Al was a film critic for The Patriot Ledger in suburban Boston from 1988 to 2023, serving as the paper's senior film critic for 22 years. His reviews also appeared in newspapers associated with the nationwide Gannett chain. In 2024, he started his own movie review website, Movies Thru the Spectrum. He is a member of both the North Carolina Film Critics Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, and he has twice been honored by The New England Associated Press News Executives Association for outstanding feature writing. He is Rotten Tomatoes approved and links to his reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.