Moviepass — Improved and Disrupting

Posted on December 28, 2017 at 10:16 pm

Netflix co-founder and former president of Redbox Mitch Lowe and Ted Farnsworth, chief executive of Helios and Matheson Analytics bought a controlling stake in MoviePass in August for $27 million and have made improvements that have led to (1) a surge in participation and (2) fury from theater owners. For $9.95 a month, customers get an app that gets them as much as a movie ticket a day. The new owners reduced the monthly fee and membership skyrocketed. But theater owners are not happy, refusing to sign up, and have even threatened a lawsuit — it’s not clear what the basis would be as they get paid full ticket price when a member uses the app. And it’s not clear Moviepass can sustain the new price if, as one happy member told the New York Times, the app has increased his monthly movie-going from once to 12 times.

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AWFJ: Best Female Characters of 2017

Posted on December 27, 2017 at 10:16 pm

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists has a list of the most significant female characters we saw at the movies this year. I got to write about Meryl Streep’s performance as Katherine Graham again! Other characters selected by the group included Agnes Varda (as herself) in “Faces Places,” Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Frances McDormand’s Mildred in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” writer/director/star Zoe Lister-Jones in “Band Aid,” and Gal Gadot’s Diana in “Wonder Woman.”

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Rogerebert.com: 2017’s Great Performances

Posted on December 27, 2017 at 9:36 pm

It was an honor to have my thoughts on Meryl Streep in “The Post” included in rogerebert.com’s annual tribute to some of the most noteworthy performances of the year. Other highlighted actors include Adam Sandler in “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” Harry Dean Stanton in “Lucky,” Rebecca Hall in “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women,” Andy Serkis in “War for the Planet of the Apes,” Tiffany Haddish in “Girls Trip,” and Kyle Mooney in “Brigsby Bear.”