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It’s my favorite time of year. It really is. It’s time to talk about the best and worst movies of 2025, and every year (for as long as I’ve been doing this, which is now 40 years) film critics like myself have to dig into our hearts and our guts and our brains and figure out which movies we loved the most. Forty years. I can’t believe it. March of 2025 marked my official 40th anniversary as a professional film critic. And yes (shameless plug here) to honor that milestone, I p

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, September 12th, 2025. 1) SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES Early in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues , Christopher Guest's  Nigel Tufnel says to his wife, "Maybe this wasn't a good idea." And you know what? He's right. It wasn't a good idea. This is a sequel that should not have been made. Now, is it the train w

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of immersing myself—almost entirely—in what has become one of my favorite cinematic events of the year: The Chicago Critics Film Festival . This was its 12th edition, and yeah... I was there for six of the seven glorious days. I saw 13 feature films (some incredible, some not so much) and enjoyed two blocks of terrific shorts, all while soaking in the magic that only the Music Box Theatre  on Southport can provide. Now, for those of y