Not Coming to a Theater Near You is a
film review
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlet ...
website. As its name suggests, the site shies away from new releases in favor of retrospective looks at older, lesser-known films.
History
Not Coming to a Theater Near You was founded as a printed column in 1998 and has been online-only since 2001. Since 2009, Not Coming to a Theater Near You has put on public screenings of select films at
92YTribeca
92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...
in New York City
Stills an offshoot of the site featuring a different still image from a film every day, was also launched in 2009.
In 2010, ''
Film Comment
''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...
'', the
Film Society of Lincoln Center's official journal, counted Not Coming to a Theater Near You as being among the top film criticism sites (alongside
Moving Image Source,
indieWIRE
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
,
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book pro ...
, and others), calling it "an ambitious online resource for reevaluations of forgotten and fringe cinema." David Hudson, writing for
Mubi
Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...
's The Auteurs Daily, included the site on a similar best-of list.
On May 14, 2014, Not Coming to a Theater Near You ceased publication.
Content
In addition to standalone reviews, much of the content on Not Coming to a Theater Near You comes in the form of
interviews
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" r ...
, festival coverage, and features highlighting specific
genres
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
and
directors
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
. Examples include:
* 31 Days of Horror, a month-long look at
horror films
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...
, which has taken place annually since October 2004 and is currently in its seventh iteration;
* coverage of the
South by Southwest,
Sundance,
Telluride,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, and
New York film festivals
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
;
* interviews with such filmmakers and actors as
Thom Andersen
Thom Andersen (born 1943 in Chicago) is an American filmmaker, film critic, and teacher best known for his works of experimental film, including his 1975 film '' Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer'' and the 2003 essay film '' Los Angeles Plays It ...
,
Tommy Wiseau
Thomas P. Wiseau ( or ) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for writing, producing, directing, and starring in the 2003 film '' The Room'', which has been described by many critics as one of the worst films ever made and has gaine ...
, and
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman (born January 1, 1930) is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is "devoted primarily to exploring American institutions". He has been called "one of the most important and original filmmakers wor ...
;
* and spotlights on directors
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...
,
Stanley Kubrick,
François Truffaut,
Agnès Varda, etc.
In a contributors' poll on the best films of the 2000s, five films received five or more votes (from a total of 14 contributors): ''
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'', ''
In the Mood for Love'', ''
Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...
'', ''
There Will Be Blood
''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 American period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel '' Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, a silver miner turned oilm ...
'', and ''
Zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...
''.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
American film review websites