2026 NFL Mock Draft (Post-Combine)

1.Las Vegas Raiders: Fernando Mendoza, quarterback (Indiana)

2.New York Jets: David Bailey, edge rusher (Texas Tech)

3.Arizona Cardinals: Arvell Reese, edge rusher/inside linebacker (Ohio State)

4.Tennessee Titans: Carnell Tate, wide receiver (Ohio State)

5.New York Giants: Sonny Styles, inside linebacker (Ohio State)

6.Cleveland Browns: Francis Mauigoa, tackle (Miami)

7.Washington Commanders: Caleb Downs, safety (Ohio State)

8.New Orleans Saints: Jeremiyah Love, running back (Notre Dame)

9.Kansas City Chiefs: Spencer Fano, tackle (Utah)

10.Cincinnati Bengals: Rueben Bain Jr., edge rusher (Miami)

11.Miami Dolphins: Mansoor Delane, cornerback (LSU)

12.Dallas Cowboys: Jermod McCoy, cornerback (Tennessee) 

13.Los Angeles Rams: Avieon Terrell, cornerback (Clemson)

14.Baltimore Ravens: Caleb Banks, defensive tackle (Florida)

15.Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Kenyon Sadiq, tight end (Oregon)

16.New York Jets: Makai Lemon, wide receiver (USC)

17.Detroit Lions: Keldric Faulk, edge rusher (Auburn)

18.Minnesota Vikings: Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, safety (Toledo)

19.Carolina Panthers: T.J. Parker, edge rusher (Clemson)

20.Dallas Cowboys: Cashius Howell, edge rusher (Texas A&M)

21.Pittsburgh Steelers: Jordyn Tyson, wide receiver (Arizona State)

22.Los Angeles Chargers: Olaivavega Ioane, guard (Penn State)

23.Philadelphia Eagles: Monroe Freeling, tackle (Georgia)

24.Cleveland Browns: Denzel Boston, wide receiver (Washington)

25.Chicago Bears: Peter Woods, defensive tackle (Clemson)

26.Buffalo Bills: Omar Cooper Jr., wide receiver (Indiana)

27.San Francisco 49ers: Blake Miller, tackle (Clemson)

28.Houston Texans: Kadyn Proctor, tackle (Alabama)

29.Los Angeles Rams: C.J. Allen, inside linebacker (Georgia)

30.Denver Broncos: KC Concepcion, wide receiver (Texas A&M)

31.New England Patriots: Akheem Mesidor, edge rusher (Miami)

32.Seattle Seahawks: Colton Hood, cornerback (Tennessee) 

Movie Review: GOAT

Sony Pictures Animation is starting to settle into a pattern as their filmography continues to slowly increase in size of letting their beautiful house style that blends together hand drawn and CG animation do the heavy lifting over the narrative. The Steph Curry-produced GOAT fits into this box as snuggly as anything SPA has ever made. The only thing that distinguishes GOAT from other sports underdog stories is that the hero (Caleb McLaughlin) that's told he's too small, weak, etc. to play professional sports is a talking goat who dreams of being a professional roarball player (it's basically basketball with all animal players, a more liberal foul system and courts that look like Super Smash Brothers stages). Beyond that, the adults in the audience will have no trouble predicting everything that happens to Will as he gets to live out his dream of playing in the pros, clashes with the team's selfish, insecure aging veteran star player (Gabrielle Union) and helps a previous dysfunctional group of players rediscover the power of teamwork and their love of the game through his infectious spirit. This adhering to a predictable genre formula ends up being perfectly excusable as it executes the classic sports movie tropes skillfully enough and delivers consistently impressive visuals (the roarball games look particularly great) throughout. Plus, it pulls off the magic trick of using modern slang in an organic, non-cringey way and has the courtesy of acknowledging who the real villains in sports are: greedy owners who value their bottom lines over the culture of their locker room or the quality of the product their team is putting out there. Any parent that wants to get their kids out of the house for a couple of hours could pick a far more torturous activity than taking them to see GOAT.

Grade: B-

Movie Review: How to Make a Killing

Has anyone noticed that "eat the rich" dark comedies are really en vogue right now? What could've caused this recent surge in anti-billionaire sentiments is anyone's guess, but I'm sure this trend will stop once trickle-down economics finally start paying off for the working class. The sweet trickle tree has yet to produce a single harvest, but boy oh boy when it finally starts to bear enough fruit for the bottom 99% to enjoy the feast they've been promised for 40+ years at this point, they'll never go hungry again and the creative community will surely show their appreciation by making dozens of lovely movies thanking them for them endless benevolence. 

How to Make a Killing, which is loosely based on the 1949 British film Kind Hearts and Coronets, represents John Patton Ford's (Emily the Criminal) entry into one of this decade's most densely packed cinematic corners. While this film about New Jersey-based suit salesman Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) embarking on a mission to kill off his relatives in order to gain access to the hefty trust he's written into through his late mother (Nell Williams)-whose father (Ed Harris) cut her off after he she became pregnant with him at 19- after losing his job to his boss' son who just dropped out of college isn't overly scathing or clever in its takedown of the ultra-rich, it still manages to be an absorbing watch. Powell does a good job of weaponizing his signature magnetism to play a genuinely nice guy who slowly gets corrupted by his relentless pursuit of obtaining more wealth despite having a perfectly fine life before he started offing his estranged relatives, the terrific supporting cast (Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Harris, Zach Woods, Topher Grace) all give spirited performances that help shape Becket's ugly journey up the financial ladder and the ending wraps things up in a nice feel bad bow that communicates its messaging surrounding the moral rot that tends to come with obscene wealth better than anything else that precedes it. While I do think Patton Ford's filmmaking skill set is better suited for scuzzy, tense crime thrillers than the lightly satirical dark comedy that's on display here (case in point: the couple of sequences in the final act where he digs back into the pulse-pounding intensity that drove Emily the Criminal). this is still a very solid sophomore feature that has only further instilled my confidence in his future in the industry. 

Grade: B

Rashida Jones Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Rashida Jones-whose latest project "In the Blink on Eye" begins streaming on Hulu on Friday.

Rashida Jones' Filmography Ranked:

14.The Big Year (C-)

13.Cuban Fury (C)

12.Celeste and Jesse Forever (C)

11.Cop Out (C)

10.Friends with Benefits (C)

9.Our Idiot Brother (B-)

8.The Grinch (B)

7.The Muppets (B)

6.Between Two Ferns: The Movie (B)

5.Spies in Disguise (B)

4.Tag (B+)

3.Klaus (B+)

2.I Love You, Man (B+)

1.The Social Network (A)

Top Dog: The Social Network (2010)

Remember when David Fincher used to put out movies in theaters? Good times! Anyways, The Social Network was really the first time somebody made a movie about a big tech shithead and it nailed the fragility, insecurity and God complexes that drive these men to such a degree that every other movie that's covered similar territory since has fallen well short of the bar that was set here. Excited to revisit this ahead of the release of Aaron Sorkin's companion film The Social Reckoning in October.

Bottom Feeder: The Big Year (2011)

The last thing a comedy led by Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson should be is completely forgettable, but that's precisely what The Big Year is. Going through the cast list and discovering that Jones, Rosamund Pike and Anthony Anderson (Jim Parsons was the only other actor I recalled being it outside of the leads) were also in it is the telltale sign of how little of this flat film has endured in my memory. 

Most Underrated: Tag (2018)

Assembling an ensemble cast that features everybody from Jeremy Renner to Jon Hamm to Isla Fisher for a movie about a group of lifelong friends who have been playing a game of tag that last for the entire month of May every year since 1983 is an act of mad genius. Everybody involved in this endeavor takes real pride in making something so silly and it allows this movie to be a total blast to watch. 

(Side note: It sucks that Hannibal Buress' acting career never really panned out because he is obscenely funny in this and Blockers.)

Most Overrated: Friends with Benefits (2011)

Friends with Benefits is a watchable enough R-rated romcom that has managed to hold onto a level of cultural relevancy that its fellow 2011 sex friends-to-lovers release No Strings Attached has failed to. That being said, I don't think it's all that funny or sweet in the grand scheme of things and would prefer to watch any of Will Gluck's other movies (Easy A, Fired Up!, Anyone But You) that occupied a similar genre space 100 times out of 100.

Movie Review: Solo Mio

Are you somebody who wants to see a romantic movie this Valentine's Day season, but aren't interested in laying eyes upon all of the bawdy fully clothed hanky panky of Wuthering Heights? Well, do I have some news for you: Kevin James is starring in a PG-rated romantic dramedy called Solo Mio where he goes on his Rome honeymoon alone after being left at the altar by his fiancé (Julie Ann Emery) and ends up finding love again with an Italian cafe owner (Nicole Grimaudo). It's the perfect movie for anyone who has treated NCIS as appointment television since it first started airing back in 1832 or believes they would enjoy a big belly laugh every time James butchers the pronunciation of an Italian word he's trying to read off his phone. Mama Mia! Mangi! Bonjourno! 

As good as James is and continues to be at playing likeable everyman characters, Solo Mio suffocates his natural charm by being completely devoid of personality or stakes. His character Matt Taylor glides through his evolution from sadsack tourist who just suffered the greatest embarrassment/heartbreak of his life to man who stumbles upon love when he needed the power of true human connection the most like he's a checked bag at the airport that needs to be put on the plane before it takes off. A movie that aspires to tell a nice, warm story about finding love where you least expect it being built around a relationship this emotionally sterile is the kind of puzzling failure that gets you to question if the people that made it were more interested in taking an extended vacation to Italy than the movie that they were there to make. Alas, Solo Mio just never lives up to its mission statement of being a heartfelt romantic movie and in the process, adds yet another stain to James' shaky post-The King of Queens resume. 

Grade: C-
 

Margaret Qualley Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Margaret Qualley-whose latest project "How to Make a Killing" releases in theaters tomorrow. 

Margaret Qualley's Filmography Ranked:

14.Stars at Noon (C)

13.Native Son (C)

12.Donnybrook (B-)

11.Honey Don't (B-)

10.Seberg (B-)

9.Happy Gilmore 2 (B-)

8.Blue Moon (B)

7.Drive-Away Dolls (B)

6.Sanctuary (B+)

5.Kinds of Kindness (B+)

4.The Substance (A-)

3.Poor Things (A)

2.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... (A)

1.The Nice Guys (A)

Top Dog: The Nice Guys (2016)

As of this writing, we're about three months away from the tenth anniversary of The Nice Guys releasing in theaters. I'll never forget the ludicrous amount of fun I had watching this noir buddy comedy for the first time with a few of my friends and remarkably, it's a movie that only becomes funnier with each rewatch. Qualley is very lucky that she's able to say that this is the first movie she had a prominent role in. 

Bottom Feeder: Stars at Noon (2022)

There's a sleazy shagginess to the political thriller plot in Stars at Noon that prevents it from being a total drag. It's not however enough to forgive the complete lack of eroticism in the romantic subplot brought on by the nonexistent chemistry between Qualley and Joe Alwyn, especially when it's supposed to serve as the story's emotional crux.

Most Underrated: Sanctuary (2023)

Unlike in Stars of Noon, Qualley has tremendous chemistry with Christopher Abbott in Sanctuary. The pair are incredible together in this darkly comedic psychological thriller about an unexpectedly eventful night between a rich guy and the dominatrix he has a long-standing business relationship with after he attempts to end their arrangement upon getting promoted to CEO of his family's luxury hotel chain following the death of his father. There's a lot of fun to be had in watching them embark in a heated battle in which the upper hand in the power dynamic of their suddenly drastically different relationship is constantly shifting between the two parties and having the film take place over a single night in a hotel suite adds a feeling of claustrophobia that amplifies the tension of their chaotic verbal sparring match. 

Most Overrated: Blue Moon (2025)

A couple of years from now, it will probably be ridiculous to refer to Blue Moon as overrated. But now as it's fresh off of receiving a couple of Oscar noms, I'm willing to make that declaration. As strong as Ethan Hawke's work here in this Richard Linklater-helmed biopic about a bitter, drunk Lorenz Hart trying to accept in real time that the best days of his songwriting career are behind him after leaving the opening night performance of his former creative partner Richard Rodgers' (Andrew Scott) megahit musical Oklahoma! early to go hang out at the Manhattan bar that all of the Broadway talent flocks to after performances, listening to Hart cycle between ripping Oklahoma!, boasting about projects he may or may not be working on, telling stories about his glory days to any pour soul that is willing to listen to him and begging Rodgers to collaborate with him once again without ever coming up for air becomes pretty monotonous after a while.   

Movie Review: Crime 101

Sitting in a theater and watching heist thriller Crime 101 felt like taking a time machine back to the 80's or 90's. American Animals writer/director Bart Layton's second narrative feature is an ensemble-driven movie that is just as interested in exploring the characters that are involved with the different angles of the heist as the robberies themselves

The plot's primary focus is on how the lives of meticulous jewel thief Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth), veteran detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) and insurance broker Sharon Combs (Halle Berry) begin to intersect following the robbery of $3 million worth of diamonds from an LA jeweler's (Payman Maadi) delivery. Fate has tethered these folks together as they've each reached a critical impasse in their lives. Mike is looking to get out of the thieving business after experiencing a close call on the aforementioned job that almost got him killed, Lou's obsession with catching Mike-who is pretty much impossible to catch as he's never left DNA or carried out any violence at the crime scene- has caused his wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to leave him and made him the laughing stock of his department and Sharon is growingly increasingly discontent with her job as her boss (Paul Adelstein) continues to delay giving her the promotion to partner he's long promised her. A potential solution to all of their problems presents itself when a wealthy client of Sharon's company (Tate Donovan) reveals a plan to give out diamonds as party favors at his wedding. Sweetening the pot is the fact that he's arranged to pay the courier $11 million in cash for the diamonds in order to avoid taxes. Mike reluctantly agrees to do the job, and Sharon requests a $3 million cut for providing him with the info. An already complicated job that requires getting in and out of a crowded luxury hotel in Beverly Hills becomes even more difficult when Mike discovers that his former fence (Nick Nolte) has recruited his hot-headed new protege (Barry Keoghan) to intercept the stones and cash as revenge for Mike severing ties with him after refusing to commit to a brazen jewelry store heist in Santa Barbara. Will Mike and Sharon be able to live long enough to walk away into the sunset? Can Lou finally catch the ghost that has alluded him? Does Keoghan play a character that actually proves to be pretty chill for once? Don't fret everybody, all of the answers to these questions and more are answered before the credits begin to roll! 

There was something nice about a heist movie trusting its audience to have some patience before it delves into the flashier parts of its story. Layton's solid script provides a complete picture as to why these people are doing what they're doing and Hemsworth, Ruffalo and especially Berry give strong, emotionally honest performances that provide the film with a surprising amount of grounded humanity. When the action bits are deployed (roughly about once every half hour during its well-paced 140-minute runtime), Layton matches the command over the material he showed off with his pen by staging some tense, slickly shot vehicle chases/robberies that gradually up the narrative stakes. Eventually, Crime 101 reverts back to the classic heist movie trope of deploying some silly, cute twists to explain away how the big final score was able to be pulled off against all odds, but that's really the only big misstep Layton makes here-which is pretty impressive for a filmmaker working on his first big budget studio feature.

Is Crime 101 going to end up finishing near the top of my 2026 year-end list? Probably not. However, it's a very compelling throwback heist thriller filled with strong performances, visuals and action that never feels derivative of the other movies that have covered similar territory in the city of Los Angeles before it. During this pretty slow part of the calendar, it's well worth making the trek out to theaters to see if you're into the genre or just want to see the type of movie that doesn't end up on the big screen all that much these days.    

Grade: B+

Movie Review: Wuthering Heights (2026)

 

Even during a time where people regularly decry about how homogenized and safe movies have become, some filmmakers have still been able to turn into polarizing figures. Among these lucky few directors whose work inspires passionate takes/arguments galore is Emerald Fennell. The mere mention of the British writer/director behind Promising Young Woman and Saltburn in certain corners of the internet effectively serves as an alarm that activates a sleeper cell of cinephiles so full of venom and disgust towards her work that they make the Snydercut cult that have spent the past few years trying to get James Gunn removed from his post at DC Studios look like pleasant, reasonable people. For her third film, Fennell decided to further expand the already sizable target on her back by moving away from original stories and trying her hand at an adaptation. Much to the disgust of English lit majors and the Fennell haters that felt Saltburn did an awful job tackling its themes of class everywhere, the work she elected to adapt was Emily Bronte's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is widely considered to be one of the most seminal pieces of literature ever written and the complicated romance between the wealthy Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff-a poor boy her father took in off the streets and raised alongside his children- at the center of the story has led to it being adapted on screen dozens of times around the globe since 1920. While I can't comment on how well Fennell's Wuthering Heights adapts Bronte's novel or how it stacks up against any of the previous screen adaptations, I can say with zero hesitation that I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Wuthering Heights is built around a romance that had been simmering under the surface for quite some time that eventually morphs into something ugly due to the shame, pain and jealousy that stemmed from not allowing that love to blossom when it still had the opportunity to grow into something beautiful. The primary contributing factors to this sullying of something pure are Catherine (Margot Robbie) believing that she would be degenerating her family name by marrying a peasant and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) being so hurt by this revelation that he transforms into a cold, vengeful prick. When Heathcliff reemerges with some money several years after Catherine has married a wealthy businessman Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), they finally act upon the feelings they had previously pushed down for so long, and shit gets real messy for both of them real fast. 

Despite the comically misleading marketing referring to it as "the greatest love story ever told", Fennell's film leads with feelings of lust, obsession and jealousy. There's a version of this story where Catherine and Heathcliff build the love they've always dreamed of, but the ones occupying the screen here are too bitter, wounded and selfish to build a relationship that is anything other than purely primal. The animalistic nature of its toxic, doomed romance is perfectly complemented by the stunning Gothic-inspired darkness consuming beauty aesthetic that drives the film. Pairing lavish sets/costumes with the fog-filled landscapes of the British coastline and downtempo music handled by the dynamic duo of Charli xcx and composer Anthony Willis allows the film to cast a hypnotic spell that often looks like a dream but feels like a nightmare. Pulling off a long-unrealized romance that materializes in a much more hideous way than it could or should have requires an incredibly delicate dance from the creatives and thanks to Fennell's rich, visceral atmosphere and the chemistry between Robbie and Elordi that tows the line between sizzling and just plain wrong, Wuthering Heights is able to pull it off. 

I get why people wouldn't be able to get down with a movie that draws its emotion from the gut, heart and eyes over the mind, but I honestly feel like Fennell is able to really explore the evolution of Catherine and Heathcliffe's relationship by committing to conveying the specific impulse-and-pleasure-driven emotions they were experiencing during their ill-fated affair. It wouldn't have felt right to have bigger, headier emotions get in the way of a courtship that is so clearly defined as two rotten souls hoping that the special connection they once had during the days where their hearts were purer will magically return (Spoiler alert: It doesn't!). Now, this approach shortchanges certain characters-particularly Catherine's confidant/servant Nelly (Hong Chau) and makes fully buying the delivery of the inevitable tragic conclusion a difficult ask given all the shitty things these characters do ahead of it, but that was a price I was ultimately willing to pay given how convincing and engrossing every other aspect of the film is. Fennell has a conviction in executing her vision that is special and as long as that remains intact, her movies will keep striking a chord with me. 

 

Grade: B+

Movie Review: The Moment

In the summer of 2024, British pop artist Charli xcx unleashed a pop culture phenomenon into the world with her sixth studio album Brat. This unexpected success story pushed Charli from the comfortable place she had carved out for herself on the outskirts of the mainstream pop ecosystem into the harsh glow of the " main pop girl" spotlight. Amidst all of the Brat mania, her label (Atlantic Records) proposed she make a concert documentary during her first-ever global arena headlining run. She rejected their offer and instead elected to team up with music video director/frequent collaborator Aidan Zamiri and music journalist Bertie Brandes to make a mockumentary called The Moment that allowed her to spoof all of the bullshit that was attached to the success of Brat. This decision proved to be quite the savvy move as it allows Charli to give Brat the kind of flashy, unexpected send-off it deserves. 

Brat is one of those records that made such a significant culture impact that the label was naturally going to want to milk that cash cow for as long as they possibly could. This represented a huge departure from the way Charli has worked in the past as her status as this sort of queen of niche pop granted her an exemption from the label's most egregious efforts to meddle in the creative process. In the film, she highlights not only how aggressive the label is with forcing their shameless cash-grabbing ideas (an Amazon-backed concert film directed by a big name with a corporate-friendly milquetoast vision-who is played with an incredible amount of controlling, passive aggressive detail by a scene-stealing Alexander Skarsgard, a Brat-branded credit card, a "family-friendly" overhaul of her stage props, logos and outfits) onto an artist once their music starts to become more popular but how the pressure to sustain this newfound success has convinced Charli to toss aside the artistic integrity she previously had held so dear. 

As silly and snarky as the events of The Moment are, there's some real insight on the plethora of stupid ways the commerce side of the music industry gets in the way of the artistry buried underneath the deadpan humor that could only be delivered by someone who has spent their share of time in the belly of the beast. Charli has been around for long to enough to know how this whole circus works (it's easy to forget that she made her first big mainstream splash back in 2012 with her guest spot on Icona Pop's "I Love It') and it's great to see how eager she is to make fun of the industry machine she's stuck in as well as herself. Seeing an artist of her profile have such a strong grasp of the inner workings of the industry they're involved in and be able to clearly articulate how the practice of artificially extending an album cycle to appease fans/make more money is completely antithetical to the beauty of creating art is incredibly refreshing in an era where the shameless profit-chasing nature of capitalism is slowly laying waste to the very fabric of our world. 

By making a whole film where she effectively sells out to finally get away from Brat, Charli proves that she's remained true to her creative ideals despite the significant raise in profile she's experienced over the past 18 months. Walking away from Brat on her own terms just feels true to who she is an artist and it's especially satisfying that she was able to channel the vulnerability that is such a big part of the record into a comedy movie that is based on something that she was still living through while making.  While whatever proves to be the next step for Charli's career beyond a whole lot of acting roles (she currently has five movies awaiting release and is set to start shooting a new movie with Japanese genre auteur Takashi Miike imminently) and the Wuthering Heights soundtrack remains a mystery, I'm awfully excited to see how she will keep finding fresh ways to go against the grain. 

Grade: B
 

Margot Robbie Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Margot Robbie-whose latest project "Wuthering Heights" releases in theaters tomorrow. 

Margot Robbie's Filmography Ranked:

16.The Legend of Tarzan (D)

15.About Time (D)

14.Asteroid City (C-)

13.A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (C-)

12.Amsterdam (B-)

11.Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (B-)

10.Suicide Squad (B-)

9.Bombshell (B)

8.Focus (B)

7.The Wolf of Wall Street (B+)

6.Babylon (B+)

5.Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (B+)

4.The Suicide Squad (A)

3.I, Tonya (A)

2.Barbie (A)

1.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... (A)

Top Dog: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... (2019)

I'm pretty confident that Quentin Tarantino will never direct another movie thanks to his absurd insistence on only making 10 movies (he's technically already put out 10, but he moved the goalposts since he views Kill Bill as one movie). If that proves to be the case, at least he went out with a bang with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... There's an easygoing hangout buddy movie vibe driving this sprawling 60's-set LA story here that is just infectious and the incredible collection of performances he gets from this loaded cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Robbie, Margaret Qualley and then 19-year-old Mikey Madison being the top standouts) is impressive even by Tarantino's lofty standards. I'm very curious to see what David Fincher does with the pseudo-sequel The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which appears to be releasing sometime this year after Netflix surprise dropped the first teaser during the Super Bowl.

Bottom Feeder: The Legend of Tarzan (2015)

As I was leaving a showing of The Moment last night (review coming tomorrow), I started to think about whether or not Alexander Skarsgard has ever turned in a bad performance. About 90 seconds later, I remembered The Legend of Tarzan and this exercise came to a swift end. In fairness to Skarsgard, it wasn't really his fault that he stunk as Tarzan. The material was so boring and ridiculous that neither he nor his co-stars (Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Honsou, Jim Broadbent) really stood a chance. Anyways, this is easily among the worst studio movies of the 2010's in my eyes and I'd never even consider watching it again unless I was dealing with a weapons-grade case of insomnia.  

Most Underrated: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

While I'm not quite as high on Birds of Prey now as I was when it came out six years ago this month, I still think it's a great movie that is probably the single most underrated superhero movie of this decade. It does a terrific job of creating a vibe that mimics the colorful, chaotic personality of Harley Quinn, the fight choreography is super creative, and Robbie's delightfully hyperactive, freewheeling performance is her most inspired take on Quinn thus far.

Most Overrated: About Time (2013)

One of the movie takes I've gotten the most shit for over the years is calling About Time a borderline predatory love story given how it uses its time travel conceit to set up its main romance. I still wholeheartedly stand by this take. Beyond the main character being a pathetic, manipulative shitbag, Richard Curtis' signature schmaltzy romantic dramedy writing is on full display here and it's just as insufferable as it was in Love Actually. The only reason that I don't think About Time is quite as shit as Love Actually is Rachel McAdams-who remains charming as hell despite the colossal failures of everything around her radiant presence. 

Movie Review: The Strangers: Chapter 3

Upon reaching its conclusion this past weekend, I can now declare that the Renny Harlin-helmed trilogy reboot reminds me of this incredible scene from Step Brothers. For the first two films, I was onboard with the vision. Chapter 1 is a spirited enough remake of the 2008 original while Chapter 2 is a fun extended chase sequence that does a pretty decent job of maintaining suspense by throwing pretty much non-step peril at its wounded heroine Maya (Madelaine Petsch-who proves her worth as a scream queen with her strong commitment to heavy breathing, crying and screaming) as she tries to escape the trio of serial killers that are hellbent on finishing what they started in the first film. When Harlin's endgame for this story finally comes into focus in Chapter 3, the whole idea of a trilogy centered around expanding the universe of The Strangers was suddenly rendered completely pointless.

If I didn't know that principal photography for the whole trilogy was done simultaneously, I would've assumed that Chapter 3 was improvised under extreme duress. Nobody involved with this production seems to have any fuckin idea how they're going to land the plane they've been flying around in for over 3 hours at this point, which leads to a true masterclass in confused filmmaking.

 Additional lore dumps for the serial killers formerly known as "The Strangers" are clumsily deployed at various points of the movie in order to provide a window into why they do what they do and how their relationships with one another formed. Petsch gets hung out to dry as the story concocts, abandons and then eventually returns to a revenge arc that is so thinly sketched that the final confrontation carries the emotional catharsis of a yawn. The ending is so abrupt and absurd that I'm still in disbelief that this was the note they decided to end an entire series of movies on. If this was their best attempt at wrapping up this story, I don't even want to think about what their worst would look like.

While Harlin is well past the days where he was delivering solid popcorn movies (Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Die Hard 2) every couple of years, the first two films were directed competently enough where I started to question why he had been relegated to the minor leagues of Hollywood since the mid-2000's. The Strangers: Chapter 3 (along with his horrendous 2024 Aaron Eckhart-led action movie The Bricklayer) no longer has me wondering how that happened and it's pretty safe to say that he won't be getting called up to the big leagues again anytime soon after churning out a trilogy of films that ultimately proved to have an approval rating that's in line with gas station sushi.

Grade: D

2026 NFL Mock Draft: Pre-Combine

1.Las Vegas Raiders: Fernando Mendoza, quarterback (Indiana)

2.New York Jets: Arvell Reese, inside linebacker/edge rusher (Ohio State)

3.Arizona Cardinals: Francis Mauigoa, tackle (Miami)

4.Tennessee Titans: Rueben Bain Jr., edge rusher (Miami)

5.New York Giants: Carnell Tate, wide receiver (Ohio State)

6.Cleveland Browns: Spencer Fano, tackle (Utah)

7.Washington Commanders: David Bailey, edge rusher (Texas Tech)

8.New Orleans Saints: Jordyn Tyson, wide receiver (Arizona State)

9.Kansas City Chiefs: Jeremiyah Love, running back (Notre Dame)

10.Cincinnati Bengals: Caleb Downs, safety (Ohio State)

11.Miami Dolphins: Mansoor Delane, cornerback (LSU)

12.Dallas Cowboys: Jermod McCoy, cornerback (Tennessee) 

13.Los Angeles Rams: Makai Lemon, wide receiver (USC)

14.Baltimore Ravens: Olaivavega Ioane, guard (Penn State)

15.Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Sonny Styles, inside linebacker (Ohio State)

16.New York Jets: Ty Simpson, quarterback (Alabama)

17.Detroit Lions: Cashius Howell, edge rusher (Texas A&M)

18.Minnesota Vikings: Avieon Terrell, cornerback (Clemson)

19.Carolina Panthers: Kayden McDonald, defensive tackle (Ohio State)

20.Dallas Cowboys: Keldric Faulk, edge rusher (Auburn)

21.Pittsburgh Steelers: Denzel Boston, wide receiver (Washington)

22.Los Angeles Chargers: Kadyn Proctor, guard/tackle (Alabama)

23.Philadelphia Eagles: Kenyon Sadiq, tight end (Oregon)

24.Cleveland Browns: KC Concepcion, wide receiver (Texas A&M)

25.Chicago Bears: Peter Woods, defensive tackle (Clemson)

26.Buffalo Bills: Jake Golday, inside linebacker (Cincinnati)

27.San Francisco 49ers: T.J. Parker, edge rusher (Clemson)

28.Houston Texans: Caleb Lomu, tackle (Utah)

29.Los Angeles Rams: Colton Hood, cornerback (Tennessee) 

30.Denver Broncos: Caleb Banks, defensive tackle (Florida)

31.New England Patriots: Monroe Freeling, tackle (Georgia)

32.Seattle Seahawks: Keith Abney II, cornerback (Arizona State)

Super Bowl LX Prediction

Conference Championship Record: 2-0

Overall Playoff Record: 9-3

Seattle Seahawks over New England Patriots:

The conclusion of the wackiest NFL season in recent memory is finally upon us. Anybody that expected either of these teams to make the Super Bowl as recently as early December would've likely been written off as a homer or delusional moron, so kudos to those who believed in these teams before the rest of the football world did. This is a strange matchup for a number of reasons, particularly when you consider their paths to get here as The Seahawks put together a pair of excellent games against two of their divisional rivals while the Patriots strong defensive play made up for the erratic play and ugly turnovers that bogged down their offense during their three game run to the AFC crown.

As much as I can buy into the narrative that the Patriots are a team of destiny after winning 16 of their last 17 games, I still can't pick them to win this game. No matter how angry Patriots fans get about this topic of conversation, you just can't overlook the tidal wave of good fortune that has come their way by playing three broken offenses in a row on their way to making it here. While Sam Darnold absolutely has it in him to shit his pants and replicate the hideous turnovers that C.J. Stroud and Jarrett Stidham committed that played a huge role in them securing wins in each of the past two weeks, the 'Hawks offense could also smack the Patriots in the mouth if they take care of the football, which wasn't even a realistic consideration during any of the other games during this run. The biggest weakness of the Pats defense by far is defending vertical passing attacks and Darnold is coming off a game against the Rams where he was absolutely lethal downfield. The versatility of Jaxson Smith-Njigba, speed of Rasheed Shaheed and size of A.J. Barner presents the type of challenge the Patriots haven't faced in these playoffs thus far, and I wouldn't exactly be stunned if Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, Marcus Jones and their linebackers/safeties ended up getting cooked just like the Rams did two weeks ago. If the Hawks somehow able to also get Kenneth Walker III and their rushing attack going against the Patriots stout run D, things could get real ugly real fast. 

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots offense has largely struggled during these playoffs due to how strong the defenses they've played have been and they're once again going to have their hands full with the Seahawks defense. The 'Hawks have a physical pass rush that could really wear down their weak interior line and undersized left tackle Will Campbell, their third ranked rushing defense has what it takes to slow down the Pats typically effective power/speed RB combo of Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson and most importantly, their metrics in the most important areas of the game are all at or near the top of the league (1st in scoring defense, 1st in 3rd down defense, 5th in 3rd down defense, 6th in takeaways). Their biggest vulnerabilities are Riq Woolen at the second outside corner spot (Drake Maye is going to likely need a big game from Kayshon Boutte or Mack Hollins to get their air attack going given that Devon Witherspoon is likely to follow Stefon Diggs wherever he lines up) and in defending QB scrambles-which is an area where Drake Maye particularly excels. Are those weaknesses enough for the Patriots to exploit and put together their first strong offensive showing of these playoffs? Perhaps, but I sure as hell wouldn't bet on it. 

Look, I'm fully prepared for the possibility the Pats win this game. The Seahawks aren't an infallible juggernaut by any stretch, Mike Macdonald is a greener coach than Mike Vrabel and as I said earlier, Darnold is capable of being a turnover machine and an operation as sound as the Patriots would be able to take advantage of those mistakes in the same way they did in their wins over the Chargers, Texans and Broncos. I just happen to think the Seahawks are a more talented team and the magic that the Patriots have rode to this game is finally going to run out. 

Kevin James Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Kevin James-whose latest project "Solo Mio" releases in theaters today. 

Kevin James' Filmography Ranked:

16.Zookeeper (D)

15.The Dilemma (D+) 

14.I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (C-)

13.Guns Up (C)

12.Hubie Halloween (C)

11.Home Team (C)

10.Pixels (C)

9.Paul Blart: Mall Cop (C)

8.Grown Ups 2 (C)

7.Hitch (C+)

6.Hotel Transylvania 2 (B-) 

5.Hotel Transylvania (B-) 

4.Grown Ups (B-)

3.Here Comes the Boom (B)

2.50 First Dates (B)

1.Becky (B)

Top Dog: Becky (2020)

One of the biggest gems that emerged from the peak of the COVID lockdown where most of the small number of movies being released were indie genre movies, Becky is a very fun B-home invasion thriller that really relishes in its absurd nastiness. Lulu Wilson makes for a great teenage antihero, James does well going against type as a Nazi gang leader who just broke out of jail and the bursts of splattery gore hit really hard.

Bottom Feeder: Zookeeper (2011)

Generally speaking, I find James to be an affable screen presence who can lift up even the shakiest material he's handed. Zookeeper is one of the only times in his career where I felt that wasn't the case. James' answer to Doctor Dolittle is the epitome of 2000/2010's kids movie trash where the jokes are so consistently lame that the entire affair becomes obnoxious to the point where the end credits starting to roll feel like the first rays of sun hitting your face after spending a couple of hours locked up in a holding cell.

Most Underrated: Here Comes the Boom (2012)

I have a vivid memory of seeing Here Comes the Boom with a friend on opening weekend because the showing of Argo we had intended to go to was sold out and both of us being shocked by how much we enjoyed it. James shook off the brutal 1-2 punch of The Dilemma and Zookeeper to successfully apply his likeable everyman persona to a genuinely rousing, well-crafted underdog sports dramedy about a biology teacher (James) who takes on a side gig as an MMA fighter with the hopes of making enough money to save his school's music program. 

Most Overrated: Hitch (2005)

Perhaps I have an inflated belief of how well-liked Hitch is due to me being a teenager when it was released and having to spend so much time around people gushing about it. By the time I finally saw it in my late 20's, I was a little perplexed as to how it became so popular. While it's a completely inoffensive romcom anchored by a magnetic performance from Will Smith, I just didn't find to be overly funny or charming and the chemistry between Smith and Eva Mendes isn't really there. 

2025 NFL Awards+All-Pro Teams and Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 Predictions

MVP: Matthew Stafford (Rams)

During the summer, there were concerns that the 37-year-old Stafford would be hindered by a lingering back injury that caused his reps to be capped during training camp. He made everybody that doubted his ability to stay healthy and play at a high level look like idiots as he ended up having the best season of his 17-year career in 2025. He led the league in passing YDS (4,707) and TD's (46) while finishing second in QBR (109.2) behind likely MVP runner-up Drake Maye as the Rams had their best season since winning the Super Bowl in 2021. Best of all for Stafford, this season will further solidify his case for making the Hall of Fame-which has been and will remain a spirited debate topic as his career winds down or possibly even ends following this magical season.

Honorable Mentions: Drake Maye (Patriots), Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars), Justin Herbert (Chargers)

Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxson Smith-Njigba (Seahawks)

There's one man above all that Sam Darnold and Klint Kubiak can thank for their profiles being raised around the league with the Seahawks stellar offensive play in 2025 and his name is Jaxson Smith-Njigba. Every team that played the Seahawks this season knew they were going to feed JSN (Cooper Kupp and A.J. Barner were the next leading receivers on the team and they finished the season with lines of 47/593/2 and 52/519/6 respectively) and threw everything they had into stopping them. Despite these valiant efforts, he still killed them nearly every week-hauling in a whopping 119 receptions for a league-high 1,793 YDS and 10 TD's. Zooming in further on these numbers only make them more impressive as he posted 100+ YDS in 9 games and only had 1 game all season where had below 70 YDS (Week 13 against the Vikings-where he nabbed just 2 receptions for 23 YDS). Any conversation surrounding the best WR's in the league this offseason that doesn't include JSN don't deserve to be taken seriously. 

Honorable Mentions: Bijan Robinson (Falcons), Puka Nacua (Rams), Trey McBride (Cardinals)

Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett (Browns)

When the league shifted to a 17-game schedule in 2021, it was inevitable that Michael Strahan's single season sack record of 22.5 that was set back in 2001 was going to fall. In the final week of the 2025 season, it finally did and to the surprise of very few, Myles Garrett was the man that did it. Playing on yet another miserably bad Browns team buried just how locked in Garrett was this season as he shattered his new career highs across the board by logging 23 sacks, 33 TFL's and 39 QB hits all while facing increased attention from opponents as the only real threat on a Browns front that otherwise struggled to rush the passer (the next three players on their list of team sack leaders combined for just 16 total). Someday we'll truly appreciate just how great Garrett was, but for now, we'll just keep mourning the fact that he's stuck in football purgatory with seemingly no way out.   

Honorable Mentions: Cameron Heyward (Steelers), Will Anderson Jr. (Texans), Jack Campbell (Lions)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tetairoa McMillan (Panthers)

McMillan ended up doing enough in the latter stages of the season to fend off the likes of Colston Loveland, Emeka Egbuka and Tyler Shough for this honor. After battling some inconsistency out of the gate, the 1st round pick out of Arizona emerged as the reliable WR1 the Panthers desperately needed around mid-October and ended up becoming the only rookie to clear 1,000 YDS receiving this season in dramatic fashion when he reeled in a 40-YD reception from Bryce Young in the 4th quarter of their Week 18 contest with the Bucs. As long as his rapport with Young continues to improve, McMillan should be even better in 2026. 

Honorable Mentions: Colston Loveland (Bears), Tyler Shough (Saints), Emeka Egbuka (Buccaneers)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Carson Schwesinger (Browns)

Beyond Myles Garrett, the biggest bright spot of the Browns flawed but frisky defense may've been their rookie inside linebacker out of UCLA. Schwesinger quickly established himself as a sideline-to-sideline impact player-registering 156 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks, 9 QB hits and 3 passes defensed in 16 games. With Jim Schwartz likely not returning as DC after being passed over for their head coaching gig, it'll be interesting to see if Schwesinger can adapt to a different system that is potentially less aggressive than the one he thrived in this year.

Honorable Mentions: Xavier Watts (Falcons), Jihaad Campbell (Eagles), Malaki Starks (Ravens)

Coach of the Year: Kyle Shanahan (49ers)

No disrespect to the remarkable turnaround efforts that Liam Coen, Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel led this season, but only one coach in the league made the playoffs and had a chance at getting the top seed in the hypercompetitive NFC after half of their roster died during the season. Shanahan's ability to deal with a cartoonishly high volume of injuries of the short-term, long-term and season-ending variety and field a team that was not only competitive but thrived for the bulk of the season is the kind of brilliant coaching that this award is designed to honor. 

Honorable Mentions: Liam Coen (Jaguars), Ben Johnson (Bears), Mike Vrabel (Patriots)

Comeback Player of the Year: Aidan Hutchinson (Lions)

The real award tomorrow night is probably going to go to Dak Prescott and that's completely fair. He quietly put together one of the best seasons of his career this season for a decent Cowboys team who was let down by their league-worst defense and it's especially impressive that he pulled this off after having a poor, injury-shortened season in 2024. I just happened to be more impressed with the play of Hutchinson-who picked up right where he left off when he went down with a broken leg 5 games into what was shaping up to be a dominant 2024 campaign by earning his first career All-Pro selection after posting 14.5 sacks, 14 TFL's, 35 QB hits, 4 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an INT.

Honorable Mentions: Dak Prescott (Cowboys), Christian McCaffery (49ers), Stefon Diggs (Patriots)

All-Pro Teams:

Quarterback

1st team: Matthew Stafford (Rams)

2nd team: Drake Maye (Patriots)

Running Back

1st team: Bijan Robinson (Falcons)

2nd team: James Cook (Bills)

Wide Receiver

1st team: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks), Puka Nacua (Rams)

2nd team: Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions), Ja'Marr Chase (Bengals)

Tight End

1st team: Trey McBride (Cardinals)

2nd team: Kyle Pitts (Falcons)

Tackle

1st team: Garett Bolles (Broncos), Penei Sewell (Lions)

2nd team: Tristan Wirfs (Buccaneers), Darnell Wright (Bears)

Guard

1st team: Joe Thuney (Bears), Quinn Meinerz (Broncos)

2nd team: Quenton Nelson (Colts), Chris Lindstrom (Falcons)

Center

1st team: Creed Humphrey (Chiefs)

2nd team: Aaron Brewer (Dolphins)

Edge Rusher

1st team: Myles Garrett (Browns), Will Anderson Jr. (Texans)

2nd team: Micah Parsons (Packers), Aidan Hutchinson (Lions)

Defensive Tackle

1st team: Cameron Heyward (Steelers), Jeffrey Simmons (Titans)

2nd team: Leonard Williams (Seahawks), Travis Jones (Ravens)

Inside Linebacker

1st team: Jack Campbell (Lions), Demario Davis (Saints)

2nd team: Devin Lloyd (Jaguars), Zack Baun (Eagles)

Cornerback

1st team: Devon Witherspoon (Seahawks), Mike Jackson (Panthers)

2nd team: Cooper DeJean (Eagles), Quinyon Mitchell (Eagles)

Safety

1st team: Kyle Hamilton (Ravens), Derwin James (Chargers)

2nd team: Jalen Pitre (Texans), Kevin Byard (Bears)

Kicker

1st team: Will Reichard (Vikings)

2nd team: Brandon Aubrey (Cowboys)

Punter

1st team: Jordan Stout (Ravens)

2nd team: Daniel Whelan (Packers)

Return Specialists:

1st team: Ray Davis (Bills), Marcus Jones (Patriots)

2nd team: Isaiah Williams (Jets), Chimere Dike (Titans)

Special Teamer:

1st team: Devon Key (Broncos)

2nd team: Carson Bruener (Steelers)

Long Snapper:

1st team: Rex Sunahara (Browns)

2nd team: Ross Matiscik (Jaguars)

Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 Predictions:

Willie Anderson, tackle (Team: Cincinnati Bengals)

Drew Brees, quarterback (Teams: San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints)

Roger Craig, running (Teams: San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders, Minnesota Vikings)

L.C. Greenwood, defensive end (Team: Pittsburgh Steelers)

Torry Holt, wide receiver (Teams: St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars)

Luke Kuechly, inside linebacker (Team: Carolina Panthers) 

Darren Woodson, safety (Team: Dallas Cowboys)

Who I'd Vote for If I Had a Ballot: 

Drew Brees

Torry Holt

Luke Kuechly

Kevin Williams, defensive tackle (Teams: Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints)

Marshal Yanda, guard (Team: Baltimore Ravens)

Movie Review: Send Help

Sam Raimi has built such an incredible career that many people that were born during the last 35 years primarily associate him with superhero movies. As ridiculous or blasphemous as that will sound to the hardcore Rami afficionados out there, take a moment to consider that 2009's Drag Me to Hell is the only proper horror movie he's made this century and his last entry in the Evil Dead franchise (Army of Darkness) turns 33 years old later this month. After ending his nearly decade-long reprieve from directing features following the shaky commercial performance/reception of Oz The Great and Powerful to helm Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022, Raimi has finally returned to his comedy horror roots with Send Help and provided the uninitiated with a taste of the signature style that made him a cult hero in genre circles back in the 80's.

In the opening moments of Send Help, the viewer is introduced to Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams). Linda is a meek fuddy duddy who works in the strategy and planning department of an unnamed major financial management corporation and after years of grinding away in the shadows without ever receiving any meaningful acknowledgement for her hard work, appears set to receive a promotion to vice president once the new CEO Bradley Preston (Dylan O'Brien) officially takes over for his late father (Bruce Campbell, who appears strictly via photographic cameos). On his first day on the job, Bradley quickly becomes repulsed by Linda's pathetic "bird lady" demeanor and hands the promotion to his golfing buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel) instead despite him being considerably less experienced than Linda. During the same meeting, Bradley informs Linda that he doesn't believe she provides much value to their operation and challenges her to prove her worth to him by traveling with the company to Bangkok for a meeting about a prospective merger. 

A week later, the company's private plane crashes somewhere in the vicinity of Thailand and the sole survivors of the wreck are Linda and Bradley. While Linda made it to the shore of an unoccupied island pretty much unscathed, Bradley sustained wounds and injuries to his legs that were severe enough to render him unable to walk without assistance. Relying on Linda-who has honed a wide set of survival skills thanks to her desire to compete on Survivor-to survive, Bradley has to discount all of his instincts telling him to boss Linda around as she is quite literally the only reason he's still alive after losing consciousness following the crash and having the tide carry him to the beach that Linda was able to swim to. As Bradley regains his strength, a vicious power struggle ensues between the two that threatens to kill them both before they even have a chance to be rescued. 

Raimi really couldn't have picked a more ideal project to make his return to horror/thrillers on than Send Help. While I'm sure he considered taking on other projects, veteran screenwriting duo Damien Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason, the 2009 remake of Friday the 13th) handed him such a rich canvas to work his sicko magic on that it's easy to see why he dove headfirst into this opportunity. The constant evolution of the dynamic between Linda and Bradley and the twists that help shift them are so quintessentially Raimi that it's kind of hard to believe that he didn't write the film himself. There's such a perverse, playful glee behind every creative choice in this film and it all culminates in a twisted conclusion that had me cackling in my seat as the credits began to roll. Raimi had been away from the genre for so long that there was inevitably going to be questions about whether or he could still deliver the goods, so it was a huge relief to discover that the maestro of deranged horror comedies has retained his ability to conduct the hell out of his orchestra at the age of 66.

As delightful as it is to see Rami deploy his bag of tricks again, the top highlight of Send Help is watching McAdams and O'Brien spar with each other. This is the kind of showcase that these two versatile, magnetic and perpetually underrated talents have deserved for ages. The funhouse environment that Raimi famously creates on his sets paired with the nature of the story grants them the freedom to truly play as actors and the two of them settle into such a finely tuned rhythm of manipulation, combativeness and sassiness as their characters go to great lengths to fight for control of their little of horrific island paradise that is just magic to watch. Having a movie that almost entirely hinges on the shoulders of two actors being able to portray a constantly shifting power dynamic is a risky bet, but when those actors are as locked into their own performances and getting on the same page as their scene partner as the lead duo of Send Help is, that gamble pays off big time.

Send Help is one hell of a way to cap off by far the strongest January for cinema that we've had this decade. If you have any interest in seeing this, I urge to you check it out in theaters ASAP. It's a movie that really pops with a crowd and original stories like this really need support during this era where studios are often hesitant to greenlit things that aren't established IP. 

Grade: B+

Ric Roman Waugh Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Ric Roman Waugh-whose latest project "Shelter" opens in theaters today. 

Ric Roman Waugh's Filmography Ranked:

7.Greenland 2: Migration (B-)

6.Angel Has Fallen (B-)

5.Kandahar (B)

4.Snitch (B)

3.Greenland (B)

2.Shot Caller (B)

1.Felon (B)

Top Dog: Felon (2008)

While Waugh has maintained a pretty solid quality standard over the past 20 years or so, I'm inclined to give his breakout feature Felon a slight edge over Shot Caller, Greenland and Snitch for this title. Felon is a really solid prison drama about a family man (Stephen Dorff) who loses sight of who he is after being sent to a corrupt, violent prison after receiving a questionable sentence for involuntarily manslaughter after accidently killing an armed robber with a baseball bat on his property that somehow got buried as a direct-to-video title in 2008 and it's a testament to the power of the video store/cable culture of that era that it went onto to find an audience. 

Bottom Feeder: Greenland 2: Migration (2026)

Greenland marked the rare disaster movie that focused more on the human element of an apocalyptic weather event than the event itself. The sequel Greenland 2: Migration abandons that storytelling philosophy to an extent in an effort to up the ante and it leads to an inferior product. While I'm not going to say that it completely stinks since the significant increase in weather events leads to some tense sequences, these setpieces just happen to come at the cost of stripping away what made its predecessor stand out from other movies in the genre. 

Most Underrated: Shot Caller (2017)

Shot Caller is pretty much a carbon copy of Felon right down to the slipping through the cracks of the Hollywood distribution machine aspect. Still, it's a compelling, gritty movie about how prison can make monsters of decent people and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau does really great work in the lead role of Jacob Harlon-who pleads guilty to a DUI and quickly gets caught up in the pervasive gang culture in the Los Angeles-area prison he was sentenced to. 

Most Overrated: None

Despite directing movies for about 25 years now, Waugh has never made anything that has generated overly passionate reactions on either end of the spectrum. Some people would call him a "journeyman" because of this, but I'd call him a steady hand who can be counted onto to do solid work across a number of genres. 

Most Frequently Played Movie Trailers of 2025

Full disclosure: I had no intention of ever making this public but my ability to write what I intended today is no longer feasible for reasons that are of no interest or importance to anyone who happens to be reading this.  After a couple of years of seeing people online bitching incessantly about the same trailers playing in front of every movie, I decided to start logging every trailer I saw in theaters back in 2024 to see exactly how often trailers were being played. Today, I'm going to share with you a list of trailers for movies released in 2025 that I saw the most. Here's a few notes that will provide some context to what you're about to see here:

-The criteria for inclusion here was anything that I saw at least 10 times,

-On average, I see somewhere between 2 and 3 movies per week, and this data set was collected from over 100 showings between the first half of 2024 when the first trailers for 2025 titles dropped and this month when the last of the year-end releases began playing in my area.  

-With a lone exception (shoutout divine indie palace CinemaSalem), all of these trailers played in front of films that were seen at a handful of different AMC locations around the greater Boston area.

-While I'm more often than not in my seat before the trailers begin, I do arrive late on occasion and that definitely impacted these numbers to a minimal degree. 

What does the data reveal? Well, there are indeed some trailers that are really getting spammed but for 2025 at least, a single film stood well above the rest of the pack (If you went to the movies with any degree of regularity last year, you probably will not be surprised by what the title in question is). Other than that, the data is completely up to your own interpretation. I've personally found that the complaining about the repetition of trailers is pretty overblown, but to be fair, I'm also someone who doesn't really care about seeing a trailer over and over when I go to the theater. Without further ado, let's break down this sweet sweet data.    

Most Frequently Played Movie Trailers of 2025:

(Final note: Titles are sorted by release date)

25: Mission-Impossible: The Final Reckoning

18: The Roses

17: Wolf Man, 28 Years Later, M3GAN 2.0

16: Wicked: For Good, Anaconda

15: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, The Naked Gun, Him, Roofman, The Housemaid

14: The Amateur

13: Novocaine, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

12: Drop, Jurassic World Rebirth, Predator Badlands

11: I Know What You Did Last Summer, One Battle After Another, The Running Man, Ella McCay 

10: Until Dawn, Ballerina, Caught Stealing, Good Fortune

Just Missed the Cut (aka The 9-Times Club): The Monkey, Sinners, Black Phone 2, Hamnet, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, Is This Thing On? 

This will probably be the only time I ever post something like this, so if you enjoyed it, I'm glad that my OCD, curiosity and contempt for social media hot takes could provide with a little bit of entertainment during these trying times.

Top 10 Movie Action Sequences of 2025

Honorable Mentions:

Silver Surfer Chases The Fantastic Four Through Space-The Fantastic Four: First Steps

 

Ice Club Fight-Ballerina

 

Disgruntled Assassin vs. Triads-Fight or Flight

The Team Meets for the First Time-Thunderbolts*

Amusement Park Chaos-Nobody 2

10.Glass Wolverine-Novocaine

A big part of Novocaine's appeal comes from the protagonist Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) having a disorder that makes him unable to feel pain and the film crafting action sequences that take full advantage of Caine's ability to get beat to shit without fully realizing just how hurt he is. While the other fight scenes in the film have more elaborate choreography, there's a particularly gruesome, bone-crunching edge to this one that made it my favorite of the film's many visceral bursts of action. 

9.Safe House Ambush-Heads of State

How about some more Jack Quaid to kick off this countdown? Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry, Nobody) got called up to the PG-13 streaming blockbuster league with Heads of State and made it one of the rare entries in this frowned upon subsection of Hollywood to be a legit good time. Outside of reigniting the tremendous adversarial chemistry that Idris Elba and John Cena built up in The Suicide Squad, the stylized, high energy action sequences like this key setpiece from the second act of the film were the biggest reason why Heads of State succeeded where many others in this space have failed.

8.Kitchen Fight-Love Hurts

As the president of the Love Hurts Fan Club, I'm obligated to feature a scene from it here. The zany, playful choreography here is a throwback to the stuff that Jackie Chan was doing when he first started making movies in English during the mid-to-late 90's and it was refreshing to see this brand of goofy fighting on screen in 2025. 

7.Mister Terrific Introduces Himself to Lex Luthor's Goon Squad-Superman

Just a classic James Gunn action sequence where the CGI/practical elements are brought together seamlessly and a scene-stealing side character gets to wail on a bunch of faceless goons to a cool song. 

6.Average Duck Boat Tour Disturbance -Nobody 2

 

Fair or not, Nobody 2 had the unenviable task of trying to match or top the incredible fight sequences from the first film. Despite ultimately failing to reach the peaks of its predecessor, it's still a really fun movie full of sick action. This particularly goofy sequence makes really great use of its unique setting and the shots of chaos breaking out in the background while the people in the front of the boat are fully locked into the duck boat tour made me laugh pretty hard.

5.All Hell Breaks Loose-Diablo

Diablo appears to blow most of its low budget on this sequence and its big final set piece set at an abandoned factory. If this was indeed the case, it was 100% worth it. What makes me prefer this scene from pretty early on in the film to the finale is the beautifully executed mayhem that organically leads to into the first of the few fights that take place between martial arts legends Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror during Diablo's lethally efficient 91-minute runtime.  

4.Driving Shootout Through the Streets of Nice-Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

Having the big action payoff of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera be an unbearably tense extended chase/shootout through the winding tunnels and mountainsides of Nice, France (or more accurately, Spain's Canary Islands doubling as Nice) is one of the many reasons these movies rip so hard.

3.Tom Cruise Risks His Life for the Movies Part 123-Mission-Impossible: The Final Reckoning

This would've been a spot higher if it had been the first time Tom Cruise had hung from the side of an airplane in a Mission-Impossible movie. Despite its similarity to a famous stunt from Rogue Nation, it remains an exhilarating sequence that helps The Final Reckoning atone for the sins of its first act in the final one. 

2.Grenade Fight-Ballerina

Watching Ana de Armas survive an ambush at an arms dealer's hideout by finding a box of grenades in a locked room was the very moment that I knew that Chad Stahelski had come in and saved Ballerina from being the first movie in the John Wick universe to miss the mark. 

1.Flamethrower Fight-Ballerina

Nothing else I watched in 2025 had an action scene that came anywhere close to matching this one. The John Wick franchise just continues to find ways to pull off creative fight scenes full of unreal stuntwork and pristine editing and this insane climactic fight with FUCKING FLAMETHROWERS is every bit as good as the finest moments from the main franchise. 

NFL Conference Championship Predictions

 Last Week: 3-1 (Correct: Seahawks, Patriots, Rams Incorrect: Bills)

Overall Playoff Record: 7-3

New England Patriots Over Denver Broncos:

Before I talk about this game, I have to put into writing that the Broncos made me eat shit with their performance last week. They took advantage of the many mistakes the Bills made, and Bo Nix shook off of a very rough second half to deliver when his team needed him the most during the end of the 4th quarter/overtime to lead the Broncos to a gutsy win that granted them the opportunity to return to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 2015. 

Moving on today's game, Nix being sidelined with a broken ankle changes the complexion of this game entirely. Nix's mobility is the key to the entire Broncos offense and without him under center, their system becomes much more predictable and their RB's and pass-catchers beyond Courtland Sutton aren't strong enough to have faith in their ability to overcome the loss of their second year signalcaller's improvisational gifts. On top of this, Nix's backup Jarrett Stidham has not taken a meaningful snap since the end of the 2023 season and only has 4 career starts during his 7-year NFL career. Nobody in NFL history has started a Conference Championship with this little game action under their belt and asking somebody this green to come off the bench and lead you to a Super Bowl is a huge ask, especially against a defense that has been stifling against both the run and pass in each of their playoff games thus far. 

Any path to a Broncos victory will most likely have to be through their defense once again being able to take advantage of their opponent's miscues/offensive line woes (which is feasible as the Patriots have turned the ball over a whopping five times and allowed 10 sacks over the past two games) and/or the Patriots once again succumbing to the horrors of Mile High (they've lost all four of their previous playoff games in franchise history). To put it more succinctly, I just don't think the Broncos in a good position to win today given the huge matchup disadvantages they're being handed with their offense going against the Pats defense. 

Seattle Seahawks over Los Angeles Rams:

Even after the shellacking they handed the 49ers at home last week, having faith in the Seahawks isn't an easy to thing to do right now. Sam Darnold wasn't exactly rolling against the 49ers (12/17, 124 YDS, 1 TD), their rushing attack will now fall squarely on the shoulders of Kenneth Walker III as Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL last week and it feels like they need things that can't be relied upon to happen every week like special teams or defensive scores to really gain control of a game. If a shootout situation emerges like it did during their last meeting back in Week 16, I don't think the 'Hawks will be able to win this time around. 

The sole reason I'm picking the Seahawks here is that I don't think the Rams offense has been particularly strong over the past two weeks. Save for a few drives, they had a very hard time moving the ball against a pretty terrible Bears defense. Going against a Seahawks team that shares Bears DC Dennis Allen's love of throwing out weird blitz looks but doesn't share Allen's group inability to stop the run would be a nightmare scenario for the Rams team we've seen over the past couple of weeks. If anybody can get back on track after a pair of down weeks, it's Stafford, Sean McVay, Puka Nacua and the deeply talented Rams offense- I just can't in good conscience pick them to win a game in which they're squaring off with the best defense by far they've played in the playoffs after seeing what they've done in the playoffs up to this point. 

Rebecca Ferguson Ranked

 Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Rebecca Ferguson-whose latest project "Mercy" releases in theaters today. 

Rebecca Ferguson's Filmography Ranked:

15.The Greatest Showman (C)

14.Florence Foster Jenkins (C)

13.Men in Black: International (C+)

12.The Kid Who Would Be King (B-)

11.Hercules (B-) 

10.Life (B-)

9.A House of Dynamite (B-)

8.Reminiscence (B-) 

7.Mission-Impossible: Rogue Nation (B)

6.Dune: Part Two (B)

5.The Girl on the Train (B+)

4.Dune (B+)

3.Doctor Sleep (B+)

2.Mission-Impossible: Dead Reckoning (B+)

1.Mission-Impossible: Fallout (B+)

Top Dog: Mission-Impossible: Fallout (2018)

The Mission-Impossible franchise was able to maintain a pretty consistent quality standard once the scale got upped with the third film that would be the envy of most other long-running franchises. While I don't believe the gap is as significant as some people do, Fallout does sit a bit above the other entries that came out during this 20-year golden period for Tom Cruise's spy franchise. Fallout earned its way to the top of the pack for one simple reason: the action sequences and stuntwork are the craziest of the entire franchise. This movie just stacks propulsive setpieces on top of each other until it rides off into the sunset after 2.5 glorious hours. It's just an unbelievable accomplishment that will have action movie fans gushing for the rest of time. 

Bottom Feeder: The Greatest Showman (2017)

Michael Gracey's stylish, technically dazzling direction on Better Man impressed me so much that I decided to finally give The Greatest Showman a shot. After watching it, I'm blown away that these two films were directed by the same person. The Greatest Showman is really the anti-Better Man as it doesn't have an interesting, risk-taking bone in its body. The starry cast (Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Ferguson) does what they can to try and elevate the material they were given, but they're just no match for the heaping helping of vanilla "follow your dreams" sentimentality and cutesy focus group-tested songs that this film serves up. 

Most Underrated: The Girl on the Train (2016)

Being utterly delighted by The Housemaid last month got me thinking about other trashy thrillers that have come out in the past decade. The Girl on the Train has become the most slept-on title from the initial wave of titles from this subgenre that arrived on the scene after the success of Gone Girl brought it back into the spotlight. Emily Blunt does some of the best work of her storied career as a blackout-prone alcoholic who isn't quite sure if she witnessed the murder of a young woman (Haley Bennett) from a commuter train bound for New York City, Tate Taylor delivers the sturdy direction that made him one of the most in-demand studio filmmakers of the 2010's and the stacked supporting cast (Justin Theroux, Ferguson, Allison Janney, Lisa Kudrow, Luke Evans) help sell the shit out of the barrage of absurd twists that make or break these kinds of movies.

Most Overrated: Dune: Part Two (2024)

Denis Villeneuve is somebody who handles spectacle and tension incredibly well but tends to struggle with delivering emotion. This has never been more apparent in a film of his than it is in Dune: Part Two. The transformation of Paul Atreides from potential liberator of the oppressed to budding tyrant is supposed to be this devastating tale about how power corrupts and yet through the combination of Dune's unbelievable scale and emotional coldness, it never gets close enough to Atreides for the viewer to feel the true weight of his turn towards darkness. The lack of emotional substance in Dune: Part Two is the main reason why my excitement level for the more character-driven Dune: Part Three is so muted.

Oscar Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning in Los Angeles, this year's Oscar nominations will be revealed. Here are the films and individuals I expect to be in the running for gold statues this year. 

Best Picture:

Bugonia 

Frankenstein

Hamnet

It Was Just an Accident 

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

The Secret Agent

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Train Dreams

Locks: Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sentimental Value, Sinners

Toss-Ups: Bugonia, It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent, Train Dreams

Other Possible Contenders: Avatar: Fire and Ash, F1, No Other Choice, Sirat, Weapons

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value

Chloe Zhao, Hamnet

Locks: Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Chloe Zhao

Toss-Ups: Josh Safdie, Joachim Trier

Other Possible Contenders: Clint Bentley (Train Dreams), Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein), Kieber Mendoca Filho (The Secret Agent), Yorgos Lanthimos (Bugonia), Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)

Best Actor:

Timothee Chalamet, Marty Supreme

Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another

Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Locks: Timothee Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke, Michael B. Jordan, Wagner Moura

Toss-Ups: None

Other Possible Contenders: George Clooney (Jay Kelly), Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), Lee Byung-hun (No Other Choice), Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine), Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)

Best Actress:

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You

Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value

Emma Stone, Bugonia

Locks: Jessie Buckley, Rose Byrne

Toss-Ups: Chase Infiniti, Renate Reinsve, Emma Stone

Other Possible Contenders: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love), Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee), Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

Best Supporting Actor:

Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

Paul Mescal, Hamnet

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Stellan Skarsgard, Sentimental Value

Locks: Benicio del Toro, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal, Sean Penn, Stellan Skarsgard

Toss-Ups: None

Other Possible Contenders: Miles Caton (Sinners), Delroy Lindo (Sinners), William H. Macy (Train Dreams), Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly), Andrew Scott (Blue Moon)

Best Supporting Actress:

Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value

Amy Madigan, Weapons

Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners

Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Locks: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Amy Madigan, Teyana Taylor

Toss-Ups: Ariana Grande, Wunmi Mosaku

Other Possible Contenders: Odessa A'zion (Marty Supreme), Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine) Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value), Regina Hall (One Battle After Another), Gwyneth Paltrow (Marty Supreme)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Bugonia

Hamnet

No Other Choice

One Battle After Another

Train Dreams

Locks: Hamnet, One Battle After Another

Toss-Ups: Bugonia, No Other Choice, Train Dreams

Other Possible Contenders: Frankenstein, Hedda, The Long Walk, Nuremberg, Wake Up Dead Man

Best Original Screenplay:

It Was Just an Accident

Marty Supreme

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Sorry, Baby

Locks: It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value, Sinners

Toss-Ups: Marty Supreme, Sorry, Baby

Other Possible Contenders: Blue Moon, Is This Thing On?, Jay Kelly, The Secret Agent, Weapons

Best Animated Feature:

Arco

Kpop Demon Hunters

Little Amelie or the Character of Rain

Scarlet

Zootopia 2

Locks: Arco, Kpop Demon Hunters, Zootopia 2

Toss-Ups: Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, Scarlet

Other Possible Contenders: The Bad Guys 2, In Your Dreams, Elio 

Best Documentary Feature:

2000 Meters to Andriivika

The Alabama Solution

Cover-Up

My Undesirable Friends

The Perfect Neighbor

Locks: 2000 Meters to Andriivika, Cover-Up

Toss-Ups: The Alabama Solution, My Undesirable Friends, The Perfect Neighbor

Other Possible Contenders: Apocalypse in the Tropics, Come See Me in the Good Light, Holding Liat, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Seeds 

Best International Film:

It Was Just an Accident

No Other Choice

Sentimental Value

The Secret Agent 

Sirat

Locks: It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent

Toss-Up: No Other Choice, Sirat

Other Potential Contenders: Kokuho, Left-Handed Girl, The President's Cake, Sound of Falling, The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best Casting:

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Best Cinematography: 

Frankenstein

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Train Dreams

Best Film Editing:

F1

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Best Costume Design:

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Hedda

Sinners

Wicked: For Good

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Frankenstein

One Battle After Another

The Smashing Machine

Sinners

Wicked: For Good

Best Production Design:

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

Sinners

Wicked: For Good

Best Score:

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Best Original Song:

"Dear Me" (Diane Warren: Relentless)

"The Girl in the Bubble" (Wicked: For Good)

"Golden" (Kpop Demon Hunters)

"I Lied to You" (Sinners)

"Train Dreams" (Train Dreams)

Best Sound:

Avatar: Fire and Ash

F1

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Sirat

Best Visual Effects:

Avatar: Fire and Ash

F1

Frankenstein

Sinners

Superman

Best Animated Short:

Autokar

Eiru

Playing God

Retirement Plan

Snow Bear

Best Documentary Short:

All the Empty Rooms

Armed With Only a Camera

The Devil is Busy

Perfectly a Strangeness 

We Were the Scenery 

Best Live Action Short:

The Boy with White Skin

Jane Austen's Period Drama

The Singers

Two People Exchanging Saliva