About the Filmcritic.com Staff - Current Critics
Christopher Null, Director, Editor-in-ChiefChristopher Null has been an entertainment and technology writer and editor for more than 17 years. Null founded Filmcritic.com in 1995 and has worked as Editor-in-Chief of Mobile magazine, Editor-in-Chief of New Architect, Executive Editor of Smart Business (formerly PC Computing) magazine, and Managing Reviews Editor of LAN Times magazine. Today he can be found blogging daily for Yahoo! Tech. As a freelance and staff writer, Chris has penned entertainment, business, and high-tech pieces for Wired, Business 2.0, PC World, Men's Journal, San Francisco Magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life, Working Woman, Maximum PC, The Austin Chronicle, The Austin American-Statesman, and numerous other publications. His clips can be found here.
Chris also works as an acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His recent projects include Five Stars! (2005, Sutro Press), a manual for aspiring film critics published in conjunction with Filmcritic.com. His debut novel Half Mast (2002, Sutro Press) was heralded as "the best of contemporary American fiction" by the New York Resident. He also co-authored the E-Business Technology Forecast (2002, PricewaterhouseCoopers) and the Network Administrator's Reference (1999, Osborne/McGraw-Hill). Through Nullkron Productions, a Web video and commercial production house, Chris wrote and produced the commercial "Streetwalker" for icPlanet and directed the short film "Scoot!" He also wrote, produced, and starred in the short film Pressurecooker, which received raves at nearly a dozen film festival screenings throughout the late '90s. Chris holds a 1996 Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Texas at Austin, where he received the Sord Scholar Award and the Dean's Award for academic merit.
Chris has been profiled dozens of publications and programs, including Wired magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, ESPN, Folio, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered. He was even quoted by the renowned Roger Ebert in his review of the film Emma. Chris is also a founding member (since 1997) of The Online Film Critics Society, and he is three degrees from Kevin Bacon. You can keep up with his daily rant at chrisnull.com and find his cocktail blog at Drinkhacker.com.
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Sean O'Connell, East Coast Bureau ChiefSean O'Connell has spent the better part of a decade reviewing movies. Though the bulk of his time is spent in dark theaters, the job occasionally permits him to interview gracious filmmakers, cover annual film festivals and walk a few red carpets at various world premieres. Sean is a member of The Online Film Critics Society and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. He contributes a weekly review segment, "The Reel Deal," on the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. His reviews even earned him recent recognition from the North Carolina Press Association.
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Chris Barsanti, Senior CriticChris Barsanti has been writing for Filmcritic.com since 2002. He is also a columnist for PopMatters.com and a contributor to Film Journal International. His writing has also appeared in Playboy, The Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and In These Times. He is a 2004 inductee into The Online Film Critics Society.
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Bill Gibron, Senior CriticSince 2001, Bill Gibron has been an active writer and online critic, offering in-depth articles and opinions at DVD Verdict and DVD Talk. He’s also a senior editor and featured contributor at PopMatters.com, and authors that site’s syndicated film blog, Short Ends and Leader. He’s also been known to scribble blurbs for the trade publication Video Librarian from time to time. With over 2,500 (and counting) reviews to his credit, and a membership in the Online Film Critics Society to keep him legitimate, Bill continues to wade against the mainstream current while spreading the word about his private passion, the exploitation films of the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. They are the foundation for the post-modern movement, after all.
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Norm Schrager, Senior CriticA Filmcritic.com contributor since 2000, Norm developed a love of film in the late '70s, when his parents forbade him from seeing Rocky and the R-rated version of Saturday Night Fever. As a moviegoer, his recent loves are Almost Famous, Boogie Nights, Hilary & Jackie, Ghost World and most of John Sayles' films. As a freelance writer, his work has appeared in Boston Metro newspaper, The Weekly Dig, Boston Flavor magazine and other snazzy publications. Norm enjoys bashing the entertainment gossip shows while staring at them in a mesmerized state. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
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Don Willmott, Senior CriticDon Willmott’s first movie review, an analysis of Roman Polanski’s Tess that appeared in his high school newspaper, accurately predicted the film would win the 1981 Oscar for Best Cinematography. Willmott then turned his critical eye to computer products, writing and editing hardware and software reviews for PC Magazine from 1986 until 2000. At his next stop, Yahoo! Internet Life, Don was responsible for the magazine’s service and product-related articles as well as the Cool Tools and Incredibly Useful Sites departments. As a current contributing editor to PC Magazine, he writes the popular Backspace humor column, and his first book, PC Magazine Best of the Internet, a guide to 1,000 useful Web sites, hit shelves in January 2004. A downtown New Yorker, Don can walk to any of 34 movie screens in ten minutes or less.
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Jay AntaniJay Antani is a novelist, comic book writer, and film critic living in Los Angeles. His movie love began in India where, at age five, the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay rocked his world. As a film student at UW-Madison, Jay took in everything from Hollywood extravaganzas and the indie cinema of the early '90s to underground experimentals, and world cinema masterworks (with the oeuvre of Robert Bresson, Jacques Tati, and Satyajit Ray being among the most dazzling of gems). Jay's been a film critic since 2002, his first graphic novel was released in August 2008, and he's putting the finishing touches on his debut novel, written in USC's graduate writing program. He's credentialed as a print journalist with the MPAA, and is a member of the Online Film Critics Society. His beautiful wife still tolerates him.
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David BezansonDavid Bezanson is a nonprofit manager in the environmental conservation field, a former journalist and GIS programmer with more than a decade of experience as a writer. He has long lived in Austin, Texas, a city with possibly the highest number of programmers, environmentalists, and freelance writers per capita in the country.
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Keith BreeseFrom the high-profile (the fantastic Lord of the Rings films) to the hopelessly remote (Miguel Bejo anyone?), high art (Wojciech Has) to lowbrow (Top Secret!), from a stint as a college film league co-director (bringing such luminary classics as Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy to dismayed students) to reviews in obscure film journals, from high-fives with Henry Winkler to orphic e-mails from Alejandro Jodorowsky, Keith's fascination with cinema has spanned decades and consumed millions of brain cells. He lives in Denver with his wife and daughter.
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Jules BrennerJules Brenner's technical/creative background as a cinematographer (see IMDB), his set experiences, his knowledge of film packaging, and the importance he attaches to the screenplay of every movie inform his reviews with an insider/outsider perspective. He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, serves as a judge in the Nicholl Screenwriting Competition, and has lectured on screenwriting and general production at the Columbia College of Chicago, Studio City campus. He is accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America as an online and print journalist and contributes film reviews to various print and online outlets as well as his own site, Cinema Signals. His full set of movie reviews can be accessed at his website..
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Paul BrennerPaul Brenner started out as a child. At the age of 10, his peers ostracized him when A Hard Day's Night opened in his town and he chose to see Who's Minding the Store? instead. From that point onward, he insisted upon tarnishing his beautiful mind with films of all types. Casting fate to the wind and mortgaging his future, he received a Master's degree in TV, Radio & Film from Northwestern University. Since that time, Brenner has written for print publications such as The Motion Picture Guide, Magill's Survey of Foreign Language Cinema, and The Encyclopedia of Film. Online publications have included Mediascreen.com, AOL's Critics Choice, and The All Movie Guide. At one point, Brenner even worked on the pre-production of an orangutan comedy in Hollywood USA. He has also written numerous screenplays that he uses as coasters and doorstops. He is employed as Director of Audio Visual Services at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
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Chris CabinChris Cabin grew up in Albany, where he spent most of his life watching vast amounts of VHS tapes, breaking bones, and being an average student. Today, he resides in Brooklyn, where he spreads his time between writing freelance film reviews, working as a research assistant, and writing screenplays. His mentors include J.D. Zeik, screenwriter of Ronin, and Dean Bell, writer and director of What Alice Found. You can more than likely find him at the Verb Café on Bedford Street with a copy of Richard Ford’s The Sportswriter. He is a 2006 inductee into The Online Film Critics Society.
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Annette CardwellAnnette Cardwell is formerly an associate editor with Smart Business magazine, and she once did far less serious work as an editor with the now defunct Incite Video Gaming magazine. Before gaming, she was an arts & entertainment reporter for the Boston Herald and Boston Phoenix newspapers. Annette got all her fancy book learnin' at Boston University's School of Journalism, and that's something we're all pretty proud of. She now works for a little dot-com called Yahoo! and lives in San Francisco.
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Brian ChenThroughout his career as a professional writer and editor, Brian Chen has been known for pushing the envelope with burning sarcasm and sharp social commentary. To wit: a diverse writing repertoire that includes investigative journalism as the news editor of The California Aggie and a position as associate editor at Macworld, where he currently reviews products and opines on all things Apple. He attributes his abilities to his studies at UC Davis, where he earned bachelor's degrees in English and film studies (while developing an alarming obsession with Woody Allen and Wes Anderson). Outside of work, Brian is a member of the San Francisco Film Society as well as a volunteer at the International Film Festival and Asian American Film Festival in San Francisco (mostly to score free movie passes).
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Pete CroattoPete Croatto has written for Filmcritic.com since 2000, and was a senior critic from 2002 to 2007. Currently, he is a movie reviewer for Primetime A&E magazine and a DVD reviewer for Home Media Magazine. His book and movie reviews have also appeared on Deadspin.com, Publishers Weekly, and The (Newark) Star-Ledger and his feature writing has appeared in mediabistro.com, The Trenton Times, and numerous natural health publications. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, he lives in central New Jersey. Yes, he's met Kevin Smith. No, he doesn't like Garden State.
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Blake FrenchBlake has worked with 9ine Magazine, OC Drinks! Magazine, Lansing City Pulse, Backstage West, In The Scene Magazine, Los Angeles Alternative Press, Laguna Beach Independent, and is currently working with 944 Magazine-Orange County. Blake also acts and models professionally (when he can actually find work) and is most proud of his principal role in last year's Dunkin' Donuts commercial directed by Ridley Scott's son. A resident of Las Vegas, he's a member of the Screen Actors Guild and a 2002 inductee into the The Online Film Critics Society.
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Rachel GordonWhen not critiquing films, Rachel Gordon is making them or helping them get out into the world. Rachel is a freelance marketing and distribution consultant for educational videos, working with independent documentary filmmakers to expand their audience. She worked for the Anti-Defamation League running their educational resource catalog, and before joining the ADL she assisted the National Film Board of Canada in distributing their in the United States to socially-aware organizations. Rachel also works in film production and has produced/directed short films for the past dozen years. She is currently developing a feature film about women’s fear of commitment, for which her short film, Loose Ends, is currently making festival rounds. She participated in several 48 Hour Project contests. One of the final products, which she directed and produced, Writing on the Wall, was chosen as the Best of New York. It was also an official selection of the San Francisco Short Film Festival and screened at Reel Venus Film Festival. Another project she directed, Bench Warmers, screened at Valley Film Festival and Miami Short Film Festival. Her initial directorial video project from 2002, Room Tone, screened at festivals across the United States.
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Jesse HassengerJesse Hassenger is a recovering English major and a graduate of Wesleyan University. He is carefully balancing the lives of a starving artist and an overweight proofreader, and, as a compulsive filmgoer, has been known to write film reviews even when not employed as a film critic. His reviews have appeared on PopMatters, and he's scarily convinced that A Life Less Ordinary was totally underrated. He lives in Brooklyn.
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Jason McKiernanJason has been a film critic/lover/student/connoisseur/geek for over 20 years and was watching and discussing sophisticated films before he was able to spell "sophisticated." After writing reviews for his own website through his teenage years, Jason entered the cutthroat world of university film studies when he entered college. He completed the rugged obstacle course known as the Wright State University Motion Pictures Program after six long years of history, theory, and production studies. Jason has written six feature-length screenplays and has directed, written, shot, and edited several short films in nearly every form -- narrative, documentary, experimental, and non-sync. In addition, he has presented two film essays to the nationally recognized Pop Culture Association conferences in 2007 and 2008. Currently, Jason (and his wife) operate and write for a film blog, Cinema Squared. He lives in Dayton, Ohio.
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Matt McKillopA lifelong movie buff, Matt’s official involvement in film began in 1997 when he took a job reading scripts and writing coverage for The Ladd Company. In 2000, after brief stints as a professional gift wrapper, bookseller, and freelance writer, Matt joined the staff at Citysearch.com, where he wrote about movies, pop music, and sundry other topics. He now resides in Santa Monica, happily living out the quintessential Los Angeles cliché as an aspiring screenwriter.
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Eric MeyersonEric Meyerson grew up in Miami, a short Huffy-ride from a multiplex where he became the first kid ever to sneak liquor into Disney's 101 Dalmatians. He’s never managed to sit through Top Gun beginning-to-end, but he thinks Better Off Dead is one of the finest anythings anywhere ever. He got his BA from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and his MBA from UC-Berkeley. He lives in San Francisco and is married to fellow Filmcritic.com staffer Annette Cardwell.
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Jason MorganBy day, Jason Morgan is a mild-mannered editor for Benjamin Media, working primarily on Compact Equipment magazine and Tunnel Business Magazine. By night, Jason works in the shadows of the theater, crusading for the preservation of cinema's future; he's been reviewing theatrical and DVD releases in various print and internet publications for over two years. When he has some downtime, Jason picks up freelance writing covering local events for Cleveland Scene, a weekly Village Voice publication.
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Chris SeiboldChris Seibold is an engineer, writer, and cartoonist residing in Knoxville, Tennessee. As an engineer, he has tackled such diverse processes as powder coating and hot dog casing manufacture. As a writer, he has focused on computing and written for a variety of online and traditional media, including serving as Senior Contributing Editor for the Apple Matters website and authoring The Big Book of Apple Hacks. As a cartoonist, he has produced both cartoon strips and editorials. Chris also managed to spend some time working producing radio shows relating to sports. As soon as he hits television, the trifecta will be complete. Chris lives with his wife, young son, and what is quite possibly the world's dimmest canine. He has a degree in Physics from the University of Tennessee but has yet to find work involving frictionless inclined planes.
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David ThomasDavid Thomas is a writer/filmmaker living in Philadelphia whose online musings have surfaced in Blogcritics, Metaphilm, Free Williamsburg, and his own blog at www.daviddylanthomas.com. He’s made four shorts and two features with titles like All Night Thing and Attack of the Bobbleheads and still they allowed him to lecture on numerous occasions at Johns Hopkins University and Friends School of Baltimore.
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Rob VauxRob Vaux has been writing film reviews online for the past nine years. His work is regularly featured on Rotten Tomatoes and he remains a member in good standing of the Online Film Critics Society. Before that, he worked as a game designer in the table-top roleplaying industry for over a decade. He currently lives in the Los Angeles area where he embraces the heady rush of full-time freelancing and faithfully roots for the Insert Your City Name Here Angels. He collects edgy black cats to do his infernal bidding and is a notorious defender of latter-day George Lucas films.
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You can find the complete body of work of each Filmcritic.com staff member by clicking here.
