We at disappointment media got tired of two things: being disappointed and being called a disappointment. So what do we do? We own it! We called this website disappointment to remind us that there is always room to improve — ourselves, our writing, and the industry. After getting fed up with the status quo of film criticism, Sean Boelman decided to take a (metaphorical) axe to it and create a site dedicated to giving a voice to diverse and underrepresented perspectives. Each of our writers brings their point of view to their work, and our goal is to become a prime source for intelligent discussion of the art of film.
Eighty percent of our critics come from an underrepresented background. Our critics have covered festivals across the country, and contributors writing for the site have received festival diversity and inclusion stipends. Writers and contributors for disappointment media are members of esteemed journalism groups and review aggregators.
Eighty percent of our critics come from an underrepresented background. Our critics have covered festivals across the country, and contributors writing for the site have received festival diversity and inclusion stipends. Writers and contributors for disappointment media are members of esteemed journalism groups and review aggregators.
Founder: Sean Boelman
Sean is a film critic, filmmaker, and life-long cinephile. For as long as he can remember, he has always loved film, but he credits the film Pan's Labyrinth as having started his love of film as art. Sean enjoys watching many types of films, although some personal favorite genres include music documentaries, heist movies, and experimental horror.
Sean started the Big Tuna on Film Blog in January 2016 because of a challenge from a teacher who wanted to inspire his students to take up film criticism. BTOF started as a way for Sean to share his passion for film, and as such, many of the earlier reviews are much shorter and less organized than his more recent writing. (He is actually embarrassed to look at some of the older blog posts he wrote.) From October 2018 to October 2019, he wrote for Monkeys Fighting Robots/POPAXIOM, but he left in October 2019 to launch disappointment!
Sean started the Big Tuna on Film Blog in January 2016 because of a challenge from a teacher who wanted to inspire his students to take up film criticism. BTOF started as a way for Sean to share his passion for film, and as such, many of the earlier reviews are much shorter and less organized than his more recent writing. (He is actually embarrassed to look at some of the older blog posts he wrote.) From October 2018 to October 2019, he wrote for Monkeys Fighting Robots/POPAXIOM, but he left in October 2019 to launch disappointment!
Writer: Camden Ferrell
Camden is a statistics major who likes to write and make movies on the side. Being raised on lots of great movies, it was a chance encounter with a DVD of Annie Hall at his local library that ignited his passion for film. He loves any and all films, especially slice-of-life, dark comedy, and surrealist films.
Camden started Camden Ferrell Movie Reviews in 2018 in order to share his passion for film and film criticism with the world. The website took him to cinematic lengths he had never before experienced and helped him grow as a writer and cinephile. He is thrilled to be a writer for disappointment and is excited for what the future brings.
Camden started Camden Ferrell Movie Reviews in 2018 in order to share his passion for film and film criticism with the world. The website took him to cinematic lengths he had never before experienced and helped him grow as a writer and cinephile. He is thrilled to be a writer for disappointment and is excited for what the future brings.
Contributor: Dan Skip Allen
Dan Skip Allen is from Lowell, Massachusetts but has lived in Florida for over 25 years. He has been watching movies for 40 years. His favorite directors are Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg, and favorite actors include Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Clint Eastwood. As a child, he was influenced by such films as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, Clint Eastwood westerns, Apocalypse Now, The Empire Strikes Back, and early Spielberg films. Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert were his biggest influences as a critic. Growing up, he watched Siskel & Ebert every Sunday for many years. That's why it has been his dream to write movie reviews for his whole life!
Contributor: Sarah Williams
Sarah is a sailor and engineering major with a love for making films and writing about them, which logistically should not fit with any of her other life interests. She has a soft spot for anything foreign, experimental, and just plain weird. You will almost certainly hear her bring up Portrait of a Lady on Fire in any conversation. She prides herself on being able to recite the Mulholland Drive from memory, and wants to highlight representation on film.
Contributor: Adam Donato
Adam is a recent graduate from Full Sail University with a Bachelor of Film Sciences degree. The Avengers inspired a love for superhero movies, which later broadened to a love for all genres. He produced short films from middle school through college with a strong focus on scriptwriting and directing. This love for writing led to a passion for analyzing films. He’s all about superhero movies, horror, musicals, and The Oscars.
Guest Contributor: Rafael Motamayor
Rafael is a freelance entertainment writer specializing in animation, whose work has appeared on Thrillist, IGN, Observer, SlashFilm, Polygon and several other outlets. He can talk for hours about why Digimon is better than Pokémon.