Badland Hunters (2024) | If you are seeking a mindless, action-packed diversion with a dash of gore, this Korean flick is worth a watch. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.1/10. There are movies that know exactly what they are, and then there’s Badland Hunters, which feels like it spun a giant “post-apocalyptic chaos” wheel and decided to include every genre it landed on. Earthquake disaster? Yep. Mad scientist? Sure. Mutants? Absolutely. Zombie-ish weirdness? Why not. Brutal fistfights? Thankfully, yes. It's basically throwing leftovers into a blender and hoping somehow it becomes a gourmet meal. Sometimes it kind of works. Mostly, it just tastes confusing.

Set in a ruined, lawless Seoul after a catastrophic earthquake turns society into dust and survival mode, Badland Hunters follows Nam-San, played by the always dependable Ma Dong-seok (aka the human equivalent of a freight train with fists). When a teenager is abducted by a deranged doctor running experiments that scream “this probably violates several ethical guidelines,” Nam-San heads out on a rescue mission with his trademark blend of intimidation and punching things into next Tuesday.

And honestly? Ma Dong-seok is the main reason this movie stays upright.

The man walks into scenes carrying enough charisma to power the entire wasteland. His performance has that familiar action-hero confidence fans love, where he somehow looks both mildly inconvenienced and fully prepared to flatten six people at once. Every time Badland Hunters threatens to disappear into its own ridiculousness, Ma shows up and drags it back with pure screen presence. You almost start wishing the movie would stop talking and just let him silently wander around solving problems with his fists.

Because the story itself? Bit of a mess.

The film piles on dystopian clichés like it got charged per unused trope. The CGI-heavy setting gives Seoul a decent enough ruined-world look, but it often feels overly artificial, like a very expensive video game cutscene stretched into a feature film. Fast-paced? Definitely. Memorable? Not so much.

Then there’s the tonal whiplash. Badland Hunters desperately wants to be everything at once. Survival thriller, creature feature, action spectacle, horror movie, dark comedy. Take your pick. And instead ends up feeling like five different movies awkwardly sharing a tiny apartment. Some comedic moments land with all the grace of someone stepping on LEGO during the apocalypse, while several performances outside of Ma Dong-seok veer into overacting territory hard enough to yell, "Alrighty then!"

Still, boredom is not a word that ever crossed my mind. The movie moves fast, throws plenty of weirdness at the screen, and delivers some satisfyingly brutal gore. Especially during the finale. Gorehounds looking for crunchy action and mutant mayhem should walk away happier than anyone looking for deep meaning.

Badland Hunters (2024)

In the end, Badland Hunters is a mixed bag. We get big punches, strange choices, and wasted potential. If you want a mindless, action-packed diversion with a bit of gore and a whole lot of Ma Dong-seok being awesome, it’s worth watching. If you’re after something smarter or more original, you’re probably better off revisiting his Roundup films.

https://jackmeat.com/badland-hunters-2024/

Crime 101 (2026) | A cool-looking heist flick that sometimes takes the scenic route, but still lands the plane with Hollywood confidence. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.9/10. Crime 101 starts with a nice upside-down shot of Los Angeles taken at night. Already here, I can tell that this is trying to appear as stylish as possible, and thank goodness, it is. Set against the sun-bleached grit of L.A., this crime thriller follows an elusive thief, played by a very charismatic Chris Hemsworth, whose elaborate robberies along the iconic 101 freeway have authorities scratching their heads. Planning one last giant score (because apparently, criminals in movies always think retirement is realistic), he crosses paths with a struggling insurance broker played by Halle Berry. Meanwhile, a relentless detective portrayed by Mark Ruffalo inches closer to blowing the whole thing apart.

One of the immediate highlights for me was seeing Nick Nolte show up as the head honcho, Money. Nolte just has one of those faces where you instantly believe he has seen some things, and probably yelled at at least three people before breakfast. He brings a gritty old-school energy to Crime 101 that works perfectly for the world it is building.

Then we get Maya, played by Monica Barbaro, who literally crashes into Hemsworth’s life after slamming into his car. They exchange information like normal people after a fender bender, except this is a movie, so naturally, he turns that number into a date opportunity. Smooth? Questionable. Effective? Apparently. But the relationship had me laughing for reasons I don’t think were entirely intentional. Date number one, she is acting completely weirded out about going to some fancy restaurant, like she accidentally wandered into a billionaire convention. Date number two? Suddenly, she rolls up in a jet-black evening dress, looking like she owns the place. Pick a lane, woman! Or maybe more accurately…pick a lane, writer/director Bart Layton.

Speaking of Layton, I would bet good money he has watched Heat a few times. Actually, probably more than a few. Crime 101 shares a few similarities with that classic robbery film from 1995, from the game of cat and mouse to the criminals attempting to get one last big payday. Regardless of whether this similarity originated from Layton or the author of the book, Don Winslow, Crime 101 still had me thinking back to checking out Heat at the drive-in.

Thankfully, Crime 101 develops its characters enough that the story has some depth. Nobody feels like cardboard filler standing around waiting for explosions. The actors keep things entertaining, and the suspense is built up nicely toward the finale. That said, there are definitely some dull moments that occur from time to time when you get the feeling that the movie is stuck in traffic on the 101.

Still, Crime 101 is an enjoyable, stylish crime caper with more than enough gloss, good acting, and showbiz bravado to keep you entertained. With what could easily be regarded as the perfect Hollywood ending. Which works sometimes, and doesn’t always work other times, but after sitting through the entire 142-minute run time, I was willing to let it have its moment.

Crime 101 (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/crime-101-2026/

Lure (2026) | If you’ve ever wanted Saw-lite with less everything and more accidental comedy, this 2026 movie, Lure, has you covered. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.6/10. Somewhere out there, a filmmaker watched Saw, thought “what if this had less money, more awkward acting, and a rich girl handing out death games like party favors?” and thus, Lure (2026) was born.

The movie kicks off with a random guy sprinting through the woods like he is late for the bus, only to get snagged by a conveniently placed barbed wire trap and collected by a mysterious woman. Nothing says “good start” quite like immediately wondering if you accidentally sat on the wrong streaming title. Soon after, we meet Tom (Kit Esuruoso), who arrives at an invitation-only party hosted by the mysterious and alluring Islay (Silvia Presente). And by “party,” I mean a deeply concerning social gathering where tied-up men are casually displayed like centerpieces. Islay politely introduces each one as if she’s hosting The Bachelor: Cult Family Edition.

The setup is simple enough. Six men compete in a series of games to become the perfect suitor for the rich girl. Romantic, right? Of course, there’s a catch. Mouth off to Islay and your head may quite literally explode. The movie wastes little time turning into discount Saw, with a bunch of self-inflicted tasks and survival challenges thrown into the mix. Unfortunately, the quick-cut camera work makes it weirdly difficult to even tell what some of the contestants are actually doing half the time. It feels less like building suspense and more like the editor accidentally drank six energy drinks before touching the timeline.

As expected, logic takes a holiday. Thankfully for Tom, six-shooter revolvers apparently come with magical self-reloading technology in Lure’s universe. Who needs realism when the gun decides, “You know what? Let’s keep this scene moving.”

Performance-wise, Silvia Presente does a decent enough job as the sinister Islay, carrying herself with the right blend of charm and menace. There’s at least something there to keep your attention. Gregory Fung as Markus, though, delivers one of the strangest performances in the film. At times, it genuinely feels like he wandered into frame, unaware filming had already started. The rest of the cast mostly blends into one forgettable pile of disposable victims.

The technical side does not exactly save things either. The effects are basic, the CGI splatter lacks punch, and somehow the music frequently overpowers the dialogue. Granted, nobody is exactly delivering life-changing philosophy here, but it would still be nice to hear what people are saying before someone inevitably gets maimed.

Maybe Lure (2026) would have landed differently if it had existed before Saw. Or if it had a budget bigger than the price of a decent takeaway dinner. As it stands, this is a silly little death-game thriller with a straightforward setup, weak execution, and not much to chew on beyond Silvia Presente’s screen presence.

Lure (2026)

Not the worst horror movie lurking in the bargain bin, but definitely a pass. You can find better.

https://jackmeat.com/lure-2026/

The Housemaid (2025) | Millie gets a dream job & ignores every red flag in sight while Amanda Seyfried is disturbing in the best way. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.4/10. Good to see The Housemaid wastes absolutely no time getting started. Millie Calloway, played by Sydney Sweeney, rolls up to this gigantic mansion looking to interview for a live-in maid position with wealthy couple Nina and Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar). Right away, things feel a little too polished, a little too perfect, and considering Millie is basically living out of her car with a résumé held together by pure confidence and crossed fingers, she assumes there is no chance she lands the job. Of course, if she did not get the phone call shortly after offering her the position, we would have ourselves a very short movie.

Things go sideways impressively fast. It takes roughly one day before Millie realizes Nina Winchester, played so well by Amanda Seyfried, might be just a tiny bit unhinged. And by “tiny bit,” I mean completely off her rocker. The dream job suddenly becomes one of those situations where every room in the house feels like somebody is one bad day away from throwing a vase through a window.

Now, here is where The Housemaid occasionally frustrated me, mostly because Millie might be one of the worst liars ever written. Early on, she gets caught in these painfully obvious fibs, like explaining why she wore glasses during the interview but suddenly not afterward with the incredibly suspicious excuse of, “I do not always wear them, contacts.” Millie… just say you wear them for driving! Problem solved! Crisis averted! Instead, she practically waves a giant “I AM LYING” flag over her head.

And speaking of questionable judgment, Millie continues making decisions that had me shaking my head while also laughing at how obvious some of the setups felt. Already told to stay away from the husband? Sure, why not go see a show with him using tickets you were literally asked to buy for mysterious reasons. Oh, and why stop there? Might as well end the night at a hotel, too. You don't think that gifted phone is tracking you, do you? At several points, The Housemaid had me thinking, "okay, this setup feels way too convenient…somebody is absolutely playing chess here while Millie is stuck playing checkers".

To the movie’s credit, while the first half does not bring many surprises, things improve once the twists start kicking in. I was actually pretty close to guessing where things were headed, but not close enough to nail it exactly, and I am glad. The reveals land effectively even when you kind of feel the movie nudging you in the right direction.

Performance-wise, everyone does solid work, but Seyfried is operating several levels above everyone else. She absolutely owns every scene she is in and walks the line between unstable, manipulative, and oddly fascinating. Sklenar conveys a certain devious side quite well. Sydney Sweeney does fine as Millie, and yes, if you are wondering whether the marketing leaned into Sweeney’s sex appeal, the answer is definitely yes LOL.

Directed by Paul Feig, The Housemaid looks good and moves along at a nice pace. The darkly funny little wrap-up scene at the end honestly ended up being one of my favorite moments in the whole movie.

The Housemaid (2025)

I had no idea The Housemaid was based on a book, so I went in with zero comparison baggage. Although, as always, I am sure somewhere out there the book fans are already sharpening their pitchforks and whispering, “the book was better” LOL.

https://jackmeat.com/the-housemaid-2025/

Project Hail Mary (2026) | The fact that an alien rock-spider became one of my favorite movie characters this year was not on my bingo card. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 8.4/10. Project Hail Mary starts with a body bag, and immediately, I am sitting there thinking, "okay, this is my type of flick," LOL. I know, wrong genre entirely. But when a movie opens with a guy waking from a coma, confused, in space, beside a couple of dead bodies, it definitely gets your attention fast. Turns out it's not horror, just one very confused man aboard a spaceship, seemingly all alone and very far from home.

Ryan Gosling plays middle school science teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up light-years from Earth with no recollection of who he is, why he is there, or what exactly humanity expects him to accomplish. As his memory slowly comes back, Project Hail Mary fills us in through flashbacks and introduces the very big problem at hand. The sun is dying, Earth is in trouble, and somehow this science teacher has been roped into humanity’s last desperate attempt to stop extinction.

Thankfully, the movie does not spend forever playing the “who am I?” card. Grace regains his memories fairly quickly, so the mystery becomes less about what is happening and more about why he specifically ended up on this mission. Watching him piece things together while trying to science his way through impossible problems keeps things moving nicely, and surprisingly, the science itself is actually fun. The movie throws plenty of scientific concepts at you without making it feel like homework. Although honestly, if Ryan Gosling were teaching science back in middle school, attendance rates probably would have been through the roof.

What really surprised me about Project Hail Mary was the humor. It isn't some laugh-out-loud comedy, but the subtle humor works incredibly well. Then Grace makes contact with his alien companion Rocky, and suddenly the movie becomes a fantastic buddy story I didn't see coming. Watching these two awkwardly figure each other out while teaming up to save not just our sun, but all the stars, was quite entertaining. Rocky quickly becomes the heart of the movie, and their friendship ended up hitting way harder emotionally than I expected.

Sandra Hüller is also excellent as Eva, the organizer behind this impossible mission, bringing a bit of seriousness to the Earth-side story. Also, random fun moment, one of the astronauts is Milana Vayntrub from the AT&T commercials LOL. Definitely had one of those “wait, I know her” moments.

Visually, Project Hail Mary looks fantastic, especially the scenes outside the ship. Even more impressive is learning that they avoided green screen and relied heavily on practical sets. Rocky was largely performed practically as well, with puppetry used so Gosling had something physical to react to, while CGI mainly cleaned things up. Considering Gosling spends most of this movie essentially alone acting opposite his little puppet buddy, he absolutely carries this thing.

Project Hail Mary (2026)

Instead of another sci-fi disaster movie, Project Hail Mary caught me off guard by its surprisingly heartfelt story. One about loneliness, friendship, bravery, sacrifice, and change. I went in basically blind, and I am really glad I did. I expect to be hearing more about this one come Oscar time.

https://jackmeat.com/project-hail-mary-2026/

How to Make a Killing (2026) | Turns out murdering your wealthy relatives is harder when you keep casually visiting them right beforehand. Who knew? #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.1/10. Four hours until execution. I know because the giant text on the screen politely informed me. That is where How to Make a Killing kicks things off, with blue-collar Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) sitting on death row getting a visit from a priest. Naturally, this means we are about to hear the story of how things went wrong.

The movie rewinds all the way back to Becket’s beginnings, where his obscenely wealthy family gives his pregnant mother a lovely little ultimatum. Abort the baby and stay rich, or keep him and get kicked out of the family fortune. She chooses motherhood, which leaves Becket growing up on the outside while still trying to mold himself into someone worthy of the elite lifestyle he missed out on.

The twist that fuels the whole movie is a legal loophole stating Becket gets the massive Redfellow inheritance if he outlasts every other family member. And by “outlasts,” well…this movie has a very creative interpretation of patience.

Things start innocent enough, but the darker edges creep in pretty quickly, especially when Becket reconnects with childhood crush Julia (Margaret Qualley), who casually tells him, “Call me when you’ve killed them all.” That line alone feels like the movie quietly telling you exactly where this train is headed.

I will admit, if I were planning to eliminate an entire wealthy family, I might go about it with a little more common sense than Becket demonstrates. Maybe avoid meeting up with each relative shortly before they mysteriously die? Just a thought. Thankfully, How to Make a Killing tries more dark comedy rather than believable crime logic, which makes the sillier moments easier to roll with.

Powell does a solid job carrying the film with his usual charm, even when Becket makes decisions questionable enough to make you yell at the screen. Ed Harris as Whitelaw Redfellow also feels like perfect casting. He brings exactly the kind of intimidating rich-family patriarch energy this movie needs, even if the character itself is not especially deep.

There is not much complexity here, and How to Make a Killing never really pushes beyond its basic premise, making parts of it predictable. The writing can feel cheesy and a bit contrived at times, though thankfully, it never becomes overly annoying. It still succeeds at what it sets out to do. Be a fun, easy piece of entertainment.

The movie appears to be a direct remake of Kind Hearts and Coronets, which I have not seen, except that one had Alec Guinness playing eight lead roles, and I am willing to bet his acting was better. LOL.

How to Make a Killing (2026)

At the end of the day, How to Make a Killing did not blow me away in the slightest, but I had a good time with it, and sometimes that is all a movie really needs to do.

https://jackmeat.com/how-to-make-a-killing-2026/

A Town Full Of Ghosts (2023) | A Town Full Of Ghosts looked promising with its creepy setting, but the acting scared me more than the ghosts. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.6/10. Looks like another found footage gem. HAHA. As always, I watch everything so you don’t have to, and A Town Full Of Ghosts is yet another reminder that just because you can make a found footage movie doesn’t necessarily mean the ghost town should’ve stayed haunted by your screenplay.

To be fair, if nothing else, the setting here immediately caught my attention. An old abandoned ghost town? Sign me up. Writer/director Isaac Rodriguez clearly has no intention of letting the shaky cam genre die peacefully, having just released Last Radio Call the year prior, using the same handi-cam approach. Somewhere out there, found footage is refusing to go into the light, and Rodriguez seems determined to keep dragging it back.

He also must have had The Shining on repeat recently because this movie doesn’t just take inspiration from it. It practically borrows the keys to the Overlook Hotel gift shop. Even the production company name, No Sleep Films, feels suspiciously on the nose.

The biggest issue here is the acting, and unfortunately, that’s not exactly a tiny speed bump when your movie relies heavily on audience investment. If the performances had even reached average territory, A Town Full Of Ghosts could have at least landed in “tolerable late-night horror watch” territory. Instead, nearly every character reaction feels painfully unbelievable. Nobody behaves like an actual person would, which made it impossible for me to care what happened to any of them. When bad things started happening, my emotional response was not “Oh no!” and more “Well…anyway.”

Ironically, the setup and location are actually pretty solid. The creepy little town genuinely works, whether it’s authentic abandoned structures or carefully dressed sets. Filming took place at J. Lorraine Ghost Town, and honestly, a quick search about the location is more entertaining than parts of the movie itself. The crumbling buildings, rusted fences, and bizarre maze in the center of town make for excellent atmosphere. It’s exactly the type of place horror fans want to wander around while making terrible choices.

Unfortunately, the story never really capitalizes on those surroundings. The town’s ancient backstory feels flimsy until a hilariously convenient, weirdly over-produced reel of “old” film suddenly appears to explain everything. This supposed ancient footage looked way too polished and professionally terrifying to be believable. Also, tiny question here. How exactly did they get the projector running in a town with no electricity? Unless ghosts suddenly majored in electrical engineering, I must have missed something.

Things really slide into familiar found footage clichés once Mark (played by Andrew C. Fisher) begins losing his sanity after purchasing the town alongside his partner (Mandy Lee Rubio) to turn it into a tourist attraction. From there, it’s the usual FF starter pack. Running through darkness, frantic screaming, shaky camera pointed behind people, and lots of “Wait, what was that?!” moments that stopped being scary for me about 3 decades ago…honestly, probably longer.

Mark’s descent into madness is also strangely rushed. No clever breadcrumbs, subtle character shifts, or eerie psychological unraveling. Just “Here you go, he’s losing it now.” Enjoy. Or don’t.

A Town Full of Ghosts (2022)

Anyone who reads my reviews knows I typically loathe found footage horror, but I still give every one of them a fair shake. So the fact A Town Full Of Ghosts managed to claw its way to a rounded 4/10 from me is, somehow, progress. I didn’t get much out of this beyond a genuinely creepy setting and the occasional accidental laugh, but if abandoned ghost towns are your thing, you might squeeze a little more entertainment out of it than I did. Just don’t expect the ghosts to be the scariest thing here. The acting already claimed that title.

https://jackmeat.com/a-town-full-of-ghosts-2023/