🍿107: Trap

“In case I don’t see ya’, good afternoon, good evening and good night!”

~ The Truman Show, 1998

It’s the end of an era, as today will mark the last issue of Salty Popcorn for the foreseeable future.

This has not been an easy decision, but I will try to explain why it feels necessary. In May, there was a sudden surge in new subscribers, which saw SP’s readership grow from 500 to 3,000. The growth felt like divine intervention, as I had drafted a similar “resignation” only a month prior.

Salty Popcorn has never been about money, but I have always hoped it would grow to make a significant part of my income. The idea was that I could cut back on client work and focus more on writing and recording content for SP. Sadly, that’s not happened and I’ve come to accept it probably won’t — and that’s fine, kind of.

I cannot emphasise enough how incredibly grateful I am to everyone who has read, liked, shared and subscribed — your support has got us this far. I never thought I could grow such an audience (with no marketing!), and I feel both proud and humbled, but it’s not sustainable. It’s a reminder that it takes a lot to make it as a freelance writer, and that hard work, passion and even luck aren’t always enough to turn something into a commercial success.

I’ve loved writing SP, but it’s felt more chore-ish than joyous in recent months. I’ve been holding on to the notion that (commercial) success could be just around the corner for a long time, but it’s not paid off. If less than 1% of our readership is prepared to pay for SP, it will take a very long time to get this newsletter to where I want it to be — and frankly, there are other projects I’d like to pursue.

All that said, I’ve seen some fantastic films that I wouldn’t have, if not for SP. I’ve even managed to write a few decent reviews too! It might not have worked out as I had hoped, but being able to pursue something I’m passionate about is a privilege nonetheless.

Rest assured that billing has been paused and Paid Subscribers will no longer be charged. Thanks again for all your support, it means so much. We might be back one day (so don’t unsubscribe!), but for now, that’s all folks.

Saltily yours,

Tom ❤️

P.S. I don’t want to leave you with nothing, as I’ve not written a review this week (sorry!), so here are some of the films (new, newish, old and upcoming) that I’m looking forward to watching that you might enjoy:

• Hit the Road

• Hundreds of Beavers

• We Live in Time

• Memories of Murder

• The Square

• Sleep

• The Green Mile

• Didi

• Ran

• All of Us Strangers

• Kneecap

• Anora

• Io Capitano

• Tár

• Joker: Folie à Deux

• Perfect Days

• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

• Sing Sing

• Lawrence of Arabia

• The Seventh Seal

• Amadeus

• Barry Lyndon

• Rear Window

• Portrait of a Lady on Fire

• Seven Samurai

• Phantom Thread

• Evil Does Not Exist

• Stalker

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

• The King of Comedy

• Nosferatu

• The Aviator

• A Bronx Tale

• Once Upon a Time in America

• Godzilla Minus On

There are many more that I’m struggling to remember, but that should keep you busy! As a final note, follow me on Letterboxed (_SaltyPopcorn) and feel free to DM via the Substack app if you ever fancy chatting about films.

• Details have started to emerge about Toy Story 5, including the plot and the cast. Read more.

• More news from Pixar as The Incredibles 3 has also been announced. Read more.

• Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers — add that to the list above!) is set to play Anthony Bourdain in an upcoming biopic. Read more.

• Erik Poppe will open the Norwegian Film Festival in a few days with his highly-anticipated drama, Quisling – The Final Days, based on Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’. Read more.

UK: 20 September // USA: 20 September

Mary-Louise Parker plays a quantum physicist who finds herself in a time loop, with a black hole growing in her chest and only a week to live. But what the doctors and her family don’t know is that she has already lived that week many times.

UK: 11 October // USA: 11 October

Set in 1975, this dark comedy-drama chronicles the events leading to the premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night, later known as Saturday Night Live.

While many hardcore fans would argue that Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace would have been a much better film without Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best), the film would have been very different had the role gone to Michael Jackson. We’ll let you decide whether the film would have been better or worse for it.

There’s an interesting interview with Best below (ignore the AI-generated images) where he describes the time he met MJ backstage at The Wembley Arena with George Lucas and Nathalie Portman.

The pop star had wanted the role so much that he was apparently quite short with Best, and the reason Lucas decided against casting Jackson was because his star status would “compromise” the film — that and he wanted to use prosthetics and makeup, while Lucas was very set on CGI.