War Machine (2026) Film Review

During a grueling Army Ranger training exercise, recruits encounter a deadly, otherworldly machine, turning their mission into a fight for survival against an alien threat.

War Machine is directed by Patrick Hughes director of Red Hill (2010), The Expendables 3 (2014), The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017), Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021) and The Man from Toronto (2022).

War Machine is a very odd duck of a movie and not in an interesting way, the movie tries to take elements from so many other action and sci-fi films such as Predator (1987), The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) and Independence Day (1996) all of which it fails to recapture. Also fun fact, this is the second movie to be released by Netflix called War Machine. The two films obviously have nothing to do with another as War Machine (2017) is a satirical film that’s based on real events (although fictionalized), this one however is just a very forgettable action movie.

Unfortunately this movie has its problems from the very beginning…it’s characters. A lot of the characters here are nothing but cannon fodder who get almost no time to get moments to shine. Alan Ritchson is admittedly not bad here and plays his role well enough, but without any sort of great character moments the movie struggles with making any of these characters at least memorable.

The stuntwork here is at the very least decent and somewhat makes up for the dodgy CG work, there’s a few moments that have this decent scale to them where it does feel like you are in this movie’s world. But then there are others where the CG takes you out of the experience simply due to how bad they look.

The biggest problem with War Machine is the lack of originality and director Patrick Hughes not having a distinct directorial voice. As I mentioned earlier, War Machine takes from a lot of different movies within the genre but rather than making the elements its own. It feels like the movie is lifting rather than being inspired, it becomes very apparent during the movie’s action scenes. Which leads into Hughes not having a distinct voice, I did not go into War Machine expecting anything fantastic given Hughes’s previous work, however I do think it is still incredibly lazy to not even attempt to try and find a way to make these elements your own.

Even if you took away the genre cliches, you are still left with incredibly corny dialogue and very strained attempts at emotional depth that by then the viewer has already caught on about how poorly written these characters really are.

Overall War Machine is incredibly forgettable, you could absolutely do a lot worse. If you want to just put something on in the background this gets the job done, but if you are looking for an actual great sci-fi action film you are better off looking elsewhere

War Machine is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+

Touch Me (2026) Film Review

Two friends, homeless and struggling, find a mysterious ex who happens to be an alien. His touch cures their anxiety and depression, leading them to his compound, but they discover he has sinister motives

Touch Me is directed by Addison Heimann director of Hypochondriac (2022).

Touch Me has plenty of good ideas on paper but unfortunately falls short due to it’s incredibly all over the place script which can take the viewer out of the movie incredibly quickly.

The performances from Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris aren’t bad, they do what they can with an incredibly out there script and manage to have a few moments where you can tell their chemistry is quite great. The dynamic between the two has its humorous moments that are some of the movie’s highlights.

What ultimately hurts the movie is the incredibly messy writing that seems to not have a focus, on one hand I’m all for movies to be as bizarre as possible. There’s plenty of bonkers moments in this movie some of which do lead into some decently funny scenes. But on the other hand this is the end result when a movie tries way too hard to be as bizarre as possible, there is one scene in particular that really reflects this and simply feels like it’s there to be weird for the sake of being weird.

I do like the atmosphere the movie goes for, but without many strong writing moments combined with moments that want to throw as much bizarreness on the table for the sake of it. The experience as a whole feels very empty and does not offer all that much, with that being said the technical aspects aren’t bad and as I said before the acting is decent enough.

Overall Touch Me isn’t terrible, I admire the attempt of making something so bizarre even if this one does fall short.

Touch Me is out now on digital!

5/10 C

Quick Reviews: Slanted (2026) and Whistle (2026)

A Chinese-American teen gets surgery to change her race to win prom queen, leading to body horror as she deals with the consequences

Slanted is directed by Amy Wang which is her directorial debut.

Slanted is one of those films where I do think the bizarre idea is more interesting than the film itself. That mainly comes down to execution and the film really not going far enough with its premise, despite that however I do think the movie manages to stick the landing in the end.

I do think this is McKenna Grace’s first performance since Gifted (2017) where she actually got a lot of depth for her character. There are some emotional moments here that wrap into the film’s themes and McKenna Grace is able to really capture said moments and make something devastating. Shirley Chen is also quite great here as well, the first bit of the movie we see Joan Huang (played by Shirley Chen) wanting to change. The acting from Chen is careful and quite devastating especially since the viewer does know what is going to happen. When we do get the change of Joan Huang becoming Jo Hunt the result has its character moments but does eventually dry up.

What hurts the movie the most is the writing, as a body horror movie it’s just not there at all. Outside of a few moments towards the end there really isn’t a whole lot of body horror going on here. As a satire that tackles themes of racial identity and self-hatred they are done decently enough, but the execution feels like it’s missing some power hitting moments. The whole idea of the race change through this technology is far more interesting idea than the movie itself, the more interesting moments come in with Joan Huang’s parents reaction to her change. It’s genuinely devastating to watch seeing them completely destroyed and disappointed.

Then you have the rest of the movie that just kind of feels there and does not really do much with the themes. I think for the most part the movie gets the job done, but for a movie that tackles quite a heavy topic it surprisingly feels lacking.

Slanted is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

A group of high schoolers finds a cursed whistle that, when blown, causes a supernatural entity to hunt them down, manifesting their future deaths.

Whistle is directed by Corin Hardy director of The Hallow (2015) and The Nun (2018).

Whistle is if you took any of the Final Destination movies and proceeded to make your movie far less entertaining. While Whistle is not the worst copycat out there, it is a very forgettable one that is slightly frustrating due to having some interesting ideas that are held back by terrible writing.

The cast try their best with the script that’s given, Dafne Keen being the movie’s lead gets the bigger end of the stick naturally. So she’s able to turn in a decent enough performance, Sophie Nélisse is also not bad here either. A far more interesting movie is hiding in the romance between Chrys Willet (played by Dafne Keen) and Ellie Gains (played by Sophie Nélisse.) The rest of the cast do what they can, I don’t think anyone here turns in a bad performance it’s just a matter of the script being terrible and not giving a lot of these actors anything to work with.

The writing is what flat out kills this move on arrival, the dialogue has a few laughably bad moments that the movie tries to play as being serious. The large amount of cliches and lack of tension completely take the viewer out of the movie and can easily be predicted as to what is going to happen.

There are some creative kills here, but just getting to them feels like a chore. Which is a shame because I do think the whole idea of the whistle causing the deaths of how someone is going to die is pretty interesting. Unfortunately the movie completely botches the idea and goes for the most generic direction possible.

There really isn’t much else more to say here, if you have seen any horror movie within the last 10 years. Then you have already seen Whistle and know exactly how it’s going to end. In a year that so far has delivered a lot of great horror movies, this one really feels out of place.

Whistle is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

In The Blink Of An Eye (2026) Film Review

Three storylines, spanning thousands of years, intersect and reflect on hope, connection and the circle of life.

In The Blink Of An Eye is directed by Andrew Stanton director of Finding Nemo (2003), WALL-E (2008), John Carter (2012) and Finding Dory (2016).

I appreciate Andrew Stanton for attempting to try live action again, however In The Blink Of An Eye is a complete and total mess. There are really good ideas here exploring three stories that take place across history of the world is a fascinating idea that has potential. But sadly the writing, character writing and execution is just not there at all, making the experience incredibly empty and forgettable.

The best thing you can really say about In The Blink Of An Eye is that the acting isn’t bad and that’s mainly due to a lot of talent involved. Kate McKinnon, Daveed Diggs and Rashida Jones all give decent enough performances, unfortunately for them the character writing just isn’t there outside of a few moments towards the end that somewhat attempt to try and save the movie.

The writing tackles the very typical “meaning of life and everything and everyone that surrounds us” sort of idea which can bring the viewer into the experience when done right. However this is not one of those movies that does this well at all, it’s a very surface level exploration of the idea that pretends it’s saying something incredibly profound. A majority of the time you are waiting for the big moments to come which never end up arriving, it feels like the mindset going on here is just because the movie mentions a theme that is quite deep that will keep the whole movie afloat. You have to execute that theme well in order to make it work.

What seals this movie’s fate is that none of the three periods of time immerse the viewer, all three stories are generic, flat and very uninspired. The cinematography editing or even music although not terrible, does not help the experience grow or stand out, all three stories feel identical to one another except they have a few tweaks here and there. This ultimately destroys the whole idea of the movie and makes the whole experience feel like nothing.

Overall In The Blink Of An Eye is a movie with great ideas with very lackluster execution that fails to immerse the viewer. The technical elements and acting are passable, but everything else especially the writing completely breaks the movie.

In The Blink Of An Eye is available on Hulu.

3/10 D-

Mercy (2026) Film Review

A detective is on trial for his wife’s murder and must convince an AI judge of his innocence before time runs out.

Mercy is directed by Timur Bekmambetov director of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), Ben-Hur (2016), Profile (2018) and many others.

Mercy is one of those movies where just looking at the poster you already know it’s going to be terrible, yet somehow it gets even worse when you actually sit down and watch it. It’s a poorly constructed mess that basically has Chris Pratt sit in a chair for 90 minutes along with some very laughable dialogue that tries to present itself as being clever when in reality its incredibly basic and not saying anything.

The acting is terrible, Chris Pratt is overacting throughout and Rebecca Ferguson is incredibly bland. Which I got to say that is one hell of an achievement, I’m not entirely sure how on earth you make Ferguson bland but somehow this movie accomplished that. The acting alone makes Mercy incredibly hard to sit through. It does not help that Christopher Raven (played by Pratt) and Judge Maddox (played by Ferguson) are poorly written characters who have very little going for them. Judge Maddox at one point basically shows the viewer a bunch of footage of Raven’s past just so we know his backstory, a lot of it is completely pointless and very unrelated to the case that the movie is supposedly focusing on.

The writing is baffling, first and foremost as I said before the character writing is just not there at all. Second the screenlife elements aren’t used to their full potential, which confuses me a bit since Bekmambetov directed Profile (2018) a film that used its screenlife elements quite well. So it’s a bit surprising to see him do a complete 180 here, the dialogue leans into laughable territory. There are some genuinely embarrassing moments that truly amaze you in just the idea of “who came up with this?” the confused message at the end as well leaves the viewer with a terrible taste in their mouth. This whole “Ai makes mistakes like humans can” is truly egregious, a man is being put on trial for something he did not do this isn’t some sort of “oopsie!” type of mistake.

Overall Mercy lacks any sort of depth and fails to fully invest the viewer, it’s a slog to get through, it’s poorly acted, written and one of the worst movies of the year so far.

Mercy is available on all VOD platforms.

1/10 F

Quick Review: Worldbreaker (2026) Film Review

A father trains his daughter to survive monsters from an alternate dimension that have invaded Earth, but they are eventually found, forcing them to fight for survival.

Worldbreaker is directed by Brad Anderson director of Session 9 (2001), The Machinist (2004), TransSiberian (2008), The Call (2013), Fractured (2019) and many others.

Not a whole lot to discuss here which is why this one is not getting a full review. The main notes I took during this movie were.

It’s an incredibly formulaic post apocalyptic movie, at times there is decent world building but not nearly enough to save this movie or make it interesting.

Luke Evans gave a solid performance, most of the movie it’s him training a teenage girl how to swing a sword. Yet he somehow squeezes a good performance out of it (whatever it takes to get a good performance I guess.) It might be because Evans is just naturally a great actor but there are some parts of his dialogue that are interesting enough.

Mila Jovovich is barely in this movie, if you are going into this movie as a Jovovich fan you are going to leave incredibly disappointed. Despite the poster making it seem like she’s a huge part of the movie she barely shows up, it’s kind of hilarious but at the same time it’s an incredibly odd choice.

My final note was simply “how did they get Brad Anderson to direct this movie?” Not every single one of Anderson’s films have been great, but Worldbreaker in particular feels very phoned in. At least with some of Anderson’s weaker films you can tell there was some sort of attempt to bring some charm, you simply don’t get that with Worldbreaker. The ending in particular is especially laughably bad, it really does feel like we watched a prologue scene from a bad video game and as soon as you get into the actual game it just ends.

Worldbreaker is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

Cold Storage (2026) Film Review

When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.

Cold Storage is directed by Jonny Campbell director of Alien Autopsy (2006).

Cold Storage is a classic case of stumbling upon a late night B sci-fi horror movie and having a decent time with it. There is plenty of flaws here that you would think would bring the movie down, however there is a lot of charm here that helps keep the movie rolling along at a decent pace and ends up finishing with an expected yet fun outcome.

The cast is mainly what holds the movie together. Georgina Campbell and Joe Keery work very well together, the two’s chemistry is the heart of the film and why everything meshes decently well together. Georgina Campbell’s execution with her dialogue has some great humor and Joe Keery’s charming screen presence works wonders here. Liam Neeson is also quite solid here, while this can feel like he’s doing the same sort of deal with a lot of his action movie roles. There is some more heart put into this performance which I’m still not exactly sure why that is, maybe it’s due to part of Cold Storage being a comedy and Neeson does incredibly well with the genre. Whatever the case may be, Neeson turns in a great performance and works well with Campbell and Keery.

The writing is decent overall, there is some character moments here that are shockingly decently written. There isn’t any groundbreaking character work going on here, but it is nice to see these characters not feel like an afterthought. The self-aware humor can be a little grating at times but a majority of the time it’s used sparingly and the movie mixes it in with some gross out humor that is actually quite fun!

As far as atmosphere goes the film nails it well enough, Cold Storage is going for a much more comedic tone and throws in some sick looking mutations with slime, fungus and such to create some neat creature designs. It’s zombie adjacent but goes about it in its own way. The CG can be questionable but considering this is (assumably) on the lower budget side of things, this isn’t very surprising.

Overall Cold Storage is decent for what it is, it’s a very quick 99 minutes that isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel in the horror genre. It’s a fun little movie that has a good cast, some neat action and makes great use of its location. Give this one a look!

Cold Storage is currently in theaters.

6/10 C+

Sundance Film Review: Zi (2026)

In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night-and possibly her life.

Zi is directed by Kogonada director of Columbus (2017), After Yang (2021) and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025).

Zi is a return to form for Kogonada, after last year’s disappointing A Big Bold Beautiful Journey it is nice to see Kogonada return to what he’s best at. Although Zi is heavily flawed and is still not as great as Kogonada’s first two films, there is still a lot to like here and there’s some genuinely great moments that make Zi shine.

The performances from Michelle Mao and Haley Lu Richardson are both quite strong here, the two have great chemistry that over the course of the film builds into something beautiful. There are some silly moments in between it all, Richardson’s character El immediately starts crying for Zi (played by Michelle Mao) after only meeting her for 10 minutes. However that actually does work here as the film is going for a much more experimental direction and I do think what ends up getting revealed later on justifies this. Mao and Richardson play their characters well and have some very real moments, there is some great facial acting and quiet moments that help build their bond. Jin Ha who plays Min gets the short end of the stick, his character is underdeveloped and just not all that interesting, he does however show off his great singing voice (he’s been on Broadway).

The writing is the film’s weakest point, the story is a very thinly written narrative. The premise here is Zi gets visions of the future and sees an older version of El, the two meet and from there very little happens. There’s just not a whole lot to chew on here writing wise, with that being said there’s beautiful moments that do happen and I do think the ending wraps it up nicely.

It’s a much more experimental film compared to A Big Bold Beautiful Journey it’s an incredibly small budget of these characters walking around in the city. Admittedly the city element does bring some excellent atmosphere that does create this beautiful tone to the film. The score is beautiful as always when it comes to Kogonada’s films, it fits the atmosphere that is required and brings this level of beauty and warmth that helps elevate the film.

Overall Zi is definitely an improvement over A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025), it’s a nice return of what Kogonada is best at. If you can get past the thin story you should be able to enjoy this one for what it is.

Zi currently has no release date.

6/10 C+

Predator: Badlands (2025) Film Review

Cast out from its clan, an alien hunter and an unlikely ally embark on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.

Predator: Badlands is directed by Dan Trachtenberg director of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Prey (2022) and Predator: Killer Of Killers (2025). The film serves as the seventh installment in the Predator franchise.

When Prey (2022) revived interest in the Predator films I was very excited to see what he had in store next. To everyone’s surprised he had not one but TWO films planned out. Earlier this year Predator: Killer Of Killers released and as I said in my review it was excellent and that trend continues with Predator: Badlands, watching all three of these films it’s very clear that Trachtenberg loves the Predator franchise and that is especially clear here. Badlands has excellent performances, satisfying action scenes, this large in scale exploration and beautiful yet simple character writing that really goes a long way.

The performances are excellent, the center focus is Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning both of who give some of the best performances of the year. The two also dive quite deep into their characters and really bring out some truly fun and beautiful moments. Koloamatangi plays Dek a young Yautja outcast, while his character may seem like the typical warrior who needs to prove himself. The film goes a lot further than that, as he goes on his journey we get to see his character slowly but surely build over time, Koloamatangi’s performance really puts in the work as well. We can hear tons of emotion even through the Yautja speech, it gets to the point where you want to root for him and hope he accomplishes his mission. There’s a surprising amount of depth here that you do not see very often with these films, it might be a bit simple yes but it’s there and it helps build Dek into this quite interesting character we follow.

Elle Fanning plays a dual performance, Thia a damaged Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic who travels with Dek and Tessa a Weyland-Yutani synthetic and Thia’s sister, she serves as the antagonist of the film. What Elle Fanning captures the excellent balance of good and evil masterfully here, in one corner you have Thia who is hilarious, fun and a person who just wants to see the good in people. Then you have Tessa the cold, evil and whose only goal is to complete her mission. She puts up this fake act of caring for Thia all for taking advantage of her to get what she wants. Elle Fanning does such a brilliant job of bringing depth to both these characters, she’s able to show off just how wonderful she is as an actress while having so much fun with the performances. The trope of clone/evil versions of characters can be a bit on the lame side, however it absolutely works here due to just how much personality and power Fanning puts into both her performances.

The world building is quite fantastic, it’s definitely one of those films where the visuals of the film’s world as well as the large in scale nature does all of the talking. The film feels like an open world video game, that you lose yourself in and never want to leave. This large in scale nature lets the viewer explore all the different landscapes and creatures on the planet, even if some of the creatures are on screen for a few minutes it still feels like we know a lot about them simply due to the detail and how large in scale the film really is.

The film’s writing has this depth to it that really adds on as the film progresses, the underdog story that may have started as something simple evolves into a bigger beast. The film’s depth also has plenty of fun moments of dialogue, the humor works surprisingly well which is mainly due to the bond of Dek and Thia. The two characters have this fun and surprisingly wholesome bond that we slowly get to see form throughout the film. Which makes later scenes a bit more devastating when future events unfold.

Overall Predator: Badlands is yet another fantastic installment to the Predator franchise. It’s not known yet if Trachtenberg will be directing another Predator film, but I sure do hope we get to see even more of his love for this franchise.

Predator: Badlands is available in Theaters!

10/10 A+

Quick Review: All Of You (2025)

When a new test matching soulmates together comes between two best friends, they spend the next twelve years trying to resist the urge to disrupt the paths their lives have taken despite the undeniable feeling they belong together.

All Of You is directed by William Bridges which is his directorial debut.

Not a whole lot to report on here, All Of You is a romance movie that starts out promising enough but then quickly runs into a lot of the exact same problems that a lot of modern romance movies do. The main one being that the chemistry between the leads is about the only part going for it.

Brett Goldstein is incredibly charming and Imogen Poots is gives a pretty touching performance that has a lot of beautiful moments. Unfortunately the side characters only serve the story and have very little going on which takes away a lot of the power this movie was building up. The side characters ultimately feel disposable which in turn hurts the movie quite a bit.

The dialogue starts out decent enough but quickly gets tangled in its own web, the idea of time wasted is such a heartbreaking premise that it’s genuinely surprising the movie wastes a lot of time doing way too many time jumps. The sci-fi elements feel incredibly wasted and were begging for a much better script.

All Of You is available on Apple TV+

5/10 C