A return to reviewing? Plus another new Film Nerd 2.0

Hi, folks. Been a little while since we spoke directly like this.

If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know I’ve gone through various shifts in focus, and not just from outlet to outlet, but even here at the newsletter in the six years it's been around.

One of the most profound was a decision to stop reviewing new releases. It happened for a number of reasons, not the least of which was self-preservation. I had essentially retired from filmmaking, and then an opportunity fell into my lap that I had to pursue, and I was determined not to burn any bridges while I tried to get a project off the ground. I have had a terrible habit of shooting my mouth off at inopportune times and saying things in print that have sabotaged me professionally. I decided there was safety in writing about older films instead.

Honestly, though, it was more than that. I felt like I was so disillusioned by the direction the industry was heading that there was no joy in my reviews anymore. When I wrote think pieces, there was a distinct pessimism that set in. I know why I was feeling that way. I’ve watched several industries I care about slowly fall victim to the venture capital brain rot that is ruining everything, and it has left me embittered in many ways. It’s hard not to feel like everything is getting worse as late-stage capitalism ruins movies and TV and the Internet and publishing, and that was before all of this horseshit with generative AI got kicked into high gear. I figured I had to find a way to focus on things that made me happy because I felt overwhelmed by all the things that didn’t. Part of it was also that there is a weight to what happens when I publish my thoughts about movies that is unavoidable after 30 years of publishing. It’s hard to say that without sounding like an egotist, but it’s true. I have both helped and hurt films over the years with my words, and after a certain point, being aware of that made it harder and harder to want to write about anything. I’ve had filmmakers thank me for things I wrote and I’ve had them threaten and curse me as well. It’s a side effect of having done this for so long, and eventually, it made it feel too political every time I sat down to write about something new.

I’ve never stopped watching new movies, of course. I watch them just as voraciously as I always have, and for all sorts of reasons. I do several things professionally that I cannot discuss at all, and I still average about 225 new films seen every year. I enjoy largely seeing things during their commercial run now, with paying audiences, and seeing them on my schedule. I love seeing things on Thursday nights, as late as possible, and being ready for the opening weekend conversation that happens, but I am often at the theater two or three times a week. That’s especially true this year, and I realized that I’m getting the itch to have that conversation with you guys again. I don’t want to change anything about how I’m seeing films, though. I don’t want to get back into the press screening system. I don’t want to engage with the studios or with publicists. I don’t want to be part of the machinery of selling you things. But I would like to talk about new releases again, and so… let’s give it a try.

I will issue a quick caveat up front. You won’t be reading a ton of pans, but I also am not going to tiptoe around things. I only really know one way to write about film, and it is with a sort of blunt, direct emotional honesty. I watch films and love films because they make me feel things. They are emotional delivery systems. At their best, they allow you slip into someone else’s skin and see the world the way they do. They generate human empathy and connect us to an entire world of experience. When they work, they are miracles. When they don’t, they can still be instructive, and they are still giving you a look inside someone else’s interpretation of the assignment. There is almost nothing I like about Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, but I think every choice they made is revealing and interesting in conversation. I’m not just going to tell you about things I liked, but that is the main reason I’m going to get back into it. The movies have made me want to write about them again.

Right now, everyone’s talking about Obsession and Backrooms, and for good reason. It is an exciting generational moment. My sons are 18 and 21 now, and they’re finally seeing their own peers step up to make mainstream art, and it’s a thrilling moment for them. I think Obsession is the better of the two films, but Backrooms is the more ambitious debut. They are both exciting for different reasons, and I am eager to see more work from Curry Barker and Kane Parsons. It already feels like Barker has a wider range of interests he wants to explore than Parsons, but he’s also been at it longer. His comedy work exhibits a range that makes me excited to see where he’s coming from and what else he’s got up his sleeve.

More than anything, I’m excited to see my kids excited. Miles in particular wanted to write about the way he’s feeling. He graduated high school last night, as of the publication of this issue, and he’s starting to get serious about his future. As a gift for graduating, I got him his own AMC A-List membership. I did the same thing for Toshi when he graduated. Miles has already used it for several films, and he’s going to try to sneak in several more films before he leaves for his post-graduation trip to Europe with his friends. I’ve always loved taking the boys to see films, but giving them the ability to see as much as they want on their own schedules is real freedom, and they are both hungry enough about movies now to actually use the memberships.

So before I continue, let’s check in with Miles McWeeny. Much of this piece was written before Backrooms opened, but he’s got an addendum at the bottom written afterward. It’s been a busy month of getting ready for that graduation, so this got caught in that whirlwind a little bit...