- TIFF 2026: Bunker, Up Against It, Girl Group (September 16, 2026)
Toronto International Film Festival’s Gala Presentations program features films with rising and seasoned stars. Across these three, an unexpected thematic arc emerges: intergenerational, interpersonal conflict. Although it’s not the focus of each movie, it’s interesting to see how each genre approaches the nuances of untangling the concept.
In a capitalistic world, uninhibited creative expression is inextricably linked to the money needed to execute one’s idea. Once an artist reaches this level, proximity to power often compromises the foundational values of their practice. In Florian Zeller’s “Bunker,” Miguel (Javier Bardem) is an award-winning architect, married to translations editor Sofia (Penélope Cruz). The couple moved to London from Madrid with their two daughters, throwing a wrench in one’s career while catalyzing the other’s.
The film puts personal and professional dynamics on display. A dedicated careerist can’t leave their vocation at the office. Talk of work, ideas, and dreams is typical for most married couples, but it expands greatly for those in the creative industries. Miguel gets the chance to build an underground oasis for a tech billionaire (Paul Dano) while also dealing with a new, difficult neighbor. Meanwhile, Sofia is testing her chances of becoming the fiction novels department lead at her publishing house. Their parallel paths level up, showcasing the difference in process between men and women: the individual versus the collective. Some may argue that Miguel has more at stake, more to consider, trying to provide protection and stability for his family, but it is his partner who remains level as external threats encroach on their status quo.
“Bunker” is a bit too neat in solving the nuances of the social and class themes the story is rooted in. Zeller poignantly weaves in firsthand details of being a creative worker; a “private project” is a greenlight from the Gods that they pay will not be abysmal. Living in a world surrounded by gallerists, writers, thinkers, and makers gives birth to ethical and cultural nuance. Without these anecdotes, “Bunker” couldn’t have built its world so quickly.
The chemistry between Bardem and Cruz is undeniable, fulfilling our parasocial appreciation as a Hollywood power couple. Their real-world love transcends the fictional conflict they face, letting us know they will certainly be OK in the end. Still, a stark thumping in the sound design creates a spooky, thriller feeling that doesn’t subside until the film’s final seconds.
In 2026, the nuclear family is increasingly rare. Separated parents, step- or half-siblings, and split holidays are the new norm. “Up Against It,” directed by Trudie Styler, captures these new-age dynamics. In stories like this, the more people involved, the wider the web is, and the greater the mess.
For a family drama, “Up Against It” fumbles around what it really means to give and receive unconditional love (whether blood-related or not). While it succeeds in reminding us that moms and dads are also human and navigating life for the first time, the characters’ selfishness calls the audience to question their values as parents. The intended audience is unclear, as the story treats the children like collateral. In doing so, it’s quite cruel to give one of the kids, Rose (Eden Hamilton), cancer that her parents later use as an excuse for their unfaithful behavior. The movie frames Saffron (Eva Birthistle) and Alvaro (Antonio Banderas) actions as necessary to save their child; it’s questionable, but “Up Against It” argues that there’s nothing really wrong with parents putting their needs first for instant gratification.
“Up Against It” weaves in its title a few times to describe Rose’s uphill battle, and the film is gentle and idealistic in its depiction of healthcare workers’ personal involvement in their patients’ cases. In its most emotional moments, the camera goes close but cuts away before things get too real. This mirrors the emotional capacity put forth by the characters, but both decisions are unfulfilling. When forgiveness comes to the table, it’s fake, forced, and disingenuous. As a result, the final happy-go-lucky dance sequence feels unearned and unbelievable.
Rebel Wilson rides the timeless success of pop music with her new movie “Girl Group.” Wilson is admittedly inspired by the artists, namely the singular Spice Girls, who created anthems for her coming of age. At the film’s world premiere, Wilson excitedly shared the rush of getting the film ready; the final cut wrapped just a week earlier. Unfortunately, we can tell.
In a season of films focused on heavy stories, “Girl Group” is a lighthearted, sonically silly flick. The music-induced nostalgia that propels the movie is fun for all generations. Beginning in the late 90s, Tassie (Wilson) and her high school girl gang are spotted by a talent scout (Chris Colfer), and the “Girl Friends” skyrocket to fame. The validity of their girl power origin is rooted in their all-girls school education, a unique type of institution where women are always the priority, left unbothered by rambunctious teenage boys. Fast forward 20 years, and Tassie Young’s solo career is tanking, so the Girl Friends are reconvening for a world tour without her. Her inevitable crash-out lands her serving the youth singing group at a local Los Angeles community center, where she saunters in late, caring about no one but herself. Despite the lack of a leader, the mismatched younger group has an earnest, odd chemistry and enough talent to carry their out-of-reach aspirations.
After a record company launches a nationwide competition to find the next best girl band, Tassie sees an opportunity to prove her relevance once again. The story has what feels like hundreds of characters, and even the smallest roles seem designed to set up a joke. Most of them land as “had to be there” moments, so you feel left out of the fun the cast and crew are having. The film presents a plethora of plot conflicts meant to reflect the very different issues girls go through, but it ultimately reduces each idea to a stray thought. However, Tassie, at the center of the story, creates an imbalance, and the intergenerational conflict is immaturely uninteresting and unnecessary. The TikTok Shop-quality costuming lasts as long in our closets as it will in our memory.
- TIFF 2026: Hombre Al Agua, Paradise Lost, Faith (September 16, 2026)
In its 51st edition, the Toronto International Film Festival’s Special Presentation category comprises stories of complex parents, recentering their identity as individuals. Interestingly, the focus on selfhood is overshadowed by a much broader conflict. Of these movies, it’s most peculiar how it explores motherhood versus fatherhood, emotionally and morally.
Set in rural, suspiciously tranquil Mexico, “Hombre Al Agua” gets gritty with its characters and their relationships. Parents and lovers, Juana (Esmeralda Pimentel) and Camilo (Gael García Bernal), don’t make much sense together, which becomes increasingly obvious as their paths of personal growth diverge throughout the film. As Camilo integrates into Juana’s family, working for her power-hungry father (Jorge Salinas), the more he loses his grasp on what’s right and what he should be true to.
To help the audience better understand this surrealist story, Bernal, who also wrote and directed the film, weaves in voiceover narration. Peppered with a nature-forward sound design, with the breeze blowing and birds chirping, we, too, are immersed in the countryside silence that Camilo and guests are acclimating to. The backdrop of their estate is beautiful but intentionally lacks that lived-in feeling. Everyone who stays there is untethered from their surroundings, blowing with the wind, leaving loose ends that are written off as fever dreams. “This is a thriller, not a melodrama,” a man utters to Camilo after he’s caught sneaking around their property, a meta proclamation of Bernal’s vision for his story.
Albeit scattered, “Hombre Al Agua” is weirdly entertaining. Each new idea is presented clearly, and most interestingly, the cultural and class themes give the movie more body than the simple character arcs at its center. Camilo’s Cuban heritage poses some political assumptions; the running joke about his radicalism due to his ethnicity highlights certain microaggressions with nuance. His career at his father-in-law’s factory is also compromised by his true beliefs, but he does his best to tread lightly as the tides shift. Bernal’s development of Camilo, behind and in front of the camera, is strongest, making the supporting characters feel like figments in the reality he’s trying to build.
Dissecting and dissolving grief is an endless experiment, certainly one of the most difficult matters for humans to digest. Yeon Sang-ho’s newest film, “Paradise Lost,” moves through multiple realities where a single mother navigates loss. Quaking with nuance that feels drawn from some variation of firsthand experience, “Paradise Lost” achieves a striking, gutting feeling because Yeon’s mother wrote it.
A lack often forces reflection or regret; what could have been done differently? What would one give to get their heart’s desires? These questions swirl at the film’s center. After So-young (Kim Hyun-joo) loses her son, Seon-wu (Bae Hyeon-seong), in a camping trip kidnapping along with 12 other kids, grief consumes her. After several years, an AI company, TransHuman, invents a virtual reality that recreates the lost children. This concept isn’t exactly original, but it’s eerily close to our current technological state. Shockingly, this anecdote is only a stepping stone to the film’s true conflict: Seon-wu resurfaces almost 10 years later.
Bae’s sinister performance chills every scene. At no point do we trust this older version of Seon-wu, but our faith in So-young’s morality deteriorates most after her son returns. Her inability to connect with her virtual or real son proves that these two beings (or entities) spiral into putting others in danger. Knowing the story is written by a mother-son duo provides some reasoning for the way the story unfolds and resolves, but there is a looming carelessness, an absence of logic.
However, the story’s subtlety and significance lie in how it positions single mothers as the most vulnerable. Other parents who lost their children began to move on from their virtually recreated children, relying on their partners and other children. For So-young, this was never an option, therefore catalyzing the audience’s (eventually limited) empathy for her.
Faith is more often than not associated with some form of religion; regardless, faith is rooted in a foundation at the intersection of trust and belief. Director Paul Andrew Williams titles his new film, “Faith,” after the concept, and puts his audience to the test till the very end.
Gina (Erin Doherty) is a single, spunky mum of an almost 10-year-old boy. She cares about him fearlessly, but that doesn’t dull her youthful nature; she plays trivia at the pub and craves a good hook-up every now and then. Enter Michael (James McAvoy), a mysterious new man at the bar, whose gentlemanly politeness squashes Gina’s hopes of a one-night stand. The two of them only ever simmer, keeping their distance until tragedy strikes.
Like the mother of “Paradise Lost,” Gina loses her only son, leaving her devastated and unable to function. In this state of grief, Doherty’s raw and unwavering performance creates unpolished conditions for how a grieving person treats those around them; misguided cruelty to those closest to you is easy to throw around in the wake of such pain. Michael remains patient with Gina, and McAvoy embodies this creepily kind demeanor with ease, a role he has often been cast in lately.
A memento of a bejeweled bird that Michael carries constantly in his pocket is the first symbol that spirituality is at play. In the most ghostly moments, the score haunts with humming vocals of a Sunday service. Every day is overcast in Gina’s small town, and this gloom, underscored by tolling bells, suggests that something unseen lurks and pulls secret strings. Williams lets Doherty carry the film’s deeper meaning by having her lean into cult-like behavior without question, but “Faith” ultimately misfires in its attempt to fictionalize religion’s real-world capacity to help people heal.
- In Its Second Season, “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” Is Still Peak Romance (September 16, 2026)
No one does romance like the “Outlander” franchise. Part of the reason is that it’s a rare kind of television that isn’t embarrassed to be about romance, unabashedly centering love, affection, and longing as the story’s key narrative and emotional drivers. In this fictional world, the relationships at its center matter just as much—honestly, often more than—than the politics, historical intrigue, or time-travel contrivances unfurling around them. But it’s so satisfying to watch because love isn’t treated as a byproduct of a larger story. It is the story.
While many viewers are likely still mourning the conclusion of the original “Outlander,” which wrapped up earlier this year after eight seasons of angst and yearning that spanned time periods and continents, the second season of the prequel series “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” is here to pick up the slack. A lavishly romantic, time-bending saga about the parents of the original series’ star-crossed lovers, the show honors its franchise roots while spinning its own thoroughly satisfying tale of two equally fated (and swoon-worthy) couples. Season 2 doubles down on much of what made the show’s first outing so appealing, adding even more passion and full-throated feeling to its story of rebellion and complex family dynamics. But despite the seemingly never-ending series of trials facing its leads, the show’s never felt more confident in its vision—or its heart.
“Blood of My Blood” follows two key couples: Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen Mackenzie (Harriet Slater), lovers from two rival eighteenth century Scottish clans, and Henry (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia Beauchamp (Hermione Corfield), a young married couple from post-World War I London who are thrown into the past—and Brian and Ellen’s lives—while vacationing in the Highlands. (Those standing stones really should come with a warning label!)
Outlander: Blood of My Blood (Starz)
Season 2 picks up where the show’s first left off. Brian and Ellen, having successfully run away before she had to marry the nice but mediocre Malcolm Grant, are immediately forced to face the world they left behind. Fiery crosses lit throughout the mountains herald the start of the Jacobite uprising of 1715, which means Brian is bound by oath to return to his laird and fight, while Ellen will have to head home and pick up the broken pieces of her relationships with brothers Colum (Séamus McLean Ross) and Dougal (Sam Retford), who aren’t happy about her refusal to marry the man of their choosing.
Elsewhere, despite making it to Craigh Na Dun, only Henry successfully crossed the time travel gateway back to the twentieth century, leaving a heartbroken Julia to return to Castle Leathers and her unwanted relationship with the almost comically villainous Lord Lovat (Tony Curran), who is not only convinced her child is his own, but also destined to become the future king of Scotland. The result is a situation that’s not quite status quo ante, but it’s not far off, either. Yet, this isn’t as much of a criticism as you might think.
Like its predecessor, “Blood of My Blood” lives to yearn, which means that it must repeatedly find believable ways to keep its lovers apart. And boy, is it good at it. Henry finally rescues Julia, only for them to be separated again almost immediately. Brian and Ellen are on the verge of a life together, but the threat of war pushes them apart. For every step they take toward each other, two new problems seem to appear in their paths. It’s a testament to the show’s quality—and to the chemistry between its leads—that what could easily be seen as a manipulative or repetitive storytelling trick feels both natural and necessary within the world of this series, another opportunity to prove that love, in the end, really is all you need.
Season 2 shifts the positions of both pairs just enough to keep their respective narratives moving forward, even as the couples’ desire to be together is again thwarted by external circumstances. (At least they’re slightly different external circumstances this time!) Brian and Ellen’s relationship is, for better or worse, now semi-public knowledge. Her family is still furious, but Brian’s loyalty to the Jacobite cause and Ellen’s intelligence in protecting Mackenzie clan financial interests means they’re closer to vaguely tolerated than outright attacked. Back at Leathers, Julia struggles to keep Lovat happy and deal with the arrival of a new servant who has an agenda of her own. And in 1924, a confused Henry struggles to explain what’s happened to him—you can probably guess where a man who keeps babbling about missing spouses and time travel ends up—and find a way back to his wife.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood (Starz)
“Blood of My Blood” is surprisingly strategic in its plotting, mixing big narrative twists with quieter emotional moments. The show takes pains to give each romance enough time together to make the lengths they’ll go to for one another believable, underlining how each partner complements the other and highlighting the hope and purpose they find in their respective bonds. Smartly, the show also never questions the love that Brian and Ellen or Henry and Julia have for one another, or whether they’re meant to be endgame, no matter what horrible circumstances befall them. The pairs face many (many) obstacles, but whether they will (or should) be together is never one of them.
The show’s greatest strength is how seriously it takes the romances at its center. But those relationships wouldn’t work without the incredible chemistry between the series’ leads, which powers both the tenderly shot, highly emotional sex scenes and the occasionally over-the-top but somehow completely un-cynical declarations of love and fidelity.
Roy and Irvine get decent material in the four episodes of Season 2 available to critics, but this series belongs to its women. Corfield’s whip-smart Julia has plenty to do as she relentlessly adapts to Lovat’s whims, but Slater steals the show, turning in a performance that’s both fearless and vulnerable as Ellen determinedly battles for agency in a world that gives her few opportunities to shape her own fate.
Still, at the end of the day, “Blood of My Blood” is a love story, and that’s where it shines brightest, deftly using its larger plots to reinforce the bonds between its central relationships and featuring a glossy, addictively watchable adventure through the Scottish Highlands. Long may this romance continue.
Four episodes screened for review. Premieres September 18 on Starz.
- “MobLand” Shoots Its Way Through A Vulgar, Invigorating Second Season (September 16, 2026)
“We are the Harrigans! You don’t know the name? Then f—— Google us…You’ve been warned.” — Pierce Brosnan’s Conrad Harrigan, making a typically subtle proclamation in “Mobland” Season 2.
We’ve had a steady stream of acclaimed and popular TV series where there are so many killings in a relatively concentrated area that the whole world would be wondering what’s going on in that place. “The Sopranos,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Ozark,” “Yellowstone,” and so on.
The stylish, violent, and darkly funny crime series “Mobland” certainly fits in the category. Over the course of the crackling good Season 1, there was a staggering trail of corpses. Counting primary players as well as the obligatory retinue of unnamed gangsters and enforcers, it’s probably conservative to estimate some 50 characters were shot, stabbed, blown up, chainsawed, or otherwise dispatched by then in the 10-episode run. This is the show. You either relish this kind of escapist brutality, or you don’t.
Suffice it to say, the body count increases rapidly in Season 2, with the Shakespearean machinations of the Harrigan crime family creating such chaos from within that they might implode before their enemies can take them down. Season 1 focused primarily on the Harrigans’ war with the rival Stevenson clan; the sophomore campaign is more about the treacherous, bloody battle for control within the Harrigan empire.
L-R Helen Mirren as Maeve Harrigan and Pierce Brosnan as Conrad Harrigan In MobLand, season 2, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Photo Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+
Your reminder of who’s who and where they stand at the outset of Season 2, and what works best:
Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren are magnificent together as the North London crime patriarch Conrad Harrigan, a volatile codger who still relishes getting his hands dirty, and his wife Maeve, who is so ruthless and cunning that she almost makes Conrad seem like a cuddly oul fella. Almost.
His heir apparent, Kevin Harrigan (Patty Considine), has finally found the nerve to stand up to his father. Kevin’s scheming and troubled wife Bella (Lara Pulver) was with Conrad before she was with him, and their sociopathic son Eddie (Anson Boone) is actually Conrad’s son, which means Eddie is simultaneously Conrad’s son and grandson. Good God.
Then there’s Seraphina Harrigan (Mandeep Dhillon in a shining performance), who is Conrad’s daughter from another woman. To say Maeve has some issues with Seraphina is putting it mildly. The foul language spewing from Dame Helen in this series would make Tarantino blush.
The glue holding the Harrigans together, barely, is Tom Hardy’s longtime family fixer, Harry Da Souza. At the outset of Season 2, Harry’s personal life is falling apart: his wife Jan (Joanne Froggatt) is considering divorce, and his daughter Gina (Teddie Allen) is estranged from her parents, shacking up with Eddie and getting into some unlawful doings of her own. Gina’s transition from brooding teen daughter to a mini-me criminal is a bit of a whiplash, but then again, she learned from the best.
Helen Mirren as Maeve Harrigan In MobLand, season 2, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Photo Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+
Guy Ritchie, a master of this sort of kinetic action, directs the season premiere, which kicks off with a rip-roaring sequence at a Greyhound racetrack. Maeve crows over making a small fortune on a fixed race, while she and Conrad take a meeting that goes…not according to plan.
Off to the races we go, so to speak, with Harry torn between his loyalties to Kevin and Conrad as he deals with the fallout of turning down an offer to work for the powerful crime boss—and newly appointed United States ambassador to Ireland—Kat McAllister (a suitably imposing Janet McTeer). The invaluable Toby Jones expands his role as retired chief inspector Colin Tatersall, while Johnny Flynn and Ophelia Lovibond join the cast in roles best left for you to discover.
At times, “Mobland” relies on savvy characters making really bad decisions, or missing something that should be immediately clear. (Joanna Froggatt’s Jan is particularly frustratingly obtuse more than once. Come on, Jan!) Still, every episode hums with furious action and devilishly funny dialogue, as when Maeve says to a colleague who was elsewhere during a shootout, “You missed a classic! You know, the lead flying, blood everywhere. Proper f— Bonnie and Clyde.”
That’s the Harrigans. They’re rotten to the core, and they relish that. Not for a second do any of them pause to consider the ramifications of presiding over widespread drug distribution. They do enjoy the spoils of their criminal enterprise; Conrad in particular loves playing lord of the manor at the sprawling family estate in the Cotswolds. (Though a piece of furniture might have to be replaced when a crime family meeting turns bloody.)
Harry is no different, though he’s far less prone to irrational and emotional chess moves. He’s a bruised, battered soul whose typical morning involves grabbing an espresso from a local coffee stand, driving off to casually gun down an obstacle to the Harrigans. He doesn’t brood; he just takes a breath and moves on to the next assignment.
Which usually involves someone else in great pain, or drawing a last breath.
The first four episodes of “Mobland” Season 2 were screened for critics.
- Toronto International Film Festival 2026: Table of Contents (September 16, 2026)
The 51st annual Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10th to September 20th, 2026, in Toronto, Canada. Every year, the RogerEbert.com team returns to the fest to cover some of the festival’s most notable releases, as well as some under-the-radar curiosities we feel deserve to be discussed.
This year, Managing Editor Brian Tallerico, Publisher Chaz Ebert, and contributors Marya E. Gates, Cortlyn Kelly, Zachary Lee, Kaiya Shunyata, Robert Daniels, and Jason Gorber are on the ground covering the fest. Below is their compiled coverage, organized by writer. Come back as this table of contents is updated with new content every day.
BRIAN TALLERICO
“Babies“
“Bucking Fastard“
“Everybody Wants to F*ck Me“
“God Bless You, Mr. Kopu“
“The Housewife“
“I Play Rocky“
“In Alaska“
“Julian“
“A Long Winter“
“Our Loves“
“River“
“Strong Son“
“Stuffed“
“The Stunt Driver“
“Sunburn“
“A Talent for Murder“
“Tender Loving Care“
“Trash Mountain“
“The Violinist“
“Wild Wild East“
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother“
CORTLYN KELLY
“Bunker“
“Faith“
“Girl Group“
“Hombre de la Agua“
“Misty Green“
“Paradise Lost“
“Up Against It“
MARYA E. GATES
“Cheyenne“
“Idda“
“In the Heart of the South“
“The Julia Set“
“Lemonade“
“Love of Your Life“
“Magazine“
“Rescue“
“Union Town“
“Woman Unknown“
ZACHARY LEE
“Being Heumann“
- Full Trailer for 'War' Divorce Series with Sienna Miller & Dominic West (September 17, 2026)
"We need the moral high ground." "Oh Nick, we're lawyers, we need no such thing!" HBO Max & Sky TV unveiled their sneaky full trailer for the spicy legal drama thriller series titled simply War, arriving to watch starting in October this fall. Who will win this battle?! This UK production set in London is made for Sky TV, but HBO will also release it at the exact same time as the UK this fall. War stars Dominic West as the tech titan Morgan Henderson and Sienna Miller as his estranged wife, international film star Carla Duval. Set in the elite world of London law, it debuts with a scandalous divorce case that sends shockwaves through boardrooms, bedrooms, and courtrooms alike. Their cohorts are Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne, two of London's most powerful law firms. The divorce draws young lawyer Jonathan "Johnny" Warren into a ruthless world where ambition is currency, betrayal is strategy, and winning is everything. After – Season 2 is already filming and will continue with defamation case after the divorce is finalized. Also starring Archie Renaux, Marisa Tomei, Kelly Macdonald, David Harewood, Richard Schiff, Pip Torrens, Miles Jupp, Honor Swinton Byrne, and Phoebe Fox. "Divide then conquer." This full trailer hints are where this is all headed and what's going to happen, but it's still an enticing tease that should get people watching. // Continue Reading ›
- Nicholas Hoult & Zoë Kravitz in 'How to Rob a Bank' Movie Trailer #2 (September 17, 2026)
"People only raise their voices when they feel they aren't being heard." Amazon MGM Studios unveiled a second official trailer for the movie How to Rob a Bank, a kick ass new crime thriller made by filmmaker David Leitch, his next big action movie after Bullet Train and The Fall Guy previously. What a fun trailer! A crew of bank robbers have been using social media to document their heists they have pulled off, doing it to point out how corrupt everything is. They end up hunted by a fed working with a tech geek. As they close in on them, the crew pushes past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs — and their most ambitious bank heist yet. The exciting ensemble cast features Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater, with Pete Davidson and John C. Reilly (playing one of the feds chasing them). This was set for September originally, but now it's hitting theaters starting in November this fall. And it looks like a very good time! Especially following these young people taking on the system & breaking it down. Just hope it follows through on keeping them as the heroes all the way until the very end. // Continue Reading ›
- Official Trailer for 'Clean Hands' with Zach Braff & Esther McGregor (September 17, 2026)
"Go take our city back." Vertical revealed the official trailer for an indie crime thriller titled Clean Hands, the latest from writer / filmmaker Jake Allyn. This is heading directly to VOD for viewing in October coming up this fall. The inspirational true story of hero drug cop turned recovery advocate Kevin Simmers and his daughter Brooke. The film examines the American drug crisis from the opposing eyes of cop and addict who were also father & daughter. Clean Hands was made in partnership with Brooke's House, a non-profit, all-women recovery home that Simmers created and currently runs in Hagerstown. An on-set work program was created for women in recovery to learn film jobs during the production; the movie cast Brooke's House graduates to authentically portray the world of addiction. 1/3 of the film profits will be dedicated to Brooke's House. Starring Zach Braff, Esther McGregor, Abigail Spencer, Holt McCallany, and Lucas Till. As emotional as it all is, this film just seems like more generic copaganda based around the "war on drugs". // Continue Reading ›
- Pegah Ahangarani's Doc 'Rehearsals for a Revolution' New US Trailer (September 16, 2026)
"Remember us. Our hearts burned with love." Sony Pictures Classics revealed their official US trailer for a documentary film titled Rehearsals for a Revolution, made by Iranian actress Pegah Ahangarani. It premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and won the L'Oeil d'Or for Best Doc there – along with rave reviews. It's an incredible story collecting decades of memories and how the Iranian people have struggled to save their country. Through 5 portraits of relatives and mentors, 5 expressions of resistance, Ahangarani sketches her life story. Drawing from personal archives, home videos, street protests footage, newspapers, and recorded voices, she retraces more than 40 years of Iran's history. From the early days of 1979, until the war that began in 2026, she pieces together intimate and collective memories, forming the portrait of a country shaped by political repression and in constant hope for a revolution. It also just played at Telluride & TIFF and will keep earning accolades throughout this year. A must watch vital 2026 doc for many reasons. // Continue Reading ›
- Watch: So Much Cinema in the 2026 New York Film Festival Trailer (September 16, 2026)
18 days of celebrating the best in world cinema! It's a few weeks away from the start of the 2026 New York Film Festival held every year in the glamorous Lincoln Center in NYC's Upper West Side. To kick off the final days of cinema buzz, the NYFF has just revealed their annual official festival trailer (which we always post). This year's line-up is one of the best of this decade. It's incredible! The NYFF is the annual best-of-the-best festival line-up that plays the greatest selection of films from ALL of the other fests all year, along with a few world premieres of its own. Aside from showing the best from Cannes, Venice, Telluride, TIFF, they're also featuring major world premieres which I wish I could be at: "the latest films by Paul Thomas Anderson, Takashi Yamazaki, Tony Gilroy, Jonathan Glazer, Andrew Haigh, Lee Chang-dong." The biggest debuts at NYFF 2026 include: Tony Gilroy's Behemoth!, Luca Guadagnino's Artificial (which looks damn good), Ava DuVernay's 14th doc, Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus Zero (awesome), Tom McCarthy's A Statement, and PTA's music doc Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall. Enjoy this 2026 fest preview. // Continue Reading ›
