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Brent Hankins

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

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 chief film critic at The Lamplight Review and Spoiler TV. He resides in Tempe, AZ with his wife and son.

Critics' Group:

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Sunny Dancer (2026) 9/10 EDIT “The film refuses to reduce these characters to their diagnoses, allowing them to be funny, horny, awkward, angry, and occasionally stupid in ways that have nothing to do with being sick, and everything to do with being seventeen.” – The Lamplight Review Feb 15, 2026 Full Review Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025) 83% 9/10 EDIT “A defiant middle finger to our tech-addled present and the encroaching doom of an AI-driven future, and a reminder that revolution doesn’t require an army — just a handful of people passionate (or desperate, or stupid) enough to make a difference.” – The Lamplight Review Feb 13, 2026 Full Review Crime 101 (2026) 86% 6/10 EDIT “Rather than feeling like cheap imitation, Layton’s reverence for Mann’s masterpiece comes across like a cover song: you know the original is superior, but there’s still something interesting about experiencing someone else’s interpretation.” – The Lamplight Review Feb 12, 2026 Full Review Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) 66% 8/10 EDIT “Cameron remains one of the all-time greats at staging large-scale spectacle, and the film delivers set piece after set piece with breathless intensity. This is where Cameron's obsessive attention to detail and massive budget pay off in full.” – The Lamplight Review Dec 16, 2025 Full Review The Running Man (2025) 62% 5/10 EDIT “The Running Man feels like a diluted version of its own ambitions. The 1987 Schwarzenegger adaptation may have been campy as all hell, but I would argue that it had a much stronger sense of identity.” – The Lamplight Review Nov 14, 2025 Full Review Bugonia (2025) 88% 8/10 EDIT “For those willing to meet the film on its own wavelength, it’s a bracingly relevant piece of work that thinks we’re all completely fucked, but at least it confirms the Lanthimos-Stone partnership as one of the most vital in contemporary cinema.” – The Lamplight Review Oct 28, 2025 Full Review A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (2025) 75% 9/10 EDIT “What makes A House of Dynamite feel so urgently relevant is the uncomfortable question it poses about the present moment... Bigelow's nightmare scenario doesn't read as an unlikely worst-case -- it reads as a dress rehearsal.” – The Lamplight Review Oct 9, 2025 Full Review TRON: Ares (2025) 53% 5/10 EDIT “Tron has long been a property that Disney hasn’t known what to do with, and this represents the latest example of that creative confusion. If future entries will be this bland and surface-level, one has to wonder: why bother?” – The Lamplight Review Oct 8, 2025 Full Review Are We Good? (2025) 97% 8/10 EDIT “There’s something valuable about watching someone with Maron’s reach acknowledge that grief doesn’t follow a tidy narrative arc, that working through trauma is messy and ongoing and sometimes embarrassing.” – The Lamplight Review Oct 1, 2025 Full Review The Smashing Machine (2025) 71% 8/10 EDIT “If Johnson continues down this path and gets away from the recycled performances he's been delivering for years, The Smashing Machine could mark the beginning of a genuinely compelling second act for one of Hollywood's most reliable stars.” – The Lamplight Review Sep 19, 2025 Full Review The Long Walk (2025) 88% 9/10 EDIT “The Long Walk far exceeded my expectations, delivering one of the most accomplished Stephen King adaptations in years -- easily standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best entries in the author's cinematic canon.” – The Lamplight Review Sep 2, 2025 Full Review Honey Don't! (2025) 45% 4/10 EDIT “Honey Don’t! has a charismatic lead performance and a filmmaker with an established track record for this kind of material; that it never quite comes together feels almost maddening. ” – The Lamplight Review Sep 1, 2025 Full Review The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) 86% 8/10 EDIT “It’s the first time in a long time that the Fantastic Four have felt like more than just an IP Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with.” – The Lamplight Review Jul 22, 2025 Full Review Superman (2025) 83% 9/10 EDIT “Gunn understands that the character’s power isn’t just in flight or strength, but in compassion and conviction, and a stubborn belief that the world can be a better place, and that we all have a role to play in making it that way.” – The Lamplight Review Jul 10, 2025 Full Review Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) 50% 7/10 EDIT “There are no global extinction threats, no smirking Chris Pratt and his quartet of laser-pointer-trained raptors, and no franchise players showing up for cameos. Instead, we get sweat-soaked tension and the constant threat of danger in the underbrush. ” – The Lamplight Review Jul 1, 2025 Full Review Ballerina (2025) 75% 7/10 EDIT “Despite a wobbly start, Ballerina manages to find its footing in an inventive second half, carving out its own bloody niche and delivering on the gorgeously choreographed chaos that has become a calling card of the series.” – The Lamplight Review Jun 5, 2025 Full Review Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025) 27% 4/10 EDIT “Fear Street: Prom Queen serves as yet another entry in a long series of disappointing reminders that a successful franchise name alone doesn’t guarantee a compelling film — or even a mildly entertaining one. ” – The Lamplight Review May 23, 2025 Full Review Thunderbolts* (2025) 88% 8/10 EDIT “In a franchise increasingly defined by diminishing returns and fan service fatigue, Thunderbolts* offers a rare moment of self-reflection, and a detour that feels meaningful in a way that most MCU films haven’t felt in years.” – The Lamplight Review May 2, 2025 Full Review Yadang: The Snitch (2025) 87% 7/10 EDIT “When Yadang is working — which is most of the time — it’s because the film seems less concerned with moralizing and more interested in spectacle and personality, and Kang Ha-neul is the film’s biggest asset in that regard.” – The Lamplight Review May 1, 2025 Full Review Havoc (2025) 64% 6/10 EDIT “Havoc doesn’t quite cohere as a story, but as a vehicle for pure, unrelenting action, it mostly succeeds. Those who appreciate the rhythm of well-executed violence, and don’t mind the excess that comes along with it, will find more than enough to satisfy.” – The Lamplight Review Apr 25, 2025 Full Review Drop (2025) 83% 7/10 EDIT “A tight, slightly ridiculous, occasionally stressful movie about a woman trying to survive the worst first date of her life, Drop knows exactly how far to push its premise before the whole thing breaks apart. ” – The Lamplight Review Apr 10, 2025 Full Review Queen of the Ring (2024) 73% 7/10 EDIT “Queen of the Ring succeeds in making Mildred Burke feel like the icon she was... She’s not just fighting for the future of women’s wrestling, she’s fighting for herself, her son, and the career she refuses to let anyone take away from her. ” – The Lamplight Review Mar 6, 2025 Full Review Blue Moon (2025) 91% 8/10 EDIT “Hawke, ever a master of his craft, captures Hart’s sharp humor and bruised ego in equal measure, turning him into both the life of the party and its saddest spectacle... even the character’s most acidic moments feel deeply human.” – The Lamplight Review Feb 18, 2025 Full Review No Beast. So Fierce. (2025) 5/10 EDIT “With a striking visual style and a commanding lead performance from Kenda Hmeidan, the film is undeniably ambitious. But much like its lead character, too much ambition turns out to be its eventual downfall.” – The Lamplight Review Feb 17, 2025 Full Review The Light (2025) 14% 4/10 EDIT “There are some striking visuals, and occasional glimpses of a sharper, more effective film buried within, but The Light‘s overindulgent running time and meandering execution will likely have audiences reaching for the switch.” – The Lamplight Review Feb 16, 2025 Full Review
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