[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, October 30th, 2026. 1) THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK Let me start by saying that I absolutely love John Turturro. I think the guy is a national treasure, one of the finest and most consistently interesti

There are certain movie studios whose names immediately get me excited. You see their logo at the beginning of a film, and you know you're probably in for something special. Pixar used to have that kind of effect on me on a regular basis, and there are certainly other studios that have established wonderful reputations over the years. But when it comes to animation, particularly the kind of animation that requires an almost insane amount of patience, craftsmanship, imaginatio

A HORROR-FILLED HALLOWEEN WEEKEND BOOK LAUNCH PARTY AT KAISER TIGER! To say that I am proud of my new book, 40 Years, 40 Horror Films, from Eckhartz Press would be a massive understatement. I spent an enormous amount of time writing this thing, digging through forty years of horror movies, revisiting old favorites, rediscovering forgotten gems, and thinking about why this particular genre has meant so much to me for practically my entire life. And now that the book is finally

Spiders are scary. I realize that's not exactly a groundbreaking scientific observation, but it's true. There is something about those eight legs, those multiple eyes, those hairy little bodies, the way they move, the way they suddenly appear in places where you absolutely do not want them to appear, that just freaks people out. You can be sitting quietly in your living room, perfectly relaxed, enjoying your evening, and suddenly a spider the size of a quarter runs across the

The 62nd Chicago International Film Festival is underway, and, as usual, it's been a terrific time! There's something really special about this festival, and it's not just the movies. It's the excitement in the air, the packed theaters, the people waiting in line, striking up conversations with complete strangers, and talking about the films they've seen, the ones they're looking forward to, and the ones they absolutely hated. I love that stuff. For a couple of weeks, theater

Popcorn and movies. They just go together. They have gone together for so long that I honestly can't imagine walking into a movie theater and not immediately smelling popcorn. You can have your Raisinets, your Milk Duds, your nachos with that suspicious orange cheese that probably has a half-life of 700 years, whatever you want. For me, popcorn is the movie food. It is part of the ritual. You walk into the lobby, you smell it, you spend an absolutely ridiculous amount of mone