About the Reviewer

Who am I?

I'm Andy Kemp — a technology architect based in the UK. My day job involves analysing complex systems, evaluating decisions, assessing governance frameworks, managing risk, and scrutinising user experience at an organisational level.

I have absolutely no formal film education, no press credentials, and no industry connections. What I do have is a professional habit of pulling things apart to see whether they actually work — and that habit does not switch off when the lights go down.

Why review films?

Because the same lens I use to evaluate a technology programme turns out to be surprisingly useful in a cinema seat. Does the architecture hold together? Are the decisions defensible? Is the governance (plot structure, rules of the world) consistent? Where are the risks — and were they managed? Does the user experience (the audience's journey) actually work?

Most film criticism focuses on cinematography, performance, and cultural context. That's all valid. I'm more interested in whether the thing was well-built — whether the decisions made sense, whether the system (the film) delivered what it promised, and whether the people responsible understood what they were building and for whom.

Sometimes that produces the same verdict as everyone else. Sometimes it doesn't.

The rating system

Reviews are scored out of 5. Individual scorecard categories are also out of 5. Scores are not rounded to the nearest whole number — a 0.1 means a 0.1.

The scorecard categories vary by film based on what actually mattered. A superhero reboot gets judged differently from a slow-burn thriller. The overall rating reflects my personal verdict, not a mathematical average of the scorecard.

Certain special contributions — a well-deployed Battle Cat, a well-timed Dolph Lundgren cameo — may be scored independently of the film's overall quality. This is intentional and non-negotiable.

Disclosures

• I pay for my own cinema tickets and streaming subscriptions.
• I have no affiliation with any studio, distributor, or PR firm.
• I am not a film critic. I am a technology architect with opinions.
• All scores are final. Except when I change them.

Contact & comments

Comments on individual reviews are open via Giscus (GitHub Discussions). If you want to tell me I'm wrong, that's what they're for.