What a shame to see The Dissolve close its doors. It was always my go-to site for people who asked me where to find good film writing online. It was dedicated to the practice of film criticism, had an engaging community and was not intolerable because of its ad content. Still, it’s hard out there for a pimp. I’ve been online for going on 17 years (kill me now) and I probably would not be here if I hadn’t worked for free for the first five years or so. It takes time for a site to really generate the kind of hardcore traffic needed to survive. I feel like The Dissolve was just hitting its stride in terms of reach. Still, it’s a traffic-driven business and unless you want to sell out your content for clickbait crapola it’s harder and harder to compete. What a shame.
This, on the heels of Kris Tapley’s In Contention leaving Hitfix.com. I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that, except for the occasional Drew McWeeny review here or there I personally will never visit that site. Like The Dissolve, Tapley classed up the joint with his refusal to play the clickbait game, a practice which is destroying the internet.
A hat tip and a round of applause of The Dissolve — a brilliant concept, a beautiful thing.
So… basically now you’re all we’ve got, Sasha and Ryan? #HALP
srsly tho this is super sad. This was probably among my very favourite sites on the web. Gonna have to trawl Critics Roundup for a replacement 🙁
why couldn’t it be The Playlist instead–am I right, ladies?
Yeah this is just tragic. The news is discouraging for those trying to write about movies. But their content was truly encouraging. That recent piece on the 50 Female Characters since Ripley was the best thing out there for many, many months.
I would recommend that anyone who is a fan of The Dissolve listen to the Filmspotting podcast. Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen host, and Scott Tobias (of The Dissolve) is a frequent guest.
I’m in shock can’t believe this news!!!!
This is such bad news. I feel genuinely sad right now.
Nooo what I nightmare…I used to enjoy pretending to hate them, but it was all a farce…this is bullshit. I will miss them sorely.
Never gone to The Dissolve and I’m about kicking myself now. I followed Tapley for 8 or 9 years and when Guy Lodge left to go to Variety it was basically Tapley left. It stinks he and In Contention need to find a new home. But I agree, aside from some McWeeny and Sepinwall it’s hard to even go to Hitfix. Clickbait at its finest. Don’t you go off the web, Sasha!