Recently Watched Movies 2026

[CL82]

One of the best sci fi comedies ever. Lovingly pokes fun at Star Trek.

And yet the way it's done stays perfectly in context with the movie. The "chompers" scene comes to mind. "This episode is poorly written!" or the casual aside to Tim Allen's character about him doing forward roles as he runs. "Does that help?" "I think it does." Just quick asides that don't really break the fourth wall, but our references for fans of the original Star Trek. Also love the reference to the unnamed "crewman" on the way missions getting killed funny stuff.

 

[CL82]

Tron Ares (2025)

This is the third, I think, movie in the Tron universe. The effects are fine and the reference to the 80s movie effects was funny. Overall, though, it was tough to care about the characters. The central theme is that the "system" programs and items from operating system can be brought into the real world, but only last 29 minutes. The movie deals with the search for the "permanent code" which will allow them to exist indefinitely.

It was OK.

 

[Dove]

One Battle After Another ( 2025)

Entertaining, for sure.

Nonsensical...yep.

But entertaining.

I can see Sean Penn getting an Oscar nod. DiCaprio, not really showing us anything he hasn't done before.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Tron Ares (2025)

This is the third, I think, movie in the Tron universe. The effects are fine and the reference to the 80s movie effects was funny. Overall, though, it was tough to care about the characters. The central theme is that the "system" programs and items from operating system can be brought into the real world, but only last 29 minutes. The movie deals with the search for the "permanent code" which will allow them to exist indefinitely.

It was OK.

I started it last night. Was so bored and the whole "code fighting" thing was so silly I turned it off and put on Roofman.

 

[Dove]

I started it last night. Was so bored and the whole "code fighting" thing was so silly I turned it off and put on Roofman.

Good choice!!!

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Galaxy Quest. Stars Tim Allen Sigourney Weaver (at peak), Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub and others. Aging former TV stars of a Star Trek like show called Galaxy Quest are doing fan events and conferences. Four "fans" show up, and The Commander (Allen) thinks its a private paid event. Instead they take him in their space ship. The Aliens are being annihilated by another alien race and need the help of The Commander. This is quite well done and is pretty funny. The scenes with the Galaxy Quest nerds led by Justin Long stand out. Well worth a watch.

Exceptionally well done movie. I first saw it on cable a couple years after the theatrical release and wasn't expecting a lot. I was a lot more than merely pleasantly surprised. They did an awesome at poking fun at Star Trek, the post series fan devotion, the absurdities of some themes (Sigorney Weaver bring the only one who could speak to the computer).

It's spent two decades as something I'll stop and watch if I come across it channel surfing regardless of where in the movie it is, despite the fact that I've seen it countless times over the past nearly two and a half decades.

 

[storrsroars]

Exceptionally well done movie. I first saw it on cable a couple years after the theatrical release and wasn't expecting a lot. I was a lot more than merely pleasantly surprised. They did an awesome at poking fun at Star Trek, the post series fan devotion, the absurdities of some themes (Sigorney Weaver bring the only one who could speak to the computer).

It's spent two decades as something I'll stop and watch if I come across it channel surfing regardless of where in the movie it is, despite the fact that I've seen it countless times over the past nearly two and a half decades.

If the original Star Trek ever had a love scene like the one with Fred and Liliari, it would never have been cancelled for low ratings 😉

And now I'm wondering if there's ever been anything where Tony Shaloub wasn't a positive cast addition. Can't think of one.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Marty Supreme update based on a song I heard on the radio this morning. Minor amendment to my prior review in the 2025 thread.

Spoiler: Major Spoiler

Tears for Fears Everybody Wants to Rule the World features in the last moments of the film. Marty has been an to everyone all film, but especially to his lifelong friend Rachel, who is married but is carrying his child. After all his difficulties and humiliations trying to dominate Ping Pong, Marty hears she's in the hospital and rushes to see her and the new baby, fearing the worst. He's finally realizing he's going to be a father and has to, for the first time ever, think about someone other than himself. As he holds the baby, in tears, you hear those memorable chords and "Welcome to your life, there's no turning back..." That one little bit of this movie was brilliant. The song is out of time of course, but that opening line so perfectly fits Marty realizing for the first time that this is what his life is about.

Just a comment on the role of music in film really. Maybe that's it's own thread.

 

[Deepster]

Just listened to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on the Joe Rogan podcast. They had a great discussion about making movies today.

1) You used to make a financial commitment (50-100 bucks for the night) to go out to a movie. Then you'd make a commitment of your time to choose which one you'd see. Now you just pay 20 bucks a month and have unlimited movies at your disposal. And if you don't like one ten minutes in? You turn it off. How many times did you actually get up and walk out of a theater?

2) With that in mind, you need to catch the viewers attention quickly. The example was "an opening shot where the hero is hanging off a cliff". You can fill in the backstory later. It's more important to sink the hook than develop the character at that point.

3) You now get very specific and pointed feedback of when people tune out or pause and rewind, etc. So, if there are screenings and the feedback is a scene is not responding well with audiences, you go back and fix it.

4) A company like Netflix or Hulu also will give information on things like "When people sign up for Netflix, what's the first thing they watch?" Or when they watch a series, how did they get there? Ex: They watched this cooking show, then another one, then The Bear. So they promote those lead in shows more knowing the path to The Bear exists there.

Good interview all around.

 

[storrsroars]

The Tank, Amazon. It’s WWII, it’s the Wehrmacht and it’s a German anti war film sort of like Das Boot. Not saying anything else.

It was a solid movie 95% of the way through. The tank was definitely more a "character" here than it was in Fury. The funny thing is, I watched it until the lieutenant got to the bunker, then I had to leave to do something. When I got back I was excited to see how it would end. I'm not saying anything else either.

 

[CL82]

Just listened to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on the Joe Rogan podcast. They had a great discussion about making movies today.

1) You used to make a financial commitment (50-100 bucks for the night) to go out to a movie. Then you'd make a commitment of your time to choose which one you'd see. Now you just pay 20 bucks a month and have unlimited movies at your disposal. And if you don't like one ten minutes in? You turn it off. How many times did you actually get up and walk out of a theater?

2) With that in mind, you need to catch the viewers attention quickly. The example was "an opening shot where the hero is hanging off a cliff". You can fill in the backstory later. It's more important to sink the hook than develop the character at that point.

3) You now get very specific and pointed feedback of when people tune out or pause and rewind, etc. So, if there are screenings and the feedback is a scene is not responding well with audiences, you go back and fix it.

4) A company like Netflix or Hulu also will give information on things like "When people sign up for Netflix, what's the first thing they watch?" Or when they watch a series, how did they get there? Ex: They watched this cooking show, then another one, then The Bear. So they promote those lead in shows more knowing the path to The Bear exists there.

Good interview all around.

They also talked about the fact that periodically they have to restate key plot points because of the assumption that viewers are actively scrolling on their phone as they watch the movie and may have missed the earlier exposition.

 

[ZooCougar]

Just listened to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on the Joe Rogan podcast. They had a great discussion about making movies today.

1) You used to make a financial commitment (50-100 bucks for the night) to go out to a movie. Then you'd make a commitment of your time to choose which one you'd see. Now you just pay 20 bucks a month and have unlimited movies at your disposal. And if you don't like one ten minutes in? You turn it off. How many times did you actually get up and walk out of a theater?

2) With that in mind, you need to catch the viewers attention quickly. The example was "an opening shot where the hero is hanging off a cliff". You can fill in the backstory later. It's more important to sink the hook than develop the character at that point.

3) You now get very specific and pointed feedback of when people tune out or pause and rewind, etc. So, if there are screenings and the feedback is a scene is not responding well with audiences, you go back and fix it.

4) A company like Netflix or Hulu also will give information on things like "When people sign up for Netflix, what's the first thing they watch?" Or when they watch a series, how did they get there? Ex: They watched this cooking show, then another one, then The Bear. So they promote those lead in shows more knowing the path to The Bear exists there.

Good interview all around.

I may have to listen to this.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Running Man (2025). I was a bit of a fan of the original. This one stars Glenn Powell as the same Ben Richards. It's a bit darker and even more anti-corporate (it's really fairly silly but whatever). Powell is good, he's become rather likable. Josh Brolin is excellent as a the head of the Network that controls most everything including the Running Man show. Jayme Lawson (last seen in Sinners) is Ben's lovely wife. Lee Pace has a good turn as well. You probably know the gist of the plot, but I'd say this edition is a little more serious than the Arnold version. There's a few good additions, including a YouTube type guy who works to expose the truth and ends up helping Ben. Pretty decent.

 

[Palatine]

They also talked about the fact that periodically they have to restate key plot points because of the assumption that viewers are actively scrolling on their phone as they watch the movie and may have missed the earlier exposition.

Not exactly devotees of Hitchcock.

 

[Deepster]

I may have to listen to this.

I will say, I think they both get slighted as dopey Boston guys but there were times I had to really pedal fast to keep up with Affleck. He's a brilliant guy.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Bugonia. Daughter wanted to watch it. Stars Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller, CEO of a Pharma company. Jesse Plemons plays Teddy Gatz, who works there in shipping and who believes that Fuller is an alien, from the Andromeda galaxy. Teddy and his autistic/slow cousin Don abduct her, to force her to take them to her leader and negotiate their withdrawal from Earth. This is billed as a dark comedy but after the first 30 minutes there's way more dark than comedy. Touches on various subjects, mental illness and people destroying the environment (Teddy is a beekeeper and thinks the Andromedens are responsible for bee hives failing). Plemons is supposed to be young, but looks very rough, and aged. Stone is perfectly cast, with her gaunt features, wide mouth and huge eyes, she looks rather alien. If you want spoilers let me know. I can't quite recommend this because it's just so unpleasant. But it is well acted.

 

[Deepster]

Bugonia. Daughter wanted to watch it. Stars Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller, CEO of a Pharma company. Jesse Plemons plays Teddy Gatz, who works there in shipping and who believes that Fuller is an alien, from the Andromeda galaxy. Teddy and his autistic/slow cousin Don abduct her, to force her to take them to her leader and negotiate their withdrawal from Earth. This is billed as a dark comedy but after the first 30 minutes there's way more dark than comedy. Touches on various subjects, mental illness and people destroying the environment (Teddy is a beekeeper and thinks the Andromedens are responsible for bee hives failing). Plemons is supposed to be young, but looks very rough, and aged. Stone is perfectly cast, with her gaunt features, wide mouth and huge eyes, she looks rather alien. If you want spoilers let me know. I can't quite recommend this because it's just so unpleasant. But it is well acted.

I have this one on the list for this snowy cold weekend. I'll report back. I like screwed up stories so this sounds right up my alley.

 

[nwhoopfan]

This is billed as a dark comedy but after the first 30 minutes there's way more dark than comedy.

I've long found dark comedies to be lacking the comedy part of the description.

 

[Deepster]

Bugonia (2026) - Deserves all the award attention. Still has my head replaying the first 2/3ds of the movie and trying to catch all of the bread crumbs. Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone were both A+. Tough to discuss further without spoilers.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (2026 - Hulu) - It takes the period when Springsteen wrote Nebraska and Born In the USA, basically at the same time, while coming to grips with some demons from his childhood.

It is an old school biopic that is decent. I really like the interplay of Bruce and Jon Landau, and the supporting male characters mostly support that main relationship. I don't always like Jeremy Strong, but he is excellent here, and Jeremy Allen White is quietly becoming one of the best actors of his generation. Stephen Graham always delivers, in a tough role in this case.

Some issues are that it is 20-30 minutes too long and the plot is disorganized. My biggest complaint is that the female characters are poorly written and more poorly directed. I don't remember Odessa Young before this movie, but I have seen Gaby Hoffman before, and she is a decent actress. I think her character, Bruce's mother, is poorly written and acted. I did not understand her motivation or how and why she stayed with his dad. The love interest did not need to be in the movie at all.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not (2026) - This is a really good documentary that I strongly recommend. Chevy Chase is one of the most influential and complex comedians of the last 50 years. He was critical in the success of Saturday Night Live, one of the cultural mainstays of the last half century, and his movie career was not that long lasting, but was still really impressive. Most comedies age very poorly, but many of Chase's are timeless. Ryan Reynolds admits that Chase was his role model early in his career, and he is not alone.

Chase is a jerk, and that is well documented. Chase is repeatedly insulting and rude to the interviewer of this documentary. There is a long list of people who do not like him, but many of those interviewed for this documentary present a much more complicated view of Chase. A big irony of Chase's career was that it ended during a renaissance of sorts on Community, and it ended because he thought the writing for his character was getting lazy and insulting, which was true. The press at the time presented his departure from that show very differently than it actually happened, which is unfortunate, but also probably reflects the long list of enemies that Chase has made during his life in show business.

 

[ZooCougar]

Bugonia. Daughter wanted to watch it. Stars Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller, CEO of a Pharma company. Jesse Plemons plays Teddy Gatz, who works there in shipping and who believes that Fuller is an alien, from the Andromeda galaxy. Teddy and his autistic/slow cousin Don abduct her, to force her to take them to her leader and negotiate their withdrawal from Earth. This is billed as a dark comedy but after the first 30 minutes there's way more dark than comedy. Touches on various subjects, mental illness and people destroying the environment (Teddy is a beekeeper and thinks the Andromedens are responsible for bee hives failing). Plemons is supposed to be young, but looks very rough, and aged. Stone is perfectly cast, with her gaunt features, wide mouth and huge eyes, she looks rather alien. If you want spoilers let me know. I can't quite recommend this because it's just so unpleasant. But it is well acted.

Loved this movie.

 

[Deepster]

One Battle After Another ( 2025)

Entertaining, for sure.

Nonsensical...yep.

But entertaining.

I can see Sean Penn getting an Oscar nod. DiCaprio, not really showing us anything he hasn't done before.

I watched this last night. Just curious from anyone who’s seen it.

What was the point?

 

[Dove]

I watched this last night. Just curious from anyone who’s seen it.

What was the point?

A loose reworking of a 1984 novel called "Vineland."

I think the answer is the story of rebellion, and a father's love.

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[B1GEast]

I've been watching short films made with powerful new AI tools

Some time f them are amazing

Though I would prefer to watch a film made the usual way, I think that new medium allows for storytellers to give the audience the purest view of what they originally created

Hollywood is notorious for changing scripts in order to meet financial goals, actor and director tastes and studio needs

Often times what you see on the screen is very far from the original script and story.

I think with something like unreal engine or even Midjouney, you will see films in very different way.

Hollywood Cinema is dying or probably even dead already

It's going to be a lot like YouTube, and oversaturation of viewable content, but some of that will be very good and the rest AI slop

My point is that the movie industry is changing whether we like it or not

If you're a creator, it's going to be liberating to escape from the death grip control of Hollywood