My 2026 February R-Rated Movies Ranked
Here's what I watched, what about you?
Here’s my latest batch of R-rated movie watches. What did you watch this month? Agree with my ratings? Share your watchlist in the comments.
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Commentary:
Like in January, it’s obvious I won’t be able to watch nearly the number of movies I watched in 2025. And that’s okay! It’s been a busy time around here, what with the federal government occupying our city with their inhumane, illegal, and immoral ICE tactics. Still, got a few movies in, and I finally made it to the movie theater, too.
And with that, let’s get to the rankings! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
January 2026 R-Rated Movies Ranked in the order I saw them:
1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever (2022) 4.5 out of 5 Lines Around the Block
FIRST WATCH | I caught this amazing documentary on Night Flight, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites streaming services. It is intentionally filled with some of the most bizarre, off-the-beaten-path movies, series, and videos. While this documentary is TV-14 and was originally a multi-part series on The CW, Night Flight has it all as one piece and uncensored so essentially rated R, and it is a love letter to so many amazing movies of 1982, including several of which are rated R like The Thing, Blade Runner, The Road Warrior, First Blood, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Night Shift, 48 Hrs., The Verdict. And others which I’m still surprised weren’t rated R, like Poltergeist.
Send Help (2026) 4.5 out of 5 Sharpened Boar Spears
FIRST WATCH | Our family finally went to the movies this year and our first outing was wonderful! This is a really fun movie and proof that Sam Raimi still knows how to make horror work. Step one, do something scary. Step two, immediately follow it up with something funny. Send Help does that again and again. Looks like it’s still in theaters, so go for it! BONUS: FIRST MOVIE IN THE MOVIE THEATER OF 2026!
The Alabama Solution (2025) 5 out of 5 Smuggled Burner Phones
FIRST WATCH | A Best Documentary Feature nominee, you’re going to learn a lot more about the brokenness of the US prison system than you ever wanted. That’s one of the most-challenging aspects of a doc like this - what do we even do with this information? The kickbacks, the corruption, the killings. How do we stop it? Perhaps this doc filled with footage that prisoners risked their lives to shoot can help.
Watchmen: Chapter 1 (2024) 3 out of 5 Cans of Human Bean Juice
FIRST WATCH | I enjoyed this as a near-verbatim adaptation of the comic books. It does that more than the 2009 movie, but both contain shot-for-shot camera angles that match the comic panels and word-for-word dialogue as well. It works, though it’s definitely a part one that feels incomplete. Not sure why it isn’t just one big 3-hour movie. There’s plenty of those to go around.
Watchmen: Chapter 2 (2024) 3.5 out of 5 Evil Plans Finished 35 Minutes Ago
FIRST WATCH | While I enjoy the 2009 live-action Watchmen movie more overall, I enjoyed part two of the animated pair more than the first. The story kicked into the third act in a gripping way. And if you didn’t like the very different ending of the film, you’ll have your chance to take in the ending here that is true to the comic books.
High Plains Drifter (1973) 1.5 out of 5 Big Giant Guns
FIRST WATCH | I’ll buck the trend and say I just couldn’t get into this one. I know it got superb reviews in its day. And I know people really enjoy it now. But I found the entire story and characters simply too mean-spirited to really enjoy. I have certainly watched my fair share of Clint Eastwood westerns (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of course!) and I’ve also watched my fair share of mean-spirited movies with mean-spirited characters (American Psycho comes to mind), but this one isn’t for me.
The Blackening (2022) 3.5 out of 5 Rosa Parks Shirts
FIRST WATCH | A fun farce, a superb satire, a silly story. I feel like I need to revisit this one to give it a better chance because I’m certain that I missed a lot when it comes to culture, cinematic reference, and overall themes. A good mix of horror and comedy that made me laugh quite a bit.
Aftermath (2017) 2.5 out of 5 Descents to 5,000 Feet
FIRST WATCH | A quiet film that was an interesting story but felt long even at just 94 minutes. This has the feel of a short film based on a short story. It’s sort of like one of those books that was originally an article. What is there really works, but when you expand it out, it feels a bit too stretched. While it’s one of my lowest ratings of the year so far, it’s worth watching once.
The Founder (2016) 4 out of 5 #1 Super-Sized Big Mac Value Meals
Are you familiar with Hennepin Avenue? Because I am! And you will be, too, after watching this fun and fascinating tale of how McDonald’s became McDonald’s. It doesn’t shy away from the harsh parts of the story, but it does roll all of the pieces out in ways that really keep me mesmerized. A good watch with our youngest, she liked it, though she’s not a tremendous fan of McD’s.
Saturday Night (2024) 4 out of 5 Ratings (And You’re Not!)
FIRST WATCH | The fall of 2024 got away from me, and this one wasn’t in theaters very long. I enjoyed it as a broad brush remembrance and celebration of those early SNL days. I also longed for it to be more than it could ever contain in those brief two hours. There are just so many stories about the early days of SNL that putting them all in or doing many of them justice is impossible. But as a whirlwind story, it was engaging and fun.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) 3.5 out of 5 Billboard Payments in Advance
FIRST WATCH | I’d put off watching this one long enough. I can’t remember why. Looking back, I’ve only seen around half of the Best Picture nominees in the 2010s. I was working multiple jobs and in seminary and a new parent twice over, so I’ll cut myself some slack. This was good. I see why Frances McDormand won her second (of three for acting and four total!) Oscar for it. Sam Rockwell is a real slimeball here. And nobody out-slimeballs Sam Rockwell!
An American Werewolf in London (1981) 4 out of 5 This Is What Happens When You Don’t Stay on the Road!
The kids had Presidents Day off from school, so our oldest stayed up late to watch this with me. This is a classic, not just for its groundbreaking special effects but for its effective, eerie scenes and its mixture with comedy. It’s slower than I remember, and my kid wasn’t as into it as she and I hoped, but she liked it overall. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s streaming for free on Tubi right now.
Marc Maron: Panicked (2025) 4 out of 5 Anxious Rants
FIRST WATCH | I’m a longtime Marc Maron fan. Not just from his WTF podcast that he just put to bed recently, but since my first exposure being decades ago when he hosted Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central The Comedy Channel in the early 1990s. I haven’t seen all of his specials or heard all of his records, but I really enjoyed this one. I laughed out loud and the emotions were high for the finale.
Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark (2022) 3.5 out of 5 Depressed Rants
FIRST WATCH | I watched this special second and enjoyed it but not as much as the Panicked special I watched. Maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more, but the back-to-back viewings invited comparison, and the 2025 set is much tighter. Both are worth it.
The Watch (2012) 2 out of 5 Costco WANTED to Be in This?!
FIRST WATCH | I didn’t really enjoy this, but I appreciated one aspect of the creative process: the writing. As I watched it, I kept thinking wow, this movie has a script that’s a lot like the kinds of scripts I wrote when I was a young writer. It’s silly, then it’s serious. It’s clunky in its action, it’s clunky in its emotional resonance. Things happen and it’s as if everyone involved said out loud, “Okay, this is the scene that is going to be funny.” And the scenes just sit there, overwritten and barely connected as they jerk back and forth to other scenes. On the off-chance that the writers come across this entry, three things: first, obviously you got your movie made so what do I know. Second, if you got this movie made, maybe you’d like to make one of my similar scripts. And third, looking at who did write this, I think they’re doing just fine.
I’ll add that I kept thinking that the writers really needed this brief clip from Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park to describe the difference between writing scenes that end with “and then” and putting a story together with scenes that transition with a “but” or “therefore.”
2026 Total Movie Stats
25 MOVIES TOTAL | 8% of 311 in 2025, 15% of 167 in 2024
1 Movies at the Theater | 4%
22 First-Watch Movies | 88%
25 R-Rated Movies | 100%
22 First-Watch R-Rated Movies | 88%
2026 February Movie Stats
15 Movies | 37.5% of 40 in Feb. 2025, 400% of 6 in Feb. 2024
1 Movies at the Theater | 6.6%
13 First-Watch Movies | 86.6%
15 R-Rated Movies | 100%
13 First-Watch R-Rated Movies | 86.6%
January Goal Met: Watch at least ten movies this month.
February Goal Met: Get to the movie theater at least once!
March Goal Made: See all 10 Best Picture nominees before the Oscars (March 15).
Your turn!
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What did you see in February? Agree with my ratings? Any reviews to share?
Glad you’re here today, Dear Reader. God’s peace and good movies to you!