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12.10.01: The goodies keep piling higher for youse guys who're gonna suck up to me for Christmas. The top two suckees will also receive, in addition to the mound of other fun movie stuff like DVDs and such, a copy of CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT by ReelTalk film critic Betty Jo Tucker, a life- at- the- movies memoir. (Get more info on the book, or preorder it here.)
12.07.01: You should see the huge pile of
Here's the deal: Whoever sends me the coolest, most clever Christmas gift will get the pick of the pile. Whoever sends me the second coolest, second most clever Christmas gift will get second pick, and so on, until the goodies are gone. Now, a cool and clever Christmas gift doesn't have to be expensive -- in fact, throwing a lot of money at the problem shows a lack of imagination. (Unless you want to send me an HDTV -- then you'll take home everything.) So you don't have to break the bank or max out your Visa. Just send me something to make me laugh or snicker or think, "Hey, that's cool."
Send my prezzies to:
MaryAnn Johanson
The Flick Filosopher
PO Box 221
Woodlawn Station
The Bronx, NY 10470
Prezzies must be received by New Year's Eve, and I'll choose winners and send your cool junk in January.
12.06.01: I've finally reposted the last of my articles from the Online Film Critics Society (their new site doesn't archive any material from their old site). They are: my picks for Desert Island Movies, a Point/Counterpoint with critic Eugene Novikov on the MPAA's rating system, and, most appropriate for the season, a Point/Counterpoint with critic Dan Jardine on the relative merits of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
Enjoy.
11.30.01: What would Jesus surf? Not The Flick Filosopher! And ain't just a hunch on my part, either. If you'd clicked on over to Where Would Jesus Surf a couple weeks ago and plugged in my URL, you'd have gotten a message that "The Safe Connect filter has determined this site to be of HIGH RISK! We recommend you hit your browser's back button and choose another link."
Now that Jesus has launched Version 2.0 of his site, however, you could surf his "clean meta-seach" for 40 days and 40 nights and never even find my site.
That's me: a menace to society.
11.21.01: While you're digesting your turkey tomorrow, get a jump start on your Christmas-movie watching with MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET on the cable network American Movie Classics. It airs at 8pm Eastern, followed at 9:45 by a new edition of AMC's series BACKSTORY, which is like VH1's BEHIND THE MUSIC, only about movies. You'll learn how 20th Century Fox cleverly marketed what has become a quintessential Christmas movie in the middle of summer, how the screenwriter was inspired to write the script -- and how he got away with his references to real-life department stores Macy's and Gimbel's -- and why young star Natalie Wood was nowhere near as skeptical as the character she played. Go on: Give it a tug.
11.19.01: If you've been thinking about picking up some Flick Filosopher or Movie a Day crap -- for yourself or, hey, they make great holiday gifts for movie lovers -- now may be the time. Spend $50 or more now through December 3, and you'll get free shipping in the U.S. or a discount on international shipping... and you'll even get a free stuffed Christmas toy thingie if you click through to the store using this link.
And how silly is this? You can now buy a Flick Filosoper Christmas tree ornament, but only till January 2.
11.14.01: Daniel Radcliffe -- aka Harry Potter -- was just on Letterman: this is, quite possibly, the most adorable child I've ever seen. He stammered charmingly and gripped the arms of the chair in abject terror and told Dave he thinks New York is way cooler than London. Dave said it was like having one of the Beatles on. It was.
Here's hoping Radcliffe survives his collision with planetwide fame.
11.12.01: I thought I was feeling better. I thought I had put the worse of the aftermath of September 11 behind me. But now I'm starting to think that I've only gotten through the first wave. I'm still fighting depression and listlessness and a general not-caring about much, which I suspect is now being made worse by the fact that our own government is doing more to take away our freedoms than any terrorist could hope to do. The same politicians who thought it was fine to dig into every last detail of Bill Clinton's sex life now also think it's fine to keep secret what past presidents did in our name. The same politicians who thought it was fine to cry censorship whenever advertisers pulled out of Dr. Laura or Rush Limbaugh now think it's fine and not at all censorship when Bill Maher loses his. I fear that it won't be long before merely expressing criticism of the government is considered treason -- after all, if you're not with U.S. you're with the terrorists -- allowing FBI agents to sneak into my house without my knowlegde, rummage through my stuff without telling me, and later come back to arrest me... and then listen in as I talk to my lawyer.
I'm gonna be one of the first ones up against the wall when the revolution comes, I know it.
In the meantime, here's GLORY: A NATION'S SPIRIT DEFEATS THE ATTACK ON AMERICA, a compendium of reactions on the day from writers (including from yours truly, my September 12 I'm-okay update), journalists, photographers, and ordinary Americans of all stripes. You can buy a copy -- either in print or as an e-book -- at American Publishing Network.com, where you can also get more information about the book, or at Sands Publishing. All proceeds go to victims of the day.
10.29.01: Rachel, from Austin, Texas, wins the Suck Up to the Flick Filosopher contest with this creative entry:
=======================
(Dissolve to glorious black and white, a screen filled with a hundred gum-chewing, wise-cracking broads, fedoras tilted just so, hands poised over a hundred glittering keyboards. As the orchestra finishes the big introduction, they sing:)
She's the gal with the mostEnough with the ersatz Golden Age of Hollywood musical number. The scansion sucks anyway, and let's not look too closely at that rhyme in the second verse, but my usual poetic forte (Elizabethan sonnet) just didn't seem right for this missive.
She's our gracious host-
Ess, she's the chick
who's the Flick
Filosopher!Gene is now dead
Roger's fat in the head
Surf your browser--
do it nowser!--
To the Flick Filosopher!
I have recently sent you a donation through the Amazon Honor System in recognition of your devotion to film, and the entertainment your site has brought me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on movies with so many people. Your wit and creativity add zing and zest to the world of online movie criticism, and every time I see a movie now, I wonder what you would've thought of it. I don't have to tell you to keep on writing, but please know that your fans appreciate what you do.
=======================
For her trouble, Rachel wins a bunch of useless movie-related stuff that I've been looking to get rid of somehow, like some posters, and a video, and a Flick Filosopher t-shirt.
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks and new DVDs; and AMELIE.
10.29.01: MonsterFest, the cable channel American Movie Classics' annual Halloween scary-movie festival, which began on Friday, ramps up tomorrow night with the debut of a new documentary, THE OMEN LEGACY, at 8pm Eastern time. With details of the development of the film series, interviews with many of the cast and crew (some of whom were extremely unnerved by the movie they were making!), and discussion of the "Omen Curse," supposedly the force behind a chilling series of accidents on the sets of all the films, this is a must-see for devotees of Damien. Airings of the original trilogy will follow -- read my review of the films here. (Stay tuned to AMC, because on Halloween Day, the network will air 24 hours of Dracula movies in junction with online You Don't Know Jack About Drac trivia games at amctv.com.)
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks and new DVDs; more Halloween flicks; and MONSTERS, INC and AMELIE.
10.26.01: This is what happens when I ego-surf: I discover that I am doomed (scroll down to the entry for July 21), and that I am a moron.
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks and new DVDs; some spooky movies for Halloween; and MONSTERS, INC and AMELIE.
10.20.01: You asked for it, you got it: Subscribers to my weekly email newsletter CINEMATIC MUSINGS can now read my award-winning screenplay, BRONX CHEER, as an extra bonus thanks for their support. Subscribe now, and you could be reading it, too.
10.18.01: It'll be kinda a chilly night to watch a movie outdoors, but if you love drive-ins and lament their near demise and are somewhere in the vicinity of upstate Dutchess County, New York, you might want to venture out for a double feature of SPY KIDS and TOP GUN at the Overlook Drive-in in Poughkeepsie this Saturday, October 20. It's sponsored by The Society for the Preservation of Outdoor Theater, and there's free admission for anyone with NYPD or FDNY identification -- everyone else pays $15 for however many people you can fit in the car (there's even an award for the car with the most passengers). Get all the details here.
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks and new DVDs; some spooky movies for Halloween; and K-PAX and DONNIE DARKO.
10.10.01: Many thanks to those of you who subscribed to CINEMATIC MUSINGS and MOVIE-A-DAY after my pathetic plea last week (see below). I think I'll post a sample issue or two soon so those of you who haven't yet subscribed can see what you're missing.
Only one entry so far in the Suck Up to the Flick Filosopher Contest (also see below). You want this one guy to win that pile of movie junk by default?
My email is starting to pile up again. Dang. Just when I was beginning to get on top of it, the world turned sideways. I'm still feeling very depressed and distracted and finding it very hard to concentrate on writing. My new screenplay has sat untouched for the last month, and I've got a pile of videos from indie filmmakers that I'm embarrassed not to have gotten to yet. And then there's all the email from you nice people, wanting to talk about movies or just wondering how I am. I appreciate your concern a great deal. I hope that soon this feeling, like I just want to burrow in my bed under 10 pounds of quilts and not come out, will recede soon, and then I can knuckle down and get back to some serious work again.
Coming attractions: When my enthusiasm returns, James Dean flicks and new DVDs; I'll drag myself to the computer shortly for BANDITS and IRON MONKEY.
10.03.01: This is where having tens of thousands of readers comes in handy, I'm hoping: networking. I need to pick up some extra copyediting or proofreading work: it has to be something I can do from home (I use Macs, not PCs), and I don't work with material that is scientific, legal, or terribly technical. Other than that, anything goes: fiction in all genres, general nonfiction, promotional copy, catalogs, whatever. If you need someone who fills that bill, or you know someone who does, please let me know.
Alternatively, if 10,000 of you each sent me a buck or two to thank me for my work at The Flick Filosopher, that would work, too. (Hey, I can dream.) Every day I don't have to spend working for someone else is another day I can spend yacking about movies for your pleasure... like maybe some cool, scary movies for Halloween. So, seriously, here's a thought: Send me a donation and your explanation of why you think I'm worth it, and I'll post the one that I receive by October 31 that is the most ass-kissing and yet also the most sincere, and I'll send the winner a prize pack including a brand-new promotional SHALLOW HAL poster, an Andy Warhol-esque poster of Austin Powers, a VHS copy of the special edition of THIS IS SPINAL TAP, and maybe some Flick Filosopher junk.
(Instead of a donation, you can get some extra bang for your bucks by subscribing to CINEMATIC MUSINGS and/or the email edition of MOVIE-A-DAY. Include the above requested explanation, and you'll be eligible for the prize stuff, too.)
You can use PayPal or Amazon Honor System... or even just wrap a buck or two up in the piece of paper with your explanation on it and drop it in the mail to The Flick Filosopher, PO Box 221, The Bronx, NY 10470.
10.01.01: How's this for ironic? The winner of the August Request a Review poll in my email-only newsletter, CINEMATIC MUSINGS, was decided weeks before recent events made its choice seem prophetic. The idea was, in the wake of GHOSTS OF MARS, to remind us of a time when John Carpenter's movies were a lot more fun, and the readers thought ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK best represented that time. So here's that review. And it actually turns out to be rather reassuring, its ceaseless violence and imagery of the World Trade Center and all.
Also ironic, in the wake of the religious extremism and hatred that spawned the attacks of three weeks ago, is the debut on cable network Showtime of THE BELIEVER, about a Jewish neo-Nazi. Don't miss it.
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks, new DVDs, and The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival; plus MULHOLLAND DRIVE, TRAINING DAY, and JOY RIDE.
09.28.01: TIME published a very slightly abridged version of my letter in response to the article about online film critics it ran in August. It appeared in the September 17 issue, which hit newsstands on September 10. I was gonna mention it earlier, but... well, you know what happened.
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks, new DVDs, and The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival; plus MULHOLLAND DRIVE and JOY RIDE.
09.24.01: If really bad movies are your way of coping with stress (I prefer eating like a horse, myself), and GLITTER just isn't enough for you, then consider MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, the 1970 film based on Gore Vidal's novel of transsexualism. The story of one of the most infamous flops in box office history will be revealed tonight in the cable network American Movie Classics' series BACKSTORY, airing at 10pm Eastern. The movie, called a "sexual freak show," was beset by an inexperienced, paranoid director, dueling divas, an incoherent script, and star-studded lawsuits. What more distraction could you want?
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks, new DVDs, and The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival; plus DON'T SAY A WORD and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS.
09.19.01: I was so looking forward to skewering HARDBALL last Friday, and then all hell broke loose, and now I don't have quite the heart for it. Don't get me wrong: I will not be refraining from skewering all films that justly deserve it in the future. I just can't work up the bile to take on HARDBALL now.
A few updates on reviews I'd promised were coming: Screenings of both THE GLASS HOUSE and TRAINING DAY were canceled in the wake of the NYC attacks. TRAINING DAY's release was postponed until October, so I'll be able to catch up with that one. THE GLASS HOUSE was released last Friday, and I'm not likely to catch up on that one. Sorry. Maybe I'll catch it on video.
Coming attractions: James Dean flicks, new DVDs, and The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival; plus GLITTER and DON'T SAY A WORD.
09.12.01: Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of concern about my safety in the wake of the horrendous events in NYC Tuesday. I am fine. Physically, anyway.
I was just about to leave my apartment for my freelance gig in midtown Manhattan (in an office perhaps 2 or 3 miles north of the World Trade Center) when I heard the first reports on the radio of an "accident" at the World Trade Center, so I flipped the TV on. It rapidly became clear that more than merely an "accident" was still in the process of occurring, and it also became clear that even if I still wanted to go to work, there was no way -- short of walking the 15 miles from the northern Bronx border, where I live -- that I could have gotten there. All roads and mass transit into the city were shut down, so I spent the day at home in front of the TV, as I'm sure many of you did as well. (I had no Internet access, either via dialup or DSL, until about 8pm Tuesday evening, when I was able to log on for a few minutes. As of 1pm Wednesday, I have not been able to log on again. I'm gonna try dialing up long distance, perhaps find a server that's unaffected by whatever is causing the outages in NYC. If you're reading this, then you'll know I was successful.)
Tuesday was a surreal day. Some sort of staging area for rescue efforts was set up about a mile from my house, near a major artery into Manhattan, and all day convoys of ambulances and other emergency vehicles streamed toward it. I saw a pickup truck overflowing with police officers racing there. Military helicopters flew overhead all day, and, scariest of all, fighter jets (F15s, I think) did flyovers every couple of hours. This was particularly eerie because I live under one of the approaches to LaGuardia airport, so there is usually somewhat low-flying planes going by regularly -- Tuesday, with the shutdown of all commercial air traffic, every noise in the air made me jump, particularly those fighters, which have a particular, unmistakable, low-pitched roar. The fighters are doing flyovers again today, but not as often.
I have been overwhelmed by what has happened: by the unthinkable loss of life, by worry for a friend who was in the area of the World Trade Center (she turned up fine), and even by the sudden and catastrophic alteration to the skyline of my beloved New York. I'm still in shock and constantly on the verge of sobbing. I think it will be a long time before I feel better.
MaryAnn
09.07.01: Exactly four years ago tomorrow, The Flick Filosopher was born. In those four years, I've written 729 film reviews. I must be insane.
WorldCon was a blast. Hello again to all the old friends I met up with and all the new friends I made. And hey, Marc Wilson: I tried to reply to your invitation as soon as I got it, but my email bounced back several times. If you've got another address, get in touch with me.
I've got a big pile of indie films sitting here waiting to be watched and reviewed, films that don't yet have distribution but were sent to me directly from the producers, which will very shortly become the latest entries in The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival. Last year, as part of my festival, I reviewed Scott Barlow's THE LAST LATE NIGHT. Now, the Temecula Valley (California) International Film & Music Festival, which runs from September 13th through the 16th, will be screening TLLN and Barlow's short film "Crazy Like the Taz." Both films will screen twice, so stop by if you're in the area and support independent film.
Coming attractions: I swear those James Dean flicks are coming, as are new DVDs, and The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival; plus GLASS HOUSE and TRAINING DAY.
previous updates
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MaryAnn Johanson.
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