A Critic’s Thanks
Article by Mark Woodring
**Remember, you can listen to all our discussions directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Well, we’re approaching the end of the 2025 movie year, and I must say that it has been a long and arduous 12 months, that’s for certain.
For all of you movie-goers out there who choose to spend some of your valuable minutes with us here at the Visually Stunning Movie Podcast, I can say with all sincerity that we appreciate it. As much as we love watching movies and talking about movies, it doesn’t really mean much if nobody else is reading or listening as we discuss what it is that we like or don’t like seeing up on that big silver screen.
Honestly, it isn’t always easy. I mean, sure, it sounds fun, watching movies… a lot of movies, but we don’t just get to do it for fun. No, we have to report back to the folks at the various PR companies who represent the studios and set up the advanced screenings for both the press and for general audiences that are designed (and hoped) to generate pre-release buzz leading to that over-achieving opening weekend box office number.
Again, on paper, it sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it?
Well, during the down times, when Hollywood isn’t putting a lot of films in theaters, it’s pretty easy to keep up with those screenings. Maybe a film a week, if we’re lucky, so it’s not that difficult to watch and write a review or record an episode to share our thoughts. Whether a critic is employed by a local outlet, a national outlet, or even a modest, self-employed podcast who reports to no one other than themselves, we all feel the pressure to do the absolute best we can when it comes to this job.
And it IS a job, whether we get paid a little or a lot (or nothing) for doing it, our reward is doing what we love and sharing that love with other movie fans.
But then times like NOW arrive, when studios are absolutely stuffing theater screens with films designed to garner your holiday season dollars or awards season accolades, this is the time of year when it is not uncommon to get hit with 3, 4, or even 5 in-person screenings in a week, not to mention sifting through the physical media and online screener links that come with awards season in order to correct any earlier oversights or small-release non-availabilities.
Heck, we’re currently putting together our nominations for the Utah Film Critics Association (due in less than 3 weeks) so we can add still MORE films to our watch lists to make sure we have seen everything that made the cut before our final balloting happens in mid-late January.
Holidays be-damned.
In fact, as I write this, it’s a Monday afternoon and I am sitting at a small table in one of my local theater chain lobbies (Larry H. Miller Megaplex) waiting to see a mammoth release tonight: Avatar Fire and Ash. Tomorrow, there will be another screening (two, actually, but I can’t make the earlier one), then another on Wednesday night.
The week before Thanksgiving there were FIVE in-person screenings, which is insane, by the way. But if that doesn’t sound like that big a deal, consider that the closest theater to me is roughly 34 miles from my house, by freeway, at rush hour, so that’s ~70 miles round trip, plus parking, dinner, and traffic aggravation.
The FARTHEST theater from my house that is used for screenings is the one I’m currently sitting in, which is roughly 48 miles from home, so ~100 miles round trip, plus the stuff mentioned above.
So it’s not just the movies, it’s everything else that goes with it.
I know what you’re thinking: “First-world problems.”
And you’d be correct, but it does help explain why we are so appreciative of not only the opportunity to see these films, but of you who let us talk to you about them. Without you all, there’d be not a lot of reason to really do this at all.
I mean, I know my place in the podcast eco-system, and it is not among the big names out there on Spotify and YouTube… but we have hope.
I guess what I’m trying to say in this post-Thanksgiving period of insane film consumption is simply this:
Thank you.
Thank you for loving movies as much as we do. Thank you for taking the time to read a few hundred words about a film you might otherwise have had no interest in or not even known existed until we mentioned it. Thank you for listening, and watching, and liking, and sharing, those thoughts of ours you find useful or entertaining.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and learn what it means to us, not just here at VSMP, but to all critics who take the time, who have the genuine love for the medium and don’t see it as simply a way to garner clicks and ad dollars.
We’re all Movie Fans, just like you.
So thank you.
And have a great holiday season.
Please don’t forget to LIKE, SHARE, and FOLLOW us on:
- Facebook (@vsmoviepodcast)
- X (@vsmoviepodcast)
- Instagram (@visuallystunningmoviepodcast)
- Threads (@visuallystunningmoviepodcast)
- YouTube (@visuallystunningmoviepodcast)
Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our audio wherever you listen to podcasts (https://shows.acast.com/vsmoviepodcast)
And please, if you like what we do, consider helping us keep on entertaining you. You can use this handy link:
Or, you could check out the merch in Our Store:
Not only will you be helping us out if you pick up some merch, you get cool stuff to wear around (including the coveted WTFWT? logo!)
