16 May 2026

The Monkey's Pawn: “Obsession,” “Is God Is,” “In the Grey,” and “Marty, Life Is Short”

By Mike Schulz

There are so many smart, promising ideas floating around in the comedic horror of Obsession that it almost doesn't matter that few of them feel properly explored, and that writer/director/editor Curry Barker doesn't seem to have entirely figured out either his principal characters or his film's overall tone.

11 May 2026

Flocking Awesome: “The Sheep Detectives,” “Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard & Soft: The Tour Live in 3D,” and “Mortal Kombat II”

By Mike Schulz

The Sheep Detectives is kind of like Babe meets Paddington meets The Wild Robot meets Agatha Christie … which means, unexpectedly yet delightfully, it's also kind of perfect.

04 May 2026

Don't Let the Dior Hit You on the Way Out: “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Hokum,” “Deep Water,” and “Animal Farm”

By Mike Schulz

Meryl Streep as imperious fashion editor Miranda Priestly, Anne Hathaway as plucky journalist-turned-personal-assistant Andy Sachs, Stanley Tucci as acerbic Runway mainstay Nigel Kipling, Emily Blunt as snippy ladder-climber Emily Charlton … . Who wouldn't want to watch these people, as these people, one more time?

29 Apr 2026

“For the Love of Peter,” May 8 and 9

By Mike Schulz

As part of the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's third-annual Pride Celebration, the Moline venue will host the debut of local actor/playwright Don Faust's comedy For the Love of Peter, an original one-act being presented on May 8 and 9.

27 Apr 2026

Beating It: “Michael,” “I Swear,” and “Over Your Dead Body”

By Mike Schulz

There's a line, or rather a lyric, that fully encapsulates what Michael is about, and it's found in Jackson's 1983 smash “Billie Jean”: “And be careful of what you do / 'Cause the lie becomes the truth.”

20 Apr 2026

Bringing the Bandages Back Together: “Lee Cronin's the Mummy,” “Normal,” “Lorne,” and “Busboys”

By Mike Schulz

Probably like a lot of you, upon hearing the title of the latest horror flick to hit cineplexes, my immediate question was “Who the hell is Lee Cronin?!”

13 Apr 2026

Mock-Doc Shock Talk: “Faces of Death,” “You, Me & Tuscany,” and “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”

By Mike Schulz

It's the absolute right time for director/co-writer Daniel Goldhaber's new Faces of Death, a tight, scary, unexpectedly crafty meta-commentary built on the notion that we can no longer instinctively believe anything we're shown on-screen. On any screen.

06 Apr 2026

For Better or Worst: “The Drama,” “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” and “Pizza Movie”

By Mike Schulz

Prior to writer/director Kristoffer Borgli's transfixing, deeply uncomfortable A24 romance The Drama, I think you'd have to go back to 1992's The Crying Game to find a film that made you – by which I mean me – quite so antsy to learn its heavily promoted Big Secret.

28 Mar 2026

Beats and Beetz: "They Will Kill You" and "Forbidden Fruits"

By Mike Schulz

Is anyone else exhausted, and continually upset, by this year's plethora of movies in which women get the crap viciously kicked out of them?

23 Mar 2026

Rock and Man, Burnin' Out Their Fuses Up There Alone: “Project Hail Mary,” “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” and “The Pout-Pout Fish”

By Mike Schulz

Having not read the Andy Weir novel on which their film is based, it's hard to tell if Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were the right directors for the science-fiction adventure Project Hail Mary, or – for the book's many admirers, and maybe a few of us newbies – the absolute wrong ones.

Pages

Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts

On Stands Now

 

Tagged Content

    

Two Ways to Subscribe

1. Subscribe to free weekly e-mail content updates.

You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Real Astrology and RCR Crossword every week?) 

Subscribe!

* indicates required

2. Get 12 monthly issues mailed first class for $48

Get 12 issues mailed monthly for $48 per year.

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Subscribe now.