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, January 23rd, 2026. 1) MERCY Mercy is the first truly terrible movie of 2026, and that’s saying something because January is traditionally the dumping ground. Every year, studios shovel their weakest projects into theaters right after the holidays, hoping no one notices while audiences are still catching up on

My Film Critic pants are quite fetching; they are on, pressed, and ironed. I'm ready to review four new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, January 16th, 2026. 1) 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE Here’s the thing right up front: it is not often that a fourth film in a long-running series turns out to be the best one, especially when that series already has a genuine modern classic sitting at its foundation. But 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is ex

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, January 9th, 2026. 1) DEAD MAN'S WIRE It’s always interesting when a new Gus Van Sant movie comes along, because for decades now he has been one of the most wildly unpredictable filmmakers working. He is capable of absolute greatness and absolute misfires, sometimes back to back, sometimes within the same decad

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, January 2nd, 2026. 1) THE PLAGUE The Plague is one hell of a directorial debut. Charlie Polinger writes and directs this thing with a confidence and control you don’t usually see from first-time filmmakers. Even though the subject matter is familiar, the execution is sharp enough, uncomfortable enough, and e

[Get the exclusive video version of these weekly reviews each Friday by becoming a paid subscriber on Patreon !] 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, December 26th, 2025. 1) MARTY SUPREME I’ve made no secret about this: I am a full-blown, card-carrying Chalamaniac. I think Timothée Chalamet is the finest young actor working today, and it’s bee

My Film Critic pants are quite fetching; they are on, pressed, and ironed. I'm ready to review four new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, December 19th, 2025. 1) AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH I cannot properly quantify how much I despise the Avatar movies. I truly can’t. My dislike for this franchise borders on the philosophical. These films represent, to me, almost everything that is wrong with modern blockbuster filmmaking, and Avatar: Fire and Ash on