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.

Ben Schwartz in Sonic the Hedgehog

Movie Review: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’

In last year’s Uncut Gems, Dinah (Idina Menzel) tells estranged husband Howard (Adam Sandler) “you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met.” It’s ...

By Brent HankinsFebruary 12, 20200

Margot Robbie in Birds of Prey

Movie Review: ‘Birds of Prey’

Warner Bros. got off to a shaky start with some of the early films in their DC Extended Universe: Batman v Superman: Dawn ...

By Brent HankinsFebruary 6, 20200

Anne Hathaway in The Last Thing He Wanted

Sundance 2020 Movie Review: ‘The Last Thing He Wanted’

Three years ago, Dees Rees wowed audiences at the Sundance Film Festival with Mudbound, a haunting examination of racial and familial relations in ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 28, 20200

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell in Downhill

Sundance 2020 Movie Review: ‘Downhill’

Adrift in the complacency of long-term marriage, Pete (Will Ferrell) and Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) embark on a vacation to an upscale European ski ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 28, 20200

Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman

Sundance 2020 Movie Review: ‘Promising Young Woman’

Once upon a time, Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was a med school student at the top of her class, but dropped out after a ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 27, 20200

Riley Keough and Taylour Paige in Zola

Sundance 2020 Movie Review: ‘Zola’

To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never seen a film based on a series of Tweets before today, but Aziah “Zola” Wells’ ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 24, 20200

Matthew McConaughey and Michelle Dockery in The Gentlemen

Movie Review: ‘The Gentlemen’

Writer-director Guy Ritchie burst onto the scene at the end of the millennium with a pair of densely-plotted gangster comedies, 1998’s Lock, Stock ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 22, 20200

Tool performs at Gila River Arena on January 18, 2020.

Concert Reviews

Review: Tool inoculates sold-out crowd at Gila River Arena

GLENDALE — “Deja fuckin’ vu, huh?” quipped Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan after the opening number of their show at Gila River Arena ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 20, 20200

Robert Downey Jr. in Dolittle

Movie Review: ‘Dolittle’

The story of John Dolittle, a physician with a unique ability to understand and communicate with animals, has gone through numerous adaptations for ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 15, 20200

Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in Bad Boys for Life

Movie Review: ‘Bad Boys for Life’

The fact that Bad Boys for Life actually made it to the big screen feels like a small miracle. The previous film, Bad ...

By Brent HankinsJanuary 15, 20200

Henry Cavill in The Witcher

TV Review: ‘The Witcher’

The sprawling fantasy world of The Witcher is probably best known from its critically acclaimed videogame adaptations, but Geralt of Rivia was first ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 20, 20196

Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit

Brent’s Top 15 Films of 2019

2019 has been marked by several major cinematic events, including the release of Avengers: Endgame, which capped off nearly a decade of Marvel ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 18, 20190

Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Movie Review: ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’

Two years removed from Rian Johnson’s divisive The Last Jedi, director J.J. Abrams returns to the franchise to cap off this latest trilogy ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 18, 20192

leonardo dicaprio brad pitt once upon a time in hollywood

DVD & Blu-Ray Reviews

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’

One of the most celebrated films of the year finally comes to home video with the Blu-ray release of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 15, 20190

Parasite won Best Picture at the 2019 Phoenix Critics Circle Awards

Phoenix Critics Circle announces 2019 Award winners

The Phoenix Critics Circle hosted its annual awards party on December 13th at the Phoenix Film Foundation office. After leading the way with nominations, Bong ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 15, 20190

Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Dwayne Johnson, Awkwafina and Jack Black in Jumanji: The Next Level

Movie Review: ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’

Franchise reboots are something of a risky proposition, with many beloved properties failing to connect with audiences in the same way as their ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 10, 20190

Taylor Swift, Miss Americana, Sundance 2020

Sundance 2020: First Wave of Films Announced

We’re just over a month away from the 2020 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, scheduled to take place in Park City, UT ...

By Brent HankinsDecember 4, 20190

Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon and Toni Colette in Knives Out

Movie Review: ‘Knives Out’

After cutting his teeth on 2006’s Brick, a brilliant throwback to Dashiell Hammett detective noir set in a suburban high school, writer-director Rian ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 27, 20190

Robert De Niro in The Irishman

Movie Review: ‘The Irishman’

Over the past few weeks, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese should have been making the press rounds and discussing his monumental new film, The ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 25, 20192

Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Movie Review: ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’

For an in-depth look at the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, the beloved host of long-running children’s show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, you ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 20, 20190

Frozen 2 supervising animator Justin Sklar on the film's craziest scene

Interview: ‘Frozen II’ animator Justin Sklar on the film’s craziest sequence

It’s a sunny November afternoon in Phoenix, and Frozen II supervising animator Justin Sklar is seated in a massive downtown conference room. “I ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 19, 20190

Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell in Frozen II

Movie Review: ‘Frozen II’

Walt Disney Animation Studios boasts something of a shaky record when it comes to sequels: we’re not terribly far removed from the mostly ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 14, 20190

Matt Damon and Christian Bale in Ford v Ferrari

Movie Review: ‘Ford v Ferrari’

After shaking up the superhero status quo with 2017’s violent and visceral neo-Western Logan, director James Mangold is back with something a bit ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 13, 20190

Adam Driver in The Report

Movie Review: ‘The Report’

“It’s been very consuming,” says Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) in the opening moments of The Report. He’s just been asked about his work ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 12, 20190

Scott Z. Burns and Daniel J. Jones talk whistle-blowing vs truth-telling in The Report

Interview: Scott Z. Burns and Daniel J. Jones on whistle-blowing vs truth-telling in ‘The Report’

Scott Z. Burns is no stranger to crafting riveting, edge-of-your-seat cinematic fare — his writing credits include The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant, Contagion ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 12, 20190

Disney+ Launch Day Reviews

As if the streaming wars weren’t combative enough, a new player is entering the fray this week as the Walt Disney Company throws ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 11, 20190

Ewan McGregor in Doctor Sleep

Movie Review: ‘Doctor Sleep’

Film critics, connoisseurs and historians may disagree on many fronts, but one universally accepted truth is that Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film The ...

By Brent HankinsNovember 7, 20190

Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator: Dark Fate

Movie Review: ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’

After multiple disappointing entries over the past couple of decades, you wouldn’t expect the latest installment of the Terminator franchise to warrant much ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 31, 20190

Thomasin McKenzie and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit

Interview: Thomasin McKenzie talks ‘Jojo Rabbit’ role

Taika Waititi’s latest effort, the World War II comedy Jojo Rabbit, follows a young Nazi devotee who discovers that his mother has been ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 29, 20190

Eddie Murphy in Dolemite is My Name

Movie Review: ‘Dolemite is My Name’

It’s been two decades since Eddie Murphy headlined an R-rated comedy (the last was 1999’s Life, with Martin Lawrence), but lest there be ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 25, 20190

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse

Movie Review: ‘The Lighthouse’

A frantic fog-enveloped fever dream about isolation, paranoia and madness, The Lighthouse is director Robert Eggers’ follow-up to his acclaimed feature debut, The ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 24, 20190

Mufasa and Simba in Disney's The Lion King

DVD & Blu-Ray Reviews

Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Lion King’

With a worldwide gross of $1.6 billion, Disney’s remake of The Lion King –which eschewed hand-drawn animation in favor of the same digital ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 22, 20190

Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit

Movie Review: ‘Jojo Rabbit’

After a commercially and critically successful foray into big-time Hollywood filmmaking with Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi is back with Jojo Rabbit, a ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 22, 20190

Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland Double Tap

Movie Review: ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’

Comedy sequels — particularly those arriving more than a decade after the original film — can be something of a risky proposition, often ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 16, 20190

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