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Dive into our expert Oscar predictions and analysis, staying ahead of the curve on the films and performers destined for Hollywood glory. Awards Button Button 2026 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers January 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2026 Oscar Nomination Predictions January 15, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen Oscar Nomination Predictions Last Updated: 01/27/2026 Next Update: 03/12/2026 1 One Battle After Another 2 Sinners 3 Hamnet 4 Marty Supreme 5 Sentimental Value 6 Frankenstein 7 Bugonia 8 The Secret Agent 9 Train Dreams 10 F1: The Movie Best Picture 1 Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) 2 Ryan Coogler (Sinners) 3 Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) 4 Chloé Zhao (Hamnet) 5 Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) Best Director 1 Sinners 2 Sentimental Value 3 Marty Supreme 4 Blue Moon 5 It Was Just an Accident Best Original Screenplay 1 One Battle After Another 2 Hamnet 3 Train Dreams 4 Bugonia 5 Frankenstein Best Adapted Screenplay 1 Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) 2 Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) 3 Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) 4 Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) 5 Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) Best Lead Actor 1 Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) 2 Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) 3 Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) 4 Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) 5 Emma Stone (Bugonia) Best Lead Actress 1 Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value) 2 Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another) 3 Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) 4 Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) 5 Delroy Lindo (Sinners) Best Supporting Actor 1 Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) 2 Amy Madigan (Weapons) 3 Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) 4 Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) 5 Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) Best Supporting Actress 1 Sinners 2 One Battle After Another 3 Marty Supreme 4 Hamnet 5 The Secret Agent Best Casting 1 Sinners 2 Train Dreams 3 One Battle After Another 4 Marty Supreme 5 Frankenstein Best Cinematography 1 Sinners 2 One Battle After Another 3 Frankenstein 4 Hamnet 5 Bugonia Best Original Score 1 Golden (KPop Demon Hunters) 2 I Lied to You (Sinners) 3 Train Dreams (Train Dreams) 4 Dear Me (Diane Warren: Relentless) 5 Sweet Dreams of Joy (Viva Verdri!) Best Original Song 1 One Battle After Another 2 F1: The Movie 3 Sinners 4 Marty Supreme 5 Sentimental Value Best Film Editing 1 F1: The Movie 2 Sinners 3 Sirât 4 One Battle After Another 5 Frankenstein Best Sound 1 Frankenstein 2 Sinners 3 Marty Supreme 4 Hamnet 5 One Battle After Another Best Production Design 1 Frankenstein 2 Sinners 3 Hamnet 4 Marty Supreme 5 Avatar: Fire and Ash Best Costume Design 1 Frankenstein 2 Sinners 3 The Smashing Machine 4 Kokuho 5 The Ugly Stepsister Best Makeup & Hairstyling 1 Avatar: Fire and Ash 2 F1: The Movie 3 Sinners 4 The Lost Bus 5 Jurassic World: Rebirth Best Visual Effects 1 KPop Demon Hunters 2 Zootopia 2 3 Arco 4 Little Amélie or the Character of Rain 5 Elio Best Animated Feature 1 Sentimental Value (Norway) 2 The Secret Agent (Brazil) 3 It Was Just an Accident (France) 4 Sirât (Spain) 5 The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia) Best International Feature 1 The Perfect Neighbor 2 The Alabama Solution 3 Mr. Nobody Against Putin 4 Come See Me in the Good Light 5 Cutting Through Rocks Best Documentary Feature

Pillion February 13, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Much has been written and discussed, often sensationally, about Pillion since its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it went on to win the Screenplay Prize and the Palm Dog for its canine performers. Tales of whips, chains, assless chaps, and piercings in places that most people wouldn't pierce grabbed the headlines, selling potential audiences on the physical shock value of a BDSM romance. It wasn't a surprising turn of events, as this very specific subgenre has largely been packaged and sold with a hint of taboo, almost as if audiences are being naughty by watching this and shouldn't make it known to their friends and families. The Fifty Shades of Grey films are the worst perpetrators of this, followed by the endless parodies that further cheapened the whole concept. The biggest strength of Pillion is its refusal to use its BDSM elements as window dressing or sight gags. Granted, there are several instances shot and cut to incite laughter, such as Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård wrestling in skintight leotards without a bottom cover. But beneath all that humor lies a nuanced approach to this culture. Making his feature debut as both writer and director, Harry Lighton conducted research by spending time with Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club (GBMCC), the largest LGBT+ motorcycling club in the UK/Europe. Many of the members appear in the film, with no signs that their way of life has been sanded down for mainstream audiences or fetishized to grab attention. They are who they are, occupying the same space, going through the same ups and downs of life, and looking for the same amount of fulfillment as all human beings. A "pillion" is the passenger's spot on a motorcycle, either seated right behind the driver or in a sidecar. Colin (Melling) always seems to be in the pillion of his own life. He's an introverted gay man, living in the suburbs of London with his parents and working as a parking attendant at a local mall. Dating isn't a game he's suited for, as he has a considerable inability for adventure and decisiveness. After performing as part of his barbershop quartet at a pub, he notices a group of gay bikers. Each of the more muscular bikers has a skinnier biker on a leash next to them, almost like an owner with his dog. Colin's eyes widen with the realization of his desire. Opportunity quickly comes knocking as the impossibly tall and handsome Ray (Skarsgård) exercises his dominance, beckoning Colin into a relationship that grants power to the helplessness that has perpetually kept him alone. Throughout its initial and opening thirds, Lighton takes a refreshingly unique approach to the romantic drama. As opposed to Babygirl , another A24 film about sexual power dynamics, there isn't a sense of danger or something to hide about Colin and Ray's relationship. Colin's parents are very supportive of his orientation, even trying to set him up on dates with other boys in town. This is a story of two men discovering aspects of themselves that they would never reveal to themselves. It just also happens to include tastefully graphic sex scenes that have rarely been depicted outside of underground cinema. The middle portion is where the clichés start to pile up, as little differences spur arguments and character decisions that we've become numb to. To be fair to Lighton, the fact that he's placing his story within a different environment doesn't mean that he has to reinvent the wheel of cinematic storytelling. It's a similar plight that was unfairly burdened Bros a few years back, with its progression of gay representation in mainstream cinema being stalled because it was still just another romantic comedy. Even in their slight sameness, both Bros and Pillion are better than the majority of the competition, which is more than enough of a reason to applaud their existence. More Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Pillion February 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Cinema Dispatch is your one-stop-shop film review website that also offers lists, awards updates, and essays relating to the world of cinema. Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Pillion February 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Awards Button Button 2026 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers January 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2026 Oscar Nomination Predictions January 15, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 1 One Battle After Another 2 Sinners 3 Hamnet 4 Marty Supreme 5 Sentimental Value 6 Frankenstein 7 Bugonia 8 The Secret Agent 9 Train Dreams 10 F1: The Movie Oscar Nomination Predictions - Best Picture Hunter Friesen Lists Predicting the Cannes Jury President February 6, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 2026 Sundance Film Festival Preview January 19, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the pantheon of generic, no-nonsense action films that fill January year after year, Jason Statham’s output is becoming increasingly unparalleled. Rivaling the production of Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the ‘80s, Statham has become Hollywood’s go-to liberator of machismo, with the baton unofficially passing from the past to the present throughout the Expendables franchise. The British-born, bald tough guy can hunt sharks ( The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench ), drive fast cars ( Fast & Furious franchise), hunt down criminals ( Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre ), and deliver “so bad it’s good” B-movie entertainment ( The Beekeeper ). He’s always a man with a particular set of skills, making him a nightmare for the suckers who get in his way. Shelter falls right in line with The Beekeeper and A Working Man , with Statham playing Michael Mason, another supposed everyman trying to hide from his violent past. Doing one better than those previous two movies, this time, he’s hiding on a desolate, remote island off the coast of Scotland. He spends his days holed up in his cabin atop a cliff, playing against himself in chess and drinking away regrets. Whenever he does look out to sea, he knows that one day someone is going to show up for retribution. Until then, the only other human contact he has is the weekly supply shipments from a fishing boat manned by a captain and his younger niece, Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). A violent storm knocks Jessie off her dinghy and drowns the captain, marooning the girl on Mason’s island as he’s required to take care of her. Not one for personal contact, he begrudgingly returns to civilization to get her some medicine. A security camera picks him up, with MI6’s secretly illegal artificial intelligence program mistakenly flagging him as an international terrorist. A hitsquad quickly arrives on the island, forcing Michael and Jessie to go on the run to clear his name and rectify the past. We spend almost a third of the film on the island before any fists or bullets are exchanged, a surprising amount of time considering the heavy marketing push on the action elements. Statham carries these moments with a steady presence, his only companions being the wind and the waves. He does have a trusty dog by his side, his innocent stares always providing the answer to Michael’s rhetorical questions. David Buckley’s score is at a constantly low, thumping register, the danger always around the corner. Heading up MI6 down in London is Bill Nighy, who’s just been publicly sacked by the prime minister after it's discovered that the AI program has been spying on every British citizen. He’s someone who doesn’t care about freedoms getting in the way of power, which is how he burned Michael many years ago when they worked together. Naomi Ackie is his second-in-command, never fully in the know of how ruthless Nighy is. Both of them are fine, likely taking this job for an easy paycheck. They never leave their respective control rooms and get to bark orders at their underlings. A standout is Bodhi Rae Breathnach, who most recently played Susanna, the eldest daughter of William Shakespeare, in Hamnet . Jacobi Jupe deservedly got the majority of the praise for playing the titular boy, but Breathnach was just as sensational. She continues her ascension here, successfully making me care about Michael’s ability to protect her, something these “Lone Wolf and Cub” type of films seldom accomplish. It feels like an oversimplification to compare her to Saoirse Ronan based on looks and her Irish background, but the talent is there. Look out for her later this year in the remake of Sense and Sensibility and Robert Eggers’ Werwulf . Cornering the market this month with Greenland 2: Migration, along with this film, director Ric Roman Waugh competently stages the action. Statham goes toe-to-toe with the ruthless black ops assassin who took his position once he deserted, offering a slice of redemption to his arc. It’s all a tad generic, with a thin instigating element and a bafflingly weak climactic showdown. But sandwiched between those elements is an up-to-par action/drama showcase for one of our most dependable stars and a rising talent. More Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. 1/1/2035 By: Author Name Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Simply by being a crime film set in Los Angeles that puts a weary cop and a calculating thief on a climactic collision course, the comparisons to Michael Mann’s Heat are rampant and obvious for Crime 101 . Even the author of the novella, Don Winslow, can’t escape scot-free, as he published it in 2020. Then again, despite Heat being the shining pinnacle of its genre, it doesn’t have a monopoly on Los Angeles-based crime, especially when several other entries like Chinatown , Colors , and Point Break already staked their claim. Crime 101 probably won’t ascend to that level of notoriety, but it also won’t be an odd duck if it’s mentioned in the same sentence. Prior planning prevents poor performance. It’s a phrase/code that Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) religiously lives by, as we first see him going through the rhythms of preparation for his next heist. He brushes off all loose hair and skin flakes, ensuring that not a speck of DNA can be found at the scene. He wears a mask, never resorts to violence, and is in and out within thirty seconds. It’s like clockwork; the sole clue to his plans is that every job takes place along the US 101 freeway in Los Angeles. Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) is the only person who seems to have cracked the code, with everyone else being fooled into believing that Mike’s jobs are all just random robberies. Also intertwined in this classic tale of cops and robbers is insurance broker Sharon Colvin (Halle Berry), who hasn’t received the respect and rewards she’s owed after years of catering to the ultra-wealthy slobs who require insurance policies on their multi-million dollar antiquities. On her most recent client visit, a potential buyer revealed to her that he bought a piece of contemporary black art because the current political landscape would cause it to appreciate for future resale. Is there anything more degrading than groveling for less than your worth, only to see a life-changing amount of money thrown as if it’s loose change? With a 140-minute runtime, Winslow’s story, adapted for the screen and directed by Bart Layton, pleasantly takes its time to have its characters meet in the middle, both physically and philosophically. Ruffalo is currently hitting his stride as a worn-down cop, also playing the part in HBO’s Task . He’s chaim smoking as he approaches a crime scene, having already endured what the city has thrown at him. The only reason he’s not higher up on the food chain is that he “doesn’t play by the rules,” which essentially means that he doesn’t turn a blind eye to cop corruption. Added in as a chaos agent is Barry Keoghan, once again renewing his monopolistic license to play the twitchy freak in every movie. It’s not broken, so there’s no need for him to fix it. He’s been tasked to hijack Mike’s big score by their shared handler (Nick Nolte). Layton keeps the tension building as everyone moves on their individual and shared tracks, the camera often being handed off as one coincidentally bumps into another. It’s rather unshowy work, just skilled craftsmanship that achieves the basic task put before it. As much as Hemsworth may walk the walk when committing crimes, he cannot talk the talk when it’s time to be a normal member of society. Hinting at being on the spectrum or still possessing mental scars from childhood, he is a man of little charm outside of his impossibly good looks. It’s those physical features that attract Maya (Monica Barbaro), who both does and doesn’t see through the many red flags Mike flashes. How far would you go to make a relationship work, even in the face of danger? It is tough to review Crime 101 because there is very little that it does either above or below the average. Its biggest accomplishment is giving Halle Berry a role worthy of her talents, something that hasn’t happened in a long time. She’s roaringly good, possessing both movie star wattage and serious dramatic chops. Of course, that’s an unsurprising fact. But sometimes you don’t appreciate just how good something is until you’ve been without it for a long time. More Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen As evidenced by a robust sampling of films over the past few months, the bulking battleship that is Hollywood seems to have finally caught up with the headlines that artificial intelligence has been producing over the past few years. Tom Cruise stopped an AI program called the Entity from initiating nuclear armageddon in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning , Chris Pratt had to prove his innocence to Rebecca Ferguson's AI Judge Maddox in Mercy , and Jason Statham was framed and hunted down by his own government after an AI surveillance program went rogue in Shelter . Even at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Roher tackles both sides of the coin in the aptly titled The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist . Between these grand theatrics and matter-of-fact stories, the unlimited potential of artificial intelligence has become inescapable, its demeanor seemingly a reflection of its creator. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die , the first film from director Gore Verbinski in a decade, falls right in line with those previously mentioned blockbusters. But just as its title suggests, its warnings about the grave dangers of this awesome superweapon are served with a wink and a smile. You just have to remember not to die. For The Man From the Future (Sam Rockwell), that last bit of instruction hasn't come easy, having nearly met his maker on several hundred occasions. His improbable luck comes from the time loop device strapped to his body, which inconveniently makes him look like a suicide bomber. His scraggly beard, haggard rainsuit, and wily demeanor also don't help his marketability when he enters a present-day Los Angeles diner looking to recruit people for his world-saving mission. Inside that diner are people looking down at their phones, oblivious to the fact that the world is teetering on the edge of the apocalypse. The Man's future has been overthrown by artificial intelligence thanks to humanity's inability to use caution on the slippery slope of technological progress. Just down the road from this diner, a computer prodigy is creating that AI program, and The Man has been sending himself back in time to stop that from happening, hoping to recruit the correct combination of strangers to aid him. Matthew Robinson's script is entirely in service of Rockwell's extreme charisma in this opening setpiece. Pages upon pages of exposition are dumped on us and the diner's patrons, all of it serving as a grave warning for both the fictional and real-life world. This is the 117th time The Man has performed this song and dance, the constant failure wearing him down to just going through the motions. Rockwell more or less choreographs his movements like a dance, balleting upon tables, twirling through the barstools, and precisely hitting the cues he's memorized from repetition. It's a bit of old-school Hollywood showmanship, Rockwell's infectious spirit being just convincing enough for some people to buy into his ludicrous mission. A conflict forms here, which continues throughout the film, between the performances of the highly qualified cast and the words they've been paid to recite. The Man's criticisms and prophecies about modern society are all valid, but that doesn't automatically make them compelling to hear. It seems to stem from an older man who has slowly become out-of-touch, always having something to say about "kids these days" and that we need to go back to the way things were. Zazie Beetz and Michael Peña play a couple of teachers that The Man recruits. In an extended flashback explaining how they got to be at the diner at that exact moment, they teach at a high school to students who are "barely people." Phone addiction and a narcissistic attitude run rampant in the classrooms, leading to teacher shortages and weekly school shootings. The mothers of the slain kids treat it as a minor inconvenience, with one treating her fourth dead kid as if it were the fourth time her goldfish died. Flashbacks are also given to Juno Temple as the seemingly only rational parent of a dead child, and Haley Lu Richardson as a young woman who was literally born with an allergy to cell phone and internet signals. She falls for a man who willingly rejects technology, their love portrayed as being more pure. Running an almost unforgiveable 134-minutes, nearly half of the film is spent on the past actions of each individual supporting cast member, bloated filler taking away from the far superior zaniness Rockwell supplies in the main storyline. That length isn't a surprise for Verbinksi, the filmmaker who pleasantly pushed the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films towards the three-hour mark, and then unpleasantly stretched The Lone Ranger and A Cure For Wellness to two and a half hours. But what Verbinski lacks in brevity, he always makes up for it with ingenuity. The lack of financial resources doesn't hinder his ability to create moments of visual splendor; a well-timed camera move or edit is all that's needed to raise the stakes. Its scattershot energy feels reminicent to Everything Everywhere All at Once , the pieces of the puzzle not coming together as neatly as they should. This very much feels like it has all the elements of a cult movie, with its devoted followers seeing themselves in the random strangers that join the fight alongside The Man, and the rest of us being the other ambivalent diner patrons who just want to tune out all that's bad in the world. Unfortunately, judging by this film's timeline, we may not be around for the necessary amount of years it takes for a cult status to form. In the meantime: good luck, have fun, and don't die. More Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen As a proud Minnesotan, Mercy really isn’t the right movie for the moment. Now entering its third week, the ongoing inhumane ICE raids throughout the Minneapolis area have ravaged the community, forcing citizens to fear those who have supposedly sworn to protect them. Minnesotans have always exemplified a strong communal spirit, so we will prevail. Within the opening scenes of Mercy , there are several moments where masked law enforcement officers arrest vaguely defined bad guys. These officers then make speeches about how they are doing what needs to be done to uphold the law. The country is at war with its morals, and the wrong side is winning. In fairness to Mercy , it was conceived, written, and produced years before today’s headlines, and it certainly had no intention (or courage) to make a statement. But this is also a movie that is not right for any moment, with little to warrant the amount of time and energy that went into its creation. January is always good for one movie that a studio would like to bury with as little fanfare as possible. Mercy is this year’s poster child, falling in line alongside such classics as Flight Risk , The 355 , Mortdecai , Dolittle , Serenity , and the bulk of the Underworld movies. We’ll at least always have my beloved The Beekeeper . Perhaps the only redeeming quality this film has is the presence of a 50-foot-tall Rebecca Ferguson, domineering over her chained-up prisoners. I’d imagine someone will get a kick out of that (not me, of course…). Her existence is a function of the Mercy Program, which has rapidly usurped the traditional legal system within Los Angeles County. Things such as rights and due process were clogging the judicial pipeline, so an artificial intelligence system was promoted to the simultaneous roles of judge, jury, and executioner. In this courtroom, you’re guilty until proven innocent, and you only have ninety minutes to overturn the verdict. Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) was an early proponent of this new system, arresting many of its initial convicts. Now the shoe is on the other foot, with him being locked in the steel chair. The system anthropomorphizes itself through Judge Maddox (Rebecca Reguson), whose sleek looks are matched by the coldness it displays towards humanity. Facts and logic trump emotions, which run hot as Chris stands trial for the alleged murder of his wife, Nicole. Within his allotted time, Chris is given full access to the municipal database, which pretty much lets him do whatever the plot needs of him. An authoritarian near-future sci-fi plot such as this shares several ideas with Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report , which imagines a world where supposedly incorruptible foreknowledge can be used to prevent a crime before it is even committed. Director Steven Spielberg and screenwriters Scott Frank and Jon Cohen brought thought-provoking nuance to this concept in the 2002 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise. Humans no longer trust themselves to be their own police, somehow thinking that a system built by them will be a better replacement. Freedom has been traded away in favor of alleged security. Mercy fully lacks any interest or ability to mingle with those ideals. Director Timur Bekmambetov and screenwriter Marco van Belle would rather disorient the viewer than engage with them. Legal jargon and plot revelations fly at an increasingly accelerated pace, all of it seemingly pulled out of thin air to service whatever needs to happen at this exact moment. And not to spoil the ending, but this film cowardly talks out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to artificial intelligence, government surveillance, and the increased militarization of the police. Bekmambetov was also a leading producer for last year’s Ice Cube-starring War of the Worlds , a cinematic calamity that will always be easy to laugh at. That film was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, employing the “Screenlife” strategy to make it appear as if the film's events were unfolding on a computer monitor. Used more as a cost-cutting measure rather than a means to upend the cinematic grammar, this aesthetic wholly lacks any sense of cinematic integrity. War of the Worlds at least had the benefit of solely being watched at home through Amazon Prime. Mercy putting it all on a silver screen is just lame, hitting way too close to my usual experience at work. A significant portion of this film’s marketing budget has been used to promote its release in IMAX 3D, a format I imagine would be an absolute nightmare to experience. Pratt is a terrific star when given the chance to feed off other people’s energy, such as in the many seasons of Parks and Recreation and the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. This film fully strips away that asset, locking him in a single location, devoid of all humor or thrills. Rebecca Ferguson gets even less to do as the artificial overlord, dryly reciting lines and mugging for the camera anytime a music sting cues a reveal. This story offers little mercy to their careers and to its audience. Luckily, I’ll be able to get my revenge a year from now when we’re able to discuss the worst films of 2026. More Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Josephine had its World Premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking US distribution. By being located high up in the Utah mountains (or, starting next year, the Colorado mountains), intentionally positioned as far away as possible from the red carpets and bright lights of Hollywood, the Sundance Film Festival has always put itself in the best position to be the guiding light for the next generation of independent American filmmakers. In its early days, the festival ushered in the talents of Steven Soderbergh ( Sex, Lies, and Videotape ), Quentin Tarantino ( Reservoir Dogs ), Todd Haynes ( Poison ), and Gregg Araki ( The Doom Generation ). In more modern times, industry leaders like Ryan Coogler ( Fruitvale Station ), Damien Chazelle ( Whiplash ), Jordan Peele ( Get Out ), Ari Aster ( Hereditary ), and Celine Song ( Past Lives ) have each made their breakthroughs amid snowfall and frigid temperatures. As part of this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition is Josephine , a film that feels destined to launch its writer/director, Beth de Araújo, into the same realm of acclaim as the previously mentioned names. It’s a film that the festival has been backing for many years, initially taking the project under its wing as part of the 2018 Sundance Institute Screenwriting and Directing Lab. After delays stemming from the pandemic and normal industry turmoil, the finished product has finally been unveiled. de Araújo clearly has used the years to refine and finely calibrate her story. A child’s life is fully filtered through their parents, every day being filled with interactions that become pieces of the puzzle to them as a human being. When we’re first introduced to the titular Josephine (Mason Reeves), we see the world through her eyes, similar to that of what RaMell Ross instilled in Nickel Boys . She’s going out to Golden Gate Park with her dad (Channing Tatum) for soccer practice . She’s at the exact age where she wants to appear grown up, repeatedly exclaiming that such things “are for babies!” In the park, Josephine will get her first unvarnished experience of the real world. In a playful race against her dad, she hides in a bush, waiting to jump out and scare him. On the other side of the trail, she watches as a woman walks into the park bathroom. A man then follows her in, drags her out, knocks her unconscious, and proceeds to rape her. The assailant is caught a few moments later, but that’s not the end of this. The coldness of my description of the climactic events matches that of de Araújo’s presentation. With Josephine’s eyes serving as the camera, we watch as the act unfolds in real-time. It’s one of several moments where a lingering camera is used to amplify tension and horror with clinical precision. Josephine’s life has now become bifurcated between the before and after of the event. Her childlike innocence has been short-lived, with her father and mother (Gemma Chan) having to guide her through the next phase. The parents have differing opinions, with mom wanting Josephine to see a psychiatrist, and dad putting her into a self-defense class. de Araújo plays down the middle of both sides, seeing the repercussions that come from running and facing your fears, especially when you’re too young to fully comprehend what’s happening. Time will eventually heal this wound, but an aching scar will be left. Reeves is a transcendent performer, never letting the layers of artificiality that inherently come with film inhibit her from finding the emotional truth. Tatum and Chan are also excellent, two parents clinging to each other as they’ve been shot into the void. If, for some odd and cruel reason, you were forced to only watch one film from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, make sure it is this one. More Reviews Crime 101 February 11, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Explore a captivating collection of must-watch films on our curated list page. Lists Predicting the Cannes Jury President February 6, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 2026 Sundance Film Festival Preview January 19, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2026 January 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Top 10 Films of 2025 December 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen 2022 Losers Button 2023 Losers Button 2026 Sundance Film Festival Preview Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2024 Button 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2026 Button A Brief History of Presidents' in Film Button Cannes 2022: 50 Films That Could Premiere Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 2: Hollywood Makes a Splash Overseas Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 4: The Irregulars and Up-and-Comers Button Cannes 2023 Recap Button Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 3: The Loyalists Button Cannes 2025 Lineup Predictions Button Every Spider-Man Movie Ranked Button MSPIFF 2023 Recap Button MSPIFF 2025 Preview Button Movies That Made More Money Than You Think Button Predicting the Cannes Jury President Button Ranking the Films of Christopher Nolan Button Ranking the Mad Max Franchise Button Sundance 2023 Preview Button TIFF23 Preview Button TIFF24 Preview Button TIFF24: Tyler's Time at the Festival Button TIFF25 Recap Button The Best Cinematographers Working Today And Where To Find Them Next Button The Best Military Movies for Veterans Day Button The Great Musical War of 2021 Button The Most Successful Directors at Cannes Button Top 10 DreamWorks Animated Movies Button Top 10 Films of 2019 Button Top 10 Films of 2021 Button Top 10 Films of 2023 Button Top 10 Films of 2024 Button Top 10 Films of 2025 Button Top 10 Martin Scorsese Films Button Top 10 Pixar Films Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2022 Preview Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2023 Recap Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2025 Preview Button 2022 Winners Button 2023 Winners Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2022 Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2025 Button 36 Most Anticipated Films of 2023 Button Cannes 2021: All The Films That Could Premiere Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 1: The Festival Masters Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 3: The Festival Mainstays Button Cannes 2023 Preview Button Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 1: The Question Marks Button Cannes 2024 Predictions- Part 2: The Regulars Button Cannes 2025 Recap Button MSPIFF 2023 Preview Button MSPIFF 2024 Preview Button MSPIFF 2025 Recap Button Omaha Film Festival 2024 Recap Button Ranking the Films of Adam McKay Button Ranking the Films of Michael Haneke Button Ranking the Planet of the Apes Franchise Button Sundance 2023 Recap Button TIFF23 Recap Button TIFF24 Recap Button TIFF25 Preview Button TIFF25: Tyler's Time at the Festival Button The Best Hollywood Screenwriters of All-Time Button The Biggest Flops in TIFF History Button The Greatest Irish Filmmakers Button The Worst Cannes Premieres Ever Button Top 10 Films of 2018 Button Top 10 Films of 2020 Button Top 10 Films of 2022 Button Top 10 Films of 2023 (So-Far) Button Top 10 Films of 2024 (So Far) Button Top 10 Films of 2025 (So Far) Button Top 10 Oliver Stone Films Button Top 10 Steven Spielberg Films Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2023 Preview Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2024 Preview Button Tyler's Favorite Musicals Button

The Wrecking Crew January 26, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen As I sit at my computer typing this review, it is -32° F outside. A thin pane of glass separates me from the howling arctic winds, whose whistling is their warning call should I ever be foolish enough to meet them outside. Frost dresses every surface, making the whole state feel like one big hockey rink. The brief, constant need to stay indoors crafts a rift in time, blurring the days and reminding me of the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. That window of time bestowed the outdoors with the power of freedom. Now, it’s trying to kill us. All of that dramaticism is to say that I got some basic enjoyment (and jealousy) from the sights and sounds of the Hawaiian islands that serve as the backdrop for the new Prime Video action film The Wrecking Crew. The film opens over the ocean, with a helicopter-traversing camera that eventually descends onto the bustling streets of Honolulu. We follow a weathered man who continually looks over his shoulder as he walks to a mailbox within a market. He picks up the pace once he drops off the envelope, eventually crossing into an abandoned part of town. A mysterious van runs him down, and his corpse catalyzes his estranged sons to resume the hunt. One of them is James (Dave Bautista), a native son of the island who works as a trainer for the Navy SEALS. There isn’t an aspect of his life that he doesn’t control, which is why he didn’t want anything to do with his womanizing and reckless father. One of those apples that didn’t fall far from the tree is James’ half-brother Jonny (Jason Momoa), a wildcard who fled the island as a teenager, now living as a deadbeat detective in rural Oklahoma. These opposites attract once Jonny receives the mysterious letter from their father, which contains clues to a deeper conspiracy involving political corruption and criminal rings. Similar to last year’s John Cena and Idris Elba-starring Heads of State , this is a run-of-the-mill actioner that initially pits its two stars against each other until they must come together to stop a common enemy. And without spoiling the third-act reveal, it’s constantly obvious who the secret bad guy is here. Baustista and Momoa are fine together, their similar physical and comedic sensibilities not allowing for anything new to be brought to the table. Jonathan Tropper’s script or Momoa’s improvisation seems to think that ironically using terms like “gaslighting,” “triggered,” and “boomer” are the pinnacles of comedy, which they aren’t unless you're twelve years old. That demographic will probably get the most out of this movie, downing the surprisingly Hard R vulgarity and violence just as much as Momoa chugs a Guinness, a brand that he has a commercial partnership with. Director Angel Manuel Soto, last seen helming the most forgotten DC movie of the last few years, Blue Beetle , does bring some life to the film, opting for a mixture of handheld camerawork and long takes. It brings some complementary panache to the leads, their muscles flexing more in real-time than being cut around. All of that kind of gets thrown away for the big car chase set piece on a highway, which looks horribly digitally composited. The brothers are directly responsible for many civilian deaths from automobile accidents, showing little remorse for their actions, almost as if cops can cause as much collateral damage as they want and only get a stern talking to as their punishment. That kind of pick-and-choose energy permeates throughout the film’s many attempts at representation for the island’s native citizens. The brother’s father is given a ceremonial ocean burial, and an off-the-grid commune is highlighted. But then there are also several borderline racist jokes directed at the European and Asian bad guys. I’d be a little more up in arms about the hypocrisy if the film were more than a pile of nothingness. There’s certainly bigger fish to fry in this world, and better movies to watch. More Reviews Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Josephine February 7, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Magellan January 24, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Running 160 minutes, Magellan could be considered a short film for Filipino writer/director Lav Diaz. Often also serving as his own cinematographer and editor, it is not abnormal for one of his films to eclipse the three-hour mark. Two of his most acclaimed works are The Woman Who Left (winning the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival) and Season of the Devil , both clocking in at nearly four hours. A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery reaches eight hours, Melancholia and A Tale of Filipino Violence are seven, and From What Is Before is five-and-a-half. Apart from its reduced runtime, Magellan also contrasts on account of its exponentially grander scale and scope. Almost all of the previously mentioned films were shot in black-and-white with consumer-level HD and DSLR cameras, extremely inexpensive compared to traditional productions. For this film, €2 million was allotted, still a small amount for a story taking place on multiple continents and headlined by a major international star in Gael García Bernal. The relative brevity of this film was initially not by design; the project first announced in 2019 under the title of Beatriz, The Wife . The goal was to depict the life of Ferdinand Magellan through the eyes of his younger wife, whom he married just before his expedition, and then never saw again. True to his form, Diaz is still working on a much lengthier sort of sequel to Magellan with the extra footage , which will fulfill that promise. Here, she is essentially a cameo, a brief moment of solace between Ferdinand’s perilous journeys. That choice is in service to this specific story, as Magellan sees the titular explorer as little more than power-hungry and only out for himself. Magellan left Spain in 1519, seeking to reach the Spice Islands of Southeast Asia. He sailed west, intending to prove that there was a faster route than going under the southern tip of Africa. For two years, he and his crew sailed across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, eventually making landfall in the eastern Philippines. They were the first European contact for the native people, bringing the word of God with them. Of course, this view of Christianity is still strictly conservative, with two homosexual crewmen being executed midway through the journey. All physical renderings of local idols are immediately burned, with any displays of worship being swiftly punished. As Bender once said in Futurama : “The whole world must learn of our peaceful ways... by force!” For many Filipinos, the legend of Ferdinand Magellan is one marked by bloodlust and outsized ambition, a symptom of the European disease to conquer rather than cooperate. Working with cinematographer Artur Tort, a frequent collaborator of the similarly patient director Albert Serra, Diaz constructs breathtakingly painterly frames. Within the 4:3 ratio, both the background and foreground contain a multitude of plot strands, their naked truth revealing the spoken lies. In one moment, Ferdinand kneels to pray to God in gratitude, with several native corpses lying near him. Although he often bristles against the idea of ‘Slow Cinema,’ Diaz is very much a part of that community, along with other revered filmmakers like Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Bela Tarr, and Theo Angelopoulos. The camera sits motionless for minutes on end, equally capturing both the epic and mundane. It replicates the pace of a journey, the ecstasy not all that much different than the endless agony. You’re lulled into the film’s liminal flow of time, a witness to the tragically pathetic expansion of Western civilization. Others may be lulled to sleep, their slumber never interrupted due to the film’s absence of any noise above a whisper. Even with its length, much of Magellan still feels surface-level. Granted, this is not meant to be the definitive portrait of the man, as evidenced by the fact that we don’t get a good look at him until at least an hour in. Diaz is more concerned with repercussions than reinterpretations, the slippery slope this specific part of the world has been on for more than five centuries. Many of the lessons are still being learned the hard way, with the only difference being the way they’re dressed. More Reviews Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Wrecking Crew January 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Magellan January 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen