I’m in.

Good God damn, I think I’m going to miss you most of all, Jesse. Your engagement in the comments was always a welcome sight, and you felt plugged into the community in a way few online writers do. Excellent work, great times, and hopefully more ahead. Love you, man.

I found myself really appreciating the writing here and wondering if this was a new person who might have some old AVClub flame. Then I got down to the comments. :-( 

Is there any lead on where else we can go for this kind of coverage? 

my new rule for queer representation is that if the filmmakers have to tell me about it in an interview outside the text, it’s not queer representation

i’m all for catwoman being a woman of the world, but if this is all you’re gonna do then why even bother

Fare thee well, Herr Hassenger, and thanks for all the good work!

Happy trails, Jesse. I wish it were under happier circumstances. I wish you luck.

Aw, we’ll miss you, and your inexplicable love of the Star Wars prequels! Even though you and I often disagreed about things, you always went to great lengths to keep things professional and justify your positions on things. Here’s hoping you wash up somewhere that isn’t run by a vulture capitalist douchenozzle.

Thanks much. As a freelancer, it’s weird (and I’m sure vastly less disruptive than the extremely hard-working and screwed-over staffers) because in the short term, it just feels like, oh, I haven’t gotten my next AVC assignment yet.

There it is indeed.

Thank you so much! And seriously, WHAT a lineup the film section had! (As did plenty of other sections, but since I follow film most closely, I was most acutely aware of who my name got to inexplicably share space with.) Fortunately, I think everyone involved has other outlets, but I’ll miss our all-star lists,…

Thank you so much! And yeah: I don’t want to speak for others, but my understanding is that the consensus among pretty much all the freelance film contributors is... no Dowd, no deal. (At least given these circumstances; obviously would be different if Alex was leaving for greener pastures.) If there’s anyone who’s…

Dang, Jesse. You too? I’ve always appreciated your reviews and comments. All the best to you and your family.

You got enough gooey stuff from the other people, so I’ll keep it light-hearted and just say:

I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that I’m going to miss seeing your name (and the names of all the other critics) on a review. I may not have always agreed with you but I always felt you had a valid reason for your opinion and I appreciated your willingness to enter the comment section and debate with the…

Fare thee well in your next chapter. It’s a bummer that the powers-that-be have decided to gut what made the AV Club great. It’s been my go-to for a staggeringly long time, but that time is over. 

Well, we’ve enjoyed the reviews, which for me stood as the last vestiges of the old AV Club, the AV CLub we used to know. I hope all the departing writers make a similar valedictory post so we can all say farewell - I for one will be de-bookmarking this place I’ve read regularly since, I don’t know, 2006. It’s too…

At the risk of self-indulgence, I’m gonna pop down here for whoever is poking around in the comments section to say that this is my last A.V. Club review. (I believe that’s the case for everyone writing an A.V. Club movie review this week.) This is really more of a farewell-toned piece, ICYMI:

It’s funny to me how kind-of-predictable this version of Batman is, based only on the trailer that they cut together two years ago during the COVID-induced break in filming, after only recording like 10% of the movie. It’s moody, patiently paced, capably acted with lots of gravitas, emphasizes detective work, and…

Best wishes going forward for you Dowd. I enjoyed your work here very much over the years and this place is most certainly worse for not keeping you around

a little disappointed in Catwoman’s ambiguity here (sort of the whole reason she is such a compelling character), but otherwise sounds like a good watch.