Ranking all 9 releases I've watched this year

Cinema has had a pretty hot start for 2026, with a few runaway successes and bigger box office numbers than we’ve seen in years. I'm slightly disappointed in only having watched 9 new releases so far, only 8 being in cinema, but the next couple of months should change that. And at least within those 9 are a few really special films that I'm grateful to have seen, with one in particular that I'm so glad to have seen on a big screen. Here are all 9 of those films ranked from worst to best.

If you've been with me for a couple of months now, you'll likely have already heard more than enough of my thoughts on this film. And you'll probably also know how disappointed I am to have to put it last on my list.

I'll keep it fairly brief as I have a full review available for more in depth thoughts, but my main complaint is just how safe it all feels. l don't mind the smaller scale story if we're given some great character driven stakes and narratives, but the film lacks a real arc for either of its main characters. The only one with any kind of arc is Rotta the Hutt, who disappears from the film for a decent chunk and is forgettable enough that I had to google his name.

And now that we're sat here a month or so later, that word- forgettable- is what really stands out. Because I don't think I've thought about this film besides writing about it since it came out. That's a crazy thing for me to say about not only a Star Wars film, but one about a character who once felt so iconic and memorable.

Much of my criticism for Mando and Grogu could probably be copied and pasted over here, as its another film I was quite excited for which ultimately plays it very safe. I wrote my full review only last week so will keep it short.

Despite not being directed by James Gunn, this film borrows from his style so heavily that I actually wish it had been, because at least he knows how to do it well. Milly Alcock is charismatic and the filmmaking is competent enough to be enjoyable, but not enough to fully make up for boring action, misplaced needle drops and underbaked themes. Lobo is overrated but Krypto remains cute.

This is probably the place to point out that I actually don't dislike any of these films, and also that there's a pretty big jump in quality between 8 and 7. And unlike these previous 2, I wouldn't accuse Backrooms of being forgettable.

When it works it works incredibly well. The Backrooms themselves are an great concept, and their initial discovery is all done to eerie perfection. Anytime the film delves into found footage it becomes one of the creepiest and tensest things I've seen in a cinema, and full credit has go to to everyone involved in direction, set design, and probably a hundred different jobs that I couldn't even name. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve are both great actors and whilst they're not doing their absolute best work here, they do anchor the film very well and certainly can't be complained about.

So why so low? Well, whilst what works works well, the ending doesn't, at least not for me. I'll keep this spoiler free, but it devolves from something unique and mysterious to something generic and overexplained. It maintains some tension but loses the strong horror of the earlier sections, and seems far more interested in setting up a sequel than providing a satisfying ending. The horror becomes less about the Backrooms themselves or personal trauma, and more about a monster ineptly chasing you around.

The first entry on this list that I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed with, although that's perhaps due to slightly lower expectations. Even though it doesn't touch the greatness of the original, DWP2 is a lot of fun with a host of predictably great performances.

The most important thing that it gets right is capturing the energy and spirit of the original. This film is fun, sassy and humorous. The idea of putting Miranda in a much more vulnerable position than the first film is a good one, as it manages to show her new aspects of her character, but I'm not sure it goes quite far enough.

The opening resets the Miranda/Andy dynamic far more than I think it should, making the first hour or so far more derivative of the first than it needed to be. I also appreciate the attempts to say something about the state of modern journalism, though I find the conclusion to this aspect a bit weak and uninspiring. 20 years later, we’re still talking about The Devil Wears Prada. I don’t think we’ll be saying the same for it’s sequel.

Yet again, I have a full review of this on my page, and it's safe to say that I seem to have liked this way more than most people. I accept a lot of the criticisms around some strange moments and a lack of arcs for certain characters, but I also think Spielberg succeeds in occasionally invoking the awe and wonder that alien life really should.

The aliens of this film manage to be both some of the most generic we’ve seen in years but also some of the best. The film plays with very conventional ideas of aliens to ask the question of how humanity would really react to the green guys becoming real, and specifically whether or not they should be allowed to know. I don’t think it executes this theme brilliantly, but its presence does reinforce the magnitude of discovering extra terrestrial life.

The two leads of Disclosure Day are Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, so they’re predictably great, but Blunt especially so. Her character oscillates between a supernatural ease and very human anxiety constantly, and Blunt makes this contrast stark but not jarring. She really sells the idea that there is something within her that she doesn’t understand and cannot control, and this goes a long way to the wondrous nature of the extra terrestrial in this film. Also, Spielberg knows how to direct a scene. Everything technical is brilliant here, even if the script is sometimes lacking.

Everything from here on I really enjoyed. The Drama has garnered its fair share of controversy, which makes a lot of sense given the subject matter, but I think it manages to avoid being pure outrage farming and provides some genuine food for thought.

The questions around intention vs results, how much people can change, and how much of our morality is purely performative rather than genuine or innate are all interesting. Whilst the film doesn’t offer firm answers to these questions, it explores them in interesting ways by presenting characters who are realistically flawed and nuanced. I like to think I would handle the situation at hand better than they did, and though I think I’d do slightly better, I can’t claim that I wouldn’t be a bit all over the place.

I think the use of the trailer for this film was pretty genius, not only to get people into the cinema to begin with, but also in making the first act or so before the teased reveal horrifically tense. The editing also deserves a big shout and could very well come home with an Oscar, for providing so much subjectivity without ever becoming outright confusing. If I was to pick out some flaws it would be that, despite being arguably the main character, Emma doesn’t really have any arc to speak of. But I think she works well as the centre of Charlie’s arc.

(Full review here).

For I am Frankelda, I am cheating. Because this technically isn’t a 2026 release, but only became available in the UK and most of the world this June. And I love it, so I’m counting it.

It’s the first Mexican stop motion film, and wears its medium with pride. Rather than smoothing stop motion’s janky edges with computer technology, this film maintains the jank as part of its style. And the style is really stunning, simultaneously beautiful and haunting, oscillating between the two or managing both at once. The various creature designs are endlessly creative, expressive and well-executed. There is never a dull moment visually.

This creativity extends past the visuals and into the music as well, as this is also a great musical. The music is used well to progress plot and characters, as well as being generally fun to listen to. I love Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical work, but his influence on American animated musicals has led to everything starting to sound the same, so it’s exciting to hear a musical try something different and properly execute it. The standout song is easily ‘The Prince of Terrors’ or ‘Prince of Spooks’, which captures all of the film’s best traits in one sequence. It’s haunting, beautiful , catchy, and is accompanied by some of the film’s best visuals to make my favourite individual sequence of the year so far.

The script does hold this back from being slightly higher on the list. It isn’t bad, but the ending does drag a little bit and this is clearly a story trying to cram a lot of the book’s lore into a 2 hour runtime, with a few too many characters and plot points that are left underdeveloped.

Narrowly missing out on the top spot is the first big cinema story of the year, a film heralded for its practical sets, puppetry and original(ish) storytelling. It was also the year's first big financial success.

Yet again there's a full review here, but most of what I'm going to praise about this film you've probably already heard. For all its technical brilliance, Hail Mary rests on the strength of a central dynamic between Grace and Rocky, and fortunately this dynamic is effortlessly charming. Their chemistry and humour makes the film a joy to watch, and ultimately means that the big emotional moments pack the intended punch. Moments when the film leaves the spaceship to enter outer space finally deliver the visual splendour we often expect of space films, with some sublime moments of beauty. This all fuels the optimistic attitude that makes Hail Mary so infectious.

My only big problems come in the 3rd act, which eventually reaches a good ending but has one too many back and forths getting there. This slight drag sucked a bit of my emotional investment by the last 20 minutes or so.

Shock horror I have Project Hail Mary and Obsession as my top 2, but sometimes the general consensus knows what it's talking about.

I think what makes the film standout is it's ability to somehow have its cake and eat it too. Obsession obviously leads us to sympathise with Nikki and view her as the victim, made fairly clear from the get go and unavoidable by the end, and it does this exceptionally well. It wasn't really until after the credits rolled that I fully sat with how horrific the whole thing was for her, but there are several moments in the film itself that are enough to make you feel terrible.

But it somehow manages to pull this off whilst still making her genuinely terrifying at several moments. There are two scene in particular that unsettled me more than almost any other horror film I've seen. This didn't fully work for some people, who see us being afraid as being aligned with Bear, and therefore leave the film with a bad taste. But I think there's enough nuance there to put us in Bear’s terrified shoes whilst still ultimately recognising him as a controlling and pathetic man.

2026 has been a strong year so far, but besides Project Hail Mary it's come from pretty unexpected places. I was probably more hyped for Mando or Supergirl than any other films here, but as often happens, it's the original works that end up standing out.