# "Movieline" in Trouble—or, Time Wounds All Heels **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2000, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147 "2000-12-05T15:55:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/1 "2000-12-05T15:55:34Z")
Just read in the business pages that “Movieline” is desperately seeking a buyer! Hachette Filipacchi said “no thanks,” and “Movieline” is expected to lose $2.8 million this year—all because I resigned, no doubt! By the way . . . All you guys who so nobly came to my defense and said you’d write letters of complaint that I was no longer in “Movieline . . .” Y’all DID actually write and send those letters, yes? ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/2 "2000-12-05T15:58:33Z")
Alright corporate disaster! That oughta teach 'em. Congrats, Eve, you’ve got a right to feel vindicated. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/3 "2000-12-05T16:02:17Z")
Well I sure did, and I just bet that my letter alone sent the stock price down two points. My letter is also notable in that it is the first example in recorded history of the phrase “excremental lapse of judgement” being used twice in the same paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/4 "2000-12-05T17:12:21Z")
It couldn’t happen to a nicer magazine. Here’s hoping they crash and burn. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/5 "2000-12-05T17:14:55Z")
Eve, you must feel so flushed with triumph… Without you, they’re nothing. I bet your ex-comerades are sitting at their desks, head in hands, bemoaning the day that you left. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/6 "2000-12-05T17:20:20Z")
“Without me, you’re nothing!” I like that. I can see showing up at their offices, dressed like Lana Turner, and declaiming that with great dramatic flourish. “Premiere” has a new editor and—despite the fact that they’re in dire financial straits, too—I sent them some of my better “Movieline” work and asked for a job. Jeez—the Republicans aren’t even in office yet, and the economy’s goin’ down the terlet . . . I have three friends who’ve lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks . . . ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/7 "2000-12-05T20:47:20Z")
Well, Eve, the White House at least thinks you can take all the credit for this one. Over the weekend, Dick Cheney mentioned that he saw signs of recession. Here was the White House Response: “We understand that Mr. Cheney has a lot of hands-on experience in big-time economic downturns,” said White House spokesman Jake Siewert, referring to Cheney’s tenure in the recession-plagued Bush and Ford administrations. “But I don’t think that makes him qualified to assess the current state of our economy.” Zzzzzap! ---
**Author:** ![poohpah\_chalupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@poohpah\_chalupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poohpah_chalupa)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/8 "2000-12-06T01:54:02Z")
**Eve** and **Premiere** …now _that_ would be cool! (I hope the stuff you submitted were compositions you wrote _before_ the editorial hatchet jobs.) btw, **yes** , I _did_ mail in a letter…I guess as I get older, I find that I get much more amusement being a cranky bastard than I used to… ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/9 "2000-12-06T05:03:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Just read in the business pages that “Movieline” is desperately seeking a buyer! Hachette Filipacchi said “no thanks,” and “Movieline” is expected to lose $2.8 million this year—all because I resigned, no doubt! > \*\* [JimCroce]“You don’t tug on Superman’s cape You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger And you don’t mess around with Eve!”[/JimCroce] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/10 "2000-12-06T06:01:55Z")
The text of my letter to Virginia Campbell: Madam: I have just seen the December/January issue of _Movieline_ magazine. As is my custom, the first thing I intended to read was Eve Golden’s column _The Bottom Shelf_. However, as I’m sure you are aware, Ms Golden’s column was absent from this issue. When I looked further, I saw her name had also been removed from the masthead, which I felt indicated that this might not be a temporary absense. I hope I am mistaken and _The Bottom Shelf_ will return as a regular feature in the next issue. I have always enjoyed Ms Golden’s work both in _Movieline_ and in her books and I feel her absense would be a loss to your magazine. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/11 "2000-12-06T09:27:42Z")
I still don’t understand why the US can’t piece together a fan movie magazine (as opposed to more “intellectual” publications like _Film Comment_ or _Sight and Sound_) like **Empire** and **Total Film** from the UK. More interviews, more reviews, more quirky columns, more diverse coverage of different films (both domestic and international). This would be an ideal platform for Eve’s unique skills/strengths, but somehow Americans have to settle for two flaming mediocrities when it comes to “pop” coverage of the film scene. As for _Movieline_, R.I.P. I’ll miss (in addition to our illustrious OPer) Joe Queenan and David Thomson, but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/12 "2000-12-06T11:01:22Z")
i gotta agree with that sentiment. America seems to want to arse-kiss the movie makers, instead of being entertaining in their own right, and being properly critical. I’ve never read Movieline, I dunno if it even comes out here, but I have read Premiere, and Empire magazine blows it outta the water. Just in the more realistically entertaining way it approaches films. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/13 "2000-12-06T14:13:21Z")
Thank you all, who wrote in! I will let you know if I hear back from “Premiere.” Don’t get me started on the state of magazines in this country—I am especially depressed, as I am reading a bio of Alexander Woollcott, and I recently read a book about the “smart magazines” of the 1910s–30s. Way back when, magazines (and book publishers) were run by people who cared about writing, and they encouraged their writers to develop individual, quirky styles. Now, it’s “Oh, that’s not exactly like everything else on the newsstand—we might confuse a reader or offend an advertiser!” and everything gets run through the hopper to sound like every other goddam boring magazine out there. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/14 "2000-12-06T14:47:57Z")
So it looks as if we need a millionaire doper to bankroll said smart magazine… tell ya what - if I hit Lotto, I’ll do it! Goodness knows, I’ve given up on the tripe that passes for magazines… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movieline-in-trouble-or-time-wounds-all-heels/44147/15 "2000-12-06T19:57:09Z")
The sad thing is that both _Movieline_ and _Premiere_ started out as good magazines. _Movieline_ used to be genuinely funny and wasn’t afraid to ridicule a bad movie or performer. _Premiere_ used to aim itself at readers who were interested in information about movie-making as opposed to celebrity gossip. But at some point, the editors of both magazines decided to become clones of _Entertainment Weekly_. My response has been to subscribe to _Entertainment Weekly_ and stop reading _Movieline_ and _Premiere_.