Airman finds a hobby in movies

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Betty R. Chevalier
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Movies are very popular in today's society, from date nights to keeping deployed Airmen in touch with American entertainment. Sometimes the downfall about movies is not having enough information. One Airman decided to take that challenge in hopes of benefiting others.

Lt. Col. Patrick King, 755th Operations Support Squadron assistant director of operations, grades and reviews movies on his free time to prevent others from seeing a bad movie.

King started writing three to four sentence reviews on Facebook in 2010, as a hobby. His friends encouraged him to start blogging the reviews and try to get them published.

King said he received permission from the legal office this year to get off-duty employment and was quickly hired as a movie reviewer by Explorer News in Oro Valley, Ariz.

"I try to write my movie reviews to be very short, concise and honest," King said. "What I normally see from movie reviews are eight to 12 paragraphs that just walk people through an entire movie. I don't think people like the movie to be spoiled."

King thinks people want a brief description of a movie and his thoughts of it before they see it for themselves. He tries not to give away the plot or suspense, so his reviews are only three to four paragraphs.

King has written over 100 reviews since he started posting them on Facebook. Although his newspaper reviews only include movies in the theaters, King has also written reviews on movies released on DVD.

Unlike other people whose second job interferes with family time, Kings' job has the opposite effect.

"My wife and I watch a movie every Friday and my reviews aren't due to the paper until Sunday," he said. "It doesn't interfere with my military career and I still get to spend time with my family."

When King goes to a movie, he doesn't take a pen or paper with him into the theater. After he gets home, he will jot down a few key things from the movie. The next day he sits down to write the review.

"I really want to experience the movie just like anyone else," King said. "If the movie is that good and makes that much of an impression on me, then I will remember those impressions when I write the review."

King recently returned from a two year tour at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, where he believes he developed his style of writing reviews. He believes movies can help deployed Airmen or Airmen stationed overseas stay in touch with American entertainment, while bringing people together.

"I think just like the Super Bowl brings everybody together all over the world, our movies do that too," he said. "If I can share those experiences with those overseas, I think it is very important."

For now, King's reviews are on Facebook, in the Explorer Newspaper and on his website reelbrief.com, but he hopes the reviews will expand and become more published in the future.