mikemargetis

20 Best “Old” Movies I Saw for the First Time in 2025

I’m always playing catch up with old movies I missed in their original run. This year I saw about 68. Here are my 20 favorites. NOTE: To qualify, a movie must have been released prior to 2020. 20. Superman (1978) 1978 / dir. Richard Donner / 2 hrs. 24 minutes who in it: Christopher Reeve,Continue reading “20 Best “Old” Movies I Saw for the First Time in 2025″

100 Best Horror Movies of the 21st Century: Part 1 (#100-#50)

Just like the New York Times list but for horror, and no voting committee. Just me. Telling you definitively what the 100 Best Horror Films this century you should watch are. 100. Dead Silence (2007) Ventriloquist Dummy * Old Witch * Gory * Silly/Fun * Jump Scares* James Wan‘s (The Conjuring, Saw, Insidious) utterly ridiculousContinue reading “100 Best Horror Movies of the 21st Century: Part 1 (#100-#50)”

The Long Walk and Spinal Tap 2 Reviews

A winner and a not winner. The Long Walk The Long Walk messed me up. Not because it’s hitting some hot-button political topic of the moment, but because it doesn’t need to. It’s always been relevant. Desperation makes people do really fucked up shit. Like voluntarily signing up for a dystopian death march where you getContinue reading “The Long Walk and Spinal Tap 2 Reviews”

The Conjuring 4, Caught Stealing, & Splitsville – 2025 Movie Reviews

One unexpected hero this week. The Conjuring 4: Last Rites Objectively, The Conjuring 4 is not the worst film of the year, but I don’t give a shit. I absolutely despise it. I loathe every creatively bankrupt, flatly shot frame of this offensively overlong, self-important-to-the-point-of-delusional, and completely, 100% not scary horror franchise sequel. Apparently, it’sContinue reading “The Conjuring 4, Caught Stealing, & Splitsville – 2025 Movie Reviews”

Top 10 Movies of the Year (so far)

As we somersault into the bloated chaos of Oscar Season, that four-month movie dump from September to December with stragglers in January and February if you’re not in NY or LA (sorry, I’m not), here’s my Top 10 films of the year so far. I’ve seen 42 new releases, some really good, some absolute dogContinue reading “Top 10 Movies of the Year (so far)”

2025 Movie Reviews: Superman and Jurassic World: Rebirth

Big summer movies. Superman I’m not really a Superman guy. Not that I dislike him or anything, I just never watched the movies growing up. So, in preparation for Superman (2025), I went back and watched them all. The verdict? A rollercoaster of “pretty good” to “how the fuck is Richard Pryor not funny?!” with nothing thatContinue reading “2025 Movie Reviews: Superman and Jurassic World: Rebirth”

2025 Movie Reviews: M3GAN 2.0 and The Women in the Yard

Nothing good this week. M3GAN 2.0 Full disclosure: I love M3GAN. Not the movie, the character. I love her stupid little dances. I love her bratty little voice, her psychotic programming, the way she inflects certain words, etc. Besides Chucky and Tiffany, she’s probably the most entertaining murderous doll character out there. So it deeplyContinue reading “2025 Movie Reviews: M3GAN 2.0 and The Women in the Yard”

2025 Movie Reviews: 28 Years Later & The Life of Chuck

A good one and a good-ish one in a very disappointing year so far for cinema. 28 Years Later Last weekend I was up north at my parents’ cabin, halfway through a bottle of something, standing on their patio overlooking a gorgeous serene lake with a couple industry-adjacent buddies (read: an agency creative and aContinue reading “2025 Movie Reviews: 28 Years Later & The Life of Chuck”

2024 Movie Reviews: Heretic / Juror #2 / It’s What’s Inside / Blink Twice / My Old Ass / Red Rooms

One clear winner this week, though two others are definitely worth your time. Heretic Heretic is the prototypical 2024 horror movie – a very straightforward psychological thriller with a simple premise that doesn’t overreach until the overly ambitious and inevitably unsatisfying conclusion. It doesn’t break new ground but it doesn’t fuck up the basics either.Continue reading “2024 Movie Reviews: Heretic / Juror #2 / It’s What’s Inside / Blink Twice / My Old Ass / Red Rooms”

2024 Movie Reviews: Anora & Conclave

Two great films this week. Anora One thing you can never say about indie filmmaker Sean Baker is that he’s boring. His films, while having varying degrees of quality, never fail to hold your attention. In 2015, Baker exploded onto the screen with his debut feature, Tangerine, which stood out for casting a lot of non-actors in bit parts,Continue reading “2024 Movie Reviews: Anora & Conclave”