I'll be attending The Millennium Philcon, this year's WorldCon, in Philadelphia over the long Labor Day weekend. Kinda the Super Bowl of science fiction, this is five days of books, movies, art, music, costumes, and parties with a geeky accent. I'm not involved in any of the programming, but I will be wandering around with a Flick Filosopher badge for easy identification. I don't bite -- unless you're male, very cute, and ask very nicely -- so please feel free to stop me and say hi. Or email me (I'll be checking email during the con) and let me know you're going to be there, and we'll make time for a drink or a meal.

Coming attractions: TNT's JAMES DEAN, Dean flicks in the AFI 100, new DVDs, and a slew of way- under- the- radar indies.

Coming attractions: Finally gonna get to TNT's JAMES DEAN and two Dean flicks in the AFI 100; gonna look at some new DVDs; and will report on that stack of indie videos haunting me from the To Watch pile for the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival.

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Dear Editors:

While I of course appreciate the prominent mention of my Web site, The Flick Filosopher, in "Everyone's a Critic," in your issue of August 27, I am sorry that you chose to question my integrity as a film critic without even bothering to allow me the opportunity to respond to such a suggestion. (Contact info is clearly and prominently posted at my site; it would have been quite easy to get in touch with me. Instead, I learned I had been so accused from a friend who saw the article.)

One of the joys of producing a labor- of- love site like The Flick Filosopher is precisely that I do not have an editor or a publisher pressuring me because advertisers are pressuring them for a good review of any given film. The editoral freedom I have allows me to blast -- which I have to do with alarming frequency -- any and all films that deserve it. My site is not the media branch of the global conglomerate that also owns studios that release films desperate for rave reviews, as can be said for many "legitimate" press outlets that feature film reviews. In fact, I find it disingenuous that TIME can question the integrity and honesty of online film critics when so many "legitimate" outlets, as you note, provide rave reviews on demand for any film, worthy or not.

Yes, I write screenplays. Yes, I would love to see one or all of them produced someday. But lying to myself and my readers in order to ingratiate myself with the studios is not a price I'm willing to pay to make that happen.

Oh, and you failed to mention in "Everyone's a Critic" that Roger Ebert, who has won a Pultizer Prize for film criticism, had several screenplays produced early in his reviewing career.
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TIME may not run the letter, but at least I can set the record straight with you, my readers.

Coming attractions: TNT's JAMES DEAN, new DVDs, the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival, GHOSTS OF MARS, and BUBBLE BOY.

The Flick Filosopher was the Cool Pick Site of the Day at CoolPick.com on July 16. I wish people would tell me these things -- I only learn about them when I ego-surf. (Added to my Awards page.)

Coming attractions: TNT's JAMES DEAN, new DVDs, the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival, THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION, and JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK.

Coming attractions: New DVDs, the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival, TNT's JAMES DEAN, THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION, and AMERICAN OUTLAWS.

Coming attractions: New DVDs, the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival, TNT's JAMES DEAN, THE DEEP END and THE OTHERS.

Coming attractions: New DVDs, the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival, some cable movies, RUSH HOUR 2, THE PRINCESS DIARIES, and GHOST WORLD.

Coming attractions: New DVDs, the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival, some cable movies, RUSH HOUR 2, and APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX.

I'm going to try to get myself back on a regular schedule of posting reader mail. (You should see the stuff that's piling up here.) So this coming Monday, I'll start what I hope will be weekly Monday postings of the previous week's mail. We'll see how long I can keep this up. Probably until Fox is back with new episodes of FUTURAMA, KING OF THE HILL, THE SIMPSONS, and THE X-FILES. Then it'll be back to the couch for me on Sunday nights.

Coming attractions: Odds 'n' ends, including new entries in the Flick Filosopher's Film Festival... and PLANET OF THE APES.

Coming attractions: Various sundries, a bunch of little indies, and AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS.

Coming attractions: Various sundries, a bunch of little indies, TNT's THE MISTS OF AVALON, JURASSIC PARK III, and AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS.

Coming attractions: Various sundries, a bunch of little indies, LEGALLY BLONDE, MADE, and TNT's THE MISTS OF AVALON.

When you choose to watch the Infinifilm version of THIRTEEN DAYS (and you can still watch the regular, unenhanced version if you want, of course), every few minutes or so up pops a little menu along the bottom of the screen, like clickable subtitles, which take you to things like little interviews with historians who explain the political context of what's going on onscreen, or snippets of production information, or -- and this was my favorite use of the idea -- deleted scenes. And because the DVD extras are so integrated into the movie experience, you can watch the deleted scenes right where they would have been had they ended up in the final cut. (All the other extras fit in right where they should, too: When the Kennedy brothers make an offhand reference to Berlin, for instance, just as us political nincompoops are wondering why Berlin was so important during the Cold War, up pops an offer to have someone explain it to us.) You can access all the extras separately, as you would on a regular DVD, but Infinifilm makes watching a DVD more like surfing the Web, with hotlinks just where you need them. And if you're reading this, you probably like surfing the Web.

Chatting about cool DVD extras is bound to come up in CINEMATIC MUSINGS, which debuts in two days. FlickFilosopher.com reader Richard just subscribed, saying: "I'm looking forward to your newsletter, and at $20 you're still a pretty inexpensive source of entertainment..." I've got lots of fun stuff planned for Cinematic Musings, so entertainment is definitely in the offing. I hope you'll join Richard and subscribe now.

Coming attractions: Various sundries, a bunch of little indies, TNT's THE MISTS OF AVALON, and FINAL FANTASY.

Some people are getting Movie-a-day delivered right to their email inboxes. Are you one of them? You could be: find out how here.

Coming attractions: Various sundries, a bunch of little indies, and THE MISTS OF AVALON on TNT.

CINEMATIC MUSINGS, my new subscriber-only email newsletter thingie, launches on July 11. You wouldn't want to miss anything, would you? Then subscribe now.

Coming attractions: Various sundries, and CATS & DOGS.

Purely a coincidence, but A.I. inspired something along similarly geeky lines.

If you can't get enough of me (and you know who you are), then here's your chance to get some more. CINEMATIC MUSINGS is my new weekly email newsletter, featuring 100 percent exclusive content -- none of it will be repeated here at FlickFilosopher.com. It's a kind of stream- of- filmic- consciousness, surf- the- movie- Web- with- MaryAnn kinda thing, and the only way to get it is to subscribe... and then you'll get a little piece of me in your in-box every Wednesday. I'd like to debut CINEMATIC MUSINGS on July 11, but I'd also like to kick off with 500 subscribers. So sign up and spread the word. No, I will not be revealing my phone number nor will I be sharing photos of myself in the newsletter -- I'll only be baring my soul. (MOVIE-A-DAY.COM is now available via email, too. Info here.)

Coming attractions: Various sundries, CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL and CATS & DOGS.

As a result of a weekend pretty much spent locked in a hotel meeting room, great things are afoot* at The Flick Filosopher, as you will see over the next few weeks and months. Everyone who has been asking for more, more, MORE of me will get your wish granted. Everyone who has been hoping to get some free (or nearly) tchotchkes from me will be personally held responsible for the shameful misuse of our precious natural resources the manufacture and distribution of such things will require.

Basically, The Flick Filosopher will be completing its conquest of the Internet in short order.

I must share the tale of my journey to the conference, only because it has a perfectly ironic and movie-related ending. I arrived at LaGuardia airport to discover that my flight was delayed for more than an hour because the airport had been closed to incoming flights earlier in the morning due to fog, and our plane was still on the ground in Washington, DC. Okay, fine -- no one controls the weather. But when I'd called United -- as the airlines always tell you to do -- before I left for the airport, I'd been told my flight was on time, even though the airport had (unbeknownst to me, of course) already been closed for several hours. So, United already knew my flight would be delayed, and lied to me about it.

The plane finally arrives from DC and we wait while they clean it and restock it and do everything they need to do when they turn a plane around. Presumably, they check to make sure that the tires aren't flat and that the wings are still attached. They let us board, at last... and when we are all ensconced in our impossibly tiny seats, the captain comes on the horn to tell us that some whatsit in one of the engines needs to be doodled with, and there will be a short delay while the engine is disassembled or something. Every 20 minutes or so, the captain comes back on to tell us, in so many words, that she has no idea what the mechanics are doing, but it should be another 20 minutes or so while we wait for our lemon-soaked napkins to be delivered.* At one point, as she's saying we're getting ready to leave, I can see out my window that there's still a guy up a ladder fiddling with the engine. They really must think their customers are idiots.

Two hours after we board, we finally push back from the gate. Two hours during which I am remembering that absurdly young woman who died after getting a blood clot in her leg from sitting too long on a flight, and meanwhile, here's all 5 feet, 11 inches of me trying to shift around in a seat designed for Gary Coleman.

So, why two hours, sitting on the plane, at the gate? As I see it, there are two explanations. Either the crew of one flight doesn't tell their relief that something is wrong with the plane -- which would be bad -- or they do communicate and the airline said, Fuck the passengers, get 'em on the plane, where they're less likely to be able to make a noisy stink while they wait for two hours. (Insert evil cackle here.)

Anyway, at the end of this, the inflight movie was ERIN BROCKOVICH. And you all know how I feel about Julia Roberts. (Worse, the movie on the return flight was PRETTY WOMAN. It was -- can you fucking believe this? -- Julia Roberts Month on United Airlines.)

Right: United Airlines. United sucks. More even than Julia Roberts.

(*Sorry: I've been rereading Douglas Adams since he thumbed the great cosmic ride, and I've reverted to 8th grade, dropping HHGTTG references left and right.)

Coming attractions: Yet more DVD reviews, weird indies, AFI 100 flicks, and a little movie called A.I.

Coming attractions: A grab-bag of AFI 100 flicks, DVD reviews, and more entries in The Flick Filosopher's Film Festival.

So, no more mailing list giveaways. I hope you'll join the list anyway, if you're not already a member.

Coming attractions: AFI 100 flicks, TOMB RAIDER, and ATLANTIS.

Coming attractions: AFI 100 flicks, EVOLUTION, and SWORDFISH.

I'm extremely grateful to all of you who have sent donations to keep the Flick Filosopher solvent in this Internet downturn, but the number of contributors doesn't even come close to the number of movie fans who visit this site in a single hour. So drop a buck or two in the tip jar, to let me know that there are more than a handful of people out there who truly appreciate what I'm doing here.

05.24.01: Attention, space nerds (and I include myself in the appellation): All sorts of cool science stuff is coming to DVD. Like the IMAX movies THE DREAM IS ALIVE and BLUE PLANET, coming June 12, and the documentary OUT OF THE PRESENT, about cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who got stranded up on Mir when the Soviet Union collapsed. Do you ever turn the lights out in the middle of the night and watch the NASA channel when they're showing the footage of the Earth rolling by through the shuttle windows, and pretend you're floating around up there? Then you've love these DVDs.

Coming attractions: AFI 100 flicks, my Oscar review of GLADIATOR, plus PEARL HARBOR.

Coming attractions: AFI 100 flicks, my Oscar review of GLADIATOR, plus PEARL HARBOR.

Coming attractions: AFI 100 flicks, my Oscar review of GLADIATOR, plus MOULIN ROUGE and PEARL HARBOR.

Coming attractions: AFI 100 flicks, my Oscar review of GLADIATOR, plus SHREK and MOULIN ROUGE.

How scary is this? I have a fansite. Or maybe a stalker. *gulp*

Coming attractions: Yes, I'll get to those AFI 100 movies someday soon, ditto my Oscar review of GLADIATOR, plus A KNIGHT'S TALE.

Coming attractions: More AFI 100, my Oscar review of GLADIATOR, and -- woo-hoo! -- THE MUMMY RETURNS.

Coming attractions: More AFI 100 and my Oscar review of GLADIATOR.

A fellow critic/friend of mine half-jokingly accused me of being a starfucker for giving in to the irresistible temptation A&E dangled in front of me: the chance to interview Horatio himself, Ioan Gruffudd. It can get weird -- film criticism and making nice with actors or directors can certainly conflict with each other, though of course if I weren't a huge fan of the Hornblower flicks I'd never have found the temptation so irresistible in the first place. But if I ever announce an exclusive interview with Adam Sandler, that will indicate that I have gone off the deep end, and I implore in advance some kind soul to shoot me between the eyes and put me out of my misery.

Anyway, all that was by way of a reminder to check back on my chat with Gruffudd on Monday, when I'll post a few final comments from him on the, um, interesting ending of RETRIBUTION.

Coming attractions: More AFI 100 and BLOW.