Eager to read the internet’s longest most “in-depth” reviews of the week’s biggest — and smallest — new films, but don’t want to suffer the eyesore of pop-ads or sift through the toxic slurry that is social media? Itching to go to the movies, but tragically unaware that Janus is touring a 4K restoration of the 1982 sci-fi marvel that inspired everything from “Cowboy Bebop” to “Scavengers Reign”? Looking for a direct portal to the dark and twisted mind of the film critic who decided to omit “Dune: Part 2” from IndieWire’s mid-year list of 2024’s best movies, and receive exclusive clues in the internet’s ongoing search to figure out what’s wrong with him?
Well, if you answered “yes” (or even shrugged a semi-polite “I guess?”) in response to any of those rhetorical questions, then we have some very good news for you: IndieWire’s David Ehrlich has started a newsletter. And in a wild coincidence, that’s the exact same David Ehrlich who’s been instructed to write this website post informing people about it. Small world.
The newsletter is called “In Review,” it goes out every other Friday afternoon, and it simply delivers all of IndieWire’s latest film reviews right to your inbox at the start of the weekend — along with various other musings from yours truly. In the first edition, which we soft-launched two weeks ago, I waxed poetic about how fitting it would be for the Russo brothers to slink back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after years of insisting that cinema has outgrown the need for movie theaters. The second edition, which was sent out this afternoon, kicks off with the 1,000-word rant about Shawn Levy’s Instagram that I wrote while sandwiched between my two young kids in the last row of a cross-country flight to visit my in-laws.
This is vital stuff, people, and you won’t get most of it anywhere else. Not from my X, or my Instagram. Not from my Letterboxd, or my BlueSky account. Not from the Post(?) account I signed up for that time when everyone thought Twitter was about to go offline, or even from my defunct Tumblr blog that was solely dedicated to artful screenshots from “Mad Men” (we call that a “pre-children” activity). What I’m trying to say is that being a person on the internet is exhausting, but reading a person on the internet doesn’t have to be. I mean, my newsletter definitely will be, but at least it will be convenient.
What was I talking about? Oh, right: Whether you’re looking for something to watch on a Friday night, curious about the latest festival premieres from around the world, or eager for a deep — and reliably different — analysis of a recent film that you can’t stop thinking about, “In Review” has got you covered.
To sign up for it, just click here. …And then scroll down. Keep scrolling. All the way to the bottom. There it is. Don’t forget to hit the black “subscribe” button at the bottom. If you’re still having trouble, Mom, just text me and I’ll walk you through it.