Matt is trying his best

‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ is Dazzling and Devastating Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions I’m admittedly an easy target for the movie musical. Since I was very young, I’ve been drawn to the spectacle of the classic musical. And the element of escapism tied…

Reposting this review because one of my favorite films of 2025, Bill Condon’s #KissOfTheSpiderWoman, is now on Hulu and you need to make this part of your weekend entertainment.

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‘Psycho Killer’ is One of the Worst Horror Movies I’ve Ever Seen 20th Century Studios Every now and again, a movie comes along that has legendarily bad buzz, and I can’t stay away. I love a good spectacle, and when a movie is of the ‘slow down and gawk at the ca…

‘So, our first-week-of-January horror movie arrived a little late this year.’

Here’s my review of #PsychoKiller, in theaters now.

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Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ is a Stylish and Sensual Slog Warner Bros. Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights has been adapted about a million times. It’s the classic novel you read in your high school literature class, and if you’re anything like me…

‘Fennell’s adaptation is sold as this sexy, steamy meeting of classic literature and the tawdry romance novel. And while there’s plenty of steaminess to be found in her film, there’s also no passion.’

Here’s my review of #WutheringHeights, in theaters now.

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‘Send Help’ is a Deliciously Demented Delight 20th Century Studios The last time director Sam Raimi actually got to have fun with a movie was 2009’s cult horror comedy classic Drag Me to Hell. I wondered at one point during the press screening…

It’s good to have you back, Mr. Raimi.

Here’s my review of #SendHelp, in theaters Friday.

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‘Primate’ is Lean, Brisk and Brutal Paramount Pictures The January horror movie always has an uphill battle to fight. The January horror film has rightly the earned the reputation of being unbearably awful. However, in the last few y…

I’m a week late on this one, but here are my thoughts on #Primate, this year’s surprisingly not terrible January horror movie.

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Matt’s Worst Films of 2025 A conversation takes place every year about how end of year worst-of lists are counterproductive or don’t add anything to the overall conversation about the current cinema. Once again, I vehemently…

Well, it’s time for that other list.

Here are the worst films I saw in 2025.

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Matt’s Best Films of 2025 2025 was a mostly terrible year, but I always had a movie to look forward to. In a time when everyday existence feels impossible, it’s incredibly impressive when a movie can manage to take you to a…

It’s list-making time, everybody!

Here are my favorite films from 2025.

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A Deep Dive Into the Quietly Revolutionary World of ‘Heated Rivalry’ Crave/HBO Max Author Rachel Reid is known for the Game Changers series, a very popular collection of six books that I hadn’t really heard of, but probably wouldn’t have taken seriously if I had. An…

This one is long, but bear with me. I had to get this one out of my system.

Here’s my review of season one of #HeatedRivalry.

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Today’s the day, everybody! Starting at 10am EST, we will be announcing the winners for our second annual Pittsburgh Film Critics Association Awards! We’re so excited to share our favorites from 2025 and invite you to follow along with us. #PFCAAwards2025

The Pittsburgh Film Critics Association is proud to announce our nominees for Best Picture of 2025! The winner will be announced January 7th.

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ and the Perils of Franchise Fatigue 20th Century Studios Writer/director James Cameron’s massively successful 2009 film Avatar grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide. It was always going to have a bunch of sequels, and Cameron was takin…

‘I’m hoping the devoted fans of this franchise have a better time with this new entry, but for me, almost 3.5 hours in the world of Pandora now feels exhausting rather than exhilarating.’

Here’s my review of #AvatarFireAndAsh, in theaters now.

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‘Sentimental Value’ is One of the Year’s Best Films NEON Writer/director Joachim Trier made one of my favorite films of 2022, with The Worst Person in the World, a deeply empathetic and surprisingly funny character study about a young woman who’s tr…

‘This is a story about people in complicated relationships who really are trying to do the right things, but messy emotions keep getting in the way, and there’s something so universally human about that’

Here’s my review of #SentimentalValue, in theaters now.

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‘Wake Up Dead Man’ is Another Stellar ‘Knives Out’ Mystery Netflix Following the 2019 release of his box office megahit Knives Out, writer/director Rian Johnson signed a deal with Netflix to produce the next two films in this series. Glass Onion released i…

‘All three #KnivesOut whodunnits are unpredictable, darkly funny and wildly entertaining. This may be the best one yet.’

Here’s my review of #WakeUpDeadMan, still in some movie theaters, and streaming on Netflix Friday.

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‘Hamnet’ is Emotionally Exhausting Yet Incredibly Effective Focus Features Writer/director Chloé Zhao won her Oscar for the 2020 film Nomadland, but there’s always going to be an asterisk next to any film that won anything in 2020, because, well, it was 202…

‘I fully expected the film to be emotionally manipulative, and it is, but don’t underestimate what can happen when emotional manipulation works.’

Here’s my review of #Hamnet, in limited release now, in theaters nationwide 12/5.

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‘Wicked: For Good’ is a Dazzling and Emotionally Charged Conclusion Universal Pictures The decision to split Stephen Schwartz’ singularly successful Broadway musical Wicked into two feature film adaptations was always going to present its fair share of challenges. …

‘It’s a dazzling spectacle and also an emotionally powerful parable about where we are right now. This source material is decades old, and yet everything about this story feels incredibly timely.’

Here’s my review of #WickedForGood, in theaters Friday.

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‘The Running Man’ is Urgent and Entertaining Paramount Pictures I’m predisposed to enjoy an Edgar Wright movie, even when they’re medium to not great. For instance, I’m one of about 10 people who loved his 2021 film Last Night in Soho. It’s m…

‘The implications of this story are urgent and horrifying, but Edgar Wright manages to find ways to make all of it feel like a popcorn movie.’

Here’s my review of #TheRunningMan, in theaters now.

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‘Blue Moon’ is an Unexpected Emotional Rollercoaster Sony Pictures Classics It’s always an event when Richard Linklater has a new film coming out, and this year we have two. The first is Blue Moon, which premiered back in February at the Berlin Inter…

‘The fizzy, effervescent tone we start with is so inviting and enjoyable, so much so that it kind of shocked me when this movie ended up breaking my heart.’

Here’s my review of #BlueMoon, in theaters now.

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‘Christy’ Eventually Becomes A Compelling Biopic Black Bear I hadn’t planned on seeing Australian filmmaker David Michôd’s Christy, a biopic of former professional boxer Christy Martin. After the recent The Smashing Machine, I’d kind of tapped ou…

‘The film is wildly uneven and the tone doesn’t always work, but it leaves you with a proper gut punch that comes close to redeeming what came before.’

Here’s my review of #Christy, in theaters Friday.

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‘Christy’ Eventually Becomes A Compelling Biopic Black Bear I hadn’t planned on seeing Australian filmmaker David Michôd’s Christy, a biopic of former professional boxer Christy Martin. After the recent The Smashing Machine, I’d kind of tapped ou…

‘The film is wildly uneven and the tone doesn’t always work, but it leaves you with a proper gut punch that comes close to redeeming what came before.’

Here’s my review of #Christy, in theaters Friday.

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‘After the Hunt’ Should Pack More of a Punch MGM/Amazon Studios Luca Guadagnino is one of my favorite filmmakers working today. Challengers and Call Me By Your Name are, in my opinion, two of the greatest films of the last decade. And even th…

‘The performances are terrific and the story is intriguing but the messaging is so vague and muddled, it’s difficult to determine what this film is trying to say.’

Here’s my review of #AfterTheHunt, still in some theaters, coming to Prime Video soon.

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‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ is a Masterclass in Tension A24 I’ve been a fan of Australian actress Rose Byrne for a long time. She’s proven her versatility as a performer in numerous ways, and she always surprises me. I’d heard great things about her tur…

‘This role seems claustrophobic for the actor because every moment hinges on the work they’re doing. And that would be a challenge for most actors, but Rose Byrne makes it look effortless.’

Here’s my review of #IfIHadLegsIdKickYou, in theaters now.

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‘Bugonia’ is Bleak, Bold and Chilling Focus Features Director Yorgos Lanthimos is one of my favorite directors working today. He’s consistently creating films that surprise me and subvert my expectations. And his latest film, Bugonia, …

This won’t be for everyone – it’s bleak, cold and unforgiving, but it rewards you for taking the time to dissect what it all means.’

Here’s my review of #Bugonia in theaters now.

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‘Regretting You’ Might Leave the Viewer With Regret Paramount Pictures I want to begin by saying that I don’t fully understand Colleen Hoover’s whole thing. I’ve never read any of her massively popular novels, and I left the first feature adaptation…

‘All of the conflict in this film could be avoided if the characters spoke to each other like human beings instead of the most basic kind of soap opera archetypes.’

Here’s my review of #RegrettingYou, in theaters now.

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‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ is Moody and Intimate 20th Century Studios I have a difficult relationship with the rock star biopic. When the filmmaker is trying something that doesn’t feel so slavishly beholden to the biopic formula, the emotion and…

‘It isn’t subverting anything about the framework of the celebrity biopic in any meaningful way, but it successfully avoids a lot of the genre’s problems.’

Here’s my review of #Springsteen #DeliverMeFromNowhere, in theaters now.

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‘Shelby Oaks’ is a Solid Horror Debut NEON I’ve been a fan of YouTuber film critic Chris Stuckmann in some capacity, since I was in high school. I’ve lost track of his videos, found them again, lost track again, several times over. My …

‘There’s a lot of promise in Chris Stuckmann’s vision as a horror filmmaker, and he’s clearly put everything he’s got into this. And it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it works quite well.

Here’s my review of #ShelbyOaks, in theaters now.

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‘Good Fortune’ is Timely and Clever Lionsgate Comedian Aziz Ansari struggled bringing his directorial debut to the big screen. He wrote and started to film a feature for Searchlight in 2022, and production shut down after allegations…

‘It’s an above-average comedy about economic anxiety, that may be a little heavy handed at times, but ultimately has a lot of heart and a lot viewers will relate to.’

Here’s my review of #GoodFortune, in theaters now.

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‘A House of Dynamite’ Isn’t Exactly Explosive Netflix Director Kathryn Bigelow has more than a few well regarded political thrillers in her resume, and sometimes they work for me, sometimes they don’t. Zero Dark Thirty, for instance, felt exci…

‘The film comes awfully close to being truly important and of the moment, but too often it veers off into another direction and loses focus.’

Here’s my review of #AHouseOfDynamite, now playing in limited release, and on Netflix 10/24.

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just go to the protests

take whatever precautions you personally feel comfortable with but these are massive, joyful events, go and have fun

Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ is Visually Stunning and Surprisingly Moving Netflix Writer/director Guillermo Del Toro has spoken for years about how he’s wanted to make a Frankenstein movie. It’s the kind of passion project that he’s earned the clout and financial backing…

‘It’s a dazzling, brutal and moving adaptation that doesn’t add much to the classic tale, but offers compelling reasons why we keep telling these stories’

Here’s my review of Guillermo Del Toro’s #Frankenstein, in limited release now, on Netflix November 7th.

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‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ is Dazzling and Devastating Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions I’m admittedly an easy target for the movie musical. Since I was very young, I have been drawn to the spectacle of the classic musical. And I think the element of esc…

‘The film is a powerful love letter to not only the movie musical, and/or old Hollywood, but the necessity of escapism in general.’

Here’s my review of #KissOfTheSpiderWoman, in theaters now.

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