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.

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

Taron Egerton in Rocketman

Movie Review: ‘Rocketman’

The notion of condensing Elton John’s storied 50-year career into a two-hour film seems like an insurmountable task, one that could only lead ...

By Brent HankinsMay 31, 20190

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Movie Review: ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’

I was largely a fan of the 2014 Godzilla reboot, thanks in no small part to the efforts of director Gareth Edwards, who ...

By Brent HankinsMay 30, 20190

Timothy Olyphant and John Hawkes in Deadwood: The Movie

Movie Review: ‘Deadwood’

When HBO’s acclaimed Western drama Deadwood signed off in 2006 at the end of its third season, the cliffhanger ending seemed to promise ...

By Brent HankinsMay 29, 20190

Mena Massoud and Will Smith in Aladdin

Movie Review: ‘Aladdin’

Let’s get this out of the way right from the beginning: as the exuberant magic wielder in Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin, Will ...

By Brent HankinsMay 22, 20190

Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever in Booksmart.

Movie Review: ‘Booksmart’

A hilarious story about a pair of overachievers trying to party with the cool kids at the end of their senior year, Olivia ...

By Brent HankinsMay 17, 20190

Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry in John Wick Chapter 3

Movie Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’

The three key elements of the John Wick franchise are bullets, bloodshed and badassery, a simple yet effective recipe that generated a considerable ...

By Brent HankinsMay 10, 20190

Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton and Ryan Reynolds in Pokemon Detective Pikachu

Movie Review: ‘Pokemon: Detective Pikachu’

Confession: I’ve never really been a Pokemon fan. Sure, I got caught up in the Pokemon Go craze a few years back, just ...

By Brent HankinsMay 8, 20190

Nicholas Hoult in Tolkien

Movie Review: ‘Tolkien’

A period drama about the early years of the celebrated author who penned The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien stars ...

By Brent HankinsMay 7, 20190

Judi Dench in Red Joan

Movie Review: ‘Red Joan’

When we first encounter Joan Stanley (Judi Dench), she seems like a run-of-the-mill octogenarian, pruning rose bushes in her front yard or pausing ...

By Brent HankinsApril 26, 20190

Chris Evans as Captain America in Avengers Endgame

Movie Review: ‘Avengers: Endgame’

One year ago, Avengers: Infinity War accomplished the unthinkable as a decade of storytelling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe coalesced into a thrilling, ...

By Brent HankinsApril 23, 20190

We Believe in Dinosaurs

Movie Review: ‘We Believe in Dinosaurs’

“This is a fossil created during Noah’s flood,” says Doug Henderson, lead exhibit designer at the Creation Museum. He’s referencing a complete Allosaurus ...

By Brent HankinsApril 19, 20190

Amy Madigan, Gerard Canonico, Arden Cho, Omar Chapparo and Ashanti in Stuck

Movie Review: ‘Stuck’

New musical Stuck, directed by Michael Berry and adapted from the stage production of the stage name, purports to teach us that we ...

By Brent HankinsApril 17, 20190

Elizabeth McGovern in The Chaperon

Movie Review: ‘The Chaperone’

Louise Brooks was an icon of the Jazz Age, a trendsetting star of the silent screen whose bob hairstyle and short skirts became ...

By Brent HankinsApril 13, 20190

Lily James and Tessa Thompson in Little Woods

PFF 2019 Movie Review: ‘Little Woods’

Like the other residents of Little Woods, North Dakota, Oleander “Ollie” King (Tessa Thompson) does what she needs to survive. In the past, ...

By Brent HankinsApril 11, 20190

Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench in All is True

PFF 2019 Movie Review: ‘All is True’

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of William Shakespeare than Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh: for thirty years, he’s been directing ...

By Brent HankinsApril 10, 20190

Pet Sematary

Movie Review: ‘Pet Sematary’

Stephen King is arguably the most well-known horror writer of all time, and certainly the most successful, but Hollywood adaptations of his work ...

By Brent HankinsApril 5, 20190

2019 Phoenix Film Festival Preview

The 2019 Phoenix Festival gets underway this week, kicking off ten days of programming with a lineup that includes a few Sundance hits, ...

By Brent HankinsApril 3, 20190

Brie Larson in Unicorn Store

Movie Review: ‘Unicorn Store’

“I don’t know how to be a grownup” laments Kit (Brie Larson) about halfway through Unicorn Store, a candy-coated comedy whose central character’s ...

By Brent HankinsApril 3, 20190

Crown the Empire performs at the Marquee Theater in Tempe, AZ on March 29, 2019. Photo by Brent Hankins

Concert Reviews

PHOTOS: Crown the Empire at The Marquee Theater

TEMPE — Less than five months after their last appearance, Crown the Empire returned to the Marquee Theater on Friday for a co-headlining ...

By Brent HankinsMarch 30, 20190

We Came as Romans perform at the Marquee Theater in Tempe, AZ on March 29, 2019. Photo by Brent Hankins.

Concert Reviews

PHOTOS: We Came as Romans at The Marquee Theater

TEMPE — Post-hardcore outfit We Came as Romans returned to Arizona on Friday night, performing at the Marquee Theater as part of their ...

By Brent HankinsMarch 30, 20190

Eva Green in Dumbo

Movie Review: ‘Dumbo’

Over the past few years, Walt Disney Studios has taken a number of characters and stories from their animated classics and updated them ...

By Brent HankinsMarch 26, 20190

Garth Brooks performs at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ on March 23, 2019. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Concert Reviews

Review: Garth Brooks rocks record-breaking crowd at State Farm Stadium

Country music superstar Garth Brooks returned to the Valley on Saturday night with a sold-out show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. ...

By Brent HankinsMarch 24, 20190

Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer in Shazam

Second Opinon: ‘Shazam’

The doom and gloom of the DC Extended Universe’s first few efforts is beginning to feel like a distant memory, and the course ...

By Brent HankinsMarch 23, 20190

123...21