Sean Patrick
Bio
Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.
Stories (1985)
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Movie Review: 'Ted Bundy American Boogeyman'
In my nearly 20 years of writing about the movies I have seen some disreputable filmmakers and Daniel Farrands, the director of such non-classics as The Haunting of Sharon Tate and The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, is among the most disreputable of them all. Targeting some of the most well known true crime stories in American history, Farrands doesn’t seek to shine a light on the gravest of evil, he seeks to exploit it as if it were just another horror story.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Criminal
Strict Adherence to Screenplay Mechanics Stifles Aretha's Life Story in 'Respect'
It's strange to say this when we are talking about a movie about a real life individual but, since I know some people are sensitive to this, SPOILERS for the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect will be part of this article. In this exercise we are going to break down the entirety of the new Aretha Franklin biopic Respect using screenwriting guru Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet. The late Mr. Snyder was a screenwriter by trade and a teacher of screenwriting as well. His book Save the Cat is a terrific resource for screenwriters who are learning the craft for the first time.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Beat
Movie Review: 'Free Guy'
When I think of Free Guy I think of a vapid, mindless, forgettable experience. Much like Jungle Cruise and The Suicide Squad before it, the empty headed spectacle was there and I didn’t dislike it but I also didn’t enjoy it. That’s surprising for me because I have always enjoyed Ryan Reynolds. I enjoy Reynolds’ quick wit and goofball physicality and both of those wonderful comic traits are in play in Free Guy. And still, I just don’t care.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Series Review: 'Marvel's What if?'
Disney’s What If is the latest extension of the Marvel Brand on the Disney Plus streaming platform. Created by A.C Bradley and directed by Brian Andrews, the series is a re-imagining of the Marvel Universe. Taking the origins of classic Marvel heroes and giving them a new spin, What If manages to refresh these characters and these stories. Thus even a story such as the origin of Captain America, one very familiar from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, feels new again in an alternate universe where Steve Rogers never becomes Captain America.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Visual Filmmaking in 'Materna'
Visual film-making is tricky, it’s very easy to move an audience to the wrong conclusion by giving bad visual information. In this article I am going to explore the troubled visual film-making in the movie Materna from director David Gutnik and how the visual choices in play in the film’s opening story lead to puzzling conclusions that affect the rest of the film. The choices made during a sequence starring the brilliant Kate Lyn Sheil aren’t bad but as they exist in the story, and are stitched together in editing, they can lead to a conclusion that doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Materna'
Materna has the look and feel of a very good movie. The images at play and elements of the stories being told are really strong and in my very soul I wish I could recommend Materna but sadly I can’t. The bad in this case outweighs the good in Materna far too often from the strange choice of including a sci-fi tinged story in a movie that contains no other element of the supernatural, to letting segments linger for too long, minor issues keep creeping up until you realize that the whole of Materna never congeals into a singular, united story.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'The Suicide Squad'
The Suicide Squad is a yawning chasm where fun should be. This R-rated action-comedy from the often very funny James Gunn is sadly a loud, obnoxious and unconvincing superhero movie. The Suicide Squad is an attempt by Warner Media to make up for the historic failure that was the 2016 disaster, Suicide Squad, minus the ‘The.’ The Suicide Squad is certainly an improvement over the edited in a blender and assembled by blind monkey’s 2016 abomination but that was an incredibly low bar to step over.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Playing God'
Playing God stars Hannah Kasulka and Luke Benward as the brother and sister con artist team, Rachel and Micah. Having lost their mother when they were very young and having never known their father, Rachel and Micah have always relied on their wits and each other. When they were 11 years old, they’re twins though not identical, they tried to rob the till at a roller rink. There they met Frank (Michael McKean), a long time con artist who took them under his wing.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Rising Wolf'
Rising Wolf stars Charlotte Best as Aria, a young woman who has been kidnapped. Aria is trapped inside an elevator; only the doors won’t open. This being a very modern elevator it has a video wall on the back, one capable of being used to live stream and a camera where Aria can be seen by her captors. As the story of Rising Wolf unfolds we learn that Russian gangsters have kidnapped Aria’s father, Richard (Johnny Pasolvsky) and they want him to reveal a state secret.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'John and the Hole'
John and the Hole is a haunting and often confounding film. Directed by famed visual artist Pascual Sisto, this unusual story carries echoes of the work of Gus Van Sant, his more meandering dramas such as Elephant or Last Days with the difference being that Sisto has a more distinct purpose. The austere sharpness of the images is given more urgency in Sisto’s work perhaps because he is working in genre, he’s making a thriller as opposed to Van Sant’s medium of formless observation.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Geeks
8 Reasons Radio Remains as Relevant As Ever
So many people have written eulogies or epitaphs for professional radio and yet here we are and here we stand. Radio is still a part of the day for millions of listeners across the country and across the globe. While new forms of content have segmented the audience, radio still finds ways to adapt and thrive and continue. There are many reasons why radio remains relevant even in an era with more choices than ever before. Here are 8 of the best reasons why radio is still relevant today…
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in FYI
Series Review: 'Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami'
Billy Corben has demonstrated the remarkable ability as a documentary filmmaker to find these brilliantly absurd stories amid larger, darker, overarching narratives. In his Cocaine Cowboys it was the way the smugglers and the members of law enforcement each seemed to marvel at their own audacity in how they conducted their adversarial business. For his newest foray into the Cocaine soaked world of the 1970’s and 1980’s, Corben is once again demonstrating this remarkable talent.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Criminal
