"You probably haven’t heard of it..." <p><strong>The Background</strong>: Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018, starting as a freelancer shortly after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts &amp; entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She's Into</strong>: Sarah is CinemaBlend's resident YA enthusiast, often bringing her lifetime love of books and the stories behind their often contentious adaptations to the site. Deeply into when music and movies intersect, from knowing the hype musical tracks of Mamma Mia!, beautiful scores of Michael Giacchino and yes, the absolute banger Twilight soundtrack way too well. She is also passionate about highlighting and interviewing voices within the industry to help open the door for Hollywood to better represent the world through movies and television. Horror, she really loves horror movies. The world of animation as well... OK don't make her pick one genre.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She's Excited About Right Now</strong>: The continued resurgence of horror and musicals. The next Hunger Games movie, Mike Flanagan's upcoming shows, the Wicked movies and the final Spider-Verse animated film.&nbsp;</p>
Matt Johnson explained his reasoning to CinemaBlend. <p><strong>The Background</strong>: Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows <em>Ted Lasso </em>and <em>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</em>. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to <em>Fire Country</em>, and she's enjoyed every second of it.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She's Into</strong>: Riley’s range in likes is random and wide, from Marvel to musicals and from<em> Game of Thrones</em> to the latest Netflix rom-com you can catch her watching just about anything. Her favorite movies include but are not limited to <em>When Harry Met Sally, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Finding Nemo</em> and <em>The Grand Budapest Hotel</em>. She loves going to the movie theater, consuming copious amounts of popcorn and logging whatever she saw on Letterboxd immediately afterward. She constantly walks around quoting <em>Ted Lasso, SNL</em> and <em>Parks and Rec</em>. She has been known to create the occasional PowerPoint explaining the MCU to those who don’t get it. In the non-media realm, Riley is a massive college basketball fan. She is a firm believer that the Gonzaga men’s basketball team is the best team of all time, and she is patiently waiting for the day they finally win a national championship. She grew up in Washington and loves skiing, coffee and making sure that people know she is from the state, not D.C.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She's Excited About Right Now</strong>: Anything Taylor Swift or Andrew Garfield does, finally seeing strong female representation in the MCU and eventually seeing Jonathan Bailey sing his heart out in <em>Wicked</em>.&nbsp;</p>
I think it may be my favorite Spider-Man movie. <p><strong>The Background: </strong>Jerrica Tisdale is a freelance writer at Cinemablend. She joined the team as a freelancer in 2019. She began freelance writing in 2012 (celebrating a big 10-year milestone in 2022). Over the last decade-plus, Jerrica has written for many different publications on pop culture topics, including TellTaleTV, Screenrant, Gossip and Gab, Big Brother Access, The List, Starpulse, and other entertainment sites. She's also done ghostwriting and copywriting for companies such as Groupon and Staples. If it's related to writing, Jerrica has probably done it at some point. However, her passion has always been for pop culture and entertainment topics. &nbsp;She grew up with a deep-rooted passion for film and television. &nbsp;One day, she'll finally be brave enough to write a script or ten thousand scripts. Jerrica considers her true talent to be researching, or as she likes to call it internet detective work.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She's Into: </strong>Her favorite shows include Parks and Rec, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Big Brother, Veronica Mars, Fleabag, Barry, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and British panel shows. Her favorite movies include Whiplash, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ruby Sparks, Clueless, What We Do In The Shadows, Atonement, and most movies by David Fincher. Jerrica is also a major book nerd. She has a problem with buying too many books that she may never be able to read all of them, but she will surely try. Her favorite books include Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Perfect Sound Whatever by James Acaster, anything by Oscar Wilde, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, and anything by Khaled Hosseini, James Baldwin, Thomas Hardy, and Edgar Allen Poe. Jerrica is always searching for her next favorite but finds that to be a very hard search, so when she finds something she truly loves, she will never stop talking about it. You'll either hate that or love that about her.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She's Excited About Right Now: </strong>Jerrica is excited that it's fall movie season, aka Oscar bait season. She plans to invest in a discount movie pass and see as many potential Oscar winners as possible. She's also going to attend virtual (and possibly in-person) screenings at the Chicago International Film Festival this October. Jerrica is also excited to read as many scary or classic novels throughout the month of October. It is spooky season.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><br></p>
It turns out sometimes the studios do know what's best. <p><strong>The Background</strong>: Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What He's Into</strong>: Most everything Mick reports on because he's passionate and a fan of the subject. He really loves interviewing people and getting the bigger answers to questions. Outside of work, he's a sports fan who supports the Indiana Pacers, as well as the New England Patriots.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What He's Excited About Right Now</strong>: Mick is excited for the tentative ending of the writer's strike and for more of his favorite shows like Quantum Leap and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to finish out their in-development seasons.&nbsp;</p>
A £430 million project met its match in a house elf. <p><strong>The Background:</strong> Ryan graduated from Missouri State University with a BA in English/Creative Writing.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What He's Into:</strong> He loves all things horror. An avid fan of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Lifelong comic book fan.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What He's Excited About Right Now:</strong> Ryan's really excited for House of the Dragon and Hulu's Hellraiser reboot!</p>
Some things just work for the better. <p><strong>The Background</strong>: Megan Behnke has been a Freelance TV News Writer at CinemaBlend since 2021. She has worked at multiple entertainment outlets, including as a Writer and Editor at Nerds and Beyond, TV and Movie News Writer at CBR, and a Freelance Writer at TV Fanatic, writing about topics she's passionate about like pop culture. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a degree in Multimedia Journalism in 2020, writing for the school’s newspaper during her time there. Her expertise in entertainment is mainly in television, but she has written about movies, music, and local events as well.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What They're Into</strong>: Megan specializes in television writing, particularly procedurals. 9-1-1 and the Chicago Franchise are currently her favorites, where she can be found obsessively watching the latest episode or coming up with theories. She also loves to listen to music, with Taylor Swift being on the top of her playlist. She isn’t a huge sports person but will occasionally root for the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Wisconsin Badgers. As for movies, it’s hard to pick a favorite, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe reigns as her favorite franchise. She used to be a book nerd in grade school, with her favorite genre being fantasy or YA. Her favorite snack is sour cream and onion Pringles, while pizza is her all-time favorite food.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What They're Excited About Right Now</strong>: Manifest Season 4 finally coming to Netflix, One Chicago, and Taylor Swift’s upcoming Midnights album, which will be on repeat.</p>
If you were hoping for a large farva or a liter o' cola, you're in luck. <p><strong>The Background:</strong> Ryan graduated from Missouri State University with a BA in English/Creative Writing.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What He's Into:</strong> He loves all things horror. An avid fan of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Lifelong comic book fan.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What He's Excited About Right Now:</strong> Ryan's really excited for House of the Dragon and Hulu's Hellraiser reboot!</p>
This joke has at least another 33 years left on it. <p><strong>The Background:</strong> Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories at CinemaBlend since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p>Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She’s Into</strong>: A former soccer player and recent tennis addict, Jessica also enjoys running, both of the distance and sprint variety. When not at the movie theater or in a theme park, her other free time is spent in book clubs, hiking, drinking wine, binge-watching, keeping tabs on celebrity fashion and riding rollercoasters. Has a serious Hallmark habit and an even bigger record-buying habit. Will bake for compliments.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>What She’s Excited About Right Now</strong>: &nbsp;Hallmark Christmas movie season. Wearing socks to bed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
At the late-night, double-feature picture show, in the back row. https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gqJyioXTNQbSAisiNzZfAG.jpeg
The Beatles loved movies, and without one of them, a great film might not have been made.