Outcome—written and directed by Jonah Hill—premiers Friday, April 10, on Apple TV.

The film stars Keanu Reeves, Jonah Hill, Cameron Diaz, and Matt Bomer, and it is a dark comedy about a man, Reef Hawk, a beloved Hollywood star with a dark past that ends up being exploited, and he must find the blackmailer before it upends his image and his career.

The additional star-studded cast includes Martin Scorsese, Susan Lucci, Laverne Cox, David Spade, Atsuko Okatsuka, Roy Wood Jr., and Drew Barrymore.

Jonah Hill, who plays Reef’s highly energetic and high-strung lawyer Ira, delivers a performance that is more than just hilarious—he balances empathy and chaos in his unconventional attempt at helping Reef conquer his demons, hiding the life he wishes to remain a secret, all while zeroing in on the blackmailer.

Matt Bomer and Cameron Diaz as Reef’s best friends, Kyle (Diaz) and Xander (Bomer), complement the inner turmoil that Reef experiences, layering their comedy and timing in a way that is both refreshing and honest. On the surface, this multi-decade friendship comes across as unserious and irresponsible. At the core, however, they prove why it’s imperative to have people around you who love you, root for you, and support you in your highest of highs as well as your darkest moments.

Their presence grounds the film in something real—reminding us that even in chaos, scandal, and self-destruction, connection is what keeps us from completely unraveling.

In a stark departure from the weighted layers of John Wick, Keanu brings warmth, vulnerability, and a bit of hubris to Reef—delivering a performance that makes the audience view celebrity and fame with more empathy and compassion, as you never know what someone deals with when they’re outside of the spotlight.

There’s a Secret Behind Every Dazzling Smile

The story itself outwardly centers on Reef’s fear of cancel culture—Reef on an apology tour in order to prevent the public audience from turning their backs on him.

As we get deeper, it’s very clear that this is a story of self-reflection, the act of taking accountability, redemption, and living with the consequences of past actions.

The effects of childhood stardom and its impact on how it distorts reality for the star as they grow older is the highlight of Outcome. “No’s” become “yes’s” until no one ever says no again—to the point of self-destruction, enabling, and isolation.

Related Coverage

• War Machine Review

• Wrecking Crew Review

Final Thoughts

Outcome digs deep, gets ridiculous, and is hilarious, and it’s exactly the kind of chaos you want in dark comedy.

And Reef’s commitment to taking this threat seriously—surrounded by people who appear to take his predicament as a joke—makes the punchline land throughout the entirety of the movie.

If you’re someone who finds comfort in ridiculous films, dark comedy, and satire, Outcome will immediately make your comfort watchlist. And if you just want to laugh while watching your favorites deliver outrageous dialogue, this film is also for you.

Outcome is more than a film. It is about exploring the other side of our behavior and the damage our youthful ignorance leaves behind.

Outcome premieres Friday, April 10, only on Apple TV. Check out the trailer below.

Writer and director John Burr delivers a tense thriller in The Gates, starring Mason Gooding, Algee Smith, Keith Powers, and James Van Der Beek in one of his final screen performances.

Right away the film establishes that a simple boys trip is about to go horribly wrong.

The story centers on Derek (Gooding), Kevin (Smith), and Tyon (Powers) on their way to a party, after a wrong turn places them inside an affluent gated community that quickly proves to be anything but welcoming.

When they get pulled over in an affluent neighborhood, it’s Derek’s relationship with the police officer that gets them out of an otherwise dangerous situation. This moment immediately introduces the film’s central theme: privilege.

What begins as an invitation to a party slowly transforms into a long and horrific night that forces the friends to confront the reality that they are not safe within these walls.

The Gates wastes no time pulling the audience into the fold. Within minutes the tension escalates and the story becomes an immersive experience where the characters—and the audience—are simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The longer the night goes on, the more the film explores the differences in how Derek, Kevin, and Tyon move through and survive in the world around them.

Derek believes reason, honesty, and politeness are the only weapons you need to survive, without understanding that his racial ambiguity is what provides him the most protection.

Kevin challenges this social framing by pushing back against Derek’s naivete and inability to understand that his friends will never carry that same protection.

We discuss a little more about this aspect of colorism within the film with writer and director John Burr, reflecting on the real world and people’s lived experiences. See the interview below.

Deep Dive with John Burr

Final Thoughts

At its core, The Gates is a story about friendship, upbringing, access, and socioeconomic status. The brilliant performances by the main cast anchor these themes throughout the film.

Gooding embodies Derek’s sheltered worldview, someone who believes in goodness and believes in the fairness of the law. Smith as Kevin represents the harsh realities of life as a Black man, constantly pushing against Derek’s rose-colored views about being a Black man in America.

Powers as Tyon balances the group, caught between opportunity and survival—one decision can tip his fate on the side of affluence like Derek, or the side of daily struggles like Kevin.

Rounding out the film is its antagonist, James Van Der Beek—who delivers a magnificent performance as Jacob. He’s charming, eloquent, influential, menacing, and powerful.

What makes The Gates so effective is that the horror doesn’t rely on monsters to drive the point home. Instead, the film highlights a far uglier truth: we live in different Americas.

Just when you think the story is finished, the film reminds you that the horror isn’t always what happens during the night—it’s what stays with you afterward.

The Gates opens in select theaters Friday, March 13. Check out the trailer below and head to your local theater today.

Related Coverage

• The Gates Trailer Breakdown

• John Burr Turns a Gated Community Into a Nightmare

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Netflix’s War Machine, directed by Patrick Hughes and starring Alan Ritchson, Dennis Quaid, and Stephan James, premieres Friday, March 6, 2026, on Netflix.

This war thriller follows a soldier determined to honor a promise he made to his brother of becoming an elite Army Ranger, only to find himself facing a massive, mechanized predator that threatens everyone around him.

War Machine is a genre-blending action thriller that pushes military suspense into unexpected sci-fi territory. But underneath the explosions and the battlefield lies a story rooted in grief, anchored by brotherhood, and grounded in the story of a man who refuses to give up.

A Promise Forged on the Battlefield

The opening scene is set in a deployed location with an Army team fixing their vehicle on the side of the road.

We meet the two brothers who have a fondness and love for one another that deepens because of their shared commitment to service. Once finished with their task, the brothers part ways into their separate convoys, only for an incoming ambush to take the life of one brother and everyone else within the unit.

This moment is the foundation, the moment that pulls you into the story’s emotional gravitational pull with a man who now lives with a new mission—honoring his brother’s final wish.

Years later, after multiple denials due to medical clearances, the surviving brother (Ritchson) finally enters Army Ranger school, given the trainee name of 81—undergoing a rigorous regimen, much different than Army basic training, with a new “why” to help him cross the finish line.

You Can’t Outrun Trauma

Completely focused on becoming a Ranger, yet totally isolating himself from the other trainees, the cadre make a last-ditch effort to ensure his success—forcing him to be a team lead and hoping it will be the push he needs to move him through his grief rather than continue to drown alone.

However, what starts off as the final training mission before graduation quickly turns into a battle for their lives as they come across a machine that obliterates their ranks.

This is where 81 is needed more than anything—his vast combat experience and leadership under extreme combat fire are what the team needs if the remaining members wish to survive.

Like breathing, 81 takes on the quick and adaptive task of leading the team to safety while trying to understand this new enemy. With a bunch of Ranger recruits who have never seen combat, this is on-the-job training like they’ve never experienced before.

Just when you begin to ask yourself,

“What is this machine?”

“Why is it here?”

“What does it want?”

You’re thrust back into a battle that neither you nor the characters can understand or anticipate.

Once the pace is set, there's no time for rest; it's a race for survival if anyone is to see the sun rise again.

An Action Film That Doesn’t Abandon Its Feelings

Alan Ritchson carries the physical demand of 81, but it’s his complete control of the emotional turmoil of the character that carries the entirety of the film.

The stress ebbs and flows, with the greatest peak during the initial chaos, putting 81 back into the frantic emotional state he was in when his brother and unit died.

It is within this new battleground that marks the internal shift within him, shedding the past and accepting the present so that they may have a slight chance at a future.

With every added element, War Machine thus manages to combine war film dynamics with sci-fi unknowns—think Jarhead (2005) meets War of the Worlds (2005)—making it a film that is almost all over the place, but the emotional investment in 81 keeps you locked in and rooting for him—even when the end seems inevitable.

Related Coverage

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Final Verdict

Overall, War Machine delivers a nail-biting, captivating, and explosively insane experience in the best possible way. And if the ending is any indication, this film could be the first of many within a franchise.

War Machine is available to stream now on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.

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Original editorial commentary on film and television. All rights reserved. Reproduction or redistribution without attribution is not permitted.

“Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.”

A trailer that immediately demands your undivided attention.

The chant grates across the screen like nails on a chalkboard. From its jagged and static declaration of the first “look at me,” you are forced to see the burns, the damage, and the aftermath of a father who lit his wife on fire and left her, and their children, for dead.

Is God Is makes a bold statement and, if this trailer is any indication of what’s to come, we are about to witness a revenge cult classic of biblical proportion.

We Got a Letter From Momma

Written and directed by Aleshea Harris in her directorial debut, Is God Is is a genre-bending suspense thriller wrapped in Western-esque elements—dusty, deliberate, dangerous.

The cast include the following:

• Vivica A. Fox - God

• Kara Young - The Rough One

• Mallori Johnson - The Quiet One

• Erika Alexander - The Healer

• Mykelti Williamson - The Lawyer

• Janelle Monáe - The New Wife

• Sterling K. Brown - The Monster

God is bed-ridden, body completely scarred from the violence inflicted upon her. One of the twins, The Quiet One, bears those same scars—a direct reflection of the destruction her father left in his wake. But when God looks to her girls and says, “Make your daddy dead. Real dead,” her message is sound and clear.

It’s not a metaphor.

It’s not some twisted joke.

Revenge is a must and he will pay for the pain he’s caused.

From that moment of declaration, the trailer unfolds like scripture written in blood and tears. And the twins move through the town, seeking answers like archangels on a divine mission of retribution. It is in their search for their father that the trailer moves from feeling like passive trauma to full blown rage in motion. And there’s no turning back.

“What is done cannot be undone, but at least one can prevent it from happening again” ~ Anne Frank

As the trailer shifts from task to pursuit, Beyoncé’s “Yaya” effectively platforms their quest. The transition from the darkness of “look at me” to Beyonce screaming “wildfire burned his house down” is electrifying and chaotic. Retribution becomes a song, a rhythm, a dance. And the vengeance, poetry.

“Imagine what our lives would look like if he hadn’t done it”

The twins aren’t just chasing a man. They are chasing the person who destroyed all possibilities of what their life could have been. And in that, Is God Is embodies not just revenge but rage, redemption, and a personal revolution.

With Vivica A. Fox as God and Sterling K. Brown as, essentially, the Devil himself, Is God Is feels like an instant revenge thriller cult classic of biblical proportion.

It’s violent. It’s unapologetic. And it seeks revenge without the need to explain nor seek permission to do so.

And when the final scream pierces your eardrum as the screen cuts to black, the only thing you can do is hold your breath.

Is God Is premieres in theaters everywhere Friday, May 15, 2026. Check out the trailer below.

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Original editorial commentary on film and television. All rights reserved. Reproduction or redistribution without attribution is not permitted.

From the moment The Gates was announced, writer-director John Burr made it clear that this was no simple home invasion thriller. It is a confrontation to society; a mirror revealing the terror that can exist quietly inside manicured neighborhoods, in beautifully structured mansions, and behind carefully placed smiles.

Today’s trailer release confirms that horror. It hints at something far more dangerous and more sinister than the initial synopsis reveals; the way a trailer should be. It’s dark, chilling, and exposes just enough to make you afraid, but hides the worst of its horrific parts for the premiere.

“Behind the gates, I’m a god.” The late James Van Der Beek makes one of his final appearances as the antagonist of the film—a community leader within the stone walls who holds all the power and influence over every man, woman, and child. As seen in the trailer, one detour, one wrong turn, and a seemingly charming neighborhood quickly dissolves into a night of frantic survival.

The entire town turns against the three outsiders who dare threaten the sanctity of their ignorant bliss. And in the quest to do the right thing by reporting a crime, Derek (Mason Gooding), Kevin (Algee Smith), and Tyon (Keith Powers) quickly find that some people would rather remain in the dark than face the ugly truth about their communities and, ultimately, about themselves.

Final Thoughts

What The Gates trailer makes strikingly clear is that this isn’t just a film about being trapped. It’s the reality of being judged, controlled, punished, and hunted for refusing the comply. In the initial coverage, we spoke about how Burr based this on his own life growing up—living in spaces where trusting authority felt conditional and where proximity to whiteness offered the perception of safety, but never guaranteed protection. In the trailer, this feeling is amplified by a haunting series of unfortunate events.

The Gates is a challenge to negative stereotypes, misperceptions, and harmful systemic beliefs—ready to push the cultural conversation forward surrounding complicity and those who enforce it, using their power to decide what narrative gets told and what truths get buried…

The Gates opens in U.S. theaters March 13, 2026. Check out the trailer below.

Grief has a way of reshaping the world around you. In Netflix’s upcoming Spanish thriller Firebreak, grief doesn’t just reshape Mara’s world—it traps her inside its walls.

Directed by David Victori and starring Belén Cuesta, Joaquín Furriel, Enric Auquer, and Diana Gómez, Firebreak premieres globally on Netflix Friday, February 20. What starts as a quiet attempt to heal quickly warps into a nonstop descent into dread, suspicion, and survival.

Grief is Just the Beginning

Firebreak begins in silent mourning as Mara (Cuesta) looks to relocate in order to give space for her heart to grieve the loss of her husband without being surrounded and suffocated by his lingering presence in every corner of her quaint forest home. She enlists the help of her brother in-law Luis (Furriel) and his wife Elena (Gómez) to help her and her daughter pack when they are informed that a fire has erupted in the area. As news reports that a firebreak will be erected to contain the damage, Mara knows it won’t be enough and insists on leaving now instead of later only to find her worst nightmare as a mother at her front door: Lide is gone.

From this moment, the film tightens its grip and refuses to let you go.

What begins as a story rooted in loss transforms into something deeply unsettling. The forest closes in like an unfriendly presence. The fire spreads, forcing authorities to pause the search. Left sitting in feelings of panic and dread, the questions begin.

What Was Once Solace Becomes a Living Nightmare

Netflix describes Firebreak as the story of “a family who defies evacuation orders to search for a missing child while a wildfire rages around them. But the real tension lies in the slow realization that the fire may not be the only threat.”

As panic settles into the story, the trust within the group begins to fracture. Each action an inkling suspicion. Each unspoken word a potential silent confession. And every second that passes by feels like years—the desperation of finding Lide (Candela Martínez) growing stronger and stronger with every frame. The audience will feel a similar dread to that of The Lovely Bones (2009)—the slow and sick realization that questions may never be answered.

Belén’s performance is nothing short of perfection. She pulls the audience directly into Mara’s frantic state of mind and emotions as each passing moment without Lide makes the audience feel as if they are suffocating along with her.

Harmoniously, Joaquín’s Luis mirrors this panic—an uncle whose sole connection to his late brother is through his niece. His desperation is just as amplified even though he and Mara’s emotional motivations stem from different places. This is what makes both of them together a dream to watch. What begins as a film becomes an immersive experience and a masterclass in performance.

As we journey through the film, the title reveals a new layer.

By definition, a firebreak is a specially constructed, fire-resistant wall designed to restrict the spread of fire. It is meant to protect, to contain, and to minimize destruction. But in this thriller, containment is impossible.

The wildfire secretly becomes a supporting character. It looms, waits, and quietly advances while everyone’s attention is elsewhere. It disappears from the immediate focus long enough for not only the characters but for the audience to forget it exists—waiting to destroy everything in its path.

That is where the film is the most horrifying.

Final Thoughts

Firebreak is nail-biting, heart-pounding, and easily one of the best films—national or international—of the year. It isn’t just a film about survival, it’s a psychological horror that unravels you layer by layer, exposing your worst fears and bringing your nightmare to life. And as Mara’s fears grow, the pressure reshapes her views and forces her to confront just how far she’s willing to go to find answers.

Firebreak premieres Friday, February 20, only on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.

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Original editorial commentary on film and television. All rights reserved. Reproduction or redistribution without attribution is not permitted.

There’s something very cathartic and comforting when a rom-com understands what it’s meant to do then decides to take it a step further. Prime Video’s Relationship Goals—currently sitting comfortably in the U.S Top 10—walks in with charm, confidence, and a soundtrack that gets you out of your seat. But what keeps you coming back for more is the cozy comfort-food must watch story that has something silent, yet more meaningful, just beneath the surface.

Immediately after pressing play, the theme music and immediate introduction of the core friend group set the tone for a film that is upbeat, charming, fun, adventurous, and with a side of shade. Before the first scene fully settles, you’re already invested.

Created by Michael Todd, written by Michael Elliott, Cory Tynan, and Laura Lekkos, directed by Linda Mendoza, and produced by DeVon Franklin, the film follows TV producer Leah Caldwell (Kelly Rowland) as she fights to become the first woman running New York’s top morning show. The complication? Her ex, Jarrett Roy (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), is competing for the same position.

Here’s where the movie quietly pivots from career rivalry to something deeper.

What initially masks itself as a film about a woman with over a decade of experience competing against a man with zero morning show experience (yet still getting considered because…well…he’s a man) reveals itself to be a story about finding power in love and in your life’s work without sacrificing one for the other.

That distinction matters, and the film knows it.

Kelly Rowland’s Comedic Era is Officially Here

The biggest revelation of the film—although it shouldn’t be a surprise—is how funny Kelly Rowland is. Not “oh that was cute” funny. Or even “that must’ve been the writing” funny. Kelly is comedically locked in, bringing so much life and vibrancy from script to screen. In other words, that’s talent.

Kelly’s timing is natural and confident as her real-life personality seamlessly translates to her portrayal of Leah—not just in line delivery but even in the physical aspects of the performance. She understands what many comedic veterans do—a rom-com only works when you understand the balance between comedy and emotional vulnerability without leaning too far in one direction or the other.

In contrast, but still threading the needle of comedy, Cliff brings charming chaos to Jarret that makes his obnoxious, and hilarious, attempts at a truce all the more endearing. As Jarret and Leah share more and more space on the screen, you see the deeper story unfold right before your eyes, turning something light and quirky into a quiet revelation.

Redemption takes root, giving space for Relationship Goals to become more than a love story. It forces you to be patient, to earn the final payoff of “happily ever after” through real scenarios that get in the way for all of us. And that is where the film takes off.

Friendship and Sisterhood the Heart of the Film

The ensemble doubles down on the core themes of the film, adding to the narrative to create a richer story:

• Robin Thede (Brenda) navigates a relationship that’s stalled

• Annie Gonzalez (Treese) tries to survive modern dating in a sea of dead fish

• Ryan Jamaal Swain (Roland) is Leah’s scene-stealing assistant who toggles between hyper-competent professional and brutally honest best friend

This is where Relationship Goals truly hits the mark. The supporting stories are not just backdrops to prop the central storyline. Their lives and their journeys matter, making this a full-bodied depiction of the working woman seeking romance. Leah, Treese, and Brenda representing different phases of dating yet encountering the same stalling point: the greater the ambition, the greater the impending fear of lifelong loneliness.

Faith, Intentional Dating, and “Fixing Your Aim”

Jarrett’s big studio pitch—produce a Valentine’s Day special centering Michael Todd’s book Relationship Goals: How to Win at Dating, Marriage, and Sex—becomes the focal point of the story. Their boss Dan (Matt Walsh) uses this opportunity as the defining test to see who to give the morning show position to and assigns Jarrett and Leah (to her chagrin) as co-producers on the project.

In true rom-com fashion, Leah finds this idea absurd while Jarrett genuinely sees this as an opportunity for many people to explore their views on love and partnership through the examples in this book.

The book’s philosophy blends:

• Intentional dating

• Internal self-work and building self-worth

• Faith and personal accountability

With all these qualities, the film perfectly frames this central question:

“What if all the things you think you want are actually holding you back?”

Not just in love, but in career and identity.

What if your endless lists are keeping you from the happiness you’re meant to have because you’ve boxed yourself into a hyper-curated version of who society says you should be?

A Film That Goes Back to Its Roots

The representation and sisterhood here feel like an homage to early-2000s Black rom-coms. And yes, that lineage matters:

• Two Can Play That Game (2001)

• Brown Sugar (2002)

• Deliver Us from Eva (2003)

• Phat Girlz (2006)

• Just Wright (2010)

Relationship Goals proudly joins that legacy—and it does so with a Black woman at the enter, surrounded by women (and men) of color navigating career, love, grief, and friendship.

That matters the most and the movie treats it accordingly.

A Soft Heart Beneath the Laughter

The emotional core quietly lives in Leah’s relationship with Papa Jim (Dennis Haysbert), still carrying the grief of losing her mother. That grief becomes the stone in the walls she built to protect herself from love—and from loss.

And here’s where the movie makes a smart choice:

Love is not delivered as an ultimatum.

It’s presented to the characters as an intentional choice, the nucleus of that choice being agency and autonomy. The characters have the option to walk away, to give us an ending that isn’t all flowers, balloons, and wedding bells. But it also provides the characters space to take a leap of faith to get that and more. Both endings are valid, and both are powerfully presented in this film, reflecting the conundrum we face in real life when it comes to navigating our love lives.

That is the real victory.

Final Thoughts

Relationship Goals ultimately is a feel-good rom-com with humor and charm anchored in friendship, faith, redemption, and the freedom to define happiness on your own terms. Now that is a love story we all deserve to enjoy.

Relationship Goals is available to stream now only on Prime Video.

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Original editorial commentary on film and television. All rights reserved. Reproduction or redistribution without attribution is not permitted.

Some films open with a slow burn. The Wrecking Crew opens with a hard jolt—the kind that snaps your neck back and dares you to complain about whiplash.

The film, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Jonathan Tropper, wastes no time establishing its core plot. Here’s what happened—now watch everyone figure out who and why. It’s an opening move that immediately pulls you in, framing the story less as a “whodunnit” and more as a boiling pot of grief, loyalty, and unfinished family business.

At the center of it all is Walter Hale (Brian Keaulana)—a private detective and the father of James and Jonny Hale (Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa)—who’s mysterious death reunites the estranged brothers. His death becomes the gravitational force of the film, dragging everyone—and everything—into its orbit.

Two brothers, two paths, same wounds

James is a Navy SEAL commander and instructor who lives a very disciplined and restrained life. Jonny is the younger brother, a police officer who masks childhood trauma with bravado, sarcasm, and the chaotic energy of a sloppy drunk who refuses to sit with his feelings. Both brothers use their careers to bury the pain and treat their wounds—wounds that are exposed by the death of their father.

They are two sides of the same coin—both crafted and haunted by the same man but living two alternate versions of his teaching; separate defining moments in their upbringing that led to differences in processing pain, abandonment, and responsibility. And yet, that shared biology creates an unspoken sibling shorthand that feels instantly familiar.

Momoa brings a comedic charm rooted in arrogance that makes him instantly likable—a physicality that’s loose and wild, and a refusal to take anything seriously because it would hurt too much to do so. Bautista counters with stillness and gravity—a man who chooses service over selfishness, only to realize that doing the “right” thing doesn’t always spare people from harm.

Action that serves the story

The fight scenes are powerful, perfectly coordinated, and placed exactly where they need to be—enhancing the plot rather than existing for spectacle alone. And watching Bautista and Momoa conduct their own stunts is thrilling; their agility and flexibility show in every hit they give and take. With Bautista’s background in various martial arts styles and Momoa’s years of MMA and sword fighting, the results are fast-action fight sequences that aren’t decorative. They’re dangerous.

And we love it.

The Wrecking Crew doesn’t fall into tired action tropes. It avoids endless bullets, over-explained villainy, and choreography favored over grit. Death has weight here. Violence has consequences. The writing establishes the film as an action comedy with purpose, not flair.

Heritage, culture, and community

Set within the island of Hawaii, the film puts Hawaiian and Polynesian culture and diaspora on full display—not as window dressing or a pretty backdrop, but as emotional and cultural hardware. Momoa’s commitment to projects that preserve and promote Polynesian heritage is felt throughout, woven into the humor, the conflicts, and the sense of place.

Jacob Batalon adds another layer of comedic relief as Pika, and his scenes with Momoa are pure joy. And the cinematic cultural references—Poetic Justice, The Addams Family, and The Vampire Lestat—land without trying to be hip while quickly paying homage to film and literary classics.

Meanwhile, Roimata Fox quietly roots the entire emotional core of the film as Leila, James’ wife. Her ability to connect, empathize, and give grace is the driving force of the ohana legacy. And with two estranged brothers who lost their father, family is the only thing that will get them through.

A rare perfect groove

Many action films stumble on pacing: too slow at the start, rushed at the end, or all build with no payoff. The Wrecking Crew finds an incredible groove. It starts strong, doesn’t lose momentum during plot setup, and delivers a climax that feels complete.

It’s fun. It’s loud. It’s heartfelt.

And yes—it’s full of F-bombs (this is a good thing).

As someone whose top five film genres don’t include action, this fits squarely in my personal category of “feel-good rewatch” movies—the kind you throw on while eating popcorn, drinking wine, and escaping for a couple of hours. It opens with a bang, immediately grabbing the viewers’ attention and nails it with an ending that makes it worth an instant rewatch—closing the door softly with an ambiguous ending that has us wondering about a part two…perhaps?

Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa both serve as producers alongside Jeff Fierson, Matt Reeves, and Lynn Harris. The movie also stars:

• Temuera Morrison as Governor Peter Mahoe

• Morena Baccarin as Valentina

• Frankie Adams as Nani

• Claes Bang as Robichaux

The Wrecking Crew will be available to stream Wednesday, January 28, only on Prime Video. Check out the trailer below.

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Joe Carnahan delivers a tight, volatile action film where loyalty is tested and every decision feels like a trap.

Netflix’s The Rip wastes absolutely no time making you uncomfortable—and then dares you to stay there. Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the film opens with the plot thrown right in your face and the aftermath of loss that never lets its foot off your chest.

This is a cop thriller built not on countless car chases or running down bad guys over sprawling cityscapes, but on claustrophobia. Tight locations—stash houses, tankers, rooms with no exits—become emotional pressure chambers where trust erodes faster than a snow cone in July. Every glance means something. Every silence is suspicious. And every choice feels like it will cost everyone their life.

The inciting event is blunt and destabilizing: the captain of the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) is murdered. What follows is a “rip” based on a tip that seems legitimate—until it isn’t. The remaining members of the team follow suit anyway, making The Rip less about law enforcement and more about what happens when survival instincts come head-to-head with temptation.

At its core, this film focuses on:

• corruption

• desperation

• seduction of money

• the choice between “doing what’s right” vs “doing what benefits me”

Carnahan frames the story as a series of lies wrapped in truths—Trojan horses hidden inside cross-communication. No one is fully clean, and no one is fully wrong about their desires and temptations, making the unraveling that much more effective. It asks the audience plainly: what would you do, right now, if you were in this situation?

A brotherhood that transcends on and off the screen

Watching Matt Damon and Ben Affleck together is its own kind of thrill. As Dane and JD, their chemistry doesn’t feel performed—it feels inherited. Decades of real-life friendship bleed through every exchange, every argument, and every unspoken understanding. It’s a dance of brothers who know exactly where the other is weak and will falter. That familiarity makes the tension sharper. When trust starts to crack, it hurts more because it’s personal.

Humor infiltrates the stress as a means of survival

For all its grit, The Rip understands something crucial about people in this line of work: you laugh or you break.

The comedic beats—carefully woven into dialogue and downtime—don’t undercut the danger. They humanize it. There is humor in absurd moments and cracked jokes where tears should exist—showing the team hanging on to small moments of joy like a fragile lifeline. Some of the film’s most memorable moments come from these pauses, especially scenes involving Affleck and Scott Adkins—who plays FBI Agent Del Byrne—where humor becomes both shield and weapon.

The cast is stacked, as Steven Yeun (Mike Ro), Teyana Taylor (Numa Baptiste), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Lolo Salazar), and Sasha Calle (Desiree Lopez Molina) all bring presence and credibility to the early stretch of the film. Their scenes (in the first 80–90 minutes of the film) are at the core of what makes this film stress-inducing and chaotic.

That’s why it’s noticeable when the narrative narrows. Without spoiling specifics, there’s a moment that feels less like an organic story choice and more like a contractual checkbox with Netflix—the kind of scene that doesn’t derail the film but makes you wish the story had invested more deeply in its women by the end. What begins as an ensemble thriller slowly tilts into a “dude-film” finish, casting the team aspect aside for bravado and explosions.

It doesn’t ruin the ride—but it does make me long for what The Rip could have been.

Overall the movie is…

Is The Rip one of the greatest cop films of the last five years? That depends on your bar.

What’s unquestionable is everything it is:

• a well-constructed, high-stress film

• a film rooted in betrayal, greed, and moral compromise

• strong performances and tonal control

It sets a solid early benchmark for films in 2026—thrilling, imperfect, and confident in what it wants to be, even when it leaves some of its potential on the table. You’ll finish it tense, entertained, and impressed by the plot twist (even if you’re still slightly suspicious).

And that feels exactly right.

Stream The Rip now on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.

Sheepdog arrives quietly. That is its power.

Set to open in theaters nationwide Friday, January 16, 2026—after a limited release in December 2025—Steven Grayhm’s long-gestating film does not announce itself with spectacle or cinematic bravado. It doesn’t boast of its impact with heavy action or artillery. Instead, Sheepdog asks the audience to sit, put the phones down, and live with the characters long enough to experience this moment of their lives. Not just the trauma—but the unseen war from within in its wake. Sit with the characters in the years after the uniforms are tucked away—to the places where meaning, guilt, love, and memory quietly, yet dangerously, collide.

Grayhm, who directs, writes, produces, and stars in the film, spent 14 years researching and developing Sheepdog. That level of diligence shows—not in excess, but in restraint. The film feels considered, weathered, and deeply intentional. It is less about what happened in combat, but about what lingers long after the weapons are put down.

At its center is Calvin Cole (Grayhm), a highly decorated former service member navigating life with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), multiple traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and the emotional wreckage that seeps into every unseen crevice of his relationships with family and friends. His days are ordinary. His life quiet. Until inner demons surface like a volcanic eruption in circumstances the average civilian would consider a minor inconvenience. This mundanity, however, is not accidental. Grayhm made a deliberate choice to avoid the loudness of traditional warm-film aesthetics—instead focusing on the loudness of the dangerous thoughts within the mind and within the life of veterans.

There are no reenacted deployments for the audience. No kinetic battle sequences that make you jump back. Only silence.

“There was a version of Sheepdog that had three deployments,” Grayhm explains in an exclusive interview with host, Kivonshe. “But I was given some of the best advice I’ve ever received: if you don’t have the budget to shoot the action, don’t shoot the action. Keep your world honest.”

That honesty becomes the film’s defining feature. The camera doesn’t hover above Calvin’s life—it stays beside him like a battle buddy who promised to never leave their wingman behind. Kitchens, cars, waiting rooms, lived-in houses. These aren’t sets; they’re real spaces that hold the weight of the story being told. The effect is immediately immersive and quietly demanding. You don’t observe Calvin’s trauma from a safe distance. You’re in the thick of it with him.

The title “sheepdog” refers to the metaphor often used to describe protectors—those trained to stand between danger and those vulnerable. But Grayhm complicates that idea, asking what happens to the sheepdog when the threat is gone, when the instinct to protect has nothing to ground it. This takes us into the emotional gray zone where purpose is eroded but the feeling of total responsibility remains.

One of the film’s most profound relationships emerges when Calvin crosses paths with Whitney St. Germain, played with remarkable depth and empathy by Vondie Curtis-Hall. Whitney is a Vietnam-era veteran recently released from prison after decades of incarceration, stripped of his medals and denied recognition as a veteran due to the technicalities of his discharge—despite decades of service to his country. His return to society is everything but triumphant.

It’s disorienting. It’s painful. It’s unfair.

Curtis-Hall brings an accumulated gravity to Whitney, a man shaped by a lifetime of systemic neglect and unresolved grief. “When I read the script, I was like, this is a journey I’d like to take,” he says. “I saw in this man so many people I grew up with. Folks who came home carrying wounds, folks who weren’t embraced.”

Whitney’s presence introduces another layer to Sheepdog: the ugly truth about how institutions fail to protect those who serve and protect them. While the film doesn’t turn the truth into a sermon, it doesn’t soften the blow either. And through Whitney, we see the result of decades of compounding trauma and how it manifests when ignored, criminalized, or dismissed altogether.

What Sheepdog does exceptionally well is resist flattening trauma into a single experience. Calvin and Whitney are bound by shared service and sacrifice—despite serving in two different wars—but their wounds manifest differently. One is burdened by unspeakable guilt while the other uses resilience as a lifeline for survival. Although they manage their demons differently, their bond grows—not from identical pain, but from recognition and acknowledgement of it. From seeing another person who understands the cost of carrying the burden of service alone.

The supporting cast—Matt Dallas (Darryl Sparks), Dominic Fumusa (Clarence ‘Coach O’ O’riordan), Virginia Madsen (Dr. Elecia Knox), and Lilli Cooper (Alice St. Germain)—further deepens the film’s emotional ecosystem. Dr. Elecia Knox (Madsen), a combat trauma specialist, brings an unexpectedly light, but unabashedly honest, touch to heavy material. She does not posture herself as an expert on trauma. Instead, she listens. She waits. Her approach—sometimes chastised by the system she works within—reflects one of the film’s softer refrains: presence can be more powerful than solutions.

At one point, she offers Calvin a deceptively simply idea: “if you can reach the boy, you can heal the man.” It is by no means a cure. Instead, she offers an invitation—to curiosity, to compassion, to the possibility of post-traumatic growth rather than mere existence. She offers him the act of reaching within himself, to take the scared boy by the hand, and walk with him instead of fighting to silence him.

Sheepdog is equally attentive to the collateral damage of PTSD through its impact on spouses, children, and friendships. The film is careful not to vilify their reaction to PTSD, but honors their pain too. These relationships are rendered with an empathy and complexity that only comes from those who experienced it. It is in these moments where Grayhm’s research shines. It shows that PTSD is not exclusionary—it includes and implodes everyone around it, highlighting the film’s commitment to truth over catharsis.

Ultimately, Sheepdog is a story of redemption—but not the glossy kind. It is ugly. It is painful. It is incremental. It is choosing to stay and listen, offering an even greater mission: to live for your country after being willing to die for it.

When asked why this story, why this way, Grayhm states he hasn’t seen this depiction before—who the heroes become decades after the war was fought. That perspective makes Sheepdog feel absolutely necessary. It doesn’t chase the adrenaline of war. It sits with the debris and the emotional shrapnel left behind in those who fought. It does not seek to answer questions. It simply lays it out for the audience to reflect, to live with—hoping to give them a better sense of what unimaginable grief and terror is carried by those who made it home.

In doing so, Sheepdog becomes something rare. It is a film that doesn’t ask for applause. It simply asks for your undivided attention. And for those willing to lend it, the reward is profound.

Sheepdog is in theaters everywhere Friday, January 16, 2026. Check out the trailer below.

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BET+’s newest Christmas release, A Soulful Christmas, arrives on December 25 with a clear mission: deliver holiday romance with a dash of musical cheer without the classic tropes we’ve come to expect during the season. Created, written, and directed by Cas Sigers, this film understands that romance doesn’t mean rescue, and Christmas magic doesn’t have to come at the expense of autonomy and emotional intelligence.

Streaming exclusively on BET+, A Soulful Christmas blends music, legacy, and modern love into something light—something intentionally warm rather than artificially sentimental.

A Soulful Christmas centers on the children of 2 feuding musical legends who are tasked to reprise their parents’ hit holiday song for its 25th anniversary. What begins as a rivalry (and loyalty to their parents) turns into a budding romance beyond the music booth. What should be innocent becomes complicated—old grudges, unresolved issues, and betrayal at the center of the feud. It’s a setup that feels distinctly familiar yet its execution is where the film distinguishes itself.

Kaci Walfall stars as Winnie Young, a gifted artist who’s struggling with a stagnant career. Myles Truitt stars as Robert Franklin, an ambitious finance professional determined to cement his place in the industry at any cost. While both may seem to come from opposite ends of the career spectrum, they find common ground in the music. What unfolds with them is a genuine friends-to- “something more” arc—one that prioritizes honesty and integrity while acknowledging the consequences of breaking someone’s trust.

At the heart of this film is music—not just as a soundtrack but as inheritance. Winnie and Robert are tethered to their parents’ history. Played by Shanice and Kenny Lattimore, the artists’ real-life musical gravitas grounds the film at the roots. The idea of revisiting a song from 2 decades prior thus becomes symbolic: what do you honor, what do you let go of, and how do you take the best of the old thing to create something new?

Original music performed by Shanice and Lattimore, and with a score by Jamie Coleman, keeps the film soulful without overwhelming the narrative, making it the perfect Christmas morning watch. The ensemble cast also includes Taylor Symone, Towanda Braxton, E. Roger Mitchell, and Gail Everett-Smith—rounding out the film to add warmth and levity to the overall story.

A Soulful Christmas is available to stream on Christmas Day, exclusively on BET+.

In the behind the scenes documentary of Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro stated that as he gets older and more experienced in directing and filmmaking, he would like to take more risks. Based on the critic reviews, audience reviews, and the 33 million views on Netflix, Frankenstein—his passion project—was a risk with indescribable reward. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel that follows Victor Frankenstein, a scientist with an enormous ego who wishes to defy death through creation. While Mary Shelley’s novel focuses on themes of ambition, the cost of scientific breakthroughs, and consequences of extreme isolation, Guillermo’s film highlights compassion, forgiveness, and the desire for affection.

Starring Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, Mia Goth as Elizabeth, and Jacob Elordi as the Creature, del Toro weaves a beautifully heartbreaking 2-part tale of brokenness-begetting-brokenness through Victor and the Creature’s relationship. While the nucleus of the film is the father-son/creator-creature relationship, del Toro goes one step further in wrapping this tale in a kiss of love, a kiss of remorse, and a kiss of surrender.

The Cost of Ambition

In part 1 of the film, we meet Victor as a young boy who is highly intelligent but longs for love and acceptance from his father, Leopold (Charles Dance). There is a small reprieve of happiness through the softer moments with his mother Caroline, also played by Mia Goth, but upon her death, Victor blames his father’s inadequacies as a scientist for failing to save her. From there, he vows to be the greatest scientist in the world. This leads him down the path of pursuing science that aids in the reanimation and creation of the human body after death. His life’s work culminates in the creation of the Creature.

Oscar Isaac delivers a gripping performance, rooted in unresolved (and unrecognized) trauma that snatches the audience by the heart and peels it back piece by piece in extreme agony. What shines the most in his portrayal is Victor’s insistence on telling everyone that he is “good” while committing the most awful acts toward the Creature, his brother, Elizabeth, and, worst of all, himself. Victor is a beacon to what happens when a broken human tries to create life with the intentions to raise their child differently than they were raised, only to realize they perpetuate the same horrid acts—lacking the tools and knowledge to do anything but cause the same pain and destruction.

One of the key points of Victor’s self-delusions is the beginning of his own tale as he tells the Danish captain “some of what I tell you is fact, some is not, but it is all true.” This speaks to what I like to call “parental amnesia,” where an abusive parents seeks to tell their side first, coloring their abuse and disguising it as frustration and failure rather than the truth: neglect and disgust. Even in Victor’s own retelling, he cannot fathom that his behavior was motivated by anything other than goodness and the advancement of science, painting the Creature’s behaviors as more violent to make his own look like a simple push in the sandbox. Even in these horrors, Isaac’s masterful performance as Victor Frankenstein still manages to make you seek an apology just as feverishly as you seek retribution.

You Were Made for This

“This was on the list of impossible dreams,” a statement Jacob Elordi made to Josh Horowitz on Happy, Sad, Confused. Well Jacob, as Lestat stated in his first meeting with Louis “seul l’impossible préfère l’impossible.” For many years and through many adaptations, the Creature was a simple monstrous amalgamation of fallen men—an inarticulate giant with no autonomy nor thoughts of his own, popularized by the 1931 film. Although subsequent adaptations sought to grow the character, no other performance has risen to the task of playing him as a fully realized being—who Mary Shelley described as possessing deep emotional depth—until Jacob Elordi.

We meet the Creature (who I affectionately call Sweetie) after a stormy night wrapped in soft cloth and layered in smooth marbling skin; stitched together in the signature del Toro way that instantly makes him the most beautiful monster ever seen. In his first interaction with Victor, he exudes the behaviors of an infant with a singular desire: affection. This moment is punctuated by Creature’s instinct to embrace Victor during their first father-son bonding. However, the beauty and awe quickly fades as Victor devolves, blaming Creature’s lack of display of intelligence on the Creature rather than his own shortcomings as a nurturer. The berating, blaming, abusing, and purposeful distancing (I am your creator…don’t ever touch me) plant seeds of loneliness in Creature that bloom into utter hatred as we explore part 2 of the tale.

What makes Jacob’s Creature so beautiful is the complete heartbreak, abandonment, wonder, and exhaustion he displays in his entire physical being. From his first Bambi-like toddler steps to his ethereal stalking across the ice, Jacob tells a story without language. Perhaps the most incredible parts of Creature are when he does not speak— conveying the pain and deep eddy of despair for not only himself, but for every man’s soul he possesses within him. Jacob delivers the performance of a lifetime, bringing every word on the page to life. Jacob lost himself in the monster and was made anew in the tragedy that is Frankenstein.

“To Be Lost and To Be Found, That is the Lifespan of Love”

Despite Victor’s attempts at forming the narrative that the Creature is dangerous, one person sees herself as a reflection of him. Elizabeth, the name spoken from Creature’s lips with such depth and emotion that her name becomes symbolic with hope and freedom. “I sought and longed for something I could not quite name. But in you, I found it.” Elizabeth not only looked beyond the facade of Victor’s self-proclaimed “nice guy” act, but she looked in the Creature and did not see the ugliness of former men. She saw the beauty in the souls of those lost within in him, an embodiment of “human” that outshone every man around him. Creature represented the opportunity to live long enough to transcend hatred and to challenge the world to question their own acts of monstrosities. And it is through Mia Goth’s aching portrayal that allows the audience to explore the literal and metaphorical meaning and discover the answer within our own lives and in our own ambitions.

Guillermo del Toro did not just give us an adaptation. He slams the mirror in front of each and every person witnessing this masterpiece, forcing us to contend with the ugliest parts of ourselves and ask: am I as good as I think I am? Through beautiful cinematography, an incredible script, and transcendent performances Frankenstein is more than a film. It is a call to action on humanity.

Stream Frankenstein now on Netflix.

Part 2 of the critically acclaimed Broadway play makes it way to theaters everywhere November 21, and fans of the play and film will not be disappointed. Wicked: For Good completes the story of Elphaba and Glinda (formerly Galinda) after they discover that the wizard has no real powers—thus he and Madame Morrible turn all the citizens of Oz against Elphaba with Glinda, whose hands are tied, at the tip of the corrupt spear. You will laugh, you will have the urge to sing (fight it until the sing-along), you will cry, and you will want to go through the turmoil all over again.

Glinda the Good

For Good centers around Glinda’s guilt and remorse in the fallout of branding Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West. She must, at all times, represent hope, happiness, and goodness to those who may not otherwise have any other reason to feel so. In this, Ariana Grande is no stranger. The global superstar experiences this weight and magnitude of stardom day in and day out—having to swallow feelings of angst, anxiety, and uncertainty to appease fans. It is no wonder that her portrayal of Glinda feels both authentic and melancholic.

While For Good showcases the darker side of the Wizard and Madame Morrible’s decisions, Ariana still hits her comedic moments with Glinda. Her physical and musical cadence come together in the perfect marriage that makes this version of Glinda all her own. Perhaps the best parts of Ariana’s performance were the quiet moments she did not perform for an audience. In the quiet of her innermost thoughts and feelings, Glinda was her most honest and powerful—vulnerability and self-doubt perfectly portrayed to convey all the things she could never bring herself to voice. Whether whimsical or deeply conflicted, Ariana gave Glinda all she had, her performance worthy of all its praise.

Elphaba the Wicked

Although For Good takes the perspective of Glinda and how she handles the consequences of her inaction, Cynthia Erivo’s power and presence as Elphaba continues to breathe new life into the film adaptation. On the run, Elphaba struggles with going down a path of exposing the truth to the citizens of Oz who actively choose to paint her as a villain simply because she is different, making her an easy target of their ignorance and their vitriol. This story is not far off from things Cynthia experiences throughout her own life. These very challenges and tribulations have been transformed by her and forged into a superpower—giving us quite possibly the best Elphaba to ever exist.

Cynthia’s prowess as a performer shines the brightest in her rendition of “No Good Deed.” The way Elphaba conveys her message, not just through song but with her entire being, leaves you utterly speechless, breathless, and in tears. Anyone who has ever felt unheard, unseen, ugly, and unloved will feel empowered beyond reason during this cinematic experience. But in the darkness, even in the exhaustive fight, there is a sweet innocence that Cynthia brings to life in Elphaba that makes the audience continue to believe in hope and to, ultimately, believe in the power of goodness.

Changed For Good

Wicked: For Good is a tale of 2 unlikely friends, different in every way, who choose to love each other in spite of everyone around them telling them to let the other go. It is a test of friendship and loyalty scrutinized by the public—outside voices threatening to infiltrate the bonds created in the privacy of their own bubble (no pun intended). This message is punctuated beautifully in the final act of the film and felt in every interview, as the press tour for Wicked comes to an end after 2 years in front of the cameras and many more behind it.

Whether you are team green, team pink, or something in between, this Wicked adaptation is history making, and audiences around the world get to witness magic once again. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande should be proud of the conversations they have sparked, the friendships they have healed, and the ones they have inspired through their love and through their grace. That is, ultimately, the tale of Wicked.

Wicked: For Good in theaters everywhere Friday, November 21. Check your local theater listings for showtimes.

Paul Thomas Anderson enlisted some of the biggest movie stars in the world to tell a gripping story about revolution, equity, extremism, and social acceptance. Leonardo DiCaprio leads an ensemble cast that works together to free the less fortunate from government control, corruption, and injustice. One Battle After Another also stars Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro, Teyana Taylor, and newcomer Chase Infiniti. While on the surface this film aims to spark difficult conversations about extremism and government-sanctioned terrorism, it also peels back the layers on love and how far you will go to protect it.

Can Love and Revolution Co-exist?

Pat (DiCaprio) and Perfidia (Taylor) lead an American revolutionary group known as “The French 75.” Their love to one another is as explosive and toxic as it is righteous and just—resulting in the birth of their daughter Willa (Infiniti) and going underground to protect her. What starts out as a film rooted in a group of self-proclaimed revolutionaries who simply want to save the world, one chaotic disruption at a time, quickly turns into a story about true sacrifice—sacrifice to the cause, sacrifice to your team, and sacrifice for your family. Throughout the 2 hours and 50 minutes, you will question who exactly is the protagonist, who is the antagonist, and does everyone exist in a space where both good and evil will always reside? Does “the cause,” on either side, justify acts of violence or are they an excuse to live out our darkest needs?

The Heart and Soul

Aside from the major themes of the film, it is quite clear that Chase Infiniti is the heart and soul of the story. Willa was created in love and chaos and lived a life of veiled normality while surrounded by the very structure in which she was conceived. However, as you watch her take on the sins of her parents, you cannot help but unanimously agree that Willa can do no wrong, ever. As a newcomer to the industry and One Battle After Another being her first Box Office film, Chase’s performance proves just why Leonardo stated “there was no one else.” Her ability to hold Willa’s circumstances close to the vest then deliver a micro-dosing performance of teen angst, anger, and rebellion shows just how formidable a performer she is.

One Battle After Another is in theaters everywhere Friday, September 26. Early release sales show a revenue of $3.1 million, with opening weekend projection predictions upwards to $20 million. While money does not necessarily equate to the quality of a film, One Battle After Another puts its money where its mouth is.

Check out the trailer below and head to your local theater now.