Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) | Fun dino action with stunning visuals, but the magic’s long extinct. JW Rebirth delivers expected thrills without recapturing that original awe. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.1/10. Five years after the somewhat lackluster finale of Jurassic World Dominion, Universal decided the dinos weren’t quite extinct at the box office. So here comes Jurassic World Rebirth, dusting off those prehistoric giants for another run, this time led by covert ops expert Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), who’s been hired to secure genetic material from the three biggest dinosaurs on Earth. Naturally, she brings along a team that feels like it was pulled straight out of the Action Movie Team Starter Pack, including Mahershala Ali as the smooth, capable Duncan Kincaid.

When their mission collides with an unfortunate civilian family whose vacation boat trip gets wrecked (because, of course, it does), everyone winds up stranded on a remote island teeming with dinosaurs. The classic John Williams themes still manage to give you goosebumps, echoing back to that first majestic Brachiosaurus reveal. What follows is your standard-issue survival adventure, sprinkled with a conspiracy twist involving a decades-old secret that’s predictably more sinister than anyone bargained for.

On the bright side, the cinematography by John Mathieson is fantastic. Whenever the action ramps up, dinosaurs sprinting, clawing, or soaring across the screen. It’s genuinely thrilling to look at. Director Gareth Edwards pulls it all together nicely. The creatures themselves are beautifully rendered; the visual effects team made sure the dinosaurs still pack a punch, even if they no longer deliver that jaw-dropping-in-the-theater awe we all felt back in 1993. Similar to that first theater viewing of Avatar, or what I had recently, with a feeling like I was in the room during my VR watch of The Faceless Lady.

But that’s also part of the problem. The sense of wonder feels automated now. The technology has reached a point where seeing a dinosaur on screen is almost mundane, expected, rather than exhilarating. It’s like going to a fireworks show you’ve seen a dozen times: still pretty, but it doesn’t get my heart racing. The mutant hybrid dinosaurs — now culminating in the so-called D-Rex, which looks suspiciously like a T-Rex bred with Jabba’s pet Rancor — didn’t exactly help. Honestly, dinosaurs were plenty fascinating all on their own. Turning them into monster-movie bosses just cheapens it.

The family subplot mostly felt shoehorned in, a group of hapless civilians there to boost the available targets and give Zora’s team something else to fret over. A baby dinosaur pops up to score “aww” points, but its presence is about as essential as an inflatable pool float in a hurricane.

In the end, I walked out of the theater feeling satisfied but not exactly stunned. Jurassic World Rebirth gave me what I expected: solid dino thrills, a few well-shot chase sequences, and enough nostalgia hits to keep me entertained. But that spark of cinematic magic, the kind that made you believe you were seeing real dinosaurs for the first time, is long gone. Maybe some fossils really are best left buried.

Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

Aside from the theaters, Fandango at Home is the only streamer carrying this right now. Amazon already has it set for January 2026.

https://jackmeat.com/jurassic-world-rebirth-2025/

Ironheart: Season 1 (2025) | So bad I was begging for the villain to melt her suit, her ego, and maybe the script of MCU's most forgettable series. #jackmeatstv

My quick rating - 3.6/10. Ironheart is the kind of Marvel show that made me wish Tony Stark had never bothered to invent a damn suit in the first place. It follows Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a supposed genius teenage inventor who’s crafted the most advanced armor since Iron Man himself, at least that’s what the characters keep saying. Over and over. Because heaven forbid the show actually demonstrate some of Riri’s brilliance instead of hammering it into our skulls with constant, breathless praise.

There are so many things wrong with this series that it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s go with the most glaring: Riri is completely unlikable. And not in that interesting anti-hero way where you’re supposed to be conflicted. No, she’s just rude, dismissive, and downright unpleasant to her friends and family, to the point where you start rooting for the villain to put her in her place. This isn’t a knock on Dominique Thorne, who tries her best with the script. It’s purely a writing problem; the series doesn’t give her a single redeeming quality to latch onto. Her genius? Only evident because the show won’t shut up about it.

Then there’s the baffling usage of Natalie (Lyric Ross), Riri’s deceased friend, who gets accidentally resurrected as a holographic A.I. You’d think they’d take the logical approach and have her serve as Riri’s “Jarvis,” tied directly to the suit. But no, Natalie just pops up wherever is most convenient for the scene— wandering around like an actual ghost until the show remembers she’s digital and poof, she evaporates into pixel dust. It’s all clumsy emotion with zero coherent tech logic.

And what happened to Wakanda’s interest in Riri? They brought her into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, treated her like the next world-changing figure, then… promptly forgot she existed. Apparently the most technologically advanced nation on Earth couldn’t be bothered to keep tabs on the super prodigy they once risked everything to protect.

Anthony Ramos gives a perfectly serviceable turn as Parker, the villain, but it’s hard to care whether he succeeds or fails when neither outcome seems to matter much. Honestly, if he’d managed to blast Riri into scrap metal halfway through, I’d have simply shrugged.

Visually, the series looks sharp. The suits, the effects, the slick tech overlays, they’re all top-tier Marvel fare. But that’s where the compliments end. The show’s one intriguing thread shows up in its final moments: the introduction of Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), a character comic fans like me know from countless devilish storylines. Too bad he crawled out of hell to make his live-action debut in what’s easily Marvel’s most forgettable series to date.

Ironheart (2025)

Here’s hoping they quietly let this misfire rust into obscurity. As for me, I’ll just pretend Ironheart never happened until Mephisto pops back up somewhere that’s actually worth watching.

Disney+ is your streamer of choice for this one right now.

https://jackmeat.com/ironheart-season-1-2025/

Bring Her Back (2025) | The Philippou brothers have crafted a horror movie you ought to watch blind. It’s disturbing, gripping, and at times shockingly grotesque with a purpose. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.5/10. If you thought the Philippou brothers might ease off the gas after Talk to Me, think again. With Bring Her Back, Danny and Michael Philippou prove they're determined to keep Australian horror on the global map, and keep your nerves thoroughly shredded in the process.

Following the death of their father, a brother (Billy Barratt) and sister (newcomer Sora Wong) are taken in by their foster mother, only to meet their new “sibling,” who harbors a secret that quickly spins their grieving household into a waking nightmare. What starts as an unsettling family drama morphs into a disturbing exploration of grief, trauma, and how far a mother will go to heal her own broken world, or shatter someone else’s.

Make no mistake, this movie is NOT your typical jump-scare carnival ride. The horror here runs deeper, gnawing at you with a sinister, slow burn. When it does decide to get graphic, it doesn’t hold back; there are several moments that had me recoiling, muttering “WTF” under my breath as I watched, thoroughly entertained.

Jonah Wren Phillips delivers one hell of a performance as Ollie (Oliver), the newly introduced sibling whose unsettling presence ramps up the dread with every hungry glance. He’s pure nightmare fuel, and watching his appetite, both literal and metaphorical, evolve is enough to keep your skin crawling long after the credits roll.

But if there’s a breakout story here, it’s Sora Wong. Shockingly, this was her first role ever, and you wouldn’t know it for a second. She anchors the film with an authentic portrayal of Piper, the sister caught between mourning her father and navigating a household that’s growing more sinister by the day. Her performance is vital to the film’s emotional weight, and she pulls it off with impressive nuance.

Sally Hawkins also shines as the foster mother, effortlessly flipping between maternal warmth and something far darker. She embodies that unnerving duality, the comforting caregiver and the person who might be willing to cross horrifying lines for love.

What really sets Bring Her Back apart is its fresh spin on the possession subgenre. It’s not just about spirits hopping into bodies for shock value; there’s an actual terrifying logic behind it, a twisted goal that gives the story real stakes. The script also taps deeply into themes of grief and the desperate, irrational choices people make to escape pain—themes that feel even more gut-wrenching because they’re all too relatable. The film's occult elements are described as being evocative of ancient practices, particularly those associated with Eastern folklore, according to the Philippou brothers.

Unlike something like Thunderbolts* (which tackled mental health with a far lighter hand), this film grabs those same themes and drags them down into the abyss, showing just how monstrous human desperation can become.

Bring Her Back (2025)

In the end, Bring Her Back is one of those horror movies you really ought to watch blind. It’s disturbing, gripping, and at times shockingly grotesque, but always with purpose. The Philippou brothers continue to prove they’re more than capable of delivering horror that doesn’t just make you jump, it makes you think, and maybe lose a little sleep too.

Amazon, along with a few other streamers, has this for theater pricing (07.04.25)

https://jackmeat.com/bring-her-back-2025/

A Desert (2025) | This psychological thriller wanders aimlessly at times but it does remind us that ordinary people can harbor grotesque secrets. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.6/10. A Desert is the sort of movie that quietly invites you along for the ride, then halfway through decides to grab the wheel and swerve violently into the murky realm of psychological horror. At its core, it follows a photographer on a soul-searching road trip who crosses paths with a reckless couple. A fateful meeting that spins his journey into a neo-noir nightmare of manipulation and eerie unpredictability.

Going in blind is probably the best way to experience this film. The first act plays out like an atmospheric indie travelogue, steeped in sun-scorched loneliness and cryptic conversations. There's a deliberate patience in how the plot unfolds, and you'll need to bring plenty of your own. The story doesn't so much progress as it meanders, dangling odd character moments and unsettling undercurrents until finally tipping over into darkness.

Once it does, though, it embraces the weird, sometimes to a fault. This isn't some grand surrealistic plunge into a Lynchian dream (despite its obvious aspirations). A minute-long hyper-edited strobe sequence that tries to sum up the entire film in a rapid-fire collage feels more like a film school experiment than meaningful art. At its most indulgent, it seems weird simply for the sake of being weird.

But even if the style occasionally outpaces the substance, there's still enough here to keep things interesting. The psychological horror elements cut deep, driven by the unsettling notion that ordinary people can harbor grotesque secrets. Zachary Ray Sherman steals the show as the unpredictable thief-turned-killer, a smirking powder keg of impulse and cruelty. The script wisely keeps his past murky, letting your imagination conjure up just how twisted his trail of chaos might be.

As for the story itself, it’s more of a skeleton than a fully fleshed-out narrative. The film drops vague hints about bigger machinations, perhaps to tease your curiosity or simply to keep the dreamlike ambiguity intact. I believe they were hinting at some connection to pornography. Whether that’s clever minimalism or just undercooked plotting is up for debate. It certainly doesn’t feel like the start of a franchise, so thankfully it avoids dangling sequel bait.

If you’re hoping for a straightforward slasher or something soaked in gore, you’ll be left stranded in the dust. A Desert is much more invested in human depravity and psychological unraveling, prying at what makes people tick or snap. In the end, it does offer something a little off the beaten path, even if the journey is uneven and at times frustratingly opaque.

A Desert (2025)

So if you have the patience to wander through its meandering wasteland, you might appreciate the detour it takes into raw, unsettling territory. Just don’t expect it to hand you a map.

Only a few streamers to choose from right now, including Amazon.

https://jackmeat.com/a-desert-2025/

Thunderbolts* (2025) | Thunderbolts* is a heartfelt MCU shake-up, more about flawed heroes battling inner demons than saving the world, with stellar cast chemistry and story-driven spectacle. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.7/10. Thunderbolts* might just be the breath of fresh air the MCU needed after years of playing it safe with interchangeable cosmic threats and half-baked humor (No, The Marvels, I haven't forgotten about you). It’s not just another team-up movie—it’s a surprisingly heartfelt exploration of loneliness, trauma, and the very human toll that heroism (or anti-heroism, in this case) can take on a person’s psyche.

The plot is straightforward enough: a ragtag bunch of disillusioned misfits and castoffs from past MCU stories are thrown together for a mission that quickly morphs into a death trap. I appreciated how the film used this setup to dive deep into each character’s struggles with fear, isolation, and regret. It’s powerful to see mental health given this kind of spotlight in a major superhero tentpole, especially since Marvel comics have always tackled the psychological scars that come with saving (or sometimes endangering) the world.

This is arguably the first time the MCU has truly leaned into that theme. The villain itself is an embodiment of the darkness that lives inside him and all of them. And let's be honest, this is a message for everyone watching. They are showing how unity and vulnerability become the only way to overcome it. I found it to be less of a spoiler and more of a cinematic thesis.

Don’t worry, though. This introspection doesn’t come at the expense of spectacle. There’s still plenty of mass destruction, eardrum-rattling Atmos-ready BOOMs, and well-staged chaos. The fight choreography is crisp, inventive, and the visual effects are reliably up to Marvel’s blockbuster standard. It’s just that, for once, the action feels like a complement to the story rather than the main course.

The cast is truly the film’s secret weapon. Florence Pugh is magnetic as ever, effortlessly balancing Yelena’s sardonic humor and deep vulnerability. Wyatt Russell does stellar work as John Walker, the MCU’s own dented and off-brand Captain America—complex, damaged, yet strangely sympathetic. The rest of the ensemble shines too, though it does feel like Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) gets a little lost in the shuffle, which is almost inevitable with so many heavy hitters vying for screentime. Their group dynamic is a joy to watch. Everyone’s trying to pull away, yet somehow gets drawn back together. The film mines this tension for both biting humor and genuine emotion.

In the end, Thunderbolts* is more about these broken people trying to hold each other, and themselves, together than it is about saving the world. It’s refreshing to see a Marvel movie put story and character first. Whether this will be the film that finally snaps the MCU out of its creative slump is hard to say, especially since I believe so much seems to hinge on what happens with Fantastic Four: First Steps (which gets an obvious setup in the mid-credits scene). But for now, it’s safe to say the quality is on the upswing, and Thunderbolts* is a big reason why.

Thunderbolts* (2025)

Just posted for theater at home prices on Amazon, among other streamers.

https://jackmeat.com/thunderbolts-2025/

The Ritual (2025) | The Ritual is exactly what you’d expect a “true exorcism story” to look like, for better AND for worse. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.8/10. The Ritual is a sober, procedural take on exorcism that boasts the true story hook but struggles to rise above the many, many films that have already traversed this terrain. It’s a film that feels almost deliberately plain, offering no cinematic fireworks or shocking revelations—just a careful walk through a case of demonic possession documented in 1928.

Al Pacino stars (though “stars” might be generous) as Father Theophilus Riesinger, a grizzled veteran of exorcisms, whose very presence seems to communicate a tired resignation to the task at hand. Opposite him is Dan Stevens, doing the heavy lifting here as Father Joseph Steiger, a younger priest wrestling with his faith and clearly out of his depth. Together, they are tasked with confronting a suspected possession that turns into a grueling nine-day affair.

The Ritual opens with that now-familiar trope: a tense scene pulled from somewhere near the climax, which we’ll loop back to after a “nine days earlier” title card drops us into quieter beginnings. From there, it’s a slow, almost clinical unraveling of the ritual. The Latin incantations, the skin lesions, the psychological terror. It’s all here, but done with a restrained, almost documentary-like approach. There’s no spinning heads or bodies launched across rooms; instead, it leans into how an exorcism might truly look, rooted in discomfort and the fear etched on every face in the room.

While there’s something respectable about its dedication to realism, it also becomes the film’s biggest liability. We’ve seen so many of these tropes before, often with far more style or gut-wrenching horror. The possessed patient rants in foreign tongues, the clergy question their faith, ominous figures lurk in candlelit hallways—it’s all executed competently, but without any new spark. You’re left feeling like you’re checking off a list of expected beats.

Pacino is hardly recognizable under a mop of white hair and a raspy whisper that does just enough to remind you he’s still got it, but even he seems mostly to be shuffling through the motions. It’s Stevens who stands out, delivering a nuanced performance that captures both the fear and reluctant resolve of a man trying desperately to hold on to his beliefs in the face of something he barely understands.

In the end, The Ritual isn’t a bad movie; it’s just uninspired. It’s exactly what you’d expect a “true exorcism story” to look like, for better and for worse. If you’re looking for sensational scares or a fresh spin on possession, you won’t find it here. Without Pacino and Stevens, I would've let this slip right into the basement. As it stands, it’s a passable but ultimately bland entry in a genre that’s already overflowing with more memorable takes.

The Ritual (2025)

Amazon and a few other streamers have this at matinee prices as of 06.30.25.

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

Open (2025) | To put this poor student horror film in a way the makers will understand, I give this one a "D" #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 2.2/10. Well, it seems the perfect summer is over, and so is my patience. Open promises an isolated camp slasher, but apparently forgot to check Google Maps first. In several scenes, you can quite literally see neighboring houses, lawn chairs, and the faint glow of suburban porch lights. So much for “isolated camp.”

From the jump, this has student film scribbled across every iPhone frame. The dialogue is so stiff you could use the script pages to build a scaffold. I suspect the cast was poached directly from a high school drama class still learning the difference between “emotion” and “blank stare.” Also, what kind of camp is this supposed to be? Everyone is the same age. Are they counselors, campers, or did someone’s parents just let them all hang out unsupervised with craft supplies and a GoPro?

Speaking of questionable filmmaking choices, they rely on the old “blue filter = night” trick, except it’s so heavy-handed it looks like the Smurfs took over the lighting department. I’m guessing they weren’t allowed to film after 8 pm—bedtimes are serious business when your entire cast still gets dropped off by Mom.

The first big kill? A stabbing that looks like it was done with an After Effects plug-in found on a free trial. Then there’s a decapitation that would flunk a physics class—heads don’t just hover in midair without rolling off. Although credit where it’s due: someone tried. With a budget of roughly zero, they still managed creative gore, even if it all looks like it was shot in someone’s backyard pool (probably was).

Open (2025)

And let’s not skip the important social issues—because in this breezy 64-minute runtime, David Saban decided it was absolutely critical to wedge in a coming-out talk. The two characters sit on a log discussing being gay while their buddy’s freshly severed head sits three feet away, silently judging them. It’s almost profound in how tone-deaf it is. If you miss it, they'll repeat the same convo a few moments later.

Random nature cutaways abound—maybe filler because they didn’t have enough plot or coverage, or maybe someone just really loves local wildlife. Either way, it’s pointless. As for the supernatural rift in space? The actors try so hard not to laugh, you’d think they were being tickled off-camera.

Saban leaves Open with a plot twist—“everyone is a killer!”—which falls flat because there’s no groundwork for it. Plus, when literally everyone looks the same age (grandparents, kids, local shopkeepers?), it just feels like one big curfew-busting sleepover gone homicidal.

In the spirit of generosity (and since they’ll still get a participation ribbon in the festival circuit), I’ll put this in terms the cast and crew will understand: I give it a solid D. Hopefully they do still hand out grades at their school—because this could serve as a cautionary tale in Film 101. Another part of that class they may have missed, Marketing. There is no trailer for Open to be found.

As far as the creator leaving a glowing 10/10 review on IMDB, "Campy, Funny, Also I made the movie so I'm bias," clearly they didn't pay any attention in English class. (It is "biased" in case you read this.) This is why you need a scathing review. Learn from it, but next time, learn BEFORE uploading it to Amazon. Take the time and watch it all the way through first. If you did, well, re-read the above. As summer nightmares go, this one is less Jason Voorhees and more awkward pool party that someone’s mom interrupts with juice boxes. Better luck next semester.

Amazon is your only choice to watch this gem.

https://jackmeat.com/open-2025/