weekly digest: well, I’m back...

the little bit that happened at Flick Filosopher from Monday, January 2nd, to Sunday, January 8 (and some earlier stragglers)

Jan 09, 2023

Well, I’m back.

Hello, lovely readers, and welcome to the first Weekly Digest email since mid September. I sent that one just before I flew home to New York to sit by my mother’s hospital bed for a week, and then she died. And then I spent three more weeks in New York helping my brothers and my father plan a funeral, attending a funeral, and helping my dad get settled into his new life.

It’s now more than three months since my mom died, and a little over two months since I returned to London. My head is slightly less full of cotton wool, but only slightly. I feel… unmoored. By everything. The tectonic shifting of the pandemic has culminated in a 9.7-magnitude earthquake. And the ground is still shaking.

I am slowly clawing my way back to writing, though I’m still trying to figure out what shape Flick Filosopher should have going forward. Everything about movies is in upheaval: how we watch, how we talk about them. Everything about being a film critic — being a writer of any kind — has gotten exponentially more difficult in recent years.

I’m determined to fumble through it. I don’t know what else to do with myself.

I’m hope you’ll come along with me.

More soon…

—MaryAnn

new at flick filosopher, Jan 02–08 (and earlier)

Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb documentary review: slow journalism

The crisp, congenial charms of this intimate exploration of a decades-long working partnership overlay an unsentimental elegy for an era in journalism and publishing that has all but disappeared. [read the review | US cinemas]

loaded question: what 2023 films are you most looking forward to? [pictured]

New year, tons of new movies coming our way! Here’s a list of some of the big 2023 titles we know about so far to get you started salivating… [reply at Flick Filosopher | reply at Substack | reply at Patreon]

Violent Night movie review: ho ho holy shit

Many movies have attempted to replicate the festive insouciant brutality of Die Hard. No movie has come closer to this lofty goal than this dementedly delicious nightmare before Christmas. [read the review | cinemas/premium VOD US/UK]

Avatar: The Way of Water movie review: blueface on a blue planet

The filmmaking craft may be (mostly) astonishing. But the craft must always — always — be in aid of a compelling story populated by compelling characters… and that’s not so much the case here. [read the review | cinemas globally]

Harry & Meghan: Vol I television review: royal rumble counterpunch

There is little here we did not already know, but this is nevertheless a fascinating counterpoint to royal propaganda. Kudos to Harry’s audacity at being unwilling to perpetuate a noxious paradigm. [read the review | Netflix globally]

I’ve temporarily paused all Substack, Patreon, and Paypal subscriptions

I’ve done no writing in the past month, and I will be spending the next few weeks on a rethink of my work here. So I don’t think it’s right to keep charging readers when everything has been on hiatus. [read more]

weekend watchlist: is it good to be the queen?

Plus a teenage con artist, a skewering of late-night comedy, and more… (First published September 18th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.) [read more]

weekend watchlist: sweet, funny, frank pillow talk

Plus apocalyptic adolescence, exasperating planetary levels of bureaucracy, and more… (First published September 10th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.) [read more]

weekend watchlist: an all man-(and woman)-versus-beast(s), all both-sides-of-the-pond special

In honor of the silly glory that is Idris Elba punching a lion in Beast. (First published September 4th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.) [read more]

RIP my mom

She was my biggest fan, and a tremendous supporter of my work. I can’t imagine what my life is going to be like going forward without her. [read more]

weekend watchlist: a sci-fi mood piece of eeriness, ookiness, and dread

Plus a snarky heist, a two-century-old energy crisis, and more. (First published August 27th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.) [read more]

minimal updates at the moment…

I’m dealing with a family emergency at the moment, something that has building for the past few weeks and is now reaching a crisis point… which may or may not end up being a plateau of crisis that may go on for a while. [read more]

loaded question: what is your favorite alternate / revisionist history lately?

What about how this show/movie/etc reimagines, or ignores, the known historical record is compelling to you? [reply at Flick Filosopher | reply at Substack | reply at Patreon]

weekend watchlist: men who gaslight for fun and profit

Plus an angry Jane Austen–esque romance, childhood witchcraft, and more. (First published August 19th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.) [read more]

what I’ve binged, and am bingeing

I didn’t have the headspace for many movies until just the past few weeks, but serial storytelling I could manage. Some of what I watched:

The Sandman [Netflix globally]: extraordinary fantasy-horror adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic book; the episode “The Sound of Her Wings” is the single finest hour of television I’ve seen in a long time
The Peripheral [Prime Video US | UK | globally]: finished season 1, found it to be terrifically thinky sci-fi that goes hard on keeping its secrets close and unfolding very slowly
Ted Lasso [AppleTV+ globally]: I’m about halfway through season 2, and god, this show is brilliant
The Handmaid’s Tale [Hulu US | Prime Video UK]: raced through season 5; the series has done a solid job extrapolating from the novel, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here