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.

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

Angelina Jolie in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Movie Review: ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’

After Maleficent grossed $758 million worldwide — building the foundation for the seemingly endless parade of remakes, revisions and reimaginings of the studio’s ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 15, 20190

Will Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Gemini Man

Movie Review: ‘Gemini Man’

Much of the buzz surrounding Ang Lee’s Gemini Man has focused on the revolutionary new technology that allows for Will Smith to face ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 10, 20190

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker

Movie Review: ‘Joker’

Todd Phillips’ Joker has been courting controversy since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it took home the prestigious Golden Lion ...

By Brent HankinsOctober 2, 20198

Ben Platt in The Politician

TV Review: ‘The Politician’

Since the age of seven, Payton Hobart (Ben Platt) has been fixated on becoming the President of the United States. As an Ivy ...

By Brent HankinsSeptember 23, 20190

Maika Monroe and Bill Skarsgard in Villains

Movie Review: ‘Villains’

Mickey (Bill Skarsgard) and Jules (Maika Monroe) aren’t so different from other young couples in their mid-twenties: crazy in love and overflowing with ...

By Brent HankinsSeptember 19, 20190

Mena Massoud and Will Smith in Aladdin

DVD & Blu-Ray Reviews

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Aladdin’

After grossing more than $1 billion at the global box office, Disney’s live-action update of beloved animated classic Aladdin heads to home video ...

By Brent HankinsSeptember 13, 20190

Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu in Hustlers

Movie Review: ‘Hustlers’

Hustlers, the latest from writer-director Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend of the End of the World), is one of those rare “inspired by ...

By Brent HankinsSeptember 13, 20190

Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise in IT: Chapter Two

Movie Review: ‘IT: Chapter Two’

Two years after director Andy Muschietti’s acclaimed adaptation of Stephen King’s IT, which narrowed the massive scope of the novel to focus solely ...

By Brent HankinsSeptember 5, 20190

Isabela Moner and Eugenio Derbez in Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Movie Review: ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’

If you think beloved children’s cartoon Dora the Explorer seems like an odd choice for the big-screen live-action treatment, you’re not alone. The ...

By Brent HankinsAugust 9, 20190

Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in Hobbs and Shaw

Movie Review: ‘Hobbs and Shaw’

The Fast and Furious franchise has always enjoyed a somewhat tenuous relationship with the laws of physics, and that relationship has grown more ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 31, 20190

leonardo dicaprio brad pitt once upon a time in hollywood

Movie Review: ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’

As Quentin Tarantino lurches ever closer to his self-imposed maximum of ten films — an arbitrary limit meant to ensure the revered writer ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 25, 20190

kevin feige sdcc 2019

SDCC 2019: Marvel Studios panel recap and photo gallery

Marvel Studios made their triumphant return to San Diego Comic-Con this year with a massive 90-minute presentation in Hall H, where studio chief ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 22, 20190

danai gurira sdcc 2019

SDCC 2019: ‘The Walking Dead’ panel recap and photo gallery

Hot on the heels of Fear the Walking Dead San Diego Comic-Con panel, AMC’s original zombie series The Walking Dead also held a ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 21, 20190

maggie grace sdcc 2019

SDCC 2019: ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ panel recap and photo gallery

AMC’s hit series Fear the Walking Dead returned to San Diego Comic Con’s Hall H this year for a discussion with the cast ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 21, 20190

clark gregg chloe bennett ming-na wen sdcc 2019

SDCC 2019: ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ panel recap and photo gallery

With the end of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on the horizon — next year’s seventh season was recently confirmed as the last — ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 19, 20190

lin-manuel miranda sdcc 2019

SDCC 2019: ‘His Dark Materials’ panel recap and photo gallery

In the void left behind by Game of Thrones, cable networks are searching far and wide for the next great fantasy series, and ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 19, 20190

arnold schwarzenegger terminator sdcc 2019

SDCC 2019: ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ panel recap and photo gallery

Thursday morning at San Diego Comic-Con marked the first major event in Hall H, as Paramount Pictures offered a look at the upcoming ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 19, 20190

Zaki Youssef in Sons of Denmark

Fantasia 2019 Movie Review: ‘Sons of Denmark’

Four years after a subway bomb claimed the lives of 23 people in Copenhagen, right-wing extremism is not only on the rise, it’s ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 15, 20190

Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg in The Art of Self Defense

Fantasia 2019 Movie Review: ‘The Art of Self Defense’

When a meek, anxiety ridden accountant is accosted by a motorcycle gang en route from the grocery store, he joins a local karate ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 12, 20190

Mufasa and Simba in Disney's The Lion King

Movie Review: ‘The Lion King’

25 years after the release of The Lion King, one of the most successful animated films of all time and arguably the pinnacle ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 11, 20190

Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani in Stuber

Movie Review: ‘Stuber’

An unapologetic throwback to the R-rated action comedies of the 1980s, Stuber finds hulking, vengeful narcotics detective Vic (Dave Bautista) hijacking a mild-mannered ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 10, 20190

The Gangster The Cop The Devil, Fantasia 2019

2019 Fantasia International Film Festival Preview

The Fantasia International Film Festival celebrates its 23rd Anniversary in Montreal this month, with nearly three full weeks of screenings and a lineup ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 8, 20190

Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor in Midsommar

Movie Review: ‘Midsommar’

Ari Aster turned heads and churned stomachs with his 2018 horror offering Hereditary, an unflinching examination of grief through a particularly unsettling lens ...

By Brent HankinsJuly 4, 20190

Zendaya and Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Far From Home

Movie Review: ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’

As Avengers: Endgame prepares for a brief re-release at the box office this weekend — a move that seems destined to propel it ...

By Brent HankinsJune 26, 20190

amazon carnival row sdcc 2019

Amazon Reveals Full Comic-Con 2019 Lineup

We’re just weeks away from San Diego Comic Con, and Amazon is returning with their biggest offering yet! The Amazon Prime Video Experience ...

By Brent HankinsJune 26, 20190

cinderella anniversary edition review

DVD & Blu-Ray Reviews

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Cinderella: Anniversary Edition’

Disney may be enjoying the box office success of the updated Aladdin, but the House of Mouse still known how to monetize their ...

By Brent HankinsJune 26, 20190

5B movie review

Movie Review: ‘5B’

A heart-wrenching chronicle of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, new documentary 5B gets its title from the ward of the same name, ...

By Brent HankinsJune 18, 20190

Tim Allen, Tom Hanks and Christina Hendricks in Toy Story 4

Movie Review: ‘Toy Story 4’

Fans of the Toy Story series have long been apprehensive about the notion of a fourth installment. The series had seemingly wrapped up ...

By Brent HankinsJune 13, 20190

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth in Men in Black International

Movie Review: ‘Men in Black International’

If you had told me the onscreen pairing of Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, who showcased tremendous comedic chemistry in Thor: Ragnarok, would ...

By Brent HankinsJune 12, 20190

Emma Thompson in Late Night

Movie Review: ‘Late Night’

When Emmy Award-winning talk show host Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) finds herself on the verge of being replaced by a smug young standup ...

By Brent HankinsJune 7, 20190

Sophie Turner in Dark Phoenix

Movie Review: ‘Dark Phoenix’

When 20th Century Fox first plucked the X-Men from the pages of Marvel comic books and thrust them onto theater screens around the ...

By Brent HankinsJune 4, 20190

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