It's the July edition of Midday at the Movies, and Tom is joined again by two of our favorite movie mavens -- Washington Post film critic Ann Hornadayand the Maryland Film Festival's founding director, Jed Dietz.
As demonstrations for police reform and racial justice continue across the country, Ann and Jed discuss the ripple effects the national dialogue on race is having on film culture, from HBO's decision to add "context" to Gone with the Wind -- the classic (and racist) 1939 film about the Civil War-era South -- to director Spike Lee's latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, a film now streaming on NETFLIX that recaps the arc of the 1960s civil rights awakening as it follows four Black Vietnam War vets who return to Nam to recover the remains of a lost soldier.
As COVID-19 continues to threaten the nation and to keep most movie theaters dark, Ann and Jed note the success of recent virtual film festivals and the return of drive-in movies. They also spotlight some other summer streamers, including Shirley, a tour-de-force performance by Elizabeth Moss, in a dark, quirky portrayal of horror-genre writer Shirley Jackson, now streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime; and the Friday, July 3 streaming debut of Hamilton, a film of the multi-award-winning 2016 Broadway stage production, featuring the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, in the title role. Hamilton will stream exclusively to paid subscribers on the Disney Plus channel.
