Midsommar, Black Mirror, and more summer hits

Theaters and streaming services haven’t disappointed

Fall: school’s approaching, stress is on the rise, yet that doesn’t mean people have to stop binging what’s on streaming services. It’s the perfect time of the year to catch up on the latest movies and TV shows that were unable to be watched within the last couple of months due to work and vacationing during the summer. From watching back-to-back movies in theaters or at home to binge watching the latest season of a Netflix Original that has been anticipated for the last two years, summer 2019 has not disappointed with what has been provided to viewers on the big and small screens.

At the beginning of July, Director Ari Aster released his disturbing psychedelic horror film Midsommar. Taking place in the artistic lands of Sweden, couple Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor), along with their friends, travel to the foreign country to attend a festivity of events when they become witness to the unusual and horrendous ritual that they have become a part of.

Midsommar is one of the best movies this summer due to its different take on Pagan folk horror, taking place during the day rather than night. What makes the film interestingly disturbing is it captures suspense and psychological horror through its cinematography and use of angles to tell the story being displayed.

Making its debut July 15 in limited theaters and slowly being released in bigger cities, The Farewell is a well-developed film that captures the meaning of family and how one comes together in a time of unexpected tragedy. Starring actress and rapper Awkwafina, The Farewell mostly takes place in China, where her character Billi finds out that her grandmother has been diseased and only has a short while to live. This causes their family to spend as much time with her as possible until the inevitable tragedy is met.

The film is nicely paced, with many emotional jaw dropping moments that keep the audience intact. The cast’s performance, especially Awkwafina’s, is portrayed powerfully enough to where a viewer can feel the pain and joy of certain events that the characters were unfortunately put in. It’s an overwhelming sad-toned story that interestingly ends happily in a sense.

Aside from the big screen, there are a few TV shows this summer that are considered bingeworthy and worth the waste of 10 hours on Friday night.

Black Mirror was one of the few shockers on Netflix that made audiences question society and how crazy people in the world can actually be. Considering how previous seasons are just that and blatantly calling out the US society and how corrupt humans can be, season five of Black Mirror did not disappoint. The three-episode season featured pop sensation Miley Cyrus and Marvel’s Anthony Mackie taking on the lead role in their individual episode respectively. Both gave stunning performances; Cyrus returned to the screen since her Hannah Montana days, and Mackie showcased that he is more than just an actor in superhero films.

Many more shows and movies can be considered summer hits as well (i.e. Spider-Man: Far From Home and Stranger Things); however, the ones listed above hit differently in vast ways that they are some of the best released so far this year.