Films I Watched in September 2026

Nightcrawler (2014) ★★★★⯪

I wasn't sure how I was gonna like this one, it's always a toss up with Jake Gyllenhaal films, but I really enjoyed it. The film really sucks you in immediately. Every character is doing messed up things but each have their own self justified reasoning for it. My fave is sweet little Rick, who didn't deserve to die, he just wanted $75 a night ☹. The soundtrack for this film is also superb, it brings you fully into the scene that's unfolding in front of you. It also made me feel like I could hear Lou's thoughts as he puts together his sprawling plans in an instant.

His House (2020) ★★★★★

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu were amazing. Both of them, separately and together, absolutely acted their faces off. It was such a soul touching film. The supernatural elements were done very well, you could feel the sense of dread creeping up on you as the spirits slowly started to take over the house and their minds. 

The Whisper Man (2026) ★★★☆☆

A very middle of the road horror film, there was nothing disappointing or lacking in this film. It was just, fine. The acting is good throughout but that isn't surprising, seeing as every single actor in this film, save for the kid, is a very established name (even the kid has been in a big budget film already). The amount of star power in this cast is astounding for how mediocre this film is. Typical mediocre Netflix.

Films I Watched in July + August 2026

Obsession (2026) ★★★★★

I watched this so late compared to literally everyone else so it was partially spoiled for me. I really enjoyed this film. I think possession in horror is really overdone, but the way it's used in Obsession is really cool. Having an entity who's only desire is to please you, even to the detriment of itself and everyone around it, is really interesting. I also loved the practical effects, I think they worked way better, and looked way more brutal, than any kind of digital effects they could have done. The fact that it was a completely fresh cast with no known names was also amazing! This is something I bring up every time I watch a new release, all my friends are sick of hearing me say it. We need more new faces, unknown actors, I am sick of watching a film and not being able to be immersed in the experience because I know all of the actors from a million other films.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) ★★★★★

Oh my god, wow. This film was fabulous. Even though it's a classic, I had no idea what it was going to be like. All I knew was aliens. But it's more about humans, discovery, and connection, more than it has anything to do with aliens. Again, I loved the effects throughout this film, especially the big, red, ominous clouds that hang over Jillian's house after Barry is taken, and when Roy's car gets lifted and flipped when the ships are first seen. And of course the last 35 minutes are just perfection. That whole final sequence, I felt completely captivated by everything going on. This is a film I could have watched all over again, immediately.

Films I Watched in June 2026

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) ★★★★★

So watching Project Hail Mary did kick start the process of me watching quite a few Ryan Gosling films. This film... This film is stunning. As a person who is weird, does not like to be touched, and is socially inept, Lars is a beautifully curated character. I could see his mounting struggles in each of the mannerisms that Gosling portrayed. I have no idea how it has ever been labelled as a Comedy, I felt that this was a deep exploration into social norms, intimacy, grief, empathy, and understanding. I especially loved seeing how deciding to help Lars, and by extension Bianca, changed Gus for the better. I think the scene of them both in the kitchen talking about "being a man", is just lovely. I love this film.

Demolition (2015) ★★★⯪☆

This was a film night pick from my brother. It isn't the type of thing I would usually go for, but I had fun watching it. This is a Jake Gyllenhaal film so, of course, his character is having a horrible time. It is a bit of a Man-Learns-Empathy film, lots of dead wife shots, in combination with a lot of slow, panning shots of New York. The little gay 14 year old was the best part of this film, all of his very gay outfits made me laugh. 

The Nice Guys (2016) ★★★★⯪

Watching this literally 10 years late, I now understand why everyone wanted a sequel. I really enjoyed the whole thing, I think all the characters came together really well, and the silly shenanigans they encountered worked well with the over-the-top murder mystery they were trying to solve. The costuming was also amazing in this film, all of the different outfits they wore looked so good and fit each of the characters really well, both literally and style wise. 

Supergirl (2026) ★★★★☆

This was a highly anticipated film for me this year, I absolutely loved Superman (2025) so I couldn't wait to see more from that universe. I liked seeing more of Kara's time on Krypton, how witnessing the death of her family and her people followed her to Earth, impacted how she viewed Clark and his self imposed heroic duty, and how it shaped her into who she was when we see her at the start of the film. I think the child bride snatching, only male, mercenary race was maybe a bit too much but I guess Superman was sent to Earth to colonise us in the last film so maybe it's actually right on for the DC universe. I can't wait to see more of this version of Kara now that she's settled on Earth.

Films I Watched in May 2026

The Truman Show (1998) ★★★★⯪

Another classic that I have somehow never watched. Obviously, I knew all about this film before sitting down to actually watch it, and of course I loved it. Jim Carrey was fantastic at playing a character who is slowly losing his mind, as he always is. I watched this with my little brother and he really enjoyed it too. It was a little weird to try to explain to a kid that the town Truman is living in is fake and pointing out where all the hidden cameras are. I don't think it hits as hard as it did in 1998, cause... there are cameras everywhere now and everyone is always being recorded nowadays.

Project Hail Mary (2026) ★★★★★

A film I will forever wish I got to see in theatres. The visuals are amazing and so are the characters. I like how limited the cast is. I know we spend most of the film with just Rocky and Grace, but even in the Earth flashbacks, there is only a handful of characters we meet in Grace's memories. It makes each of them feel more impactful to the plot and how Grace remembers himself and his mission. I also think it adds to the isolation Grace feel throughout, not only is he alone, but he's so disconnected that he only has this little capsule of memories that are themselves separate from the rest of Earth's population. The people he does remember are all either dead or living on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Insolation upon isolation.

Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D (2026) ★★★★★

Watching this was like experiencing the concert all over again. I find any live music very moving so I was crying all throughout watching this. I shouldn't be surprised really, when I saw Billie on tour in Manchester last year, the song that got me to start crying was Lunch, not even a sad song! I once cried at a performance of The Four Seasons, so I guess anything can set me off. I will say, I didn't think the 3D element was going to be necessary, but all the wide shots of the audience behind Billie on stage did make it feel more immersive, so I don't think it went completely unutilised.

Green Vinyl (2004) ★★★★☆

I saw this short film in the MUBI tent at The Hay Festival, along with the next two films as well. I love the format of this film, the sort of stop motion look, along with the disjointed audio, really added to the eerie feel. This kind of reminded me of a childhood bedtime story, a little tale that wasn't intended to be scary, but your childish imagination twists it until it becomes something so horrifying, you have to stop yourself from thinking about it at night. It's a very simple narrative, bare bones, but is very evocative.

Incoherence (1994) ★★★★⯪

This is a vignette, four section short film, by Bong Joon Ho. I liked it a lot, but one of my friends did not like it at all, which I found interesting. I think my favourite section was the second, where an old man is on a morning run in a residential area, and on his way past a house, he steals some milk that had just been delivered, and then a newspaper straight from the paperboy by lying and saying he's the resident of the house behind him. He then spends the rest of his screen time running from said paperboy after he gets in trouble for supposedly stealing the milk from the house he was delivering the paper to. I liked the sped up shots of them running and then the slow panning shots to the alley where they then appear next. You can watch it here on YouTube with English subtitles.

Zama (2017) ★★★⯪☆

I couldn't weigh in on the historical accuracies of this film, but I can say it was one of the most immersive films I've ever watched. Every single thing, from the costumes to the sets to the scenery, felt like it was pulled straight out of the 18th century. Another layer to this immersion is that I watched this during the first heat wave we had in the UK this year, so it felt as though I had been pulled into the inescapable heat that is depicted on screen. It's a very slow film, but the main character, Zama, spends the whole film waiting for one thing or another, which would allow him to finally leave Argentina, so I do think that's the point.

Backrooms (2026) ★★★★★

I have been a massive fan of Kane Pixels' Backrooms since about October of 2022, when I first discovered his YouTube series about the Backrooms. This was one of the first things that really got me into horror as a genre. I was obsessed with the found footage medium at the time, as I then went on to watch Marble Hornets, Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and it's three progressively worse prequels. I loved the YouTube series dearly and was very excited when I first heard about the film deal Kane made with A24. I saw the film two days after release with absolutely no spoilers ahead of time, which I'm honestly surprised I pulled off. I loved the film, I think it was a great expansion of what the YouTube series set up, with a more fleshed out and resolute vision that works for the film format. I loved all the characters. This is another film with a very small cast, which I think works well against the infinite, sprawling architecture of the Backrooms. It makes it feel even more massive, as well as making you feel even smaller in your singularity as you watch. I liked the loose references to the YouTube series in the film. There were certain scenes where, from watching the YouTube videos, I had a good idea of the direction the scene was gonna go, but was still surprised by the eventual outcome. It felt more like a nudge nudge in joke, instead of a shot for shot scene taken straight from the YouTube series, which would have stood out from the rest of the film. I like the idea of the Still Lifes that we see at the end, but they did sort of feel like an excuse to have a Big Bad and a chase scene. Like, it's a really cool idea, but I can see how they already had the starting point of The Lifeform from the YouTube series, and had to sort of work backwards to come up with Captain Clark. I feel the same way about including Async now that I think about it. Of course, I do want the sciencey/ research element to be included, but with how the first 80% of the film is formed with Clark at the forefront, it felt like Async was only included because it was already there and they thought people would be pissed if it wasn't in the film. Overall though, I absolutely loved this film and can't wait to see what Kane does next.

Films I Watched in April 2026

Bruce Almighty (2003) ★★★☆☆

I had somehow never seen this film until now. Even though I have seen it's much less culturally significant sequel, Evan Almighty (2007) many times. I don't often enjoy comedies, but I do like the fact that this whole thing is just to make fun of religion. And I liked the wacky ways in which they depict God and his holy abilities. The everything-is-perfectly-white-and-empty depiction of holy places always works for me.

Sinners (2025) ★★★★⯪

I will always love a vampire film, whether the vampires are the protagonists or the villains, it doesn't matter to me.  All the characters felt real, in general this film felt very real compared to other vampire films. Aside from the fantasy of vampires and magic music that is. I also love how much personality all the characters have, all their decisions and morals feel grounded in what we learn about each of them.

Marmalade (2024) ★★★★☆

This layout of film is always a delight. The format of plot recap via an in-story character, as well as the overall campness of the film, reminds me of films like A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). I love how the whole first half of the film is a recap from Baron, and as he's narrating it, it's from the POV of Otis' imagination, where the details change as Baron describes all of them, like Marmalade's hair changing from bright red to pink. The only thing that took me out of the film is the terrible wig they had Joe Keery wear for almost the whole film. You're telling me he couldn't grow his hair out 5 inches between filming stranger things?

The Drama (2026) ★★★★⯪

This is one of the first films in a long time where I went in having seen absolutely no spoilers. I had hardly even seen the trailer for this before I went to see it at the cinema. I saw it in a small theatre, which actually worked really well for this film, as I got to hear everyone's reactions throughout, there are a lot of reveals in this film so it was really cool to hear everyone have the same reactions as me. All the actors did a great job, especially in the awkward and very emotionally erratic scenes. Even though this is more of a Robert Pattinson focused film, Zendaya steals the spotlight of every scene she's in, her character, Emma is the most striking character of the film. I like how they show Charlie's many spiralling thoughts as the film goes on, with his imagination spilling into the real world, making us unsure what is real and what is in his head. 

Films I Watched in January - March 2026

Wake Up Dead Man (2025) ★★★★★

I love this film. All the visuals were amazing and really stepped up in the moments of revelation, as well as in all the flash backs. The pacing was great and, as with all the Knives Out films, the time line reveals worked perfectly. Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc was as fantastic as ever. I appreciate that, despite this film being completely entrenched in religious fanfare, Blanc is a staunch non-believer, completely set in his views that religion is, at it's core, a load of bullshit. Even when he has his final revelation and tells Jud to do what you were born to do; Be her priest, he is moved, but he is not swayed into believing. All the secondary characters were also great. They are all so ridiculously horrible, it completes the absolute campness of these films.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) ★★★★☆

I had somehow never watched this trilogy and finally got round to watching the first two in September of last year. I will say, I liked the second one the most out of all of them, which I guess is in agreement with everyone else, just 14 years late. I got round to finishing the trilogy in March. I really enjoyed it, but this last one does drag on a bit. Also, the big reveal at the end about Talia Al Ghul was ruined for me because of Joey King and her bald head, being the child actor in the flash back scenes climbing out of The Pit. My assumption is that in 2012, she wasn't a known little girl actor, so that made the child's identity more ambiguous and easily assumed by audiences to be Bane. That doesn't really work as well in 2026 when, the moment she popped up on screen, I said "That's Joey King. I know her."