As mentioned yesterday, I’ve been taking a break and thinking about what I want to do with this blog. Truth be told, since I moved the music to a new site, my stats on The Midnight Cafe have been abysmal. I know I’ll never be famous. I’ll never have a huge following on this site. I’m not sure I’d want to be that big; it seems like more of a hassle than not. But I would like to have some kind of readership.
I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how the algorithms work anymore. But I figure the more content (a word I hate, but I don’t know a better one) I create, the better chances of people finding my site. So I’m gonna make a go of it. I’m going to try and post several times a day. Sometimes I’ll do full reviews, sometimes I’ll write short ones. I’d like ot post interesting videos, and news items about new releases. Etc. Anything I find interesting or anytime I have something to say, I’ll try to make a post.
I’ll give it a month. If I do start to grow the site, then I’ll continue. If I don’t…well, I’ll find something better to do with my time.
I watched 37 movies in May. 28 of them were new to me. 16 of them were made before I was born. It was Mysteries in May, and I watched 24 of them.
Favorite first-time watches were So Evil My Love, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, I See a Dark Stranger, Mikey and Nicky, and Dune Part Two.
The actors category is filling out nicely. I like seeing more actresses on there.
I still have some work to do with my directors, but we’re making progress.
Anyway, here’s the full list.
Flying Leathernecks (1951) **1/2
The Mean Season (1985) ***
Final Destination 5 (2011) ***1/2
The Final Destination (2009) **
Final Destination 3 (2006) ***
Prey (2022) ****
Novocaine (2025) ***1/2
Cop Land (1997) ****
The Spy in Black (1939) ****
Dune: Part Two (2024) ****
Dune (2021) ****
Dark Command (1940) ***1/2
A Simple Favor (2018) ***
A Minecraft Movie (2025) ***1/2
Blood for Dracula (1974) ***1/2
It Was a Dark and Silly Night (2008) **
A Gasoline Wedding (1918) ***
The Unseen (1945) ***1/2
The Long Goodbye (1973) ****1/2
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) ***1/2
The Big Sleep (1978) ***
After the Thin Man (1936) ***1/2
Mikey and Nicky (1976) ****
Freaky (2020) ***1/2
I See a Dark Stranger (1946) ****
The Suicide Squad (2021) **1/2
Platoon (1986) ****1/2
The Fallen Bridge (2022) ***1/2
Madigan (1968) ***1/2
They Might Be Giants (1971) ***1/2
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) ***1/2
Lady in Cement (1968) ***
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) *
The Saint (1997) ***
So Evil My Love (1948) ****
The Uninvited (1944) ****
Crooked House (2008) ***
Tony Rome (1967) **1/2
themidnightcafe.org 
Mat, sending you a high-five as you journey through this. If I were a movie guy, I would love these articles! I’m just kind of an all-music guy.
But here’s a thought to grow readership. Are you on Reddit? I recently joined it and I get an email a day from someone posting something within my interests.
I think if you post your new reviews on Reddit – with a link back to your blog so they can read more – that could help.
It’s the best way to reach more people, other than relying on search algorhthms and such.
Same with other social media, of course … are you on Instragram? That seems to be the best platform to expand your base beyond your “in real life” friends. I’ve seen people grow their audience in a big way just by posting good content often. You’ve got that, in spades … for those who love movies, your posts are gold.
I am on IG with an account dedicated just to Record Stores:
https://www.instagram.com/record_stores_fan_atlanta/
Mat, let me also say, Midnight Cafe was truly my Van Morrison source for YEARS … it’s wild how much less my daily listening revolves around Van since you closed the music portion of your blog. But I don’t lament that – instead, I’m just glad for all the Van shows you posted here that I’d never have seen otherwise. Thank you again !! – Noel
I appreciate that. I am on several social media platforms (including Instagram, I just followed you – though I haven’t posted anything on their in years). But I’m not very good at it. I don’t think I have the energy to gain a lot of followers on social media. It seems like to become popular you have to be perpetually online, have to make multiple posts per day. You have to be tuned into the zeitgeist and making interesting comments on whatever is trending at that moment. Etc. That just seems exhausting to me.
I know that I’ll never be famous (or even internet famous) and I’ll never make this site into something huge. I just don’t have whatever it is it takes to do that sort of thing.
I mean I’m still running a blog which was outmoded more than a decade ago! And movie reviews aren’t a driving force to bring people to a site. But I’d like to think I can bring in a few readers. Right now I get less than 100 unique readers per day. My music site wasn’t huge. At my peak I had maybe 1200 subscribers and another 1-2,000 unique readers each day. If I could get this site up to those numbers I’d be happy.
I think there is a balance to be found. I don’t want to be the sort of person who chases new followers. I don’t want to spend every waking moment creating new content to get more people coming here. That would drive me crazy. But I might have to work at it a little harder to bring in a few more folks. I don’t even know if I can keep up the little extra work I’m planning. In a week I may find just making 2-3 posts per day is more than I have the energy for. Even if I do none of it may drive any more traffic my way.
And that’s okay. If it goes nowhere then I’ll just move on. I’ll find something else to do.
You are welcome for the Van. It was actually this site that made me a huge Van fan as well. Before running this blog I had his greatest hits and enjoyed them but never moved beyond that. But then I posted a couple of compilations on here and that attracted a guy named FreeMorrison and he sent me a bunch of shows. I posted them and that brought in a bunch of Van fans. So I posted more shows and then I actually started listening to them and wow. Now I’m all in.
If you are interested I can send you a list of all the van that I have (and never got around to posting) and maybe we can set something up so I can send you some more.
Mat, that sounds awesome! I’ll email you about the Van.
And as for trying to achieve a big following, I hear you. Not interested! In fact, I block every ‘bot that follows me on IG (beautiful Russian girl, guy selling crypto, etc) because I only want to relate to people who seem to be alive and actually listening to music, lol.
One note: I don’t think you have to post multiple times a day to grow a site’s following on, say, IG. My goal is to post once every 3 days. And scroll/comment on others posts, which tends to make people check out who I am.
For a long time that worked great. Then IG’s algrorithm changed and IG was always wanting me to follow people I don’t know – music stars and such. No interest! And my likes/follows really slowed.
All of which is OK. But anyways, I just wanted to say I don’t want to read 3x a day by ANYONE, so that sort of volume isn’t needed. Just reaching other movie fans with 3 posts a week or something is cool … and I have found hashtags do help.
Thanks again for the Van offer!
My wife has an Instagram account (she posts amazing doll photos on it) and she often complains about how hardly anyone sees her stuff anymore because the dang algorithm changes.
It does seem like the algorithm wants you to post as often as possible. I think it just wants as much junked turned out as possible so it can show more stuff to people and keep them scrolling.
My plan is to maybe post 2-3 times a day, and hopefully just interesting things and see how that helps. If that winds up being too much please feel free to complain. I’ll probably muck around with my social media accounts as well and see what they can do.
I have no idea what I’m doing. But I want it to be fun for everyone.
Ha ha cool – and understood!!