Listen 3-4:30 pm central today to KOOP at the Movies. The Austin Chronicle senior writer and the Austin Film Critics Association’s V.P. Richard Whittaker joins me to review Austin’s 2025 in film. @koopradio.bsky.social @rmwhittaker.bsky.social @austinchronicle.bsky.social @atxfilmcritics.bsky.social

Come join us on 1/12 to celebrate our Best Austin Film winner for 2025, BLUE MOON!

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Congrats to all our @atxfilmcritics.bsky.social 2025 winners, including our Austin Film Award victor BLUE MOON.

Pretty darn pleased with these picks from the AFCA. Proud to have played a part in the selections. 🍾❤️🎥

The AFCA is pleased to announce our 2025 film award nominees. Winners will be announces on December 18th. Congratulations to all our nominees! 🍾 austinfilmcritics.org/2025/12/10/2...

Excited to share all of our wonderful nominees!!!

Very pleased with these awards nominee picks from my AFCA peers. Been a great year for the movies!

28 YEARS LATER was just a warmup for THE BONE TEMPLE. A bold, bloody, and bonkers followup, that again finds cruelty and the enduring slivers of humanity amidst the carnage of this devastated land. Ralph Fiennes delivers one of his most fire performances. @28yearslater.bsky.social

Loins are girded for this one #28yearslaterthebonetemple

#AvatarFireAndAsh is exhilarating, emotional, and epic cinema. The action and effects surpass the first two films, its plot however recycles so many elements you wonder where things can go from here. Oona Chaplin is an exception as a chaotically compelling addition to the cast

Payakan Posse unite! 🐋 #Avatar

Been hankering for #Hamnet

#MartySupreme. A dizzying effort, driven by a palpable and relentless sense of hustle. Chalamet is undeniably electric, but the casting team deserves major plaudits for filling every frame of this film with color and character.

Ready for my Marty to be Supremed

Pretty jazzed for this 👐🏻

#RunningManMovie does enough to set itself apart from the original, but not enough from our current lives. A dour, unadventurous experience that really needed to hit harder and more incisively with its commentary to make a mark.

I had a blast with #PredatorBadlands, a great changeup for the franchise that never takes itself too seriously. My review over at @cinapse.bsky.social t.co/Da9y0kxwSF

#PredatorBadlands blows open the mythology of the franchise, but never forgets to have fun while doing it. A rollicking, action packed, and delightfully goofy slice of sci-fi.

Locked and loaded for #PredatorBadlands

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With #FantasticFest wrapped up, the @cinapse.bsky.social team has assembled their individual can't-miss top films of the festival! Check out what I thought were 2025's breakout hits, alongside faves from @edtravis.bsky.social, @dantabor.bsky.social, @jonpartridge.bsky.social, and Spencer Brickey!

A standout at #FantasticFest this year, a coming of age tale of social acceptance vs moral conflict, steeped in genre elements and discordant vibes. My review of THE PLAGUE over at @cinapse.bsky.social t.co/gdZFwN3x0u

#GoodLuckHaveFunDontDie. A chaotic and blackly comedy adventure about technological creep and the impending collapse of society. The end of the world shouldn’t be this much fun. #FantasticFest

#FantasticFest Secret screening 4 is GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE.

A WOMAN CALLED MOTHER. A reckoning with dueling roles spills into family life after a visit to a shaman. Tackles its themes well, loses focus at times, but when it clicks it rips. Great unsettling moments (& movements) and an all timer transition shot 🍳 #FantasticFest

HONEY BUNCH. A lush mystery that explores ideas of love and devotion by playing with memory and mood. Evokes 70s Gothic vibes, but crafts a distinct hazy tone and compelling tale all of its own. #FantasticFest

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. Timely, topical, and just a rollicking good time at the movies. DiCaprio nails it once again. One of the year’s best, and a thrilling example of a filmmaker utterly assured and thriving in their craft. #FantasticFest

#FantasticFest Secret Screening #2 is BUGONIA

THE PIANO ACCIDENT. Another deadpan delight from Dupieux, this time taking aim at the hollow pursuits of influencers and clout chasers. Just bleak brilliance. #FantasticFest

APPOFENIACS is a frenetic, stylish, and disturbingly timely techno-thriller. My review out of #FantasticFest over at @cinapse.bsky.social cinapse.co/2025/09/fant...

There’s just something gratifying about a horror film that delivers on its inspirations and adds its own voice and visuals to the mix. My review of DOLLY, out of #FantasticFest, a grungy and effective slice of psycho-horror. cinapse.co/2025/09/fant...

#FANTASTICFEST Secret Screening #1 is SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT ‘25.

DAWNING. Tragic, touching and stark in its beauty and narrative. Tremendous amount to unpack and appreciate, but it’s most admirable in its ability to find warmth in such chilling circumstances. #FantasticFest

OBSESSION. The early cutesy/quirky tone wasn’t for me, but as the fucked-upness creeps in, it earns its plaudits. The performance from Inde Navarette alone is worth the price of admission. #FantasticFest

THE PLAGUE. A pressure cooker of a film about conforming and the perils of breaking from the pack. Perfectly captures the social dynamics of a collective of 12 yr old boys. Compelling, anxiety inducing, visually stunning, & packed with brilliant young performances. #FantasticFest

REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND isn’t just one of my #FantasticFest standouts, it’ll be one of my favorite films of 2025. My review of this dizzying blend of style and fragmented storytelling over at @CinapseNews @shudder.com @ifcfilms.bsky.social t.co/bRM7BF3ne3

THE VILE. A UAE feature that well leverages polygamy and the desires of man disrupting a family dynamic, into a compelling horror parable. #FantasticFest

13 DAYS TILL SUMMER. A solid home invasion thriller with style to spare, that unnervingly captures many of the creeping fears of how disconnected from emotion, empathy, and consequence, some individuals have become in this internet age. Chilling stuff. #FantasticFest

My review of #CoyotesMovie out of #FantasticFest. A savage and stylish survival horror, even if it is a little shaggy around the edges. @auraentfilms.bsky.social cinapse.co/2025/09/fant...

LUGER. A good old wrong-place at the wrong-time crime caper. Propulsive, gritty fare, with solid performances, and a good balance of comedy and bone-crunching action. #FantasticFest

THE FORBIDDEN CITY. The Italian Mafia/Chinese gangster movie you never knew you needed. Love, revenge, cultural clashes, comedy, and hard-hitting action, all under the big lights of Rome. It’s huge in scope and ideas, and nails them all. Yaxi Liu is 🔥 Bravissimo! #FantasticFest

FIND YOUR FRIENDS. A group of disenchanted girls head to the desert to drink, drug, and fuck the pain away. A discordant and dizzying thriller that just crackles with chaotic energy. Upends some tropes and proves a potent first feature from Izabel Pakzad. #FantasticFest

ROAD TO VENDETTA. A kinetic and visceral plunge into Japan’s criminal underworld, and a mysterious assassins guild. The world building, action, and visuals impress, but what really draws you in is the rather sweet bond that emerges between the leads. #FantasticFest

THE CURSE. Leverages social media into the supernatural. At its best in its tense, intimate moments, or when cutting loose. Loses its way with some clunky plotting and ill-defined rules/logic around the titular curse. The “hand drag” possession is A+ #FantasticFest

CRUSHING. Deals with some weighty issues in a considered way, building them into an effective thriller with punctuations of horror. It just sometimes lacks the performative and emotional heft that would really drive home things home. #FantasticFest

#PRIMATE. A bloody and intense creature feature that isn’t afraid to get little savage. Great practical effects, with a stonking score that feels like a giallo/Goblin throwback. Personally, theres something about seeing the ravages of rabies on a chimp just feels unpalatable.

Once more unto the breach. Year…14? #FantasticFest

#CAUGHTSTEALINGMOVIE is a throwback to the 2000s era of weird-tilting gangster capers. It strives for a punk sensibility, and there is an undeniable quality to the film in terms of performances and overall production, but it never quite finds its tonal groove. Good cat though!

Adding to the chorus of praise for #WeaponsMovie. Zach Cregger knocked this one out of the park. My review over at @cinapse.bsky.social