Photo of seats at the AFI by Kevin H.

Back in the summer of 2007, I sat down for a very important, high-powered editorial meeting with then Editor-in-Chief Sommer Mathis (OK, so maybe it was just beers on a bar patio) and floated the idea of starting a weekly film column at DCist. I’d been dabbling in the occasional movie review ever since starting at the site the previous year, amid my more regular duties contributing music coverage and assembling the weekly Overheard post. Sommer agreed, the Popcorn & Candy column was soon born, and writing about movies occasionally turned into writing about them weekly, and the frequency of my full-length reviews began to match that of the weekly column.

Fast-forward to 2011, during which I wrote more than two reviews a week (107 total, for both DCist and NPR, where I started writing in 2009), plus 50 weekly columns (for DCist and Washingtonian). That’s an awful lot of words, and not really a sustainable pace over the long haul for someone who only does this part-time. When The Atlantic was kind enough to allow me to start writing about film for them last month, it became apparent that something was going to have to give. So, it’s with a heavy heart and a huge heap of regret — but an even bigger helping of gratitude — that I’m closing out my five-and-a-half year tenure at DCist with today’s reviews.

I can’t begin to express how much I owe to this site. Not one of the other places I write for today would have given me a second look if not for the work I’ve done here. DCist gave me the space to essentially write about whatever I wanted to, however I wanted to, when it came to film, and having that space to develop my skills has been vital to making me the writer I am now.

More than that, though, writing for DCist introduced me to a highly-motivated, formidably-skilled community of passionate writers who I’m proud to call colleagues and even happier to call friends. All of those factors made this a tough decision. I feel like an 18-year-old heading off to college; it’s an entirely necessary step, but man, am I ever going to miss my old room.

So, a heartfelt thank you to all those writers and editors who have made these years so rewarding for me. When you leave a place, everyone says they want to buy you a drink; but I feel like I owe one to all of you. (Please don’t hold me to that.)

A sincere thanks also to this site’s readers and esteemed commentariat, who have always been kind and complimentary to me to an extremely flattering degree. I feel like I should buy all of you a drink, too. (Definitely don’t hold me to that.)

I don’t go to church. I go to the movies instead. That corny “magical” feeling that all those hokey Oscar montages tell us we’re supposed to feel, that something amazing could be about to happen every time the lights begin to dim in the cinema? That actually happens to me. The movies are important to me on a level that I can’t adequately express, so the fact that, thanks to DCist, I get to see and write about so many of them is something that makes me feel undeservedly lucky every single day.

The internet’s a pretty small place, so while I might be leaving here, I’m not going very far. There are plenty of other places you can find me on a weekly basis, as well as my own small slice of internet real estate, where I compile them all. Given that I’ll still be in the neighborhood, I won’t say goodbye.

The movies, as they often do, express that sentiment much better than I could anyway: