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Nick Rogers

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

I have been covering arts & entertainment, as well as writing general features, for the past 13 years at various print outlets in Illinois and have been reviewing films since 1995.

Favorites:

BEST OF RECENT YEARS - There Will Be Blood, United 93, A History of Violence, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, About Schmidt, The Royal Tenenbaums, Traffic, American Beauty, Saving Private Ryan, L.A. Confidential, Sling BladeGUILTY PLEASURES - Deep Rising, Mouse Hunt, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, From Dusk Till Dawn, Jackass: The Movie, Road House, XXX

Location:

Lafayette, IN

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Sniper: No Nation (2026) 3.5/5 EDIT “The enduring franchise's 12th installment is also one of its best. It's a blend of thrilling practical action and political commentary that dares to consider, and condemn, what happens after the credits roll on most action films.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 11, 2026 Full Review Thrash (2026) 33% 2/5 EDIT “Little here beyond the bare, and barely there, essentials.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 10, 2026 Full Review Outcome (2026) 27% 3/5 EDIT “A bit like if Judd Apatow directed "Jay Kelly," and director / co-writer Jonah Hill's role rarely translates well. But it's a slight, ultimately pleasant way for Keanu Reeves to riff on himself AND get his most interesting role in years.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 9, 2026 Full Review Faces of Death (2026) 68% 4/5 EDIT “No less a watershed among self-referential slashers than 1996’s "Scream." Even then, it’s onto something more, ontologically speaking — recontextualizing a legendary video nasty into bracing horror about the here and now.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 8, 2026 Full Review Dead Again (1991) 82% 4.5/5 EDIT “Kenneth Branagh's dazzling thriller-noir remains one of the oddest and even funniest works he's done, a fantastic twisty narrative that builds to a scintillating finish.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 6, 2026 Full Review Runaway Train (1985) 83% 4.5/5 EDIT “Per the Cannon Films way, this still has breakneck pacing and crazy stuntwork. It also grafts a sort of sociological tone poem on the futility of trying to tame the wild using steel, whether in the form of a chassis or a cage.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 6, 2026 Full Review A Bridge Too Far (1977) 61% 4/5 EDIT “If the three-hour running time feels like a meat grinder remorselessly and relentlessly rending each part of the cow, it sadly remains useful to see how remarkably well-oiled machines of slaughter have always been.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 3, 2026 Full Review Uncommon Valor (1983) 55% 2.5/5 EDIT “Remarkably well cast and fast-paced, "Uncommon Valor" nevertheless settles into a middling groove of confident competency as a precursor to films with similar plots (and longer cultural tails) that came later.” – Midwest Film Journal Apr 2, 2026 Full Review Mimic (1997) 68% 3.5/5 EDIT “Guillermo del Toro's director's cut adds some interesting context that was missing from its original theatrical release. But "Mimic" remains but a solid mid-level, late-'90s creature feature.” – Midwest Film Journal Mar 25, 2026 Full Review Executive Decision (1996) 63% 3.5/5 EDIT “There are well-established systems for action-thrillers like this to enjoy a smooth coast down the runway. But they mean absolutely nothing without a well-rated professional like Kurt Russell in complete control of every last instrument on the panel.” – Midwest Film Journal Mar 17, 2026 Full Review Supernova (2000) 12% 3/5 EDIT “Still a frustratingly and sometimes very foolishly stitched-together affair. But if the failures of "Supernova" have many fathers, then so must the modest successes of a film with great ideas pulsing in its vital organs.” – Midwest Film Journal Mar 11, 2026 Full Review Somewhere in Time (1980) 54% 2/5 EDIT “Silly and tepid. But on the other hand, you may never laugh harder at a narrative circumstance involving a penny than you will here.” – Midwest Film Journal Mar 9, 2026 Full Review War Machine (2026) 69% 3/5 EDIT “Excepting the risible rah-rah recruitment of its final five minutes, "War Machine" is a reasonably diverting riff on "Predator," proof that Alan Ritchson can carry a film, and a surprisingly solid exploration of military depression.” – Midwest Film Journal Mar 9, 2026 Full Review The Boy Friend (1971) 78% 2/5 EDIT “Ken Russell’s claim to love musicals may well be true, but it’s difficult to glean when the camera is often positioned as if the performers are facing a firing squad. At its best, it approximates Busby but it's mostly just busy.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Gypsy (1962) 73% 3.5/5 EDIT “Given the deplorability and depth it mines for Rose, "Gypsy" retains as much of the shaken-family structure of Shakespeare as it can while sticking within its musical milieu to (generally speaking) send ’em home happy.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Damn Yankees (1958) 76% 3/5 EDIT “An uncharacteristically restrained point-and-shoot that at least often points at greatness. It may not be a perfect game, but Ray Walston, Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse make it a quality start.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 25, 2026 Full Review The Pajama Game (1957) 81% 2.5/5 EDIT “The notion here seems to be how thin the fabric can be stretched before it’s recalled for material defect, and "The Pajama Game" needs to spread out its manipulations and machinations more strategically throughout the story. ” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Brigadoon (1954) 75% 3.5/5 EDIT “Chockablock with clean, crisp and thoughtful choreography, a nice balance of swoon and sorrow, and a solid mixture of light supernaturalism and weighty existentialism.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Guys and Dolls (1955) 91% 3/5 EDIT “Conflicts are few and feather-light, and the film unwisely takes its foot off the gas as its coasts to 2 ½ hours. But its pleasures are otherwise so voluminous and its moral acrobatics so entertaining that it is hard to complain about its faults.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) 53% 2.5/5 EDIT “Kudos for a goofily watchable story that ends in about the last place you’d expect given the introductory murder premise. At the same time, it squanders its murderer's row of supporting performers.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 18, 2026 Full Review The Shop Around the Corner (1940) 99% 4.5/5 EDIT “To use the film's own dialogue, "a very interesting mixture of poetry and meanness" makes this high-concept romance excel — often yielding generous gravitas and humanity as engaging as the amorous sparks.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 12, 2026 Full Review The Mortal Storm (1940) 100% 3.5/5 EDIT “Although melodramatic, this remains a direct, affecting story about the vast personal cost of individual deference to deafening group rhetoric. Neither does it waste the spark of James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan's final collaboration.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 12, 2026 Full Review The Naked Spur (1953) 100% 4/5 EDIT “Another excellent Western from Anthony Mann, exploring metal as the coin of the realm, whether collected in a pan you hold in water or lodged in the pan near your brain.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 12, 2026 Full Review How the West Was Won (1962) 85% 2.5/5 EDIT “At least in its contemporary presentation, it feels like sitting at a very long, intermittently impressive museum movie. They called it Cinerama because there’s nothing sexy about what it feels like: a diorama.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 12, 2026 Full Review The Mechanic (1972) 50% 3.5/5 EDIT “The film taps into a simultaneously bespoke and bothersome nihilism at the nexus of American violence, and it's surely among the more psychologically complex roles Bronson ever inhabited as the lead in a stateside production.” – Midwest Film Journal Feb 9, 2026 Full Review
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