Stand-up comedy is one of the purest art forms there is. It really is. I mean, think about it: one person, one microphone, a spotlight, and an audience that can either love you or completely destroy your soul in about seven seconds. There’s nowhere to hide. No special effects, no editing, no stunt doubles, no giant orchestra swelling up behind you to save your ass if things go south. It’s just you, your material, your timing, your personality, and whether or not the people si

[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, June 5th, 2026. 1) MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE There are some movies that arrive carrying decades of baggage. Masters of the Universe is one of them. Before I get into the movie itself, I should probably start by s

Once again, it’s time to talk about my monthly 'Nick’s Pix' screening at the beautiful Lake Theater in Oak Park, and this month I am unbelievably excited because we are bringing back to the big screen one of the funniest, smartest, most outrageous, most offensive, and most brilliant movie musicals ever made. Yes, on Wednesday, June 10th at 7:00 p.m. at the Lake Theater in Oak Park, I will be hosting a screening of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Trey Parker and Matt Stone

With the release of the new movie Tuner, which is a terrific film and honestly one of the best movies of the year, I thought it would be fun to go back and talk about heist movies in general and specifically one of my favorite things that happens in heist movies: safe-cracking scenes. Now Tuner is a really interesting combination of character study, suspense thriller, and caper movie. It’s about this once-brilliant musical prodigy who’s now reduced to tuning pianos for a livi

[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 29th, 2026. 1) BACKROOMS I didn’t know much about the Backrooms web series before seeing this movie. I had heard about it in passing. I knew it was a YouTube thing, a Creepypasta thing, part of this whole Li

So with the release of the new Star Wars film, The Mandalorian and Grogu, I thought I would finally talk a little bit about the Star Wars franchise and rank all of the theatrical films that exist inside that universe. And yes, I know, for a lot of people this is sacred territory. This is religion. This is childhood. This is obsession. This is action figures and conventions and cosplay and sleeping bags and waiting in line for three days outside a movie theater and arguing onl