Listening to Movie Reviews

I really enjoy reading well-written film reviews, but unfortunately I have less time these days to pick up magazines or journals dedicated to criticism. Radio provides an opportunity to listen to reviews while I’m commuting or performing my daily exercise routine, but unfortunately the few stations that air these types of shows rarely do so at a convenient time for me to listen. Thankfully, there’s another way to fit film reviews into my schedule, due to a time-shifting form of Internet radio referred to as podcasting.

If you haven’t heard of podcasting yet, there’s a myriad of resources available on the Internet; simply run a search using Google and you’ll find out plenty about the new media. In it’s less-than-a-year-old existence, the podcast has nearly become the dominant form of digital audio on the web, and a multitude of podcasts spanning a variety of topics has emerged. One of the earliest podcasts, Reel Reviews Radio, has taken the lead in the film criticism space, providing listeners with a twenty-minute audio review of, as host Michael W. Geoghegan proclaims them, “films worth watching”.

I enjoy downloading this podcast to my iRiver portable MP3 player and listening to Reel Reviews while running my daily errands. Different from your standard review in that the show seems biased toward exclusively presenting films Michael has enjoyed, the podcast displays a depth of sincerity and enlightened response to the films reviewed. The host makes his reviews accessible to everyone, from the casual moviegoer to the somewhat academically-minded film buff, and he even offers insight into the content extras included on the latest DVD releases.

Check out Reel Reviews Radio–for movie lovers, it’s a podcast worth listening to.