TSR Staff
Jeff Bayer: Editor-in-Chief, Publisher, Film Critic
Jeff Bayer, also known as “The Tallest Film Critic in America,” is the film critic for “Keep it Local” on KOIN Local 6 in Portland. He is also a member of the BFCA (Broadcast Film Critic’s Association) and voting member of The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards on VH1. He is a proud member of rottentomatoes.com and has written for the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye, was the film critic for the Daily Herald and their weekly Beep. He’s also written for UGO.com, screentalk.biz, thedeadbolt.com and the magazine Clubline Chicago. While in Chicago, Bayer was a member of the CFCA (Chicago Film Critic’s Association).
Bayer received his master’s in journalism from Roosevelt University in Chicago, now living Portland, Bayer is the proud creator of the “Scorecard” review format as well as The Scorecard Review Awards, allowing movie fans to have a voice during the awards season.
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Nick Allen: Film Critic and Staff Writer
When he was younger, one of the only places that Nicholas ever biked to was a video store no more than a mile away from his house. When said store suddenly burned down one day, he decided to stick to movie theaters. He has since then faced his fears with Netflix, although while having an account with that website he did (ironically) work at Blockbuster for a month, (his only day of being a true employee was spent recommending Fargo to a billion people). He is a lover of films, movies, and trash.
When he’s not geeking out over Ingmar Bergman, he’s probably daydreaming about Red Dawn. He does think Citizen Kane is (probably) the best movie ever made, but has a hard time thinking Commando isn’t too far behind.
Fun facts:
-Lectures at many fine universities on the history of the band Weezer.
-Has the unique bragging rights of personally out-awkwarding Michael Cera.
-Can quote every Chris Tucker-ism from all three of the Rush Hour movies.
-An Olympic gold medal winning super-speed walker. Please let him pass.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Nick is currently “writing” out of the Chicago area. He is going to abuse this wonderful opportunity to hopefully one-day high-five Roger Ebert.
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Morrow McLaughlin: Film Critic and Staff Writer
McLaughlin is a frustrated horror writer and a twitchy, half-crazed ghost story junkie. She daydreams in slow-mo, hides in the shrubbery outside your house, and likes to relax over hand-made medieval dioramas. By day, McLaughlin designs and implements text for an online insurance licensing school, which acts as an accelerant for her ongoing psychological deterioration. If you see her crab walking down the street, it’s best to just avoid all eye contact.
McLaughlin received a BA in English from the University of Iowa and then a healthy dose of reality regarding the worth of said English degree. Several years later, starving and ill prepared to do anything other than use twenty-five cent words to make snide comments, McLaughlin went back to Portland State University for her MS in technical writing. Now she can feed herself and pay her rent.
Jeff Bayer took McLaughlin on at The Scorecard Review as a social experiment and has only managed to keep her ego in check by welding her up in the basement. With the protection of his chain mail and the use of powerful shark deterrent, Bayer inspires McLaughlin to write semi-cohesive articles once in a while.
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Megan Lehar: Film Critic and Staff Writer
Megan’s first theatrical movie was Cinderella when she was 2 years old. She liked it, but thought it could be better. When she saw The Freshman she learned about a magical thing called film school and decided to go there.
After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts film program, she decided to take on the world. If you haven’t heard of her, you’re not looking in the right places. They’re hard to find, but they’re there.
She loves documentaries and foreign films and that’s what you’ll find her writing about most.
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Jacob Michael: Editor and writer
Jake is a software developer, musician, and full-time student who has an unhealthy obsession with English syntax and grammar. So monstrous is his passion, the English Language is currently in the process of obtaining several restraining orders in order to keep him at a safer distance. Bayer recently found Jake mainlining adverbs in a back alley, and decided to put him to use as a content editor for TSR.
Jake makes his home in West Michigan, where he contributes articles and movie reviews to sites such as A Site Called Fred and his own The Michaelodian. You can also find him on Twitter.
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Calhoun Kersten: Writer
Although Calhoun Kersten now calls Chicago his home, he’s originally from a small town called Wyoming, Ohio. This is just one of the many changes that his 22 years of life has had in store for him. Calhoun wasn’t always a film kid, but he’s always been a writer. Initially going to Columbia College for Fiction Writing, he quickly decided to switch to Film with a concentration in film review. As a recent grad, and unfortunate member of the “real world” now, he writes for The Scorecard Review and his own blog — Confessions of a Self-Proclaimed Megalomaniac — in his spare time. Until then, it’s retail and anyone who will have him. He hopes to one day be able to support himself full-time with his writing, but as of now, fate remains a cruel and fickle mistress.