How to Rob a Bank (2026)

How does one wrestle with one of the world’s biggest (and most evil) corporations making a movie about a small group of disaffected people staging a small but viral insurgency that purports to tackle the very system which produces the kinds of corporations that made this film? I kept waiting for How to Rob a Bank to back down from its thesis, to make its “crime doesn’t pay in the end” while remaining performatively sympathetic to its protagonists, who are stand ins for the audience for this sort of movie. But Bank never went there. It remains true to its ideas that the system is rigged against its audience and it celebrates those who push against that rigging, even going so far as to end on a call for real action. It had elements of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a film that wasn’t as beholden to the very interests it is attempting to check. It even has its somewhat sympathetic cop character ask outright if he is protecting the “good guys”. So in the film’s commitment to its manifesto, I give it points. Perhaps though in doing some of that it looses on other things.

First of all How to Rob a Bank is a heist movie and people (including me) love a good heist movie. There is a puzzle element to these which is fun watching it all come together.  Bank doesn’t always stick to telling a good heist story. It’s hyperkinetic, social media inspired style, often cuts us away from what we come here for. There are some good set pieces but the film sometimes misses the mark with others making for an inconsistent watch. Even, the emotional beats are hit and miss. The film tackles some seriously dark issues but sort of skates over the surface of them. 

So How to Rob a Bank is only somewhat successful in what it does. It’s not hard to imagine another film maker, perhaps one with a bit more gravitas around real social issues, making something out of this that really hits. I still enjoyed Bank but kinda wished it had been something more. Perhaps that is what happens when Amazon makes a revolution movie. 

How to Rob a Bank

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Pete Davidson, John C. Reilly, Christian Slater

Director: David Leitch

Writer: Mark Bianculli

Godzilla Minus Zero (2026)

There is a lot of talk that Minus Zero is the Empire Strikes Back of Godzilla movies, basically a sequel that builds on and improves on the original. In this case the original in Godzilla Minus One, the 2023 Japanese made reboot of the classic monster series. I did go into Zero with high expectations both because of the strength of Minus One, and the early reactions. And I was not disappointed. 

What makes both this film and its predecessor work for me, perhaps more than most Godzilla movies, including the Monsterverse series made in America, is how much the film focuses on its characters, their struggles, and makes you care for them in ways that most other films of this type just never reach. Young Nagatani may be the cutest crier of all cinema and she is a big reason the pathos here is as strong as it is. I think a part of what makes me agree Zero may be even better than One, is how much it builds on the relationships we saw in the first and come to are about even more here. 

That doesn't mean the action sequences aren't top notch. When the film does turn to the set pieces they are spectacular. Again this raises the stakes from the previous film. This film's take on the classic monster Ghidorah is outstanding and I truly appreciate that Godzilla itself is a monster and not the hero protector American cinema is making him out to be. Sure there is room for that. I'm just glad Toho is going a different route here. This is a monster movie and it has monsters in it. 

The final act totally had me and the film's ending, perhaps one of the best comparisons to the Empire Strikes Back, demands we see a third film. I hope Yamazaki completes a trilogy here cause there is more to this story and then the series can continue on cause this Godzilla timeline is one I am invested in. 

Godzilla Minus Zero

Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Min Tanaka, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Masami Nagasawa, Sakura Ando, Sae Nagatani 

Writer/Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Wild Horse Nine (2026)

2026 has seen many veteran actors give career topping performances and Malkovich is definitely on that list with his turn as a somber CIA agent (who may or may not have killed Kennedy) looking back at the end of his life. Yes this is a comedy, in the way that McDonagh makes comedies, films that make you laugh out loud while holding some pathos in your heart at the same time. Flanked by Rockwell, being... well, Rockwell, in the way only he can, Malkovich is stunning and makes Wild Horse Nine a gripping if somewhat lean, story of regret and making peace with that regret. 

You could stop reading here and just know that this is a lovely little film that I recommend seeing and will likely go down as one of Malkovich's best roles despite him having many good options to choose from. From here on out I talk about aspects of the movie that do not appear in the trailers and are best experienced in the film so if you haven't yet seen it save the rest for after you have. 

*Spoilers* McDonagh sets his story on Easter Island, a place of relative peace and isolation in a world of violence and clashing ideologies. Malkovich plays a CIA agent who has been responsible for a lot of evil in the world who is dying and has asked his friend, Rockwell's CIA agent, to end it for him on his own terms. The two bicker and engage with the question of "what have we done?" in a way that feels honestly truthful. Chris doesn't necessary express a self-hatred for his past, and perhaps still justifies for himself that in the end the terrible things he did were for a higher purpose. Yet he still struggles and perhaps begins to doubt. This isn't about his existential fear of some moral reckoning but more an lack of certainty. He passes along some rather extreme but perhaps astute advice to a young woman who aligns herself with very different goals than he and in the end choses to die with the closest thing to a friend he has by his side. 

It is quite a touching little story with the emphasis on little. This isn't a critique. I like the film didn't try to turn this into something bigger than it was. It keeps the story intimate and while the climactic scene might push the edge a little more than it earns, it remains at the end of the day a very small story. 

And it's damn funny. McDonagh is one of the best at this sort of humour and he was smart to cast Rockwell and Malkovich together here cause they make it all work so beautifully. It is the sort of film that makes you really laugh and perhaps thats because there is real weight to what you are watching and not just a series of silly scenes. I relate to his humour because I feel McDonagh finds humour in real emotions, even when his characters are some what extreme examples of types of people. 

Wild Horse Nine

Starring: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Parker Posey, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailin Salas

Writer/Director: Martin McDonagh

Fatherland/Ojczyzna (2026)

What struck me foremost about Fatherland is how intimate a little story it is and yet how much it straddles such significant events in history. Perhaps that is something to reflect on, how much our lives are shaped by the events going on around us and how much those events are shaped by our lives. Fatherland is the story of a father and daughter, a writer who had to flee Germany in the Second World War only to return to visit so he could be honoured both by the new western nation West Germany and the new eastern nation East Germany in their own ways and for their own reasons. This tension is wonderfully explored without doing so in a heavy handed manner at all. 

But the film truly focuses on his relationship to his adult children, especially his daughter, but also his son who has died, apparently by suicide. The film's main focus is the emotions and connections within that family as they exist with that specific turbulent German era. 

Pawlikowski's black and white cinematography is outstanding. Fatherland is a striking film to watch. And these stark visuals mesh well with the narrative tone throughout. In the film's quietly climatic moment, this bears the most fruit. The film's short runtime and abrupt ending all feel very powerful.

Fatherland/Ojczyzna

Starring: Sandra Hüller, Hanns Zischler, August Diehl

Writer/Director: Paweł Pawlikowski

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026)

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is the kind of film that feels designed to be a vehicle for its star to remind us just what an actor and what a screen presence he is. Fortunately, beyond that it's quite good at the same time. We get a great little story, cleverly told, filled with heart and pathos, while also getting to see Turturro be excellent. 

The story is on the small side and the film makes the right choice not to try to pad it or fill it with superfluous side plots. Instead it stays focused on this one day in this one man's life. He is a man who is both on the pathetic side (he has made many mistakes and has only eked out a passable life through this main skill set - pick pocketing) but he is also at peace with who he is and the life he's made despite the hardships he has faced. Turturro captures all this so beautifully with his understated performance supported by a cast that includes other legends (Curtis shows up for a truly wonderful cameo and Buscemi is the consummate supporting actor here) and a solid supporting cast (Price and Maslany both give delightful turns). 

The story plays out so nicely, always feeling rather organic, never contrived. The film holds back a few things for its little twists and does so in a way that doesn't feel cheap or  tawdry. Instead the story's climax is satisfying. I appreciated that the film didn't try to make this into anything more than it is because what it is is a great little film that is a wonderful watch. 

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

Starring: John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Steve Buscemi, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Galligher Jr., Tatiana Maslany, Aida Turturro, Lori Tan Chinn, Kelvin Han Lee, Karina Arroyave

Writer/Director: Noah Segan

Clayface (2026)

While ostensively a comic book movie, Clayface is more Faust wrapped in a body-horror package. Matt Hagan, having everything unfairly taken from him, is given a horrific gift, and he is then poised with how to use it. He chooses and that choice leaves him alone but powerful. In many ways Clayface is about that choice and about its consequences. Clayface isn't afraid to go to some dark places, both visually and spiritually so strap in cause they pull no punches. 

The film's story is fairly "comic accurate" for being based on a character whose back story and abilities have changed so many times over the decades. But being an actor, having the ability to shape shirt, and choosing to use his abilities for his own gains all are a part of the story. Clayface packages all this in a modern and logical context which allows the questions the characters raises to be explored. And explore them it does. 

The film leans into the body-horror by not shying away from some gruesome moments. There will be times you want to look away and that's the point. There is a long tradition in literature of using exterior ugliness to reflect the interior ugliness. Clayface uses this trope to show how much Hagen changes through his anger and his growing power. And it does so through an enjoyable story which feels relatable. This is the best part of this script, the way it makes you understand why he does what he does but then makes us wrestle with the consequences of that. 

Harries was wonderfully cast. He has both the kind of striking handsomeness that someone playing a rising star actor would need but his face is also quite uniquely edgy with sharp angles and a malleability that makes his transformation feel real. His performance underlying the make up and effects is spot on. This could be the very career making role that his Hagen character would, well... kill for.

And in the end *spoiler* he is a killer. The film manages to humanize him and make us understand how he gets there but it doesn't redeem him. It allows him to be the bad guy, or at least one of the bad guys in a city (Gotham) full of them. The film's ending fulfills the tragic arc, like in Faust, he ends up in hell. 

Clayface

Starring: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella, Edie Marsan

Director: James Watkins

Writers: Mike Flanagan, Hossein Amini

A Talent for Murder (2026)

A Talent for Murder is a bit of a "what if" movie, it postulates a fictitious scenario mapped on to the life of a real person, in this case, the somewhat problematic Patricia Highsmith, author of the Tom Ripley novels as well as others such as The Price of Salt and Strangers on a Train. Known for her cleverly constructed murder plots and making a devilishly charismatic murdered the protagonist of her most famous novels, Highsmith is seen as one of the 20th century's greatest novelists mixing an intellectuality with an appetite for suspense and drama. 

A Talent for Murder posits her meeting a young man in the last year of her life who attempts to convince her to write one more Ripley novel. She is resistant and despite her proud gruffness, exposes a perhaps unsettled dealing with her inevitable death. This is a completely made up scenario yet it is intriguing as the more the young man begins to merge with her creation, Tom, more and more as they interact. Together they concoct a satisfyingly Riplian murder story which perhaps gives her a bit of life again near the end. 

Mirren and Ehrenreich play off each other in a very satisfying way. She embraces Highsmith as a highly misanthropic and somewhat unpleasant women staring death in the face. There is a reckoning happening here for a writer who made her career exploring death in tantalizing ways, now coming to her own end in a way she cannot control (she died of lung cancer). The film even has her fantasize that Ripley kills her. Ehrenreich has the even more impressive job of playing a man who also beings to see himself through the lens of a fictional character and attempting to live, or imagine living, as that figure. I love what he did here, playing such a well crafted balance of contradictions such as timidity and confidence mixed together. 

I think fans of the Ripley stories will get a lot of satisfaction. The film is itself a fantasia wishing into existence another Ripley book we never get to read. But the film is more than that, a fascinating character study of two disparate people which a pulpy and sultry murder story in the middle. 

A Talent for Murder

Starring: Helen Mirren, Alden Ehrenreich, Olivia Cooke

Director: Anton Corbijn

Writer: Joanna Murray-Smith

Wicker (2026)

Early into Wicker I realized that Fischer and Wilson, a male/female couple in real life, were telling a queer story. I don't mean in a literal sense. There is one character who appears to be either Ace or Queer but otherwise this is a story about heterosexuals. What is queer about it is in how it is about gender and sexual non conformity with the norm, a norm that is oppressive and restrictive and a non conformity which is liberating. That's queerness, however it is packaged. 

Colman's Fisherwoman (because everyone in this town is named for their role) is a woman who does not behave like the other women, taking on roles that men are understood to be suited for. She has no romantic relationship and questions the institutions around such relationships (such as marriage itself). She is berated and even bullied for her divergence and ends up being driven to go to the margins to seek out a love that ends up not being accepted. The relationship itself is attacked by the community. It is how the relationship by definition is structured differently than how relationships are supposed to be structured which brings on the turmoil. And it is through her attempts to normalize that relationship, through pressures from outside, that she damages it. 

This is queerness. And Wicker is about how queerness is a liberating force even for heterosexuals. The asks us to question our connections to gender roles, carnality, means of finding connections, and how we present and perform our relationships to the world. It is asking us if we really wish to be in the collars we put around us (no shade to BDSM loving folks). 

As I mentioned there may be some literal queerness in the story. Dinklage's character is presented as happily single living outside of the community and has a one line that suggests he would never pair with a woman (perhaps gay or asexual). And it is his character who offers the solutions that not only liberate Colman's Fisherwoman but end up undoing most of the town. In Wicker it is the queers that will save us all. Wicker is, in my opinion, a straight longing for the magic and lust for life that queerness offers, and perhaps a path towards it. 

Wicker

Starring: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki, Richard E. Grant
Writers/Directors: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson

Wildwood (2026)

It is rare that a film continues to exceed your expectations more and more as it plays out, building from a strong start into something truly magical and epic until its ending leaves you breathless. When a film like that comes along it is something to celebrate. Wildwood is that sort of movie. Wildwood is a modern fairytale which understands that fairytales are brutal stories packed with emotion, terror, beauty, pain, loss, and growth. It is part Labyrinth, part Lord of the Rings, part Disney's Robin Hood, part Narnia, part Return to Oz, part Portlandia, and yet wholly and completely original. 

First I will say this is a story that will grab you from the first frame and keep you on the edge of your seat for its full duration. Filled with diverse and uniquely rich characters, the film manages to do wonderful character development while keeping its story telling pace. I want you know that you will adore this tale. It has a powerful darkness to it and is NOT for young children, but in that darkness is a beautiful story of love and hope that rises from its heart. I found myself viscerally reacting moment after moment. I was literally laughing and crying and surprised by one development after the next. 

The sheer artistry of Wildwood is breathtaking. There are scenes where you loose count of the amount of figures on the screen, each one animated so intricately. The film looks like nothing you've seen before. This is the sort of film that big screens were made for as it is one of the most gorgeous movies I've seen in a while. I am in awe of the achievement this film is. We are lucky to get to see Wildwood come to life.

Go to see it on a big screen just for the spectacle of it alone, but I dare you not to be moved by the power of its story and characters. Simply perfection. 

Wildwood

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, Blythe Danner

Director: Travis Knight

Writer: Chris Butler

 

Fjord (2026)

For me Fjord never found its emotional core. The film felt clinical and when it did introduce emotions it felt forced. It is one of those films that feels more like it is making a point than telling a story or showing us some real characters. I know it's "based on a true story" but highly fictionalized, but its sense of realism felt off like it didn't really understand how humans act. 

Fjord moves at a fairly decent pace for a long film, always moving from one plot point to the next. It spends a decent amount of time on the characters in "moments" attempting to show us who they are. Yet I never felt that anyone was portrayed in a manner that made sense. It's almost like Fjord was saying "see??" "see this person" instead of actually making me see them. The kids from our two central families have moments to show us they are connecting but these scenes feel contrived and artificial. The main characters, both Stan and Reinsve but also the other central adults, never even get this well treated. They walk through scenes like they are doing the dress rehearsal, with all emotional investment held back until there are a few (extremely small) burst of humanness only to have that pulled away at the last minute. 

For a while I was wondering if director Mungiu was attempting to build some mystery around the film's central question, a "did they or didn't they" if you will. But Fjord never truly indulges in that. I also thought the film might truly wrestle with the philosophical question at the heart of the film, what is the intersection of the state's responsibility and the role of individual parents when it comes to children's safety, but the film deals so comically with the child protection services characters that you can't ever take it seriously. The film never addresses the fact it repeated bring up, the bruises on the children. 

And as the film reaches it climax, it hinges less on the relationship between the children and their parents, and goes all in one the connection between the eldest daughter and a neighbour friend that never felt like an honest relationship at all so all its emotional impact felt hollow. So much of Fjord felt hollow. It's not a film it's an intellectual argument that forgot to make any compelling argument.  

Fjord

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve

Writer/Director: Cristian Mungiu

Rose of Nevada (2026)

Some of Rose of Nevada worked for me, some didn't. The story fascinated me, a small town still never having recovered from a long ago tragedy, and the sudden reappearance of the missing boat. But the film's aesthetic approach, from it's camcorder style visuals to its overly articulated acting style kept pulling me from the story and making me think about things other than the themes the narrative could have been exploring. 

The film looks like something someone made with their home video camera. It's like they got two big stars to make a home movie... and they asked everyone to give the most unrealistic line readings of the dialogue as they could muster. There is a tension between the unrealness of the performances and the cinema verite-ness of just following everyone around with the camera which never gelled. 

Still, there was something about this tale, with its exploration of the responsibility of these men to their village and its future, the loss of what could have been, and connections through time and community that was quite interesting to me. Sometimes its mixed bags like that that sit with you even when it wasn't something you enjoyed. 

Rose of Nevada

Starring: George MacKay, Callum Turner

Writer/Director: Mark Jenkin

 

You Can See Everything (2026)

I went into You Can See Everything fairly skeptical. I could never really get myself to give a shit about Elizabeth Holmes' story as it was happening, never cared to watch the Hulu miniseries starring Seyfried, and I was convinced that I would not be enthused about a three-frickin-hour documentary about her. Man could not have been more wrong. In my defence, perhaps if You Can See Everything was actually about Holmes and the case I would have bored. But soon into this film you see it's about other things, a lot of other things. 

Fielder and Oppenheim have crafted a film about the nature of documentary film making itself. It touches on relationships (romantic, professional, friendships) and how we connect. It touches on the based-on-a-real-story television/film industry. It touches on communication and our responsibilities to each other. And Fielder makes it about himself in someways. You Can See Everything evoked for me one of my all time favourite documentaries, The Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley. It asks us to reflect on what we are watching as a thing itself and not just on the story it's telling. Cause even documentaries are stories and they are shaped by their story tellers.

Fielder Michael Moores himself into the story, quite bravely asking us to consider him as subject as well. Like that provocative film maker of what seems like another lifetime, Fielder understands he and his perspective are as much under the microscope as Holmes. I was fascinated with the way he was willing to pose questions about his own role as film maker. I was also quite taken with how much Seyfried participates in this experiment in film making, letting herself get pulled in in ways I wouldn't expect an A-lister to be willing to do. Famously this film has a nude scene (neither Seyfried nor Fielder) which did elicit some gasps when it happens. It happens early in the film and feels like a war cry, we aren't going to hold back with what we expose. At first we think that is referring to Holmes and Evans, kind of like the title of the film itself, but by the end we realize You Can See Everything is a statement on how to view this film as a product itself. 

You Can See Everything

Starring: Elizabeth Holmes, Billy Evans, Nathan Fielder, Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Abbot

Writer/Directors: Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim

Sense and Sensibility (2026)

Jane Austin's most famous stories are mostly about how money is a cage for those who have it and for those who don't, especially the women caught up by economic machinations. Oakley's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility finds the dark undertones of this and highlights them. I was struck by the gloom of this take although I found it highly appropriate for the material and perhaps a fresh way into the trials and tribulations of the Dashwood sisters. 

17th century England feels very lived in and worn in this film. The countryside life of the upper class (or in the Dashwoods' case the lower upper class) is close to nature while London is grimy and smelly to match the social experiences they find there. The film focuses on the disparity between those who choose their honour over their financial state and those who choose the money. There is a desperation palpable in this version, a kind of essentialism. Austin often brings into clarity the precariousness of women's lives even in the upper stratosphere of society, and Oakley captures that. But that precariousness extends to the men as well, whether its Ferrars, Willoughby, or even Colonel Brandon, everyone is on the brink of ruin.. in one way or another. This gives an urgency to the story that isn't just about denying one's feelings or letting them run rampant; it is about one's well being. 

What felt a little lacking were the characters. The film spends much time on Elinor and Edward but much of the rest of the cast of characters feel more like they are filling a role than coming to life as real people. Even Marianne gets less life breathed into her than I would have hoped. I was happy anytime Fiona Shaw was onscreen, chewing it all up as the wonderful Mrs. Jennings (one of my favourite side characters in literature), as she found not only the character's lust for life and her circle of loved ones but also the tiresome nature of her overbearing love, she even found some of that character's rougher edges as well. Going back to Elinor and Edward, who both come off as more rounded characters that most of this cast, the film still doesn't give either quite enough to make me feel the tragic nature of their love so the film's climax ends up a bit underwhelming. 

Perhaps something I appreciated and was frustrated with at the same time was the resolution of Marianne and Branden's story. On the one hand I found it satisfying that they don't just rush from his rejected admiration to her finally seeing his worth and embracing him. Even with her exuberance for passion, sometimes it can feel a bit like whiplash to see her 180 be too rapid. Yet the film's subtle suggestion of their future still felt a bit cold. Maybe it is a bit more real. Yet it felt a bit less rewarding. 

Still, this Sense and Sensibility does find a way, through its exploration of money's evil pull, to offer up something fresh. This story is a compelling one, even with some flaws, and it is gorgeously filmed in that way that makes you want to lose yourself in the heath and in the passion of a denied love. 

Sense and Sensibility

Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, George MacKay, Esmé Creed-Miles, Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum, Fiona Shaw, Bodhi Rae Breathnach

Director: Georgia Oakley

Writer: Diana Reid

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (2026)

Tariq has quite an eye for crafting a scene and a talent for building those scenes into a compelling story. With Your Mother, Tariq blends a strong sense of family and faith with the tension that comes from the violent world of his central character, a hitman. He explores the inherent violence in religious communities through this story of a muslim hitman who gets entangled with a gun worshipping Texas evangelical church. It is a combination ripe with emotion and meaning with a powerful performance from Ali (what else would you expect) at its centre.

Beautiful and emotional Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is powerful on the big screen. My only complaint is that I did not find the narrative made a lot of sense. It felt like the script was often just trying to get us from one of the important scenes to another and didn't always feel real. The climactic battle is a bit confusing and not quite earned. But the film's strength comes more in its characters connecting, particularly Ai and his daughter. 

It is those moments where Your Mother truly shines. Young actress Adia is incredible and paired with Ali playing her father, the two really bring the story to life everytime they are together. The film's real ending, following the big climactic battle, is a quiet emotional scene that makes you realize the is far less interested in the set pieces than the film's marketing is, and that is for the best.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Starring: Mahershala Ali, John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Abubakr Ali, Tramell Tillman, Adia

Writer/Director: Bassam Tariq

La bola negra (2026)

Sometimes films feel more like poetry than prose. La bola negra is filmed with one foot in realism and another in impressionism. Los Javis have taken a gem of Spanish Queer Literature and built around it a soaring and gorgeous epic which imagines a legacy of queer art throughout the decades. Always made with an eye to real beauty, La bola negra wrestles with our connections to the queer ancestors, both figurative and in this story's case, literal, that have brought us to where we are. 

I kept being swept up in the majesty of this film. Without feeling overwrought, La bola negra consistently centres itself in beautiful settings and the visuals evoke the characters, and their passions and struggles. The way Ambrossi and Calvo so seemingly effortlessly  weave their story through eras and wars and passions, feels so liberating. Survival through trauma in this sort of historic queer epics, is par for the course yet La bola negra finds a freshness, perhaps in the way it embraces a realness to its queer story telling, a queerness to its epic story telling. It doesn't shy away from its purpose and beautiful paints it across the screen. 

The film's thesis, that we do not live until we embrace who we truly are, is boldly spoken and lived by the characters in this movie. There is also, through its time-spanning plot, a sense of wrestling with what we owe those who paved our way. The film's most heart-wrenching moments for me were not necessarily the pieces of drama from the historical scenes of war and fascism but the revelations of the modern relationships. There is something quite beautiful about these two modern queer artists making this film from the fragments of a past queer artist's work and building on it until it becomes something even more than either could have imagined. 

The film's cast comes together so beautifully spanning the years of the story. From Cruz's spectacular cameo, which imbues the film with a joyous yearning, through the young leads of each time period, I couldn't take my eyes off of them. They truly become who they are portraying.

La bola negra will haunt you and inspire you, asking you to reflect on how we got here and where we have come from. It is about our connections through art and beauty to our honest selves. 

La bola negra

Starring: Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close

Directors: Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo

Writers: Alberto Conejero, Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo

Animals (2026)

Animals is the second attempt in as many years to remake Kurosawa's High and Low after Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest. The idea in each case is the same. A powerful man believes his son is kidnapped only to find out it is the son of a staff person kidnapped by mistake and the fallout from this exposes the problems inherent in our stratified societies. In this version of the story we follow a likely to be successful candidate running to be mayor of LA just as he is embroiled in the campaign. While I felt like Lee's film last year turned the questions of the story into something less interesting, this one I feel focused on more of what I was interested in. However Animals feels like it squanders those questions in its final act. 

Affleck sets up his moral dilemma quite effectively. His and Washington's characters are very much a balance between relatable to the suburban audience this film is aimed at, and compromised in ways that should make that audience uncomfortable. And as the plot works through its elements, that same audience is, with the mirror held up to it, asked to reflect on a series of problems. But the film doesn't entirely make its audience reckon with the consequences. I wish Animals had been bolder. It's like the set up was all there but then they pulled back and gave what ends up being a rather standard feeling sort of ending. 

The climax mitigates a lot of what could have been really uncomfortable circumstances. There is some Hollywood, out of nowhere "twists" which feel forced. It also gives the audience a bit of a chance to breathe, and maybe not have to wrestle as hard with what they are watching as they might have. The good guys win and the bad guys get what's coming to them. All can be right again with the world. The film sort of self-consciously attempts to suggest some doom with its very last scenes, indicating that the good guys cover it up in a way that is less than ethical, but since the film has established its happy ending as effectively as it does, it almost seems to be suggesting, and it is easy for the audience to buy into the idea that, the cover up is for the best. 

Perhaps one day there will be a truly good adaptation of High and Low that lives up to the legacy. Animals, while not entirely a lost cause, doesn't achieve this.   

Animals

Starring: Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Steven Yeun, Ray Fisher

Director: Ben Affleck

Writers: Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, Ben Affleck

Matchbox: The Movie (2026)

One can't separate the film Matchbox from the elephant in the room, the cinematic behemoth Barbie, cause the former is the first film made by the toy company Mattel since its success making the latter. There may be a lot of commentary about Mattel and Hollywood maybe learning the wrong lessons from Barbie's success. But while Matchbox is no Barbie by any means, I was actually surprised at how much the film understands why Barbie was what it was. That being said, this is still a misfire but for a film that you can watch for free if you already have its streaming service, it's not the worst way to spend a couple hours, especially if you like (or ever liked) playing with toy cars. 

What it gets right: Nostalgia for the brand. For everything that Barbie was, a big part of its draw was the love so much of its audience had for the toy. From their memories of playing with the doll to the aesthetics of the brand, Barbie had throngs of people show up because they loved the idea of seeing a Barbie movie. Matchbox takes what is essentially a Fast and Furious story and builds in as many references, mostly specifically tied to the idea of playing with Matchbox cars, as possible. The movie actually does a good job of taking the experience of playing with the cars and translating that to the big screen. 

It also gets the casting right. Cena is the right man for this job. He has the right persona to balance the humour, the action, and the drama (yes Cena is underrated as a dramatic actor). The film takes itself seriously, as much as this sort of thing can, and adds in the right amount of heart/laughs/action to sell this story of kids who played with toy cars as kids who grow up to drive big cars fast. It's hard to think of an actor who better fits this. than Cena. 

What it gets wrong? Well the story is really very standard. It really is on the level of an FF movie and I'm not saying that as a compliment. Instead of a script that manages to pack in some substantial analysis of societal issues by Oscar winning screenwriters, Matchbox recycles the plot of a fairly disposable action movie. The film hires a first time director instead of bringing in one of the hottest, most innovative directors on the rise. While Barbie managed to capture a certain film culture cache that just isn't here for this go round. Barbie ended up being populist while also having the air of big C cinema. 

See Barbie wasn't just about the nostalgia. It delivered something else, something that was missing in cinemas. Barbie offered something to audience who weren't being served. Matchbox doesn't have that magic. The audience for this is already served and served well. It's not hard to find movies that play to the adults who were little kids who played with Matchbox cars. Movies like this are a dime a dozen. While there are many that are a lot worse, there are also many that are a lot better. So while I may feel fun to see a movie that reminds you of your love for you old toy cars, it doesn't feel necessary. 

And that's where they missed this mark. While the film feels nice as a way to touch into something sweetly nostalgic, it also just feels rather average. Audiences have shown they need a reason to watch a movie and Matchbox just doesn't offer that convincing of one. 

Matchbox: The Movie

Starring: John Cena, Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, Teyonah Parris, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp

Director: Sam Hargrave

Writer: David Coggeshall

California $chemin (2026)

For his first directoral feature, McAvoy went with this charming little tale based on a true story and what I appreciated about it is that it didn't shy away from being honest. It doesn't paint an overly rosy picture of this duo while still telling a rather endearing story. Sometimes it feels like the journey might be a little easy (they get a shot without trying that hard) but the film moves past that part quickly into the meat of it, how easily they get pulled into a world that just isn't real. 

Ross and Bottomley are both truly charismatic and that makes the film easy to watch and enjoy. McAvoy is clearly having fun in his supporting role playing a scumbag executive. But it comes down to just how much they make you care about them and their journey through flirting with fame. The film allows each to be real people, sometimes making really bad choices, and learning from it. Often biopics sugarcoat their subjects so that we don't dislike them too much. But California Schemin lets us see them warts and all.

California $chemin

Starring: Séamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley, James McAvoy, James Corden

Director: James McAvoy

Writers: Elaine Gracie, Archie Thomson

Digger (2026)

Bold and innovative but sometimes messy, Digger is an experience and it's not what you might expect. Some of it works better than other parts but when it works its quite remarkable. And yes Tom Cruise is as good as they say, giving a complex performance that embraces some of the audacity of the film while also finding a certain subtly... as much as one can with this film. 

Digger is a profound and in your face indictment of industry and government reaction to climate change in a way that is darkly (almost terrifyingly) comic while also forcing its audience to look in the mirror. This is definitely a hard pill to swallow sort of film despite how much Iñárritu brings his stylized vision to this story. And it is stylish. Digger is a beautiful film to watch filled with incredible art direction and costumes while being filmed with an artful cinematography that is playful. All of this belies the darkness behind the story, one that is a bit of a confessional told cleverly.  

Some of the stylization might have gone a bit far for my tastes but that was rectified in the moments the film comes down to earth (somewhat). *spoilers* the film is a play within a play style story where it is revealed that Digger itself is fiction and Digger the character is a character played by an actor (who is played by Tom Cruise). While some of this section feels a bit like what Iñárritu did with Birdman, it is the part where for me the film really worked. It felt more tied to the real world and perhaps the urgency. The rest felt somewhat farcical to me but these moments drove the point home.

Still Digger remains spectacle. Its entire cast truly shows up for it and it is something that just needs to be seen. In the end its power outweighs its flaws and it is the sort of film that will stay with you long after the credits role. 

Digger

Starring: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Emma D'Arcy, Burn Gorman

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Writers: Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, Sabina Berman, Alejandro G. Iñárritu

I Come Home (2026)

I was worried throughout I Come Home that the film would default into something common, that it would end up with its central family, a throuple, coming apart unable to overcome the messiness of relationships, reinforcing stereotypes of plural relationships. We are used to seeing "love triangle" be about conflict and, as the film maker has himself said, we aren't used to seeing it be a source of strength and love. I was comforted to see I Come Home not go down the well beaten path and instead offer us something differnt.  

I Come Home is a love story. It is a love story between three people who face the complexities of relationships and life and family and the unexpected by each bringing their own unique strengths together to create something stronger. I Come Home doesn't shy away from how challenging love can be but also what it offers. And the film works so beautifully, filmed as if we are glimpsing into these people's lives and seeing just how they come together. 

Cheesman is the strong centre of this film and she gives a powerful performance as a woman facing a lot of curveballs all at once. Her chemistry with her partners palyed by Gonzalez-Vio and Ali is palpable which makes the love at the centre of this story so embracing. You can truly feel it. 

The ending comes in such a beautiful and powerful way and it surprised and delighted me. That is what I want from a love story and I Come Home really does gives us a glimpse into this home and this family in a way that is beautiful. 

I Come Home
Starring: Hannah Cheesman, Carlos Gonzalez-Vio, Ryan Ali, Jordan Hayes, Sonja Smits

Director: Glen Wood

Writer: Andreas Vatiliotou

The Stunt Driver (2026)

Made with a lot of heart, and filmed to look like it was shot in the 70s, The Stunt Driver is perhaps a bit slight but it is quite touching in its somewhat irreverent tone. The crew here understands the assignment; take a rather absurd but real life story, one that might be a bit underwhelming in a way, and tell it with as much gusto as they can. The cast is great and the film is surprisingly engaging. Sure they may play fast and loose a bit with the story but the capture the heart. 

Baruchel is quite good here. I was happy to see him play both the comedic bits (but in a subdued way) with the dramatic. I like seeing him in roles that aren't just silly and this one finds just the right balance. 

And by the film's ending (if you know the history they stick to that) you're all in for Carter, cause how can you not?

The Stunt Driver

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Ed Helms, Ben Foster

Writer/Director: Michael Dowse

Resident Evil (2026)

I'll start out by saying I've never seen a Resident Evil movie nor have a played the video game. While I am vaguely familiar with the concept of the story that's about all I know. So I went into Gregger's take on this with fresh eyes other than my experience with enjoying his previous works. I recognize some of his signature style right away; his eye for visuals, his talent for building suspense, his love of an old school, B-movie-ish horror aesthetic. All of this is evident in his Resident Evil movie which ends up being a hell of a good time even if, like Barbarian and Weapons before it, it does start to almost jump the shark by the end. 

Cregger is a wonderful storyteller. He uses that skill here. He introduces us to his central character, who is going to take us through this story, in an effective and concise manner and gets us right into the story. Zombie apocalypse movies (and I admit there are reasons not to lump this into that catagory) are so ubiquitous we as an audience barely need much set up to get us into the meat of the story. He uses that cultural knowledge paired with some smart writing to be very effective in getting his movie going and hitting high gear. 

The winning recipe here is Abrams. His incredible screen charisma and his talent for organic humour carry this film and make it work. He is so engaging to watch and his survival through each up and down is electric. The weight of this movie is on his shoulders and he pulls it off managing the film's humour and pathos. This really is more of a horror comedy than straight horror and it is successful in being scary and funny without ever treading into parody. The humour is very rooted in the story and grounded. 

There is a moment where I started to feel it had gone a little too far. For those who've seen it it's the elevator scene. The final act is a bit much in the silly zone. I feel that Barbarian really falls down in that too while Weapons mostly avoids it despite having some symptoms. Still, this film's climax was appropriate and I'm glad he didn't chicken out of going there. I just wish he'd kept the tone from the first two thirds of the film. 

Still Resident Evil is a good time and I'd be back to watch more sequels of this iteration of the franchise.  

Resident Evil

Starring: Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser

Director: Zach Cregger

Writers: Shay Hatten, Zach Cregger

Carolina Caroline (2026)

Kyle Gallner is developing an impressive indie crime film catalog with this following his impressive turns in the Passenger and Strange Darling. Many have compared this film to Bonnie and Clyde because it's about two young lovers on a crime spree but I find this film has a strikingly different tone. This downplays the crime, a devise used to create the tension in the relationship and plays up the romance, even if it is a dysfunctional one. For me Carolina Caroline was about a doomed romance between good people who make terribly bad choices unable to help themselves on their road to ruin. 

Weaving is strong here playing her character's attempts to reconcile her abandonment issues with her sense of self-empowerment. She falls for a man she knows is dangerous not because of that danger but because of how he represents the freedom she is looking for. He falls for her because of how much he is impressed with her. I loved how the film emphasized their attractions being based on something more than just how beautiful they both are, that what draws them together is how much they respect each other. 

And it's this detail in their romance which keeps it from being too cliche despite it going where you can expect it to go. Their strong performances and a script which respects its characters and complete, if deeply flawed people, make the film remarkable to watch and easy to get hooked on. Films about con artists are always a good hook in, but the film gets your wrapped up in your feelings for these characters despite knowing how badly things will end up. 

The other thing about this film is it's incredible soundtrack. Jason Isbel's 2013 song Cover Me Up is used to perfection to capture the tragedy of this love story. 

Carolina Caroline

Starring: Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Jon Gries, Kyra Sedgwick

Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier

Writer: William Thomas Dean IV

Hope (2026)

Hope is big ambitious film making. It is about the fear of invasion, about having your style of life taken from you. As a South Korean film set along the world's most infamous and militarized border, Hope obviously speaks to those things that divide us. Using the alien metaphor quite literally, it is somewhat unique in how it gives us so much of the alien point of view. But at its heart (pun intended for those who've seen it) Hope is a well crafted and deliberate monster movie whose goal is to get that heart pumping which it does very effectively. 

For me Na Hong-jin walked a very thin line between his desire to build suspense and his characters by slowing the film's pacing with risking occasionally making the film feel self-consciously like it was holding back. Sometimes this worked very well, especially in the first hour (it takes 50 minutes for the film to show us the monsters). The film edges its audience to the point we can barely breathe so once the first monster "attack" scene finally blows up it is extra powerful. His twist hits harder too because of his patience.

But I'm not sure this worked as well in the second half of the film where some sequences felt needlessly drawn out. There is a specific character "death" which happens near the end which is telegraphed in a way that attempts humour but felt sort of overdone and stretched beyond what it needs. There are a few times it felt like the film dawdles in the latter parts. But by then we have become quite invested in these characters so perhaps it is easier to forgive some of this. 

*Spoiler* the plans for Hope are longer than this long film can contain. The film ends on a cliff hanger with little being resolved. The story Na Hong-jin is weaving is epic. I would say Hope is a good first chapter with the way it forces us to see differing perspectives and consider the aliens and their point of view. I would hope the inevitable sequel will get into that further but I'd hope isn't afraid to let his action sequences truly roll. The things that is most memorable about the film is just how pulse pounding all of that is. 

Hope

Starring: Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender

Writer/Director: Na Hong-jin

Mayday (2026)

At this point it would be reasonable to think that Ryan Reynolds doesn't know how to play any other character than... well, Ryan Reynolds. He is once again cast in the role he was born to play. This variation is his as an 80s "Top Gun" style pilot, who, naturally, is a wise cracker with a heart of gold. Once he is shot down in Soviet Russia, he is found by a US loving former KGB agent (played with all the silliness he loves to bring to these roles, by Branagh) who is a perfect fighting machine and delightfully odd. We follow their hi-jinx as they attempt to make it out of the Soviet Union before they are caught and while this happens they learn a little about each other and that perhaps neither "side" of the cold war was the evil each attempted to paint the other as. 

Mayday goes pretty much how you would expect and generally it's funny and fun despite being rather obvious. Reynolds tones down his bluster somewhat so it is less grating that it has come to feel. All of this makes for a fun little watch even if the film always feels like each turn is constructed without feeling organic or real. There is a sweetness to its earnestness. Its heart is in the right place. It may not be much but its under two hours that will generally be enjoyable. 

Mayday

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Kenneth Branagh, Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorociński, David Morse

Writers/Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley

Finding Emily (2026)

A lot has been written about the death of the Rom-Com, a genre which once dominated the box office which now struggles to find much of a foothold. Some think while the Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullocks of Hollywood have moved on, the hope for the future of the Romantic Comedy is in indie films. Generally I think there might be something to that. I just didn't find Finding Emily to be a great blueprint for making that happen. While it had many of the trappings, it often felt like it was falling into the very traps it was playing with.

One of the things about Rom-Coms is how often they romanticize extremely inappropriate behavior. Usually someone is lying and manipulating someone else and after some perfunctory mea culpa they are rewarded with their "one true love". Finding Emily is fairly self-conscious about how inappropriately both of its leads are acting, often with the characters in the film pointing it out, but the film's philosophy is, isn't that romantic... anyway? 

Finding Emily does all it can to be charming and romantic, casting wildly charismatic everyman leads and making them so likeable you can't help but overlook their behaviour, which they generally do not have to ever suffer any consequences for. Yet for all the film's self-awareness it never manages to be that funny nor that romantic. And that is really where the genre suffers the most. 

Finding Emily isn't any worse than any other of its genre mates but it also really isn't that much better either and falls right in the middle of the pack.  

Finding Emily

Starring: Angourie Rice, Spike Fearn, Minnie Driver

Director:  Alicia MacDonald

Writer: Rachel Hirons

Coyote vs. Acme (2026)

Smart, funny, and delightfully charming, Coyote vs. Acme may not be quite the masterpiece Who Framed Roger Rabbit is but it is very much in that spirit and captures something both lovingly nostalgic and cleverly discerning from a modern lens. Capturing the irony and wit of the classic Looney Tunes while infusing a great deal of love for these characters, Coyote vs. Acme gets why we love the old cartoons and brings us something new to love with it. And at the heart of it Coyote vs. Acme is just a damn good time at the movies for almost all ages. 

One doesn't have to be an aficionado of the WB cartoons to truly love this, but it certainly helps. Filled with little easter eggs and featuring some pretty deep cuts, Coyote vs. Acme is a treasure trove for long time fans. But it is also completely accessible for someone fresh to the material. From a small child (who may have many of the jokes go over their heads - just like the original cartoons) to adults of all ages who may not be overly familiar, this film is just really entertaining and watchable with a pretty direct plot. The characters are likeable and fun and mostly its story is presented without getting too complicated. But perhaps there is a bit of complications which make this richer than your average Hollywood nostalgia sequel. 

Like the reference I made earlier to the most famous live action/animation classic, Coyote vs. Acme might have something a little more sophisticated to say than simple humour. There is a court case at the centre of this film which is mostly handled on a fairly curface level but what underlies that is some interesting social commentary on class, capitalism, exploitation. The film doesn't get too bogged down in the weeds, keeps things rather straight forward, and its metaphors aren't as sublime as Roger Rabbit's but they are there and they are smart and like the old Looney Tunes cartoons they might just teach us something.

Coyote vs. Acme is a little gem that overcame the odds (read into the history of this film being made, cancelled, and then resurrected... it's fascainting) and we are lucky that it's here so don't sleep on this. 

Coyote vs. Acme

Starring: Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán, Eric Bauza, Candy Milo, Jim Cummings

Director:  Dave Green

Writer: Samy Burch

Tony (2026)

Director Johnson has mastered the right balance of humour and heart in his dramadies. While BlackBerry ran right down the middle, his last film Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie leaned into the comedy while wearing a big damn heart on its sleeve.  With Tony he explores a more dramatic side while keeping the story rooted in the sort of organic humour that keeps you smiling even when what you’re seeing is rough. 

I often don’t enjoy biopics cause of their tendency to lionize their subjects and sugarcoat history. Tony feels a little different. Yes it’s treating its beloved subject in a very sympathetic way but it also deprecates him enough to get a pass. Young Tony is a bit of an ass and yet we care about him anyway. For a man we know is going to end his own life eventually we get to see him full of human joy and errors and passions and anger. The film doesn’t address his death instead focusing on his formative years and referencing his later successes. As it should be. 

And the story works because it doesn’t have to be a true story. The characters and plot lines are engaging and interesting enough to be fiction. The cast is great. Sessa continues to shine and those supporting him all bring their A game. 

Tony overcame my apprehension about biopics by being genuine and finding, at its heart, the right story to capture a bit of who Bourdain may have been. 

Tony

Starting: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas

Director: Matt Johnson 

Writers: Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, Matt Johnson

 

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)

Horror has a very complicated and closely aligned connection to queerness. From the idea of othering the “monster” to how films stitch us into identifying with certain points of view, certain characters, horror as a genre has playing a significant role in identify formation for those who fall outside of the dominant cultural groups. The documentary The Celluloid Closet covers how Hollywood has queer coded villains, and specifically aligned transness with villainy. Current online discourse has been a backlash against any film which centres characters that aren’t straight white cis-men. Camp Miasma arrives amid this history and this current climate with something profound and haunting to say, something complicated and self-reflective, and it does this while making a gorgeously unsettling, wittingly funny film that somehow sees the beauty in the monster.

Miasma refers to a foreboding, a danger. We are all more familiar with the meaning of camp. Writer/director Schoenbrun plays with language here, including in the name of her movie serial killer, Little Death, a translation of a French phrase for orgasm. Some of what is going on here is a search for the ability to cum. But it’s not that simple. It is about reaching a level of connection to experience something as fulfilling and satisfying as orgasm, connection with others, connection with one’s self. This isn’t as straight forward as you might assume. For many exiled from their own identities, their own selves, through cultural oppression, reaching this state represents a liberation. 

The slasher genre, so full of history of condemning sexual liberation, is the perfect vessel for finding that very freedom. Schoenbrun inverts so many of the assumptions of the genre in the way that queer/trans audiences have been inverting the characterizations of themselves in these movies. While the film doesn’t try to be scary (most of the horror movies elements are played for… well, camp) the film is unsettling in otherways; in how it gives permission to explore, to see things differently. This is the very opposite of how a morality play works.

Einbinder and Anderson are excellent here, with Anderson doing both a tribute and pastiche on Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, even down to the turban. She is ethereal and spilling over with subtext and presence and gives the film a larger than life feeling. Also incredible is Jack Haven as Little Death himself. This character blew away any expectations I may have had and even without hardly any lines, Haven delivers a haunting portrait that balances all the pathos and humour captured in he character. 

And Camp Miasma is a simply gorgeous film. Schoenbrun utilizes classic horror film styles and combines the artificial sets with practical in a manner that creates something visually incredible and beautiful to look at. It creates the world in which this specific story can exist and gives it room to breathe, allowing the audience to reflect and absorb the layers of the story.

So much of what Camp Miasma was saying feels familiar yet unsaid, perhaps having been fleeting thoughts we’ve had while consuming horror media from outside the mainstream perspective. Miasma offers it to us explicitly, even if not literally or without some room for personal interpretation. It further entrenches Schoenbrun as one of the most compelling film makers working today.  

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

Starring: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Patrick Fischler, Kevin McDonald, Eva Victor, Dylan Baker

Writer/Director: Jane Schoenbrun