- MUBI Fest 2026: Better Together (July 15, 2026)
MUBI Fest returned to Chicago for the third time this year with its most varied and robust line-up yet, further cementing it as an art powerhouse that thieves in creating films in conversation with cinema canon. That Chicago remains the only place in the United States to host this event is a testament to the Windy City as a premier destination not just for cinema but for the arts at large.
Like past year’s MUBI Fests, this year’s iteration anchored its programming around a theme, and I couldn’t help but be moved by the choice: Better Together. A MUBI release was often paired with a non-MUBI film that acted as a cinematic sibling. Some pairings came from the filmmakers themselves, such as “My Father’s Shadow” being programmed alongside “Monster,” as director Akinola Davis Jr. has cited Hirokazu Kore-eda as his favorite director. Others were rooted in thematic questions; “Why do the people we love the most drive us insane?” reads the descriptor for the 25th anniversary screening of Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” which was linked with a sneak peek screening of Karim Aïnouz’s “Rosebush Pruning.”
Per the programmers’ intentions, the connected films could both “reflect and refract,” “echo or complicate” each other, but the belief was that, at the end of the day, the films were better when viewed together. I have no problem seeing films as being in dialogue, but to say that two films could be greater than the sum of their parts was a bold statement; I was excited to put that theory to the test.
One facet worth mentioning is that there was a longer build-up to this year’s film programming with several other activations and events happening throughout the week. My favorite was a “Happy Dipping Sauce Hour.” Hosted at The Brewed coffee shop, people could go for free finger foods, signature dipping sauces, and specially themed drinks that highlighted the weekend line-up. Food and movie collaborations can often feel tacky, but there was a deep synergy in the offerings here. On a scorching Chicago day, for example, it was refreshing to sip on a drink inspired by “The Substance,” which had matcha, lime, mint, and sparkling water; it looked very much like the sickly green activator in Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film of the same name.
The event was also a clever nod to one of the most anticipated film premieres of the festival: Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” which might be the first film with the honor of using dipping sauces as an aphrodisiac (or at least, KFC’s honey mustard and buffalo). Music Box Theater audiences are always generous in their engagement, but there was something special about not being able to hear the present dialogue because people were laughing at a joke from three beats prior. If “I Saw the TV Glow” was about how queer people find solace, home, and safety in media, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is the next step in that idea, asking how to interrogate that media post-rebirth (or more personally in Schoenbrun’s case, post-transition). It’s a haunting, beautiful, and hilarious film that felt special to experience with a group of moviegoers who were on board with Schoenbrun’s spasmodic wavelength.
The night continued with “Sleepaway Camp,” which feels both too on the nose (in the best way) and makes perfect sense to pair with Schoenbrun’s film. MUBI Fest made a space for engaging with it in its own right, thanks to drag performer Peaches Christ, her co-host of the Midnight Mass podcast, Michael Varrati, and star of the film Felissa Rose, doing a Q&A before the film that explored the film in the context of the queer slasher canon. It’s one of the many examples of the festival not being afraid to program projects that might be challenging by providing a scaffolding with which to hold those conversations.
In addition to a live performance from the Current Joys and Delroy Edwards, day two of MUBI Fest featured two interactive experiences that elevated already stellar films. At the Salt Shed, attendees got to experience a scratch ‘n sniff edition of “The Substance,” accompanied by a punch card to scratch and smell when the corresponding number appeared on screen. The screening was a great way to keep audiences engaged, and only solidified how watching movies in a theater is a sacred act of community; I’ll never forget the moment we saw Dennis Quaid’s character chewing on shrimp up close, and I witnessed everyone methodically raise their cards to smell the scent.
I had somehow gone my whole life having never seen “Popstar: Never Stop Popping,” and I’ll forever cherish that my first experience of this masterpiece was in the context of a sing-along event. Attendees were gifted flags and light-up sticks and encouraged to sing all of Lonely Island’s outlandish lyrics with musical abandon. Witnessing the crowd, with their imperfect pitch and infectious enthusiasm ringing through the theater, I’m fully convinced I’ll never see a better concert.
I am grateful to MUBI Fest for giving me a new way to document time because I now will exclusively think about my life as “before I saw Rob Mazurek and The Mastermind quartet perform live” and “after I saw Rob Mazurek and The Mastermind quartet perform live” (should any reader come up with a snappier abbreviation, sound off below. I had seen and loved “The Mastermind” prior but seeing it with Mazurek and his coterie (Victoria Vieira-Branco on vibraphone, Joey Sullivan on drums, and John Moran on Bass and Mazurek on the trumpet) made it feel like I was almost watching a different movie.
Kelly Reichardt’s slow-burn heist film is already understated, with Mazurek’s score giving the film a jolt of energy just when you think the temperature has been turned too low, but hearing it live only made the silences deeper and the cacophony more vociferous. This was paired with a screening of Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” and if “The Mastermind” was ever going to feel like an “Oceans” film, it would be thanks to Mazurek and his team performing the score live. Truly, the glee I felt witnessing the score in the theater rivaled only that of when a heist gets successfully pulled off.
For Mazurek, playing in the Music Box Theater felt like his own homecoming. “I moved to Chicago in 1983, and, soon after, ‘84-85, found the Music Box,” he told RogerEbert.com, “The Music Box opened my world up to foreign film, the great American canon of film.” The sound was tightly integrated into the experience, and for Mazurek, performing meant there were opportunities for him to add flourishes in real time. “The overall shape and timings for the thing were spot on. We used a little more improvisation in this performance, but in subtle ways. For the second solo trumpet section, when Josh O’Connor’s Mooney gets on the bus, I had John hit a few tones on the bass just for a slight variation. And of course, for the end credits we hit it a little harder and floated a melody that was composed for the film but was not used.”
As energizing as Mazurek’s score is, per Reichardt’s films, there are long stretches where the film is also silent. For Mazurek and his team, not just watching the film but actively participating in it unlocked a new appreciation for a film he told me he’s seen “at least one hundred times.” “The silence in this film was as important and strong as the soundtrack itself. Nothing was trying to make you feel a certain way. It just was … the quartet and I were mesmerized by her painterly shots, sublime pacing, and ability to slow down and take in the beauty of Chris Blauvelt’s amazing cinematography. I can tell you one thing: we weren’t smoking between scenes!,” he shared.
I was already a fan of Alex Russell’s “Lurker” and crowned it the #1 film of the year on my personal top ten and was delighted to hear that a special 35mm screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center acted as the closing film for the festival. In the year since its release, its musings on the relationship between love and obsession, the ways people will hollow themselves out for a taste of the spotlight, and its interrogation of the toxic power dynamics within male friendship circles seem only more pertinent in our parasocial age.
Speaking with me before the film’s Q&A, Russell waxed poetic about “Popstar: Never Stop Popping,” which “Lurker” was paired with. There are some surface-level connections in that both films are about the entourages that surround pop stars, but Russell found a deeper, more tender thread of DNA. “A lot of Lonely Island comedy is about two deadpan guys singing to each other about these excuses they have to not hang out with each other. Their work revolves around guys who don’t know how to talk to each other; that very much speaks to ‘Lurker.’”
As much as “Lurker” may be a cautionary tale about fandom, in the year since its release, Russell touchingly reflects on the beauty of pursuing passion and being unapologetic about what you enjoy. “I think it actually is really cool to be a fan and to openly love things and express your appreciation for things because as much as it’s shown in movies that people don’t appreciate that, it is appreciated,” he shared. He also offers an interesting thought that as much as our parasocial age is primed to want to know the ins and outs of the people we’re obsessed with, there’s still beauty in mystique. “As you get older, you realize everyone is a person, and there’s something nice about the mystique that you can have between yourself and somebody you’re a fan of. Your view of them is not going to get better than it is as a teen with a poster on your wall. It’s kind of the same as having a crush. That in itself is something to cherish, and even sort of the yearning for familiarity with someone that you project so much can only ruin things.”
The Q&A post-screening was also among the best I’ve seen, thanks to Russell’s humor and willingness to be present with those who had come out for the screening. When given the cue to wrap, Russell advocated for more time, saying, “The film is streaming on two separate platforms. I feel like if you guys came out for this, then you want to talk, and I want to talk because I came to Chicago for this.” I’d like to think we all left the screening with a deeper awareness of how to be better fans of the people around us.
As I anticipate what a future version of MUBI Fest could be, I’m grateful for another lesson the festival imparted: that viewings don’t exist in a vacuum, and that writing about them should acknowledge, in some form, the context with which you watched it. So often when reviewing, I strive for objectivity but attending MUBI Fest made me consider that maybe there’s space in criticism to acknowledge the many factors that go into viewing and watching a film. What makes each viewing of a film so special is that it is either implicitly or explicitly engaging with not just what’s going on in my own life, but the things I may have seen before. There’s a power in acknowledging that, and now I attend each viewing with a certain excited curiosity: how might what I see not just be evaluated on its own merits, but be speaking to what I saw the night before? I leave MUBI Fest not just more cultured but also more attuned to the wondrous commonalities that may exist across cinema as a whole.
- KVIFF 2026: Fruit Gathering, Incinerator, 3 Weeks After (July 14, 2026)
My final dispatch of KVIFF features some heavy hitters. There’s the Crystal Globe winner, the festival’s top prize. There are also two coming-of-age stories about how kind the world can be and how unflinchingly harsh it actually is. Each work is led by a lonely, misunderstood protagonist whose mental health is at stake. They’re all deeply beautiful films to look at too, featuring some of the best photography and sense of place and mood of the festival.
There’s a foreboding, dreamlike quality to “Fruit Gathering,” writer/director Aung Phyoe’s feature directorial debut, which won the Crystal Globe. The queer film’s imaginative feeling doesn’t offer unwavering bliss, but a stoppage in time, in life, and in romance.
Set in Yangon, Myanmar, the film concerns San Kyi (a spontaneous Nandar Myat Aung), a seamstress at an overcrowded garment factory who becomes emotionally entangled with a new hire: Theint (an observant Nandar Myint Lwin). The pair forms a fast bond that borders on parasitic. San Kyi envisions Theint as her ticket toward independence, away from her domineering mother and her ill grandmother. Conversely, to Theint, San Kyi’s steady presence suggests a financial lifeline and a kind ear to be used when necessary and discarded when convenient.
Phyoe harvests great rewards from this dynamic when he narrows his focus on San Kyi and Thient’s turbulent relationship. Eloquently composed shots of a sensorial Yangon that stretch on for an eternity are juxtaposed with San Kyi’s stolen glances of Theint; patient pans across intimately small rooms and sensual tilts down lithe bodies run counter to the cavernous sterile confines of factory life. Cinematographer Thaid Dhi’s visual acumen heightens the Sirkian tension between San Kyi’s desires and Thient’s limits, allowing the film to stretch beyond this romance to explore further themes.
Unfortunately, “Fruit Gathering” moves with less assuredness outside of its central relationship. Phyoe gestures to the necessity of worker solidarity under exploitative conditions, showing how San Kyi’s reticence to sign a petition is emblematic of why unionization efforts struggle to gain momentum. But he can’t do more than finger-wag. Similarly, Phyoe attempts to contrast the urban and the rural through dream sequences that at once elucidate San Kyi’s painful past and her ideal future of picking mangos with Thient. By never fully embracing a Thoreauvian fantasy, Phyoe wrestles through several complexities about where and how queerness can thrive.
Consequently, when “Fruit Gathering” aims for the intimate, Phyoe’s vision finds clarity in the collision of obsession and care. And while he does waver in translating the broader themes that interest him, he remains committed enough to this beautifully shot, longingly acted queer romance to plant its seeds deep within one’s memory.
Told with similarly deliberate pacing, Shuntaro Uchida’s visually evocative coming-of-age film “Incinerator,” an adaptation of Kaori Ekuni’s same-titled short story, takes place over an endless summer experienced by a reserved nine-year-old, Kozue (Karin). The young girl has a shaky family life: her father Kenji (Takuma Nagao) is a ne’er-do-well musician bordering on an alcoholic; her mother Yoko (Akiko Kikuchi) works heavy hours in a bookstore to support the family; her grandmother is ill in the hospital. Kozue’s only place to let off steam is the incinerator located at the back of her school. While the crucible was installed to burn disused papers, Kozue placed objects in it that she connected with bad memories.
Her world is brightened, however, when Jinta (Taikia Shinozuka), an equally reserved university student, visits her school to perform a shadowplay. While the vibrant mix of lush colored backgrounds and black silhouettes excites Kozue, she’s equally enthralled by an attentive Jinta. She develops a crush on him. Their unrequited friendship—Jinta, of course, treats her as a little sister—gives Kozue greater confidence to express herself.
Though “Incinerator” runs at 97 minutes, it’s certainly not a brisk watch. That’s intentional. Uchida and his editor, Takaki Yokohama, rely on long takes whose meditative expressions recall how children experience the world, not in a blinding rush but as a seemingly never-ending desire to finally grow up. Uchida, nevertheless, never speeds up Kozue’s clock, so to speak. In fact, as the film continues, he and Yokohama almost appear to elongate their takes, as though to visually tell Kozue to literally slow down. In that way, “Incinerator” often recalls Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir,” a film similarly concerned with giving a young girl cinematic space to live, grieve, and grow.
Uchida and his cinematographer Shin Yonekura also craft immersive pastoral scenes, such as a motorbike ride between Jinta and Kozue out to nowhere, to suggest the slower pace necessary for Kozue’s survival into adulthood. Karin shoulders this distant character with a similarly assured process, suggesting Kozue’s myriad disappointments without relying on loud dialogue. Instead, every emotion—from petulance to sadness—arises from Karin’s slightly bent posture and her dynamic face: giving a performance, ironically, that feels far beyond her years.
Miroslav Terzić’s brutal and unsettling psychological drama “3 Weeks After” has one of the strongest openings of the year. It begins on a static frame showing an apartment complex where one flat is engulfed in flames. The sound of the raging fire fills the frame with equal intensity. A downtrodden teenager, Tzotza (Jovan Ginić), enters the shot to observe the blaze before walking away, followed on a track through his tranquil neighborhood, now filled not with crackling sounds but with the natural ambiance of birds tweeting. He meets up with his friend Darija (Andjela Alavirević), who is surprised but happy that he’s taking this school trip.
See, something happened three weeks prior that’s rendered Tzotza a social outcast. The two incompetent teachers—Milica (Tihana Lazović) and Markuš (Branislav Trifunović)—whisper about its consequences: new articles and cold calls from reporters dominate their phones. His classmates, united in their vitriol, mercilessly tease him. The situation becomes more unstable when Milica (Klara Karaulić), a vapid popular girl with a clearly rich father, sneaks her sadistic boyfriend Miloš (Andrija Marković) onto the Serbian class’ Bulgaria-bound bus. During the short sojourn, we will discover the truth: Tzotza’s best friend, Andrija, died by suicide three weeks ago. The question that looms over the trip is who’s to blame.
For a time, Terzić’s film is acutely controlled. The aforementioned sound evocatively flips between the character’s interior perception of the world and the exterior reality, while cinematographer Damjan Radovanović’s evocative compositions, which often utilize negative space on barren fields and in mammoth caves to visualize Tzotza’s aloneness, provide a visual counterbalance. He juxtaposes those wide spaces with cramped hallways whose perspective can often feel ghostly. LP Duo’s thrumming score modulates between brooding, shaking, and overwhelming ecstasy, particularly during an animalistic, red-drenched party scene that recalls Gaspar Noé’s “Climax.” But mostly, it’s Ginić’s close-to-the-vest performance—which sees his swollen face drained of all life—that keeps this work grounded as Tzotza endures near-homocidal abuse from Miloš and his gang that only intensifies once the class’s bus breaks down, stranding them in an empty hotel.
It’s a shame then that Terzić dispenses with that hard-fought control in the film’s final minutes. It’s as though the director and his fellow screenwriters—Vladimir Arsenijević and Bojan Vuletić—thought they needed to end with a bang to make the moody trip worth it. Terzić and his DP therefore reach for visual profundity to balance the film’s hellish turn, composing shots of sleeping teenage bodies into a decadent, painterly scene. And while the final push-in toward Ginić certainly holds a haunting quality, an edge has been lost in the film’s bluntness, making “3 Weeks After” a terrifying, albeit flawed, commentary on bullying and violence.
- KVIFF 2026: Wrap-up and Awards (July 14, 2026)
It felt good to be back. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve attended the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (after going three straight times, last year, I had to cancel at the last second due to a personal emergency). But walking through the Neo-Renaissance Mill Colonnade, being in the Viennese-Bohemian Municipal Theatre, wandering the cobblestone roads that lead one down toward candy-colored villas that delightfully match the lush mountainous forest and the winding canals that hold the channels of the Teplá river—restored part of me. This year was the 60th anniversary of KVIFF, giving the always self-deprecating festival a celebratory mood.
The opening night, in fact, saw a highly produced song and dance number that witnessed several Czech singers perform covers of film music in a medley that included a stream of images of several figures, memories, guests, and movies that are intertwined with KVIFF’s long history. That night, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jesse Eisenberg both received the President’s Award, while Dustin Hoffman was bestowed the Crystal Globe. The evening was heightened by the opening night film, Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco’s “The Match,” being a crowd-pleasing tip of the cap to the World Cup (many festival attendees tried to balance their movie watching with catching games at the local bars).
In the days that followed, more honorees and a bevy of films took their bows. Three-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson, known for his work with Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese, not only took home a Crystal Globe. But he also witnessed the world premiere of Jana Hojdova’s raw documentary about him: “Robert Richardson: The White Devil.” During the festival, he sat down with RogerEbert.com to discuss the film and his career.
Harvey Keitel also appeared for his third visit to a festival that’s become a second home to him. In his speech, he said, “I’m one of you,” to the KVIFF crowd. During that day, in fact, I saw Keitel wandering the streets with two very tall, very muscular bodyguards (you can’t take any chances; the KVIFF attendees are understandably obsessed with him). By closing night, Jeffrey Wright had arrived to accept his President’s Award, an honor that became a full-circle moment when the festival announced it would screen “Basquiat,” the actor’s breakout role and the one that first brought him and Christopher Walken to Karlovy Vary nearly three decades ago. Wright also spoke with RogerEbert.com about the importance of “Basquiat” to his career. “I still do feel the influence of that experience,” explained Wright.
On the final night, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, who arrived with their film “Family Movie,” were also acknowledged. Actress Magda Vášáryová received her Crystal Globe, as did Juliette Binoche. I’ve rarely been affected by seeing a star, but I admittedly melted when I saw Binoche arrive before the ceremony. I’m sometimes reminded that light bends differently around some people.
And while the stars certainly provided KVIFF with added panache, the quality of the lineup assembled by Executive Director Kryštof Mucha, Artistic Director Karel Och, and the programming team is always surprising in its variety and scale. On top of seizing the biggest highlights of Sundance, Berlinale, and Cannes, the festival’s own premieres, drawn mostly from Central Europe, never fail to spotlight new voices and festival favorites. Many of the best works that played, in fact, balanced local filmmaking talent with creators from outside the continent.
In the Promixa competition, whose jury consisted of Estrella Araiza, Devika Girish, Dirk Decker, Marija Kavtaradze, Jakub Felcman—Isabelle Tollenaere’s intimate immigrant drama “Paris Paris” and Giovanni C. Lorusso’s Cambodia-set environmentalist slow-burn thriller “Homo Sive Natura” were personal favorites of mine. The section’s top prize, nevertheless, was awarded to the youthful Czech screwball comedy “Lover, Not a Fighter.” The Jury Award went to Shuntaro Uchida’s rich coming-of-age drama “Incernator,” and the Director prize was given to Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis for “A Whole Person Almost.” Anna Domček and Šimon Domček’s “33 Steps” took home a special mention.
In the Crystal Globe competition, juried by Eskil Vogt, Pavel Rejholec, Amanda Nell Eu, Justin Chang, Nadia Turincev, my personal favorite was Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva’s bleak tragicomedy “Black Money for White Nights.” And while that film was surprisingly shut out by the jury, that doesn’t mean any obviously puzzling decisions were made in what they did choose. They awarded Best Actor to Ghassan Saad for “Pipes” and Best Actress to Anna Schinz for the social issue drama “A Happy Family.” Mad Mengel’s tragicomedy “The Guest” felt like it could’ve easily swept the category, garnering a Best Director prize and the Special Jury prize. But the Crystal Globe ultimately went to Aung Phyoe’s intense queer romance “Fruit Gathering,” a film that hails from Myanmar (it’s the first picture from the country to appear in the main competition).
Not to be forgotten, Helena Třeštíková’s documentary “Bára – Diary of a Rockstar” also took home the Pravo audience award.
Because of the packed lineup, more than any other year at KVIFF, I felt time slipping away. I didn’t get around to many films in the Out of the Past section (though I did manage to catch Kaneto Shindō’s grim post-war melodrama “Children of Hiroshima”) and the Imagina section proved to be just out of my reach as well. I barely had enough time to do my yearly hike; this time, it was to the Diana Observational Tower, which I had to save for my last day.
Hiking through the Slavkov forest is one of my favorite things to do at the festival, if only because the higher you go into the hills, the less you hear the partying and crowds that tend to fill the town. Amid the towering trees, there is a humbling experience that always manages to re-energize me. And when I reached the summit, which allowed me to climb the steps of the Diana—there’s a gondola that’ll take you up the hill if you have limited mobility—I was once again amazed by how, from high, Karlovy Vary simply looks like a storybook: a picturesque small town with vivid architecture, nestled in a sea of verdant trees. It’s impossible not to be grateful that your human eyes can take in a panoramic view that always manages to put things in perspective, a quality the best movies also possess.
As I climbed back down toward the rush of the festival, I hoped it wouldn’t be another two years before I knew this feeling again.
- “Ride or Die”: Two Best Friends, Too Many Lies, and a Good Reason to Get a Fake Passport (July 14, 2026)
“Ride or Die” arrives on Prime Video this week, and its title is accurate in multiple ways. Calling someone your “ride or die” means they’ve got your back no matter what: you need to bury a body, they’ve got the shovel; you need a getaway driver, they’ve already filled up the gas tank. Adding another layer to this story, Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham go on a comedic “Thelma & Louise” inspired adventure, where they either keep running or get permanently extinguished.
That 1991 classic isn’t the only foremother for “Ride or Die.” This eight-episode action-comedy caper proudly blooms from its family tree. A sort of Miss Marple meets “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” in Spencer’s Debbie, an antique-hunting woman-behind-the-man who’s been underestimated but turns out to be sharper than her doubters. She’s paired with the assassin chic of a “La Femme Nikita” with a “Black Widow” infusion in Waddingham’s Judith. A deceptively sensitive woman who isn’t just posing as a forensic accountant, she excels at finance too. Not only do we get the open-road, no-more-apologizing fury of “Thelma & Louise”(with lots of much-needed apologizing), but there are whispers of the “Killing Eve” brand of psychological gamesmanship, and a full-blown French detective version of Lupin. Oh, hello.
Octavia Spencer in “Ride or Die”- Courtesy of Dušan Martinček/Prime
This show is the offspring of an entire fictional lineage of ungovernable women. That’s a lot for one series to hold. Mostly, it carries the weight. Created by Tessa Coates alongside showrunner Matt Miller and director Peyton Reed, of “Ant-Man” fame, the premise is primed for shenanigans: Debbie (Spencer) thinks she knows everything about her lifelong best friend Judith (Waddingham). She’s probably right except for one tiny detail: Judith is an international assassin. After Debbie’s husband crosses an unforgiving criminal organization, and one of Judith’s past hits goes sideways, the two get catapulted into a frantic chase across Europe, pursued by cops, killers, and lies.
But the heart of the matter is a test of what two besties will do to protect one another—no matter what. It’s also about the second life that begins around fifty, when women finally shed the things that have been holding them back, others’ expectations, unrewarded compromises, and what they thought they wanted but don’t. Debbie and Judith blow up each other’s lives. Their disasters are mutual; their resolutions might be the same.
Waddingham and Spencer live up to their lore. Beyond the action-hero swagger and big feminine energy, they convey depth, often with conflicting emotions, in single expressions. Waddingham holds guilt, hope, and tenderness with contrasting ruthlessness. Spencer shimmers with swallowed rage, devastation, and unearned confidence. More than anything, their chemistry is the catalyst for the show, which sparks like a Roman candle, but yes, possibly burns for too long. However, when they’re up against the villainous Ana (Sylvia Hoeks) or playing love games with Ed Skrein—a delight—and Jacky Ido—the Lupin analog I mentioned, you can’t help but smile.
Hannah Waddingham in “Ride or Die” – Courtesy of Dušan Martinček/Prime
Hoeks gives Waddingham a mirror with none of the warmth but clinging to the same desires in the most misguided ways. She’s a great foil for the leads. Bill Nighy does what needs to be done, giving them all fits as the source of Judith’s daddy issues (wait for it, that doesn’t mean what you think it means). And if I had my wish, the mother-daughter pairing of Cathy Tyson and Savannah Steyn would have their own spinoff. The quietly not-quite-confident Sam (Calam Lynch) rounds out a cast that makes this midlife catastrophe well worth the trip.
What’s most refreshing is “Ride or Die” doesn’t ask these women to be precious or repeat the current psychological thrills. It lets them be ridiculous, needy, and dangerous on the way to realizing who they want to be. A Season 2 seems highly probable, given the ratio of assassins to loose ends, a surprising reveal, and the closing cliffhanger. Seems like Debbie and Judith are just getting started. I guess finding out your best friend is a killer for hire is the perfect excuse for an extended girl trip.
As I mentioned, “Ride or Die” is more like one long movie caper than a series. I probably could have done with fewer episodes. The pacing is good, but at times the plotting feels self-indulgent, especially with all eight episodes releasing on July 15. It might have worked better if they dropped two episodes a week—like a K-drama. I may not be texting “you must watch” alerts to my friends, but I enjoyed this. Of course, two besties versus an assassin guild with high-speed action and comedic twists is hard to resist, so don’t. Give in to “Ride or Die” and get your fake passport stamped with heists, second chances, and a friendship that never says die.
Entire series screened for review. Premieres on Prime Video on July 15.
- Freaks, Samurais, and Vampires: Our 10 Most Anticipated of Fantasia 2026 (July 13, 2026)
The 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is upon us, perhaps the largest genre film festival in the world (and, for my money, my favorite), setting nearly three weeks aside at the tail end of July to descend upon Montreal with over 125 buzzy, strange, experimental, and just plain weird features (and more than 200 shorts) that should appeal to genre hounds of several stripes.
Playing July 16 through August 2nd, Fantasia celebrates its third decade with a host of works from around the world, including Chinese wuxia pictures, Canadian horror comedies, and documentaries about everything from VFX legend Steve Johnson to the history of the Ultraman franchise. We’ll also get restorations of films like the Chow Yun-Fat action classic “City War,” Takashi Miike’s bizarre “Gozu,” and Bruce McDonald’s 2008 classic “Pontypool.”
Among the luminaries announced to receive awards at Fantasia include “Drive” director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose latest film (and his first in a decade), “His Private Hell,” will open the fest; Japanese horror legend Takashi Shimizu (“Ju-On: The Grudge”) will receive the Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award, coinciding with the world premiere of “Village of Eight Gravestones” (more on that later) and the North American premiere of “The Mouths.” The fest will also host the Canadian premiere of Jane Schoenbrun’s hotly anticipated “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” as well as a two-hour “fragment” from Louise Weard’s groundbreaking (and lengthy) work of trans cinema, “castration movie chapter iii: a fragmentary passage.”
For more info on the fest and how to buy tickets, head here. In the meantime, if you need to plan your schedule, here’s a handy list of titles we’re particularly excited about.
Freaks Part II
While “Her Private Hell” is opening the fest, Fantasia will close with the latest from some local boys made good: Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s “Freaks Part II,” a sequel to the 2018 film about a hidden society of people with superpowers who are hunted by an unfriendly government. “Part II” follows the mother and daughter from the previous film, Mary (“Silicon Valley”‘s Amanda Crew) and Chloe (Lorelei Olivia Mote), as they continue their flight from the authorities, hiding their powers and identities to keep themselves safe. But Mary has revenge on her mind, with an eye to the officer (Lili Taylor) who killed her first child. The first “Freaks” overcame a modest budget with some really inventive special effects, and “Final Destination Bloodlines” proved that Lipovsky and Stein have a stellar command of horror thrills, so consider us sat.
The Glorious Dead
The Adams Family are Fantasia favorites, and for good reason; their prior films, “Hellbender,” “The Deeper You Dig,” and “Mother of Flies” (one of my favorites of last year) elevate themselves beyond the DIY auspices of the family filmmaking team into genuinely unsettling works of folk horror. Now, they’re back with “The Glorious Dead,” in which a small-town sheriff and her deputy wake up to find a world that is unrecognizable, spooky, and decidedly bloody, and a townspeople that are increasingly swallowed up by fear and anger. Expect plenty of inventive lo-fi gore, atmosphere shooting from the gills, and some shockingly timely gestures towards what it feels like to live in America today. Think “Evil Dead–dington.”
Hot Spot
“The Lure” director Agnieszka Smoczyńska returns with a sci-fi thriller that, naturally, touches on our growing anxieties about AI. In “Hot Spot,’ the world is ruled by sentient artificial intelligence, and a private detective (Noomi Rapace, seemingly born for these kinds of mid-level science fiction capers) sets about solving a murder, only to find herself in the company of a rebel group who might just be able to free humanity from their digital masters. Not much has been said about this, but the heady mix of director and material (which screams everything from Albert Pyun to “Blade Runner 2049“) makes this absolute catnip for a sci-fi hound like moi.
Our Effed Up World
While “Camp Miasma” is the clear marquee title for queer and trans cinema at this year’s Fantasia, it’s always nice to see prolific trans horror wunderkind (and Shoenbrun acolyte) Alice Maio Mackay up to her usual tricks as well. This year’s entry, “Our Effed Up World,” stars “Camp Miasma”‘s Jess McLeod, “Fucktoys”‘ Annapurna Sriram, and the “Hellraiser” remake’s Brandon Flynn as a group of slacker friends who are suddenly tasked with fighting off an alien invasion. Knowing Mackay’s penchant for using genre to probe the messy dynamics of queer friend groups (see last year’s “The Serpent’s Skin,” which charmed me), this ought to be fun.
Permanent Damage
Canadian filmmaker Seth A. Smith returns to Fantasia with a quirky crime caper about an escaped convict (“The Umbrella Academy”‘s Calem MacDonald) who finds himself in a battle of wills with a cruel landlord (Stephen Dorff) as he tries to steal his “golden goose.” Smith’s “Tin Can” from 2020 was a Fantasia highlight for me, a gloopy paranoid sci-fi thriller about the perils of isolation; I’ve long been curious what he’d do next.
The Samurai and the Prisoner
Plenty of previous festival favorites will be playing at Fantasia (another honorable mention I can’t wait to catch: Yuen Wo-ping’s “Blades of the Guardians“), but ever since its rapturous reception at Cannes (see our review), I have been champing at the bit to experience Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s masterful samurai film/murder mystery about a
Los Vampires
The Spanish-language version of 1931’s “Dracula” has long been a fascinating curiosity: a Spanish crew shot at night on the same set that Tod Browning’s classic vampire film used during the day. Craig Mitchell’s “Los Vampires” fictionalizes that account in much the same way as “Shadow of the Vampire” did “Nosferatu,” as a Spanish actor (“Lost”‘s Henry Ian Cusick) who shadows the English-speaking actor (Thomas Kretschmann) who’s playing the count by day. The premise and its promised tone feels like a beautifully deranged ode to the compromises and risks inherent in the creation of art, particularly in the messy days of Early Hollywood.
Village of Eight Gravestones
While his J-horror return “The Mouths” also looks intriguing, of the two Takashi Shimizu pictures announced this year, I can’t help but gravitate to the eerie folk horror of “Village of Eight Gravestones,” in which a young man named Tatsuya visits the rural village where his late mother grew up. Along the way, he’s assisted by the iconic Japanese pulp detective Kindaichi, who helps him solve the mystery of a killing spree that has beset the village shortly after Tatsuya’s arrival. Ghosts of the past and the splattered blood of the present are sure to meet, which is the wheelhouse Shimizu has spent a career mastering.
You Are the Film
Makoto Ueda loves his time-loop stories; after writing the scripts for the exceedingly clever “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes” and “Rewrite,” Ueda steps behind the camera to film his latest, “You Are the Film.” This time, the twist revolves around two people, three kilometers apart, who must guide each other in real time through the actual cinema screen. That’s an inventive premise on its face, a lovely parallel to the innate interactivity between subject and object that occurs when we watch movies; I trust Ueda to explore it in some fun ways.
Zsazsa Zaturnnah
Based on the Filipino comic book of the same name, “Zsazsa Zaturnnah” (or its full title, “Zsazsa Zaturnnah vs. the Amazonistas of Planet X”) feels like it’ll be a candy-colored celebration of one of the Philippines’ foremost super-queeroes. Under the watchful eye of Filipino animator Avid Liongoren (“Hayop Ka!”, also restored and playing the fest this year) and Manila studio Rocketsheep. “Zsazsa” will tell the story of gay hairdresser Ada, who gets hit by a pink meteor and turns into the curvaceous superheroine of the title—who must, of course, protect her village from the aforementioned Amazonistas and all the terrifying creatures they can muster. It all looks riotous, uproarious, and hilariously flamboyant.
- Official Trailer for Powerful Doc 'American Doctor' About Saving Lives (July 15, 2026)
"We do not have to accept that as Americans." Watermelon Pictures debuted their trailer for a documentary film titled American Doctor, a powerful look at the work of doctors who went to Palestine to save lives. This originally premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and it also played at SXSW, and tons of other major festivals over the last few months. When 3 American doctors – Palestinian, Jewish, Zoroastrian – enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth. From Oscar-nominated filmmaker Poh Si Teng, and made by the producers Simon Kilmurry (winner of 17 Emmys & 6 Peabody Awards) and Oscar nominee Kristine Barford, American Doctor is earning rave reviews and generating important conversations. The film is about 3 physicians who worked to save the lives of children in Gaza who were hit by Israeli bombs. Featuring Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, & Dr. Feroze Sidhwa. After working in the field, they take their battle from the front lines of war to the halls of Congress. "This is what my tax dollars did!" Together they fight to keep a promise to their Palestinian colleagues and patients, and to continue the struggle where it matters most: the United States. Opens in US theaters starting in August coming up. A vitally important doc on saving lives. ❤️‍🩹 // Continue Reading ›
- Filipino Indie Thriller 'Filipiñana' Set Inside an Elite Golf Country Club (July 15, 2026)
"Some of those balls are worth more than what we make in a day." Kino Lorber has revealed the official trailer for Filipiñana, an indie film from Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel making his feature directorial debut. This first premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, as a carefully constructed, extra dark satire about the elite & wealthy being rotten. Teen Isabel's attraction to Dr. Palanca at her golf club job outside of Manila in the Philippines turns dark as she uncovers violence beneath the club's facade, and discovers its disturbing connection from the past. Exec produced by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, this Sundance award-winning debut announces writer / director Rafael Manuel as a major new voice in international cinema. Filipiñana stars Jorrybell Agoto as Isabel, Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman as Dr. Palanca, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Isabel Sicat, and Nour Houshmand. Sundance adds that the film paints "a scathing portrait of class disparities and post-colonial power structures in ways that are both quiet & unsettling." Yep this sounds good - and it looks really good, too, with some slick cinematography to accent all the horrible things going on within. This looks like it's a must watch for cinema geeks of all kinds. // Continue Reading ›
- First Look Camera Test for 'The Batman: Part II' - Now Set for 2028 (July 15, 2026)
The Batman will return... in 2028. Warner Bros has officially announced the brand new release date for The Batman: Part II - it's now set to hit theaters February 2028 in two years from now. Filming just started recently and to celebrate the announcement & new date, director Matt Reeves posted a clip from a camera test featuring Robert Pattinson back in the cape & cowl & mask as The Batman. This is not a teaser, this is not a trailer, this isn't even official footage – it's just some footage they shot during a camera test to figure out the look & style & lighting. The Batman: Part II is shot by cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (of Mank, Devotion, The Killer, Ferrari, The Dog Stars, The Adventures of Cliff Booth) taking over for Greig Fraser from the first film. It's set in the snowy winter following the flooding of the first movie - other details are still under wraps. Aside from Pattinson returning as Bruce Wayne / Batman, the other confirmed cast so far: Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent, Scarlett Johansson, Charles Dance, Andy Serkis, & Jayme Lawson back as Bella Reál. I can't wait to see an actual teaser eventually. // Continue Reading ›
- New Trailer for 4K Re-Release of 'Sing Street' Irish Musical Sensation (July 15, 2026)
"Drive it like you stole it!" 🕺 Lionsgate has revealed a new trailer and a special 4K Limited Edition Blu-ray release of the sensational beloved indie hit Sing Street, the Irish musical from John Carney. I saw this at its world premiere back at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and went all crazy for it – so did everyone else then! I can never forget this screening and how rapturous it was, how the audience was completely swept up in it, singing & dancing all the way through the end credits. Amazing! Set in Dublin, Ireland in the 1980s, a young lad notices a beautiful girl who he is completely smitten with. While struggling with poverty, personal relationships and life's woes, he decides to start a band, hoping to catch her attention. This stars Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor, Kelly Thornton, and newcomer Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Conor. An exuberant and unforgettable coming-of-age musical story with some of the catchiest songs ever written for a film. I still adore this film and will recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. This is a fun new trailer and a wonderful reminder of how joyful this movie is! Dance on! Enjoy. // Continue Reading ›
- Anthony Ippolito is Sly Stallone in 'I Play Rocky' Movie Official Trailer (July 15, 2026)
"This movie is about having to believe in yourself... It's about going the distance. I put my heart & soul on the page. If I'm not willing to live up to what I wrote, then what's the point. So – do you believe in me? Or not?" Amazon MGM Studios has unveiled the official trailer for a movie called I Play Rocky, a story about the making of the boxing movie classic Rocky (1976) following a young Stallone as he writes the script and makes his acting debut in it. Anthony Ippolito stars as a young Sylvester Stallone, working on the streets of Philly, who decides to write his own script and make his mark playing the underdog boxer in this story. It also goes through the production and filming and release of the movie, showing Hollywood never believing in it until it became a massive hit ($117M at the box office in 1976). Ippolito stars as Sly, with Stephan James as Carl Weathers, AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Matt Dillon, P.J Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Erik Palladino, Jay Duplass, Kiki Seto, and Robert Morgan. I Play Rocky hits theaters this November - right in the middle of the fall aiming for a wide release by Thanksgiving. This looks pretty good so far! His voice is a bit amusing, but the rest of it looks like an inspiring underdog-makes-a-film story. // Continue Reading ›
