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04.12.00: "Congratulation! Your site has been nominated and listed in worldhot.com as one of world hottest 100 sites." So the email tells me. Somehow, the fact that the grammar is on a level with a Japanese-to-English tourist phrasebook -- as well as the fact that the official site for 200 Cigarettes is only a couple of notches below me on this list -- doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the accuracy of this list. But what the hell? The award graphic is cool. (You'll find it on my entry page.)
On deck: Where the Money Is and American Psycho.
04.11.00: Hey! I'm world famous in Austin, Texas. Brian Clark -- aka the Juxtaposeur -- who hails from down there in the Lone Star state, mentioned me in a little article he wrote for the Austin American-Statesman. (Added to my Awards page.)
Check out what's New to Video/DVD today, then click over to
Reel.com, where -- through April 23 only -- you can save $10 when you spend $40. Cool.
Coming up: Where the Money Is and American Psycho.
04.05.00: I've been thinking of adding a section to the site called Guilty Pleasures and Movies I Know By Heart, but who knows when I'll find the time for that. You can get a hint of what I'd do with that section, though, in my new article at the Online Film Critics Society Journal: Desert Island Movies, in which I choose the five movies I absolutely cannot live without (a link has also been added to my Articles page). Be sure to check out the rest of this month's Journal while you're there.
Still to come: the TNT Original Don Quixote; Paul Newman's latest, Where the Money Is; and American Psycho.
03.31.00: I have some new sites to recommend to you: BiZcotti.com is The Onion for the entertainment industry, and it's an absolute riot. Dante's Inferno & All-Night Video Store revels in the entertainment value of crappy movies. Karmavore.com: Enlightening Films for Women points to flicks featuring "witty no-guff heroines of all ages" who subvert stereotypes. And LittleGoldenGuy.com is simply the most thorough and most logically organized site on Academy Award history I've come across. See my Links page for slightly more detailed descriptions.
Up next: The Road to El Dorado and the TNT Original Don Quixote.
03.27.00: Early on in last night's Oscar telecast, it looked as if not a single one of my Oscar predictions would turn out to be correct. In the end, I called 8 winners out of the 18 categories I handicapped. (I updated the page to indicate the winners.)
The Oscars may be over and done for another year, but I'll still post reviews of Topsy-Turvy and Tumbleweeds -- hopefully by Wednesday -- and of course I'll add a new review of 1999's Best Picture, American Beauty, to my Best Pictures section.
Coming up: The Road to El Dorado.
03.24.00: Tons of little films are opening this weekend, mostly in limited release -- sorry if you're in Podunk. Waking the Dead is the new film from Keith Gordon, who directed the wonderful and underrated A Midnight Clear, and Winter Sleepers is from Tom Tykwer, who hit it big last year with Run Lola Run (my review of which is finally coming this weekend). Such a Long Journey is the third film in Loews Cineplex Entertainment's Shooting Gallery Film Series (details here or at the series' official site). Finally, The Color of Paradise is part of the vanguard in Iranian cinema, and X tries to cash in on the animé craze.
Boy, am I tired.
Still to come: Topsy-Turvy, Tumbleweeds, and All I Wanna Do.
03.23.00: I'm thinking of putting together a Frequently Asked Questions page. I've probably already heard whatever burning questions you're dying to ask, but why don't you go ahead and ask me anyway? Maybe your query will turn up in the FAQ.
Up next: Topsy-Turvy, Tumbleweeds, and All I Wanna Do.
03.20.00: This time next week, we'll know how accurate my newly posted Oscar predictions are. (I've set up a new page at The Flick Filosopher to gather in one place links to things like this Oscar article, my contributions to the Online Film Critics Society Journal, and other bits and pieces that don't seem to fit anywhere else at the site.)
In other prognostication news, in my review of Erin Brockovich, I predicted that film would have the biggest March opening ever. I wasn't far wrong, it seems: Erin looks like it's gonna clear $28.2 million this weekend, which is a close second to 1997's Liar Liar, which took in $31.4 million. Mission to Mars is at No. 3 for March openings, with $22.9 million last weekend, which shocks the hell out of me. So what does that say for my psychic abilities?
Coming up: Topsy-Turvy, Tumbleweeds, Winter Sleepers, and Waking the Dead.
03.17.00: Can you believe this? Before I'd even posted my review of Erin Brockovich, I was already under attack merely because I once proclaimed that America's Sweetheart was my mortal enemy. I mean, sheesh, if a girl doesn't have a mortal enemy or two, she hasn't really lived, has she?
So, check out the Mail page for my interesting exchange with a Julia fan, and for comments on my reviews of Harwood, Kestrel's Eye, Boys Don't Cry, Fantasia 2000, Patch Adams, Fight Club, and American Beauty, along with the usual assorted weirdness.
Still to come: Topsy-Turvy, Tumbleweeds and Winter Sleepers.
03.16.00: Paradise Lost 2: Revelations debuted on HBO this week. I'm not gonna review it (no time!) except to say this: Don't miss it. The sequel to Paradise Lost: Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (now also replaying on HBO), this documentary continues the story of three Arkansas teenagers who were convicted of the brutal murders of three little boys in 1993. Not only do these riveting films point out the unfairness of the teens' original trials and suggest that the cops didn't get the real killers, they also seem to finger a likely alternative suspect. Both films are disturbing and haunting.
The New to Video/DVD page was updated on Tuesday with the usual rundown of new releases as well as a more in-depth look at two cult-fave toons now on DVD: Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry. Very cool stuff.
Coming up: Winter Sleepers, Topsy-Turvy, Tumbleweeds and Erin Brockovich.
03.13.00: "Describer" in Chicago, IL, is March's winner of a Flick Filosopher t-shirt and fridge magnet, just for being a member of my mailing list. Have you joined yet? I send out a notice to the list whenever I update the site, and when I'm feeling inspired, those notices can be pretty funny... or so I'm told, anyway.
Up next: Dolphins, Topsy-Turvy, Tumbleweeds and Erin Brockovich.
03.10.00: Orphans is the second entry in Loews Cineplex Entertainment's Shooting Gallery Film Series, satisfying the indie jones of folks in places that often don't get a chance to see little labor-of-love films like this one. See below or check out the series' official site for more info.
I'm still so bummed from Pitch Black and Reindeer Games that I couldn't even work up the enthusiasm to trash the assorted junk that was new to theaters last weekend. It may look as if I took a nearly two-week break, but it doesn't feel that way to me. I've been catching up on some Oscar-nominated films, which I'll report on soon (when I'll clock in with my Oscar predictions), going to screenings, watching stuff on video and DVD, and answering mail from you guys out there.
Speaking of Pitch Black and mail, I've finally gathered together a whole bunch of the vitriol I've been dealing with over the past couple weeks from fans of this sorry excuse for a movie. It's a big, chunky Mail page this time around, and this isn't the half of it. I haven't has this kind of venom spewed at my since I took on my mortal enemy, Julia Roberts.
Still to come: the new IMAX movie Dolphins, Mission to Mars, Topsy-Turvy, and Tumbleweeds.
02.28.00: Christmas in February? Can it mean anything good when a movie called Reindeer Games is released two months after the appropriate season? Take a guess. (I've added Reindeer Games to my Christmas section -- Go was already listed there. Hey, maybe I'll get around to posting those last few holiday reviews before next Christmas.)
Coming up: Oscar catch-up with Topsy-Turvy and Tumbleweeds, and then -- woo-hoo! -- Mission to Mars.
02.27.00: Judy Berlin, a review of which I've just posted, is part of an exciting attempt on the part of Loews Cineplex Entertainment to bring the film-festival experience to cities that don't often get extensive screenings of independent films. The Shooting Gallery Film Series -- the first of what is planned as a semiannual event, running every spring and fall -- will offer, through May 14, showings of selected indies in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, Tucson, and Washington, D.C. Future selections include Orphans, which opens March 10, and Such a Long Journey, opening March 24, both of which I'll be reviewing in upcoming weeks.
Still to come: Reindeer Games, and I play Oscar catch-up with Topsy-Turvy and Tumbleweeds.
02.23.00: Lots of new Mail posted today, including commentary on The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, The Cider House Rules, The General's Daughter, Supernova, Lake Placid, The Crossing, Patch Adams, The 13th Warrior, Eyes Wide Shut, Lolita, Ordinary People, and my best of 1999 list -- specifically, why The Iron Giant and The Phantom Menace aren't on it. (The Pitch Black mail I mentioned yesterday is coming up.)
Up next: Judy Berlin and Reindeer Games.
02.22.00: Not that I'm in the least surprised by it, but you wouldn't believe the lambasting I've been taking in my email for my harsh review of Pitch Black. I'll be posting a bunch of it soon.
New to Video/DVD is updated today.
Coming up: Boiler Room, Judy Berlin, and Reindeer Games.
02.18.00: Yup. As I suspected Pitch Black = Crap Trek, though this is a movie that makes me angrier than crappy SF tends to. And Mission to Mars is looking more and more like a stinker the more I learn about it. T-minus three weeks and counting...
Still to come: Boiler Room, Fantasia 2000, and Reindeer Games.
02.17.00: Pariah is on the cusp of shifting from belonging in The Flick Chick's Film Festival to being an Indie Jones film: it opens at The Screening Room in New York City tomorrow. Still, it has the raw bluntness of the Slamdance Film Festival entry that it was, and isn't likely to see much of a run, so in my Film Festival it stays.
Up next: Pitch Black, Boiler Room, and Fantasia 2000.
02.16.00: I've come across some cool new movie-related sites. Juxtaposeur is a movie-review site with a twist. The guy who runs the site claims to be too lazy to actually review the films themselves, so he reviews the critics' reviews of the films. You end up getting an overview of critical responses as well as an idea of which critics are worth reading. Pretty cool. The Editing Room is one of those laugh-out-loud sites you can't drag yourself away from: its "abridged scripts" for famous movies take on movie clichés, actors playing themselves, bad scriptwriting, product placement, toy commercials disguised as action sequences, and Johnny Depp's cheekbones. Where else will you find the misogynist subtext of Independence Day satirized so hilariously? (Both sites are also added to my Links page.)
Coming up: Pitch Black, Boiler Room, and Fantasia 2000.
02.15.00: Congrats to all of this morning's Oscar nominees. I'll probably have something snide and/or laudatory to say about the noms soon. Stay tuned.
The New to Video/DVD page sees its regular Tuesday update today.
Still to come: The Beach, Pitch Black, and Fantasia 2000.
02.13.00: Congratulations to Andrew from Palmerston North, New Zealand, February's winner of a Flick Filosopher t-shirt and fridge magnet. Every month someone from my mailing list takes home these major awards. Aren't you jealous?
Coming up: The Beach, Boys Don't Cry, and Fantasia 2000.
02.07.00: If you're anywhere in the New York City area and have a hankering to see The Last Late Night -- the indie I reviewed last week -- come on down to the Clearview Cinema at 239 East 59th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) this Wednesday, February 9th. The film is showing there at 6pm. I'll be there, and I'll give a Flick Filosopher t-shirt to the first person to figure out who am I.
Speaking of t-shirts, my mailing list t-shirt giveaway is still going on, but the person I wanted to send a shirt to in January never responded to my email. We'll see if February's winner checks his or her email regularly.
Up next: Simpatico, Boys Don't Cry, and Fantasia 2000.
02.02.00: The first of my reviews of really independent indies appear today: The Last Late Night has already be screened at several film festivals, and Harwood is just beginning the rounds. More reviews of festival entries are coming soon.
Tom Mangan has a funky little site called Seven Questions, at which he subjects hapless folks of the Web persuasion to a grilling. Guess who his latest victim is? Got it in one. See me squirm under the glare of the harsh interrogation spotlight by clicking here. And let me know what you think of what I have to say.
The New to Video/DVD page was updated yesterday.
Still to come: Simpatico, Scream 3, Boys Don't Cry, and Fantasia 2000.
01.28.00: Reel.com has a new trivia contest going --
Up next: Boys Don't Cry, Fantasia 2000, Simpatico and Scream 3.
01.27.00: Woo-hoo! The Flick Filosopher got a plug in Netsurfer Digest! They like my "personal, well-read touch." I've added the NSD mention to my Awards page.
Still to come: Isn't She Great, Boys Don't Cry and Fantasia 2000.
01.21.00: A whole bunch of indie filmmakers have asked me to take a look at their work, so I've got a stack of videos here of films that are making, or hoping to make, the festival circuit. Watch this space for my own festival of reviews of way-below-the-radar flicks, coming soon.
Coming up: Fantasia 2000 and Isn't She Great.
01.19.00: The joys of reader mail: I'm amazed, though I shouldn't be, by the range of comments I get from visitors to this site. There are the intelligent, articulate, well-thought-out rebuttals and approvals of my reviews, and then there are the nutjobs. Sick puppy that I am, I enjoy both ends of the spectrum equally.
You'll find both extremes in the latest batch of Mail, in re my reviews of Patch Adams, Midnight Cowboy, The Matrix, The End of the Affair, It's a Wonderful Life, The Apartment, A Christmas Carol, American Beauty, and American Graffiti.
The New to Video/DVD page was updated yesterday, as it is every Tuesday.
Up next: Angela's Ashes, My Dog Skip and Fantasia 2000.
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MaryAnn Johanson.
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