There are a lot of reasons October is my favorite month of the year. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so obviously there's that. It's horror movie season. It's that beautiful time in Chicago when summer finally gets the hell out of here, the weather cools down, the leaves start changing, and you can actually walk around outside without feeling like you're being slowly cooked. I love autumn. I love October. And I love October because every year it also means the return of one

[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, October 9th, 2026. 1) THE SOCIAL RECKONING If you've ever wondered exactly how much David Fincher had to do with the greatness of The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin has finally provided us with an answer. Everythi

Well, it's that time of the month again, and this particular month is very special to me. The second Wednesday of every month means another 'Nick's Pix' screening at the beautiful Lake Theater in downtown Oak Park, where Classic Cinemas basically lets me take over the giant Theater 2, get up onstage, and show whatever movie I want. I've been doing these screenings for more than two years now, and they have become one of my favorite things I get to do. I love introducing the m

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this one! On Saturday, October 10th, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., I will be at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago for A Frightful October Afternoon, a very special event celebrating the release of my new book, 40 Years, 40 Horror Films, from Eckhartz Press. There will be a meet and greet, an interactive discussion and Q&A, and I’ll be selling and signing copies of the book afterward. We’ll take pictures, hang out, talk

[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, October 2nd, 2026. 1) DIGGER Digger is a very difficult movie to review. Not because I don't know what I think about it. I know exactly what I think about it. I think it is extraordinary. The problem is that abo

With the release of Heart of the Beast, the new survival movie directed by David Ayer (and, more importantly for me, a wonderful dog movie) I thought this would be a perfect time to look back at the career of Brad Pitt. In the film, Pitt plays James Belmont, a former Special Forces soldier stranded in the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash with his combat dog, Odin, and the movie basically hands the screen over to Pitt, the dog and the wilderness and says, “Okay, go.” And

There are some performers who make you laugh, some who impress you with how ridiculously talented they are, and some who simply make you feel better whenever you see them. Melissa Villaseñor does all three for me. I was reminded of that again this past weekend when I saw Melissa perform at The Den Theatre here in Chicago, and she was absolutely wonderful. I've seen her live several times over the years, including about five times now at The Den, and she somehow keeps getting

[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 six new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, September 25th, 2026. 1) HEART OF THE BEAST Heart of the Beast is what you might call an absolute crowd pleaser. This is one of those movies that has been constructed almost scientifically to make a theater full

There are moments in an actor's career when everything seems to click. They suddenly hit this stretch where the performances are great, the choices are interesting, the collaborations are exciting, and you start seeing their name in the credits and thinking, "Okay, I'm in." Ethan Hawke is absolutely having one of those moments right now. Actually, he's been having one for quite a while. The latest example is The Weight, the outstanding new movie that's in theaters right now a

The movies have really gone to the dogs in 2026. And I mean that as a compliment. With the release of the new Brad Pitt survival adventure Heart of the Beast, featuring a very memorable dog named Odin, it suddenly occurred to me that this has been an unusually strong year for dogs at the movies. I'm talking about actual dogs, CGI dogs, animated dogs, heroic dogs, vicious dogs, funny dogs and, in a couple of cases, dogs that are easily more interesting than most of the human b