Creep Nation (2019) | The dark web is watching her every move. Unfortunately, none of those moves include common sense. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.1/10. Creep Nation sets itself up with a premise that should be terrifyingly relevant - a young woman books a weekend rental, only to find herself the unwilling star of a dark-web livestream. On paper, I figured that’s more than enough to build a tight thriller. But what unfolds here is a movie that keeps trying to spark tension while standing in a puddle of its own predictability.

The first half hour doesn’t do the film any favors. Our lead, Alysa, walks into the house and immediately ignores every red flag imaginable. The guy renting the place out practically oozes “I have bodies in the basement,” and yet she strolls right in, sets her bags down, and acts like it’s a charming countryside retreat. You almost want to yell at the screen, “Girl, wake up!” but she doesn’t, of course, because then we wouldn’t have a movie.

To its credit, the idea of a dark-web network monitoring her every move is genuinely scary. It's a theme I assume would hit close to home in a world where privacy is more illusion than fact. But Creep Nation doesn’t stop there. It decides to escalate into territory that’s far-fetched and had me rolling my eyes. The moment the film dives into its broader conspiracy, it loses much of the grounded fear it could have capitalized on.

The pacing is another issue. This is meant to be a slow-burn revenge thriller, a format that can work when the tension steadily tightens. Here, though, the story flatlines. It meanders through its setup, stalls in the middle, and never quite finds the momentum it needs. The more details revealed about Alysa’s disappearance, the more it becomes apparent that I’ve seen all of this before, only executed with sharper writing and stronger suspense elsewhere.

Performance-wise, it’s a mixed bag. Adam Seybold, playing Alysa’s brother, comes out looking the strongest. He brings enough urgency and emotional grounding to make his scenes the standout moments. Liv Collins, unfortunately, doesn’t quite carry the weight of the lead role. She isn’t bad, but she lacks the range needed to sell the escalating fear and desperation the story demands. The rest of the cast sits somewhere between competent and forgettable, matching the film’s overall “good enough, I guess” vibe.

Ultimately, Creep Nation has a rather eerie core concept but doesn't do nearly enough with it. The script needed tightening, the pacing needed sharpening, and the tension needed to be amped up entirely. Instead, we get a thriller that feels oddly ordinary despite the dark subject matter. Not unwatchable by any stretch, but nowhere near as gripping or memorable as I would've liked. This is one of those "you've seen this before and better" types of films.

Creep Nation (2019)

https://jackmeat.com/creep-nation-2019/

Tron: Ares (2025) | Tron: Ares brings the Grid back in style with jaw-dropping visuals and a killer soundtrack, delivering a worthwhile sequel. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.9/10. As someone who used to pump a small fortune into the original Tron stand-up arcade cabinet, I walked into Tron: Ares wondering if that same neon-lit magic could ever be recaptured. Shockingly, it not only taps into that nostalgia, but it also recharges it like a fresh power cell. The film hits the ground running with a gorgeous introduction to the digital frontier when Julian (Evan Peters) attempts to infiltrate ENCOM’s system. This opening sequence is exactly what I wanted, a reminder of why the Grid has always been such a strangely mesmerizing and enticing place. Even with today’s hyper-polished CGI, the movie still pays respect to the groundbreaking style of 1982. I could practically hear my younger self begging for another quarter.

Jared Leto’s Ares is a highly sophisticated program yanked from the digital world and sent into ours. This sets the tone for a story that isn't afraid to blur lines between reality, tech, and the philosophical rabbit holes we’re already tumbling toward in real life. Gillian Anderson as Elisabeth Dillinger brings a cold corporate weight to the screen as the next-generation figure trying to steer her father’s legacy. Meanwhile, Greta Lee shines as Eve Kim, ENCOM’s CEO, whose discovery of Flynn’s long-abandoned Alaskan outpost gives the entire plot its spark. The “permanence code” concept, the idea of breaking the 29-minute deresolution limit, is classic Tron science: half metaphysics, half techno-dream.

And yes, the moment we see lightcycles in the real world is as awesome as you’d hope. Using light trails to slice a car clean in half? That’s the kind of joyful digital violence that reminds me how many opponents I boxed in on that glowing arcade grid. Add in a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack pulsing underneath, and it's a neon fever dream in the best possible way.

But the real magic happens when Ares travels back into an '80s-style Grid. The filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing here - old-school lightcycles, retro aesthetics, and that unmistakable synth-driven vibe. Goosebumps. Real ones. Bit even makes a return, and somewhere in the universe a million fans whispered “YES/NO” at the same time. And of course, Jeff Bridges appears as Kevin Flynn, because you simply cannot call it a Tron movie without the digital sage himself materializing.

Visually, the movie is spectacular from beginning to end. Recognizers in a downtown cityscape shouldn’t work… yet somehow absolutely do. And beneath all the glow, the story threads in real conversations about AI, emotions, and what it means when our creations start wanting things. The ending tees up a sequel with confidence, and the mid-credits stinger is important enough that leaving early should be considered a derezzable offense.

As a lifelong fan, I ended up quite thrilled. Tron: Ares doesn’t just honor the legacy, it evolves it.

TRON: Ares (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/tron-ares-2025/

Wormtown (2025) | Ashland’s residents are basically Airbnb hosts for flesh-eating worms, and three women are done paying rent in this gory parasite party. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.3/10. Wormtown slithers in with a premise that sounds like it should be played for laughs, but it surprised me by going all-in on grim seriousness, claustrophobic dread, and surprisingly realistic world-building. One year into a plague of flesh-eating, mind-altering worms, the nocturnal town of Ashland, Ohio, has stopped fighting back and simply embraced the infestation as a new way of life. Shot right there on location, the town feels eerily authentic, like you’ve stumbled into a community where the streetlights died, everyone switched to night mode, and nobody’s bothered to come back into the sun since.

The story opens with what has to be the bleakest eye exam ever filmed. A man sits calmly in the dark, seeing better without light - and when the doctor peeks closer, his eyes are hosting a handful of wriggling tenants. The reveal is great: black-and-white, grimy, and unsettling in a way that sank under my skin. That monochrome aesthetic goes a long way toward hiding the budget while giving the movie a strangely classy sheen, even as it bombards you with worms, gore, and squishy sound effects that feel lifted straight from a Foley artist’s nightmares.

Ashland is now ruled by Mayor Joshua, a cult-like figure who’s convinced the townsfolk that worm symbiosis is the next evolutionary step. His zealous followers, appropriately called Ranchers, spread their ideology the old-fashioned way. Through persuasion when possible, and forced implantation when it’s not. Meanwhile, three uninfected women are just trying to survive the only way anyone can in this hellscape - scavenging, hiding, obsessively scrubbing themselves clean, and hoping their luck holds out a little longer than their sanity.

There’s also an Amish village on the outskirts, which becomes a refuge of sorts. One of the women escaped from there, and their scenes provide some much-needed contrast, and some unexpected humor. The Amish family telling bedtime stories about Bill & Ted movies absolutely cracked me up. It’s such a bizarre, charming moment in a film where most people are busy coughing up parasites or getting indoctrinated into a worm cult.

The worm-removal set piece was my highlight - rough, visceral, and filmed with the kind of practical effects that make your stomach tighten. When these parasites hit sunlight, they erupt out of the host in fountains of gore, creating some wonderfully messy visuals. This movie may have been shot on the cheap, but the camerawork and effects team really push it higher than its budget should allow.

What surprised me most is how Wormtown actually commits to its plot. The lore isn’t over-explained, but there’s enough there to piece together how Ashland fell under Joshua’s sway. Writer Andrew James Myers feels like someone who’s either researched cults extensively or just knows a little too much from experience. Director Sergio Pinheiro also deserves credit, he takes a premise that should be schlock and makes it weirdly engaging, cohesive, and even satisfying.

Wormtown (2025)

For a low-budget, worm-ridden nightmare, this one definitely wriggles above expectations.

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

The Grove (2025) | If you’ve ever wanted Captain America remade by Temu, The Grove has you covered with a sequel tease no less. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.7/10. The Grove kicks off with what sounds suspiciously like a future plot point screaming for attention, a blaring alarm that practically winks at the audience and says, “See you in Act II.” From there, we jump straight into a Black Ops super-soldier experiment because, of course, we do. Terrance (Acoryé White) volunteers for a miracle serum that’s supposed to give him and his fiancée, Alice (Psalms) a better life. Instead, it gives him feral madness the second he stops taking his meds. If the goal was “Captain America, but make it tragic,” the movie somehow heard “Captain America, but make it Dollar Tree.”

Once Terrance comes home, the film decides it needs a boost - so it tosses in a cluster of influencers, hopefully to pump up the body count. These geniuses can’t tell the difference between a cocktail with 151 rum and one without, which says everything you need to know about their survival prospects. Meanwhile, a Snake Eyes-looking soldier named Omega (Ethan Melisano) stalks around with orders that have shifted from “capture” to “sanitize,” though the movie barely explains why. Not that it matters, you can’t see half of what’s going on anyway. The forest massacre sequence is so dark it might as well be a podcast.

The writing doesn’t do the cast any favors. Every character is one note, and that one note is “annoying.” The dialogue is a rotating door of eye-roll moments. And honestly, why even mess with a super-soldier serum when you can slap a suit on someone that gives them teleportation, hyperspeed, and super strength? If that tech exists, the serum should be in the trash next to the first draft of this script.

Acoryé White pulls triple duty here - actor, director, writer - and while ambition is admirable, the movie feels like a rough draft that escaped too early. There are odd time jumps with zero transition, scenes that cut away before you can process what happened, and action that looks like they shot partial takes and stitched them together with the editing equivalent of duct tape. The audio problems don’t help either; even after some cleanup, the volume fluctuates like someone kept leaning on the mixer.

Then comes the ending, an abrupt “To Be Continued” that lands like a budget version of a Marvel stinger nobody asked for. There might be a good movie buried somewhere in White’s head, but it hasn’t fully made it to the screen yet. With a stronger team and fewer hats on one person, Part 2 could be something. The Grove just isn’t it.

The Grove (2025)

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

Tapawingo (2025) | Tapawingo - where the fights are sloppy, the humor is dry, and the hero looks confused even when he’s winning. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.2/10. Tapawingo drops us into a small-town ecosystem full of lovable weirdos, ’80s nostalgia, and enough dry humor to dehydrate a cactus. Jon Heder plays Nate Skoog, an oddball drifting through life with the comedic energy only Heder seems capable of harnessing. That strangely hypnotic low-voltage awkwardness he perfected in Napoleon Dynamite. His only real friend is Will (Jay Pichardo), a partner-in-crime type who seems equal parts loyal sidekick and reluctant witness to Nate’s orbit. Always a win to see John Ratzenberger pop up, and pairing him with Amanda Bearse as Nate’s parents just solidifies the film’s dedication to its retro DNA. It’s not subtle. And I don't think it’s meant to be.

The story really kicks off when Nate becomes an accidental hero, stepping in to save Oswalt (Sawyer Williams), a misfit teenager being targeted by the Tarwater family, the local dynasty of bullies. In doing so, Nate also becomes the kids’ new best buddy, a responsibility he never asked for but takes on with a sincerity that sneaks up on you. Director Dylan K. Narang clearly set the dial to “1980s homage,” and he never unplugs it. Between the soundtrack (you’ll get your Quiet Riot fix and then some) and a small-town vibe dripping with retro personality, the film feels like it was pulled from a forgotten video store rental shelf.

Gina Gershon shows up as Dot, dressed like she teleported straight from an ’80s glam-rock tour, while Kim Matula’s Gretchen enters the movie to the tune of Quiet Riot’s “Bang Your Head”, a meet-cute that basically hammers the nostalgia theme into your skull. The romance between Nate and Gretchen is sweet, offbeat, and refreshingly low-stakes, until Nate discovers her last name: Tarwater. Yes, that Tarwater family. Suddenly, the budding connection gets tangled in a family feud that’s as silly as it is strangely endearing.

When the Tarwater brothers, led by Billy Zane’s wonderfully odd Stoney Tarwater, set their sights on Oswalt, Nate assembles a ragtag protection squad consisting of Will and the local capoeira fighting twins Glenn and Ben (George and Paul Psarras). If you’re expecting polished fight choreography or big action sequences, abandon those hopes now. The fights here look like someone tried to stage a brawl using instructions from a malfunctioning VHS fitness tape, and, keep reading, they did.

For a new film, Tapawingo has a warm, dusty, VHS-aged feel that works in its favor. Beneath the stupid-but-satisfying comedy and deadpan delivery lies an earnest message about loyalty, belonging, and figuring out who you are when you don’t quite fit anywhere. Just resist the urge to constantly compare it to Napoleon Dynamite. Yes, the DNA is similar, but this movie wants to be its own oddball creation.

Tapawingo (2025)

Oh—and don’t skip the credits. Mike’s pre-YouTube martial arts training video is a tiny comedic gem worth sticking around for. Thank you, Staci, for sending this one over.

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

Bugonia (2025) | Dark comedy turns dangerous fast in this sharp satire where every scene asks the same question: what if she’s really an alien? #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.3/10. Bugonia opens with Teddy (Jesse Plemons) delivering what has to be one of the most committed conspiracy monologues ever inflicted on a family member. His cousin and best friend, Don (Aidan Delbis) sits through it with the patience of someone who’s clearly heard this speech dozens of times before - only this time, Teddy’s taking action. According to him, Michelle (Emma Stone), a snooty, sky-high CEO, isn’t just another corporate overlord. She’s an alien. And depending on who you ask, that might not even be the most outlandish claim ever made about upper management. I’ve worked in enough corporate environments to safely say some of those higher-ups absolutely sound like they’re from another planet, a mostly robotic one.

It doesn’t take long for Teddy and Don to throw on their beekeeper suits like a bargain-bin Mission: Impossible team and nab Michelle in a kidnapping sequence that leans fully into slapstick chaos. The film has a great time making it obvious that these two are not criminal masterminds. Maybe the moment they slather her entire body with antihistamines to “dull her telepathic abilities” is a clue as to the mental horsepower we’re dealing with. But the humor works because the film grounds its delusions in something very real - Teddy’s mother is in an induced coma due to the drugs produced by Michelle’s company. His paranoia didn’t just appear, it was fed.

Yorgos Lanthimos balances this mix of absurdity and bitterness incredibly well. He keeps the silliness of the alien hoax front and center, but the pharmaceutical-industry satire is unmistakable. It never turns preachy, but the target is clear. Michelle’s character rides a sharp line between terrified captive and dangerously intelligent survivor. Stone nails that complexity - never too sympathetic, never too monstrous, always unreadable in a way that feeds our lingering question: what if she actually is an alien?

It also deploys its themes cleverly, never allowing them to get in the way of the entertainment. There's a neat parallel between the bees, who are efficient, emotionless, alien-looking creatures, and the humans, who, from the outside looking in at least, seem bafflingly self-destructive. It resonates all the way to the final scene, which practically invites you to decide for yourself whether humanity is worth saving.

But Bugonia’s real strength isn't in the message; rather, it's in the execution. The dark comedy hits consistently, the tension builds in all the right places, and the dramatic musical cues give the film a pulse that never falters. It’s violent, it’s weird, it’s funny, and it kept me engaged with the simple, nagging “what if?” hanging over every scene. The ending sticks the landing, and it is entirely up to you how to take it.

Bugonia (2025)

I haven’t seen the 2003 Korean original Save the Green Planet! to compare, but Bugonia easily stands on its own. It’s bizarre, stylish, and thoroughly entertaining, one of those films that rewards you for going along with the madness.

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

One Battle After Another (2025) | Oscar's incoming? Penn and PTA shine in this bold, bizarre epic led by DiCaprio and rising star Chase Infiniti. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.7/10. One Battle After Another throws you straight into the muddled, smoky headspace of Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), a washed-up revolutionary who’s been living off-grid long enough to forget what year it is. His daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) is the one actually keeping their little two-person fortress running, a sharp, resilient counterweight to Bob’s stoned paranoia. Paul Thomas Anderson wastes no time establishing the family dynamic, giving us a quick, efficient rundown of Bob’s turbulent past with Willa’s mother, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor). It’s the kind of opening that feels like a creative necessity. Get the emotional scaffolding in place and then get on with the chaos.

It doesn’t take long before Sean Penn arrives as Colonel Lockjaw, and yes, he shows up with a full, unapologetic boner, because of course he does. Penn chews into this role like it’s been waiting for him his whole life, and he walks away with the film’s best performance. Anderson mentioned it took him about twenty years to write One Battle After Another, a process that he calls both embarrassing and philosophically necessary. Watching the film, you can see why. It’s sprawling, ambitious, and clearly infused with the literary fingerprints of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland. There’s even a major sequence reportedly written in one marathon night with Benicio del Toro, which honestly tracks with the film’s fever-dream logic.

The acting is phenomenal where it counts. Infiniti absolutely holds her own, matching DiCaprio’s tired paranoia with grounded energy. Penn, again, is operating at a level that almost feels unfair. Del Toro does exactly what he’s asked to - it’s just that the role doesn’t ask much of him. And that’s a recurring issue: most of the cast is solid, but they aren’t given the depth or the range to show off anything beyond competence.

Still, this story is written in a way that keeps you hooked through its full 162-minute runtime. It’s better than most of what’s come out this year, even if it’s not the flawless masterpiece some people are desperately labeling it as. Anderson doesn’t miss often, and he doesn’t miss here either, but the film meanders between tones and genres. It dips into comedy and satire, embraces bursts of action at the right moments, and shifts its thematic focus from rebellion and racism to the influence of shadowy organizations convinced they’re preserving “balance.” It’s messy, but in that intentionally layered, meticulously edited PTA style that somehow still feels effortless.

The cinematography is gorgeous - those road shots belong on a wall - and the film’s visual language sells the tug-of-war between power, corruption, and legacy better than any monologue could. Does it deserve a Best Picture nomination? Yes. Should Anderson and Penn be in their respective races? Absolutely. But don’t walk in expecting a 10/10 life-altering masterpiece. This is a great movie, not a perfect one. Temper the hype, sit back, and enjoy a filmmaker who still knows how to swing for the fences.

One Battle After Another (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/one-battle-after-another-2025/