The Brutalist is destined to become a classic.

Eggers' Nosferatu is a beautifully crafted, endlessly compelling nightmare that will envelop you in its shifting, writhing darkness and simply refuse to let go. It's one of the best horror films of the year, and represents a new level of ambition and craft from one of our best horror filmmakers.

In its artful, brilliantly acted exploration of the moment one learns that the world isn't "fair" and how we keep going in the face of evil, Josephine sets a high bar for all movies to come in 2026.

Entertaining yet depressing, surreal yet too real, frustrating yet somehow cathartic, "I Saw the TV Glow" leaves such a strong impression that it's hard to stop thinking about it days after seeing it.

Deeply hopeful, spectacularly produced, and equally adept at laughter and tears, Project Hail Mary is the best new movie to hit theaters so far this year.

As an introduction to the rebooted DC Universe, "Superman" is zippy blockbuster fun. But amidst all its cartoon absurdity, it might just inspire people to make a difference in this universe.

DaCosta arrives in the world of 28 Years Later with confidence, swagger, and infectious energy, delivering 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple — one of the best horror sequels in recent memory, and a must-see horror film for 2026.

Violent, laugh-out-loud funny, and often cartoonishly macabre, The Monkey is everything "Longlegs" is not, and yet it fits perfectly in Perkins' larger body of work. And like "Longlegs," it's a horror experience that should not be missed.

It's another triumph from a singular voice in cinema, and another Lanthimos movie you sort of never see coming.

Marty Supreme is more than just a vehicle for one of this generation's most vital stars to ball out and push his personal brand. It is one of the most impressive films of the year, an ambitious and exhilarating effort whose biggest sin is fumbling a bit in the finale.

28 Years Later is scary and touching and funny and brutal, and I loved every minute of it.

Its narrative structure keeps Weapons continually engaging, while its talented cast of actors brings depth to each character, making this one of the best horror films of the year. 

The only thing holding Heretic back from instant classic status is its final act, where some of the big secret reveals end up a bit disappointing after so much great build-up.

It's a sharp, sexy, and intoxicating drama that has more in common with Patrick Marber's play "Closer" than with most spook stories.

Beyond just being clever and unexpected, there's something quietly powerful to this story of truth-seekers in a post-truth world.

Even though the film is essentially a sonnet with car crashes dedicated to the men and women behind the movie stars, much of the film's majesty comes directly from the charisma of its leading man.

If Pixar is now just as formulaic as its Hollywood animation peers, then director Daniel Chong's film is a reminder that a stereotypical crowd-pleaser from this studio is made with enough emotional sincerity and visual inspiration to never feel like cheap product fallen off the factory line.

While "Romulus" is a bit overstuffed, it's also never boring, and at its best it's one of the scariest rides you can take at the movies this summer.

While some of the old magic might be a little lost in translation, "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" still manages to deliver just about everything we could have hoped for from a legacy sequel in this franchise. It's funny, it's action-packed, it's got heart, and it's got Eddie Murphy proving once again that he's still got it. What more could you want?

It's a great time at the movies for slasher fans, '80s pop culture fans, and Mia Goth fans alike, and even with a few stumbles in mind, it manages to stand as one of the summer's must-see films.

Despite my questions and quibbles, I'm still happy this sequel exists, even if it falls short of masterpiece status.

The film is not exactly exemplary or paradigm shifting, but it is entertaining, heartfelt, earnest, and largely unashamed of its comic book origins.

Though its long string of wacky plot points might sound convoluted on paper, one shouldn't worry too much about it. The craziest details are mostly there for laughs, and the thematic and emotional through-lines that actually matter remain clear throughout.

It's the incomparable Strong who steals the show as Cohn, the Pygmalion who carves Trump out of spray tan and ill-fitting suits to make him into the monster he becomes.

Overall, this is a comedy that doesn't skimp on the sentimental stuff, although it never comes off as cloying or overly sweet.

With Robinson doing his thing and Paul Rudd's straight man delightfully off-kilter in his own way, Friendship is a chaotic ride from start to finish.

Bring Her Back genuinely disturbed me. You can decide whether that's reason to see it as soon as possible or reason to stay far away.

This is a surprisingly sad movie — just one that also happens to be funny.

You're Cordially Invited is good at what it does, even if you won't be thinking about it long after the credits roll. And if you do think of it, all you'll do is laugh.

As a frenetic, chaotic glimpse at the making of a doomed-to-fail sketch comedy series that has somehow lasted for 50 years, Saturday Night is a blast.

It's difficult not to fall in love with all of the characters in the film, and its breezy sense of humor makes Eternity a veritable crowdpleaser.

For the most part, the musical fires on all cylinders, so we're off to a good start.

It's a testament to the charisma on display, and the expertise with which they work, that they all can take center-stage and then step back and let someone else have a turn.

It features an excellent ensemble cast who bring tremendous heart to each of their cinematic segments, and represents Stephen King at his most sentimental and uncynical.

Transcending its gimmick status within its opening stretch and only growing more resonant from there, it becomes that rare horror film you could recommend to people who hate the genre — the set pieces are well constructed, but their impact pales next to a haunting, moving story about a dog and his owner. 

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a good movie that has either the fortune or the misfortune of existing as a prequel to a nearly perfect movie.

Novocaine is packed full of inventive action set pieces that are alternately gruesome, goofy, and sometimes even both at once. It may not be for everyone, but it kind of feels like the gold standard for this very specific brand of action comedy.

The Running Man is such an enjoyable race while you're running it, but once you make it past the finish line and start reflecting on the experience, it leaves too much to be desired.

Doing double duty as both a romcom and a twisted body horror movie is a tonal challenge that "Together" pulls off successfully, in large part thanks to how fun it is.

Anchored by Diaz and Foxx's combined star power and a general sense of pleasantness that never fades, it's a solid little action-comedy with a bit of family fun at its core. The bad news, if you want to look at it that way, is that there's not much else there, leaving the film a hollow, though pleasant, experience.

Whether or not it proves a financial success, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is shocking in how effectively it pleases a crowd. It continues the work of "Bad Boys For Life," breathing new energy into a thirty year old franchise that, on paper, should have ran out of steam by now.

Taken on its own terms, Frankenstein is a compelling, at times moving, and utterly gorgeous epic. As a fan of both Del Toro and Shelley, I can't help but nitpick the details.

If you watched any of the set pieces in Havoc entirely divorced from their wider context, you might find them thrilling, if a little derivative. Within the film, however, they do very little to raise the blood pressure back up after extended detours in a generic crime conspiracy difficult to get invested in. He's still a talented action director, but this plays a little too safe for my liking.

Juror #2 is a meat and potatoes drama with a strong central premise, a great cast, and a runtime that doesn't overstay its welcome. It's exactly the kind of drama made for adults that has been jettisoned to television for the last 15 or so years.

The film is a gargantuan undertaking and its heights will reverberate through pop culture for the foreseeable future. But some of its bigger swings don't quite connect and suggest that it is possible for a movie to try to be too many things at once.

It wrestles with similar ideas as its source material, sure, but when push comes to shove, Watkins is more than happy to deliver all the violence and hysteria that's been bubbling underneath the surface the whole time.

It's at once a fun and crowd-pleasing picture in that classic's vein as well as an extrapolation of what worked so well in the last outing. 

Deadpool & Wolverine isn't the height of the MCU, but it is the height of the MCU right now, and for a franchise that's struggling at the moment, it's the shot in the arm that the MCU needs.

There was no chance of "The War of the Rohirrim" recapturing the magic of the Peter Jackson "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. But Hèra's defiance in the face of the despair her enemies want her to feel has something of the trilogy's inspirational quality.

Final Destination Bloodlines is a tremendous amount of fun, especially if you can see it in a theater (preferably with an audience willing to match its energy). I said that Final Destination offers no surprises, and yet this iteration of the concept is a pleasant one.

Despite its faults, it showcases how much sex scenes can be used to explore character beyond their mere ability to titillate (but don't worry, there's plenty of that as well).

If at times a little belabored. With an all-in performance from Benedict Cumberbatch and a unique visual style, "The Thing With Feathers" is an inescapably compelling drama — even if its concept is perhaps a bit more interesting than its execution.

All in all, though, this is a more than respectable remake of Lilo & Stitch.

On Swift Horses finally achieves the emotional resonance it's been aiming for just a few minutes before the credits.

The plot, like Dylan himself, seems to be meandering, and while it's an interesting parallel, the end result is a film that feels more than a little listless whenever someone's not singing.

Much of Materialists is almost aggressively unromantic, and while it's not without laughs, those are also darker and more uncomfortable than you'd expect.

It's a nice enough movie, and honestly it might just be the best possible version of a live-action adaptation of its source material. But if you're expecting anything more than an almost exact shot-for-shot remake, you may be disappointed.

The final result of "Wicked: For Good" falls between the best and worst case scenarios: some big worthwhile changes and additions show a smart adaptational instinct, but it's still less entertaining than "Part 1," marred by inconsistent plotting, lackluster humor, and fewer exceptional musical numbers. It's good enough, but I could be happier.

Like many high-concept satire movies, it works best in its first act when it's still setting everything up, then it loses steam when it's not quite sure where to go with the idea. The end result is an uneven yet still entertaining satirical romp, bolstered by engaging performances from its top-notch cast.

If Smile 2 feels just as good as the first in the moment, then it's entirely thanks to Scott, who helps anchor a story that could crack under the weight of its endless twist reveals.

Black Phone 2 hits, it hits – and that's the case pretty much as soon as they make it up into the mountains. With clever set pieces that utilize Ethan Hawke to his best advantage as an even more disturbing Freddy Krueger, Black Phone 2 ups the creepiness factor.

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are both preternaturally likable, and it's their performances and chemistry together that helps We Live in Time stand out from the crowd. Even so, the film's gimmick and its two glittering stars aren't quite enough to elevate this into must-watch territory.

At the end of the day, the roar of the engines is loud enough to drown out any meaningful discussions about the intersection of commerce and art. For a movie about cars racing fast, it delivers.

The majority of the movie is great. Funny and zesty, but still with something to say, Good Fortune is a good time even if the ending leaves something to be desired.

Nobody comes to a "Bridget Jones" movie for realism, but Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy understands what its predecessors struggled to, recognizing that even the most far-fetched of genre tropes becomes more palatable when pitched as cathartic to its protagonist, and the audience more generally.

Chaotic in its depiction of the unraveling of a contentious workplace relationship, Send Help is a profoundly unserious thriller that is nevertheless a crowdpleaser.

With Paul Mescal taking on leading man duties, Gladiator II capitalizes on all the visual delights and heroic battles that make this genre — when done well — so enjoyable to watch.

Although it falls apart slightly in the third act (a treat the director is unfortunately unable to shake here), a tense narrative and unsettling performance from Josh Hartnett makes Trap a delightful late summer thriller.

If nothing else, it's a true feat that a movie with this many writers and this tangled an editing process ultimately wound up as solid as it did. Yeah, a lot of the action set pieces are inconsistent and choppy. Much of the CG work is reliably cheap-looking and rushed. But in the end, they pulled together what could have been an embarrassing disaster into something entertaining and, at times anyway, inspired. 

I laughed at more jokes than I expected to in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

With go-for-broke performances from the always compelling Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, both of whom can be safely relied upon to bring the weird when asked, The Bride! is fun to watch, even if its narrative leaves something to be desired.

As a whole, "Day One" is different enough from its predecessors while meeting similarly high marks of filmmaking craft, resulting in a solid piece of popcorn filmmaking.

Is The Housemaid a serious movie? No. Is it often bogged down by a clunky script penned by Rebecca Sonnenshine? Yes. Is it sometimes even stupid? Definitely. Is it fun to watch and sure to become a fun staple? Yes, absolutely — thanks to Seyfried and Feig.

Lawrence and screenwriter J.T. Mollner's take on "The Long Walk" is a reminder of why King's stories have historically been well-suited for the screen, replicating the blend of melancholy, coming-of-age character study, and fatalistic horror that defined the very best adaptations of his work.

Adams' great performance aside, Nightbitch is just a good but not great movie — and oddly enough, its biggest obstacle to greatness might be that it's not quite weird enough.

It will likely prove divisive, but Blink Twice mostly succeeds due to its scathing nature, taking off the kid gloves that most recent eat-the-rich films have tackled the 1% with. It's not a flawless debut, but it's a convincing sign that Kravitz has an even more exciting career waiting for her behind the camera.

It's a singular thrill to see how deftly Hardy blends weird comedy, genuine pathos, and even pseudo-homoerotic undertones into the kind of performance that would win Oscars if it weren't housed within such a deeply unserious, commercial film product.

Rental Family is a clear crowdpleaser with a sense of humor and charm that will make audiences fall in love with it — if they're willing to accept its unvarnished sentimentality, that is.

Twisters can't quite recapture the magic of its predecessor, but setting aside the Herculean task of clearing that high bar, it is nonetheless an entertaining and heartfelt attempt, if not to proudly step out of its forebear's shadow, then to charmingly poke its head out to smile and wave politely.

That "Zootopia 2" has anything that will linger in the imagination long after viewing already puts it a league above Disney's other cash-grab sequels, but it effortlessly clears that lowest of bars. It's not perfect, but even the parents dragged along by their kids will be happy to see a third movie — and by modern Disney standards, that is nothing short of miraculous.

If nothing else, Kinds of Kindness features three show-stopping performances from Jesse Plemons, giving Lanthimos a new muse to champion.

The craft is there. The new characters are solid enough. Visually it's a real treat to behold. But 145 minutes is too long to spend retreading the recent past.

The action in this film is honestly better than anything in the recently released "Kraven the Hunter." The sequences toward the beginning of the movie are particularly impressive.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is both a battle cry and a bleak joke about how unregulated technological progress could destroy civilization and break our souls ... if it hasn't already.

The film as a whole may be too sedate and ploddingly paced for some — a piano being moved back and forth, over and over again, across an elegant but lonely Parisian apartment, both literally and figuratively. But it's impossible to deny the raw emotional power of Jolie in the lead role.

While the movie does a fine job sending off the Warrens, it lacks some of the charm of its predecessors, and in the end, feels more like a comforting rerun than an exciting new horror effort.

The power of Fiennes' and Binoche's performances, as well as the strength of the classic tale itself, allow "The Return" to build into something both entertaining and meaningful in its final act.

Not a great movie, but "horror-comedy where unicorns kill rich people" is the sort of high concept that guarantees some level of entertainment, and excellent casting helps compensate for its weaknesses on the screenplay level.

Few artists worth making movies about have led lives that can fit neatly within the confines of a feature film's runtime, but Michael Jackson's in particular feels too Herculean a task to undertake, given the complexities and challenges of his history. Yet "Michael" is an exuberant and entertaining film that sends the viewer home happy, salivating for another installment to stretch the foregone conclusion of its own success. 

This is the only genre where you can paper over the flaws with a handful of well-staged set pieces, and thanks to Timo Tjahjanto, it manages to upstage the original on that front.

The lack of character development blunts any potential for the deeper emotional impact found in the best war movies. The lack of political contextualization further limits how much the film is really capable of saying.

The question remains whether a "Mortal Kombat" movie could ever be expected to be better than this, considering the limitations of the source material. That this sequel translates the simple beat-em-up thrills of the video game into something narratively functional is about as triumphant as it could possibly get for this franchise.

The more this origin story refrains from winking and nodding at the future direction of this characters, the better it is. That it can't entirely keep itself away from this impulse is why it isn't the smooth introduction for a new generation of potential fans it could have been.

For someone enamored with the Wick-verse who just wants a new fix from that world, Ballerina is an unequivocal success. Ana de Armas holds her own as Eve Macarro, a dancer turned assassin trained by the same family that made John Wick such a violent threat.

The vastly overqualified cast stubbornly refuses to phone it in, with their high-wattage charisma acting as the ultimate special effect; their banter is entertaining enough to help distract from just how cheap everything else onscreen looks.

At least half this film — especially the clash between the Evil Queen and Snow White — is enjoyable enough. 

If you've found the previous live-action Predator movies (including Trachtenberg's own franchise-reviving "Prey") to be too heavy on plot at the expense of the carnage, then the brevity of this spin-off is exactly what you'll have been wanting, stripping down the formula to its barest essentials across three brief stories.

Though it may sound like a fascinating sci-fi rumination on the intersection of technology and human life, "Ares" works best as a rollicking action picture with some strong visuals and incredible soundscapes. It lacks the acting acumen and depth of writing to achieve much more.