Films you've seen in 2026

Norma Rae (1979)

UNION! UNION! UNION!

Sally Field won the Oscar as the title character who tries to get her fellow cotton mill workers out in the sticks to unionise, with the task placing strain on her personal & workplace relationships. Still riveting, still relevant - maybe more than ever with union membership a distant fantasy for most in the private sector. Properly good & something so unlikely to be made now.
 
Made In Heaven (1987)

Timothy Hutton dies, meets his painter aunt in the afterlife & falls for 'new soul' Kelly McGillis while getting used to things, before returning to Earth to try find her when she leaves. I was way more interested in the concepts of Heaven itself & how it all works than the airy-fairy romance. I'm TEAM PAINTER AUNT - stay in the afterlife, do creative stuff, chill out, watch the entirety of Prisoner Cell Block H, etc etc :disco:
 
Departures (2025]

Queer drama with a couple who meet up once a month in Amsterdam after initially meeting in a departure lounge. There’s someone from Hollyoaks as eye candy.
 
Kalifornia (1993)

Hicks Brad Pitt & Juliette Lewis cadge a ride out of state with yuppies David Duchovny & Michelle Forbes when it becomes apparent that one of them is a serial killer. That's either good or bad luck for Dave & Mich depending how you look at it as they're researching a book on serial killers. Foreboding from the start & even more frightening as it feels like it could conceivably happen, with a bonus point for a gratuitous Dave arse shot.
 
Mission: Impossible (1996)

I'd never seen a single film in this franchise, not even this blockbuster original. Brian De Palma films can be hit or miss for me, but he's well suited to the material here, with all the glam, gadgetry & a stunningly tense centrepiece scene. The basic plot is nothing new, but that's no mind when it's as slick & entertaining as this. Tom Cruise was on a real roll at this point of his career.
 
Griffin in Summer (2024)

A companion piece to Welcome to the dollhouse - Imagine if Dawn was a 14 year old precocious playwright called Griffin who has a summer crush on the local handyman whilst writing and producing his latest play 'Regrets in Autumn'.
 
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Just finished rewatching this. I always thought and still do think the first half really isn't all that but the final act more than makes up for it. I think I was actually smiling during that. Definitely some rewatch value there as it's difficult to catch everything that's happening in one viewing.
 
By Design - 2025

Juliette Lewis falls in love with a gorgeous chair and then her soul enters it.

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heavily niche and stylised and not to all tastes, but oddly touching and the script is quite imaginative. Melanie Griffiths' voiceover is fabulous. I feel @jivafox might enjoy!
 
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Quite extraordinarily wholesome for a film about a man and a sex doll :D
 
Oh don't dig too deep into the moopy annals, it's practically a trademark.

No, I'm actually excited to reconsider this.
 
Retreat (2011)

This had enough suspense and acting but some of it made no sense and Jamie Bell was way too distractingly hot for that role.
 
Send Help (2026)

How is there no thread for this??? This was awesome. Love Sam Raimi. Was slightly disappointed I couldn't root for HER the same way anymore after a certain 'incident' but you know what? Fuck it. She had to do what she had to do. Slay queen etc. Also the puking scene had me laughing out loud.
 
OutSynk said:
Send Help (2026)

How is there no thread for this??? This was awesome. Love Sam Raimi. Was slightly disappointed I couldn't root for HER the same way anymore after a certain 'incident' but you know what? Fuck it. She had to do what she had to do. Slay queen etc. Also the puking scene had me laughing out loud.
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I dunno, was rooting for her the whole time. It was like a way more entertaining Triangle of Sadness.
 
The Skin I Live In - 2011, Almodovar

I finally got around to this. oh my god. a rare 5 star affair. the way I GASPED when the narratives merged and the twist revealed itself :o could've been trashy but everything was so beautifully seductive. also hurrah for COLOUR in a thriller! the house was lush. one I will return to.

A+
 
Jark said:
The Skin I Live In - 2011, Almodovar

I finally got around to this. oh my god. a rare 5 star affair. the way I GASPED when the narratives merged and the twist revealed itself :o could've been trashy but everything was so beautifully seductive. also hurrah for COLOUR in a thriller! the house was lush. one I will return to.

A+
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Ohh I haven't seen this one since it came out and I LOVED it back then. Definitely on the watchlist this week! Ta for the reminder!
 
Colour of Night (1994)

Amazing! Ticked every box I would want for a trashy 90s erotic thriller. Utter nonsense and even at 2.5 hours it didn't outstay its welcome.
 
Shirley said:
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Quite extraordinarily wholesome for a film about a man and a sex doll :D
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I just stumbled across this by chance a few months back and really enjoyed it
 
jivafox said:
Colour of Night (1994)

Amazing! Ticked every box I would want for a trashy 90s erotic thriller. Utter nonsense and even at 2.5 hours it didn't outstay its welcome.
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I watched it for the Bruce Willis full frontal & arse scenes of course but OMG the ending is amongst the most ludicrous things I've EVER SEEN :D
 
Midsommar (2019)

This turned out to be garbage once I realized it's going nowhere, is just weird for the sake of being weird and I just stopped caring about anything. Beautiful cinematography though, I'll give it that and I got a few chuckles out of it (don't know if it was meant to be funny).
 
Obsession (2026)

STAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Fucking brilliant, horror is my least watched genre but this had me hooked
 
big ron said:
Obsession (2026)

STAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Fucking brilliant, horror is my least watched genre but this had me hooked
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Sorry, I will NEVER understand the popularity of this absolute mid-movie. Even that shitty Evil Dead Rise was better. Hell, all of those carbon copy exorcism films were more entertaining.
 
Ellie said:
Sorry, I will NEVER understand the popularity of this absolute mid-movie. Even that shitty Evil Dead Rise was better. Hell, all of those carbon copy exorcism films were more entertaining.
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I love how much you hate Obsession! :D
I'll never rewatch this, if I want to see much better takes on this (highly unoriginal, even though everyone seems to think it's totally unique and original!) story I'll watch Buffy's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and Him (and Tabula Rasa, which is also in the same wheelhouse). Or that one episode from The Twilight Zone.
 
jivafox said:
Love that Ellie is OBSESSED with Obsession despite not even finishing it.
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I think this is the last I’ll say on the matter. The online discourse over this being some profoundly original phenomenon is just baffling.

I just find it weird. It’s like watching a random Fast & Furious film and calling it pioneering for the Action genre. And while the Paranormal Activity films for example are equally low budget but highly profitable, that’s how a lot of Horror films and franchises have worked for decades. Some hit, some don’t.
 
I think that’s just it, some films hit and some don’t and it’s sometimes bewildering.

I remember the jizz fest when The Conjuring came out like it was some game changer and it was just another haunted house jump scare fest with a daft possession scene at the end. See also: Insidious.
 
The Evil Dead (1981)

Another horror all-timer ticked off the list, as 5 teens stay at a cabin in the woods, awaken some vengeful spirits & settle in for a night of blood, beheadings & jump scares. Yes, it's obviously made on a very limited budget but for all that it does an effective job, the make-up in particular still a standout, it's got creepiness, gore & just enough lore, it's influenced a million films since & Bruce Campbell as Ash is a HOT HORROR HERO. That tree sequence, though... both ill advised & rather PROBLEMATIQUE.
 
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Video game adaptations are usually in for a critical mauling & this was no exception. Angelina Jolie has the Croft look down to a T, & although this is as brainless & nonsensical as you'd expect, sometimes you're just in the mood for something like that full of action, artefacts & ass kicking & it's got every one of those elements.
 
It Ends (2025)

A group of friends end up driving on a never-ending highway. Calling it a horror movie is really pushing it but considering how little happened it managed to hold my attention quite well so it must have done something right.
 
Natural Born Killers (1994)

Kind of a companion piece to Kalifornia, right down to Juliette Lewis being more a manic, unhinged version of her character in that, although this is way more surreal with all sorts of odd bits & pieces, including Trent Reznor's unsettling soundtrack - probably the best thing about the film. There was a media storm about this film "glorifying murder" back then, it's actually more of a commentary on how the media hypes up & even eggs on this sort of thing for ratings. That's all aged very well, but as an actual slice of entertainment, it was bleh, I'm afraid.
 
Ellie said:
I think this is the last I’ll say on the matter. The online discourse over this being some profoundly original phenomenon is just baffling.

I just find it weird. It’s like watching a random Fast & Furious film and calling it pioneering for the Action genre. And while the Paranormal Activity films for example are equally low budget but highly profitable, that’s how a lot of Horror films and franchises have worked for decades. Some hit, some don’t.
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It was more the acting that made it for me.
 
Dark Habits (1983)

Pedro Almodóvar directing a film about heroin addicted lesbian nuns sounds like a surefire WINNING COMBINATION but despite the expected quirky scenes & characters, it's flawed due to being bankrolled by a bloke who insisted his girlfriend be given the lead role as a nightclub singer - she's a poor actress though, & it shows in every scene. Pedro tries to get around this by focusing on the nuns as much as possible, but it's a fatal hole in the film's fabric that nothing can mend. This is absolutely SCREAMING for a remake.
 
La Grazia (2025)

Just my CUP OF TEA although I did guess who was KNOCKING OFF AURORA
 
Gone Girl (2014)

Seen it twice before, rewatched for Film Club. Gripping & twisty, with Rosamund Pike stunning in the title role & David Fincher the ideal director for this sort of material. I only wish I'd read the book before seeing it, as that's very much a work of 2 halves & I wonder if the structure would have brought further surprises if I'd not known how things were going to go.
 
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