Midwest Film Journal

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 27, 2026 2.5/5 Modest charms, but the third act is a grab-bag mess and the whole endeavor plays like a Happy Madison production of "Uncut Gems." Go to Full Review The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026) 97% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 23, 2026 2/5 It feels like an excuse to fleece people of theatrical money for the first time and exploit whatever shreds of nostalgia exist for this C-tier VHS-era franchise. Go to Full Review Subspecies V: Blood Rise (2023) - - - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 23, 2026 2/5 Radu is largely sidelined in a chapter captured on cheap equipment, with any semblance of charm from on-location shooting lopped off along with the expanse of widescreen framing. Go to Full Review Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm (1998) - - 37%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 23, 2026 2.5/5 Not a good movie, but a fun bad one, though, with reams of narration into which enough pauses are built for you to laugh, however unintended that chortling may be. Go to Full Review Vampire Journals (1997) - - 45%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 23, 2026 2.5/5 A generally repetitive regurgitation of what worked better in the previous chapter. Go to Full Review Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994) - - 41%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 23, 2026 3/5 The franchise's high point is filled with goopy, melting flesh, a spinal re-fusion that would make Stuart Gordon proud, and copious amounts of vomited blood. Go to Full Review Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993) - - 53%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 23, 2026 2.5/5 In Full Moon fashion, "Subspecies" promises something cooler than it can provide. But atmosphere, location filming and the old tropes can go a long way. Go to Full Review Subspecies (1991) 75% 52%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 20, 2026 4.5/5 It both upends conventions of documentary filmmaking in a fashion unseen since "The Act of Killing" and actively affirms the danger of how far off the map the rise of the grifter class has taken us. Go to Full Review You Can See Everything (2026) 96% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 19, 2026 3.5/5 A solid watch, but to paraphrase its invocation of "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," the fear is that it’s mostly harmless. Go to Full Review Musk (2026) 96% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 19, 2026 2/5 Sorkin isn’t entirely off his game, exploring collisions between journalism and technology. But it’s like reading a culturally literate white paper — a reference to smirk at every so often and not without value, just flavorless and forgettable. Go to Full Review The Social Reckoning (2026) 54% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 19, 2026 2.5/5 The film’s low-budget nature undercuts elements of how the story balloons into something bigger; those national morning-show and late-night show sets don’t quite cut it. Go to Full Review Susie Searches (2022) 50% 74%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 19, 2026 3/5 A mostly confident, if familiar, slice of sci-fi / horror comfort. Go to Full Review Leviathan (1989) 27% 27%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 19, 2026 2.5/5 Competency isn’t the biggest problem. It’s momentum, in a movie that's very slow when it's not enlivened by Miguel Ferrer's performance. Go to Full Review DeepStar Six (1989) 17% 26%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 9, 2026 2/5 The latest installment of the Ben Affleck Lugs Large Duffles of Money Around on Netflix Cinematic Universe is a superficial adaptation of source material it doesn't even credit. Go to Full Review Animals (2026) 30% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 9, 2026 2/5 Bemoan the emphasis on family in the "Fast & Furious" movies all you want but this low-gear comic caper shows what they'd be like without it: inside the box and trapped there. Go to Full Review Matchbox The Movie (2026) 30% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 1, 2026 3.5/5 While neither incarnation of the film can touch John Woo’s very best, his reach doesn’t exceed his grasp as much as the version of record would suggest, and it’s worthy of reappraisal. Go to Full Review Windtalkers (2002) 33% 50%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 1, 2026 3.5/5 Although it sometimes fails to balance laughing at and lauding "Exorcist II: The Heretic," the documentary finds what works in its details. Go to Full Review Boorman and the Devil (2025) 98% - -

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Sep 18, 2026 2.5/5 In "Yojimbo" and "A Fistful of Dollars," it feels like Sanjuro and the Man With No Name are respectively plotting as they go. This is just reverential cosplay, handsome and expensive but cosplay all the same. Go to Full Review Last Man Standing (1996) 44% 51%

Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Sep 17, 2026 2.5/5 "The Weight" has a knockout first act and good performances. But like an excellent cut of meat drowned in bland sauce you can't entirely scrape off, it merely suffices rather than stuns. Go to Full Review The Weight (2026) 94% - -

Joshua Polanski Midwest Film Journal Sep 14, 2026 Maybe it’s fitting that Lang’s most dictatorially stylized film is, in fact, about a power-hungry "dictator." Go to Full Review The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) 84% 90%