A New Year in the Well

It’s been two whole months since I posted here. I never finished my Horrorfest entries. I even missed reviewing one of the biggest movies of my lifetime. 2015 was a year many people found to be a difficult one. A Penny in the Well was no exception. Family commitments forced The Well to take the most diminished role in film criticism I’ve taken since the inception of this site. I’m hoping 2016 will provide more opportunities to both see and comment on movies, television, music and other pop culture phenomenon.

I have grander plans for The Well over the next year, but it remains to be seen whether I will actually be able to implement some of my ambitions. It’s unlikely I will be able to return to daily reviews, however I will be tweeting reviews for every movie I see through my twitter handle @ydnasllew. I also hope to provide instant reviews through Twitter or Vine videos for any film I see in the theater. This will at least provide some sort of opinion on current releases should I fail to find the time to write full length reviews on them.

As has always been the case with The Well, I intend to write a full-length review for any film I see in theaters. 2015 was the first time since 2005 that I failed in this task. I don’t intend for that to happen again. I will also collect all the written Twitter reviews I write for every film in The Well on a regular basis for those who do not wish to engage in Twitter. I will continue the Criterion Thoughts feature that I started last year exploring all the titles in the Criterion catalogue. Again, these “thoughts” will not be outright reviews so much as impressions inspired by these remarkable films.

I finally caught up with the world of podcasting last year and have embraced several film-based podcasts that I listen to regularly. Listening to these shows has made me wonder if podcasts might really be where the future of film criticism lies. So, one of my more ambitious ideas for this year would be to start a film podcast. I have an idea or two as to just what my unique turn on the film podcast format might be, but we’ll keep that under wraps until I actually have the capacity to produce such an endeavor.

Finally, there is a project I’ve been planning for the past two years and I just haven’t been able to get it going. I’m hoping to publish a collection of my best reviews. I’d also like to publish a collection of reviews I wrote before I began the site, but that’s for later. Anyway, this project would be something I could never finance on my own, so I’ll probably be looking into some sort of crowd funding option. I have a likely publisher; it’s just a matter of figuring out costs and getting the campaign going. Keep an eye out for details right here in The Well.

So, here’s to a more fruitful year in 2016. I can’t wait to see the movies and share my thoughts. Stay tuned for my 2015 Favorites lists and what promises to be a unique new year in entertainment.