Personal Update: Looking Towards 2025
A Personal And Newsletter-Focused Update, Going Into 2025
INTRODUCTION
Back in the late August of 2023, I shared a deeply personal reflection on some struggles I was facing at the time. I was going through a challenging trial separation from my wife, of which I did not initiate. I was also working hard on improving my health, having lost nearly fifty pounds after a grueling Summer of dieting, exercising, and fasting. I was ready to take off with the newsletter and start accomplishing more than just writing one film review each week. When I wrote that then, I was doing my best to navigate those choppy waters while trying to stay hopeful about what the future could hold for me - and thus my film criticism as well.
Since I was open with you readers about my journey back then, I feel like I owe you an update on where things stand a year and a half later. Whatever happened to my living situation, my health, and what I consider the state of the newsletter is. I also want to share my future plans for both my personal future and the direction of The Mendez Movie Report going into 2025.
I’m writing this on a Tuesday evening, struggling to stay awake in the midst of the hectic and exhausting awards season that I love keeping up with. Armed with a cup of Café Bustelo and a Coke Zero as a chaser, I’m counting on my editor to help me sound somewhat coherent with what I want to say.
“HOW’S THE FAMILY?”
The last time I wrote a personal update, I was candid about stepping away from social media for a couple of months due to a trial separation from my wife of a decade - a separation I neither initiated nor wanted at the time.
In an unexpected twist of fate, nearly four months after I wrote that piece, my estranged wife invited me to go ice skating with her for the first time. It turned out to be a fateful decision, as she fell and fractured her knee after skating without knee pads. I was there to carry her off of the ice and drive her to the emergency room, where she learned about the severity of her fracture. With her family having moved out of town, she asked me to stay and help care for her during her recovery.
I temporarily moved back in to help her through more than two months of healing. The experience gave me a newfound respect for the work of home care assistants. I took on cooking, cleaning, taking care of the pets, and helping her navigate basic tasks like using the bathroom and showering until she could finally get out of her brace. I also helped her get to physical therapy sessions. During this challenging time, a cruel twist of fate struck again - she lost her job due to downsizing.
Once she was back on her feet, she found a new job. After months of conversations, we made the decision for me to move back in permanently (or at least that’s the plan) and end the separation. It’s the kind of story that feels pulled straight from a romantic comedy script, but it’s all true. It makes me wonder if God, or the Universe itself, was determined to give us one last chance to work things out.
Now, this is the part where you’d hope it’s all happily ever after, but the truth is that the separation happened for several reasons on both our parts. Working through those things doesn’t go away overnight. I can’t say with certainty that we’ll “make it” because we’re still navigating the aftermath and trying to grow from the experience. We’ve had too many close calls in the past, and we’ve agreed that this is our final attempt. Whatever the future holds for our relationship, no one can say we, or even the Universe it seems, didn’t give it our best shot to keep the flame of our marriage alive. While I can’t promise a “happily ever after”, we are trying.
This entire experience inevitably influenced the way I viewed certain films in 2024. The reunion of two forcefully separated spouses in The Brutalist resonated deeply with me, while Wicked brought me joy through my nine rounds of watching it to help me ignore the struggles of the real world. In contrast, 2023 was a year where I gravitated toward gritty, hard-hitting stories and subplots.
“HOW’S YOUR HEALTH?”
Over the past year and a half since my last personal update, my biggest regret and failure has been letting my health goals slide backward. Spending most of my time indoors while caring for someone made it all too easy to gain weight again. I found myself sitting around more and relying on takeout far too often. As a result, my weight crept back up to just over 200 pounds. On top of that, I’ve neglected other aspects of my health - I still need to get my eyes checked, restart regular dental treatments, and schedule consistent visits with a primary care doctor.
But I’m done making excuses for these setbacks. I’ve decided to make 2025 as successful as 2023 was for my health. I’ve already started to “embrace the suck” - focusing on a diet of meat and vegetables, cutting out fast food and sweets, and tracking my progress with a new FitBit. I’m determined to turn things around and get back on track.
“YOU GOT ANY BIG PLANS FOR THE NEW YEAR?”
Nothing but.
My house desperately needs a massive reorganization, and I’ll be chipping away at it in my free time over the coming months. I also plan to find a new “day job” with better pay and more reasonable hours. On a personal side, I want to experience more live events - and I’m already making that happen with plans to see Metallica in concert, a dream I never thought I’d get to live.
And, of course, there’s this newsletter...
“HOW’S THE WHOLE MOVIE CRITIC THING GOING?”
Things have been going okay. I’ve managed to increase the frequency of my weekly reviews, as I’d planned, and even launched a paid-tier subscriber option for those interested in bonus reviews and exclusive content.
I started a podcast and have been invited to appear on others as well. My goal is to continue growing and expanding the main podcast. Once the awards sub-podcast wraps up for the season, I’ll be taking a break from that one until next year. I also want to start a new podcast series focused on my favorite films from each year.
In addition, I’ve begun working on a “Best Of” and “Films That Matter” series. Over on Letterboxd, I’m tackling a personal project to log the most important movies from every year in film and rank every Oscar Best Picture lineup. However, these projects took a backseat during the busy fall election season and awards season. Now, with the new year ahead, I’m determined to pick them back up and see them through.
One thing I regret not prioritizing in 2024 is creating more individual videos for my YouTube channel. By the end of this year, come hell or high water, I’m committed to producing content for the channel at a more regular frequency.
“WHERE DO YOU WANT BE IN A YEAR?”
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since the start of the new year. What do I want out of 2025?
I want a stronger marriage. I want better health. I want a more fulfilling job and an improved financial situation. I want my entire house reorganized. I want to create new life experiences.
I want to continue growing as a film critic. I want to run a podcast that aligns with the vision I have for it. I want to keep the projects and series I started last year moving forward while launching new ones alongside them.
Simply put, I want 2025 to be a year of personal growth and success. I hope this focus on growth translates into better content for those of you who’ve supported me with your readership and subscriptions. With a certain new administration coming in, there will likely be plenty of “real-world” headaches ahead. That’s why escapism and personal growth feel more important than ever; not just for me, but for all of you as well.
I hope you’re as ambitious about this new year as I plan to be. Let’s make 2025 a year to remember.
ONE LAST NOTE…
I want to take a moment to remind all free-tier subscribers about a special offer available until Oscar night - you can and get 90 days free access to paid-tier content. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can still take advantage of an offer for 30 days of paid-tier content that should be sent to you as soon as you subscribe. You can also get awarded paid-tier subscriptions’ trials for your referrals to friends and family.
Paid-tier subscriptions are regularly $5 a month, with an option of a yearly subscription at an incredible low cost of just $30 for the year - or six months’ cost for a year of paid-tier content.
Here’s a breakdown of what each tier offers:
Free-tier content includes:
Free-tier posts that are within a year old since publication
Weekly film reviews of the biggest releases of that weekend
Post-2020 “Best Of” lists and personal awards ballots
Podcast links, media, and miscellaneous posts like this one
Paid-tier content includes everything above, plus:
Bonus film reviews, typically focused on awards-contending movies
Pre-2020 “Best Of” lists
My “Films That Matter” series
Access to all posts older than a year
And with that cheap plug out of the way, I wish you a great 2025!