Movies I Wanna See Most: 2026

I haven't really put together a proper "Most Anticipated" list in several years, but this year it has served as something of a much needed reprieve from everything else going on in life. Typically, I would feel rushed to post something like this immediately after the new year, but being able to comb through the 2026 calendar, discover projects I had no idea about prior, and contemplate what many of these titles might turn out like has made me really hopeful about what I can look forward to at the theater this year. Sure, movie-going is in a bigger state of flux than it's ever been in my lifetime and as much as the future of not just cinema but moreso - the cinemas - is unknown, it feels deeply difficult not to celebrate movies in the moment and be excited about where the trends and turns of the industry might take us next. 

That all to say, it was quite difficult whiddling this list down to only ten titles given some of the huge releases slated for this year. The hardest cut was undoubtedly Avengers: Doomsday given I'm naturally excited to see what that film turns out to be, but after seven years of what has become an on/off and at times oversaturated relationship with the MCU, there is more anxiety around the latest Marvel Studios release than there is necessarily excitement. Other tough cuts include new films from Gore Verbinski, Andrew Stanton, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Robert Eggers, Sam Raimi, Emerald Fennell, Ruben Östlund, David Lowery, Ridley Scott, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Boots Riley, Nicolas Winding Refn, Olivia Wilde, Zach Cregger, and Greta Gerwig. That's a wide range of types of filmmakers, many who are attempting something different than what they've done in the past - whether that be in genre, budget, or adaptation - but the truth of the matter is that each of their styles and/or past films have given whatever they touch going forward an immediate air of intrigue.

TRAP Review

I once had a literature professor who'd also served as the mayor of the small town I was attending community college in. Besides the lessons on William Blake, I don't remember much from the class, but of the many anecdotes the professor told the one I am reminded of most was about how, when he was mayor, a detective met him at city hall and commented on how he knew he was neither a corrupt politician nor serial killer because his office was so unorganized. Please understand this was in 2006, so before Dexter premiered, and before my Friday nights consisted of consuming episodes of 48 Hours as a way to decompress. That is to say, this felt like such an insight at the time. The professor would go on to note how the detective told him a favorable statistic showing that more often than not these people in positions of great risk were obsessive about the state of the world they crafted not only so they had the right boxes checked should said world ever be questioned but because psychologically their impulses wouldn't let them operate in any other way. And so, while the overly obsessive, neat-freak of a serial killer is a somewhat tired trope in 2024 M. Night Shyamalan's Trap utilizes it to great effect in the most Shyamalan of ways by clearly telegraphing the film's themes and intentions almost immediately while at the same time possessing something of an unidentifiable spirit that both suggests and reassures to inquiring viewers that there's more going on than meets the eye. 

What's great about Trap is its seeming disregard for harboring any kind of notion that it needs to sport a signature Shyamalan twist. Given the trailers there was something of an expectation that there might be more to the set-up and there is, to a certain extent, but it puts all of its cards on the table early with the appeal of the film largely resting on this brilliant, four-quadrant set-up. Sure, the movie is also something of a soft launch for Shyamalan's daughter's music career, but this is largely "The Josh Hartnett Show" and with the pre-release narratives established around not only Hartnett's comeback but the buzzy premise and the hope the director might deliver a late-summer surprise all indicators pointed to Trap being a major touchpoint in pop culture this year even if it ended up as one of M. Night's more minor works. Fortunately, Trap is more interesting because of how it unfolds rather than only because of what happens in the final moments which, while likely disappointing for some, will seemingly ensure the enduring qualities of the movie as a whole for much longer than if Shyamalan were solely banking on a build-up and reveal. As stated in the marketing, this is an experience through and through, an experience that represents the writer/director crafting what is almost the antithesis of what we've come to expect from him in that as far as instead of looking for clues to piece together a puzzle we're simply looking for the next logical step that might allow both us and Hartnett's killer to escape for a little longer.

First Trailer For M. Night Shyamalan’s AFTER EARTH

Everything about this production would seem to hint at it being another solid hit and another solid entry in the Will Smith sci-fi canon. As with Pursuit of Happyness Smith co-stars with his son Jaden in After Earth. The story sounds engaging enough, but after yesterdays premiere of Oblivion it is hard not to compare the two. Too bad visually the Tom Cruise vehicle looks worlds ahead of this over reliance (hopefully unfinished) on CGI and the Fresh Prince doing something different with his performance. I am a huge fan of Smith and because of that I will stand watching his son again, but am concerned because Jaden seems to have much more screen time than his father and two because it is directed by M. Night Shyamalan. They give no credit to the director in the trailer which is noteworthy as the filmmaker has not had a hit since 2002. I am hesitant to get too excited over the film for this reason alone. Still, there is reason to be optimistic as Shyamalan did not pen the script for this film as he usually does but instead After Earth has been put together by Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana) and Gary Whitta (The Book Of Eli). With this bit of hope along with the charisma of Smith I can only hope this turns out to be more I am Legend than Men In Black II. After Earth is set to hit theaters June 7, 2013.