In honor of the new reimaging of Silent Night Deadly Night  in which Rohan Campbell  plays a killer Santa Claus , I put together a list of movies that feature some very unusual and, in some cases, some very scary Santas. Some are popular, some are familiar, some are weird, and some you haven't heard of. But I guarantee this: you do NOT want any of these Santas climbing down your chimney in the middle of the night. As insane as some of these Santas are, and as crazy as these

James L. Brooks is one of my favorite creators in the history of entertainment. The guy is a legend, and not just in movies, but in television, too. His work changed everything. He brought intelligence, dignity, and emotional honesty to the small screen at a time when TV was mostly filled with laugh tracks and clichés. You can put him right up there on the same shelf as Norman Lear , these are two men who took the medium of television and turned it into something deeper, sma

[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 four new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, December 12th, 2025. 1) ELLA MCCAY It has been fifteen years since James L. Brooks  made a film, and that is far too long to wait for one of the greatest writers and directors this country has ever

Imaginary friends... everybody knows them. Everybody’s heard of them. Everybody knows somebody who had them. And honestly, imaginary friends go back way further than people think. Psychologists were studying imaginary companions back in the 1890s, and even before that, adults throughout history had their own versions: guardian angels, household gods, muses whispering in their ears. These weren’t “imaginary friends” in the modern sense, but they filled the same role, to provid

A mystery film, at its core, revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. Someone gets murdered, something terrible happens, and the whole movie is about figuring out who did it and why. You’ve got a detective (sometimes a brilliant professional, sometimes a scrappy private investigator, sometimes just a nosy amateur sleuth) and they go through the classic motions: inspecting clues, interrogating suspects, decoding motives, and finally unveiling the killer in that gr

[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 four new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, December 5th, 2025. 1) FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S 2 I'm going to start this by saying something that will immediately get me yelled at by teenagers, Twitch  streamers, TikTok  lore theorists, and anyon

On Wednesday, December 10th at 7:00 p.m., I’m beyond thrilled to present a very  special edition of Classic Cinemas 'Nick's Pix'  at the beautiful Lake Theater in Oak Park: a big-screen 4K screening of one of the greatest Batman movies ever made: Tim Burton’ s twisted, hilarious, and gloriously Gothic masterpiece Batman Returns . And yeah, I said one of  the greatest… but let’s be real: for 30 years, this was  my favorite Batman movie of all time. It held the top spot for th

Hey folks, it’s Nick Digilio here, and I’ve got a little question for you: Why not pick up a copy of my new book 40 Years, 40 Films  today? Seriously, it’s out, it’s real, you can hold it in your hands, and with the holidays upon us, it makes a fabulous, film-nerd-approved gift. You’ve got people in your life. They like movies. They like stories. Buy them the book. Boom: holiday hero. But listen, while you can absolutely order it online, I’d really love it if you came out to

[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 four new movies in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, November 28th, 2025. 1) ZOOTOPIA 2 It's been nine years since the first Zootopia  came out, which in animation time is, I don't know, two Ice Ages and a half? And honestly, I barely remembered the d

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! To celebrate the occasion, I have compiled a list (I LOVE lists...can you tell??) of some of the best Thanksgiving-themed episodes of TV shows ever. Give it a look and watch a couple of these babies after the in-laws leave, the kids go to bed, the dishes are done, and you can relax on the couch. The entries are in no particular order; they are just awesome television episodes that somehow include the Thanksgiving holiday. "Thanksgiving" - GLEE I