10 Nov 2025

What Doesn't Eat You Makes You Stronger: “Predator: Badlands,” “Frankenstein,” “Nuremberg,” “Die My Love,” “Christy,” and “It Was Just an Accident”

By Mike Schulz

I had an utterly spectacular time at director Dan Trachtenberg's sci-fi thriller that's also, brace yourselves, a thoroughly winning buddy comedy.

03 Nov 2025

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Pharma?: “Bugonia,” “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You,” “Hedda,” “Ballad of a Small Player,” and “KPop Demon Hunters”

By Mike Schulz

Eventually, the bubble will no doubt burst, as one does quite memorably toward the end of his latest film. But barring the unrelieved misery wallow that is 2017's The Killing of a Sacred Deer, no one's movies over the past 10 years have tickled and astonished me quite like Yorgos Lanthimos', with the director's new, wickedly entertaining oddity Bugonia much like his others, and also not at all.

28 Oct 2025

“Bend It Like Beckham,” November 13

By Reader Staff

Lauded by Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus as "a lively feel-good movie that genuinely charms," the sleeper hit Bend It Like Beckham enjoys a November 13 screening in the Figge Art Museum's Free Film at the Figge series, this breakout for star Keira Knightley also praised by the Los Angele Times for its "impeccable sense of milieu that is the result of knowing the culture intimately enough to poke fun at it while understanding its underlying integrity."

18 Mar 2020

A-Z INDEX: Reader Movie Reviews

By Mike Schulz

Numbered Titles / A /  B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z / Special Features

13 Nov 2025

Mike Schulz with Dave & Darren on Planet 93.9 FM

By Reader Staff

Going to the cineplex or staying in and streaming this weekend? Every Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on Planet 93.9 FM with the fabulous Dave & Darren in the Morning team of Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too.

Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your electronic device. Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again.

Thursday, November 13: Discussion of Predator: Badlands, Frankenstein, Nuremberg, Die My Love, Christy, and It Was Just an Accident, and previews of The Running Man, Keeper, and Now You See Me: Now You Don't, the latter a continuation of that popular magician series that asks the question, "How on earth did they do that?!" Ummm ... through CGI and editing, maybe?

11 Nov 2025

Now Playing: Friday, November 14, through Thursday, November 20

By Administrator

Now playing at area theaters.

28 Oct 2025

“The Story Has to Go on”: Fourth Wall Films' The Last to Fall From Hero Street, November 8 at the Putnam Museum & Science Center

By Jonathan Turner

This Veterans Day weekend, the Moline-based Fourth Wall Films – run by the extraordinary husband-and-wife team of Kelly and Tammy Rundle – will premiere the latest documentary in the planned nine-part, short-film Hero Street series.

27 Oct 2025

Jersey Growl: “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” “A House of Dynamite,” “Regretting You,” “Shelby Oaks,” and “Blue Moon”

By Mike Schulz

It's hard to be dismissive toward any movie that inspires you to pick up a book, and having seen Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, I'm now eager to read Warren Zanes' 2023 nonfiction that inspired the release, and maybe the Boss' 2016 memoir Born to Run, too. But I'd argue that your desire to check out those titles has little to do with the quality of writer/director Scott Cooper's bio-musical drama.

21 Oct 2025

“Lost Nation: The Ioway” Parts 1 and 2, November 6

By Reader Staff

A winner at the Iowa Independent Film Festival and Cedar Rapids Film Festival, as well as an official selection of the Archaeology Channel and Landlocked Film Festival, Fourth Wall Films' documentary Lost Nation: The Ioway and its sequel enjoy a special November 6 screening at Clinton Community College, this acclaimed work by area moviemakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle shining a light on a forgotten tale of American conquest and Native survival.

19 Oct 2025

Grabber? He Hardly Knows Her!: “Black Phone 2,” “Good Fortune,” and “After the Hunt”

By Mike Schulz

Because the presentation is so confident and the film's look so distinctive, it might take a while to realize just how bad Black Phone 2 actually is.

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