Philip Martin is the chief film critic and a columnist for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

In his journalistic career, Martin has been a sportswriter, a criminal investigator, a political columnist, a sports editor, the executive editor of an alternative weekly and a newspaper executive in charge of a small chain.

Martin is also a songwriter (who appeared on the Merv Griffin Show in the '80s who has released two albums of original music, Gastonia (2013) and Euclid Avenue (2014), and was a finalist for the 2012 James Hearst Poetry Prize. His most recent book The President Next Door, was published by Et Alia Press in 2015.

Currently serving as the president of the Southeastern Film Critics' Association; he's also the author of two books of essays, The Shortstop's Son and The Artificial Southerner and the monkey in the nose cone of the blood, dirt & angels (www.blooddirtangels.com) blog.

Follow Philip on his blog: blood, dirt & angels.