Members of the Portland Critics Association are pleased to announce the nominees for our annual awards, honoring the best films, filmmakers, actors and other achievements of…
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.
Director Scott Cooper reunites with Christian Bale for a third time in The Pale Blue Eye, which finds the latter cast as Augustus Landor, a retired…
2009’s blockbuster hit Avatar was undeniably a monumental technical achievement, a jaw-dropping experiment in performance capture whose stunning visual fidelity helped to offset its clunky dialogue,…
Revered across the land of Avalonia for his discovery of an energy-producing plant that paved the way for advanced technology, bettering the lives of pretty much…
An evening of fine dining at the most exclusive of eateries turns into something horrific in Mark Mylod’s The Menu, a delectable sendup of snobbish “foodie”…
2018’s critically acclaimed Black Panther remains one of the most successful entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with its worldwide gross of $1.3 billion only being…
I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for a good Metroidvania title, so it should come as little surprise that I’ve been itching to get…
When I reviewed the delightful and charming Enola Holmes just over two years ago, I noted the film’s open-ended resolution had set the stage for a…
2019’s A Plague Tale: Innocence was a hidden gem, a superb single-player offering with an engaging story and a surprising level of polish for a game…
If one should find themselves seeking irrefutable proof that Cate Blanchett is one of the greatest actors alive today, they need look no further than TÁR;…
There’s a nugget of truth to Amsterdam — the opening title card promises that “a lot of this really happened” — but none of that truth…
Growing up in a small town in the Midwest and working the evening shift at a mom-and-pop video rental store with my closest friend, it should…
The works of revered murder mystery author Agatha Christie gave birth to an entire genre of entertainment, and one of her most celebrated creations takes center…
If the notion of Idris Elba spinning fantastical yarns about the Queen of Sheba or the court of Suleiman the Magnificent with silky smooth (albeit somewhat…
HBO has thrown open the doors to House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones spinoff set nearly 200 years before the events of the previous…
After breathing some much-needed new life into one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s key characters in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, it’s no surprise that Taika Waititi would…
If you’ve ever wondered why Andy was so excited to receive a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday, Pixar’s latest feature hopes to answer that question.…
The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll is no stranger to the big screen; in addition to the 31 films that Elvis Presley starred in during his…
Premiering at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, The Courtroom tells the real-life story of Elizabeth Keathley, a Filipina immigrant risking deportation for registering to vote without…
When 15-year-old Simi (Nina Katlein) arrives at her aunt’s home in the remote German countryside for a week-long holiday, it’s with an ulterior motive. Claudia (Pia…
Last year, the Tribeca Film Festival became the first major North American film festival to be held largely in-person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic…
In many ways, director Sam Raimi is the godfather of the modern superhero movie, ushering in a new era of blockbuster filmmaking with 2002’s Spider-Man. While…
With a pair of acclaimed, modestly budgeted efforts under his belt — 2016’s mesmerizing folk horror The Witch and 2019’s fever dream of paranoia, The Lighthouse…
There’s probably nothing I could say about Everything Everywhere All at Once that hasn’t already been said by someone else, and the vast majority of those…
If you’ve been looking for a slice of superhero action that doesn’t require a near-encyclopedic knowledge of dozens of interconnected films and television shows, then Marvel’s…
Deep Water is the sort of sexy thriller that has all but disappeared from cinema screens in recent years, unabashedly flaunting its sexiness in much the…
The Thief CollectorDirected by Allison Otto How does a prized painting get stolen from the University of Arizona’s Museum of Art in broad daylight, disappear without…
Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBetsDirected by Zack Canepari and Drea Cooper Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets explores the complete chaos that ensued when a…
Sci-fi shoot ’em up series Halo has long been the flagship franchise of Microsoft’s Xbox console line. The first installment, released in 2001, is widely credited…
After a last-minute cancellation in 2020 and an all-digital offering last year, the SXSW Film Festival is returning to in-person programming for the 2022 event, with…
Gotham City’s crime-fighting costumed vigilante has been a cinematic mainstay for more than three decades, beginning with Michael Keaton’s iconic portrayal in 1989’s Batman and its…
Jackass Forever is a movie that probably shouldn’t even exist. The last feature-length film starring Johnny Knoxville and his merry band of injury prone pals was…
We’re in the home stretch of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and although we were fortunate enough to screen 19 films over the course of five…
Sundance 2022 is beginning to wind down: praise is being lavished, deals are being made, and the festival is closer to the end than the beginning.…