the Texas legislature – S.B. 6, for those keeping track of the insidious discrimination measures spreading across America’s statehouses. As President Trump reverses course on establishing federal protections for transgender minors, this urgent, inclusively common sense message speaks to our shared humanity in the face of hate, and deserves to be loudly repeated more and more by the day.

What role do you think players in the motion picture industry should take within the climate of today’s increasingly omnipresent political landscape?