[Get the exclusive video version of these weekly reviews each Friday by becoming a paid subscriber!] My Film Critic pants are quite fetching; they are on, pressed, and ironed. I'm ready to review three new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, May 8th, 2026. 1) MORTAL KOMBAT II With every review I do of a movie based on a video game, I feel compelled to repeat the same disclaimer over and over again: I do not play video games. I’m not a gamer. Never

It is once again time for my monthly 'Nick’s Pix' screening at the beautiful Lake Theater in Oak Park, and this one…this one is a big one for me. It’s May, summer is right around the corner, and I wanted to kick things off early with something fun, something loud, something nostalgic, something that absolutely kills with an audience. So I went back 45 years (to the summer of 1981) and picked one of my all-time favorite comedies. We are celebrating the 45th anniversary of Stri

Anne Hathaway is one of those actresses I will defend forever. I am an unapologetic, enthusiastic, full-on Anne Hathaway fan, and I have been from the beginning. She has been working now for over 25 years, which is insane because I still think of her as the fresh-faced kid from The Princess Diaries, even though she is now an Oscar-winning, hugely successful, incredibly versatile actress who has basically done every kind of movie you can do. Anne Jacqueline Hathaway, born Nove

[Get the exclusive video version of these weekly reviews each Friday by becoming a paid subscriber!] My Film Critic pants are quite fetching; they are on, pressed, and ironed. I'm ready to review five new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, May 1st, 2026. 1) THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 It’s kind of wild to think that The Devil Wears Prada is now a 20-year-old movie. I mean, seriously…where the hell did that time go? I remember seeing it in the theater,

Alright, so here we go… and yeah, this is one of those things where you kind of have to take a deep breath before you even start, because you’re talking about Michael Jackson . I mean, not just a pop star, not just a big deal, not just a guy who sold a few million records—this is Michael Jackson. This is as big as it gets. This is Mount Rushmore stuff. This is cultural, global, generational impact that’s almost impossible to overstate, and yet… I’m gonna try anyway, because

Hey, I have an idea! Let's watch people with way more money, way more fame, and way bigger egos than any of us could ever imagine just absolutely go at each other. I gotta tell you, sometimes I love it. I really do. There’s something endlessly entertaining about rivalries in show business. Always has been. And part of that is because entertainment, at its core, is built on ego. Let’s be honest. You don’t become a movie star or a rock god or a legendary TV personality without

[Get the exclusive video version of these weekly reviews each Friday by becoming a paid subscriber!] My Film Critic pants are quite fetching; they are on, pressed, and ironed. I'm ready to review five new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, April 24th, 2026. 1) MICHAEL There are bad music biopics… and then there are movies like Michael. And I mean that in the worst possible way. This thing is a train wreck. An absolute, jaw-dropping, almost fascina

It’s kind of blowing my mind a little bit that the Chicago Critics Film Festival is now in its 13th year. Thirteen. That’s not nothing. That’s not some fly-by-night thing anymore, that’s a tradition. And I remember the beginning of this thing like it was yesterday. Back in 2013, a bunch of my friends and colleagues from the Chicago Film Critics Association (Erik Childress, Steve Prokopy, Peter Sobczynski, Collin Souter, Brian Tallerico, and a whole crew of incredibly passiona

You know, it’s funny, every time a new movie gets announced now, your first reaction is, “Oh, great…what are they rebooting this time?” Because that’s where we are. Everything is a reboot, a sequel, a reimagining, a “new take,” and originality in Hollywood is, let’s just say…not exactly thriving. I’ve complained about it a million times (on the podcast, on the socials, on this very site) but every once in a while, every once in a while, one of these reboots or revivals or wha

[Get the exclusive video version of these weekly reviews each Friday by becoming a paid subscriber!] My Film Critic pants are quite fetching; they are on, pressed, and ironed. I'm ready to review five new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, April 17th, 2026. 1) LEE CRONIN'S THE MUMMY I’m still kind of baffled that Warner Bros. and New Line decided this was a good idea as a title: Lee Cronin’s The Mummy . Because let’s be honest, most people are