Going to try
something a little different this year and save my signs of gratitude to
everyone who voted and shared this year’s poll for the end of today’s post.
Perhaps this will help me in the process of trying to get this finished sooner
than the last few Results Posts I’ve done. Without further ado, here are the 15
films that earned the 56 votes that you all submitted to the 2026 edition of
Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Annual End of Summer Fan Poll!
FIRST UP, WE
HAVE FIVE FILMS THAT EACH EARNED A SINGLE VOTE APIECE
PAW PATROL: THE
DINO MOVIE
I’ve previously gone over this series in a previous
Results Post, but for the uninitiated, Paw Patrol is a Canadian-produced
animated series that follows a group of dogs who, led by their human leader
Ryder, engage in search and rescue missions in their hometown of Adventure Bay,
with each dog trained in one of the branches of emergency service operations,
from Chase the Police Dog to Skye the Air Rescue Dog. Since its debut in 2013,
it has become a massive hit to the point where it arguably stands as the
flagship series of Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. programming block; a position
previously held by the likes of other iconic shows like Blue’s Clues and
Dora the Explorer. Along with providing its production company, Spin
Master Entertainment, billions of dollars in revenue through toy sales, Paw
Patrol has also found much success in the world of feature films. In 2021,
the Paw Patrol made their big-screen debut with Paw Patrol: The Movie which,
despite being one of the many 2021 releases that were simultaneously released in
theaters and on its studio’s streaming service, Paramount+, did quite well at
the box office, where it earned over $151 million on a modest $26 million
budget. It also did quite well in that year’s edition of our Annual End of
Summer Fan Poll, scoring a respectable three votes and just missing out on
being in that year’s Top 5. Naturally, this then led to a sequel in 2023, Paw
Patrol: The Mighty Movie, where the team gains superpowers. The Mighty
Movie ended up faring even better financially, scoring over $205 million
worldwide… but, because it was released at the tail-end of September, it
couldn’t qualify for the 2023 End of Summer Fan Poll.
But now this brings us to the gang’s third feature film
outing, Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, a film whose subtitle perfectly
describes its plot. Following up on the 6-episode story arc Dino Rescue that
ran during the show’s seventh season in 2020, the film sees the Paw Patrol wind
up on an island inhabited by dinosaurs. There, they proceed to do what they do
best while also working to stop their arch-nemesis Mayor Humdinger from locating
a diamond reserve and causing all sorts of chaos on the island. As has been the
case with all these Paw Patrol films, its voice cast consists of a
combination of series regulars and celebrity guest stars, with the latter
including the likes of McKenna Grace as Skye, who she also voiced in The
Mighty Movie, and the one and only Bill Nye the Science Guy as an
archeologist that the team meets. Upon its release, The Dino Movie matched
its feature film predecessors on both a critical and commercial level. To date,
it has grossed over $152 million worldwide and has scored solid reviews with
critics who have consistently praised these films for satisfying the
franchise’s fans with the Paw Patrol’s latest adventures. And with series
creator Keith Chapman recently stating that the series still has enough juice in
it to keep going more than a decade after its initial debut, I wouldn’t be
surprised if a fourth cinematic outing for these beloved pups isn’t already in
the works.
THE END OF OAK
STREET
Moving over to the other major wide release from the weekend
of August 14th (and one that, ironically, also involves dinosaurs),
we have The End of Oak Street, notably produced by blockbuster mainstay
J.J. Abrams and directed by David Robert Mitchell, who previously helmed the terrifyingly
modern horror hit that was 2014’s It Follows. In this 80’s set sci-fi
thriller, Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor star as a married couple who find
themselves in a fascinating situation alongside their two kids, Audrey (Maisy
Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), when their neighborhood is mysteriously
transported from the year 1982 to the prehistoric era. Now, the family is
forced to fight for their lives against all the ferocious dinosaurs that start
to go after them and their neighbors while also trying to figure out exactly
what happened to them. Effectively giving audiences a new spin on the dinosaur
thriller genre to rival the likes of the Jurassic Park/World films, The
End of Oak Street was generally well-received by critics upon its release.
Sure, some were a bit more mixed on the film’s attempts at mirroring the vibes
of the Steven Spielberg-produced hits that it was clearly inspired by, but for
the most part, many agreed that the film succeeded in being a good
old-fashioned creature feature that even sometimes dared to push the limits of
its PG-13 rating. From a financial standpoint, the film’s success was,
admittedly, a bit more muted by comparison as, to date, it’s only managed about
$121 million at the worldwide box office against a production budget that’s
somewhere around $80 million to $92 million, but I imagine that this one has a
good chance at becoming a modern cult classic in the years to come, especially
since, at the very least, some have argued that it is far superior to some of the
more recent Jurassic films.
MORTAL KOMBAT
II
In 2021, New Line Cinema released its second major attempt
at a live-action film adaptation of the hit fighting game franchise Mortal
Kombat. Previously, they were responsible for the 1995 film adaptation of Mortal
Kombat which, despite being controversially neutered in terms of the
franchise’s trademark graphic violence to achieve a more marketable PG-13
rating, was successful enough that, to this day, it’s still considered one of
the better film adaptations of a video game, even if that’s, admittedly, not
saying much given the genre’s longstanding negative reputation. The same can’t
be said, however, for its 1997 follow-up, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, a
film that technically sported a larger budget than its predecessor… and yet
ultimately ended up looking much cheaper by comparison in every imaginable way.
The result was an utter disaster that is not only viewed as one of the worst
video game-based films of all-time but also one of the worst films ever made; in
fact, its tagline advising viewers to ‘destroy all expectations’ ironically
ended up being the most perfect way to describe its infamously poor quality. This,
as a result, led to the cancellation of a potential third installment as the
franchise then proceeded to spend much of the 2010’s trying to develop a
potential big-screen reboot, which ultimately came to be in 2021 produced by
all-star genre filmmaker James Wan. And upon its release, the film was largely
seen as a success despite a few hiccups along the way.
While it did have to contend with being one of the many 2021
releases that were a simultaneous theatrical/streaming release, it ended up setting
a record as the most-viewed film to debut on Warner Bros.’ streaming service
HBO Max and still managed to make over $84 million in theaters. Critically, the
film was something of a mixed bag as it was both praised for being a far more
faithful adaptation of its source material compared to the 1995 film,
especially when it comes to depicting Mortal Kombat’s iconically gory
fight sequences, but criticized for mostly being a form of narrative build-up
for future installments that was largely centered around a film-exclusive
protagonist, MMA fighter Cole Young, who’s established as being a descendant of
series mainstay Hanzo Hasashi AKA Scorpion. Still, it was ultimately successful
enough to get a sequel greenlit, which brings us to this year’s Mortal
Kombat II, a film that does feel like a follow-up that worked diligently to
address some of the criticisms fans had about the first film. Whereas the first
Mortal Kombat was ultimately not about its titular tournament, the
second film goes all-in with the eternal conflict between the forces of
Earthrealm and Outworld by way of a brutal tournament to the death that could
result in the latter taking over the former should they win. And for those who
weren’t too big on Cole Young? Well, don’t worry about that because he’s killed
off early on as the focus shifts to the franchise’s more well-known characters;
most notably, washed-up action star Johnny Cage after he was teased at the end
of the first film.
Karl Urban ultimately wasn’t a lot of folks’ first choice
for the role, but he does prove to be a great Johnny Cage as the film flawlessly
maintains Johnny’s long-standing portrayal from the games as a cocky
over-the-hill action star who frequently finds himself getting into trouble
that, more often than not, he himself was largely responsible for (e.g. goading
an Outworld Tarkatan named Baraka into fighting him). And yet, while Johnny
Cage may have been advertised as the headlining star of the film, the true
protagonist of the story is another MK regular, Kitana, princess of the
kingdom of Edenia which is sadly overthrown by the tyrannical Shao Kahn. Adeline
Rudolph steals the show as the highly sympathetic and all-around badass warrior
princess who, despite being forced to fight for Outworld as Kahn’s ‘adopted’
daughter, secretly works with Lord Raiden the Thunder God and the forces of
Earthrealm to take Kahn down. Along with other fun new additions to the cast
like Tati Gabrielle as Kitana’s bodyguard and confidant Jade (the strong
camaraderie between the two undoubtedly benefitting from Gabrielle and Rudolph
having worked together on the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)
and bodybuilder Martyn Ford as the appropriately imposing Shao Kahn, we also
have all the genuinely well-cast players from the first film, from Jessica
McNamee as the no-nonsense Special Forces officer Sonya Blade and Ludi Lin as
the noble Shaolin monk Liu Kang to Josh Lawson continuing to be a Grade-A
comedic powerhouse as the douchey mercenary Kano, who’s revived by Outworld
after being killed by Sonya in the previous film but ends up allying with
Earthrealm again, resulting in some fun comedic banter between him and Johnny
Cage.
When it comes to the somewhat polarizing affair that was the
first Mortal Kombat film (the 2021 version, for the record, not the 1995
version…), I was ultimately among those who did enjoy it. Even as someone who
wasn’t too big on the Mortal Kombat franchise when he first watched it
in 2021 (which is decidedly NOT the case these days), I was fine
with its controversial decision to be more of a gateway to set up future
installments because, if anything, I did find the foundation it was building to
be solid overall. And sure enough, Mortal Kombat II takes that solid
foundation and turns it into a top-notch sequel that improves upon its
predecessor in practically every way, whether it’s better emotional stakes or,
best of all, better action sequences. Yes, this film’s action sequences are
second-to-none, with some even filmed in a way that makes them look like they
were ripped directly from the games. And so, with a positive example of
fan-service like that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that Mortal Kombat
II gives fans of this iconic franchise its best live-action outing to date.
Will this result in a third installment? Well, that’s currently up in the air
right now as nothing’s been confirmed aside from the films’ screenwriter Jeremy
Slater confirming his work on a script. Commercially, Mortal Kombat II only
did ‘okay’ upon its release, passing its predecessor’s worldwide haul but only
doing about $129 million on an $80 million budget. But, at the very least, it
was better received by critics so perhaps that will be enough to convince
Warner Bros. to give us another round of Mortal Kombat goodness.
COOKIE QUEENS
Our first of two entries from this year’s write-in section
is probably one of the more off-beat titles we’ve ever gotten out of it, but at
the same time, it is based around a well-established institution of American
culture, the Girl Scouts. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, the
organization has given young girls the same kind of morally fulfilling life
experiences as their equally well-known counterparts, the Boy Scouts of
America. And, of course, one of the most famous aspects of Girl Scouts culture
is their annual cookie sales that provide their members with valuable lessons
in money management and business ethics while annually raising over $800
million in sales. But despite what the title suggests, Cookie Queens is
not a documentary about how Girl Scout cookies became a staple of the Girl
Scout lexicon. Instead, it’s a slice-of-life documentary about four young Girl
Scouts (Nikki, Olive, Shannon Elizabeth, and Ara) as they experience the ups
and downs of the highly demanding and always unpredictable time of the year
that is Girl Scout Cookie season. Directed by Emmy-winning documentary
filmmaker Alysa Nahmias and notably executive produced by none other than
Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, the film premiered at this year’s
Sundance Film Festival and was then acquired by Roadside Attractions for a
theatrical release in August. Upon its release, the film scored well with
critics who found it to be an engaging look into not only the inspirational culture
that has made Girl Scouts what it is today but also the bright young girls who cultivate
it.
REMARKABLY
BRIGHT CREATURES
Our other Write-In Honoree from this year’s poll… is one
that technically shouldn’t count based on the guidelines that I’ve set for this
event as it’s a streaming release that debuted on Netflix back in May. But if
you recall last year’s Results Post, I did end up covering not one but two
films that primarily debuted on Netflix last summer. There was the pop cultural
sensation that was K-Pop Demon Hunters, which did see a theatrical
release by the time I launched the 2025 Poll, and Happy Gilmore 2, which
I allowed to be represented despite not having any sort of theatrical release
as a show of gratitude to the RIMC voters for ensuring we’d have a decent
turnout that year. In the case of this film, Remarkably Bright Creatures…
in a way, you could say that I’m applying the same mentality to it that I did Happy
Gilmore 2. However, in this case, I’m accepting it more on the grounds that
it was a new release that came out this year which, to be perfectly blunt, is
usually the ground rule that I focus on the most when it comes to the Annual
End of Summer Fan Poll. Given the nature of streaming services, the reason why
I tend not to focus on films released on the likes of Netflix or HBO Max is
that I don’t want someone to go to the Write-In Section and cast their vote for
a film that’s been out for years like, say, a Lord of the Rings film or
James Cameron’s Titanic simply because they happened to be on Netflix
that summer. With that in mind, because this film was a new release and is also
a film that, in a world that isn’t dominated by streaming services, could’ve
easily gotten a proper theatrical release, I’m willing to count it this year.
And who knows? Maybe in the future I’ll start to consider accepting votes for
feature films that debuted on streaming services if they came out THAT year.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is the third directorial
feature from Olivia Newman. Newman has notably had quite a lot of success in our
Annual End of Summer Fan Poll as her previous film was 2022’s most popular
Write-In Honoree, Where the Crawdads Sing (Why was that film a Write-In
Honoree despite being a wide release? Simply put, I made a mistake and didn’t
include it in that year’s main list of options… believe me, that’s one decision
that still haunts me to this day). Much like that film, Remarkably Bright
Creatures is based on a best-selling novel of the same name: the debut
novel of author Shelby Van Pelt that was published in 2022 and became a New
York Times bestseller. Sally Field stars in the lead role of Tova, an
elderly woman who works at her local aquarium in Washington as the night
janitor. In the wake of the recent losses of both her son and husband, the film
follows Tova as she experiences some interesting new developments in life,
including her budding friendship with a young man named Cameron (Lewis Pullman)
who comes to town desperate for a job. There’s also the close bond that she
shares with the animals at the aquarium, especially with one of the aquarium’s
most prominent attractions, an octopus named Marcellus, whose inner thoughts (voiced
by Alfred Molina) serve as the film’s narration. Remarkably Bright Creatures
performed quite well with critics upon its debut, who praised it as a
touching tearjerker headlined by a phenomenal lead performance by Sally Field.
Field ended up winning this year’s Astra TV Award for Best Actress in a Limited
Series/TV Movie for her work on the film (with Pullman landing a Best Actor
nomination) and the film netted three Emmy nominations and won two: a Best
Actress nod for Field and the award for Outstanding Movie of the Year. And like
I noted earlier, I do strongly believe that if this had been given a theatrical
release, it probably would’ve been a decent hit with audiences.
NEXT UP, WE
HAVE FOUR FILMS THAT EARNED TWO VOTES APIECE… AND IF YOU ASK ME, THERE’S NO
BETTER WAY TO INTRODUCE THE NEXT FILM THAN WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT… AHEM…
HI, I’M SEAN NASUTI, WELCOME TO JACKASS!!!
JACKASS: BEST
AND LAST
Yes, if you want to talk about a piece of media that has
left a considerable impact on the pop cultural zeitgeist, either good or bad
depending on who you ask, look no further than the modern slapstick comedy
juggernaut that is Jackass. First launched in 2000 as a TV series airing
on MTV, much of Jackass’ origins can be traced back to comedic stuntman
Johnny Knoxville, who experienced the breakout moment of his career in 1998
when a video consisting of him testing out self-defense equipment on himself was
released by the skateboarding magazine Big Brother. Along with Big
Brother editor Jeff Tremaine (who’d serve as the franchise’s director) and filmmaker
Spike Jonze, Knoxville would lead the charge in Jackass, which followed
him and his friends (Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Steve-O, Ryan
Dunn, Danger Ehren, Preston Lacy, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, and Brandon DiCamillo) as they engaged in some of
the most ludicrous pranks and stunts imaginable, ranging from the utterly
disgusting to the agonizingly painful. While the original series only lasted
for three seasons from 2000 to 2002, it quickly became one of MTV’s most
popular shows even while simultaneously garnering tons of controversy in
certain circles as a result of those attempting to replicate their stunts,
which the show itself frequently and strictly warned its viewers not to do. And
thus, not long after the show’s conclusion, Knoxville and company would take
their antics to the big screen with 2002’s Jackass: The Movie. Sure, the
film ended up attracting an incredibly polarizing reaction amongst critics upon
its release, with many turned off by the franchise’s trademark chaotic and
gross-out sense of humor, but with a near $80 million turn at the box office on
just a $5 million budget, it was clear that Jackass could continue to
live on as a hugely successful film franchise.
That is exactly what happened in 2006 when the team reunited
for Jackass Number Two, and sure, in recent years, many of those
involved have openly admitted that this film was the peak of the cast’s blatantly
reckless behavior (in both good AND bad ways), but like its predecessor, Jackass
Number Two was an undisputed success at the box office while faring even
better with critics by comparison. The crew’s third cinematic outing would come
in 2010, and since this was right around the time that the film industry was
experiencing a major resurgence in the process of producing films in 3-D, it
was only natural for the Jackass crew to take a similar step into the
third dimension. Giving audiences their most upfront and personal experience
with Johnny Knoxville and the gang (whether they liked it or not), the 3-D
release helped Jackass 3-D become the series’ highest-grossing
installment to date with over $171 million worldwide. After that, the main
series would take a hiatus for a few years with everyone involved moving onto
other projects. There was, however, a theatrically released spin-off released
in 2013, Bad Grandpa, centered around an elderly character named Irving Zisman
(played by Knoxville) who had previously made appearances in the Jackass films.
That film would end up making over $152 million worldwide and then proceeded to
achieve something that no one would have ever expected a Jackass film to
do: earn an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
After almost a decade, the Jackass crew would make
their triumphant return to the big screen with 2022’s Jackass Forever.
Sure, by this point, the crew had lost a few of their mainstays over the past
several years, with Ryan Dunn tragically passing away in 2011 in a drunken car
crash and Bam Margera booted from the production after only a single sketch for
violating his contract over his rampant drug and alcohol use, but as one giant
love letter to this iconic franchise, Forever was another critical and
commercial success even as it left some folks wondering if this would be the
end of the franchise given how older Knoxville and crew had gotten by that
point which, naturally, led to all sorts of on-set injuries that were far more
extreme than the ones they experienced in the past. But then, in 2025, it was
revealed that the series would celebrate its 25th anniversary by
going out on a high [brown] note with its final cinematic outing, Jackass:
Best and Last. Unlike the previous films, though, Best and Last would
notably be more of a compilation feature consisting of both new stunts and
classic moments from both the original series and the previous films. Surprisingly,
this film did NOT match its predecessors’ successful runs at the box office, only making a little under $28 million, but as was the case with Forever,
the film was a solid success amongst critics who felt that the film was yet
another rousing comedic riot for Johnny Knoxville and company that was a
poignant celebration of their legacy.
BACKROOMS
Some of the most talked about films from this past summer
were those made by filmmakers who had gotten their start on the video-sharing
platform YouTube. This includes our next film, Backrooms, which was the
feature-length directorial debut of Youtuber Kane Parsons and based on the
viral web series of the same name that he created in 2022. Now, apologies in
advance as this is one part of YouTube that I’ve never partaken in as a regular
visitor to the site, but basically, the concept of ‘the backrooms’ began in
2019 on 4chan. In response to a message board post that asked users to post
images that, although seemingly ordinary, gave off a sense of tense foreboding,
one user responded with an image of a large, empty room bathed in yellow light.
This photo, which was later revealed to be of an old furniture store in Oshkosh,
Wisconsin when it was being renovated by a new owner in 2002, would become
known as ‘the backrooms’, which promptly became a major internet phenomena revolving
around the concept of ‘liminal space’ (an internet term that describes spaces
that are largely used as a means of passage but seem far more ominous when
empty) as a prime setting for horror narratives in which they’re inhabited by
all sorts of hostile entities. In 2022, Kane Parsons created a found
footage-style web series that follows scientists as they explore this
mysterious realm. Just one year later, Parsons was tapped to direct a feature
film adaptation of his series with the backing of several notable genre
filmmakers that included the likes of James Wan, Osgood Perkins, and Shawn
Levy.
The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as the owner of a furniture
store who, along with his therapist (Renate Reinsve), ventures into his store’s
basement and ends up in the infamous ‘backrooms’, where they’re then subjected
to all the horrors that it contains. When the film hit theaters at the tail-end
of May, it proved to be an unexpected success following in the footsteps of the
other major horror film from that month directed by a YouTuber (that, SPOILERS…
yes, we will be talking about soon). With a $400 million+ run at the worldwide
box-office, it became the highest-grossing film to date released by A24 with
Parsons setting a record as the youngest filmmaker to achieve the #1 spot at
the worldwide box-office at just 20 years old. The film also proved to be a
solid hit with critics, with many praising Parsons’ strong direction that often
dared to be a little more artsy than one would normally expect to see out of a
horror film. A few months later, Parsons and A24 released an Extended Cut of
the film, known as the ‘Everything Must Go Edition’, that included 15 extra
minutes that were later released by Parsons for free on his YouTube channel.
Since then, there have been talks between Parsons and A24 about a potential
sequel, but if that wasn’t enough, Parsons has also stated that he plans on
continuing the Backrooms web series as well, which means that there’s
plenty more within the uniquely horrifying world that made him a viral filmmaking
sensation that has yet to be explored.
DISCLOSURE DAY
Some of you may be surprised to learn that in the
decade-plus that I’ve been doing this Annual End of Summer Fan Poll, we haven’t
had much representation from the films of Steven Spielberg. The main reason why
I bring this up is that apart from him being one of the most well-known and
revered filmmakers in the entire industry, Spielberg is also widely credited as
the one who practically revolutionized the whole concept of ‘summer
blockbusters’. This, of course, all began with his 1975 adaptation of author
Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws, which overcame one of the most notoriously
arduous productions in film history to become one of the most popular films
ever made; an honor that still stands to this day more than half a century
after its release. And since then, Spielberg has continued to have much success
in the summer blockbuster game with iconic hits like the Indiana Jones series
and Jurassic Park. But as to why his films haven’t appeared that often
in our Annual End of Summer Fan Poll… well, there’s a fair reason for that, in
fact. Since 2014, when I first started this event, most of the films that
Spielberg has made have been released outside of the summer season: usually
around late fall where they’ve garnered lots of awards buzz. Up until now, the
only film of his that ever qualified for this event was his 2016 adaptation of
Roald Dahl’s The BFG, which did land two votes in that year’s End of
Summer Fan Poll. But this year saw the legendary filmmaker return to the blockbuster
world that he helped cultivate with an ambitious new original sci-fi thriller
known as Disclosure Day.
It’s a film that certainly has plenty of those classic
Spielberg hallmarks, such as the fact that its plot revolves around
extraterrestrial life, which is certainly not new territory for the man who
brought us E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the
Third Kind. The film revolves around a cybersecurity analyst (played by
Josh O’Connor) who steals a large amount of information from the secret
government agency that he works for regarding the decades’ worth of evidence
that they’ve gathered on the existence of extra-terrestrial life that has been
kept hidden from the public. Joined by his girlfriend (Eve Hewson) and a
meteorologist (Emily Blunt) who has recently been experiencing all sorts of strange psychic-related incidents, he soon finds himself forced to go on the
run from his employers all while learning more about humanity’s encounters with
alien life that, as it turns out, both he and the meteorologist have specific
connections to. Driven by an intentionally secretive marketing campaign, Disclosure
Day would turn out to be another critical and commercial hit for Spielberg
upon its release. It made about $241 million at the box-office and scored solid
reviews from critics, and while some did feel that it didn’t fully deliver on
its mystery-driven premise, many did praise it for its primarily hopeful
outlook on the future of both the world and humanity and for delivering some
relevant social commentary on the importance of the truth in an era dominated
by toxic misinformation.
THE MANDALORIAN
AND GROGU
Another one of the most noteworthy developments of the 2026
summer season was the return of Star Wars to the big screen in more than
half a decade. Yes, since concluding the ‘Skywalker Saga’ in 2019 with Episode
IX: The Rise of Skywalker, arguably the most famous franchise in all of pop
culture spent the following years focusing more on its small-screen projects,
resulting in various TV series, both live-action and animated. And, for the
most part, these series have fared well enough despite having to deal with the
infamously demanding expectations of Star Wars’ notoriously fickle
fanbase (which, yes, I’ll be addressing in further detail later…). During this
time, Lucasfilm also began to spend a lot of effort in developing further
big-screen outings within a galaxy far, far away that are planned to come out
in the future, including a non-Skywalker Saga driven film titled Starfighter
directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling and a follow-up to Rise
of Skywalker that will follow the sequel trilogy’s main protagonist Rey
Skywalker as she works to establish a new Jedi Order. The franchise will even
have a special means of celebrating its 50th anniversary next year
by re-releasing the original Star Wars film, A New Hope, in
theaters… and when I say ‘original’, I mean the ORIGINAL cut of A New Hope,
prior to all the controversial changes that series creator George Lucas
incorporated into the film starting with the 1997 Special Edition. But as for Star
Wars’ first major foray into the theaters in the 2020’s, Lucasfilm opted to
start us out with the latest adventure from a duo that has arguably evolved
into becoming the current stars of the whole franchise: Mandalorian bounty
hunter Din Djarin AKA ‘The Mandalorian’ and his young alien ward Grogu.
Their story began in 2019 with Star Wars´ first
official live-action TV series, The Mandalorian, created by Jon Favreau.
With the release of its first episode as a Day 1 exclusive on Disney’s newly
launched streaming service Disney+, Star Wars fans quickly discovered
how the series would end up defying all their expectations about it. Instead of
a more straight-forward collection of adventures undertaken by a revered bounty
hunter across the Star Wars universe, the pilot episode’s finale saw the
titular Mandalorian locate his latest bounty… only to discover that it is a young
alien child who, as any Star Wars fan would recognize, comes from the
same alien species as the franchise’s most famous Jedi warrior, Yoda. Rather
than turning the young child in to his clients, the Mandalorian instead takes
him under his wing, thus forming the real premise of the show as we follow
Mando as he partakes in his regular bounty hunting duties while also forming an
unexpectedly touching father-son bond with his adorably rambunctious
Force-sensitive companion, whose name is officially revealed to be ‘Grogu’ in
Season 2. This uniquely humanistic approach to the Star Wars universe
certainly helped The Mandalorian quickly become a success with both
critics and audiences as it proceeded to tell the stories of Mando and Grogu’s
adventures for three seasons. But by 2023, as plans were put into place for a prospective
fourth season, Favreau and franchise mainstay Dave Filoni (who, just this year,
was appointed as the new Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm) decided to rework
it into a feature film directed by Favreau himself, thus giving us the aptly
titled The Mandalorian and Grogu.
At the end of the show’s third season, Mando offficially Grogu as his son. At the same time, he takes up an offer from New
Republic officer/pilot Carson Teva to start doing contract work for the New Republic
as they try and combat the last remaining forces of the Galactic Empire. This
sets the stage for the film’s plot, in which Mando is commanded by New Republic
Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) to rescue Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy
Allen White), the sole offspring of notorious Tatooine crime-lord Jabba the
Hutt. In exchange for his rescue, the Hutt twins, Jabba’s siblings and current
leaders of the Hutt cartel on the planet Nal Hutta, will provide them with information
on the whereabouts of one of the New Republic’s most elusive Imperial targets,
Commander Coin. Mando and Grogu’s journey takes them to the planet Shakari,
where Rotta has been taken captive by the local crime lord Janu (who, SPOILERS,
is revealed to be the Commander Coin they’ve been looking for) and forced to fight
in the local gladiatorial arena. But even with Mando’s efforts to keep Janu
from killing off Rotta before he’s supposedly set to pay off his debt, he soon
realizes that the entire situation is more complicated than anticipated, with
Rotta telling him that the Twins secretly want him dead so that he won’t take
his father’s place as the leader of the Hutt cartel, which Rotta himself
doesn’t want to do.
Given what I just said about how this film evolved from
Favreau and Filoni’s plans for the show’s potential fourth season, it probably
isn’t surprising to see that the main criticism this film has faced is that
it’s been accused of being nothing more than an extended episode of the TV
series. But even if this film doesn’t necessarily have the most layered plot of
any Star Wars film or show, that’s not necessarily a bad thing in this
case. Sure, there are, perhaps, one or two sequences that they could’ve edited
down to trim off some of the film’s rather hefty runtime, but the film itself
is a perfect representation of the show’s uniquely engrossing vibes. In other
words, if you’re just here to see Mando do his bounty hunting business across
the galaxy, Grogu tagging along with the occasionally misguided yet often vital
means of support and continued displays of the duo’s heartwarming father-son
bond, then this film hits all those marks perfectly. The latter, especially,
comes into play during a key moment in the film where Mando is poisoned by the
Twins’ giant Dragonsnake and is on the verge of death. This forces Grogu to
head off on his own accord to find a cure; thankfully, he does, thus stressing
an important part of the Mandalorian creed, “The old protect the young and the
young protect the old.” And then, aside from that, you also have all the fun
characters they get to work off, often stemming from other parts of the Star
Wars universe. There’s Zeb Orellios from the Star Wars Rebels animated
series, who tags along with Mando and Grogu on some of their missions, and Rotta
the Hutt, whose previous kidnapping by Count Dooku when he was a baby set the
plot of The Clone Wars’ 2008 feature film pilot into motion. Plus, he
also forms a delightfully sweet friendship with Grogu.
Simply put, contrary to what some may have been saying about
it online, there’s a lot to love about The Mandalorian and Grogu. I’m
not saying that it’s the Star Wars franchise’s best feature film outing,
but as a feature film adaptation of its flagship series, it succeeds in
conveying all its strongest aspects: most specifically, the heartwarming
father-son connection between its titular heroes. Sadly, it seems like this
film’s largely muted reaction from critics probably had some sort of impact on
its box-office run. A $345 million turnout may not seem that bad, especially
since The Mandalorian and Grogu did technically have a smaller budget
than many of the recent Star Wars films at only $165 million, but considering
that this is an even lower turnout than that of the franchise's other notoriously undervalued ‘dud’, 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, it was
largely seen as a bust, and that’s a shame, really. A part of me feels like
this also has something to do with how notoriously buggered the Star Wars fandom
has been ever since the franchise was revived in the 2010’s after Disney
purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas. Of course, we all know that much of this
was started by the intensely vitriolic reactions that a lot of right-wing
minded fans had to 2018’s Episode VIII: The Last Jedi because it didn’t
live up to their specific expectations, thus resulting in an endless stream of
racist and misogynistic attacks against those involved in the films and shows.
But at the same time, I’d also argue that some of the fans on the other side of
the argument were ALSO responsible for all this toxic discourse by being so
enraptured by The Last Jedi’s ‘fresh’ spin on the Star Wars universe
that they then proceeded to make it a benchmark that all future Star Wars projects
have been unreasonably compared to.
If you ask me, this problem has continued to persist within
the far more reasonable parts of the Star Wars fandom to this very day,
albeit with a newer Star Wars project to serve as their new ‘gold
standard’: Andor, a TV series that serves as a prequel to the
franchise’s 2016 feature film spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story revolving
around the film’s male lead, Cassian Andor. Running for two seasons, the show
has earned tons of praise for effectively crafting a political thriller plot
within the Star Wars universe that was also much darker thematically
than one would normally expect out of a Star Wars film/show. Ergo, from
what I’ve seen online, it seems like some folks out there strongly believe that
every Star Wars project from here on out should be as thematically
mature as Andor, and as someone who had to put up with the persistent BS
of the Snyder Cult and their belief that DC Comics’ films and shows should all
be dark and dramatic… let’s just say that I’m not exactly a fan of how this
type of cynical outlook is now being applied to something like Star Wars.
There’s nothing wrong with the kind of light-hearted adventures that the Star
Wars franchise has often been known for, and a film like The Mandalorian
and Grogu is an excellent example of this. Once again, though, we’re left
with yet another case as to why it’s become so frustrating to talk about Star
Wars nowadays because one could argue that no one hates Star Wars more
than its own fans who are never certain as to what they want from it.
AND NOW,
FOLKS, WE COME TO THIS YEAR’S TOP 5! IN FIFTH PLACE WITH 3 VOTES…
THE SHEEP
DETECTIVES
With a surprisingly strong turnout at this year’s poll that
mirrors its unexpectedly popular status, The Sheep Detectives is based
on the 2005 novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. The film adaptation,
which had been in the works since at least 2016, was written by Craig Mazin,
best known nowadays as the showrunner of the highly acclaimed TV series
adaptation of the hit video game The Last of Us, and directed by Kyle
Balda, who makes his live-action directorial debut after previously helming
several Illumination films, including not one, not two, but three films in the Despicable
Me/Minions franchise. The film revolves around a flock of sheep from a
small English village who are stunned by the sudden death of their shepherd and
decide to investigate the cause of the potential murder themselves. Yes, aside
from the film’s stacked ensemble cast that includes the likes of Hugh Jackman, Nicholas
Braun, and Emma Thompson, The Sheep Detectives is primarily set from the
flock’s perspective, with the sheep voiced by an equally stacked voice cast
including the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, and Patrick
Stewart. Given that live-action films based around talking animals often tend
to be a mixed bag in the eyes of critics and audiences, I imagine that not a
lot of people were expecting that much out of this one. And yet, when it did
hit theaters…it ended up being one of the best-reviewed films of the year. Many
praised it for its heartfelt vibes and strong script that provided a fun
satirical spin on the murder mystery genre carried by a lovable cast of
adorable animal stars.
IN FOURTH
PLACE WITH 5 VOTES…
OBSESSION
As we noted earlier, some of 2026’s biggest hits have been
films directed by filmmakers who got their start on YouTube, and easily the
biggest of the bunch has been Obsession, directed by Curry Barker. The
Alabama native got his start in 2017 when he and his film school classmate
Cooper Tomlinson formed the sketch comedy group that’s a bad idea. But,
as it turns out, Barker would follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jordan
Peele and Zach Cregger by going from making comedy sketches to directing
full-blown horror films. In 2024, he directed a feature-length found footage
horror film titled Milk & Serial, which he ended up publishing on his
YouTube channel for free. The year previously, he directed a horror short
titled The Chair, which achieved over 10 million views on the site. It
attracted the attention of producer James Harris from the London-based
production company Tea Shop Productions, who approached Barker with the
prospect of adapting The Chair into a feature film. And while Barker had
already written a feature-length screenplay for a potential adaptation, he
instead pitched a different idea about a couple who was obsessed with one
another. This would largely be spurred by a ‘monkey’s paw’ type object that,
just like in the classic horror short story The Monkey’s Paw, would
grant the one wish of its user with a massive caveat in exchange. In this case,
however, Barker has admitted that he was primarily inspired by the ‘Monkey’s
Paw’ segment of The Simpsons’ second Treehouse of Horror episode
from 1991. What came out of this is the viral sensation of 2026, Obsession.
The film primarily follows a young man named ‘Bear’ (Michael
Johnston) who has had longstanding romantic feelings for his co-worker Nikki
Freeman (Inde Navarette). But despite some encouragement from his fellow friend
and co-worker Ian (Tomlinson), Bear has never been able to properly express his
feelings for her to her, and if that wasn’t enough, Nikki has admitted that she
plans on leaving their job at a local music store soon to pursue her dreams of
being a writer. When he tries to buy her a new necklace to replace the one that
she recently lost, Bear comes across one of the store’s other items, a One Wish
Willow, that claims to grant the wish of those who use them. Bear largely
dismisses the idea, but after another failed attempt at trying to tell Nikki
how he feels about her, Bear uses the One Wish Willow himself, wishing that
“Nikki Freeman loved [him] more than anyone in the f***ing world”. To Bear’s
surprise, the One Wish Willow does, indeed, end up working as Nikki does start
to show signs of affection toward him that gradually evolves into them
officially becoming a couple. And yet, during all this, Nikki also starts to
display some incredibly weird habits, such as acting clingy around Bear, not
wanting him to leave her alone, and getting jealous whenever he interacts with
others. Thus, Bear soon finds himself desperately trying whatever he can to
undo his wish and get out of this entire messed-up situation as it only
proceeds to get worse for Nikki, himself, and their friends.
With Obsession, Barker crafts a gripping and
terrifyingly modern horror plot that strikes a chord with any woman who faces
the threat of having their bodily autonomy taken over by a man. Yes, folks,
let’s not mince words here; while he is technically the main character of the
story, Bear is its true antagonist, and Barker conveys this full descent into
immorality excellently as Bear proceeds to take no responsibility for all the
unhinged things that happen as the result of the demonic entity that’s
overtaken Nikki. It all culminates in one of the most pivotal moments of the
film where Nikki’s real self briefly takes back control and tells Bear that the
only way to get out of all of this is to kill her… to which Bear coldly
responds “What’s so bad about being with me?”. Plus, at the end, when Bear
finally tries to undo the wish by killing himself, even he tries to bail out of
it in a notable bit of on-set ‘improv’ by Michael Johnston, who’s excellent as
the spineless catalyst to all this mayhem. But, of course, the real star of the
show is Inde Navarette as both Nikki in the brief moments she’s her normal self
and the demonic entity that overtakes her, with Navarette snapping back and
forth between the two personas brilliantly and, as the latter, perfectly conveying
the extent of the entity’on-and-off behavior (e.g. causing scenes in public,
making a sandwich out of the remains of Bear’s recently deceased cat Sandy,
etc.). They’re then backed by equally excellent supporting turns from the other
two leads of the film: Cooper Tomlinson as Ian, who serves as the straight man
to much of what Bear’s dealing with while simultaneously being something of a
toxic influence on the whole situation with the big reveal that he and Nikki have
had an on and off relationship, and Megan Lawless as their other
friend/co-worker Sarah, who Bear is completely oblivious to the fact that she
has feelings for him and is someone he clearly has a much stronger connection
to than he ever had with Nikki.
Bolstered by its strong cast, Barker’s excellent direction,
and an appropriately unsettling atmosphere that occasionally lets Barker flex
his comedic roots with some effective instances of macabre humor, Obsession succeeds
in being one of the most intentionally uncomfortable yet wholly captivating
horror films in recent years. As a result, calling this one of the biggest hits
of the year would be a massive understatement because it truly became an unparalleled
pop cultural phenomenon. True to Barker’s low-budget roots, Obsession was
made for less than $1 million ($750,000 to be specific)… it has made over half
a billion dollars worldwide. Now, I’m not going to focus in on the one thing
that some outlets have focused on in that this film was so successful that it
managed to viably compete with (and, in basically every case, outdo) the likes
of big-name properties like Star Wars and DC Comics films simply because
I’m not a fan of the whole ‘original vs IP’ debate, especially since I find
that those who make a big deal about the film industry’s reliance on the latter
often tend to not fully commit to the process of supporting original projects
when they do come out. Instead, I’ll simply celebrate this film’s hit status as
a well-deserved success story for all involved that will surely launch all
their careers in satisfying fashion. Inde Navarette, for example, is currently
being touted as a front-runner for Best Actress at this year’s Oscars and has
already landed some major roles in upcoming projects such as Rogue in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe’s impending re-imagining of the X-Men. Michael
Johnston joined the cast of Radio Silence’s highly anticipated sequel to the
1999 smash hit The Mummy and 2001’s The Mummy Returns. And
as for Curry Barker, he’s already got his next directorial project in the works
with Anything But Ghosts, which will star him and Tomlinson as a pair of
phony paranormal investigators who’re forced to grapple with actual specters.
IN THIRD
PLACE WITH 7 VOTES…
TOY STORY 5
Toy Story… needs no introduction. Ever since Pixar
Animation released their first feature-length computer animated film in 1995,
the adventures of toys who come to life when their owners aren’t around have
been some of the most beloved in all of pop culture. Easily serving as a
flagship series for both Pixar and its parent company Disney, Toy Story is
a franchise that has seen nothing but success over the years. The films have
collectively grossed over $4.3 billion worldwide and have amassed tons of
acclaim from critics. Naturally, this success has translated into other mediums
as well, with a real-life toy line that’s undoubtedly earned billions and
billions in revenue, video games that have often been far better received than
most video games that were made to tie into their respective film releases, and
several hit attractions across Disney Parks around the world. And yet, at the
same time, I’d also argue that Toy Story has inadvertently caused some
notably intense cases of toxic gatekeeping amongst certain parts of its fandom.
Let’s put it this way: if you were to ask folks around my age (full disclosure:
I was born in 1995, the same year that the original film came out, which means
that while I didn’t see it in theaters back then, I was amongst those who did
grow up with the first two films) about this franchise, I have the feeling that
most of them will tell you that this franchise should’ve officially run its
course in 2010. That was when the franchise’s long-awaited third installment, Toy
Story 3, hit theaters and gave fans of the series a wholly satisfying
conclusion to its long-standing story arcs revolving around its toy
protagonists’ relationship with their owner Andy. The result was a
billion-dollar juggernaut that was not only a shoo-in to win that year’s Oscar
for Best Animated Feature, but also became only the third animated film in
history to get a Best Picture nomination.
For a few years after that, Toy Story largely
continued by way of shorts and TV specials. A trio of shorts known as Toy
Story Toons ran in front of some Disney and Pixar films and a pair of
holiday specials (one Halloween-themed, the other Christmas-set) aired on
television. And then, in 2014, Pixar officially announced that a fourth Toy
Story film was in development… and I can speak from experience being online
back then that a lot of folks… didn’t take too kindly to this development.
Simply put, a lot of people questioned why this was even remotely necessary as Toy
Story 3 ended its original trilogy’s narrative on perhaps the best note
possible. This is where the ‘generational gap’ issue that I alluded to earlier
comes into play, as I’d argue that this largely stemmed from folks my age who
grew up with the series and not later generations of kids who may not have been
around when the films were coming out but were very much becoming the series’
new primary demographic. As for me? Well, around this time, I remember coming
across a quote by someone who worked at Pixar (sadly, I can’t exactly recall
who) who stated that the only reason they’d ever make another Toy Story film
was if they came up with a story that was worth telling, and as someone who, as
I’ve made it clear numerous times in the past, doesn’t hold Pixar to the same
ludicrously high standards that a lot of their fans do, I was more than willing
to believe that sentiment of theirs rather than folks online who WEREN’T part
of the Pixar team. But like I said, though, for a lot of folks my age… it
didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that, when Toy Story 4 did hit theaters
in 2019, it was just as critically acclaimed as the previous trilogy, it made
over $1 billion worldwide, and it won that year’s Oscar for Best Animated
Feature.
(*It also did quite
well in that year’s edition of our Annual End of Summer Fan Poll where, in a
year that was full of heavy hitters like Avengers: Endgame and the
remakes of both The Lion King and Aladdin, it managed to finish
in Fifth Place with the exact same number of votes as this year’s Toy Story
5 ultimately managed to pull off, 7*)
For a lot of folks my age, Toy Story 4 was largely
seen as just… ‘good’ but ‘wholly unnecessary’. Suffice it to say, this cynical
mentality would continue when a fifth Toy Story film was officially
announced in 2023 under the direction of Pixar mainstay Andrew Stanton who,
along with directing some of Pixar’s most beloved outings like 2003’s Finding
Nemo and 2008’s Wall-E, has been a mainstay of the Toy Story franchise
since the beginning as one of its lead writers. At the end of Toy Story 4,
with the toys now owned by an adorably imaginative yet socially awkward girl
named Bonnie, our favorite pull-string cowboy doll Woody decided to head out on
his own alongside his longtime love interest Bo Peep as a ‘lost toy’ while his
best pal Buzz Lightyear the Space Ranger and his female counterpart Jessie the
Yodeling Cowgirl took over as the new leaders of their gang of toys. Since
then, their daily bouts of playtime with Bonnie have gone on without a hitch;
however, with Bonnie’s continued struggles of trying to connect with others,
her parents decide to buy her the latest hit product, a tablet named Lilypad that
connects her with her peers online. And unfortunately, for the toys, that means
that Bonnie’s newfound obsession ends up leaving them neglected. Not wanting to
lose yet another owner after her tragically finite relationship with her
original owner Emily, Jessie begins to try and find a way to divert Bonnie’s
attention away from Lilypad, which proves to be such a complicated process that she's even forced to ask Woody, who’s already well-accustomed to the growing number of
toys who have been abandoned by their owners due to technology, to come back
and help sort everything out.
Yes, Toy Story 5 tackles the modern conflict of how
much technology has taken over our lives and how it would leave our favorite
gang of toys feeling left out. However, what Toy Story 5 does
particularly well with this subject matter is that it’s more than just a
straight-forward venomous takedown of technology, which it easily could’ve been
but then could’ve potentially come off as being too preachy. Instead, it’s far
more nuanced about it, noting how inevitable it is in some places while
highlighting some of the genuinely positive aspects of it while also not shying
away from some of its biggest dangers. The latter as comes into play during a key
stretch of the film where one unintentionally public photo of Bonnie’s toys
that is posted online causes the trio of girls that she was trying to be
friends with to cruelly mock her. With that in mind, it should go without
saying that Toy Story 5 thoroughly maintains the franchise’s
long-standing sense of strong emotional poignancy, with much of it being taken
over by the series’ fan-favorite heroine Jessie. Now, as much I love Toy
Story 4 more than most folks from my generation, one criticism about it
that I do understand is that, because of how its story was predominantly
structured around Woody, his reunion with Bo Peep, and the need to protect
Bonnie’s latest toy Forky from throwing himself away, it ultimately left much
of the franchise’s well-established cast of characters with little to do, and
unfortunately, Jessie was among them. In that film’s case, I presume that this
was partially due to the filmmakers trying to work around the loss of Don
Rickles, the voice of Mr. Potato Head, in 2017, and while they managed to
address that by having Potato Head’s dialogue be made up of archival audio, I
wouldn’t be surprised if that played a factor in how the other toys were left
on the sidelines for much of the runtime.
Toy Story 5, conversely, turns Jessie into its main
protagonist with a story arc that sees her find closure to her most devastating
personal conflict: her relationship with her original owner Emily that ended
when Emily grew up and gave Jessie away. As part of the story, Jessie and
Bullseye come across a young girl named Blaze who lives on a farm with her
family and, like Bonnie, has an incredibly imaginative mind. The real kicker
here? Her family’s farm is the same one that Emily used to live on, with Jessie
and Bullseye brought there by an elderly couple after Lilypad tried to get rid
of them because Emily had written down her address on the interior of Jessie’s
chaps. Later, when all seems lost after the incident that left Bonnie being
mocked by her ‘friends’ results in her leaving without getting to know Blaze,
Jessie solemnly returns to the tree that she and Emily used to play at all the
time back in the day. There, she suddenly notices the words ‘Jessie Was Here’ carved
on the side of the tree, and upon digging up the old lunchbox in that spot, she
discovers a time capsule full of artifacts not from Emily… but from her
daughter… who she named Jessie, proving that while they never saw each other
again, Emily never forgot her favorite toy. Simply put, this was a perfect way
to conclude one of the Toy Story franchise’s most emotionally
devastating plotlines nearly three decades after it was introduced in Toy
Story 2. Pixar did consider an alternate sequence where Jessie ends up
being found by an elderly Emily, who shows her off to her grandchild Kit, but
at the end of the day, I do think that the way they approached this subject in
the final film was ultimately the more satisfying conclusion.
(Either way, another
benefit of all this? We got ourselves a new Grade-A Taylor Swift song as she
provided Toy Story 5’s theme song, “I Knew It, I Knew You”, that was
directly inspired by Jessie’s story.)
So yes, because of Jessie becoming Toy Story 5’s main
protagonist, this means that this film does something that many Toy Story fans
probably would’ve considered inconceivable: Woody and Buzz, AKA the two main
protagonists of this entire franchise since the beginning, end up being the
supporting players in this story. Ultimately, though, it works out perfectly as
neither of them overshadow Jessie’s storyline while still getting to have some
fun new material to work with. There’s some hilarious (albeit perhaps a bit ‘below
the belt’ for anyone who grew up alongside this franchise, depending on who you
ask…) jokes about Woody starting to age, such as him losing some of his hair
paint, thus resulting in a bald spot, while Buzz struggles to properly express
his true feelings for Jessie. Luckily for him, this is another longstanding franchise
story arc that gets a satisfying conclusion in this film as Jessie reassures
him “You’re stuck with me, deputy” and the film ends with Bonnie and her
newfound best friend Blaze acting out a wedding between the two. Plus, there’s
also the fun little subplot of a group of new and advanced internet-powered
Buzz Lightyear toys who come onto the scene from time to time before our Buzz
teaches them all their true purpose as toys: this type of Buzz toy even gets
the best upgrade possible with drone-like accessories that lets them, to
reinterpret a classic Toy Story line, “fly with style”. Of course, as
has always been the case with the Toy Story franchise, each new film
gives us some wonderful new additions to the cast, and this film is no
exception. Greta Lee brings a delightfully snarky attitude to the role of
Lilypad who, despite causing all sorts of problems for the gang, does end up
showing some genuine guilt over her unintentional role in causing Bonnie
emotional harm when her ‘friends’ start mocking her, thus making her another
solid example of an ‘antagonist’ who’s ultimately not ‘villainous’. And then, there are the various internet-powered toys that Jessie comes across in Blaze’s
house that she is initially distrustful of given everything that she’s had to
deal with because of Lilypad but does end up sympathizing with them because of
how some of them had been forgotten just like she once was, such as a goofy yet
lovable toilet-training toy named Smarty Pants voiced by Conan O’Brien.
In short, Toy Story 5 dutifully maintains everything
great about this franchise, from its bright and colorful animation to its wonderfully
balanced mix of humorous charm and emotional pathos, to be yet another indisputable
success story for this beloved cinematic saga. It gave Toy Story its
third-straight billion-dollar run at the worldwide box office and will surely
be a front-runner at this year’s Oscars for Best Animated Feature even if,
admittedly, Disney and Pixar films have started to become overshadowed at the
Oscars in recent years by other studios’ animated films. But regardless of how
it fares there, what this franchise has managed to accomplish in its three-plus-decades existence is a truly special feat to behold because, simply put, there
aren’t many franchises that have been around for this long and have been this
consistently outstanding. I know that some of you may retort to this statement by
bringing up the franchise’s attempted spin-off Lightyear, which confused
fans due to it being referred to as the in-universe ‘real Buzz
Lightyear film’ and ended up being a rare flop for Pixar partially due to it
being the first Pixar film that saw a proper theatrical release after the
previous three were turned into streaming releases on Disney+. And yet, as we
just noted, that film was a ‘spin-off’, so its weaker critical reception doesn’t
factor into the mainline series’ long-standing success: plus, I’d argue that it
isn’t as bad as the internet often claims it to be but that’s another story. When
it comes to Toy Story, a lot of folks from my generation will try to
argue that it should’ve ended after Toy Story 3, but I’m personally pleased
to see that this franchise continuously proves its doubters wrong.
TIED WITH EIGHT
VOTES APIECE, THIS YEAR’S RUNNERS-UP…
THE DEVIL WEARS
PRADA 2
2006 saw the release of a film that would quickly go on to
become one of the decade’s most beloved and oft-quoted comedies, The Devil
Wears Prada. Based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger,
the film starred Anne Hathaway as an aspiring journalist named Andy Sachs who
lands a highly sought-after job at the fashion magazine Runway. As Andy
soon finds out, though, her inexperience with the world of fashion isn’t her
only obstacle to overcome as said job is being the consistently put-upon personal
assistant to Runway’s notoriously venomous editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly
(Meryl Streep). The character of Miranda was, by all accounts, based on Vogue’s
longtime editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who Weisberger had worked for in the
early stretches of her career prior to her becoming an author and, in the years
since the film’s release, Wintour has largely been positive towards it and
Streep’s iconically callous fictional boss character. The film was a major
success commercially upon its release, making over $327 million worldwide, and
earned tons of praise from critics, with Streep earning her 14th of
what now stands as a record 21 acting nominations at the Oscars. In 2013, Weisberger
published a sequel novel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, but
any potential plans for a follow-up to the film were initially dismissed when
both Streep and Hathaway expressed reluctance toward doing one. But then, more
than a decade later in 2024, those plans were officially revived, thus
resulting in a ‘not based on the sequel novel’ follow-up that would see the
return of not only Streep and Hathaway, but also their equally acclaimed
co-stars Stanley Tucci as Runway’s snarky yet helpful art director Nigel
Kipling and Emily Blunt as Miranda’s longtime assistant Emily Charlton as well as
the original film’s director David Frankel.
In the two decades since the events of the original film,
Andy Sachs has gone on to amass a highly respectable career as a journalist.
Unfortunately, on the exact same night that she wins a major journalism award,
she and her co-workers at the New York Vanguard end up getting fired from
their jobs as a result of their employer taking on a half-billion-dollar
write-down. Luckily for Andy, a new opportunity emerges soon after from the
most unexpected source as she’s once again approached by Runway to be
their new features editor, thus reuniting her with both her supportive
co-worker Nigel Kipling and her infamously harsh old boss Miranda Priestly.
This comes at an incredibly important time for Runway as they (or, more
specifically, Miranda) have recently come under fire for promoting a fashion brand
that relies on sweatshop labor to develop its products, thus resulting in them
losing their pivotal relationships with some of their most important
advertisers. And so, Andy finds herself forced to navigate the ever-changing
world of fashion to try and find a way to fix Runway’s reputation, whether
it’s taking on the responsibility of landing interviews with some of the
biggest names in the industry or by helping to navigate the newly contentious working
relationship that Runway has with a brand like Dior, where Miranda’s former
assistant Emily Charlton now works. But then, if that wasn’t enough, when Runway’s
chairman Irv Raditz unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, suddenly the magazine’s
entire future is put into jeopardy due to a combination of Irv’s son Jay’s (B.J.
Novak) plans to cut down on the magazine’s finances or the company’s potential
new buyer, Emily’s boyfriend Benji Barnes’ (Justin Theroux), plans to have her
take Miranda’s place as Runway’s editor-in-chief and to replace
practically the entire staff at Runway with artificial intelligence.
Since comedy is just as subjective as the medium of film is,
I wouldn’t be surprised if some folks out there thought that this sequel
ultimately couldn’t match its predecessor’s consistent levels of humor. Still,
for what it’s worth, The Devil Wears Prada 2 still puts its main
characters through some entertaining scenarios that feel appropriate for them,
like when Miranda is forced to do the unthinkable and fly to Milan… in coach (*shudders*)
or when she calls on a favor from an old rival of hers to perform at Fashion
Week… and that someone happens to be Lady Gaga. And through it all, The
Devil Wears Prada 2 also tackles some timely themes relevant to our current
media landscape, like how the kind of journalism work that someone like Andy
does is truly worthwhile in an era dominated by clickbait or how it matters
more when it’s done by humans rather than technology (take a wild guess as to
who Justin Theroux’s tech-obsessed antagonist is clearly based on…). Plus,
there are even a couple of unexpectedly heartfelt bits of emotional poignancy that,
again, feel relevant to these characters, such as a key reveal at the end that
Nigel was ultimately the one who convinced Runway to rehire Andy, emphasizing
the close relationship that they formed over the course of these films. In
short, if you were a fan of the original Devil Wears Prada, this should ultimately
be a satisfying enough follow-up for you that sees its legendary quartet of
Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt return to their
iconic roles with ease. Undoubtedly one of this year’s most anticipated films
to the point where it managed to make nearly $700 million at the worldwide box office (more than double its predecessor’s run), it’s no wonder as to why it did so
well in this year’s poll.
SPIDER-MAN:
BRAND NEW DAY
Spider-Man may just be Marvel’s most iconic superhero. Sure,
there have been plenty of legendary characters to come out of the Marvel
universe, but not many can rival our favorite webslinger Peter Parker when it
comes to the global impact that he’s had across mediums that extend far beyond
the world of comics. In the world of film, for example, the Spider-Man films
(both mainline entries spanning multiple eras and some non-Spidey headlined
spin-offs) have collectively grossed over $13 billion worldwide. Since 2016,
Tom Holland has portrayed the character within the confines of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe as part of a unique deal between the MCU and Spider-Man’s film rights
holders, Sony, where the character gets to appear in MCU films while his solo
films are produced under the Sony banner rather than Marvel’s parent company
Disney. After making his MCU debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War,
Holland’s Peter Parker would headline his own trilogy of films: 2017’s Spider-Man:
Homecoming, 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, and 2021’s Spider-Man:
No Way Home, all three being directed by Jon Watts. As one can only expect for
films based on one of the most famous characters in pop culture, all three
films were massive commercial hits, with both Far From Home and No
Way Home making over a billion worldwide (even Homecoming, which missed
out at around $880 million, still ended up being that year’s highest-grossing
superhero film).
Critically, all three films scored some of the best reviews
of any film in the MCU, arguably making the MCU Spider-Man films the
most consistently well-received subseries of the entire franchise… and yet, for
some inexplicable reason, there are a lot of Spider-Man fans out there who don’t
agree with that mentality. Maybe it’s because the MCU’s Peter Parker was established
as a protégé of “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” Tony Stark AKA
Iron Man or that many of his adventures took him away from his hometown of New
York. Maybe it’s ‘nostalgia bias’ from those who grew up with Tobey Maguire’s original
trilogy or even the Andrew Garfield-led Amazing Spider-Man films even if
No Way Home let all three Spideys equally share the spotlight. Whatever
the case, I can assure you that I’ve seen quite a lot of folks rank the MCU Spider-Man
films relatively low when discussing all the Spider-Man films that
have been made since 2002. The reason why I bring this up at all is to set the
stage for what I consider to be the ‘unique’ ways in which hype was generated
for Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing as Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
With Jon Watts opting to step away from the franchise for the completely understandable
reason of coping with burnout after making three straight big-budget superhero
films (especially since No Way Home had to be made during the COVID-19
pandemic), a new director was brought in to take over the franchise, and as
luck would have it, this director was an MCU veteran. That someone was Destin
Daniel Cretton, who previously gave the Master of Kung-Fu, Shang-Chi, his MCU
debut in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The acclaim
that Cretton achieved with that film, along with the promise that Brand New
Day would return Spidey to his ‘street level’ roots, would undoubtedly
factor into this becoming the kind of juggernaut that the MCU hasn’t seen since
Avengers: Endgame.
At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker
managed to keep the multiverse from collapsing as the result of a botched spell
that he tried to get Doctor Strange to make by having him successfully cast it...
the downside is that this spell was to ensure that the world forgot who Peter
Parker was given that the whole plot of the film revolved around Peter’s secret
identity being made public. As a result, while the multiverse was, indeed,
saved, it led to Peter’s friends and family forgetting who he was, including,
most tragically, his best friend Ned Leeds and his girlfriend Michelle Jones-Watson
(“MJ”). Four years after the events of that film, Peter has continued to serve
as New York’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, becoming an icon to the city of
New York. At the same time, though, Peter’s commitment to his superhero duties
have led to him opting to maintain an incredibly private life while both MJ and
Ned have moved on with their lives. While all this is going on, New York finds
itself threatened by a mysterious telepathic individual who can possess practically
anyone in the city in an ongoing war with the Department of Damage Control over
one of their darkest secrets. And if that wasn’t enough, Peter also suddenly
finds himself dealing with the strangest evolutions of his spider-like powers,
which start to become enough of a hindrance for him that he tries to find a way
to suppress them.
Given how much of the acclaim for Shang-Chi was for
its action sequences, it goes without saying that, under Destin Daniel Cretton’s
direction, Spider-Man: Brand New Day gives the webslinger some of his
most visually stunning action sequences to date, complete with a bunch of shots
that directly mirror some of Spidey’s most iconic comic book covers. On a
narrative front, Brand New Day is a natural follow-up to the bittersweet
ending of No Way Home and does a great job of sending Peter Parker on an
often emotionally devastating yet ultimately cathartic new journey as Spidey,
especially by way of how it handles the plot-thread of him ‘reconnecting’ with MJ and Ned. In the former’s case, it
starts when the telepathic antagonist threatens to go after her. When Peter
attempts to get her out of harm’s way, it initially seems like MJ has started
to remember who he is… only for it to be revealed that it was all a ploy by the
telepath. MJ’s history with Peter truly comes into play later when she comes
across the letter that he had written for her explaining the situation that he
was going to give her at the end of No Way Home but ultimately decided
not to. In the ensuing argument, MJ tells Peter that the spell worked far
better than he could’ve imagined and that the MJ he once knew was gone. In other
words, this MJ doesn’t love him… because she doesn’t know him. For Peter, it’s
certainly the most devastating development imaginable, but from a story standpoint,
it was arguably for the best that the film went this route rather than pulling
a cheap cop-out and immediately restoring MJ’s memory.
Thankfully, that’s not the end for any type of bond between
them as, after Peter agrees to swing MJ back to her apartment, they run into
Ned and Peter gets the chance to spend some time with them, which sees the
strong rapport that they all shared back when they were friends start to re-emerge.
And then, at the end, when Peter once again crosses paths with Ned, the two end
up doing the famous secret handshake of theirs… and the reaction from Ned
implies that, perhaps, he’s begun to remember who his best friend was. In
short, much of Brand New Day sees Peter learning to shed the private
lifestyle mentality that’s he developed in the four years after No Way Home,
which is further bolstered by all the interactions that he gets to share with
other superheroes: another staple of Holland’s Spider-Man films. He gets
to share a few scenes with ‘New Avenger’ Yelena Belova as Florence Pugh gets
another prime opportunity to showcase the flawless comedic persona that Yelena
has brought to the MCU that’s been matched by her equally perfect emotional side
as seen in the likes of Thunderbolts*. As part of his efforts to suppress
his advanced spider-like abilities, Peter seeks help from the one and only
Bruce Banner who, in previous films, had managed to keep himself from turning into
the Hulk… but, sadly, gets used by the telepath and, thus, is forcibly overtaken
by the ‘enormous green rage monster’ in the first major case that the Hulk has been
seen in his classic rage form in more than a decade. But easily the best
rapport that Peter forms in the entire film… is with fellow New York vigilante
Frank Castle AKA The Punisher. Fans of Jon Bernthal’s cranky yet dedicated Frank
will be pleased to know that his more intense antics haven’t been neutered from
his TV-MA small-screen roots in this PG-13 rated MCU flick and the wonderfully
dysfunctional ‘sibling’ relationship that he has with Peter provides plenty of
the film’s best humorous bits, undoubtedly helped by the fact that Tom Holland
and Jon Bernthal have genuine on-screen camaraderie as the result of them
having been best friends for years to the point where they helped each other
film each other’s audition tapes that led to them becoming integral parts of
the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But now this brings us to the biggest question of all… who
is the mysterious telepath that Peter’s forced to deal with? Well, in the
latest case of ‘the worst kept secret ever’ a la what happened when the
internet immediately deduced that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were going
to cameo in No Way Home, Sadie Sink’s red-headed telepath is revealed to
be X-Men mainstay Jean Grey, who seeks to find the answers behind Damage
Control’s role in the disappearance of her older sister (and fellow telepath) Sara.
The only clue that Jean has is the term ‘V-Max’… which, unfortunately, turns
out to just be what Sara saw written on the air vent in her cell before she
ended up dying. Thankfully, Peter manages to get through to her by letting her take
over his mind after he previously proved to be the only one immune to her
powers, where she experiences a memory of his with his beloved Aunt May (who,
of course, was sadly killed off in No Way Home) where she assures him
that he won’t ever be alone because he’ll always have those who love him for
who he is… it also helps that he ends up taking a bullet for Jean that was
fired at her from long-distance by Frank. Jean sticks around long enough to
keep him from dying and then heads off on her own, setting the stage for her
future in the MCU as part of its interpretation of the Children of the Atom, now
officially slated for a 2028 debut after years of speculation.
Calling Spider-Man: Brand New Day one of the biggest
hits of the year may just be the understatement of the century because this
film’s nearly unparalleled commercial success has truly been something to
behold. Simply put, it only took a little over a weekend for the film to join
the billion-dollar club and it has since reached the $2 billion mark. In other words,
there was probably a chance that this film could’ve legitimately rivaled the likes
of James Cameron’s Avatar as the next highest-grossing film of all-time.
As alluded to earlier, the film’s promise to return Spidey to his street-level
roots clearly paid off for fans of the character… but as I’ve also alluded to
earlier, there’s a part of me that’s somewhat frustrated by how its overall reception
has been crafted. Now don’t get me wrong… Brand New Day genuinely
deserves all the acclaim that it’s gotten… what bothers me is that, from what I’ve
seen, a lot of it has stemmed from the internet developing this odd case of historical
revisionism where they’ve been acting like the previous three Tom Holland-led Spider-Man
films weren’t as good as their strong critical reception suggests. And as a
huge fan of Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home… it
kind of sucks because I still don’t exactly understand what it is about them
that Spider-Man fans dislike so much other than them complaining that they haven’t
relied on certain well-established Spidey tropes despite being the second major
instance where the franchise had been rebooted in half a decade after Andrew
Garfield’s short-lived Amazing Spider-Man franchise was largely accused of
being nothing more than a rehash of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. So
instead, I’d say we should just celebrate Brand New Day’s dominance in
the world of film as the affirmation of the MCU’s Spider-Man franchise as
one of its most consistently outstanding sub-franchises that firmly cements Tom
Holland as one of the best to have ever played Peter Parker.
AND AT LAST,
WE COME TO THE NUMBER ONE SPOT! HERE’S A LITTLE FUN FACT FOR YOU, FOLKS! IF WE
HADN’T SET UP OUR EXTRA DAYS OF VOTING, THIS YEAR’S CHAMPIONSHIP WOULD’VE BEEN
SHARED BETWEEN THIS NEXT FILM AND SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY. IT WOULD’VE BEEN
THE FOURTH TIE FOR FIRST IN EVENT HISTORY AND WOULD’VE PROBABLY BEEN THE MOST
FITTING TIE WE’VE EVER SEEN SINCE THESE TWO FILMS WERE EASILY THE BIGGEST RELEASES
OF THE SUMMER OF 2026. BUT THANKS TO THOSE EXTRA FEW DAYS OF VOTING, THIS YEAR’S
CHAMPION WOULD EMERGE AS THE SOLE CHAMPION, SOLIDIFYING ITS DIRECTOR AS THIS
EVENT’S MOST DOMINANT FORCE. I’M SURE YOU ALL KNOW EXACTLY WHO I’M TALKING
ABOUT SO LET’S NOT WASTE ANY MORE TIME. WITH 12 VOTES, THE 2026 CHAMPION OF
RHODE ISLAND MOVIE CORNER’S ANNUAL END OF SUMMER FAN POLL IS…
THE ODYSSEY
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN PULLS OFF THE THREE-PEAT! Yes, after
previously taking the top spot in 2017 with Dunkirk and in 2023 with Oppenheimer
(which makes you wonder if he could’ve gone four for four had we’d
experienced an actual 2020 with his ambitious yet polarizing Tenet),
visionary filmmaker Christopher Nolan officially goes three for three in the
Rhode Island Movie Corner Annual End of Summer Fan Poll with his adaptation of
one of the most famous narratives in all of literature, The Odyssey. The
epic poem by the Greek poet Homer tells the tale of Odysseus, one of the many
heroes of the Trojan War, as he embarks on what ends up being a long and perilous
journey back to his kingdom of Ithaca as he and his soldiers come across all
sorts of dangerous mythical threats. All the while, his wife Penelope is forced
to deal with the constant threat of sordid suitors who attempt to take Odysseus’
place as Ithaca’s king: a dilemma that Odysseus and Penelope’s son Telemachus
can only do so much to help combat. Over the decades, there have been several
notable adaptations of this legendary adventure and in two distinct ways. We’ve
gotten direct adaptations of the source material such as the 1997 TV miniseries
by Andrei Konchalovsky and various pieces of media that used it as inspiration
for their own takes on it, such as the Coen brothers’ 2000 crime comedy O
Brother, Where Art Thou, the second installment of author Rick Riordan’s Percy
Jackson and the Olympians series, The Sea of Monsters, and even SpongeBob
SquarePants’ first cinematic outing from 2004.
This, of course, brings us to this summer when Christopher Nolan
decided to make Homer’s Odyssey his first feature after his J. Robert
Oppenheimer biopic became that year’s Best Picture winner that also won him the
Oscar for Best Director. However, even with Nolan’s previous success in our
annual event in mind, there was a part of me that genuinely wondered if there
was a remote possibility that Nolan could’ve potentially been dethroned as the
King of the Annual End of Summer Fan Poll as The Odyssey sadly fell
victim to a plague that has befallen the film industry countless times this
past decade: moronic controversies catalyzed by moronic right-wing incels who
can’t even remotely fathom the possibility of media that doesn’t directly
revolve around heterosexual white men. Yes, you’ve heard me complain about these
idiots time and time again over the years here on Rhode Island Movie Corner,
and unfortunately, we still haven’t been spared from their daily bulls*** as Christopher
Nolan oddly became the latest of their many irrational arch-nemeses. Sure, some far more reasonable concerns were raised by some non-idiotic circles
over some of what you might call the ‘modern’ ways in which Nolan was adapting
the source material (e.g. modern-sounding dialogue), but ultimately, this was
all overshadowed by a seemingly endless onslaught of right-wing toxicity as
Nolan randomly found himself subjected to tons of pointless scrutiny over some of
his specific casting choices.
First, there was the casting of Elliot Page. While Page was
already a Nolan veteran after starring as dream architect Ariadne in 2010’s Inception…
you might have guessed already that the backlash toward Page’s role in The
Odyssey was due to his successful gender transition in 2020. Simply put… right-wing
culture isn’t too fond of the transgender community. This was then further compounded
by false internet rumors that implied that Page was going to be playing another
hero of the Trojan War, Achilles. Ergo, the right-wing crowd scoffed at the
idea of someone like Elliot Page playing the famously masculine Greek hero
previously played by the likes of Brad Pitt in the adaptation of another Homer
epic, The Iliad, 2004’s Troy. And that, folks… is why this
argument fell apart so instantaneously because Achilles… does not appear in The
Odyssey. By the time the Trojan War is over, he’d already died after being
struck in his sole weak spot: his Achilles heel. No, instead, Page plays Sinon,
a member of Odysseus’ army who was only there because Antinous, the lead suitor
for Penelope in Odysseus’ absence, coerced him into taking his place. Sinon ends
up being the ‘decoy’ soldier who does not hide within the Trojan Horse and is
promptly killed by the Trojans when they first approached it… a later meeting
with Sinon’s spirit reveals that he was intentionally left out of these plans
by Odysseus.
However, the biggest right-wing firestorm came from the
casting of Lupita Nyong’o. Nyong’o ultimately plays two roles in the film:
Helen of Troy, the wife of Spartan king Menelaus whose abduction by the Trojans
was the catalyst of the entire Trojan War, and her half-sister Clytemnestra,
the wife of Menelaus’ brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, who tragically lost
her infant daughter Iphigenia when Agamemnon sacrificed her to the goddess
Artemis but then got her revenge by murdering her husband upon his return from
the war. Nyong’o’s role as the former attracted tons of backlash from racist
right-wingers (especially the notoriously scummy billionaire Elon Musk) who were
downright furious at the idea of a black woman portraying a character who was primarily
played by a white woman in other adaptations of the source material. Why was
this such a stupid complaint, you ask? Well, because folks like Musk made a big
stink about Nolan ‘desecrating the very idea of historical accuracy’… except
that doesn’t apply here because The Odyssey is a work of fiction. Yes,
unless there truly were fantastical creatures like a giant one-eyed cyclops or the
ferocious six-headed beast Scylla back in the days of Ancient Greece, all the
backlash toward the casting of Nyong’o as Helen of Troy was nothing more than the
usual right-wing bulls*** because none of the characters in this story were
real people. In other words, this was yet another example of why a lot of the
recent film-related controversies initiated by right-wing morons have been so
utterly idiotic because they always stem from their inability to properly
comprehend anything beyond their limited worldview.
Thankfully, all that useless noise was made futile upon the
film’s release as it was yet another prime showcase of Nolan’s well-established
mastery of the filmmaking craft. In other words, when you go to see a
Christopher Nolan film, you know that it’ll surely be a technical masterpiece from
every possible aspect of its production and The Odyssey is no exception
to this fact: flawless editing from Oppenheimer’s Oscar-winning editor
Jennifer Lame, a pulsing and epic score by Nolan’s new go-to composer Ludwig Göransson, stunning IMAX cinematography
by Hoyte van Hoytema, etc. Heck, Nolan was even able to apply his trademark penchant
for relying primarily on practical-based effects work to this film even with all
the fantastical elements of its source material. Need a giant one-eyed cyclops
to threaten Odysseus and his men when they hide in a cave? Build a life-sized
puppet to use as an on-set reference that syncs up with the performance work of
Bill Irwin as the cyclops Polyphemus! Need the famous sequence where the mysterious
witch Circe turns Odysseus’ men into pigs? Use horrifyingly realistic-looking
animatronic pig heads that can be practically manipulated on camera!
But while Nolan has achieved quite a lot as a director, he
has also been criticized at times for his films, whilst practically flawless on
a technical level, often feeling lacking in emotional poignancy. And while
there are a few times where The Odyssey does somewhat feel like that as
well, it’s ultimately more of a case like Oppenheimer where there are
stronger glimmers of emotion compared to some of Nolan’s other films. We’re
talking things like Penelope showing her steely resolve in waiting for her husband
to come home and perhaps the most relevant bit of character development to
connect with the entire plot; Odysseus’ signs of remorse over everything that
happened during the Trojan War, such as the moment where he bore witness to a
young priestess of the goddess Athena being executed by Greek soldiers, hence
why, throughout the film whenever Athena appears to him, she appears as that priestess.
This is all handled wonderfully by yet another trademark of a Christopher Nolan
film: a stacked ensemble cast. Matt Damon (in his third Nolan feature but first
as a lead) perfectly conveys Odysseus’ world-weary nature as he desperately
embarks on his journey home, Anne Hathaway brings a fiery passion to the role of
Odysseus’ dedicated wife Penelope, Tom Holland holds his own against his more experienced
peers as their son Telemachus (proof that he’s more than just our favorite
webslinger), who’s forced to mature faster than anticipated to help prevent a
hostile takeover of Ithaca, and Robert Pattinson is delightfully smarmy as
Antinous, the pseudo-leader of the potential suitors who resorts to some
sinister measures to try and become the next king of Ithaca. Other notable
standouts include Samantha Morton as the enigmatic yet tragic witch Circe, John
Leguizamo as Odysseus’ blind yet faithful servant Eumaeus, and Himesh Patel as
Odysseus’ consistently put-upon second-in-command Eurylochus who’s forced to
directly take the brunt of some of Odysseus’ more questionable bits of
decision-making along with the rest of his crew.
Thankfully for Christopher Nolan, all that hubbub
surrounding the film’s pre-release phase did nothing to stop it from instantly becoming
one of the biggest hits of the year. Fueled by the reputation of Nolan’s films
being the very definition of ‘must-see cinema’, especially in IMAX 70mm (where
it became the first-ever film completely shot on that format), The Odyssey bulldozed
the competition and currently stands at around $1.7 billion worldwide, which is
Nolan’s first $1 billion endeavor since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises (although
Oppenheimer came close), the highest-grossing film of his career to
date, and currently the second highest-grossing film of the year behind only
the ‘other’ fantastical big-budget summer blockbuster that just so happens to
star Tom Holland, Zendaya (Athena/Priestess), and Jon Bernthal (Menelaus). And
with some of the best reviews that any film this year has gotten, I wouldn’t be
surprised if this ends up netting Nolan another Oscar win for Best Director and
becomes the major front-runner for this year’s Best Picture. As far as our
annual End of Summer Fan Poll is concerned, I’ve previously noted that Nolan’s
wins for Dunkirk and Oppenheimer were somewhat unexpected, like
how the latter managed to pull off an upset against the billion-dollar sensation
that was Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. But for this year’s event, there was no denying
that Christopher Nolan was the one to beat this time around. Sure, the likes of
Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Devil Wears Prada 2 gave it some
hearty competition, but at the end of the day, it has once again been proven
that one must never doubt the visionary directorial eye of Christopher Nolan.
And with that, this
concludes the 2026 edition of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Annual End of Summer
Fan Poll. Thanks for following along with me on this journey through this past
summer’s biggest hits, and as always, I must express my complete and utter
gratitude to everyone who participated in this year's poll. Whether you
directly voted in it or helped to spread it around on social media, you’re the
reason why we keep doing this every year and I couldn’t be any more thankful
for that. With that in mind, as always, we look forward to seeing how next year’s
event will end up going thanks to some of the big releases that are set to come
out in 2027. We’ve got another Star Wars film hitting theaters next
summer as well as the second headlining affair for our favorite ‘punk-rocker’ Man of Steel. We’ll see the return of famous cinematic heroes like the duo of
Hiccup and Toothless, John Rambo, and even the legendary one that they call
Steve. Miles Morales will take his final journey across the Spider-Verse and a beloved
‘All-Star’ makes his triumphant return to the big screen for the first time in
nearly two decades. Which film will join the ranks of The Odyssey as a
champion in Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Annual End of Summer Fan Poll? You’ll
have to wait until next year’s event to find out!!!
