In a recent review of Spider-Man, movie critic Jay Forry observed: "As for my super powers, I don't need web-shooting wrists, but any improvement on the eyesight would help." That line's a joke, but the man's not kidding. You see, Forry is North America's only blind movie critic.

    A former steel worker, Forry, a native of Tampa, Fla., lost his eyesight to diabetes at the age of 28. In search of a new career, he enrolled in social work courses at a local community college, where he began writing movie reviews for the student paper. Now, he critiques flicks for radio stations across North America, and on his Web site, www.blindsidereviews.com. Saturday Post spoke with Forry about his unlikely career.

    How does a blind guy become a movie critic? Well, a college friend asked me, "Do you want to write something for the school newspaper?" So I said "Yeah, I'll be the movie critic." It was kind of a joke, but I had always enjoyed going to the movies, even after I lost my sight. And after I wrote a couple of reviews, I figured out that I'm not the best writer in the world, but I have good ideas and good one-liners.

    Really? Tell me a joke you're proud of. O.K., I recently saw the movie, The New Guy. I wrote, "This movie was so bad, if I could have found the door to the theatre, I would have left." People got a big kick out of that one.

    When did you get your radio break? Some local newspapers heard about me after I finished college, because I had won some awards and stuff. So they did some stories about me. Eventually, one of the radio stations in Tampa said, "You should do reviews on our show." And once you do one radio show -- if you're halfway good -- other stations hear about you and call you up. I did my first show four years ago and I still have new people calling me. I think I've appeared on a thousand different stations so far, and I'm on a couple of dozen stations regularly.

    How do you compensate for not being able to see the action? I take my wife or son with me, and they describe things to me. They don't have to talk much if it's a movie with a good plot. On the other hand, if the movie is all special effects, like Spider-Man, I have to ask a lot of questions. I just screened Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and I didn't need as much explaining as I thought I would. I recognized all the actors' voices, and all the characters' names, so it was very easy to follow.

    But do you ever have trouble keeping track of a movie's plot? Well, I liked Behind Enemy Lines, but there were no big stars in it and there was a lot of shooting and noise, which made it very hard to follow. I felt like I needed a guide dog to find my way through that movie.

    What do you consider when you're reviewing a film? The first thing I look at, so to speak, is the storyline and the plot. And then I consider things like special effects. Sometimes, with good special effects come great sound effects as well. Star Wars had great sound effects, and Spider-Man had great energy to its soundtrack.

    Do you find you notice things that sighted people miss? I definitely pay more attention to sound than most people. Nowadays, the sound systems in theatres are so good that when there's a helicopter, it sounds like the 'copter is flying from one side of the theatre to the other. You may not pick that up if you're watching the film, but if you're just listening to it, that kind of detail makes all the difference.