About Me

Hey look! It’s me, Christopher Spicer. I’ve been a professional freelance writer since 2011 and am the operator of this humble site. I’ve written pop culture columns, movie and TV reviews, parenting blogs, reported news articles, opinion pieces, humour articles, short stories, and copywriting (I’ve got to pay those bills). My work has appeared in The Video Librarian, MovieWeb, The Doe, Parenting & Newborn, BuddyTV, NerdMuch, Collective Publishing, and many other places. One day, I’ll announce that I finally published a novel.

I’m proudest of this little site, Beyond the Balcony. The name is a tribute to a major influence on my career: the late, great Roger Ebert, best known for Siskel & Ebert, where movies were debated from a set designed to look like a theatre balcony, and each episode ended with “The balcony is closed.” With this site, the balcony will always be open, and I’m endlessly thankful for the impact Ebert had on film criticism.

Ebert often described movies as “empathy machines.” A great movie allows us to connect with characters from backgrounds, time periods, experiences, and beliefs we may never encounter ourselves. Movies, like all great art, give us a deeper understanding of our society and even life itself. I try to follow Ebert’s path by using movie reviews to dig deeper into all the major aspects of our society.

This is a movie site, but one with a personal twist. I explore parenting, social issues, mental health, and writing all through the lens of movies. I recently learned I’m an ADHDer and autistic, and I’ve been exploring that in my writing in hopes it helps others feel seen.

The site is also home to the movie review podcast The Movie Breakdown. I co-hosted the show with the wonderful Scott Martin from January 2013 until 2024, when Scott took an indefinite hiatus. I now host the podcast solo, with occasional cameos from my kids and guest hosts. Over the years, we’ve reviewed all kinds of movies, believing every genre deserves in-depth and fun analysis.

I also publish a Substack newsletter, Life on the Balcony, which dives deeper into movies and showcases a fiction series. If you enjoy what I write here, I’d love it if you’d consider subscribing.

If you like my style and want to bring my creativity, imagination, and writing to your site, magazine, or business, I’m available for freelance or contract work. You can learn more here.

If you’re new here and don’t know where to start, here are a few past pieces you might enjoy:

• Wired for Wonder: A Neurodivergent Mental Health Manifesto
• The Return of Misleading but Accurate Descriptions of Popular Movies
• 10 Movies That Were Box Office Hits But Never Got a Sequel
• Why Yes, It Is Another Random Conversation Between Two Strangers
• The Very Important Thing That I Learned from My Son Being Able to Ride His Bike

Thank you for stopping by, and enjoy some of the sweet word magic.