Mercy 2026 * * * Stars

PREVENIENT GRACE

Wow, now that was intense, a real increased blood circulation of a movie. Yeah I'm talking about Mercy, the type of cutthroat, sci-fi thriller that takes a scene or two from 2002's Minority Report and stretches it out to a little over 100 minutes. Mercy, well it's mostly a screenlife affair, initially a drag but eventually becoming a consuming ride. "I loved my wife, I didn't hurt her." Prove it bro. Prove it Pratt man.

Anyway Mercy has Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) on trial for murdering his wife. Here's the glitch: he has to sit in an execution-style chair, be presided over by an AI judge, and sift through a bunch of found footage to prove his innocence. If he can't do so in an hour and a half, he'll be offed for sure. Yikes! 

Pratt, well he plays the character of Raven with a raw potency, a glint of hope, and an antihero jetlag. Heck, he looks like he hasn't slept in days. You root for him because well, you have to, not because you want to. Otherwise there'd be no film, no supposed leading light to keep alive. 

Mercy, yup it's the ultimate "big brother" flick, the ultimate social media boon, and the ultimate, brash whodunit. Everybody is watching everybody, every movement dissected like an Energizer Bunny telescope, every surveillance video a cumulus "cloud" (natch). 

Co-starring Rebecca Ferguson and Chris Sullivan and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, Mercy revels in the fact that it's akin to a modern day Zapruder film with director Timur Bekmambetov getting his tech on as he chills on the grassy knoll. The pic does what most pics do well. It gets your heart rate up, it's twisty, it renders you restive, and it keeps you on the edge of your proverbial seat. Errand of "mercy". 

Written by Jesse Burleson

The 37th Annual Notre Dame Student Film Festival, January 23-25th, 2026

I've been covering the Notre Dame Student Film Festival on and off since 2014. Below are the highlights along with favorable ratings.

A Regular Cat-astrophe * * * Stars

-It's about losing smartphones and befriending cats, with numerous title cards and copious info concerning the plight of a nebulous, female college student. Part documentary, part dramatization, all good.

Stalker * * * Stars

-A rack focus here, a Dutch angle there, a closeup. Yeah Stalker is well, about a stalker. It's uh, dark and dangerous, the type of short a young Sam Raimi would have pursued circa 1981. Oh and with most creepy fleeting flicks, the music is pretty much everything. "Besetting compulsive". 

Flicker * * * Stars

-As a silent pic about a drug addict who tries to put his life back together via seeing flashbacks of his childhood, Flicker packs an emotional wallop and features some supreme, physical acting by its lead. Oh and an alternate title could be "Flicker of Hope" as demonstrated by the shining, visual hues near the end.  

Therefore, I Am * * * Stars

-An assault on the senses, some European shooting techniques, the mind of an ND student becoming as skewed as what's on screen, a little inborn narration. Yes I'm talking about Therefore I Am, a five-minute-plus vehicle that requires multiple viewings in order to expound. "I am, nuff said."

Dukeneuse * * * 1/2 Stars

-Dukeneuse is about parodying, spoofing, and making black comedy fun of infomercials in the most cynical and airy way. I mean I've never seen anything like it at a Notre Dame flick fest and even the head of the theatre department didn't want anyone asking him how to explain what they just saw. "Duke nukem." 

Written by Jesse Burleson

The Rip 2026 * * * Stars

LET THIS PRISE

It does feature Ben Affleck and Matt Damon sans any reunion of a Good Will Hunting 2, it did come out via Netflix in January and well, it's from the dark, underhanded style of director Joe Carnahan. Yeah I'm talking about The Rip, a crime thriller where the perp isn't always just a perp and the constabulary isn't always well, you know. "This is my crime scene, let me run it." You got it boss. Uh, you got it Mr Clean.

Starring Affleck, Damon, Kyle Chandler, and Scott Adkins and featuring its leads playing with enough gumption to spew any number of four-letter words, The Rip feels like a group hug version of Training Day coupled with numerous mock-ups of every David Ayer screenplay you can think of and an Assault on Precinct 13 tail end. The film also gives helmer Carnahan a chance to make another bad cop flick that's more arcane and dire than it needn't be. I mean just check the dead of night cinematography from Juan Miguel Azpiroz, a sort of doom and gloom-hued palate with the occasional glowing lights of some minacious, Miami Cruisers. Yikes!

So yeah, as something about a bunch of rozzers who find millions in cash during a routine robbing of a drug house, The Rip is like a ticking time bomb of a movie, slick and glossy and smoky and stout, a dark blue remnant in reverse if you will. Visceral shootouts that have to be seen to be believed, trickery, fuzz hoodwinking, slugs aplenty, a numbing musical score by 25-year veteran Clinton Shorter. Yeah The Rip winds up the tension till Carnahan's signature, flashback conclusion comes along which is abrupt and gotcha in the most headlong way. Joe, well his vehicles are the enigma of duplicity. I can't wait to see what he does next. "Rip" city.  

Written by Jesse Burleson

Greenland 2: Migration 2026 * * * Stars

DEFECTION

It doesn't feature Tom Cruise, it came out in good old January, and well, it's not too shabby either. Yeah I'm talking about Greenland 2: Migration, a sequel that seems more like a part deux, a literal continuation if you will. Either that or we're thinking about "Migration" as its own entity, like a slight remake of War of the Worlds (2005 model of course). 

Starring Gerard Butler, a talented actor who has had a few mishaps in the industry thanks to his agent (who will remain nameless), Greenland 2: Migration provides Butler with a dramatically-centered role, more reactionary than radical. His John Garrity is a dying man, forced to journey across Europe to find a crater-like home for his family after Earth has been decimated with comets galore. "Listen to me son, it doesn't matter what happens because we're always gonna be together." You tell 'em Gerard. Preach brother. 

Helmed by Ric Roman Waugh, he of Angel Has Fallen fame and the first Greenland from 2020, "Migration" is decently crafted, lushly directed, and full of dangerous agog coming right around the corner. I mean it's the ultimate post-apocalyptic vehicle, a how-to guide on the low. Every frame is a wide meant for the big screen, every special effect loud and above the direct-to-video palate, every shot so panoramic it looks like a live-action Pink Floyd album cover (pick any one of them). 

Now does Greenland 2: Migration have that movie cliche where most of the main protagonists dodge death while everyone else seems to perish like paper mache? Sure but whatever, it's still an intense ride for Butler fanatics who love to see Scotland's favorite son trucking for his life. And does "Migration" forget that it's a disaster flick and veer into humdrum military territory? Sure but what disastrous ruination doesn't go martial from time to time (see first paragraph). "Green" machine.

Written by Jesse Burleson

My Top Ten Movie Picks of 2025

1. Marty Supreme

2. Blind River

3. Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror

4. Roofman 

5. Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story

6. Song Sung Blue 

7. Night Always Comes

8. My Mom Jayne

9. Brick 

10. The Housemaid 

Honorable Mention: Drop, Jay Kelly, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Caught Stealing, A Deadly American Marriage

And the Top 5 Worst...

1. Rosebud Baker: The Mother Lode

2. Oh. What. Fun.

3. Kinda Pregnant

4. Chelsea Handler: The Feeling

5. Who Killed the Montreal Expos?

List compiled by Jesse Burleson