Fin: I'll never meet Martin Scorsese, the end of the strike, and looking forward to October

He makes the best f-ckin' films. And if I ever meet him...

Sometimes I think the universe is trying to prevent me from ever being in the same room as Martin Scorsese. 

Back in 2009, I talked my bosses into flying me to L.A. for something called "BluCon," which was celebrating the promise of Blu-ray technology, and where Scorsese was scheduled to deliver the keynote address. 

He did indeed, but it turned out… his keynote remarks were delivered from New York, via satellite. You can still watch them now, but not anymore in person than I did that day:

When Silence came out in 2016, I was invited to see it in New York with him in attendance (and I'm guessing Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as well), but on a day when I couldn't be there. Three years later, before The Irishman came out, half the critics I know were invited to go see it, with Scorsese and all those actors in attendance, but it was a year before my acceptance to the Critics Choice Association came through. 

This week, I was invited up to New York to see his new film Killers of the Flower Moon, with Scorsese once again there… but it was 24 hours too early for my planned trip up there for the New York Film Festival, and my trip can't be moved. 

Like I've said before, I don't get starstruck a lot by the famous people I've sometimes gotten to meet or see in person, and I’m certainly not in this business principally, or even peripherally, to meet famous people. But someone like Steven Spielberg, last year in Toronto, that was just a bit different. Maybe someday I'll get to meet Martin Scorsese. And if I ever do meet him, I know exactly what I'll say… 

October is going to be a pretty major movie month, I feel like. Like I said, I'll be up in New York this week for some NYFF stuff, and then of course the Philadelphia Film Festival comes around at the end of October, while possibly going up against a Phillies playoff run for the second straight year (after not doing so for over a decade.) 

The new Scorsese movie arrives in between as does, yes, the Taylor Swift concert film. As well as about 15 different intriguing-sounding streaming documentaries. And, of course, Dicks: The Musical. Look for reviews right here, including early looks at all the festival stuff. 

The War is Over 

Hey, the WGA strike is over! And more importantly, it looks like the writers held out for a really good deal. I'm proud of them and hope the SAG-AFTRA members can get something similar. 

So I expect to hear about a glut of new projects, that have been in limbo for the last six months. Something original, something relevant, something like… 

I know how excited I am for the episode where four 80-year-old women help him win Super Bowl LI. 

This week's writings

Thank you, everyone, once again, for reading this week. Here at The SS Ben Hecht, I said goodbye to Netflix’s DVDs, looked back on 30 years of True Romance, and reviewed Dumb Money and Man on the Run. 

For Splice Today, I reviewed the new film The Creator. 

For Living Life Fearless, I looked back on 30 years of Lost in Translation. And no, it doesn’t matter what he whispers to her at the end. 

For AppleInsider, I wrote my bi-weekly Apple crime blotter column, and I already know what the lede is for the next one. 

For Broad Street Review, I wrote my monthly preview of repertory film screenings in the Philadelphia area, including a four-part seminar about the Coen Brothers at Bryn Mawr Film Institute, and several different ways to see The Exorcist. 

And while everyone loves to make fun of Lauren Boebert for the “Beetlejuice” incident – and everyone certainly should – she did something else this week that’s way more horrifying, as I wrote about for 19FortyFive. 

Coming next week: My first film festival dispatch of the fall, plus a look back at a should-have-been classic movie, and a new, locally relevant documentary. As always, thank you for your support.