All That She Wants

What’s nice about Toronto, compared to the other fall festivals, is the kind of lighthearted film that can premiere there. The programming has a breezier, looser quality that lets what seems like more standard genre fare get a spotlight. That’s how a romantic comedy from relative newcomers like “All That She Wants” has a chance to make a splash. Co-director Andrew Rhymer had a solid hit a few years ago in the same wheelhouse with “Plus One”, but his other half, Scarlett Bermingham, is making her directorial debut with this film. As fans of “Schitt’s Creek,” “Girls,” and both “Shithouse” and “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” getting to see stars Annie Murphy, Cooper Raiff and Zosia Mamet in a new romantic comedy is as exciting as any awards contender.

Ancestors

Another directorial debut, “Ancestors,” this time from Irish filmmaker David Turpin, serves as much more of a question mark at this point than some of the other premieres. With the only real names attached being Rupert Everett and Christina Hendricks in likely smaller roles, one may write this film off when looking over the festival. Still, every year we see exciting new voices emerge at TIFF, and this could very well be one of those breakouts. The premise is rather vague, self-describing itself as a mystery intertwining dream and memory, so there’s plenty of opportunity for a bold and singular vision for this first film from Turpin. Whether he delivers or not, it’s exciting to find out ourselves and have it on our radar ahead of time.

The Assassin(s)

Hur Jin-ho is a rather unsung South Korean filmmaker; over his nearly thirty-year career, he has yet to fully break into the more pronounced discussions of international cinema, though his works have been widely admired. Whether his journalism-centered thriller “The Assassin(s),” which seems in line with the works of Alan J. Pakula, is the film that breaks him out is unclear; however, getting a platform for an audience to discover a filmmaker they may not be familiar with is one of the biggest treats of the festival season. This will be a lot of people’s first film of his; it would be my first, but on its own, it seems to play in the waters of storytelling that excites nearly everybody when they go to the movies.

Babies

One of the festival’s more high-profile premieres, Lauren Miller Rogen’s “Babies” seems to serve as classic TIFF programming. The relationship and family dramedy comes eight years after Rogen’s debut “Like Father,” but with the year her husband Seth is having and the cast she assembled here, it seems likely this will make much more of a dent. Roadside Attractions have already picked up the film for a wide release next year, and given how much it fits the festival’s vibe, it’ll probably generate a great first wave of buzz. Funnily enough, the animated Cannes holdover “Tangles” also plays at the festival, which both Rogen produced, and will probably help make it an exciting festival for not only the couple, but for fans of both of them.

Being Heumann

Another heavy hitter on this list, Sian Heder’s long-awaited follow-up to “CODA” makes its debut as the Opening Night film with “Being Heumann.” After the Cinderella story of her previous film’s Oscar run, it’s curious to see how far this film can go in this year’s much more competitive awards season. “CODA” was very TIFF-core in spirit, but in the COVID year of 2021 it released wide on Apple TV+ before the festival even began. Back with Apple, they’ve chosen a more traditional awards trajectory with this, and whether that pays off or not, it’ll be interesting to see how this film is perceived with the “baggage” of being a follow-up to a Best Picture winner. The story in and outside the film seem crowd-pleasing enough, with favorites like Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O’Brien in the cast, making it hard to imagine most people not falling for Heder’s work again if it truly delivers.

Closing Night

Back in the sphere of directorial debuts, Cody Fern, best known as an actor in American Horror Story, takes his first seat in the director’s chair with “Closing Night.” Fern brings along another Ryan Murphy regular, with Sarah Paulson taking on what seems like an exciting leading role. The film follows Paulson as an actress on the night before an important performance, which is disrupted when an estranged family member visits. Between Paulson, Naomi Watts, Dianne Wiest, and Odessa A’Zion, the ensemble alone is enough to be exciting. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, Fern plays off Murphy’s style given their shared history. Not necessarily a needle mover for predicting quality, but Devon Bostick as a co-writer adds another fun component that makes this worth looking forward to.

Dorothy

A glance at the previous works of Indian filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj would make anyone fascinated by what it’s like to watch one of his films. Thankfully, TIFF audiences have that opportunity with his new film, “Dorothy.” Subbaraj seems to make films over two and a half hours, and this is no different, but with the epic stories he tries to tell, that length usually feels justified. “Dorothy” seems no less epic, following two friends in a violent world as their lives change with the arrival of the titular Dorothy. While that can sound quaint and small-scale, the action and adventure genres attached to the film make it feel like something bigger than the premise suggests. How big or crazy does it get? Well, Toronto audiences will be the first to find out.

Drifter

For fans of the “Fast and Furious” franchise who also happen to go to TIFF, actor Sung Kang, who plays Han Lue in that series, makes his directorial debut with “Drifter.” Also in the racing world, the film follows Kang as a racetrack janitor finding a different found family than Dominic Toretto’s. It seems very much in the vein of the Fast series, which makes its festival appearance a little surprising, but perhaps there’s something special here below the surface. Even if it doesn’t surprise in that way and is just a silly, fun action movie, it will surely serve as a refresher for many festivalgoers, or maybe even bring fresh audiences into the theater, which may be part of why it’s even here. With Kang as a director, a wild card, we’ll stay optimistic and assume he’s bringing something special to a formula he knows well.

Edward Said: Between Worlds

To highlight an exciting documentary debuting at the festival, “Edward Said: Between Worlds” follows the titular, late Edward Said, a Palestinian-American academic and activist. Directed by Maiken Baird, the film features plenty of important footage from Said’s life, along with new footage that paints the clearest portrait of the man we’ve ever seen. It’s one of many documentaries on the subject, but with the hole his passing left since 2003, there’s plenty of meat left in his life and ideology to explore in a feature film. His writings and work can be traced all the way back to the establishment of Israel and the subsequent conflict that is incredibly relevant currently with the ongoing genocide happening in Palestine, making Said’s voice all the more crucial to put a spotlight on today.

Everybody Wants To F*ck Me

One of the more eye-catching, if not the most eye-catching, titles of the fest, “Everybody Wants to F*ck Me,” is the feature debut of Jonathan Schey. The dark comedy stars Taron Egerton, who feels like he’s been pretty absent this decade in the theatrical film space, so it would be very welcome for this film to hit and get him big in a buzzy theatrical release. He’s paired opposite Mia McKenna-Bruce, who should be on everyone’s radar after her incredible work in “How to Have Sex,” and hopefully gets room to shine here as well. The film follows Egerton, who believes he has crafted himself to be the perfect man, perhaps a less dangerous Patrick Bateman type. Whatever the case, it should be an opportunity for Egerton to show off the comedic and charismatic chops we know he has in spades and hopefully a splashy debut for Schey.

Evil Genius

For a directorial effort from a more well-known face, Courteney Cox’s newest film “Evil Genius” is making its debut at the festival. The crime thriller, with an ensemble including Patricia Arquette, David Harbour, and Tom McCarthy, serves as Cox’s third feature. Still, the premise seems a bit more attention-grabbing than her past work. People love the true-crime story this film follows, an investigation into the events behind a real-life murder. Whether it’s notable enough to reach outside of the audience who’s primed to like that kind of story, at the very least it will hopefully scratch the itch of the genre’s biggest fans.

The Face Of Horror

Anna Biller made a strong impression with her last film, “The Love Witch,” and despite the ten years since then, that goodwill has carried over into decent buzz for her new film, “The Face of Horror.” The gothic medieval romance seems to offer the same strong color palette that pops right off the screen, even from the few images that we can see online. The film follows a woman who, in the afterlife, tries to get revenge on her adulterous husband, and that combined with those strong colors of someone like Jacques Demy, makes this feel like a must-see for fans of Biller, or just those like me who get irrationally excited at a gothic romance and how it juxtaposes with a visual style like that.

Four Seasons In Java

Kamila Andini is another filmmaker who, despite having several well-regarded films, has yet to fully blow up in the international cinema discussion. Her latest, “Four Seasons in Java,” could be the one that launches her into it, or at the very least another building block toward deserved widespread recognition. The film follows a woman who returns to her hometown after prison; she starts to become fascinated with the abandoned things and people that make up the home she no longer recognizes. Whether this connects with people in a way her past hasn’t is yet to be seen, but that pitch is universal enough of a conceit to do such a trick, or at the very least make a great film that word of mouth gets people to check it out and her past works out.

Future Tense

Soon to be followed by a Fantastic Fest screening, Jenna Cato Bass’s “Future Tense” makes its world premiere at Toronto. It’s Bass’s third time at the festival, and his latest South African set thriller seems to be his most ambitious film yet. The climate-control time-travel adventure seems to be one of the biggest swings of this year’s fest period; that four-word description alone should prove it as such. At a short ninety minutes, it’ll be interesting to see how the film communicates and explores its ideas, but for festival-goers, that runtime is more of a plus than a drawback when planning a schedule.

Growth Of The Soil

Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland has a fascinating balancing act between more respected films from or near his home country, and more American Liam Neeson thrillers that don’t have the same respect for their name. His latest, “Growth of the Soil,” is a Neeson-less adaptation of Knut Hamsun’s classic novel that likely will lean more into the reception of the former option. The sweeping drama will premiere in Norway soon after the festival, but for those attending this year’s festival, it may be a while before they’re able to catch it again. For fans of the book, the filmmaker, or anyone just interested in the premise, it’ll be an interesting and hopefully standout entry in the fest.

The Housewife

Naomi Watts appears in her second film on this list with Ben Shirinian’s “The Housewife.” Quite different from the other film of hers, this film, she’s opposite Luke Evans, her husband, who is accused of being a Nazi in 1960s New York. Being Shirinian’s debut, the fact that he got these two, as well as Michael Imperioli, Tye Sheridan, and Norman Reedus, on board makes one wonder what he’s bringing to this first film. It could be the sort of historical drama that comes and goes at the fall festivals, but with the unknown factor of a debut film, one can be excited about the project’s potential ceiling.

I Play Rocky

One of the highest-profile debuts by default comes from another former Best Picture winner, in Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky.” His third feature since the aforementioned “Green Book,” and maybe his most Academy-angled movie since. As the title suggests, the film follows the making of the classic sports drama “Rocky,” with Anthony Ippolito stepping into the Sylvester Stallone role, writing and hoping to act in the iconic film as he tries to get it made. It’s hard to imagine this film justifying its existence, with the real-life story of this film’s production feeling as told as the film itself. Perhaps diehard fans of Stallone and the film can enjoy seeing it in the film medium, and maybe those unaware of the behind-the-scenes story will be in awe of what it took Stallone to get this film made. However, the trailers make it seem like half behind-the-scenes story and half remake, and it’s wholly unclear what the film is trying to say. Hopefully it serves as something more interesting, but with Farrelly’s track record so far, expecting more than the surface level feels generous.

The Julia Set

Many films debuting at the festival feature either unknown talent or seasoned talent who tend to do lots of films each year. Very few of these feature rising stars like Niki Byrne’s “The Julia Set” does with Chase Infiniti in the lead role. After her incredible breakthrough in “One Battle After Another,” this is her first film role since then, which alone is enough to draw a lot of attention to Byrne’s film. She isn’t a solo act either; the film has seasoned actors as well, like Jason Isaacs, Nina Hoss, and Gillian Anderson, who, after “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” is more exciting than ever to see. A small-scale thriller in the world of academics is the type of film that can easily become a must-see with the right script and ensemble, and with the latter in great hands, it’ll be exciting to see what material Niki Byrne gives to this exciting cast.

Kick On

Australian horror wasn’t really defined enough in the worldwide mainstream to get a spotlight. Still, after the Philippou brothers burst onto the scene with “Talk to Me,” it seems other Australian filmmakers hoping to work in horror have a clearer space to break into. Nick Kozakis surely hopes to with his gruesome-seeming thriller, “Kick On.” After four young friends get involved with a mob, things quickly go wrong and spiral into a ride of extremity that may be a little too much for some festival-goers, but also right up others’ alley. Unsurprisingly, it is part of the Midnight Madness section, which has showcased some of the gnarliest films in horror and otherwise in the last decade. Surely, Kozakis, like most filmmakers in the genre, would die to be a part of.

Krux

Set in the final days of the Second World War, Tony Vahl’s “Krux” seems to be one of the bleaker films to be birthed out of this year’s festival. The German film follows a village that fell victim to the final wave of horror in this tragic time in history. While nothing of Vahl’s style is known yet, cinematographer Piotr Sobociński Jr. worked on “Corpus Christi,” a film celebrated for its look, which is encouraging for this film’s visual language. Especially for a film as dark as this in subject matter, the look can really make or break how the film sticks with you, and those with an understandable weak stomach for this subject matter can rest easy knowing it isn’t much longer than ninety minutes in length.

Ladies And Gentleman, Brian Mulroney

It feels like “Universal Language” got nowhere near the buzz it deserved back in 2024; despite that, director Matthew Rankin is already back with an exciting follow-up. “Ladies and Gentleman, Brian Mulroney,” a similarly political Canadian film, this time more overtly political and Canadian, as it documents the titular eighteenth prime minister of the country. This is Rankin’s first feature documentary, so it’ll be interesting to see how his bold style translates to this medium, but whether it lives up to this narrative work or not, it’ll be an exciting new step for the rising Canadian filmmaker.

The Last Photograph

Despite being one of the most talked-about filmmakers of the last ten years, if not longer, it’s still shocking to see a Zack Snyder film playing at one of the major film festivals. However, this is probably the most interesting subject matter he’s ever tackled. “The Last Photograph” isn’t a superhero film or a traditional action or genre affair, but a revenge mystery of sorts set in South America. Whether this film falls into the visual and writing traps of his weaker blockbuster work is yet to be seen; however, it’s the most promising one of his films on paper in years.

Magazine

Back in 2022, a small film, “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” didn’t make much of a splash itself; its lead actress, Lily McInerny, on the other hand, made quite a strong impression. Still, she’s had only a few roles since, including this year’s “Magazine,” which hopefully offers her a similarly meaty lead role to show off her talents. The debut feature from Alexandra Pechman seems to tread similar ground to Kitty Green’s “The Assistant,” with this film tackling the power dynamics affecting a New York-based magazine intern. With her work being unknown, it may be unfair to expect it to be as strong as Green’s debut was. Still, it may be just as exciting a launch for Pechman’s career, with at the very least another captivating lead performance from McInerny.

Misty Green

Another heavy-hitter premiere, or at least one that hopes to be, Chris Rock and A24’s indie dramedy “Misty Green” makes its debut here. The buzz has been pretty strong since the trailer dropped a month ago, and it’s only grown since it was announced to show here and, more surprisingly, at the New York Film Festival. Chris Rock has sat in the director’s chair before, most recently with “Top Five,” a solid industry set dramedy in a similar register. With actors like Adam Driver and the long-awaited return of Daniel Kaluuya starring here, it’ll be interesting to see what Rock delivers. Whether it’s a starry dramedy that peaks here, or something that lasts throughout the year and maybe even awards season, it’ll be interesting to find out very soon.

Lemonade

Despite booking big roles as Ringo Starr and the Joker, it’s nice to see Barry Keoghan not abandoning his indie roots and using his newfound stardom to lift newer filmmakers’ work. He’s an actor people keep an eye on, and his name alone will get people to check out Kim Bartley’s drama “Lemonade.” In the film, Keoghan plays a social worker reconnecting with a young man as his eighteenth birthday approaches. The coming-of-age film feels like a classic feel-good Toronto offering, and with Keoghan in an assumedly kinder register than we usually see him, that alone makes it worth keeping an eye on, as well as the young, rising talent that rounds out and leads the film’s cast.

Love Of Your Life

Another young star anchoring a premiere is Margaret Qualley in the lead role of the romantic drama “Love of Your Life.” Opposite Patrick Schwarzenegger, the film follows the two meeting by chance, causing Qualley’s character to reassess what she wants in life and relationships.  The film’s director Rachel Morrison previously worked with Barry Jenkins on her debut “The Fire Inside,” which got strong notices at this very festival a few years back. It’ll be interesting to see how she does without Jenkins on board; “NYAD” screenwriter Julia Cox takes over as scribe. Another interesting tidbit on the crew side is Ryan Gosling being a producer on this, his first time doing so without being involved elsewhere. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a sign of projects he will want to be involved with going forward or just a one-off, but no matter what, there’s plenty to be curious about with the talent for this premiere.

Phoolan

There’s something about a contained time period that makes for a particularly thrilling theatrical experience. Richie Mehta’s “Phoolan” aims to be a perfect example of this: a tense Indian thriller spanning forty-eight hours. Based on the autobiography of the titular Phoolan Devi, the film follows a small Indian village under siege. The film seems to balance a window into the siege with the traumas Phoolan faced as the target of an army of thousands. Whether the film works more as a thriller, a historical biography of Phoolan, or succeeds at both, it at the very least seems like a story that should be told, and hopefully will be made in a way that deserves to be seen. The film will be a Prime Video original, so those unable to catch it at TIFF will hopefully not have to wait too long to see it.

Prima Facie

Hot off the “Wicked” duology, Cynthia Erivo returns to a more grounded drama with Susanna White’s adaptation of “Prima Facie.” Based on Suzie Miller’s one-woman play, Erivo takes over the role of Tessa, originated by Jodie Comer, a barrister who defends men accused of sexual crimes whose perspective on her job is changed when she herself is the victim of such a crime. It’s dense and layered material, a show and performance that received intense acclaim, and it’ll be exciting to see how Erivo and White adapt the work into film. Miller returns to pen the screenplay, and how she adjusts her own work will be fascinating for both those familiar with the play and the many people who will be introduced to the story through this film.

River

Going back into Midnight Madness, Joshua Giuliano makes his feature debut with the slasher “River.” The film follows three siblings adrift in the ocean, which, as a slasher setup, is already incredibly unnerving. If it delivers on the claustrophobia of a slasher at sea, this could be one of the biggest armrest grippers of not just the festival but the entire year. Is that just a fear of the ocean talking? Perhaps a little, but the fear of the vast unknown is such a common, universal anxiety that it feels primed to build a successful horror film off of. Hopefully, Giuliano can deliver on that prospect.

Run Terry Run

The only film on this list that technically has screened before, Sean Menard’s “Run Terry Run” had an advance screening nearly a year ago at Roy Thomson Hall. The documentary follows Terry Fox and his run during the 1980 Marathon of Hope. Much of the footage in the film is previously unseen, uncovered by Fox’s foundation only in recent years. Whether the film has changed at all since last year’s screening is unclear, but whether it’s the same or mildly different, it’ll be a joy for major audiences to get access to this story and how Menard tells it.

Salvation

English filmmaker Tom Nicoll makes his debut with a dark comedy/thriller “Salvation.” The film follows an aspiring life coach who uses the profession to explore how masculinity is perceived today, especially by more troubled men. It may play into a Safdie Brothers-type unlikable lead who gets involved in things they shouldn’t, but that’s pure conjecture based on the premise. Nicoll has made short films before, but for many, this will be the first time his style and voice really take shape. The premise here sounds like a perfect tonal exercise for a first-time feature.

Still Night, Burning House

A deeply personal documentary, Carol Nguyen’s “Still Night, Burning House” follows Nguyen’s own family as they reunite after the mysterious death of her uncle. The film unpacks the generations of trauma that make up the history of their family, while also seeing if there’s anything left to uncover in the death that still haunts them. Documentaries that follow filmmakers exploring their own history and experience are always the most fascinating; seeing their discoveries and closures happen in real time on camera is incredibly cathartic to watch. What comes of this film and how personal and intimate it gets is to be seen, but the premise alone is not only fascinating to see, but incredibly inspiring to see bravery like this from a new filmmaker.

The Surgeon

Between directing “A Nice Indian Boy” and “7 Days,” as well as scribing “Call Jane,” Harvard graduate Roshan Sethi has made a solid name for himself as a filmmaker this decade. The former especially made quite a splash at its 2025 launch, and hopefully will build enough goodwill to draw eyes to his latest film, “The Surgeon,” as it makes its first bow at the festival. If his past work isn’t enough to do it, the star power certainly will, with stars Michelle Yeoh and Martin Freeman having led both blockbuster and smaller projects to get fans all over interested in seeing their work here. It seems these two are among the only actors in the film, perhaps a two-hander akin to “Sanctuary,” with Yeoh playing a surgeon kidnapped by Freeman. The film draws on Sethi’s own experience in the medical field, and on the thrillers of the 2000s that we don’t see in the same quantity this decade, but perhaps this will help bring them back.

A Talent For Murder

Dutch filmmaker Anton Corbijn has worked with some of the greatest movie stars of our time, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robert Pattinson, and George Clooney. His latest film, premiering in Toronto, “A Talent For Murder,” is no different, with not only an icon like Helen Mirren, but also rising stars Olivia Cooke and Alden Ehrenreich. The film follows Ehrenreich as he travels to Switzerland to convince Mirren’s character, Patricia Highsmith, to write one more of her Tom Ripley novels. For a character like Ripley that’s been adapted so many times, and so famously in cinema, to see a different sort of story involving the character is a rather interesting prospect. Especially with a cast like this and a solid director at the helm, it could certainly make for a breakout, at least for fans of the author and actors involved in bringing her to the screen.

Trash Mountain

For fans of Caleb Hearon, or even just those vaguely familiar with him, it feels like the comedian has been on the verge of a breakout for a while now, maybe getting closest with his small role in “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” With him writing and acting in Kris Rey’s new film “Trash Mountain,” it may be his time to fully explode as a star comedian. The film follows Hearon as he returns home after his father passes to sort through all he has hoarded. It will be exciting to see how well the dramatic-sounding premise balances with the film’s clear lighter side, but these comedy vehicles, once spearheaded by Judd Apatow in the 2000s, are still nice to see made on any scale.

Vintage Violence

Only so many filmmakers can properly tap into what it feels like to be online. That said, between “Spree” and “The Code,” Eugene Kotlyarenko is clearly among this class of tapped-in artists. Even the fact that someone like Cole Sprouse leads this film may support that, especially in his role as a live streamer. The film follows his character as he travels to Japan to sell a pair of jeans to one of his subscribers, and how he explores this through the film’s self-described “mixed media” approach will be one of the most curious reveals of this year’s lineup. He’s certainly not a filmmaker for everybody, and not all of his films work. Still, the way he captures constantly shifting online culture is fascinating to watch evolve as his career progresses.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Perhaps this is circumstantial to individual film spaces, but the final film on this list, “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” may have had the buzziest trailer of anything listed here. The Bassam Tariq film stars Mahershala Ali, an actor everyone is excited to see after his troubled “Blade” production, which Tariq was going to direct, kept him offline for so long. With a film that looks as good as this trailer does, and an ensemble that includes John Cho and Tramell Tillman, it’s become not only one of the most exciting premieres of the festival but one of the most exciting films, period.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival? Anything you’d specifically like to hear our take on when we attend? Please let us know in the comments section below or on our X account.

The post The World Premieres We Can’t Wait To See From The 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) appeared first on Next Best Picture.

Bucking Fastard, dir. Werner Herzog
Does this movie have the potential to be a genius, weird-as-all-hell odyssey, or a totally bonkers misfire from a well-respected auteur director? Yes, all of the above, but I’m staying optimistic and leaning toward the former. “Bucking Fastard” – a film title that’s sure to get many of us in trouble with the slip of the tongue – pairs sisters Rooney and Kate Mara in a film for the first time, and everything about it seems like a trip. Their two sister characters in the film speak in unison, love the same man, and have the same dreams. A short clip was released a few weeks ago showing just how bonkers the dialogue and their performances are going to be, and I couldn’t be more excited to succumb to the madness. Here’s hoping it doesn’t go too off the rails, though.

–Ema Sasic

Bunker, dir. Florian Zeller
If you told me the Oscar-winning director/writer of “The Father,” a brilliant film in every regard, would follow it up with a huge disappointment like “The Son,” I wouldn’t have believed you. And yet, that’s sadly what happened. But I have hope for Florian Zeller’s third feature film, “Bunker.” He’s tapped Oscar winners/married couple Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz to star in this psychological thriller about morals and a relationship on the rocks, and those two alone are worth the price of admission. There’s a lot he can do here by utilizing their already-incredible chemistry, but I hope he doesn’t lean too far into the melodrama like he did with his last film.

–Ema Sasic

Company, dir. Casey Affleck

Casey Affleck may have an established and respected career as an actor, but his short directorial career has been met with mixed reactions, to put it kindly. However, “Company” could represent his most intriguing effort to date. There’s already a fascinating dynamic at play with a narrative that features layers of interconnected storylines and time periods, which could serve as a compelling dissection of provocative character studies. What’s perhaps the most engrossing element of the film is the cast that has been assembled, which includes the likes of Nick Nolte, Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn. To watch such fine actors in a film that aims to be a mediation on powerful human emotions makes this one to look forward to. Affleck’s efforts as a director have not been shown to be incredibly notable to date, but there’s an ambition with the storytelling here that could prove to be more impactful outing.

–Josh Parham

The Echo Chamber, dir. Andrea Pallaoro
Andrea Pallaoro, the director/writer behind the intimate drama “Monica,” returns to the Lido with “The Echo Chamber,” a love story starring Alicia Vikander, Susan Sarandon, and Luca Marinelli. This is Bernardo Bertolucci’s final screenplay, but Pallaoro said in recent interviews that, with co-writers Ilaria Bernardini and Ludovica Rampoldi, he made the story his own with a tale full of love, longing, absence, possession and obsession. All of that sounds juicy, and it could be a big showcase for “The Eight Mountains” star Marinelli, who plays a music producer struggling with drug addiction, according to Deadline.

–Ema Sasic

Furies, dir. Rami Kodeih

One of the best aspects of a huge film festival is that it gives many the opportunity for discovery. While there are plenty of filmmakers who have already established their voices as recognizable and respected, there are a plethora of others who have not quite had the same level of exposure. It’s exciting when one gets the chance to make such a find, and “Furies” from Rami Kodeih could very well be that kind of gem. Set during the economic collapse in Lebanon, two women take bold action and plan a heist in an effort to retrieve the money that the banks have refused to give back to them. It’s an alluring premise right off the bat, tackling a national issue and the ordinary citizens it affects through the lens of compelling crime narrative. Kodeih has worked on several acclaimed short films, but his feature film work has not been as extensive. What a wonderful opportunity to expand his filmography and hopefully bear witness to an enticing showcase of essential commentary.

–Josh Parham

Ink, dir. Danny Boyle

Any film that opens a film festival always has a great deal of scrutiny around it. It can be an important omen that determines how the rest of the festival might play out, so it’s necessary to find an appropriate tone setter. Perhaps fortunes will be favorable for Danny Boyle’s latest. After a string of disappointing efforts, he managed to find a renewed interest by returning to a franchise he originated with “28 Years Later.” With such an acclaimed entry, he sets his sights on another looming figure with nefarious intent with “Ink”, focusing on the Rupert Murdoch media empire. Reteaming with Jack O’Connell and a cast that also features Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, the project sounds like an intriguing analysis of a highly controversial subject. In these heightened political times, this could very well make a significant impact.

–Josh Parham

Musk, dir. Alex Gibney

Alex Gibney will always be an admirable figure in the world of documentaries, simply because of how consistent he is. In a time when the medium has seen a struggle in mainstream distribution, his output remains impressively consistent. He’s also someone consumed by topicality and works quickly to deliver pieces that speak to our modern concerns. It’s no surprise that Elon Musk, such a looming figure on the global stage, would be of fascination to this director. His nearly four hour examination of the highly controversial man is sure to raise many an eyebrow. It’s a life that has already been well researched by many others, but Gibney’s talents always find ways to craft an engaging commentary through his expressive filmmaking. The massive runtime is still daunting, and one wonders if that’s a cause for concern in regards to broader appeal. However, there’s no denying that a new project from this director is one that immediately has our curiosity as we all wait to see if any new information will be revealed about a man who has already done so much to surprise and shock the world.

–Josh Parham

NAZA, dir. Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
Witnessing the incredible response to “No Other Land” two years ago was quite a significant moment. An incredibly important film documenting the struggles that Palestinians face against Israeli colonizers was a powerful statement, and the Oscar it won for Best Documentary Feature was a victory not just for those filmmakers but for the political statement that needed to be heard. It automatically makes any follow-up from this creative team worth seeing, and “NAZA” predictably has a large amount of attention on it. This effort does not have the previous film’s two Palestinian directors, but Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have still chosen to focus on the rampant killing of the country’s citizens at the hands of Israeli forces. This is sure to be another controversial effort, but could be another searing indictment that takes hold in our current culture. This year’s festival already has a number of high profile documentaries, and the late announcement of this title to the lineup made that collection even more noteworthy. The world braces itself for another tragic yet necessary exploration of a great injustice being committed on a massive scale.

–Josh Parham

Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?, dir. Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto’s “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” appears to be one of the more emotional watches that the Venice Film Festival will produce. Adapted from a true story, the film follows Allen Nelson, a young man looking to escape discrimination and poverty, who serves on the frontlines of the Vietnam War. Like thousands of other soldiers, the experience changed Nelson’s life forever. Rodney Hicks leads the project, which could be a huge standout moment for the actor who has mainly worked in television and theater in his career. Either way, I’m preparing for a brutal, bracing, and emotional watch – there’s always at least one during a festival!

–Ema Sasic

No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, dir. Halkawt Mustafa
Norwegian Kurdish film director Halkawt Mustafa takes on a story of love and resilience in “No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman.” The film follows Kurdish female sniper Vyan (played by Avan Jamal) on a mission to find her little sister, who was taken against her will during the 2014 Islamic State assault on Mosul. This is another anticipated tough watch, especially as women across the Middle East continue to protest against systemic oppression. But I won’t lie, I love the sound of a female sniper taking down a group whose ideology includes taking away women’s freedoms. Jamal appears to have a loaded role on her hands, balancing physical demands with the emotional toll her character has endured in the years she’s tried to find her sister. This will be one to watch.

–Ema Sasic

Place to Be, dir. Kornél Mundruczó

How’s this for a hodgepodge cast: Ellen Burstyn, Taika Waititi, Pamela Anderson, Murray Bartlett, and David Wenham. That’s who is taking on Kornél Mundruczó’s light-hearted road movie “Place to Be,” which is about an unexpected friendship between an elderly woman and a middle-aged man going on an adventure to return a lost racing pigeon. It sounds very wacky, not only from the premise but also from imagining this cast hanging out together, but there’s also potential for this to be quite charming. While Waititi’s films are certainly polarizing, he brings a chaotic and fun energy when he’s acting on the screen, and it’ll be quite something to see that matched with Oscar-winner Burstyn, who can truly do it all.

–Ema Sasic

Possible Love, dir. Lee Chang-dongIt’s been eight long years since Lee Chang-dong’s last film “Burning,” a powerfully rendered meditation that continues to linger today. The masterful storyteller has been absent for far too long, which is why his return is incredibly appealing. His focus on intimate character studies with a deep examination of internalized conflicts are mesmerizing to discover, and there’s little doubt that he will once again indulge in a captivating narrative. Few directors are able to create a portrait of complex human connectivity quite like him, and any lover of cinema has to be excited for what he has in store. Apart from that, it has been noted how much South Korean cinema has struggled with getting proper recognition from the Academy, and all eyes are on this film to see if such a long-running rejection might finally turn a corner.

–Josh Parham

Primetime, dir. Lance Oppenheim
Robert Pattinson putting on a voice in a film? I am so seated. He has come a long way since his “Twilight” days, and anyone who doesn’t think he’s one of today’s very best working actors only has to look at the incredible 2026 he has had. He gave us a wild dramedy with “The Drama,” he came alive as the entitled Antinous in “The Odyssey,” and now he’s giving us “Primetime,” in which he takes on the role of “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen. He has become one of those chameleon actors who can seemingly do it all, and it will be really interesting to see him take on such a recognizable and notorious figure as this. The trailer gave us a snippet of what to expect, and just hearing him say “I’m Chris Hansen, with Dateline NBC” was enough to get me totally on board. Powerhouse performer Merritt Wever is also in the cast, and I can’t wait to see what she does.

–Ema Sasic

The Spiral (L’estranea), dir. Paolo Strippoli
There are sinister vibes brewing with “The Spiral,” which make me eager to see it. Horror director Paolo Strippoli sets the film in the middle of a family’s life changing, all thanks to mother Anna revealing a major secret to her daughter. What that secret is, and what follows, is a mystery, but Strippoli clued us in with his director’s statement that this is a story about control, desperation, and the possibilities that come with a choice. It all sounds enticing and has the potential to be full-blown chaos, which is always a blast to see on the big screen.

–Ema Sasic

Wild Horse Nine, dir. Martin McDonagh

At this point, Martin McDonagh as become one of the most notable directors working today. Despite a limited amount of features to his name, nearly all of them attract critical and commercial acclaim. Every new endeavor from him is one that must be anticipated, and “Wild Horse Nine” is no exception. The film has been building buzz for months at this point, and it’s hard to argue against the pedigree. McDonagh once again finds himself in the world of dubious morals, which is a commentary he is quite adept at exploring in compelling ways. A fantastic ensemble that includes exceptional actors like John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey make this perhaps the highest profile entry in the entire festival. Time will tell if this is the surefire player in the upcoming awards season many believe it to be, and it’s exciting that the first unveiling is almost upon us.

–Josh Parham

What do you think of our list? Which films are you most excited to see from the Venice International Film Festival? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account, and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.

The post Our Most Anticipated Films For The 2026 Venice Film Festival appeared first on Next Best Picture.

21. “Nobody Wants This” Season 2
The first season of “Nobody Wants This” was relentlessly charming, if a bit simplistic. Watching Kristen Bell and Adam Brody fall in love and navigate the difficulties of a new relationship in the modern day was a delight primarily because of their chemistry. The show felt like a breath of fresh air in a sea of tropey, overly complicated romantic comedies. It’s a shame, then, that season 2 is as clichéd and exhausting as it is. Our protagonists’ relationship regresses this season, and character arcs are recycled from the previous installment. And for all of the contrived drama that arises this season, the characters somehow end up in the same place as they did in the first season’s finale. Indeed, season two of “Nobody Wants This” lives up to its title.

20. “Paradise” Season 2
“Paradise” is a show that succeeds largely because of its excellent premise and ensemble of talented actors. The writing leaves much to be desired, and the second season suffers severely from plotting issues. Nearly every other episode is a kind of a standalone episode, and as a result, the narrative is disjointed. This problem is worsened by the baffling twist the season builds up to, as it needed a far more structured season to feel satisfying. Yet the season is still fairly enjoyable because of the strong performers at its center. Sterling K. Brown leads the show with his magnetism, Julianne Nicholson is a compelling antagonist, James Marsden charmingly haunts the narrative, and Shailene Woodley steals the entire season with her tender, brief performance.

19. “The Bear” Season 4
The fourth season of “The Bear” does not take quite as many missteps as its predecessor and has its fair share of standout episodes. Nonetheless, the pacing remains a major issue this season; the sense of urgency that propelled the first two seasons forward is all but gone. The ensemble is stellar when properly utilized, but characters like Tina are still bafflingly sidelined for the season’s entirety.

18. “Only Murders in the Building” Season 5

The fifth season of “Only Murders in the Building” is by far at its best when it focuses on the mysterious billionaires played by Renée Zellweger, Christoph Waltz, and Logan Lerman. Otherwise, the show’s formula remains tried and true, even if it culminates in a conclusion that leaves little impact. The story is certainly enjoyable in the moment, but the lasting impression is muted.

17. “The Pitt” Season 2
“The Pitt” came out of nowhere last year and captured audiences’ hearts with its lovable ensemble of characters and intense storytelling. Season 1 was a jolt of lightning in the television industry, harkening back to a more traditional type of TV. Season 2 was where the cracks in the formula began to show. The second season has several excellent episodes, especially when characters like Dr. Mohan, Dr. Santos, and Dr. Langdon get the time they need to develop their compelling arcs. But the final stretch of the season suffers from its constrained focus on Dr. Robby and Nurse Dana; Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa are talented actors, but their frequent argument scenes became a touch repetitive. The core appeal of “The Pitt” season 1 was how well it balanced the stories of its litany of complex characters, so season 2 suffers significantly for sidelining many of them and not granting them satisfying arcs. Many individual episodes are strong, but this batch of episodes overall does not entirely coalesce as a season of television.

16. “Your Friends & Neighbors” Season 2
The single most shocking series nominee of the decade was “Your Friends & Neighbors” season 2, which received only one Emmy nomination: Outstanding Drama Series. But circumstances of its nomination aside, season 2 is quite solid! As an exploration of what middle-aged malaise looks like for men and women, it is a pretty good one. Jon Hamm is as excellent as ever, but it’s the addition of James Marsden this season that elevates it above its predecessor. The pacing drags somewhat, especially since these episodes did not need to be 60 minutes long, but I could listen to Hamm monologue about expensive products all day.

15. “All Her Fault”

From its over-the-top score to its wild twists to its emotional performances, “All Her Fault” is melodramatic art. Sarah Snook anchors this tense miniseries with quivering lips and tears welling in her eyes, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable show from top to bottom. There are plenty of plot contrivances and suspensions of disbelief, but “All Her Fault” is under no illusion about what kind of show it is. For your weekly dose of rich families having the worst time of their lives, it is more than sufficient.

14. “Beef” Season 2
I do wonder if “Beef” season 1’s immense popularity set this season up for failure, as it set an impossibly high bar for season 2 to clear. “Beef” season 2 isn’t quite as tightly paced or emotionally resonant as its first season, nor is the central beef as gripping, but it still has a lot to offer. The quintet of performances from Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Cailee Spaeny, Charles Melton, and Youn Yuh-jung are all excellent, as they play off of one another wonderfully. The direction remains inspired, especially in the hospital-set “Oh the Comfort, the Inexpressible Comfort.” The plotting is just a bit too loose to come together meaningfully in its finale.

13. “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette”
If there is any reason to watch “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” it is for Sarah Pidgeon’s starmaking turn as Carolyn Bessette. She elevates a classy if simple miniseries into a must-watch show solely because of the strength of her performance. The entire cast turns in solid work here, with Grace Gummer and Constance Zimmer being the other two highlights. The writing may be a bit heavy-handed at times. Still, it is a breezy watch at its best, when it focuses on the push-and-pull of our main duo’s dynamic, and at its worst, when it leans too heavily on its melodramatic tendencies.

12. “The Diplomat” Season 3

After the jaw-dropping cliffhanger of “The Diplomat” season 2’s finale, season 3 picks up with the same snappy pace that viewers fell in love with. Kate and Hal Wyler’s chaotic marriage is impossible to look away from, and it’s even juicier because of the geopolitical implications of their fallout. It’s a strong season of television, even if it is a slight step down from season 2 and its constant curveballs.

11. “The Beast in Me”
Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys take the fairly boilerplate premise of “writer interrogates potential murderer for a novel” and make it one of the year’s most exciting miniseries through the sheer magnitude of their performances. Their chemistry is uncomfortably engrossing, and Rhys in particular is at the top of his game. Is “The Beast in Me” predictable? Sure. Does that fact make it any less bingeworthy? No, it does not.

10. “Abbott Elementary” Season 5

Five seasons in, “Abbott Elementary” is still at the top of its game. Its humor has a remarkably high batting average considering how many jokes are packed into every episode. Some sitcoms would rest on their laurels after this many beloved seasons of television, but this one experiments with setting changes, mini-arcs, and a shocking character development this season. Most sitcoms wouldn’t take risks this far into their run, but Quinta Brunson and the rest of the show’s writers prove “Abbott Elementary” is not most sitcoms.

9. “Hacks” Season 5
The run of episodes between “Montecito” and “Hacks” is one of the strongest in the show’s history. If I were solely judging this season on its stellar back half, it would be even higher, as “Hacks” earnestly closes out the arcs for these characters without missing out on a single laugh along the way. However, the first half of the season is a bit too hit-or-miss to justify putting it above some of the other shows on this list. The writing for a couple of episodes can be surprisingly forced at times: the message is always clear, but the execution is occasionally muddied. Yet there is no such thing as a bad “Hacks” episode when Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs, and Meg Stalter are giving such tremendous performances. “Hacks” season five is a beautiful swan song of one of the decade’s best comedies, even if it has a few rough spots in its beginning.

8. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Season 1
This half-hour comedy spinoff of “Game of Thrones” has no right to work as well as it does. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” immediately stands out from other entries in the Westeros universe by choosing to focus on a knight devoted to serving royals rather than the royals so embroiled in politics that they pay their servants no mind. Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell are endlessly winning here, and as more layers of their characters are revealed, their central dynamic becomes more tender. What starts as one of the year’s most charming shows evolves into one of the most surprisingly poignant.

7. “Widow’s Bay” Season 1 
The biggest surprise of the year has to be “Widow’s Bay,” a show whose success was so unprecedented by Apple TV that its last three episodes aired outside of Emmy eligibility. But once you start the show, the real mystery is how it didn’t catch on sooner: it blends horror, sitcom, and drama so intricately that it is hard to find someone you wouldn’t be able to recommend it to. Matthew Rhys and Kate O’Flynn deliver two of the year’s best comedic performances as they master this show’s magical tonal balance. “Widow’s Bay” is so singular that it scratches an itch you didn’t even know you had.

6. “The Gilded Age” Season 3
“The Gilded Age” season 3 is by far the best installment of this show to date. The gowns are bigger, the sets are more elaborate, and the drama is more electrifying than ever. The sheer technical craft of the show is almost as mesmerizing as the performances from so many of Broadway’s best thespians. “The Gilded Age” is so successful because audiences have fallen in love with its wide array of characters, and this season does an exquisite job of giving each character a memorable storyline. While the stakes themselves might be low, season 3 makes sure we never forget how high the emotional stakes are for these status-obsessed characters.

5. “Slow Horses” Season 5
The most consistent show on television has to be “Slow Horses,” and that’s not only because of its yearly releases. You can count on a season of this show to be filled with tension, riddled with twists and turns, and jam-packed with quips from the wonderfully pathetic team of rejects at Slough House. Season 5 thrives on its political edge; this is the show at its angriest, and the wry tone suits it well. Watching a finale of this show tie every plot point together is an unparalleled joy. The formula of this show works precisely because unpredictability and sharpness are central to it. The only thing you can expect from a season of this show is that it will be excellent, and season 5 is no exception.

4. “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” Season 1
Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, and especially Michelle Pfeiffer deliver three of the year’s best performances in “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” a show that explores the world of OnlyFans through the lens of a struggling new mother. The family dynamic between the three aforementioned characters both propels this dramedy forward and guts you in the most unexpected of places. Few shows this year have as much heart and wit as this one, as “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” refuses to shy away from the darker aspects of these entertainers’ lives. It is easily one of the best new shows of 2026.

3. “Shrinking” Season 3
It’s hard to believe that there will be a fourth season of “Shrinking,” as “Shrinking” season 3 is a near-perfect final act for this story. Bill Lawrence’s shows have a way of mixing warm humor with narratives that make your soul ache, and the third season of this show goes to quite dark places. Watching these characters we’ve fallen in love with finally reach a place where they are ready to heal truly has been one of the year’s biggest delights. If you manage to go through “And That’s Our Time” without a single teary eye, I envy your emotional strength. “Shrinking” makes sincerity chic, and it is my favorite comedy of these Emmy-nominated series by a hair.

2. “Pluribus” Season 1
“Pluribus” season 1 is up there with “Severance” season 1 as one of the most confident debut seasons of television in recent memory. This phenomenal sci-fi chooses to be a deliberately paced character study, so it is a blessing that a protagonist as captivating as Carol Sturka is the woman being studied. It is also a blessing that Rhea Seehorn is the woman portraying Carol, as she gives the best TV performance of the past few years in “Pluribus.” Several episodes hinge entirely on her acting, and they’re all the better for it. This show has immense faith in its audience — perhaps too much, considering the inane criticisms it has received — and it is a miracle to watch this spellbinding narrative unfold. It is the best-directed show of the cycle, but with talents like Vince Gilligan and Gordon Smith at the helm, is this any surprise?

1. “DTF St. Louis”
I have not been able to stop thinking about “DTF St. Louis” since watching it. At once a murder mystery, a love triangle, and a rumination on identity, Steven Conrad’s miniseries wears seemingly endless hats. The tone strikes this miraculous balance between quirkiness and tenderness, which makes the devastating finale all the more tear-inducing. Jason Bateman’s Clark broke my heart with his cluelessness about his own desires, David Harbour’s Floyd broke my heart with his endless grace for others and endless criticism for himself, and Linda Cardellini’s Carol broke my heart with her façade of strength. It is far from a perfect show — the investigation aspects of the series are less engaging than the flashbacks that focus on the main trio’s inner lives — but it is the show from this cycle that has stuck with me the most.

What do you think of our list? What’s your favorite of this year’s Emmy-nominated series? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account.

The post Every Series Nominee At The 2026 Emmys Ranked appeared first on Next Best Picture.

Today, the 2026 TCA Awards were announced, and there is no such slam dunk takeaway. However, there is nonetheless quite a bit to draw from these winners, even if some of the signals are a lack of passion rather than a presence of it.

“Heated Rivalry” Wins Program Of The Year

“Heated Rivalry” winning Program of the Year is quite the get for a series that wasn’t even eligible at the Primetime Emmys. Curiously, this was the only award it was able to snag, losing Outstanding Achievement in Drama to “The Pitt,” Individual Achievement in Drama to Rhea Seehorn’s masterclass in “Pluribus,” and Outstanding New Program to “Widow’s Bay.” Still, it must be said that “Heated Rivalry” is one of the biggest success stories of the cycle. A low-budget queer Canadian series having the viewership and cultural relevance it did is sincerely impressive, so even if it couldn’t win any other categories, it makes perfect sense that “Heated Rivalry” was deemed Program of the Year for its achievements. It does make the case for “Widow’s Bay” pulling off the upset over “Hacks” a bit weaker, as many suspected it would follow a similar trajectory to “The Pitt” at the TCAs and then at the Emmys, but devoid of context, this Program of the Year win is fairly understandable.

“Widow’s Bay” Wins Three TCAs, Including Outstanding Achievement In Comedy

That being said, I remain convinced that “Widow’s Bay” will ultimately win Comedy Series after its performance today. While “Hacks” has blanked at the TCAs before — seasons 2 and 4 were goose-egged — critics aligning themselves with “Widow’s Bay” to this degree does not bode well for this show. The horror-comedy won Outstanding Achievement in Comedy over “Hacks,” Outstanding New Program over Program of the Year winner “Heated Rivalry” and critics’ darling “Pluribus,” and most shockingly, Individual Achievement in Comedy for its supporting standout Kate O’Flynn. Matthew Rhys and Kate O’Flynn were both nominated in this category, and many expected the pair to split votes. If anything, Rhys should have had the advantage here as the reliable lead actor of the series. O’Flynn’s win here as a supporting performance shows that critics agreed with the fans’ consensus: the show’s best character is Patricia. If the show’s intense audience passion has spread to critics, who’s to say it hasn’t spread to the industry, too?

“Death by Lightning” Wins Outstanding Achievement In Movies, Miniseries, Or Specials Despite Emmys Snub

If the Comedy Series race is one with an abundance of passion, the Limited Series race feels like quite the opposite. It is shameful that the Emmys have not yet reversed their decision to subjugate half of the Miniseries awards to the Creative Arts Emmys. Still, it was unfortunately made with the perception that audiences do not care about the shows nominated in Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. Neither “DTF St. Louis” nor “Beef” were able to beat out the critically acclaimed “Death by Lightning” here. While the Netflix series is phenomenal, it is telling that neither presumed frontrunner in the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series race had the passion with critics to eke out a win here. This is especially a blow for “DTF St. Louis,” which seemed like the frontrunner here after David Harbour’s nomination in Individual Achievement in Drama. If this truly is a passionless race, I suspect “Beef,” with its combination of pedigree, viewership, and critical acclaim, may just take it home.

Rhea Seehorn Wins Her Second TCA Award For “Pluribus”

After winning Individual Achievement in Drama for the final season of “Better Call Saul,” Rhea Seehorn has picked up TCA #2 for her performance in “Pluribus. Notably, her main competitor for the Emmy, Keri Russell in “The Diplomat,” was not nominated here. Additionally, critics on Seehorn’s side felt it was a given after the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe wins. Her challenge will be winning over the industry voters, as her only loss thus far was at the Actor Awards. Nevertheless, any win for Seehorn boosts her argument for the Emmy.

“The Pitt” Repeats Its Outstanding Achievement In Drama Win

While Comedy Series and Limited Series are almost frustratingly confusing, Drama Series is fairly obvious. Once again, “The Pitt” wins Outstanding Achievement in a Drama Series. It will likely repeat its sweep of the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice, and the guilds. If any other show had a path to win, it would have started here. Had something like “Pluribus” won this category, it might have had a fighting chance, as you could make the argument that the second season of “The Pitt” was not as beloved as the first. No such case can be made.

Who/what upsets are you hoping and/or predicting will happen at this year’s Emmy Awards? Please let us know in the comments section below or over on our X account and check out our latest Emmy winner predictions here.

The post What The 2026 TCA Award Winners Tell Us About This Year’s Emmy Races appeared first on Next Best Picture.

“How the hell did THAT happen?”

In an era when any number of award precursors seem to predetermine who the Emmy winners will be, true upsets are increasingly rare. But they do happen (remember Jeff Hiller just last year?). And when they do, there’s the joy of seeing the shocked expression of the newly-crowned winner as they make their way to the stage to deliver a speech they never thought they’d get the chance to give. It’s the kind of moment that we, the viewers, live for while watching award shows, a moment that sends a thrill down our spine and makes for a memorable awards season.

At first glance, there may appear to be little room for upsets this year, as “The Pitt” and “Hacks” are each expected to dominate their respective categories. (Limited Series categories are more of a toss-up, with “Beef” and “DTF St. Louis” going head-to-head.) Still, upon closer inspection, a few categories either have vulnerable front-runners or the potential for a split vote that could allow a surprise winner. I’ve isolated four categories where this possibility may actually happen and centered on one nominee who – either through Emmy history or strength of performance – could be the one to give us that jaw-dropping surprise upset, adding an element of anticipation to the proceedings.

However, before we get to it, let’s define how we see a true upset. For example, in the Outstanding Drama Supporting Actor category, if Tom Pelphrey (“Task“) beats the favored Patrick Ball (“The Pitt“), that’s not a genuine upset; it’s just the other front-runner winning. For it to truly be an upset, a nominee should be ranked no higher than third in our Next Best Picture rankings and preferably even lower than that.

STEPHEN ROOT – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)It seems like actor Stephen Root has been around forever. After a film and television career spanning nearly four decades, the erstwhile character actor has landed an absolute gem of a role, though you’d probably never think that from the way he was introduced. When we first meet Root’s Wyck Crawford in “Widow’s Bay’s” pilot, he is obsessively ranting about the curse that has plagued the island for centuries. It’s a quirky introduction that leads the audience to dismiss him as merely a colorful side character: the town drunk and resident crank. But as creator Katie Dippold’s storyline probes further, Wyck’s fears begin to become realized, and he moves to the center of the narrative. That’s when Root really starts to cook, slowly revealing just how a childhood death for which he still feels guilt gave him first-hand knowledge of the curse and fueled his determination to protect the town from another tragic recurrence. Root brilliantly delivers in that Episode 7 monologue, which will likely move any heart (and provide him with a strong Emmy clip). Add to that the fact that Root has probably worked with half the members of the Actors Branch over his career, and you’ve got a potential dark horse from the hottest new show in this year’s race.

JASON BATEMAN – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie, “Black Rabbit” (Netflix)Any way you look at it, Jason Bateman has become an Emmy powerhouse. Since 2005, he has earned 18 nominations in four fields: acting, writing, producing, and directing, winning in 2019 for his direction of the “Ozark” season opener. This year alone, he has been nominated for four Emmys — two for his acting in a pair of hot limited series: “Black Rabbit” and “DTF St. Louis,” as well as directing the former series and producing the latter. While each of his nominations is well-earned, it’s his performance in “Black Rabbit” that voters may find to be the most intriguing, as it turns the Bateman public persona completely on its head. In real life, Bateman is considered a dryly funny everyman who’s always in control, but in “Black Rabbit,” he’s a hot mess. His Vince Friedken, once the respected co-founder of the Black Rabbit restaurant, is now a chaos magnet, drowning in a massive gambling debt, who has returned to his younger brother (Jude Law) for help but only manages to unravel both of their lives and futures. Though “Black Rabbit” surprisingly missed a Limited Series nomination (suggesting weakness), Bateman’s reviews were strong, with many critics citing his against-type transformation from likable everyman to dangerous dirtbag the best reason to watch the series. He’s facing tough competition, though, from the category’s front-runners, Oscar Isaac and Matthew Rhys. But if that race is as split as many pundits believe it will be, there may be room for the much-liked Bateman to find a path up the center for the win.

SALLY FIELD – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” (Netflix)Looking over the various Emmy prediction websites (including NBP’s own), I noticed that in the race for Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie, Sally Field is ranked at or near the bottom in nearly every one. I was surprised, but I understand. After all, she’s the only nominee from a TV movie and has only two hours to build and realize a character, whereas her rivals have upwards of nine entire episodes to do so. And all of her rivals are in series competing in that hot Limited Series race. But Field has several key advantages that are perhaps being overlooked. For one thing, she’s the star of the film that’s the odds-on favorite to win the Emmy, so her performance has been widely seen. All of her competitors are also at least a generation or two younger than she and may be fighting over the same demographic of Emmy voters, while Field has the older-voters lane all to herself in a five-person race. Finally — and this is no small thing — Sally Field is television royalty. After becoming a comedic star on “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun,” she displayed her dramatic chops in 1977’s “Sybil,” which brought Field her first of three Emmys (She went on, of course, to win two Academy Awards for her dramatic film work). “Remarkably Bright Creatures” marks her first Emmy Award contender in the last 15 years, and at age 79, there may not be too many more chances to reward her. The opportunity to do that one last time might just be irresistible to Emmy voters this year.

Who/what upsets are you hoping and/or predicting will happen at this year’s Emmy Awards? Please let us know in the comments section below or over on our X account and check out our latest Emmy winner predictions here.

The post Potential Upsets To Keep An Eye On For The 2026 Emmy Awards appeared first on Next Best Picture.

What’s equally evident, however, is that there are several key races whose outcomes aren’t as clear. Many high-profile categories come down to a head-to-head match between the top few contenders in several series and acting categories. These are the races that give Emmy prognosticators heartburn and Emmy viewers heart palpitations as the envelope containing the winner’s name is being opened.

Emmy fans will continue to debate who will win all the way to the fall, but here’s your chance to jump ahead of the pack. I’ve selected these five hotly contested categories to put on your Emmy radar, along with a few comments on where their award strengths (or weaknesses) may lie.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES – Oscar Isaac (“Beef”) vs. Matthew Rhys (“The Beast In Me”)Though early frontrunners have already begun to emerge in the lead acting categories in both Comedy and Drama Series arenas, the Limited Series acting races are another matter entirely. While Sarah Snook (“All Her Fault”) is facing four formidable challengers in the Lead Drama Actress race, the Lead Actor contest is quickly turning into a two-man contest with an outcome that’s far from certain. After receiving glowing reviews for his portrayal of the general manager of a country club whose life is falling apart in the second iteration “Beef,” Oscar Isaac quickly appeared to be the man to beat for this, with his second Emmy nomination. But in the past month, Matthew Rhys, who has been riding the crest of acclaim for his comedy series “Widow’s Bay,” has found renewed interest in his dramatic performance as a sociopath in “The Beast in Me,” which premiered way back in November. The fact that, with this nomination, Rhys becomes the first actor since John Goodman in 1995 to score two Lead Actor nominations in a single Emmy year has put an additional spotlight on the Welsh actor and turned this race into a nail-biter. 

EMMY OUTLOOK: The impressive haul of nominations for “Beef” — 16 in all, suggesting widespread support with above- and below-the-line voters will likely give Isaac the edge for now. But Rhys is the wild card in the race, and the fact that he is considered by many the early front-runner in the Comedy Lead Actor race will likely be a factor here. Will voters who cast their ballots for him in Comedy really feel the need to vote for him again here? That’s the great unknown that will keep this race tantalizing until September.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES – Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) vs. Kate O’Flynn (“Widow’s Bay”) vs. Michelle Pfeiffer (“Margo’s Got Money Troubles”)Last year, on her fourth try, Hannah Einbinder finally won her elusive Emmy for her performance as comedy writer Ava Daniels in “Hacks.” With two strong episodes this season — “Montecito,” in which Ava and Deborah (Jean Smart) pose as a lesbian couple in order to snag a prized outfit, and the moving series finale — Einbinder is well-positioned to defend her crown. But her promising path to a second win may be thwarted by the rapid rise of “Widow’s Bay” and its co-star Kate O’Flynn. The British stage actress proved to be a scene-stealer and the moral compass for the horror comedy, where her role became increasingly crucial as the season progressed. Standing in the wings should the front-runners split the vote, though, is Michelle Pfeiffer, who received strong critical acclaim for her comedy series debut as dysfunctional mama-bear Shyanne Millet in “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” Seeing a bona fide movie star excelling in a comedy role far from her dramatic image could prove irresistible to Emmy voters as well.

EMMY OUTLOOK: As much of a strong contender as each woman may be, each has a possible strike against her. Emmy voters, for example, might feel that with her win last year, Einbinder has now been duly rewarded, so their interest may wander to someone new. To that end, we still don’t know how deep the love for “Widow’s Bay” might extend: can it reach the show’s supporting actors outside of Matthew Rhys? O’Flynn’s path is further complicated by the presence of co-star and fellow nominee Dale Dickey, who may prove to be a sentimental favorite and split the “Widow’s Bay” vote. Pfeiffer, who was the belle of the ball when “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” premiered in April, now finds herself supplanted by a new fan favorite from a competing Apple TV series. She still has a path to win, but it’s getting very narrow.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES – Patrick Ball (“The Pitt”) vs Tom Pelphrey (“Task”) vs Shawn Hatosy (“The Pitt”)It is a truism that, even when Emmy voters like a freshman show, it may take a second successful season to recognize the entirety of its cast. Last year, for example, “The Pitt” earned only three acting nominations in its rookie season — Noah Wyle in Lead, Katherine LaNasa in Supporting and Shawn Hatosy in Guest. All won. For Season 2, voters have rectified that, bestowing the show’s cast with 13 acting nods, including three in the Supporting Actor/Drama Series category. Hatosy returns (this time bumped up to Supporting from Guest), while Patrick Ball as the back-from-rehab Dr. Frank Langdon and Welsh actor Gerran Howell as all-American Dr. Dennis Whitaker earned their first nominations. All will face a substantial challenge from past nominee Tom Pelphrey, whose performance as the leader of an armed heist crew in “Task” garnered stellar critical reviews.  An added factor: both Ball and Pelphrey earned 2026 Critics’ Choice nominations as the year’s Best Supporting Actor.

EMMY OUTLOOK: As good as Howell is in “The Pitt,” Ball and Pelphrey’s Critics’ Choice nominations, plus Hatosy’s Emmy win last year, make this essentially a three-man race. On paper, it would look like Pelphrey has the advantage, given a possible vote split among “The Pitt” actors. And it may very well turn out that way, given that Pelphrey is essentially a co-lead in “Task” and has nearly the same amount of screen time as lead Mark Ruffalo for six of the seven episodes. Yet, “Task” failed to garner an expected nomination in Drama Series, suggesting possible weakness. For that reason, I suspect that Ball stands slightly ahead of the pack, after his season-long attempt to get back in the good graces of Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby became the heartbreaking source of much of the drama in Season 2. But don’t count Hatosy out just yet — Emmy voters love repeat winners. This one could go any which way, but I’m saying Ball for now.

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES – Leslie Bibb (“Hacks”) vs. Kaitlin Olson (“Hacks”) vs. Cherry Jones (“Hacks”)Three-actor showdowns appear to be quite the Emmy thing this year, but it’s rare when all three emerge from the same series. That prospect was almost inevitable, however, with five of the seven nominees in this year’s Guest Actress/Comedy category all coming from “Hacks.” Laurie Metcalf, who won this category for “Hacks” in 2022, and first-time nominee Lauren Weedman both had memorable moments this season. Still, their screen time was much more limited than the category’s front-runners. Cherry Jones and Leslie Bibb play a queer couple in the acclaimed “Montecito” episode, but each plays a very different type: Jones, the sage veteran of the relationship, and Bibb, the bubbly instigator. And Kaitlin Olson returns to the role of Deborah’s long-suffering daughter DJ, who finally resolves her series-long conflict with mom while competing on “The Amazing Race.”

EMMY OUTLOOK: I haven’t forgotten the other two formidable nominees in the category: Betty Gilpin portrays the doyenne of the family that founded the town, who plots the death of her evil husband in the show with the hottest hand, “Widow’s Bay.” And Jamie Lee Curtis, who won this award in 2024 for her performance in the legendary “Fishes” episode of “The Bear,” is back, and as they always warn in awards predicting: once a winner, always a threat. Not to mention the prospect of a five-way “Hacks” split being a very real possibility. But I think it comes down to Jones, Bibb, or Olson for the win, and I’m putting my money on Olson on her fourth nomination as DJ to get the Emmy for her funny and moving work over the series’ five seasons.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES – Vince Gilligan (“Pluribus” – “We Is Us”) vs. Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman & R. Scott Gemmill (“The Pitt” – “1:00 PM”) They are two of the most memorable dramatic episodes of the season, and they couldn’t be more different in tone. The first, “1:00 PM,” Episode 7 of the second season of “The Pitt,” is quiet and focused in its depiction of a forensic medical exam of a young rape victim (Tina Ivlev). Charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa), as the only certified examiner on the shift, takes the victim through the exam step-by-step, acknowledging the victim’s trauma while emphasizing the total control the patient has in submitting to it. If “1:00 PM” is microscopic in its finely rendered detail, “We Is Us,” the pilot of “Pluribus,” is vast in its scope, centering on how a virus from space has taken away individual agency from all but 13 people on Earth. One of them is curmudgeon Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), who, suddenly feeling alone and terrified, must face a world filled with smiling, compliant people determined to take Carol’s agency from her. It seems only appropriate that these two very different but unforgettable scripts be this category’s front-runners for the Emmy.

EMMY OUTLOOK: It’s well known in the industry that, for all his success with “The X-Files,” “Breaking Bad,” and “Better Call Saul,” Vince Gilligan has never won an Emmy for either his writing or directing. That should change at least on the directing side this year for his work on the “Pluribus” pilot, where he is a strong favorite. His quest for that elusive writing Emmy, though, is running up against the emotional power of Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman & R. Scott Gemmill’s potent script for “The Pitt.” Adding to the complication are the category’s other nominees, which include former Emmy winners Will Smith (“Slow Horses“) and Brad Ingelsby (“Task“), who can’t be easily dismissed. I’m picking Gilligan for now — the imaginative vision of the “Pluribus” pilot is difficult to ignore — but this one could just as easily flip.

We’re still less than two months away from the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, which means there’s plenty of time for these races to shift. What do you think are the toughest races to call at the moment? Please let us know in the comments below or over on our X account and check out the NBP team’s up-to-the-moment Emmy predictions here.

The post The Top 5 Toughest 2026 Emmy Races To Call appeared first on Next Best Picture.

His films have voyaged from the further corners of our minds to the reaches of space, with each project igniting surprise as much as anticipation. People doubted “Dunkirk” could be a straightforward World War II movie just as they later were puzzled by the announcement of “Oppenheimer,” only for the latter to finally win him Best Director and Best Picture at the Oscars. As is often said, he’s the rare director who has become a genre unto himself, bringing his favorite themes (time, guilt, and control) and sense of visual style (impressionistic editing, booming scores, and an agile, on-the-move camera) along with him.

With his latest, “The Odyssey,” Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s poem, he’s done it again, making it the perfect time to re-rank his movies and see how they stack up. Spoiler: I love all these movies.

13. “Insomnia” (2002)
The exact kind of moody neo-noir that would get stuck as a streaming miniseries if it were made today, Nolan’s studio debut “Insomnia” saw him working with movie stars on a lavish production for the first time. A remake of the eerie 1997 Swedish film that launched the Scandinavian crime wave, there are already signs of Nolan’s favorite tendencies: impressionistic editing, a steely protagonist haunted by guilt, and another recreation of the coffee scene from Michael Mann’s “Heat.” It’s less of a statement than his later work, and it’s clear Nolan is trying to blend his idiosyncratic style with a Hollywood approach, but it still plays as a gripping crime thriller that rarely gets made anymore.

12. “Following” (1998)It’s always thrilling to watch a filmmaker’s early work and see them so fully formed, their voice already as clear. There’s Wong Kar-wai’s “As Tears Go By,” Wes Anderson’s “Bottle Rocket,” and Christopher Nolan’s “Following.” It’s not just the non-linear structure that’s assembled like a noir jigsaw puzzle, nor the brooding protagonist, but how he assembles his films in montages of fragments and texture. He returns to objects, faces, and locations in repeating loops that form new associations, slowly building toward a twist that speaks to themes he’ll revisit again and again.

11. “The Prestige” (2006)
A movie as a magic trick, “The Prestige” is the Nolan that has gone from highest to lowest in my ranking over the years. That’s largely due to a trapdoor plot that hinges on testing your suspension of disbelief. No, I don’t mean the “are you watching closely?” twist involving (spoilers!) science fiction, but the smaller, more human touches, like the questionable mechanics of certain relationships, or the melodrama of each rival magician always being chosen in a crowd only to hurt the other. But even those issues can’t stop it from being a master class in narrative structure, and the final speech about magic is as personal a thesis on the nature of Nolan’s art as anything he’s done.

10. “Batman Begins” (2005)Still one of the very best superhero origin stories, the first 45 minutes of “Batman Begins,” which intercuts Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) disenfranchised abroad with the death of his parents and college years, is among the best in any Nolan film – global and swashbuckling but still anchored in real emotion and gravitas. Once he returns to a grimy, crime-ridden Gotham, the film becomes a little more formulaic, but only just; Nolan’s choice to have Bruce fight a broken city by creating a bat-shaped myth to inspire change is a savvy one, turning his fears against those who prey on the fearful.

9. “Memento” (2000)Adapted from a story idea from his brother Jonathan Nolan (who would then go on to be a frequent collaborator) about a quasi-amnesiac played by Guy Pearce, “Memento” utterly transcends what could have felt like a gimmick: it’s told backward. It’s one of the best films to ever grapple with the slipperiness of memory, a neo-noir about hunting for a killer where the facts, the case, and the protagonist are all layers of unreliable, turning the world of “Memento” into a mind palace that questions what “you” are when memory is so plastic. Even after seeing it half a dozen times, I still can’t place exactly what scene happens where, jumbling your memory along the way.

8. “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012)The conclusion to Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” Trilogy gets a bad rap these days, but “The Dark Knight Rises” is the director at his most recklessly maximalist, making his Batman climax a riveting oddity that exists somewhere between Charles Dickens, Fritz Lang, and David Lean. Tom Hardy’s fun-to-do Bane voice is the perfect blend of silly and theatrically menacing, while the film’s power comes from showing a society on the brink of collapse, where a demagogue weaponizes a populace’s urgent social struggles against themselves. It may be his most misunderstood movie.

7. “The Odyssey” (2026)As dreamily elusive as it is powerful, “The Odyssey” finds Nolan cashing his blank check after “Oppenheimer” to fully embrace an epic fantasy on a grand scale Hollywood hasn’t seen in years. It’s also a film of enormous risk. There are massive sets, armies of extras, and practical effects unlike any put on film, but Nolan boldly renders Odysseus’ (Matt Damon) saga into lotus-drugged flashbacks of horror and consequence, expanding on themes not just in “Oppenheimer” but spanning his career. “The Odyssey” sometimes lurches in the stormy seas of adaptation, but a stunning third act brings it home. The cyclops sequence is as terrifying a scene as he’s ever constructed.

6. “Tenet” (2020)Oppressive, confusing, and completely awesome, “Tenet” was exactly the wrong movie to reopen theaters in 2020 for exactly the same reason it’s thrilling to revisit now; repeat viewings let you dive further into its mazed, migraine plotting, deepening the emotion of the bromance (or love story?) between Neil (Robert Pattinson) and The Protagonist (John David Washington) with each new loop. The action is unlike anything you’ve ever seen, the bass-dropping score gets you moving in your seat, and the surreal spy movie visuals are like an inverted car crash between Hideo Kojima and John le Carré. It’s the most “dudes rock” movie of his career.

5. “Interstellar” (2014)
In retrospect, hyping up “Interstellar” as Nolan’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” was a mistake; it was always a film more about the heart than the head. No movie in Nolan’s filmography has undergone such a massive reappraisal since release, ascending from “good but flawed” to widely seen as a masterpiece. The space epic broke the (always incorrect) label that Nolan’s work is cold and clinical, staging a sweeping yet intimate family melodrama across the stars. It’s his most richly emotional film, tangling with the human potential to reach for the impossible in opposition to the biological imperative to survive. There’s poetry at work in “Interstellar” that transcends its flaws, and I’ll never be able to watch it without crying.

4. “The Dark Knight” (2008)As towering an achievement as the skyscrapers in Chicago’s Gotham City are tall, ”The Dark Knight” is one of the greatest action blockbusters of all time. Sometimes criticized as a grimly realistic “literal” take on the caped crusader, Nolan’s Batman exists in a world closer to Sean Connery’s James Bond than our own, full of impossible escapes and set pieces that gladly flaunt their defiance of physics. It’s one reason why “The Dark Knight” so effectively doubles as one of the great pop art mediations on post-9/11 America, working out fears around terrorism, surveillance, and heroes renegotiating their ethical lines in a safe, wildly entertaining way. Powering it all is Heath Ledger’s Joker – chaos personified, pushing the heroes and the audience to their limit.

3. “Oppenheimer” (2023)“Oppenheimer” is a postmodern monument to Nolan’s hold over the popular culture. Only he could have turned a pointillist epic of fragmented time, memory, and guilt into a ripping blockbuster with security clearance hearings instead of shootouts or truck chases. “Oppenheimer” is haunting and bleak but also a pure entertainment, full of sharp, ear-worm dialogue and satisfying comeuppances. Its cathartic resonance extends beyond not just the creation of the atom bomb but all universal fears around technology today, from A.I. to microplastics, to the industry-caused climate change, showing that man’s very desire to invent, discover, and create are the very same traits that will doom us all.

2. “Inception” (2010)The phenomenon of the “art house blockbuster” may well have begun with “Inception,” a dream heist on five levels of the mind that lets a runaway train barrel down streets of the subconscious. It still plays as an ingenious caper, but the soul of “Inception” is closer to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” two films about psychologically troubled men stuck in self-delusions of irreconcilable yearning. Even during the torrents of exposition, the language always hints at the fraught inner life of its protagonist, Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a narrator so unreliable that by the film’s end, each of its realities has been cast in doubt.

1. “Dunkirk” (2017)Despite the steady rumble of explosions, “Dunkirk” is the closest thing Nolan has ever made to a silent film – a gorgeously shot and perfectly controlled exercise in escalating suspense, with Nolan forcing us into the boots of men at sea, air, and land. With barely a line of dialogue, this is Nolan reduced to his purest essence, somehow combining aspects of nearly all his films into one: it’s as mythically heroic as “The Dark Knight,” as dreamy as “Inception,” and its three time signatures make it as much a Borgesian labyrinth as “Interstellar.” Each image is a survey of behavior that shows the cause-and-effect of individuals in a warzone. By the end, they form a powerful collective in the mind, making “Dunkirk” the most epic and intimate of his films all at once.

What do you think of our list? What’s your film directed by Christopher Nolan? Have you seen “The Odyssey” yet? If so, what did you think? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account.

The post Ranking Christopher Nolan’s Filmography Following “The Odyssey” appeared first on Next Best Picture.

THE ODYSSEYRelease Date: July 17th

It’s no surprise that this list would start with the film the entire summer is built around: “The Odyssey.” Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to “Oppenheimer” couldn’t have been bigger, yet despite tackling one of the greatest stories ever told, he’s doing it on a scale we have never seen before. Nolan is doubling down on his adherence to practical filming like never before, shooting across six countries, developing new technology, and most of all, filming the entirety of it on IMAX 70mm, the first ever to do so. This is Nolan at his heart, embracing the grandeur of a Hollywood long gone, where even the ensemble, filled with some of the best performers from various generations, has answered the call to make magic with one of, if not the, premier filmmakers of his generation working today. It’s hard not to have our expectations dialed up to a million for this one. Still, if anyone can not only meet these ridiculous expectations but exceed them, it’s Christopher Nolan.

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAYRelease Date: July 30th

Speaking of people we can rely on, we have to add our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to that list. In an endless sea of superhero misfires amid the rising disinterest in the genre, Spider-Man feels like one of those cheat-code characters that will always be a success, even if the film itself doesn’t meet the standards worthy of a superhero with such a storied reputation. At least with “Brand New Day,” it feels like a reset (oddly, like a possible finale) for the Tom Holland-MCU era of the web-crawler. Bringing in Destin Daniel Cretton brings in some fresh blood, sorely needed to jump-start things, not that the franchise is in a bad position after the juggernaut that was “No Way Home.” The biggest swing is how different this feels from anything we’ve seen in the character’s past decade, with Peter Parker back to his roots as a down-and-out hero, back at square one. Throw in some of the more alluring key jangles like Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and the Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, and you may have something cooking here, even if it may feel a bit overstuffed.

TONYRelease Date: August 7th

There’s no film this summer that doesn’t have an automatic “Make Gio Cry Like a Baby” button like Matt Johnson’s “Tony.” In a tired genre of celebrity biopics, Johnson has more than earned the benefit of the doubt with “Blackberry,” which gave us one of the more quotable performances from Glen Howerton we’ve seen in some time. Here, Johnson is swapping his eccentric comedic stylings, recently brandished in “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” for a moving coming-of-age dramedy that chronicles a period in the life of celebrity chef and writer Anthony Bourdain. From the trailer alone, there’s enough to see that Johnson, who’s pulling from the few chapters of “Kitchen Confidential” that focus on Bourdain’s time in Providence, Rhode Island, understands what this film needed to be. Dominic Sessa appears to be the right actor to capture the scrappy, magnetic essence of Bourdain that made him a one-of-a-kind personality whose work has profoundly impacted many. This has all the makings of being one of the more moving features of this summer season, especially for people who have watched or read most of Bourdain’s work.

COYOTE VS. ACMERelease Date: August 28th

Frankly, it’s a miracle that this film is even being released to the public, a rare act of goodwill in the world that should have us thanking the cinema gods up above. Never in a million years could anyone have expected that a “Looney Tunes” film would be as unceremoniously dumped by its own home studio, Warner Brothers, but here we are. Thankfully, Ketchup Entertainment did what many were scared to do and swooped up what looks to be another amusing blend of live action and animated zaniness that we all expect from the characters of this world. The fact that screenwriter Sammy Burch, fresh off an Oscar nomination for writing “May December,” wrote a courtroom comedy centered around an aggrieved Wile E. Coyote suing Acme, and it became a tax write-off, is one of the coolest career moves anyone can make. It’s a more-than-hilarious premise that should have people showing up in droves at the theater.

RESIDENT EVILRelease Date: August 28th

After the success of “Barbarian” and “Weapons,” Zach Cregger is on top of the world, and his next outing certainly doesn’t show any sign of him slowing down. Reuniting with Austin Abrams, Cregger is cutting the weeds of sloppily made video game adaptations in favor of a film that inherently captures the feeling of playing the game. “Resident Evil” is essentially a balls-to-the-wall nightmare, forcing our aimless protagonist to survive the worst night of his life as Abrams’ character, a lowly delivery guy, tries to make it back home to his girlfriend. He’ll have to forage for weapons, evade the most vile creatures created by the T-Virus, and, more importantly, stay alive as Cregger’s demented mind conjures all the worst types of horrors that we can’t wait to experience. This is very much not Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Resident Evil,” that’s for damn sure.

DIGGERRelease Date: October 2nd

Maybe one of the more intriguing marketing campaigns so far is the one centered on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Digger,” which argues that Tom Cruise is the living embodiment of cinema itself. It’s a claim many wouldn’t dispel. Yet, the secrecy around Cruise’s transformation into what is his most “actorly” role in years has us all the more desperate to tune in to what is being described as a “comedy of catastrophic proportions.” In a post-“Mission: Impossible” world, now is the time we may see Cruise slide into more character-centric work, especially as he ages out of the action-hero role that has dominated his life for the past twenty years. “Digger” is also fascinating through the lens of a big-budget black comedy distributed by Warner Brothers, shot on VistaVision (by the one and only Emmanuel Lubezki), and directed by a predominantly arthouse filmmaker. Iñárritu has made a film on this scale since “The Revenant,” and years later, this feels like it may be the biggest risk he and even Cruise have taken in some time. There’s a wonderful wheel of talent here to help boost up a balding, southern drawl-speaking Cruise, such as John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, and Sandra Huller. Cruise is getting his own Strangelove-esque madness to relish in, and maybe, just, maybe, it may be just enough to get Cruise the hardware he’s never won.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITYRelease Date: October 16th

It’s easy to be skeptical upon hearing there’s a new “Sense and Sensibility” adaptation, since the consensus is that Ang Lee’s 1995 film is the definitive cinematic adaptation of this story. Georgia Oakley’s sophomore feature looks like a handsomely shot retelling of this iconic novel, which sees Daisy Edgar-Jones of “Normal People” fame far more suited to an emotionally rich performance that plays into her wheelhouse as a performer. Edgar-Jones and George MacKay seem to have the searing chemistry the film needs. If Greta Gerwig was able to pull off the impossible with “Little Women” after countless adaptations, there is a chance that Oakley may very well do the same.

WHALEFALLRelease Date: October 16th

Brian Duffield’s “Whalefall” has one of the wildest premises of any film coming out this year. The perfect bookend to the Austin Abrams getting-himself-in-trouble double feature, as “Whalefall” has a scuba diver hunting for his father’s missing remains, engaging in the fight of his life as a massive sperm whale decides to swallow him whole during his expedition. If the teaser is any indication of the tense filmmaking Duffield will be implementing, audiences are in for a treat. “127 Hours,” but in the ocean with a whale, rocks so much more than one could imagine, and Abrams has proved himself to be a performer to keep our eyes on. With how energized people have become about going to the movies this year, “Whalefall” has the potential to be that surprise hit of the fall that will have everyone talking about it endlessly. 

CLAYFACE
Release Date: October 23rd

With the recent release of “Supergirl” not living up to the expectations many had, James Gunn’s DC universe is already cracking at the seams. There’s a lot of pressure riding with “Clayface,” which marks the franchise’s first divergence into the horror genre. Mike Flannigan writing the screenplay surely alleviates plenty of concerns, and also gives an actor like Tom Rhys Harries plenty of bait-y, signature Flanagan monologues that could make this one of the bigger breakout performances of the year. It’s refreshing to see DC Comics’ most tragic villains not only getting the spotlight but also having their stories told through the lens of body horror. The makeup work led by prosthetic guru Mike Marino, who helped transform Colin Farrell into the Penguin, will be a sight to behold. With a release date perfectly cued up for the Halloween season, “Clayface” is without a doubt on our radar.

WILDWOODRelease Date: October 23rd

A Laika animated film is always worth celebrating, as the grueling production behind stop-motion animation is an art in itself. Travis Knight’s follow-up to “Kubo and the Two Strings” sure seems to be an epic adventure film, as two classmates venture into a realm beyond our wildest imagination in the search for a missing relative taken away by crows. The trailer, which has racked up over 89 million views and counting, is an indecipherable mood piece that perfectly sets up audiences for what they’re going to get: a jaw-dropping showcase with enough emotional wallop to stun every member of the family.

GODZILLA MINUS ZERORelease Date: November 6th

Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus One” felt like the first film in years in which the titular kaiju dazzled audiences in a way audiences haven’t felt in ages. The character work alone was above what we’ve seen from most Hollywood iterations in recent years, especially since he’s been busy teaming up with King Kong and messing around in the Monsterverse. Now, Yamazaki is running it back, taking Godzilla from tearing up a post-war Japan to wreaking havoc in the Big Apple. “Godzilla: Minus Zero” is going to have everything we all want to see: cities being leveled, Godzilla lazering airplanes with his atomic breath, Ryunosuke Kamiki’s Kōichi Shikishima continuing his journey from a cowardly deserter to the hero who saves us all. We also still have plenty of questions that need answers, mainly what will happen to Minami Hamabe’s Noriko Ōishi, whose survival gave audiences a sigh of relief, only to lead to something more sinister. Whatever Yamazaki and his Academy Award-winning VFX crew have in store for us, they sure have a Godzilla-sized feat in front of them.

WILD HORSE NINERelease Date: November 6th

The fact that Searchlight dropped the trailer so early in the year speaks volumes to how confident they are in Martin McDonough’s latest feature. McDonough’s incredibly Irish blend of humor and heart is more than present here, as two bumbling CIA agents, played by Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich, are sent to Easter Island on the precipice of the infamous 1973 Chilean Coup. The opposing personalities of these disparate agents constantly clash, giving the two world-class talents plenty of bait for dialogue to chew on as their characters’ lives slowly begin to spiral out of their control. Sure, it’s somewhat giving “In Bruges” 2.0, but McDonough, when he’s in his zone, especially with a wonderful troupe of performers including Steve Buscemi and Parkey Posey, how can you not be excited? “Wild Horse Nine” without a doubt will make some sort of splash this fall festival season, launching it up to be one of the more discussed way-too-early Best Picture contenders at the Academy Awards we’ll talk about this year.

THE HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPINGRelease Date: November 20th

Who could have predicted that one of the most stacked ensembles of the year would be the latest “Hunger Games” film, “Sunrise on the Reaping?” Frances Lawrence, a steady hand who has shaped these adaptations, is now given a treasure trove featuring Jesse Plemons, Elle Fanning, Kieran Culkin, Maya Hawke, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ralph Fiennes, and our newly announced Governor Award recipient, Glenn Close. The latest novel by Suzanne Collins, which the film draws on, was met with more than a positive reception, as the story follows a young Haymitch Abernathy as he experiences the Hunger Games firsthand and becomes the bitter alcoholic cynic who would eventually mentor the woman who would bring revolution to the districts. How many more times can we watch people experience the “Hunger Games?” Turns out, as long as Collins keeps writing novels and Lawrence is eager to sit back in the director’s chair, people will keep wanting to return to Panem.

THE ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTHRelease Date: November 25th

When the news first broke of this film during CinemaCon last year, we all assumed this was just an elaborate April Fool’s Joke. David Fincher reuniting with Brad Pitt to make a quasi-“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” written by Quentin Tarantino himself, sounds like a fever-induced Mad Lib. Well, it turns out it’s a very real thing, and despite every detractor chirping online about every aspect of it, my anticipation couldn’t be any higher. Pitt suiting up once again as one of his most iconic characters, driving around Hollywood as a fixer for a film studio in the ’70s, sounds like one of the coolest ways to kill three hours. Fincher is very much amplifying Tarantino’s breezy hang-out film aesthetic from the previous film while injecting his own sensibilities. Murderous twin hitmen hunting down Cliff, Scott Caan possibly playing his father, the great James Caan, and Elizabeth Debicki doing what she does best. No one can say anything to kill the immaculate vibes that the Super Bowl teaser brought us when it first aired. The fact that even Netflix is caving, giving “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” a legitimate IMAX release, should tell us all we need to know about how reuniting with our good ole pal and stuntman is gonna be one of the best things to happen in a theater this year.

THE DEBUTRelease Date: December 11th

Jessie Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain” marked a major turn for the multi-hyphenate, who has improved in every aspect as an artist since his freshman feature. Now he embarks on his latest outing, “The Debut,” another Eisenberg-esque dramedy following a shy woman, played by Julianne Moore, who pushes herself out of her comfort zone to star in a local theater production directed by a headstrong Paul Giamatti. After seeing the performance that Eisenberg was able to get out of Kieran Culkin, one could only think of the potential powerhouse work of Moore and Giamatti. This could be the universe repaying the overdue actor the favor after he missed out on that Best Actor win for his hugely celebrated performance in “The Holdovers.” “The Debut” could be one of those tearjerking indies that wins the hearts of audiences everywhere. If anything, this will be the closest we’ll get to Eisenberg making a musical, especially with all the original songs he wrote for the project.

AVENGERS: DOOMSDAYRelease Date: December 18th

A lot has changed since “Avengers: Endgame” played in theaters. We’ve had a global pandemic, the New York Knicks won the NBA Finals, “The Bear” began and ended, and, most of all, as was said earlier, people are getting over superhero movies. Marvel has struggled to recapture the magic that last showered them with goodwill, something they’ve mostly squandered in the seven years since. It’s why Kevin Feige has had to call in the big guns for “Avengers: Doomsday,” roping in the Russo Brothers to direct, along with former pillars of the franchise, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, to give the franchise the facelift it needs. It seems a little desperate, but when their back has been against the wall, Marvel has been able to pull out something to keep them above water. “Doomsday” is the hit they urgently need to show that everyone involved still has plenty in the tank, at least with this series. Will it be a plea to audiences to stay filled with a barrage of nostalgia bombs that will make everyone clap like seals? Possibly, but there is a chance they strike again, and every doubter will have egg on their face. Guess we’ll have to wait and see; regardless, it’s undoubtedly one of the biggest releases of the rest of 2026.

DUNE: PART THREERelease Date: December 18th

Denis Villeneuve’s work on the “Dune” films has been hailed as among the greatest works of sci-fi filmmaking in the 21st century. His masterwork adaptation of Frank Herbert’s beloved novel is finally coming to a close as “Dune: Part Three” aspires to be the monumental finale we have all hoped for since the first film played in theaters in 2021. There’s plenty to be excited to see, whether it’s Timothée Chalamet’s further descent into darkness as the once-promised messiah turned dictator Paul Atreides, the addition of Robert Pattinson (mostly for his potentially freaky voice work as Scytale), or Linus Sandgren’s cinematography (stepping in for Greig Fraser). The fact that it’s getting priority for large premium-format screens over “Avengers: Doomsday” speaks volumes about the social cachet the “Dune” franchise has amassed in such a short time. We’ve talked about how this trilogy has the level to be this generation’s equivalent to Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings,” and Villeneuve has more than proven himself to be one of the biggest filmmakers working today. Let’s hope he can land the plane before saying goodbye to Arrakis and starting to sip on those shaken-n-stirred martinis.

RAY GUNNRelease Date: December 18th

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since Brad Bird’s last film (“Incredibles 2“) and almost twenty years since his last original film (“Ratatouille”), but now he’s finally back. “Ray Gunn” is an original mystery film, heavily inspired by film noir staples like “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Big Sleep,” and “Chinatown,” that incorporates science fiction elements with a sleek retrofuturist art style. Pretty impressive for a film that features big names like Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Waits. But the name that should get everyone the most excited is Michael Giacchino. The Academy Award-winning composer consistently delivers exceptional work, but whenever he collaborates with Bird, they cook up something special. Netflix is fresh off its golden goose, “KPop Demon Hunters,” and has the chance to make a splash once again in the animation race with this longtime passion project that Bird will finally see come to life.

A PLACE IN HELL

Release Date: December 25th

Chloe Dumont’s follow-up to her sensually charged thriller “Fair Play” finds her delving back into the messiness of people’s moral dilemmas, mainly through a defense attorney played by the one and only Michelle Williams, who is thwarting the younger replacement taking her place. It’s a battle of the minds where Dumont’s sharp screenwriting perfectly places two powerhouses, Williams and Daisy Edgar-Jones, head-to-head in a riveting time at the movies. Then, there’s the Andrew Scott of it all, lurking in the background, who leaves you wanting more. With Neon behind this project, there’s enough confidence to intrigue audiences, especially if this can help propel Williams into the conversation for her very first Academy Award win.

WERWULFRelease Date: December 25th

Robert Eggers, the mad genius that he is, has dazzled us with his unnerving and all-too-historically accurate tales of vengeance, lust, and transformation. “Werwulf” proves to be no different as the gruesome tale of a cursed farmer, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, trying to protect his family from a group of hunters led by Eggers’ muse himself, Willem Dafoe. It’s gonna be a gory, gothic time at the movies, which could see Taylor-Johnson and Lily Rose Depp possibly one-up their work from their last collaboration with Eggers, “Nosferatu.” The look of “Werwulf” is spellbinding, as cinematographer Jarin Blaschke shot the film on 35mm, with black-and-white grain built into the color stock. Just like Count Orlock himself, it’ll be some time before we get to see Taylor-Johnson’s transformation into the titular creature, but until then, we’re counting down the seconds for all of the mud and madness Eggers has in store for us.

ARTIFICAL

Release Date: TBD

We’re all big Luca Guadagnino fans over here at Next Best Picture, and despite his last film “After The Hunt” disappointing us, his latest film “Artificial” is one of the most anticipated films of the 2026 awards season. It dramatizes the extraordinary few days in November 2023 when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was abruptly fired and then reinstated amid employee revolt, investor pressure, and global scrutiny. Written by Simon Rich, the timely film is sure to feature corporate intrigue and raise relevant questions about power, ambition, and the future of artificial intelligence. The ensemble cast includes Andrew Garfield as Altman, Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati, Mark Rylance as Geoffrey Hinton, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, as well as Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Hoffman, Zosia Mamet, Chris O’Dowd, Billie Lourd, and more. With comparisons to “The Social Network,” and NEON now backing its release and awards campaign after acquiring worldwide rights from Amazon MGM, the film has the potential to become one of the year’s biggest conversation starters and a major Oscar contender.

BEHEMOTH

Release Date: TBD

In this house, we stay excited for whatever the master scribe himself, Tony Gilroy, has in store. It’s been a while since Gilroy directed a feature, as he’s spent the past few years breaking his back delivering some of his best work as a writer, not only on one of the best “Star Wars” entries but also on one of the best television series of the decade with “Andor.” Now, he’s ready to make a splash while the iron is hot with his new feature, “Behemoth!” which follows a composer, played by Pedro Pascal, attempting to complete his magnum opus. What’s fascinating, besides a solid ensemble featuring Will Arnett, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, and Matthew Lillard, is that the film will implement an array of musical works from a slew of working film composers. James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, and Brandon Roberts are just a few who will lend their compositions to what will surely be a razor-sharp tale of ambition and a love letter to films and the city of Los Angeles. With only “Wild Horse Nine” leading the charge for a savvy studio like Searchlight in awards season, there is a world in which not only could this exceed our expectations, but it could also become an awards darling.

ELSINORE

Release Date: TBD

“Elsinore” is a late breaking contender in this year’s awards race that has recently been acquired by Focus Features with considerable buzz surrounding Andrew Scott’s performance as acclaimed Scottish actor Ian Charleson, best known for playing Eric Liddell in “Chariots of Fire,” focusing on the final months of his life as he prepared to perform “Hamlet” at London’s National Theatre while privately battling AIDS. Written by Stephen Beresford (“Pride”) and directed by Simon Stone (“The Dig“), the film stars Scott alongside Olivia Colman, with an ensemble cast that includes Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Joe Locke, Luke Thompson, Adeel Akhtar, and Peter Mullan. With a fall film festival run set, Scott garnering lots of goodwill for “All Of Us Strangers” and “Pressure” and the emotionally powerful true story at its center, it’s the kind of transformative lead role the Academy often embraces. Seeing as how we’re all fans of Scott, we eagerly await the film to see if all this acclaim indeed comes his way. If it does, he would be the first openly gay man to win the Oscar for Best Actor.

HERE COMES THE FLOOD

Release Date: TBD

You’re telling me Fernando Meirelles made a crime thriller in the vein of “Heat” starring Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Daisy Edgar-Jones, and we’re not supposed to place this as one of the most anticipated films for the rest of the year? “Here Comes The Flood” follows three key figures: a bank guard, a teller, and a master thief, who are all caught up in a deadly game of cons and double-crosses. Early word on the street is that Meirelles has crafted a thrilling time at the movies, or in this case, on your couch, since it’s a Netflix release. There are very few action films slated this year that have as much potential as this, and with this amazing team in front and behind the camera, there’s no reason to believe Netflix doesn’t have another hit on its hands.

JACK OF SPADES

Release Date: TBD

Joel Coen couldn’t have had a better start on the eve of his break from collaborating with his brother Ethan than “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” a gorgeous adaptation of “Macbeth” pulling from German Expressionism and anchored by an unreal turn from Denzel Washington. With Ethan’s ventures into the zany world of sex-fueled comedies like “Drive-Away Dolls” and “Honey Don’t,” it is all the more apparent which aspects each brother brought to their dynamic. Joel has bided his time, but now he’s following up a Shakespeare adaptation with “Jack of Spades,” a gothic 19th-century murder mystery with a gnarly-looking Josh O’ Connor investigating crimes. Many are hopeful that Joel’s latest will make a splashy premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and there’s a pretty good chance it could. Few things sound as appealing this year as a Jack O’Connor-led Coen Brothers film shot by Bruno Delbonnel.

PRIMETIME

Release Date: TBD

The teaser for “Primetime” might be one of the more fascinating first looks we’ve seen this year, as Lance Oppenheim’s film is ready to delve deep into the creation of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” a series that, while also exposing a dark side of life that wasn’t so much on the social conscious at the time, was the beginning of seeing empathy as a something expendable. Robert Pattinson, whose name has already appeared on this list multiple times, is capping off his career year with his work as the infamous television host Chris Hansen, which promises to be a career-defining performance in a filmography already stacked with exceptional performances. It’s gonna be a dark, grimy, and out-there retelling of America’s obsession with the seedy desires of mankind and those willing to expose it, whether for the sake of justice or sensation.

SATURN RETURN

Release Date: TBD

Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley are on an absolute tear with their last two features, “Sing Sing” and “Train Dreams,” the latter of which was nominated for Best Picture earlier this year. The creative partners who alternate directing their screenplays have Kwedar back up to the plate with “Saturn Return,” a decade-spanning romantic drama about college sweethearts navigating their feelings about life and love. With Kwedar and Bentley’s films, they’re always capable of winning audiences over, often through emotionally cathartic stories that remind us of the medium’s power. Will Poulter, Rachel Brosnahan, and Charles Melton are all performers as brilliant as they are swoon-worthy. Without a doubt, they’ll feel perfectly right in with Kwedar and Bentley’s sensibilities as storytellers.

What do you think of our list? Which films are you most excited to see throughout the rest of the year? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account, and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.

The post Our Most Anticipated Films For The Rest Of 2026 appeared first on Next Best Picture.

Please note that the list below is ranked by the number of times a film appeared on one of our individual top ten lists. Ties were broken based on placement on the list.

50. UNDERTONETHE STORY – The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.
THE CAST – Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas & Jeff Yung
THE TEAM – Ian Tuason (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 93 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

49. MARTY, LIFE IS SHORTTHE STORY – The definitive documentary on comedian Martin Short, exploring his career across film, television, theater, and comedy.
THE CAST – Martin Short, Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Steve Martin, John Mulaney, Conan O’Brien, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Shaffer, Steven Spielberg & Rita Wilson
THE TEAM – Lawrence Kasdan (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 99 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

48. FORBIDDEN FRUITSTHE STORY – At a mall store, Apple leads a secret witch cult with coworkers Cherry and Fig. New hire Pumpkin questions their sisterhood, forcing them to confront inner darkness or meet violent ends.
THE CAST – Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Chamberlain & Gabrielle Union
THE TEAM – Meredith Alloway (Director/Writer) & Lily Houghton (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 103 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

47. THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOODTHE STORY – Grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, Robin Hood finds himself gravely injured after a battle he thought would be his last. In the hands of a mysterious woman, he is offered a chance at salvation.
THE CAST – Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett & Noah Jupe
THE TEAM – Michael Sarnoski (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 122 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

46. PRESSURETHE STORY – In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice: launch the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.
THE CAST – Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina & Damian Lewis
THE TEAM – Anthony Maras (Director/Writer) & David Haig (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 100 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

45. ERUPCJATHE STORY – While on vacation in Poland, Bethany breaks away from a romantic itinerary planned by her doting boyfriend, Rob, fearing that a marriage proposal is imminent. Reuniting instead with an old friend, Nel, the two women rekindle a uniquely combustible chemistry over the course of a few days in a chaste but burning tryst predicated on sapphic synchronicity and a mutual penchant for poetry.
THE CAST – Charli xcx, Lena Góra, Jeremy O. Harris, Will Madden & Agata Trzebuchowska
THE TEAM – Pete Ohs (Director & Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 71 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

44. MIROIRS No. 3THE STORY – On a weekend trip, Laura survives a car crash. Unhurt but shaken, Laura is taken in by a local women who witnessed the accident, and cares for her. Despite her families resistance, they enter into a routine.
THE CAST – Paula Beer, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt & Enno Trebs
THE TEAM – Christian Petzold (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 86 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

43. CAROLINA CAROLINETHE STORY – A young woman joins a charming con man on the run, leaving a trail of crime and passion as they hustle through the Southeast in search of her estranged mother.
THE CAST – Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Kyra Sedgwick & Jon Gries
THE TEAM – Adam Carter Rehmeier (Director) & Tom Dean (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

42. FORASTERATHE STORY – Cata sees her summer vacation disrupted by the absurd and sudden death of her grandmother, which only she witnesses. Her grief shifts when she casually turns to play pretend, transforming into the deceased. What begins with a game of dress-up will blur the lines of reality and family roles.
THE CAST – Zoe Stein, Lluís Homar, Núria Prims, Nonni Ardal Hammarström & Martina García
THE TEAM – Lucía Aleñar Iglesias (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 97 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

41. OMAHATHE STORY – After a family tragedy, siblings Ella and Charlie are unexpectedly woken up by their dad and taken on a journey across the country, experiencing a world they’ve never seen before. As their adventure unfolds, Ella begins to understand that things might not be what they seem.
THE CAST – John Magaro, Molly Belle Wright & Wyatt Solis
THE TEAM – Cole Webley (Director) & Robert Machoian (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 83 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW
IN-STUDIO WITH JOHN MAGARO

40. OUR HERO BALTHAZARTHE STORY – When ultra-wealthy NYC teenager Balthy makes dramatic gun control videos to impress his activist crush. When an online troll targets his content, Balthy becomes convinced he’s communicating with a potential school shooter and embarks on an ill-advised journey to Texas to confront him.
THE CAST – Jaden Martell, Asa Butterfield, Chris Bauer, Jennifer Ehle, Anna Baryshnikov, Noah Centineo, Becky Ann Baker, Avan Jogia & Pippa Knowles
THE TEAM – Oscar Boyson (Director/Writer) & Ricky Camilleri (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 91 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

39. MADDIE’S SECRETTHE STORY – While Maddie Ralph’s life seems picturesque — perfect hubby, wild lesbian bestie, and a cupboard full of women-owned ethically-sourced chili crisp to boot — she simultaneously conceals a dark past with a severe eating disorder. Knowing her history of self-harm conflicts with the perfect image she puts forth to her followers, she continues to hide her bulimic tendencies from friends and family, even when she begins to relapse.
THE CAST – John Early, Kate Berlant, Eric Rahill, Kristen Johnston, Claudia O’Doherty, Conner O’Malley, Vanessa Bayer, & Chris Bauer
THE TEAM – John Early (Writer/Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 98 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

38. BILLIE EILISH – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D)THE STORY – Captured during her sold-out world tour, Billie Eilish brings an innovative new concert experience to the big screen from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation. Presented in immersive 3D.
THE CAST – Billie Eilish & Finneas
THE TEAM – Billie Eilish (Director/Writer) & James Cameron (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 114 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

37. THE LAST VIKINGTHE STORY – Anker is released from prison after a fifteen year sentence for robbery. The money from the heist was buried his brother, Manfred. Only he knows where it is. Unfortunately, Manfred has since developed a mental disorder, causing him to forget everything. Together, the brothers embark on an unexpected journey to locate the money — and discover who they really are.
THE CAST – Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mads Mikkelsen, Sofie Gråbøl, Søren Malling, Bodil Jørgensen, Lars Brygmann, Kardo Razzazi, Nicolas Bro & Peter Düring
THE TEAM – Anders Thomas Jensen (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 116 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

36. THE RIP
THE STORY – A group of Miami cops discovers a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust as outsiders learn about the huge seizure, making them question who to rely on.
THE CAST – Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor
Sasha Calle, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Scott Adkins & Kyle Chandler
THE TEAM – Joe Carnahan (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 112 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

35. ASK E. JEANTHE STORY – The thrilling and adventurous life of beloved advice columnist and gonzo journalist E. Jean Carroll, the only woman to beat Trump in court. Twice.
THE CAST – E. Jean Carroll
THE TEAM – Ivy Meeropol (Director/Writer), Leah Goudsmit & Ferne Pearlstein (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 91 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

34. LATE SHIFTTHE STORY – Floria, a nurse, works with great dedication and professionalism on the surgical ward of a Swiss hospital. Despite the hectic pace, Floria manages to look after a seriously ill mother and an old man urgently awaiting a diagnosis with just as much care and expertise as she does when attending to a private patient with all his special demands. But then she makes a disastrous mistake, and the shift threatens to run completely off the rails. A nerve-racking race against time begins.
THE CAST – Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen, Urs Bihler & Margherita Schoch
THE TEAM – Petra Volpe (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 92 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

33. YES!THE STORY – In the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Y., a jazz musician, struggles to make ends meet, until he is given a mission to create a new national anthem.
THE CAST – Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Sharon Alexander, Naama Preis & Aleksei Serebryakov
THE TEAM – Nadav Lapid (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 150 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

32. HOKUMTHE STORY – When novelist Ohm Bauman retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance forces him to confront dark corners of his past.
THE CAST – Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Will O’Connell, Michael Patric, Siox C, Brendan Conroy, Austin Amelio & Ezra Carlisle
THE TEAM – Damian McCarthy (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 101 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

31. THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMISTTHE STORY – A father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity.
THE CAST – Daniel Roher
THE TEAM – Daniel Roher & Charlie Tyrell (Directors)
THE RUNNING TIME – 103 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
IN-STUDIO WITH DANIEL ROHER

30. TIME AND WATERTHE STORY – An Icelandic writer preserves vanishing glaciers, departed grandparents, family memories, and flowing time in his personal archives, transforming loss into a time capsule.
THE CAST – Andri Snær Magnason
THE TEAM – Sara Dosa (Director), Andri Snær Magnason, Sara Dosa, Erin Casper & Jocelyne Chaput (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 90 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

29. WUTHERING HEIGHTSTHE STORY – Tragedy strikes when Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine Earnshaw, a woman from a wealthy family in 18th-century England.
THE CAST – Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Owen Cooper & Ewan Mitchell
THE TEAM – Emerald Fennell (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 136 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

28. READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COMETHE STORY – After surviving one deadly game, Grace and her sister Faith must now outrun four rival families competing for a powerful throne – winner takes all.
THE CAST – Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood, Néstor Carbonell, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng & Varun Saranga
THE TEAM – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett (Directors), Guy Busick & R. Christopher Murphy (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 108 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

27. TWO PROSECUTORSTHE STORY – In 1937, amid Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge, a young Soviet prosecutor comes across a letter written by a prisoner in Bryansk. Believing the man to be the victim of NKVD corruption, the prosecutor seeks out justice with the Procurator General.
THE CAST – Aleksandr Filippenko, Aleksandr Kuznetsov & Anatoliy Beliy
THE TEAM – Sergei Loznitsa (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 118 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

26. BLUE FILMTHE STORY – Fetish camboy Aaron Eagle agrees to spend the night with an anonymous client, only to discover a disturbing tie to his past
THE CAST – Kieron Moore & Reed Birney
THE TEAM – Elliot Tuttle (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 82 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

25. TOY STORY 5THE STORY – When Bonnie receives a Lilypad tablet as a gift and becomes obsessed, Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the rest of the gang’s jobs become exponentially harder when they have to go head-to-head with the all-new threat to playtime.
THE CAST – Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Annie Potts, Bonnie Hunt, Melissa Villaseñor, Kristen Schaal, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki, Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson, Shelby Rabara, Scarlett Spears, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Matty Matheson, Jeff Bergman, Anna Vocino, John Hopkins, Bad Bunny, Ernie Hudson & Alan Cumming
THE TEAM – Andrew Stanton (Director/Writer) & McKenna Harris (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 102 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

24. CRIME 101THE STORY – An elusive thief, eyeing his final score, encounters a disillusioned insurance broker at her own crossroads. As their paths intertwine, a relentless detective trails them, hoping to thwart the multi-million dollar heist they are planning.
THE CAST – Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh & Nick Nolte
THE TEAM – Bart Layton (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 140 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

23. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2THE STORY – Andy Sachs returns to Runway as Miranda Priestly navigates a new media landscape and Runway’s position within it. They reconnect with another former assistant, Emily, in a search for funding to ensure Runway’s survival.
THE CAST – Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Lucy Liu, Kenneth Branagh & Stanley Tucci
THE TEAM – David Frankel (Director) & Aline Brosh McKenna (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 119 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW

22. THE FURIOUSTHE STORY – A father fiercely fights against ruthless kidnappers to save his abducted daughter.
THE CAST – Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Yang Enyou, Yayan Ruhian, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga, Jija Yanin, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Manatsanun Phanlerdwongsakul, Guo Junqing & Winai Wiangyangkung
THE TEAM – Kenji Tanigaki (Director) & Mak Tin-shu (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 113 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

21. MILE END KICKSTHE STORY – A 24-year-old music critic gets romantically involved with members of an indie band she decides to publicize, set against Montreal’s indie music scene in 2011.
THE CAST – Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons, Juliette Gariépy & Jay Baruchel
THE TEAM – Chandler Levack (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 111 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

20. HOPPERSTHE STORY – A 19-year-old animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination.
THE CAST – Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Ego Nwodim, Vanessa Bayer & Meryl Streep
THE TEAM – Daniel Chong (Director) & Jesse Andrews (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 104 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW

19. THE MOMENTTHE STORY – A rising pop star navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut.
THE CAST – Charli XCX, Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou, Hailey Gates & Alexander Skarsgård
THE TEAM – Aidan Zamiri (Director/Writer) & Bertie Brandes (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 103 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

18. LEVITICUSTHE STORY – Two star-crossed teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most — each other.
THE CAST – Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mia Wasikowska, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie & Davida McKenzie
THE TEAM – Adrian Chiarella (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 88 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

17. TUNERTHE STORY – A gifted piano tuner’s meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.
THE CAST – Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz & Tovah Feldshuh
THE TEAM – Daniel Roher (Director/Writer) & Robert Ramsey (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 109 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

16. BACKROOMSTHE STORY – Therapist Dr. Mary Kline ventures into an otherworldly dimension in search of her missing patient, Clark.
THE CAST – Renate Reinsve, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett & Lukita Maxwell
THE TEAM – Kane Parsons (Director) & Will Soodik (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 110 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW

15. THE SHEEP DETECTIVESTHE STORY – On a farm in the English countryside, shepherd George Hardy spends his time reading murder mystery novels to his flock of sheep, pretending that they follow along with the stories. When one morning he is discovered dead – murdered – the sheep go about thinking on how to solve the murder.
THE CAST – Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein, Hong Chau & Emma Thompson
THE TEAM – Kyle Balda (Director) & Craig Mazin (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 109 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

14. I SWEARTHE STORY – John Davidson grows up with Tourette syndrome in 1980s Scotland. He faces a society that does not understand his condition. He eventually becomes a campaigner to increase public awareness.
THE CAST – Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson, Peter Mullan & Scott Ellis Watson
THE TEAM – Kirk Jones (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 120 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

13. SILENT FRIENDTHE STORY – Tales told from the perspective of a lonely old tree standing in the middle of a botanical garden.
THE CAST – Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke, Johannes Hegemann, Rainer Bock & Léa Seydoux
THE TEAM – Ildikó Enyedi (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 145 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

12. I LOVE BOOSTERSTHE STORY – A crew of professional shoplifters known as The Velvet Gang take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.
THE CAST – Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter & Demi Moore
THE TEAM – Boots Riley (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW

11. IS GOD IS

THE STORY – Twin sisters with disfiguring burn scars are ordered by their bedridden mother to kill their abusive father, who caused their scars. They must decide whether to seek vengeance or find mercy.
THE CAST – Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monae, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Cross, Vivica A. Fox & Sterling K. Brown
THE TEAM – Aleshea Harris (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 100 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

10. OBSESSIONTHE STORY – When a hopeless romantic makes a wish that his long-time crush will fall in love with him, a sinister enchantment ensues.
THE CAST – Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson & Megan Lawless
THE TEAM – Curry Barker (Director & Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 108 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

9. MOTHER MARYTHE STORY – Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm on the eve of her comeback performance.
THE CAST – Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Alba Baptista, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Sian Clifford & FKA Twigs
THE TEAM – David Lowery (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 112 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

8. SEND HELPTHE STORY – A woman and her overbearing boss become stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. They must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it’s a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.
THE CAST – Rachel McAdams & Dylan O’Brien
THE TEAM – Sam Raimi (Director), Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 113 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

7. THE DRAMATHE STORY – A happily engaged couple get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week off the rails
THE CAST – Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Zoë Winters & Hailey Benton Gates
THE TEAM – Kristoffer Borgli (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

6. THE INVITETHE STORY – Joe and Angela don’t have people over often. Tonight, their mysterious upstairs neighbors are coming down for dinner. What follows is an evening of unexpected twists and turns, revealing deeply repressed emotions and unexplored sexuality.
THE CAST – Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz & Edward Norton
THE TEAM – Olivia Wilde (Director), Will McCormack & Rashida Jones (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 107 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

5. BLUE HERONTHE STORY – A family of six settles into their new home on Vancouver Island as internal dynamics are slowly revealed through the eyes of the youngest child.
THE CAST – Eylul Guven, Amy Zimmer, Iringó Réti, Adam Tompa, Edik Beddoes, Liam Serg & Preston Drabble
THE TEAM – Sophy Romvari (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 90 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

4. NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIETHE STORY – When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.
THE CAST – Matt Johnson & Jay McCarrol
THE TEAM – Matt Johnson (Director/Writer) & Jay McCarrol (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 95 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

3. 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLETHE STORY – Dr. Kelson finds himself in a shocking new relationship with consequences that could change the world as he knows it, while Spike’s encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he can’t escape.
THE CAST – Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman & Chi Lewis-Parry
THE TEAM – Nia DaCosta (Director) & Alex Garland (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 109 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEWS

2. DISCLOSURE DAYTHE STORY – As a massive government conspiracy unravels, a targeted whistleblower races against time to bring about the extraordinary event that will change human history forever: the day of ultimate alien disclosure.
THE CAST – Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo & Wyatt Russell
THE TEAM – Steven Spielberg (Director) & David Koepp (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 145 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW

1. PROJECT HAIL MARYTHE STORY – Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key.
THE CAST – Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung & Milana Vayntrub
THE TEAM – Phil Lord, Chris Miller (Directors) & Drew Goddard (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 156 Minutes

READ OUR REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST REVIEW
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST INTERVIEW

What has been your favorite film from the first half of 2026? What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year? Please let us know in the comments section below or on our X account.

The post The 50 Best Films Of 2026 So Far appeared first on Next Best Picture.

But think of it: “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” spawned the craze of Amblinesque features and TV shows, all trying (and usually failing) to recapture the magic of a bike flying over the moon, and “Jurassic Park” relaunched Hollywood B-movie creature features (many involving dinos or sharks). Interestingly, it’s his darker-edged, more probing movies like “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” “Minority Report,” and “War of the Worlds” that reshaped modern sci-fi for years, with an irradiated visual palette and sickly skin tones that became in vogue for ages. His sci-fi is one that varies from the sweetly sentimental to the apocalyptic and horrifying, a range he’s not always been given his flowers for showcasing.

With his latest, the sci-fi whistleblower thriller “Disclosure Day,” releasing in theaters this week, it’s an excellent opportunity to revisit that side of Spielberg’s career, which has taken up nearly a third of his filmography.

10. “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull” (2008)
We already know what doesn’t work: Harrison Ford’s flat line-reading of “part-time,” the Spirit Halloween fake snake as Indy sinks into quicksand, the abundance of distractingly digital trees in what should be a sweaty, turgid jungle. There are the aliens, and the way George Lucas half-bamboozled Spielberg into making the movie by convincing him they were “interdimensional beings.” Lucas wanted the fourth “Indiana Jones” to be to the ’50s what the older films were to the ’30s, by embracing the genres of the era. That meant Cold War paranoia, psychic experiments, nuclear bomb testing, Russians as the bad guys, invaders from outer space, and double (triple?) agents. It’s a lot, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that Ford and Spielberg’s hearts weren’t in it. The thing is, Lucas was right! Cate Blanchett as a semi-telepathic Russian agent is delightful, but that push-and-pull of creative jeopardy between Lucas and Spielberg resulted in a strange, sloppy movie with some high peaks. The opening act – clearly the section Spielberg is most excited by – is terrific, and haters be damned, Indy navigating a Potemkin village amidst a nuclear bomb test is a startling reflection of that period’s ideological undercurrent.

9. “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997)It says a lot about Spielberg that when he was asked to make sequels to two of the biggest box office hits, he made the meanest movies of his career. “The Lost World” is the closest Spielberg has come to making a pure horror movie since “Jaws,” opening with a (now frequently shared online) match cut of a young girl screaming at hungry dinosaurs the instant before we cut to Ian Malcom yawning. It’s revealed later that she lived, but don’t let that fool you. If “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” hadn’t created a need for the “R” rating, “The Lost World” might have done just that. It’s a hard, nearly metal B-movie, complete with waterfalls of blood and hunters chasing a T-Rex as “big game”. There’s some silliness along the way, and the central story dynamics never go anywhere, instead searching for a new place to take the “family” theme of the original. But the darker mood, strong visuals, and crackerjack set-pieces always make it a fun rewatch.

8. “Ready Player One” (2018)
Spielberg’s 2018 adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel is still widely seen as the cursed embodiment of our current IP wasteland, one that patronizingly panders to a fan culture with diminishing returns. Yet beneath the endless references to ’80s pop culture (which range from “Superman” to “Akira”), “Ready Player One” is a deeply sad film about a pensive creator who has become a ghost in his own machine, regretfully contemplating the world he created. Clearly an analog for Spielberg himself, reflecting what his legacy might be. Just look at the critical changes from novel to feature film: rather than winning each “Easter Egg” challenge through esoteric trivia, success hinges on treating Halliday, creator of the VR-heaven “The Oasis,” as an actual human being and his creation as art. Still far from his best, “Ready Player One” is a rich text, and few things are more quintessentially sci-fi than a creator growing restless and scared of his creation.

7. “Disclosure Day” (2026)After fifty years of using science fiction to allegorize his histories, traumas and dreams, Spielberg’s thrilling new UFO actioner is just as personal and exposing as “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.” With the rare original story from Spielberg himself, we follow a whistleblower (Josh O’Connor) and newscaster (Emily Blunt) on the run who …well I won’t spoil it, but like “Minority Report” it’s a surprisingly heady ride, with the chase movie set-pieces frequently pausing for debates on god, religion and moral obligation. It has just as much in common with his autobiographical “The Fabelmans” as it does “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” resulting in a film that can jerkily teeter-tauter between its different modes; one moment a car crashes through a living room wall, in another we listen to a tense dialectic on belief, only to transition to a kind of cinetherapy as the leads confront past pains, another example of proxies for Spielberg himself. What unites them all is Spielberg’s use of “Disclosure Day” as a surprisingly moving study of empathy and truth as a binding force, with his faultless craft as searching and wondrous as ever.

6. “War Of The Worlds” (2005)Not even becoming one of Spielberg’s highest-grossing movies in the 2000s could save this sci-fi redux from being seen as a disappointment. Softly rejected for its confusingly dark tone, annoying kids (like Dakota Fanning’s incessant, ear-drum-popping screams), and Tom Cruise’s least likable protagonist of his career, it left audiences frustrated. The pivot into a psychological thriller in the last half, with an anti-climax ending, was just the nail in the coffin. “War of the Worlds” has been warmly reappraised since, embraced for exactly what was so alienating in 2005: a disturbing 9/11 allegory in which each hero is consumed by fear and helplessness. The set-pieces are thrilling (the opening tripod attack and ferry sequence are especially riveting, and he does the “Children of Men” car oner years before), but what gives it its lasting bite is the look at a society on the brink, unable to process the traumas of our present.

5. “Jurassic Park” (1993)The first time I became aware of Steven Spielberg was when a friend begged his parents to throw on the VHS of something called “Jurassic Park.” He wanted to show me how “gnarly” this movie was, but his folks said no; he had watched it the week before and had nightmares. Later, we snuck upstairs, and he showed me only the opening scene, well enough to petrify me at six years old. We usually think of “Jurassic Park” in terms of its Spielbergian awe: the faces of wonder, John Williams’ resplendent score, the visual effects, the massive dinosaurs. It’s also the Spielberg that best encapsulates the divide in his filmmaking sensibilities, as a guy with the mind for horror but the heart of a sentimentalist. There’s the (literally) nightmare-inducing T-Rex attack, the raptors in the kitchen, and the classic “clever girl.” But it’s the collision of innocence and terror that makes “Jurassic Park” work, along with the warning from Ian Malcomb that represents the core of all cautionary science fiction: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

4. “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” (1977)An opera of image and sound, Spielberg used the success of “Jaws” to reimagine his amateur feature “Firelight” into a spectacle unlike anything seen before. Blending the paranoia thrillers of the 1970s with a marrow-deep desire to do something “important,” Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is a father and husband in a failing marriage, who, as the title suggests, has a close encounter, and can’t stop needing to chase the mysterious lights on the horizon. It’s not a reach to see Roy as a proxy for the young Steven, with the protagonist fleeing a fraught household after feeling a lightning bolt of inspiration. Years before “The Fabelmans” had everyone rethink the themes behind movies like “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” James Lipton immortalized “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” as Spielberg’s mom and dad: to communicate with aliens, they must speak with music and computers. With lights parading through the sky like a musical number powered by John Williams’s symphonic notes, Spielberg revealed the power of his cinema to elevate and nourish, expanding our minds in the process.

3. “Minority Report” (2002)Spielberg’s most acclaimed blockbuster of the 21st century, “Minority Report,” ranks as one of the most exhilarating and cerebral he’s ever made. A cyberpunk noir that throws us right into the sci-fi action with the most experimental opening of any Spielberg movie, “Minority Report” finally united the biggest director in the world with the world’s greatest movie star, with Tom Cruise playing a cop who stops crimes before they happen. They direct their combined star power into an unlikely place, a head-scrambling dive into metaphysics, causality, and free will, concepts actualized into set-pieces that turn seminar theory into ripping chase sequences. Set in a carefully designed future Washington D.C. (the touch gestures famously prophesied our present; the reliance on physical storage not so much), “Minority Report” is a play on the “wrong man” noir trope, with Spielberg and his regular collaborators clearly having a blast, like John Williams channeling Bernard Hermann for his score. It’s one of Spielberg’s finest, foreshadowing the truth-shifting, image-dominated surveillance state of our present.

2. “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982)
Every bit as musical and mythic as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” but told from the point of view of Spielberg’s inner child, “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial” is the movie that made thousands, maybe millions, of children feel a little less alone. Initially conceived as a semi-autobiographical bit of first-contact mythmaking, in which Spielberg reimagined his childhood traumas with the help of an emotional support alien to guide him, it became the sensation of the ’80s. Back when movies kept playing until they simply stopped making money, people saw “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” for birthday parties, on family outings, at special events, and on random nights out. Watching the movie now, that response is extraordinary. “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” is primarily an intimate family drama set against a distinctly Spielbergian kind of American surrealism, distilling the ’80s down to its most iconic elements before those bikes take flight.

1. “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001)No film in Spielberg’s career has undergone such a radical reevaluation as “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” an impossible movie now embraced by many as a masterpiece. What began as a Stanley Kubrick project was then written and directed by Spielberg after Kubrick’s death. At release, it was harshly criticized as a well-intentioned misstep, a bizarre fusion of two cinematic styles that could not be more different. But as different as Spielberg and Kubrick’s sensibilities could be, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” allowed their voices to find a beautiful middle; Spielberg has never been as sentimental as his worst detractors accuse, just as Kubrick’s never been as cold, leading to a film as deeply emotional as it is ruthless. This story, about a robot boy desperate to become “real,” then abandoned by his new mom and on a quest for answers, fits uncannily at home in Spielberg’s stories of familial entropy. Profound and haunting, A.I. has some of the master’s most upsetting set-pieces, and just like the structures awash on the rising shores, its legacy will continue to stand the test of time.

What do you think of our list? What’s your favorite sci-fi film directed by Steven Spielberg? Have you seen “Disclosure Day” yet? If so, what did you think? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account.

The post Ranking The Sci-Fi Films Of Steven Spielberg appeared first on Next Best Picture.