Nick Rogers
Tomatometer-approved critic
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.
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
Lafayette, IN
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Poison for the Fairies (1984) |
Chilling, creative and cutting in its commentary. Only the use of the Spanish language distinguishes Carlos Enrique Taboada's final film from the most diabolically effective films from the Hammer heyday. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted May 12, 2023
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The Devonsville Terror (1983) |
Corny and cheap, but genuinely concerned about how women, journalism, science and education remain exploitable in America. That still plays pretty well today as it did 40 years ago, even if it's not quite a full-blown face-melter. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted May 12, 2023
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The Mother (2023) |
Unimaginative and unremarkable, "The Mother" is below the considerable talent behind and in front of the camera. To paraphrase a Kate Bush needle-drop: This subgenre might have a little life in it yet, but "The Mother" doesn’t have a lot of strength left. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted May 12, 2023
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The Hunger (1983) |
What should've been a lingering lamentation suffers an all-consuming transfusion of style over substance. But for a flawless first half, David Bowie’s outstanding performance & Tony Scott’s image-making proof of concept, "The Hunger" remains worthwhile.
- Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Apr 26, 2023
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Guy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023) |
The least Guy Ritchie film Guy Ritchie has yet made boasts a title bearing his name. Even as Ritchie quiets his quirks, there's still considerable style and scope here. Melancholy, mournful and meaty dramatic filmmaking that's less rah-rah, more requiem. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Apr 22, 2023
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Bio Zombie (1998) |
Wilson Yip works well outside the genre for which he became best known, delivering visual kinetics & amplified aesthetics his fans will instantly recognize. Beyond that, "Bio Zombie" is largely a bore, an hour of hangouts before a lightly rousing finale. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Apr 19, 2023
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Local Hero (1983) |
An unforgettable story about weighing the worth of what we can hold in our hands against value of the stuff we cram into increasingly large receptacles. Its warmth endures as a respite from, and not easy resolution to, the chill of life’s many conflicts. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 28, 2023
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The Deadly Camp (1999) |
It does just a so-so job of simulating and smashing together "Friday the 13th’s" horny-teens-and-hillbillies vibe with "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s" visceral intensity. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 27, 2023
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The Demon's Baby (1998) |
Frankly, it’s too little too late once "The Demon’s Baby" does pop off. Even then, next to CAT III classics, it feels remedial – like a halfhearted riff on pregnancy cravings (which at least affords a demented reenactment of "Lady and the Tramp").
- Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 27, 2023
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Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo (1990) |
There's a high degree of difficulty on cryptid tales. "Frostbiter" takes the approach of fever-dream fun and sparks legitimate laughs aplenty by leaning into its limited resources and vigorous pacing. It's the sort of low-budget labor that’s easy to love. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 27, 2023
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From Beyond (1986) |
If "The Fly" was a parable for medical anxiety, "From Beyond" is its freak-flag cousin about mankind’s compulsion for self-destruction. It’s also a persistently grotesque film with a cast that brings the thunder and often under thick prosthetic layers. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 27, 2023
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We Have a Ghost (2023) |
It has a ghost ... and about 115 minutes of other material that's often frighteningly dull. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 24, 2023
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Sharper (2023) |
A well-acted film of bespoke bluffs and dapper dupes that is also an aesthetic thirst trap thanks to fine work from cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen. If you’ve seen one con artist caper, you haven’t seen "Sharper." Oh. You’ve seen two? Ope.
- Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 16, 2023
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Knock at the Cabin (2023) |
The idea of a legendarily artistic narcissist like M. Night Shyamalan delivering a film about the way we live now certainly sounds like an unwelcome threat or unintentionally hilarious provocation. But this is a trim, grim, dim and gripping view of that. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Feb 02, 2023
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Matinee (1993) |
"Matinee" is a fun time. But when you couple such a resolutely uncommercial idea with a filmmaker whose résumé illustrated clear disinterest in compromising his idiosyncratic paranoia, you might wish the film leaned a little harder into its nuclear wind. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Jan 30, 2023
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Plane (2023) |
In general, director Jean-François Richet knows how to regulate "Plane‘s" temperature — neither running too hot to further strain the credulity of its stacked consequences nor too cold that it doesn’t get your blood going like an action film should. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Jan 13, 2023
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Babylon (2022) |
There's much to enjoy about the unexpectedly freewheeling approach, but you sense the “party’s over” portion will similarly overcorrect into turgidity; call it "Singin’ in the Pain." That's exactly what "Babylon" does, spinning out into bumptious boredom. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Dec 20, 2022
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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) |
A good sequel to a good animated movie you've probably forgotten. While the "Spider-Verse" aesthetic shouldn't be “house style” for two studios, it might help "The Last Wish’s" nine lives linger a bit longer before it, too, tumbles into the memory hole. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Dec 20, 2022
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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) |
James Cameron always pushes the envelope. This time, he has sealed himself inside. Frankly, if the "Avatar" films continue in this vein, Cameron’s intent to go out making as many as three more of them represents a truly depressing directorial epitaph. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Dec 13, 2022
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Emancipation (2022) |
The photograph on which "Emancipation" is based speaks far beyond the proverbial thousand words. The film basically speaks to the hundred-plus million spent to complete and acquire it. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Dec 07, 2022
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The Mean One (2022) |
There’s some macabre glee, but you’ll leave wanting more. Or at least a lot less of the digital gore. The Terrifier guy is the brightest effect. The rest of "The Mean One" is a tad too suspect. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Dec 06, 2022
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Jennifer Eight (1992) |
Writer-director Bruce Robinson's ruthlessly oppressive and relentlessly impressive thriller offers a tried-and-true template of tough, terse mystery storytelling and compellingly realized character-driven complications to the film’s central investigation. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Bones and All (2022) |
With thoughtful screenwriting, evocative direction, empathetic performances and a beautiful score, the pain and beauty excavated in "Bones and All" is hardly unique to the teen ages of its protagonists. This is a forceful, forlorn fable for the forsaken. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 22, 2022
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Strange World (2022) |
An excessively busy, boorish behemoth sweating mightily to bury its basic, boring story, "Strange World" is a monumentally disappointing misfire from Walt Disney Animation Studios. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 21, 2022
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Bad Axe (2022) |
One of 2022's best documentaries. A stunning, multifaceted work deftly tying together its seemingly disparate elements into a tough-minded tapestry rich with character, conflict and, ultimately, compassion for clashing ideologies within the Siev family. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 17, 2022
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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) |
A radical, raucous and resplendent reimagining of the classic tale, which develops Del Toro’s fascination with the intersection of human weakness and political will. This adaptation is enlivened by enjoyable eccentricities and endlessly engaging ideas. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 16, 2022
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Spirited (2022) |
There is no scene that someone thought could not be improved by intrusive, ostentatious purple-green-gold stage lights. That’s because the people behind "Spirited" would seem to rather skip the onscreen stuff altogether and go straight to the stage. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 16, 2022
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Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022) |
Silverio’s/Iñárritu’s subconscious suppositions feel like cosplay mourning or woe-unto-me whining, utterly disconnected from any deep feeling. Beyond compositional skill, the claim that there are even a handful of truths in "Bardo" would be stretching it. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 16, 2022
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Blind Fury (1989) |
A double-dimed Zatoichi remake that’s also a late-’80s remnant of gruesome / goofy aesthetics, "Blind Fury" is easily the friendliest film in which someone has their hand severed at the wrist. It's an analog delight that's more than an afterthought. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 11, 2022
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Blow Out (1981) |
Brian De Palma has always explored the ear-piercing effects of American violence on the decibel meter, never more overtly and rarely more expertly than he does here. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 11, 2022
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A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) |
Re-imagining a character whose appeal is largely inextricable from his initial era is a suicide mission. Stay too pure to the original & what’s the point? Complications stray from its strengths. It's basically a question of who would fall on the grenade. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Nov 01, 2022
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Decision to Leave (2022) |
A monumental thriller that places you in masterful hands, Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave" is a stunning romantic mystery of sweeping panoramas, sly wit, dizzying details and steep-drop emotions. It adapts noir's analog pleasures into a digital age.
- Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 28, 2022
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Wendell & Wild (2022) |
As nearly a dozen characters team up in the finale, you’re thinking less about the bond they bring & more about how unnecessarily busy it feels. The sights, the sounds, they’re everywhere and all around, but you’ll just wonder “What’s this? What’s THIS?” - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 27, 2022
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Dr. Giggles (1992) |
A generally uninteresting and unambitious slice of generic horror. The only thing remarkable is the rigor with which it places every possible double entendre about medicine and death on the lips of Larry Drake, who is at least having a good time here. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 27, 2022
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Bulletproof Monk (2003) |
A dippy, fantasy-fu whirligig that, despite several impressive set pieces, never consistently hits the whoa-cool levels to which it aspires. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 24, 2022
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American Wedding (2003) |
Uproarious from raunchy start to rude finish, "American Wedding" is the embodiment of what the original "American Pie" aspired to be but fell short of — a go-for-broke riot that effectively combines touching moments with crass jokes.
- Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 24, 2022
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Good Night Oppy (2022) |
Thirty years ago, "Good Night, Oppy" would likely have run half as long and screened several times each day for schools taking field trips to an Omnimax theater. There are no alarms and no surprises in this OK documentary about a more-than-OK computer. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 17, 2022
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
Often a great parable about the places pride can go before the fall — shot through with a chilling spectral fatalism and perfectly pragmatic pessimism. What keeps it from greatness is McDonagh's over-reliance on broad comedy from the island's denizens. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 16, 2022
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Klondike (2022) |
The reliably annual, relentlessly depressing story of a foreign war’s hellish, absurd & inexorable incursion into the lives of everyday people who have no stake in it & would rather stay out of it altogether. Stunningly shot, with an unforgettable finale. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 16, 2022
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She Said (2022) |
Thanks to capable performances and decent propulsion in the journalistic discussions and debate about when to publish, "She Said" is not bad. It's just not anything you couldn't get from reading the existing coverage created by its subjects. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 15, 2022
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Women Talking (2022) |
A searing, stunning and comprehensive ethnography of regret, rage and re-envisioned purpose — equal parts the imprinting of language, the imparting of wisdom and the impossibility of ever really knowing what lies next no matter how far ahead you can see. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Broker (2022) |
Ultimately rising above its mawkish, melodramatic or mainstream trappings, Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Broker" delivers a drama of deeply human tapestry — one threaded with just enough knotty and rough weaves to feel handmade and abrasive where it matters. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 13, 2022
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Sam Now (2022) |
Although oversold as a mystery, "Sam Now" derives modest power from considering the intersection of family and filmmaking—a fine line between peaceful memories worth preserving and those we pervert into something more comforting and fanciful than reality. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 12, 2022
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Call Jane (2022) |
Contemporary events can prove friend or foe to historical dramas that tackle subjects on which the American political apparatus has not yet had, and never will have, a final say. "Call Jane" lands somewhere in between those two extremes. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 12, 2022
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I Didn't See You There (2022) |
Reid Davenport has weaponized the title in so many wise ways — not the least of which is how hard edges of bygone barbarism can be so easily sanded down into a socially acceptable structure we don’t even notice any longer. One of 2022's very best films. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 11, 2022
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Empire of Light (2022) |
Beautifully shot by Roger Deakins, and Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward deliver performances of warmth, worry and occasionally wild passion. But Sam Mendes' latest is otherwise agonizingly amorphous, a ballad for bygone eras you've heard sung better before. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 10, 2022
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Holy Spider (2022) |
If Asghar Farhadi adapted a James Patterson potboiler, it would probably look a lot like "Holy Spider." While certainly a film with more on its mind than murder and mayhem, it's undermined by an imbalanced focus on its murderer's intimate, brutal deaths. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 09, 2022
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The Quiet Epidemic (2022) |
"The Quiet Epidemic" delivers a sometimes dizzying pattern of devious decisions that deprive people of options for chronic Lyme disease care. It makes no bones about its advocacy approach & keeps sight of humanity under perpetual siege by this disease.
- Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 07, 2022
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The Pez Outlaw (2022) |
An outright and outrageous blast, with shrewd pacing, documentary interviews that offer both intriguing insights and playful depth, and vibrant reenactments of Steve Glew’s past exploits as a most unlikely international Pez-smuggling entrepreneur. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 07, 2022
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A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) |
What "The Dream Child" most successfully carries to term is an empathetic, emotional engagement of teenage trauma and pregnancy. It reflects a decade-ending boiling point in the tension between Hollywood button-pushers and political pencil-pushers. - Midwest Film Journal
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| Posted Oct 07, 2022
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