COVID vs comet, two cinematic tales of disaster...
Everything that happened at Flick Filosopher between Monday, December 21st, and Sunday, December 27th, in the plague year 2020.
considering a switch from Patreon + Disqus + Mailchimp to Substack...
...because Substack — which is, for starters, more geared to writers than Patreon is — can do for free a lot of things I’m paying for right now. And also because it is inescapably clear to me that what I’m doing now isn’t working for me in the way that it should. So something needs to change.
There’s nothing you need to do right now, dear reader, except maybe answer a question for me:
Would you be interested in getting my reviews of new and new-ish releases in their entirety via email, for a small monthly fee (probably US$5, payable in almost any currency) even if they were also available to read free on the Web? Because maybe it would just be easier to read them if they came directly to you...
And another question:
How would you feel if commenting on my reviews was limited to paying subscribers (again, at probably US$5 per month)?
Please reply to this email to respond, if you feel moved to do so.
I am considering doing more reviews of classic films, too, which would also be available only to subscribers (though this would be the case even if I stick with Patreon.)
A lot of factors are contributing to the feeling that I need to make some changes: I’m seeing writers with far less experience and longevity online making real money from their work via Substack, and I am missing out on significant audiences that a new outlet like Substack might let me reach.
I’ll be very curious to hear any thoughts you might have... including any ideas about what else I could be offering you and what might entice you to contribute financially to my work, if you aren’t already.
Thanks, and happy new year!
—MaryAnn
PS: There was no weekly digest last week: you didn’t miss an email.
new at flick filosopher, Dec 21–27
curated: 10+ minutes of glorious dancing in movies, so you can forget 2020 for a bit
Just watch these beautifully edited montages…
read more...
Greenland movie review: a human spin on the end of the world [pictured]
A same-old tale of apocalypse knows we’ve seen this all before, and so centers human drama over disaster porn. It has nothing new to say, but at least it says it well, with notes of horrific grace.
read the review...
new and ongoing dvd/blu/vod releases, US/Can, Dec 15–25
get the full rundown...
new and ongoing dvd/blu/vod releases, UK/Ire, Dec 14–25
get the full rundown...
Songbird movie review: screechingly out of tune
An appalling melange of insipid disaster drama and implausible romance with a bit of dystopian satire thrown in. This is a crass cash-in meant to prey on our pandemic anxieties, not grapple with them.
read the review...
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
—The Shawshank Redemption
coming up this week...
really hoping to get to reviews of as many of these as I can (oiks, that’s a long list):
Wonder Woman 1984
Pixar’s latest, Soul
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, now that it’s available on demand at home
rom-com Wild Mountain Thyme, starring Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan
fossil-hunting love story Ammonite; starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan
Christmas crime thriller Fatman
historical drama Radium Girls
drama Luxor, starring Andrea Riseborough
The Christmas Chronicles 2, on Netflix, sequel to the cheeky 2018 Kurt Russell–as–Santa Claus flick
the Melissa McCarthy comedy Superintelligence
more London Film Festival flicks
and still on the drawing board, if perhaps slightly backburnered:
Sophia Coppola’s On the Rocks
Robert Zemeckis’s The Witches
documentary Naughty Books
Netflix’s Enola Holmes
the Charlie Kaufman mindbender I’m Thinking of Ending Things
writer-director Jon Stewart’s political dramedy Irresistible