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Review by Steve Barton II  If you go on Netflix and search the title “War Machine”, you’ll find yourself at a confusing crossroads. Not only has Netflix released an original title under the same name back in 2017, they also both deal with military operations and star handsome men. While one stars Brad Pitt and takes a more satirical route and criticizes government operations, 2026’s War Machine feels much more like praise rather than criticism. War Machine stars Alan Ritchson (Blue Mountain State) as 81, an unnamed soldier who lost his brother in an attack while on duty and applies to become an Army Ranger in his honor. While on a simulated mission toward the end of his training, the entire battalion is attacked by an unknown machine, hellbent on total destruction. It’s up to 81 and the surviving members of his team to defeat the alien enemy and make their way back to base. Alan Ritchson has come a long way from being a side character who often stole the show as Thad Castle on Blue Mountain State, to now leading movies and shows like Reacher. As 81, Alan had to dig into some emotions to depict a realistic portrayal of PTSD and how it affects your emotional and physical health. The supporting cast around Alan was fine, but none of them truly standout or have any memorable qualities. With the characters being assigned numbers, while it makes it a little unique, it also makes it even more difficult to connect with them. Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk) does his best with what he’s given, but he’s playing the role of 81’s moral compass and guides him through his journey of overcoming grief. The most emotional moment between Stephan and Alan works, but it’s due to their acting abilities rather than the content of the dialogue or story.  While War Machine has some decent visual effects and harsh moments that were more violent than expected, the story is completely hollow. It draws heavy inspiration from films like War of the Worlds (2005), Cloverfield, Predator and countless other sci-fi/action benchmarks, while also playing out quite similarly to the classic tale of Moby-Dick. The main character encounters a dangerous evil and makes it their life’s mission to defeat it, while also overcoming their own internal battles like addiction and/or grief. This, paired with the dialogue fully crafted out of the finest cheese, made War Machine feel unoriginal and a bit boring with its predictability.
In the end, War Machine is a serviceable sci-fi/action thriller that fans of the genre will devour without hesitation. The decent action sequences and goofy dialogue deliver the familiar hallmarks of other monster/alien invasion films, but nothing about War Machine is memorable in the slightest. If this aired as a SyFy channel original movie, this might be a hit like Sharknado! Alan Ritchson is a strong leading man and it’d be great to see him in another action franchise with more creative minds behind it. While it does feel like they’ve laid the bedrock for the War Machine franchise to begin, it may be time to hit the evacuation button for Netflix. War Machine invades your homes on Netflix starting March 6th! Rating: 2.5/5
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Review by Steve Barton II  Before you dared to press the play button on this random series on Netflix years ago, did you have any idea what a “Peaky Blinder” was? They were a real gang of young, petty criminals who were often working class and wore dapper outfits and intimidated anyone who stood against them. Peaky Blinders began as a television series back in 2013 on the BBC in the UK, before finding distribution on Netflix and becoming a global phenomenon. Their slick haircuts and clean cut outfits became a short-lived fashion fad in the mid 2010s. The show-runner Steven Knight produced six seasons and decided to make the seventh season into a feature film epic finale. Does Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man fill the Tommy Shelby bullet holes that’ve been left in fan’s hearts? Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man picks up four years after we leave Tommy Shelby witness what’s left of his dear belongings go up in flames. The beginning of World War II is upon them and fascism is threatening to destroy Birmingham and the rest of England. In Tommy’s absence, his Gypsy son Duke (Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin) has taken head of the table for the Peaky Blinders and made them more brutal and cruel than ever. Now it’s up to Tommy to return to Birmingham and save what's left of his home and family from new and old evils.  One major thing this film does perfectly is capturing the exact essence and feeling of the show. Peaky Blinders has always had a cinematic look with its camera and how incredibly detailed the set designs and costumes are. They aged up certain locations like The Garrison just enough to still be recognizable, but times have changed. Another major factor to this film’s success is the incredible ensemble that was created for this epic conclusion. While many of the fan favorite characters have since passed on like Polly (Rest Easy, Helen McCrory) and countless others that haunt Tommy as ghosts, we still have Oppenheimer himself, Cillian Murphy completely embodying the lead role. Tommy is a man whose life has been riddled with loss and trauma around every corner, some due to his wicked actions. His main motivation in this film is mending some of those wounds and getting his son Duke on the right path. The additions of Barry Keoghan and Rebecca Ferguson (The Greatest Showman) elevate this film to even greater heights and may even bring some folks into the theater off their star power alone.
In the end, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is an incredible conclusion to this epic series! The finale of season six never felt like a proper ending, but this film gives Tommy and the Peaky Blinders a beautiful send-off and never overstayed its welcome, like many epic shows that came before. Due to it being a film rather than a new six episode season, some of the plot does move quicker than audiences would expect and it makes the wrap up feel a bit more abrupt and short. There are certainly a few characters that are missing from the film and ends of leaving a bit of a void for longtime fans, but the overall story still works. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man gives fans exactly what they’ve been waiting for since 2022 and cements Peaky Blinders in the pantheon of incredible television. Go see this one on the biggest screen possible, by order of the Peaky Blinders! Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man comes to select theaters starting March 6th and then exclusively on Netflix starting March 20th! Rating: 4.5/5 Review by Steve Barton II  Hockey as a sport has gone through waves of popularity. With over 2 billion fans, the sport stays popular outside of the United States, but it’s usually near the bottom of the major sports leagues in the country in viewership. With the recent success of Team USA’s Women’s and Men’s Teams grabbing the gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics and the phenomenon that is Heated Rivalry, Youngblood is arriving at the perfect moment! Youngblood is a remake/reimagining of the 1986 film of the same name starring Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze. From the description, this version follows a very similar plot with some key details altered. While the original comes off more as Top Gun on ice, Youngblood (2026) has bigger things to say about racism in hockey. Director Hubert Davis is quite familiar with the sport of hockey and this specific issue, due to his previous work on his 2022 documentary Black Ice. That documentary covers the anti-black racism throughout the history of hockey leagues and how it still exists in the NHL today, and Youngblood furthers that discussion. While most rookies will see a level of hazing as a “rite of passage”, the experiences that Dean Youngblood goes through are obviously deeper than that, without being overly outward and preachy.  The other major difference from the original film is who Dean Youngblood is as a player. In the original, Dean is a skilled player, but he lacks toughness and needs to learn how to scrap before the scouts from the pros will consider him. In the 2026 version, Dean grew up with a tough single father in Detroit after the death of his mother and his aggression is actually weakening him as a player. This aspect makes the story stronger, especially as you learn that his father is unfortunately encouraging his brutal fights and wants him to be a “tough guy” like him. Blair Underwood (Longlegs) plays Dean’s father and he delivers the energy of a father who never fully recovered from his wife’s death and wants his sons to be stronger and more resilient than him. Anyone in the audience that grew up with an aggressive sports coach or parent, will suffer flashbacks to their childhood trauma and the internal conflict of being mad at them, but still needing them to eat dinner that night.
In the end, Youngblood is a solid addition to the field of sports dramas and changes enough from the original to give it its own identity. The hockey scenes are shot well and the sound effects on the ice will sound incredible in a theater! The love interest felt more like a box to check, rather than a necessary plot point but the couple does have good chemistry, especially on the ice. There are also a few editing moments where scenes almost felt out of order, specifically when the little hockey girl sees Dean have a meltdown outside and runs away scared, but in the next scene they're buddies. Other than the stereotypically predictable moments, Youngblood is an entertaining sports drama that’s worthy of a watch from any sports movie fan. Youngblood skates out into theaters starting March 6th! Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Steve Barton II  The horror genre really found its place in the mainstream world of film starting in the 1970's. We got iconic masked killers like Michael Myers in Halloween and horrific, secluded and often deformed murderous families like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. When it comes to DOLLY, Rod Blackhurst gives us a perfect blend of 70’s grindhouse/exploitation horror that you’d see on your local video store shelf. DOLLY is based on Rod’s short film from 2022 titled Babygirl and sets the foundation for Dolly to run on with her turned-in feet. DOLLY follows a couple, Macy (Fabianne Therese, Starry Eyes) and Chase (Seann William Scott, American Pie) while out on a hike in the woods, they encounter creepy dolls all around them and quickly discover that they aren’t alone in the woods after all. Going into this film almost completely blind on everything but the title was an extremely rewarding experience. DOLLY wastes no time jumping into the deep end with some intense gore and horrifyingly brilliant set designs that immediately put the audience on edge. Unlike many horror films, they show Dolly up close and personal very early on, but the terrifying feeling every time the camera pans to her never fully subsides. The design of the mask itself is incredible, capturing the crisp and creepy look of a porcelain figure, while also being dirty and partially broken due to Dolly’s intense nature. The performance by Max Lindsey (a.k.a. Max The Impaler by wrestling fans) as Dolly is what truly makes this film work! The large build of Max and their physicality, makes the actions of Dolly throughout the movie feel realistic (other than one specific digital kill). They may have drawn inspiration from a fellow wrestler in the past, playing a horror villain with Kane in See No Evil, but Max makes Dolly feel like a living being who I’m terrified will be waiting in the woods on my next adventure.  The pure brutality of Dolly and how she eviscerates her victims with her brute strength may even put Jason Voorhees to shame. Other than a few moments of (not so great) digital VFX that may have needed some more time and/or budget, the practical work looks incredibly gnarly. Dolly can get some work done, especially with her shovel! The visual look that Rod Blackhurst and his crew create for DOLLY captures the grindhouse grit of 1970s horror, especially with them shooting on 16mm film. The film grain baked into the frames when you're seeing this giant monster with a dollface dismembering folks with their doll collection surrounding them is something you’d only see in video nasties or your own worst nightmares.
DOLLY is a love letter to 70s/80s low-budget slashers that generations loved to rent and scream at while watching at sleepovers. While they don’t have a ton of setup time for our main characters, it’s the perfect amount with showing the couple’s current relationship hurdle without bogging down the constant tension. The set design with all of the creepy, dirty dolls scattered throughout every scene and the exterior of Dolly’s home even resembling a dollhouse, the effort and love put into this is remarkable. While Dolly herself takes inspiration from several of the horror icons, she still feels like an original character who you’d love to see on Halloween night! DOLLY unleashes onto theaters starting March 6th! Rating: 4/5 Review by Steve Barton II  Paramount started their media campaign for Scream 7 on a horrible note when they announced the firing of their lead actress, Melissa Barrera over her outspoken criticism of the genocide being committed by Israel. With that decision, they also lost their new co-lead of the next generation cast with Jenna Ortega and then were forced to pivot completely with the overarching story. After the fallout, the decision was quickly made to revert back to the series’ original final girl Sidney Prescott and why she was (mostly) absent from Scream 6. The other major swing in the “back to basics” direction was getting Kevin Williamson (the original writer of Scream 1, 2 & 4) back into the writer’s chair to revive his story, except this time he’s also got the title of Director. Did all of these hasty decisions end up producing a solid new entry into the Scream franchise? That’s a complicated question with an even more difficult answer. While there are subtle references to Sam and Tara, the topic of our former main characters is never fully breached which feels especially odd given that two of the surviving friends are in Scream 7. While Sam’s plot does seem purposefully left open in case they strike a deal for her return, more could’ve been done to address the ginormous elephant in the theater. The enticing aspect of the writing for Scream has always been the meta commentary and poking fun at the horror tropes, Scream 7 also falls into the trope trap itself.  Scream 7 had some interesting points to make about the world’s disturbing obsession with true crime, A.I., survivor’s guilt and the over saturation of remakes and sequels. While the script does have strengths, its weaknesses are the overly familiar tropes and references to the original movie that feel heavily recycled by year 30. Williamson made references to the original Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, so it was honestly shocking not to see someone from Dawson’s Creek dawn the Ghostface mask! He was able to bring back the fan favorite Stu Macher and it surprisingly worked out well. Matthew Lillard is able to tap into that crazy energy and the look in his eye that makes you believe he’s a true psychopath. The actual reveal of the Ghostface killer is easily one the weakest of the series, next to Roman in Scream 3 and is fairly predictable if you’re even slightly paying attention.
The biggest compliment to give Scream 7 is that it has some of the most brutal kills in the entire franchise. Between the school auditorium scene and the crescendo death at the bar, these are scenes that I can’t stop thinking about and need to see again ASAP! The visceral nature of Ghostface in Scream 7 stands up next to the original film and might even outshine it in this department. In the end, Scream 7 is a decent entry into the Scream franchise that most fans will enjoy. While the script is messy and some character motivations and developments really don’t work, there’s enough Scream DNA for fans to sink their blades into. It does stink that we don’t see where Sam and Tara are after New York, we still get the Meeks-Martin duo and that gives hope that they won’t fully abandon the Carpenter sisters. Fans of the newer films may have to wait a while to see their story finished, but Scream 7 was made purely for the original fans. Scream 7 is playing in theaters starting February 27th! Rating: 3/5 |