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

The End of Oak Street (2026)

I love a good monster movie and that is what The End of Oak Street is. It’s not trying to be anything more than just a fun running from dinosaurs film. That doesn’t mean it’s dumb. It rises to the occasion with smart dialogue, real feeling characters (who have decent arcs), and a plot that invests us in our heroes survival. What it doesn’t do is get distracted or weighed down by anything too esoteric. Instead it sets is sights on entertaining and telling a damn good story. That’s what you get in The End.

The End of Oak Street commits to its bit. It goes full into 80s mode, evoking the era without feeling stereotyped and reflecting a sort of family oriented action film that really feels like an 80s movie. In many ways this is a love letter to films like E.T. or Short Circuit; a kind of film that was popular in that era before the seriousness and irony of the 90s took over. 

But it doesn’t talk down to its audience or just rely on nostalgia. Instead it invests us in its tale through building the characters (who feel very relatable, imperfect but likeable). The film gets right into its story, and once it gets going doesn’t slow down for much. It even through a few curveballs at us that you might not see coming. Is the plot a bit over the top and sometimes the beats feel a bit convenient? Sure maybe. And I wouldn’t start thinking about the implications of the time loop that the ending creates (a problem with most time travel movies). But if you can just let yourself enjoy the story it will be very satisfying and likely rewatchable. 

In an era when we thought we’d seen all the dinosaur movies we needed to, The End of Oak Street ales a pretty compelling case for a new one. 

The End of Oak Street

Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery

Writer/Director: David Robert Mitchell

The Last House (2026)

It's been 5 years since the 2021 height of Covid (as we remember Covid) and a movie about being trapped in your house with your family, unable to go outside because something out there will kill you still feels incredibly on the nose. Attempting this is bold in that it could tap into the angst we now tie to that time or it could feel like retreading ground we don't want to revisit? I'm not sure we have good memory of that time as our politics and emotions have coloured everything we discuss and exchange regarding lock down. There hasn't been a lot of appetite for films which touch on what it felt like to live through that time. 

Leterrier's film is ostensively horror but attempts to be more hopeful in its treatment of its themes, flirting with some darkness without getting too deep into those weeds and eventually making its way to its happy ending of being outside in the sun again. It takes no political positions in its analogy, picking a metaphor that doesn't implicate are argument for or against anything specific. Instead it is about survival and togetherness at least on a family level. In the end that means it doesn't really have a lot to say beyond celebrating enduring and coming out the other side, no matter who you are. 

The Last House ends up feeling a bit surface level and safe. The film works better than it should due to the strong performances of Lee and Moura who are both up for bringing gravitas here that might not be in the script entirely. The film's basic premise is interesting enough to keep you invested and the final act has pretty decent action movie set pieces so that it isn't boring. That's not the same as being interesting. When the film does reach its final moments its ending takes a pretty big leap that I'm not sure it earns. Leterrier really tries to push that it does but it feels a bit forced. Still, The Last House, with its central performances ends up being entertaining enough, even if its story carries less weight than one might hope. 

The Last House

Starring: Greta Lee,Wagner Moura

Director: Louis Leterrier

Writer: Matthew Robinson

One Night Only (2026)

One Night Only is a very high concept rom-com, set in a world where pre-marital sex is illegal, everyone has a chip in the body which measures if they are having sex or not, and there is a Purge like night where singles can have sex for a 12 hour period. On that night our two heroes meet, bicker, and fall in love (the perpetual rom-com formula) while the clock for their window to have sex ticks down. Does it work? My answer would be sort of....

One Night Only struggles to figure out what it is trying to be. Is it a straight up rom-com just set in this dystopian plot or is it a critique of social norms told through the lens of love in a 1984-yet-modern world? It will occasionally have moments of sharp commentary on sexual control by societal norms. One of my favourite lines is when a queer woman says to (her friend) our leading lady "Tonight is for the straights. We have been dancing around your laws for many years." But more often than not the film leans into its rom-com sensibilities where we're obsessed with the will-they-or-won't-they even though we konw damn well they will cause they always do in these things. 

And when it is being its most rom-comy it's kind of rote. It pretends to have an edge by having its leads keep being distracted with potential hook-ups with other characters that come along. But in its over-predictable way the film keeps bringing them back together, going through the motions of trying to create some barrier to their eventual "Empire State Building moment" which we all know is coming. If it wasn't for its two charming leads the film likely would fail entirely but Turner and Barbaro are just so damn cute together. Both are better than this film and they elevate it making it rather watchable despite its predictability. 

Director Gluck hasn't really directed a strong film since way back with Easy A and One Night Only isn't a return to greatness. Is One Night Only going to be bring back the rom-com genre? No. There are some questionable choices (such as a 12 year old character that keeps making sexual innuendo?!?). But there is also a pairing that feels like it needs a better movie who at least make this one as watchable as it is. 

One Night Only

Starring: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton, Michelle Hurd, Pete Davidson, Bobby Cannavale

Director: Will Gluck

Writer: Travis Braun

 

Peter Hujar's Day (2026)

There are certain films that just align all the right stars for my personal tastes, in all their weird configurations, and I sit there fascinated throughout. The film Peter Hujar's Day, with its idiosyncratic premise and conceit, is that sort of film, a film like few others, that works despite all the factors working against it. 

For those unfamiliar, in 1974, writer Linda Rosenkrantz had photographer Peter Hujar over to discuss how his day went (the day before). She had an idea to do a book about the daily lives of artists she knew. That book never happened but she had recorded the conversation and a transcript was discovered decades later and published. This film is a recreation of that conversation. It's just two actors, Whishaw as Hujar giving a tour de force, and Hall as Rosenkrantz. It's just him talking about the day he had just had. And the whole time I'm enraptured. 

Yes films where people just talk to each other are my kryptonite, especially when exploring queer or counterculture themes. But Sachs' film is brilliant in how visually engaging he is able to make a film about one man rambling. The film is gorgeous to watch while you listen to the remarkable story being recounted. It is an understatement to describe Hujar's day as anything other than outstanding. He encounters Sontag, Ginsberg, Orlovsky, Burroughs, Lebowitz, and others... it is breathtaking to just contemplate what a day like that would have felt like. The film captures both its audacity and its mundaneness. The film infuses all these contradictions.

I am often struck by Whishaw's work but here he is so deeply impactful. He is asked to carry a whole film just through a running monologue, and not one that was crafted to be a compelling speech but a reproduction of the real Hujar's words as he describes something so remarkably personal but also so routine, the events of the past day...

The fact that Peter Hujar's Day works as a film at all is a marvel. The fact that it manages to be such a beautiful little piece of cinema that I can't stop thinking about makes it a miracle.  

Peter Hujar's Day

Starring: Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Hall

Writer/Director: Ira Sachs

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

I haven't been a fan of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. That's not due to the actor. I think he makes a great Spider-Man. It's that the movies have constantly had to dance around the rest of the MCU and these often leads to overstuffed films with plots that feel packaged around other ideas tied to other characters and movies. They mostly feel like they are trying to tell a Spider-Man story but keep getting derailed. I had hoped that Brand New Day, a film that purports to reset Peter Parker's life, might be a straight up Spider-Man story. It's not. It is at its best when his story is what is being focused on, but it ends up being just another Marvel team up film this time with *redacted* (I don't want to spoil that yet. So like his other films, there is a lot being worked through here and it doesn't all come together cohesively. 

What I liked? Well Holland is a great, charismatic everyman which is just who Parker should be. I felt his pull towards his old life and how isolated he felt. I liked the film had him "evolving" or "mutating" (oops! sssshhhhhhh) and dealing with becoming something new. I didn't really appreciate how they packed in The Punisher, The Hulk, the new Black Widow, and... others cause all those little bits felt like they got short shrift due to the sheer amount of the appearances that needed to be packed in. 

Spider-Man may be the only movie character (other than Batman) who can carry a film just on his name alone. People want to see Spider-Man and will see him in pretty much anything. The film isn't bad and it has enough going for it to really satisfy audiences. So if you desire to see it, go for it, and more power to you. You'll likely enjoy it. If you aren't in a hurry waiting for it's inevitable streaming release wouldn't be a bad choice. 

But for me to really get into my thoughts I do have to spoil the film's big reveal so stop reading here if you don't want to know...

*Spoilers*

Since Disney bought Fox, they have been itching to bring us the X-Men and they have been working towards that in numerous ways through their various movies and series. Some of the Fox cast have been appearing here and there in MCU movies and Deadpoool and Wolverine made a spectacle of bringing that world around for another go. But this may be (I could be wrong) the first time that a major X-Men character has been introduced into this MCU's main universe in the MCU version. And they started with Jean Grey, the character the Fox universe never seemed to be able to get right. That's a bold move, starting with one of the most challenging areas, and if it pays off for them that will be a big win. 

I'll give Sink credit, she does a great job with the character. Like this version of Spider-Man, the MCU version will have significant variations on her origin to help fit her (and I assume the other Mutants) into this world. I also liked how this tied into Peter's own "mutating" making the classic X-Men analogies for discrimination. Peter's attempts to shrink who he is out of fear is a good "in" for the concepts and that part mostly works. 

But I felt the script sort of fumbles her intro. She is brought to us as an "antagonist" at first so they can do a switcheroo and have her become an anti-hero later. But they lean into this a little too much making her more evil than she needs to be. I'm not sure the redemption arc they then require her to go through works, especially after the film goes to great lengths to make her seem evil (even having Peter describe her actions as unforgivable at one point) before they reveal who she is. 

So for me the intro feels a little forced and also complicated by all the other baggage these films tend to have as I discussed above. Also it leaves a lot of questions which may or may not be answered later. Is she the only mutant? If not how come another powerful mutant isn't also attempting to address her as she is making herself known (you know who I mean)? The film takes a lot of short cuts dealing with Spider-Man's secret identity issues in the plot and it kinds does the same with Jean. 

So while I know Brand New Day will be a huge movie I still find it an awkward watch. It has a lot of pros and cons and didn't resolve it all for me. But for me Marvel's best characters by far are the X-Men and if this means we're getting new versions, and not just the legacy actors coming back to play alternate universe visitors, than that is promising. 

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Liza Colón-Zayas, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh, Keith David, Michael Mando, Naomi Watts, Marisa Tomei 

Director:  Destin Daniel Cretton

Writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers

I Want Your Sex (2026)

After more than 12 years away from making a feature film, legendary New Queer Cinema Movement director Gregg Araki has come back with what turns out to be a somewhat mainstream Hollywood film that plays with our expectations about where desires meet comfortable limits. It is a fairly funny and rather accessible comedy about a boss who begins a BDSM relationship with her awkward young employee but underneath there is a lot of things the film asks us to think about which remain uncomfortable despite the film's rather candy coated aesthetic. 

Araki appears to be wrestling with the tension between being a sexual rebel in a time which has shifted the goalposts around puritanism. Remember he began making underground films in the late 80s and early 90s pushing back against the AIDS panic and Lavender Scare in the age of the Regan/Thatcher social control. Jump forward to the 2020s and the western world sees itself as having been liberated through mainstream LGTBQIA+ and feminist movements. What Araki seems to be suggesting here is how little has changed, how much puritanism remains embedded in our cultures, and how we continue to embrace the shame and social control of sexual repression. 

I Want Your Sex centres a straight relationship and heavily critiques the two involved, often making both of them the butt of the joke while also making you like them both, albeit in different ways. Hoffman's everyman doofusness is deliciously relatable while Wilde's manufactured confidence is appealing in its own way whether we want to admit it or not. But they are both making terrible choices and the film appears to be sympathetic to them, showing us just how much the constraints of our so-called modern sensibilities keep them from having the connections and the fucking that they both want without paying a price for it. Hoffman's girlfriend and his best friend are both unhealthily unable to connect with sex in a meaningful way and the cops interviewing Hoffman in the film's framing sequence can't focus on anything but the inappropriateness of what turns out to be a big nothing-burger. Araki is showing just how modern values on sexuality have simply found new ways of limiting and controlling us no matter how far we think we've come. Araki juxtaposes this with the Gooding's queer character who appears to be the only character living their best life who is constantly having sex exactly how we wants without any hang ups or limits. 

And that what makes I Want Your Sex so fascinating. Araki remains a sexual liberator, arguing for the necessity of carnality in our lives while exposing and laughing at how fumbling mainstream culture can be with it. He sugarcoats this by making a fairly mainstream comedy about it but that might just be a little Trojan Horse. He plays with it. His sex scenes are fun and silly and yet oddly compelling. He doesn't make his characters pay a real price for their "deviance". If anything the movie suggests they are both better off for what went down. I'd argue both had fairly pathetic lives, relationships, friendships prior to their relationship. And yet they both remain weirdly obsessed and transfixed on that connection.

Araki is embracing sexuality, with all its joyous absurdity, especially when it doesn't fit into a neat box or acceptable standards, and offering a charming little olive branch to those convinced they need to feel ashamed to experience what they want in this life. 

I Want Your Sex

Starring: Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida, Charli XCX, Daveed Diggs

Director: Gregg Araki

Writers: Karley Sciortino, Gregg Araki

Rosebush Pruning (2026)

If you're going to make a mess of a movie, why not make it a big mess? Rosebush Pruning, inspired by the Italian film Fists in the Pocket, is a darkly comic tragedy featuring a toxic rich family who end up killing each other (oops... spoilers) after sexualizing each other. It is often random in its plotting, rather nonsensical, and thinly drawn. But it is visually and narratively bold, taking big audacious swings that often don't amount to much. I was surprised at how much of it managed to be funny while also finding myself bored a lot. Rosebush Pruning might be the sort of film that you are glad to have seen so you can talk about it but never want to have to sit through again. 

But the film can't be dismissed entirely. The performances by Keough and Anderson are delightful. They seem to be on board with how absurd a story they are telling. None of the characters make sense or act like real human beings. They articulate their inner thoughts in their dialogue and no background is provided which explain their bizarre behaviour. But those two actors really embrace the ludicrisness of what they are doing and just go for it. I wasn't convinced by the rest of the cast but these two were saving graces. 

The movie is blessedly short. Perhaps that leads to some of what makes the film feel so thin, no time to really develop any of what is going on. But it also means less to endure. It also shortens the time between the moments of real hilarity which often come out of nowhere (as does most of the plot points). So while it would not be accurate to say that Rosebush Pruning is a good movie, it certainly is not, I actually had fun watching the nonsense, mostly. 

Rosebush Pruning

Starring: Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell, Tracy Letts, Pamela Anderson

Director: Karim Aïnouz

Writer: Efthimis Filippou

Her Private Hell (2026)

Refn makes incredibly beautiful films. Imagine if he ever got his hands on a story that was worth telling. Instead we get this hollow, rather tedious story which he seems to love to tell. Her Private Hell might be one of his most painfully boring stories yet. It's complete lack of emotional investment makes it a tedious slog no matter how gorgeously he crafts his art direction, costumes, cinematography. Movies are very much a visual medium and I love when a director understands this. But they also need to resonate emotionally or intellectually and so far I have seen little evidence Refn gets this part. 

Her Private Hell feels like an AI verson of a David Lynch film. Minimalist yet stunning sets, slow moving pans, lingering shots of the cast being reflective. But it's missing all of the underlying tension, horror, and emotion that Lynch captures. I'd rather have flipped through a photo book of stills from this film than had to sit through its plot. 

I feel for the cast who are doing their best with what they are given. This pretty much falls at Refn's feet for creating something with so little substance. This is reportedly a horror story in a way, yet it evokes no horror of any kind, not even an coldly intellectual existential horror. The only horror is that I sat all the way through it. 

Her Private Hell

Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, Hidetoshi Nishijima

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Writers: Esti Giordani, Nicolas Winding Refn

Steal Away (2026)

I’m a big fan of Virgo and his way of telling his stories visually. With Steal Away, he has crafted a hyper-stylized world for his characters which mirrors ours but feels slightly elevated to make his points. The combo of Rice and Johnson really pops off the screen and brings this almost fantastical world into focus. 

The strength here is how his somewhat factionalized narrative exposes the real world and its fantastical story feels grounded in a reality. Visually Steal Away is stunning but its narrative packs a punch as well that is as strong as its look. The story feels a bit forced at points, especially in the second act, but most of this is overcome by the strong performances and emotional resonance. 

Virgo has cemented his status as one of the most exciting film makers working today. 

Steal Away

Starring: Angourie Rice, Mallori Johnson

Director:  Clement Virgo

Writer: Tamara Faith Berger

The Odyssey (2026)

Nolan has pulled off a bit of a miracle with his adaptation of The Odyssey. It is a rollicking adventure that sticks pretty faithfully to the source material while packing in a plethora of narrative threads without making them feel too tangled. For a film with an almost three hour runtime, it is very entertaining and engaging. Audiences won't feel bored or strung along at any point. It is also gorgeous to watch with its massive Imax camera filled set pieces and mostly practical effects. Technically The Odyssey is an impressive achievement. However I didn't find it to be emotionally inspiring and so much of its many threads are so thinly woven in that I didn't find it overly impactful. Even its final message, which it takes its time getting to then sort of hits us over the head with, feels a bit tacked on at the end.

Don't get me wrong. Overall I enjoyed The Odyssey very much and I know I will be able to rewatch it and enjoy it again. I loved how Nolan managed to pack into this film everything he wanted to and did so with both a flare that made it artful but also a practicality which made it accessible. This is one for the masses for sure and it deserves it. I believe The Odyssey is a good film that does what it sets out to do so I am not faulting it. 

What keeps me from loving it is that it is sort of a victim of its success. It does such a good job of putting so much of this story in it that it often feels rushed. I know... it's an almost 3 hour movie. But whether its the cyclops, Circe, the dying dog, or the sirens, these come and go and then sort of get forgotten. Worse I think is the way that few characters get fleshed out into anything more than 2-dimensions. How can you build them all out when there are this many? I was willing to forgive a bunch of this but my biggest disappointment was Pattinson's Antinous who often felt like a moustache twirling villain more than any real threat to anyone. His character was paper thin (as were the characters played by Marshall-Green, Goth, Hawkins, Patel, Lee) but it was his character than needed the heft to truly pull off his role. The film just didn't have the time to truly do him justice. Also completely wasted was Travis Scott whose fleeting moments on screen were some of the most electric. I had hoped we'd see him narrating or scoring the adventure but he was in and out in a blink of an eye. 

And this is in contrast to other characters who do manage, with little screen time to be truly fascinating. Despite all the controversy around her casting, Nyong'o is brilliant in her duel roles and her characters do so much heavy lifting for how little screen time she gets. I found Theron's Calypso truly interesting as well. But the real standout is Page's Sinon. His scenes were often the ones that managed to pull on my heartstrings and get me feeling. Really its the internet's most hated casting which save this movie. 

And again I want to point out I felt the movie was really good. Good. Goransson's score is lovely and unobtrusive. It takes its time before it comes to anything resembling a "theme" that audiences will associate with the movie (think Lord of the Rings) so we're not overwhelmed by it over what we're experiencing on screen. 

There is so much plot hopping that it isn't until the end that Nolan gets around to his narrative theme. As Odysseus prepares to confront the suiters and "return home" he begins to wrestle with all that he has done. His story is less about surviving the wrath of the Gods and more about the Gods' punishments being his own wrestling with his acts. He has to confront what he has done before he can be the King, the Husband, the Father, that he wants to be. His return is less about cosmic intervention and more about personal demons. There is a moment where we see Athena's form is taken from one of her priestesses for whose death Odysseus is responsible. I connected to Nolan's perspective here. While I recognize that he builds this on the foundation of so much of what has come before in his film it also feels like a bit of an afterthought perhaps less organically tied to what we have seen but stitched overtop. 

Still, once again, the film is very good. And I recommend it. And I will rewatch it and continue to enjoy it. In many ways, what Nolan does here is remarkable, tackling something this gargantuan at all and pulling it off. So there are thin spots and weaknesses. They aren't bad and it didn't ruin the movie for me. I recognize that if one is going to attempt to make this movie this is a pretty amazing achievement just in itself. 

The Odyssey

Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Bennie Safdie, John Lequizamo, Bill Irwin, Himesh Patel, Will Yun Lee, Corey Hawkins, Mia Goth, Logan Marshall-Green, Travis Scott, Elliot Page, James Remar

Writer/Director: Christopher Nolan