After a sold-out premiere screening at the Sundance Film Festival garnered a sizeable amount of positive acclaim, Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women has been on my radar for most…
Author: Brent Hankins
Brent Hankins
Brent Hankins has been blogging and writing film reviews online since 2011. He joined the Phoenix Film Critics Society in 2013, and was a founding member of the Phoenix Critics Circle the following year, where he currently serves as President. Brent also hosted the weekly Drinks and Discourse podcast for nearly 5 years, and is currently the editor-in-chief at The Lamplight Review. He resides in Tempe, AZ with his wife and son.
If the idea of James Franco and Christian Slater playing gay porn producers whose rivalry turns violent with the arrival of the hottest young star in…
I often wonder about the impact of experiencing a film at a festival with a crowd that respects the sanctity of the cinema, as opposed to…
Watching actors play against type is always an interesting exercise, and Ben Affleck is given an opportunity to do exactly that in The Accountant. The latest…
As a dark psychological thriller featuring an unreliable female narrator, The Girl on the Train will no doubt draw comparisons to a similarly themed film from…
The inspirational sports drama is a tried-and-true Hollywood formula that has taken numerous forms over the decades without ever really changing the basic template. But there’s…
One of my favorite selections at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival was Operation Avalanche, Matt Johnson’s follow-up to 2013’s critically acclaimed indie The Dirties which follows a…
Let’s just address this right out of the gate: it’s impossible to watch a film about sharks, or shark attacks, without making comparisons to Jaws. But…
After nearly a decade of live-action disappointments, Tim Burton returns with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an adaptation of the popular novel by Ransom Riggs. The…
Director Antoine Fuqua has dabbled in remake territory before – 2014’s The Equalizer was an update of the 1980s television series, albeit with significant changes -…
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated Disney film that I ever saw in theaters, which almost certainly contributed to my lifelong reverence for it. It may…
By now, it’s reasonable to assume that you’ve heard the name Edward Snowden at some point over the past few years. The former CIA and NSA…
In 1999, The Blair Witch Project terrified audiences with an ingenious marketing campaign that convinced moviegoers the shaky, handheld footage on the big screen was authentic, and…
You’d be hard-pressed to find an American citizen lacking at least a vague familiarity with the “Miracle on the Hudson,” where an experienced US Airways pilot…
After two stellar indie offerings (Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines), director Derek Cianfrance delivers his first project for a major studio with this…
Ridley Scott has long been regarded as one of the pioneering voices of sci-fi filmmaking, with two of his contributions (Alien and Blade Runner) being widely…
Disney’s ongoing quest to give each of its classic animated stories a live-action makeover reached new heights this year with The Jungle Book, an incredible visual achievement that…
After a second season finale that marked a major victory for our heroes while also serving up the loss of one of its most significant characters, FX’s…
Earlier this year, I attended the Sundance Film Festival for the very first time, and one of the films I was most looking forward to was…
The rags-to-riches story of legendary Panamanian pugilist Robert Duran has always been ripe for a Hollywood sports drama, and it finally arrives this week in the form…
At first glance, Todd Phillips (The Hangover) might not seem like the most obvious choice to direct a film about a pair of international arms dealers. But…
Disney’s update of Pete’s Dragon, opening in theaters this weekend, arrives as something of a curiosity. The studio has spent the past several years mining its extensive…
After writing and producing hilarious, raunch-filled comedies like Pineapple Express and This is the End, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are back with Sausage Party, an…
FX’s Emmy-nominated animated spy comedy Archer has long been a staple of San Diego Comic-Con, with annual appearances from the hilarious voice cast and a no-holds-barred Q&A panel…
After the critical drubbing levied against Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, many fans –- myself included –- hoped Warner Bros. could right the ship with Suicide Squad,…
In 2007, after three films and a decent-enough conclusion, the story of Jason Bourne seemed to have run its course, with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass…
FX’s vampire drama The Strain has been a mainstay at San Diego Comic-Con for the past few years, and 2016 was no different. With the premiere…
After grossing out audiences with his gore-drenched 2013 remake of Evil Dead, director Fede Alvarez returned earlier this year at the SXSW Film Festival with Don’t…
Based on a chilling three-minute short film that became a viral sensation, Lights Out opened to strong reviews and an impressive $21.6 million – more than four…
The first season of Ballers, HBO’s comedy-drama series about the lives of professional football players, drew some inevitable comparisons to the similarly-themed Entourage, and it’s hard to…
It’s the 1980s, and Pablo Escobar’s Medillin cartel is smuggling between 70 and 80 tons of cocaine into the United States on a monthly basis. With numerous government agencies…
Last year at Disney’s D23 Expo, CEO Bob Iger confirmed a long-running rumor- and made dreams come true for millions of fans – when he confirmed…
Shuffled from one foster home to another thanks to his long history of “kicking things, breaking things, burning things” and basically engaging in all manner of…
Even with the luxuries and conveniences afforded by modern technology, raising six children might seem like a monumental task for any set of parents. So you would…