EL FILM CRITIC

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Mercy (2026) Review: High-Concept Sci-Fi That Thinks Fast and Feels Calculated

Mercy (2026) Review: High-Concept Sci-Fi That Thinks Fast and Feels Calculated

Justice, in the near future, is apparently a software update. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Night Watch), Mercy trades supernatural spectacle for techno-paranoia. Bekmambetov has long favored heightened visual flair and kinetic pacing; here, he applies that restless energy to a near-future thriller built around AI-driven capital punishment. It’s sleek. It’s urgent. It rarely slows down long enough to breathe.…

by El Film Critic February 18, 2026February 17, 2026

The A-Team (2010) Review: Explosions, Explanations Optional

The A-Team (2010) Review: Explosions, Explanations Optional

Some action movies aim for realism.The A-Team aims a tank at the sky and fires until gravity surrenders. Directed by Joe Carnahan, this big-screen adaptation of the 1980s TV series The A-Team embraces the show’s core philosophy: elaborate plans, loud detonations, and a team that somehow survives everything short of narrative consequence. Subtlety was never in the van. The Team,…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) Review: Magic, Repackaged

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) Review: Magic, Repackaged

Prequels often promise expansion.Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them offers expansion—with a suitcase. Directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling, this 2016 entry into the Wizarding World shifts the action from Hogwarts to 1920s New York, trading school corridors for Art Deco skylines and bureaucratic wizards. It’s bigger. Busier. Slightly less intimate. Eddie Redmayne’s Gentle Eccentric…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

An American Tail (1986): Immigration, Innocence, and the World’s Saddest Mouse

An American Tail (1986): Immigration, Innocence, and the World’s Saddest Mouse

Before animated films were obligated to wink at adults every six minutes, An American Tail quietly delivered an immigrant story wrapped in whiskers and heartbreak. Directed by Don Bluth and produced by Steven Spielberg, the 1986 feature follows Fievel Mousekewitz, a young Russian-Jewish mouse separated from his family while emigrating to America in the late 19th century. Yes, it’s about…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Review: Love, Programmed

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Review: Love, Programmed

Fairy tales promise transformation.A.I. Artificial Intelligence asks what happens when the wish never stops. Directed by Steven Spielberg from a long-gestating project developed by Stanley Kubrick, the 2001 sci-fi drama is both mechanical and mythic—a cold fable wrapped in Spielbergian ache. It’s about a robot child programmed to love. Permanently.Which is less heartwarming than it sounds. Haley Joel Osment, Wired…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991): The Frontier, Now With More Cats

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991): The Frontier, Now With More Cats

If An American Tail was an immigrant elegy in miniature, Fievel Goes West is its dustier, louder cousin who discovered slapstick and never looked back. Released in 1991 and directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells, this sequel trades New York tenements for Wild West tumbleweeds. The Mousekewitz family, still chasing prosperity, heads west with promises of opportunity—because historically, that’s…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

An American Werewolf in London (1981): Tourism, Terror, and Teeth

An American Werewolf in London (1981): Tourism, Terror, and Teeth

Horror-comedy is a dangerous tightrope. Lean too hard into laughs, and the fear evaporates. Lean too hard into gore, and the jokes curdle. An American Werewolf in London walks that line with unnerving confidence—and occasionally shoves you off it. Written and directed by John Landis, the 1981 cult classic follows two American backpackers who make the unfortunate decision to ignore…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

Abigail (2024) Review: : Ballet, Blood, and a Very Bad Kidnapping

Abigail (2024) Review: : Ballet, Blood, and a Very Bad Kidnapping

Kidnapping a ballerina for ransom is already a questionable life choice.Kidnapping a ballerina who happens to be a vampire? That’s a staffing issue. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo behind Ready or Not, Abigail gleefully mashes heist thriller and vampire carnage into one tightly wound, blood-slicked night. It’s elegant. For about ten minutes. The Setup: Crime, But…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

Alien³ (1992): Hell Is Other People (and One Very Persistent Xenomorph)

Alien³ (1992): Hell Is Other People (and One Very Persistent Xenomorph)

If Alien is haunted-house horror and Aliens is militarized catharsis, Alien³ is the franchise deciding joy was a clerical error. Directed by a then–feature debut David Fincher, the film strands Ripley on Fiorina 161, a bleak prison colony populated by apocalyptic inmates who’ve taken vows of celibacy and despair. Within minutes, it erases the hopeful ending of Aliens with the…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

An American Werewolf in Paris (1997): The Curse, Now With Euro-Techno

An American Werewolf in Paris (1997): The Curse, Now With Euro-Techno

Sixteen years after An American Werewolf in London perfected the horror-comedy alchemy, someone decided what the formula really needed was more CGI and a nightclub subplot. Directed by Anthony Waller, An American Werewolf in Paris attempts to update the mythos for the late ’90s—an era when extreme sports were character traits and techno music could solve narrative problems. Spoiler: it…

by El Film Critic February 17, 2026

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