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Mike McGranaghan

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

I started doing movie reviews in 1986, when I joined the staff of my high school newspaper and won several Keystone awards (the Keystone award is the highest honor given to high school journalists in Pennsylvania). That was all the encouragement I needed to continue. While still in college, I became the film critic for two central Pennsylvania newspapers: The Selinsgrove Times-Tribune and The Middleburg Post. I stayed with those papers for five years. In 1995, I became film critic of Gamut! - an online magazine devoted to entertainment. My website (www.aisleseat.com) is an off-shoot of that magazine. Additionally, I am the on-air film critic for Sunbury Broadcasting Corporation, which operates three central PA radio stations. My reviews run weekly.

Publications:
Favorites:

Favorite Films - The Brothers McMullen, JFK, Fletch, Do the Right Thing, Chasing Amy, Fargo, The Blair Witch Project
Favorite Directors - Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Edward Burns, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh, the Farrelly Brothers, the Coen Brothers, John Waters, Edward D. Wood, Jr.
Best of All Time: Schindler's List
Worst of All Time: Caligula

Critics' Group:
Location:

Central Pennsylvania

Official Website:

http://www.aisleseat.com/

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
David (2025) 63% 3.5/4 EDIT “David isn’t just a first-rate animated Biblical movie, it’s a first-rate animated movie overall.” – Aisle Seat Dec 14, 2025 Full Review Ella McCay (2025) 23% 2.5/4 EDIT “This latest effort from James L. Brooks definitely feels like the product of its auteur, which ironically, is both its strongest and weakest points.” – Aisle Seat Dec 12, 2025 Full Review Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) 77% 3/4 EDIT “This is a rare remake that vastly, immeasurably improves upon the original.” – Aisle Seat Dec 11, 2025 Full Review Atropia (2025) 42% 2/4 EDIT “The movie is distractingly uneven.” – Aisle Seat Dec 10, 2025 Full Review 100 Nights of Hero (2025) 67% 1.5/4 EDIT “Some very personal themes ring through a story that is extremely underdeveloped and frustratingly tame.” – Aisle Seat Dec 6, 2025 Full Review Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2025) 16% 2/4 EDIT “Like the first movie, the sequel has trouble generating real scares.” – Aisle Seat Dec 5, 2025 Full Review Man Finds Tape (2025) 88% 3/4 EDIT “The film delivers what horror fans come for, wrapped up in an inventive new package.” – Aisle Seat Dec 5, 2025 Full Review Fackham Hall (2025) 77% 3/4 EDIT “Fackham Hall is the first modern spoof movie that feels like it could have been made by the Airplane! guys or Mel Brooks.” – Aisle Seat Dec 4, 2025 Full Review 42 (2013) 80% 3/4 EDIT “Even if it isn't the most in-depth telling of Robinson's extraordinary journey, it is nonetheless a marvelously entertaining tribute to a very important man.” – Aisle Seat Dec 3, 2025 Full Review Merrily We Roll Along (2025) 94% 3/4 EDIT “Be prepared that you might come away satisfied but still wishing you’d been able to see it in person instead.” – Aisle Seat Dec 2, 2025 Full Review Hamnet (2025) 86% 3/4 EDIT “Getting into the film’s distinct groove can take a while but the rewards are worth having patience for.” – Aisle Seat Nov 30, 2025 Full Review The Thing with Feathers (2025) 47% 2/4 EDIT “Grief is a legitimate topic for a film and the approach taken by The Thing with Feathers is artistically valid. But, man, is it ever unpleasant to watch.” – Aisle Seat Nov 27, 2025 Full Review Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) 92% 3.5/4 EDIT “Wake Up, Dead Man is one of the most sincerely religious movies I’ve ever seen. It’s a first-rate murder mystery, too.” – Aisle Seat Nov 26, 2025 Full Review Eternity (2025) 77% 3/4 EDIT “There’s an old-fashioned tone to Eternity. It feels like something that would have been made in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, with Goldie Hawn trying to choose between Burt Reynolds and James Caan.” – Aisle Seat Nov 26, 2025 Full Review Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) 94% 3/4 EDIT “The movie is not unlike a blood-soaked Looney Tune.” – Aisle Seat Nov 21, 2025 Full Review Wicked: For Good (2025) 67% 3.5/4 EDIT “Wicked: For Good is so satisfying that it makes the idea of a two-parter seem like less of a gimmick than it probably is.” – Aisle Seat Nov 21, 2025 Full Review Altered (2025) 1.5/4 EDIT “A watered-down sci-fi clunker that borrows liberally from much better films.” – Aisle Seat Nov 19, 2025 Full Review Rental Family (2025) 87% 3/4 EDIT “An enjoyable feel-good movie with tear-jerker elements.” – Aisle Seat Nov 19, 2025 Full Review Sentimental Value (2025) 96% 3/4 EDIT “A thoughtful family drama marked by powerful acting from an impressive ensemble cast.” – Aisle Seat Nov 19, 2025 Full Review The Running Man (2025) 63% 3/4 EDIT “The action scenes are energetically staged, with Powell convincingly making his way through them.” – Aisle Seat Nov 15, 2025 Full Review Rebuilding (2025) 92% 3/4 EDIT “If this movie doesn’t touch your heart, you may not have one.” – Aisle Seat Nov 14, 2025 Full Review The Carpenter's Son (2025) 32% 1/4 EDIT “The bottom line is that, in tackling the unknown period of Jesus’s life, The Carpenter’s Son should either inspire or offend. Instead, it simply bores.” – Aisle Seat Nov 12, 2025 Full Review Die My Love (2025) 74% 3/4 EDIT “If you’re in an adventurous frame of mind, this explosive work will cast a spell over you.” – Aisle Seat Nov 9, 2025 Full Review Predator: Badlands (2025) 86% 3.5/4 EDIT “Trachtenberg and his team understood that the best way to continue the franchise was to simply make a kick-ass movie. And that’s precisely what they’ve done.” – Aisle Seat Nov 8, 2025 Full Review I Wish You All the Best (2024) 85% 2/4 EDIT “I Wish You All the Best is made with the very best of intentions and all the depth of a greeting card.” – Aisle Seat Nov 7, 2025 Full Review
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