The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
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Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 10:00AM By Ben Miller
It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised. Julia Hart's Don't Say Good Luck might have all the makings of a nothingburger direct-to-streaming film, but instead delivers a character-focused film filled with emotion and devoid of cliches. It's also one of the unexpectedly great films of the year...
Thursday, March 5, 2026 at 10:00AM In the Split Decision series, two of our writers face off on an Oscar-nominated movie one loves and the other doesn't. Today, JUAN CARLOS OJANO and CLÁUDIO ALVES discuss Train Dreams...
JUAN CARLOS: So why don't you like Train Dreams?
CLÁUDIO: Seriously, that's how you start our convo?
I guess it's an appropriately blunt opening to argue over a blunt movie that wears the costume of subtlety and gentleness without quite pulling it off. Well, in my opinion, of course, since being the one organizing this series has made me well aware that everyone on the team likes Train Dreams. And, to be fair, the picture's grown on me to the point I'm actually rooting for it in the Best Cinematography race and wouldn't even be mad if it pulled off an unprecedented victory in Best Original Song. It's a picture full of great elements that ultimately falters under the weight of one or two major failures, some misbegotten choices that collapse the potential it might have had in different circumstances…
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 9:00AM by Ben Miller
Actor Mike Young and Director Sam A. Davis on the set of "The Singers"Director Sam A. Davis is receiving accolades and a large amount of views of his short film The Singers following the recent Oscar nominations. I was lucky enough to speak with him about male sensitivity, shooting cigarette smoke, and his role as a director and cinematographer.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity...
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 at 6:00PM by Lynn Lee
A House of Dynamite is…dynamite! Why do I feel like the only one who still thinks this, and is still excited about a movie that’s fallen completely off the awards buzz radar?
I saw a screening of Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear doomsday procedural – really, that’s what it is – at this year’s Middleburg Film Festival, right around the time it was getting its bare-minimum Netflix theatrical release. As the credits rolled, I had two simultaneous reactions:
Wow, that was some damn good filmmaking.
Wow, we are so utterly fucked...
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at 9:30PM 
Last year, Emilia Pérez finished in second place for TIFF's People's Choice Award, and, while not as bad, this year's runner-up left me similarly displeased. You can deduce that the masses disagree, having received Guillermo del Toro's Mary Shelley adaptation with open hearts and adoration aplenty. I think I was also predisposed to love the Mexican master's spin on Frankenstein, having defended his follies for the last decade, even when critics I respect soured on the man's cinema. Moreover, I even re-read the novel – comparing the 1818 and 1831 versions as I went along – to prepare for what was sure to be a grand Gothic spectacle to sweep me off my feet.
As it turns out, del Toro's Frankenstein was one of my major disappointments at TIFF 50, maybe the biggest. Thank heavens for those beautiful costumes and that beautiful Creature, for I'm not sure I'd have made it through this 150-minute slog without them…
