Backrooms (2026)

I am often drawn to films that explore what is unnerving over explicitly "scary" images. Sometimes this difference is more a matter of how we understand the experience than the experience itself. I find the ideas behind the story to be the parts which are the most effecting. Rarely do films which feature a "monster" chasing people scary. The idea of our understanding of reality being challenged is far more impactful for me. Backrooms is the sort of film that draws this out of its audience with its atmospheric unsettling ambiance. 

I understand the film has roots in initial images of subliminal spaces which went viral before being adapted into a web-series which had a following of it's own. Backrooms takes full advantage of the cultivated visual aesthetic from these sources creating a complete world it exists in that is so disquieting in both its familiarity and its uncanniness. The film's power lies in the way it takes the mundane and alters it slightly enough to rattle us. 

Backrooms sometimes feels like there are a few ideas being played with simultaneously but it does so mostly in a way that feels consistent. There are only a few moments where I felt like it was taking some short cuts (like a character explaining a little to much, or another stumbling upon answers a bit to quickly). 

Despite critiques that say the film is not traditionally horror, it does have some rather normal horror tropes such as a persistant, mostly unseen monster hunting down its final girl. Thankfully it uses this sparingly focusing more on the way the characters' memories and emotional interiors are fabricated into a confounding "reality". Parsons finds a balance between the stalking monster trope and the more interesting aspects of how we remember who we are and what that makes us into. 

I was worried the film would attempt to "explain" itself, especially in its end scenes which begin to go down that road, but fortunately it pulls back and leaves us with more questions than answers... exactly what it should do. Sometimes the film does attempt to provide us with a helping hand a bit more often than I would have preferred but I appreciated how the ending can be interpreted a few ways. I look forward to all the conversations about what this story.

Backrooms

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia

Director: Kane Parsons

Writer: Will Soodik

Tuner (2026)

Sometimes a movie just comes together completely and Tuner is one of those movies. It has a great premise whose screenplay brings out its best features. The performances are top notch with Woodalll and Liu showing they both have the potential to carry a film. And Roher directs it all so beautifully into a really entertaining film. 

This is the sort of film I can confidently recommend to almost anyone. It gets a little intense at the end so I'd watch for that if you are somewhat sensitive, but it's worth risking that for such a pleasing movie. I really don't want to say too much about it except go see it. 

Turner

Starring: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno

Director: Daniel Roher

Writers: Robert Ramsey, Daniel Roher

I Love Boosters (2026)

I'll watch whatever Boots Riley puts out. He knows how to wrap up sharp social commentary into a delicious package that is a gas to watch. I Love Boosters certainly does fall into that category even if it starts to collapse onto its own silliness a bit by the end. Still I had a great time and I appreciate it's heart and soul. 

The film is very funny and visually incredible to watch. Riley has created a dystopic world for his very real world analogy and filled it with dynamic characters and a plot that perhaps cross just into the ridiculous. While I had a great time, I did feel it tipped over to the point where it became too much. But just a bit. I didn't feel it's overly optimistic ending was completely earned. 

 

Still having said that the film is a wonderful watch and it brings to the fore, with little to no nuance, very important issues. The best thing about this is Palmer's rich performance. Despite all the craziness around her she grounds her character so effectively and powerfully breathing a pathos into the film it might not have without her. Yet she remains part of this over-the-top world bridging it to our reality. 

I Love Boosters

Starring: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, Demi Moore

Writer/Director: Boots Riley

The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

Reasons I loved The Mandalorian and Grogu:

1. Old fashioned genre adventure movie. This took me way back to the kinds of matinee adventures I'd see as a kid. It had monsters and gun fights and colourful characters. It had me on the edge of my seat and rooting for the good guys. The film offers a lot for fans of the series but is completely accessible to anyone of almost any age no matter how much Star Wars you have seen. You could easily walk in off the street knowing nothing about Star Wars and follow everything. 

2. Space westerns! There is something about this genre that just grabs me. I don't know what it is about the mix of styles and themes that gets me but this is something the Mandalorian series has done so well and this film continues that tradition. 

3. The use of practical effects. The film feels lived in and the richness of the visuals (which contribute back to #1 above) give is such a warmth and joy to watch. There is a lot of CGI as well but it doesn't take me out of it. 

4. Pedro Pascal (enough said).

5. This is an adoption story. I am a sucker for these. Whether it's Superman or The Mandalorian I love films that explore the richness of found family. Star Wars has a lot of this and I find it very moving. 

6. Sigourney. Legend. The Queen of Science Fiction. 

7. This is Star Wars. I am exactly the right to be in love with Star Wars. I was a kid for the original trilogy, in college for the prequels, and a parent taking my child to see the sequel trilogy. This space fantasy means the world to me and getting a new big screen adventure that embraces all that it is (Hutts! fighter battles! Zeb!) slaps a big smile across my face. The film echoes themes and moments from across the franchise (there is always a bigger fish) which is a big part of what makes Star Wars feel like Star Wars. 

8. Grogu is easily one of the most enjoyable characters to come out of Star Wars in a generation and seeing him get to star in this adventure made my little heart happy as all hell. 

The Mandalorian and Grogu is just damn fun with a lovely relationship at its core. It doesn't claim to be very much at all and that makes it just a really great time at the cinema. This is the series that made me fall in love with movies and this film is keeping that love alive!

The Mandalorian and Grogu

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Steve Blum, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder

Director: Jon Favreau

Writers: Dave Filoni, Noah Kloor, Jon Favreau

Obsession (2026)

For me Obsession appears to know what it is trying to say but chooses to do something different instead. It takes a rather clever play on the careful-what-you-wish-for/monkey paw trope, an idea that in itself could be horrifyingly creepy and instead turns it into an excuse to lean into standard horror movie creepiness instead. The idea here, that a man chooses for a woman who she should be in love with against her will, would have been enough on its own to make a truly disturbing film. Instead Obsession is obsessed with just having her act creepy, violently, and uses jump scares to scare us. But the worst part is that the film hints at how scary it's actual premise is at moments before falling back into being just another horror movie like all the rest. 

The film starts out great. It sets up its story perfectly; a "nice-guy" is in love with a beautiful and truly lovely young woman who has apparently "friendzoned" him but can't bring himself to let her know how he feels. Instead he snaps a toy wish granter (which to be fair he thinks is just a joke and won't have any real effect) wishing that she would love him more than anyone in the world. From there the story gets going and for me gets off track. 

Imagine the film where she acted like a real person madly in love, perhaps unhealthily obsessed, perhaps acting out against those she sees as threatening to their relationship. He would have to wrestle with her possessiveness and with the reality that he knows this is not what she chose and that her love for him wasn't a choice she made. There is so much potential there. But this film mostly ignores that only taking short glimpses into that world. 

Instead it immediately has her acting "weird" like she's possessed by some evil spirit more like a traditional horror movie. She does a lot of things that no one would do in any realistic context. The film even has moments where it leans into the possession idea. But mostly it leaps from unnatural behaviour to violent act like it's an Exorcist movie. There is no reason she would feed him a cat nor walk around like a crab hiding in the dark. The film just felt off a lot of the time. What I wanted was for him to wrestle with the fact that he has essentially assaulted her and the worsening of this as he continues on but the film barely scratches this surface instead leaning into being creepy in a traditional horror movie sort of way. It's like the film has a very limited understanding of relationships and consent, the very things that this morality tale really need to work. 

As the film ends it finally taps into some of the energy I wanted from this and leaves its very bleak ending in a place that made sense to me. But by then I was already over this version of this story. Perhaps someone else will do a better job of this one day but this isn't that film. 

Obsession

Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Andy Richter

Writer/Director: Curry Barker

Remarkably Bright Creatures (2026)

I'm not sure the talking octopus (talking as in narrating, not having conversations with his co-stars) bit in Remarkably Bright Creatures worked for me, but generally this charming little tale about two lost people finding themselves through *checks notes* their mutual friendship with an octopus (oh wait a minute) still won me over. Perhaps it's because Sally Field (she's still got it) and Luis Pullman are both strong actors who commit to the bit. Sure the final coinkydink might be a little far fetched and the story is somewhat chicken-soup-for-the-soul-ish, but the production just comes together in a rather enjoyable little film shot in Beautiful British Columbia and I am here for it. 

We get Field working opposite Chen, Baker, and Grant which is a treat just in and of itself. And honestly Octopuses are just cool. So there is little to complain about with Remarkably Bright Creatures even if I could nit-pick the thing to death. 

Watching this I was reminded how Pullman's father once made a run at being a romantic lead but it turned out he was much better in edgier roles. It will be interesting to see how Lewis fares on that front. 

Anyway, for a charming and lovely little watch you can do a lot worse than Remarkably Bright Creatures. And it might just bring a little smiley tear to your eye at the same time. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Starring: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Joan Chen, Kathy Baker, Beth Grant, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Colm Meaney, Alfred Molina

Director: Olivia Newman

Writers: John Whittington, Olivia Newman

Is God Is (2026)

Bold yet surprisingly emotional, Is God Is inverts the formula made popular by Tarantino types to deliver a nuanced contemplation on revenge and abuse that centres the female experience and perspective. it utilizes much of the genre tropes (elaborately larger than life characters and cartoonish yet shocking violence) to examine the American experience of intimate partner violence and its gendered performance. A talented cast the truly shows up for this story makes it all work so remarkably even if there are some short cuts. Is God Is becomes a gut punch that has a voice.  

I want to shout out Young and Johnson who play the central characters with a sensitivity within the hyper-stylized world of Is God Is. They are under layers of make-up and are playing out a morality play that is less based in the real world, yet they make their characters so wonderfully rich and real. Their quest for revenge against a world that mistreats them and the specific man who is most responsible is something you feel as the audience. 

Is God Is' strength is in how it doesn't let go of its gender critique. It knows the roots of the violence it is exposing and it doesn't let it slip. There are times the film presents characters meant to be morally ambiguous or even redeemable and it pulls that rug from us to highlight how pervasive male on female violence is and how much those on the periphery of the violence support it. Is God Is doesn't blink despite how much we may want it to. We want to be able to turn away but so much of what this film does prevents us from doing so. 

By the time the film reaches its conclusion its audience is shaken and hopefully rethinking a lot of what we want to think about these issues. Writer/director Harris has a powerful vision and voice and I hope we see a lot more of her in the world of cinema. 

Is God Is

Starring: Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Vivica A. Fox, Sterling K. Brown

Writer/Director: Aleshea Harris

Hamlet (2026)

Proving once again that Shakespeare's plays are endlessly adaptable, director Karia has crafted an energetic, adrenaline fuelled Hamlet, set in modern London's South Asian community. Instead of centred around royal lineages its focus is on corruption in business. Regardless of the setting the film finds the powerful spark of the story and the language and brings it to energetic life. 

At the centre of this is the central intense performance of Ahmed. Him taking on the ultimate starring role is likely enough of a justification for making this film at all and he delivers on the responsibility of that. His Hamlet is no wavering violet. He is a man of action whose central question is how much he will act. Ahmed, deservingly defying all Hollywood expectations of what sort of roles he should take, plays the role boldly crafting a Hamlet unlike those we've seen before. So much of what makes this film work is this central performance. 

The adaptation collapses numerous characters together, reassigns lines to different speakers, and repurposes the narrative elements to tell an evolved story. It is an ostentatious attempt which works to give the play a new urgency. The script is tight, holding just what is necessary and jettisoning the rest so its pace is rapid and kinetic. My only complaint is how sometimes the film feels in too much of a hurry to get through its plot point. Perhaps it could have sat with some of its pathos a bit. 

I was most impressed with how it handles the climax. Perhaps this is where the film does find something more quietly powerful. It is a quite the twist on the famous ending that still captures the play's finale but fitting with this time period and plot. 

Yet even with all this Hamlet remains Hamlet and the film captures what has made this story so compelling for centuries. I felt a bit breathless watching this new take and glad to once again get to see Ahmed play such a vibrant character. 

Hamlet

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark, Joe Alwyn, Sheeba Chaddha, Avijit Dutt, Art Malik, Timothy Spall

Director: Aneil Karia

Writer: Michael Lesslie

Blue Heron (2026)

Romvari's quiet yet chilling drama is something to behold. She tells her story with a soft power that is undeniable. Blue Heron will leave you with a lot of emotion while also being a beautiful film to watch. 

This is the story of a woman remembering her brother who exhibited disturbing anti-social behaviour as a child. It is told through memory so as we watch we begin to see all the pieces don't quite fit together. It is more like how we remember things than how things happen. But this is a big part of the strength of the film. 

Romvari doesn't do anything shocking or sensational in her film and sometimes we aren't even sure how concerning things truly are. I found this to make it even more powerful. It feels real; the exhaustion, the desperation. 

Romvari issues a strong debut which makes it exciting to think what she will do next. 

Blue Heron

Starring:  Eylul Guven, Amy Zimmer, Ádám Tompa, Iringó Réti

Writer/Director: Sophy Romvari

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

The Sheep Detectives has been described as Knives Out meets Babe and that’s not inaccurate, and shockingly it’s also a really good movie that offers a really enjoyable time and doesn’t talk down to its audience while remaining accessible for both older children and adults. In many ways it is an unexpected little miracle that is a damn good movie about sheep solving a murder. 

The Sheep Detectives is entered around a fairly great drawing room murder story that plays cleverly with classic tropes of the genre. But then it adds in some smart and surprising humour and a strong cast who completely commit to the bit. The sheep are especially good. They becomes truly rounded characters and their arcs have something interesting to say about social issues. By all accounts, this talking sheep movie manages to be really good in pretty much every way. 

Seriously seeing The Sheep Detectives is a choice you won’t regret. It offers real entertainment that isn’t mindless and will leave you with a smile on your face. 

The Sheep Detectives 
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O'Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein

Director:  Kyle Balda

Writer: Craig Mazin

 

Exit 8 (2026)

Exit 8 might be the template for the best way to adapt a video game into a film. It takes the style and visuals of the game, uses the narrative, and adds a cinematic story that fits with all the game’s themes and ideas. One could watch Exit 8 without any knowledge of the film being based on a game and get as much out of it as anyone in the audience because the premise works on its own and the story itself is completely engaging. Exit 8 is the sort of film that grabs you from the beginning and refuses to let you go. 

The film has deeply unsettling moments and visuals but it uses these to accomplish what is essentially a very relatable and moving emotional story. Our central character, unnamed and “everyman”-ish, is facing the push and pull of the combination of upheaval and inertia making this a story that touches on universal themes even with its specificities. 

And it does so in such a powerful manner, weaving its story with simplicity but deep meaning and emotional power. It is an exciting film to watch without being showy or sensationalized. Yet it is incredibly watchable, the kind of film that keeps you on the edge of your seat and unable to look away. It can be horrifying in moments but also quite touching. Despite the nature of this story, with repeating themes explicit in the narrative, the film never drags. In fact it uses its gimmicks to amp up the engagement. The rather tight runtime keeps the film and its stakes moving. 

But in the end, as I mentioned, the film is an emotional journey, a profoundly familiar character arc about facing our futures. I believe Exit 8 will be incredibly rewatchable for as a film it is a true success. 

Exit 8

Starring: Kazunari Ninomiya 

Director: Genki Kawamura

Writers: Kentaro Hirase, Genki Kawamura

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)

I am a supporter of nostalgic sequels. I think they offer something to fans and can, if nothing else, scratch an itch that makes it fun to enjoy them. The best take the characters and story and build into a new direction, offering something for the fans but also for newcomers. The least really do nothing for anyone coming into it fresh and just satisfy the nostalgia of the fan base. Sadly The Devil Wears Prada 2 is far more the latter than the former. 

As the credits rolled it dawned on me that very little had happened in this sequel. The characters didn’t have any real arcs, the story didn’t advance in any meaningful way, and despite the film attempting to comment on corporate merger culture in the age of tech billionaires, it said the only the most basic. The new characters are thinly drawn (a vapid tech billionaire who is just a clown, a perfect new boyfriend for Andy who has no purpose but to amplify her, a new assistant for Miranda who just is a watered down version of Emily, and on and on) and sadly the old ones are nothing either. It almost felt like they asked AI to write this script. 

Miranda fans prepare yourself; she is oddly situated, often painted as weak and rather placating. She has lost all the bite of her character except in performative ways. In the end she is played weak and ineffective and unlike the first film relies on Andy to save her. The movie can’t decide what to do with Emily, first making her a carbon copy of herself in the first film used mostly for comic relief. Then she turns into a villain sort of out of the blue only to be finally redeemed in a scene that feels tacked on. Benji gives a monologue about why he sticks with the abuse and marginalization he suffers and then gets a moment (that happens off screen) where he gets to shine by giving a speech. But the least interesting is Andy who literally does not grow or accomplish anything for herself. Her role is to normalize what is going on and Hathaway just smiles at all her costars all the time being a stand in for the audience cause more than anything this is what this movie is, just a chance to see our characters again and it doesn’t really matter what they do. 

I’ll give the movie credit for not being boring despite not having much of a story and I’ll also reiterate that it is perfectly fine to just love this because you love the first movie and want to be immersed in this world again. You do you! But in reality unless you are a die hard fan there is no reason to rush out to see this or make much of a point to see it in anyway.

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, Traci Thomas, Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, BJ Novak, Conrad Ricamora, Lady Gaga, Donatela Versace 

Director: David Frankel

Writter: Aline Brosh McKenna

 

Deep Water (2026)

I am a sucker for a good disaster movie and Deep Water is sort of two in one; plane crash and shark attack. The good news is that it executes both pretty effectively. It's efficient in its story telling so the energy doesn't lag and it does just what it needs to to keep the audience invested. There are well constructed (if thin) characters that make you are about them and really good survival against all odds action. 

Deep Water feels a bit like a film from another era. It's got the classic disaster film structure and formula and with veteran film director Harlan at the helm, it goes through the beats as it needs to to deliver. Another thing that pushes Deep Water into the positive zone is its cast, who step up and don't feel like they are phoning it in. Kingsley acts the pants off his character and Eckhart is the leading man centring this film that everyone thought he would be. 

I'm not saying Deep Water transcends or elevates its genre. It is exactly what it sells itself as; almost 2 hours of disaster movie fun. A disaster movie is great because of the thrills and terror followed by the sense of hope. When the final survivors eventually survivie there is a catharsis which is reassuring and affirming. Deep Water is doing the traditional thing here but it's doing it well. Sure there is one character who is so cartoonishly despicable (it even turns out everything is his fault) that we are set up to take some joy in watching the sharks feast on him by the end of the film, but I forgive this little cliche because of how much fun I was having. 

If you're up for a fun disaster flick you could do a lot worse than Deep Water. While I might normally wait to recommend this as a streaming watch, and I think it would be fine for a movie night at home, the film with its large impressive set pieces work really well on the big screen. 

Deep Water

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley

Director: Renny Harlan

Writers: Pete Bridges, Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause, Damien Power

 

Animal Farm (2026)

Serkis' take on Orwell's classic story isn't quite a misfire but also isn't overly successful in adapting the story. It attempts to update the cautionary tale to one that fits this rather specific moment while simultaneously attempting to make a film that that is so palatable for a mainstream audience that its message is watered down. Still embedded in here are some sharp critiques that I'm rather surprised by based on the studios backing this movie. But it all sort of happens rather quickly and it's easy to dismiss a lot of what happens here. 

Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a Democratic Socialist critique of Communism by using the specific example of the rise of the Soviet Union's totalitarian regime. That's heady stuff despite the narrative being populated by adorable farm animals. As history keeps repeating, the exploitation of popular movements for totalitarian power continues to be a reality in our world, so this version shifts its soviet allegory to one of corporate fascism with very obvious references to the Trump administration. A lot of those parallels are dead on which, being distributed by a Christian film company, comes as a bit of a surprise. Despite changing the nature of the "villains" the plot points of the novel are basically hit beat by beat. 

But so much of it is softened in exchange for telling a more traditional overcoming-the-bad-guys story. The narrative feels rushed, the brutality of the events are taken out, and the addition of a new central character, Lucky, a plucky little pig who gets sucked into the Pig Regime but eventually does what's right. But like a lot of adaptations of Animal Farm it inserts a happy ending that Orwell never intended and which takes away from the cautionary effect of the story. In the end the bad guys are put in their place (through a clumsily executed climax that feels designed to give younger audiences moments to cheer) and once again the "good" animals take over. It sort of misses the point.

So I am torn a bit. Kids watching this will get something out of the messages here and it gives them more to chew on than the average mainstream animated film. But the film just isn't done well and it rounds off the rough edges in a way that makes it all feel like a charming moral more than a dystopian horror story.  That paired with the film's obvious dialogue and fairly standard animation makes this version rather forgettable.

Animal Farm

Starring: Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close, Laverne Cox, Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, Jim Parsons, Andy Serkis, Kathleen Turner

Director: Andy Serkis

Writer: Nicholas Stoller