I grew up loving movies. Not just watching them but studying them. While watching movies in theaters, I would make a run to my local video store and check out movies. Movies that I love. Movies that are new. Sometimes the back of the box told me something interesting. Would check it out on a random Friday night. In 2026, online movie culture has made me hate movies. Not movies in general. Just the people that I used to like talking about movies with. The Disgruntled Cinephile is my attempt to bridge that.
Back in the nineties and early aughts, I understood how people didn’t know much about movies. Like how themes worked. An artists narrative structure. A director’s signature that made you realize that it was their movie.
Now, how film works is still oblivious to people that call themselves film critics. This isn’t for people that watch movies and enjoy them. This is for people that claim to know film but don’t understand the nuances about it. Anti-intellectual chuds that believe, because they didn’t go to film school, they somehow have a better viewpoint of modern cinema.
The Disgruntled Cinephile will lay some ground rules.
People that think saying “woke”, “trash”, or “lazy” is somehow an accurate description without saying anything at all. Why do you think this? How is it “lazy”? No one can supply an answer that doesn’t conclude with “you know?”
The Disgruntled Cinephile will lay some ground rules about film criticism. It’s the appreciation of film and what it does. Whether it is telling a personal, powerful, or fun story. I don’t care how much you hate a film, there is always one piece – no matter how minor – that is positive.
Join me every Thursday for episodes of the show. Wherever you get your podcasts.