Jonathan R. Lack, Author at We Got This Covered

Jonathan R. Lack

With ten years of experience writing about movies and television, including an ongoing weekly column in The Denver Post's YourHub section, Jonathan R. Lack is a passionate voice in the field of film criticism. Writing is his favorite hobby, closely followed by watching movies and TV (which makes this his ideal gig), and is working on his first film-focused book.

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Mad Men: The Final Season Part 1 Blu-Ray Review

After a disappointing Season 6 collection last year, Mad Men on Blu-Ray rebounds with another excellent set, featuring terrific technical merits, great extras, and seven top-notch episodes of television's all-around best show.

WGTC Radio #75 – 2013 Year In Review Spectacular!

It’s time for the third season premiere of WGTC Radio, the official podcast of We Got This Covered! Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

WGTC Radio #74 – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug & Doctor Who Christmas Special Discussions

It’s FINALLY time for another episode of WGTC Radio, the official podcast of We Got This Covered! Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

Jonathan R. Lack’s 20 Next-Best Films Of 2013

As I said in my Top 10 Films of 2013 article, 2013 was more than just a great year for films – it was a year filled with movies that were themselves filled with countless cinematic riches, a year made deep by both the number of quality titles, and the boundless depth of the titles themselves. Narrowing the best of the best down to just 10 was no easy task – though it resulted in a Top 10 comprised solely of masterpieces, I feel – and in making the list, I was left with a large number of leftovers I knew merited discussion.

Jonathan R. Lack’s Top 10 Films Of 2013

This is the Top 10 list I have been waiting my entire critical career to write. I have been reviewing movies since 2004, and compiling Top 10 lists since 2006, and while the latter task has become increasingly stressful with each passing year – maybe because I see a greater number of movies each year, and maybe because the industry has been on a general upward trend in recent times – I have never had the pleasure or challenge of compiling such a dense collection of cinematic brilliance for my year-end countdown. It is always tough at first, whittling the list of contenders down to the actual ten titles, but if I am being honest, I also find that most Top 10 lists I make are made up of a few films I might call legitimate masterworks, a bunch of great movies I love intensely, and, at the bottom, a sentimental pick or two that most clearly reflects my own obsessions and interests. And that’s perfectly fine, because a Top 10 list constructed like that still represents a whole lot of very meaningful cinema.

The Wolf Of Wall Street Review

Vintage Scorsese through and through - which includes his penchant for artistic evolution - The Wolf of Wall Street provides some of the most vibrant, energetic, and culturally impactful filmmaking of 2013.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Review

If ever a movie could be described as having a ‘lighting in a bottle’ comic energy, it would be Adam McKay’s original Anchorman. More than silly, and miles beyond ridiculous, the film is a product of full-on creative lunacy, a comedy so positively, inconceivably bonkers that the only logical explanation for how it could exist in such pure, unhinged form is that everybody involved went mad on the first day of shooting. The jokes land as hard as they do because there is often no clear rhyme or reason to them whatsoever – the film is an intense shock to the system, a rewiring of one’s basic sense of comedy, and I believe the core reason Anchorman is so enduringly quotable is because the words that come out of the character’s mouths have no business being arranged in sentences together. “I have many leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.” “Bears can smell the menstruation.” “I’m in a glass case of emotion!” The dialogue is so weird, so out there, so completely unhinged from rational thought, that lines are constantly being seared into the viewer’s mind through sheer force of oddity.

English Language Voice Cast Announced For Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises

I suspect my forthcoming Top 10 list isn't the only place you're going to see master animator Hayao Miyazaki's final feature the film, The Wind Rises, featured and celebrated prominently as 2013 comes to a close - read my review here - but in truth, the first time most Americans will have a chance to see the film is this February, when the movie arrives in theatres throughout the United States.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug Review

Viewed as the extended second act of the larger three-act epic that will be The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug is terrific, a dazzling, endlessly inventive adventure serial that is filled to burst with cinematic treats both large and small. Never anything less than intensely entertaining, and absent nearly every pacing issue that left its predecessor, An Unexpected Journey, a solid but uneven disappointment, Smaug is a treat, and will be a welcome breath of fresh air for fans of Peter Jackson’s cinematic Middle Earth.

WGTC Radio #73 – Persona News, Doctor Who 50th Review, & More!

We come back after a two week break – vacations, snow storms, sickness, you know the drill – to break down a whole lot of news, including plenty of strange revelations about upcoming superhero movies – why are they putting Wonder Woman in Man of Steel 2? – and the announcement of not one, not two, but four brand new Persona games, including the much-anticipated Persona 5 for PS3.