Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen is a film and television critic from Denmark. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 2018, and he holds a Master of Arts degree in English Studies with a minor in Film and Media Studies. Harry Potter fans will want to know that he is a Ravenclaw. Star Wars fans will be interested in knowing that he loves Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Cineastes will want to know that his favorite film of the first decade of the 21st Century is Guillermo Del Toro's El Laberinto del Fauno.
Original Photo: Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.).
Here are my picks for the most anticipated upcoming movies of 2026, ranked by my own personal anticipation rather than any other metric like box office or hype. Normally, I’d go with 25 selections, but because it’s 2026, I decided to go with just one additional selection. But, frankly, this could’ve easily been a top 40 list. If you’re at all interested in a longer list, then check the honorable mentions at the bottom of the list, or click here for my Letterboxd list that contains quite a few more films. But, yeah, let’s get to it!
Bugonia marks the 4th collaboration between multiple Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone and the most famous filmmaker of the so-called ‘Greek Weird Wave’ (and in a row, no less). Their latest film together is an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s black comedy titled Save the Green Planet!, a South Korean film released in 2003. Though initially conceived as an opportunity for Jang, the original filmmaker, to direct the English-language remake of his own film for an international audience (not unlike what Ole Bornedal did with his English-language Nightwatch remake in the 1990s), it is now, instead, a fascinating instance in which a European auteur is adapting an Asian original story though in a North American setting. In a way, that almost intercontinental approach is fitting for a film about people who may or may not come from different worlds in more ways than one. It’s also, frankly, a really effective film.
Gaten Matarazzo as ‘Dustin’ in Stranger Things: Season Five — PHOTO: Netflix (Still image from trailers).
Regardless of what you think about the show or this season, I think you have to admire the gusto of the release strategy for the final season of Stranger Things, of which the first volume (episodes one to four) was released early in December, the second volume on Christmas, and the series finale on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day (depending on your region). Stranger Things really took over a huge chunk of the online entertainment focus in December, despite the fact that massive trailers for huge films were released alongside a new Avatar film in theaters around the world. They really made the three-part release of the show into events. But did the series finale of the most popular US-based Netflix original series, or the season as a whole, live up to the hype it created for itself? Well, let’s talk about it, because it’s not a straightforward answer.
Would you look at that? We’re now in 2026. Granted, it’s only the first day of the new year, but, hey, we have to accept that 2025 is now in our collective rearview mirror. Like has become tradition on this website, I start every year by listing the ten articles or reviews written in 2025 that were the most popular based on views. At the very end of the article, I’ll also reveal what non-2025 written output (i.e., an article or review that wasn’t written in 2025) was the most popular in the year to which we have now all said goodbye. Well, let’s get to it!
We’re back at the end of another year, but we’re also on the precipice of the beginning of a new one. As is always the case, I like to say farewell to the year that we have lived through on the final day of the year, and today is no different. Tonight, we say farewell to 2025. At the end of 2024, I expressed concern about the US Presidential Election result, the return of a Commander-in-Chief in America who is synonymous with the post-factual era, and all the scary elements attributed to it. I was also nervous about the armed conflicts that continued to dominate the world. But I desperately tried to hold onto a hope that it wouldn’t be as bad as it looked like it could be, that the US election result and the rhetoric that immediately followed it weren’t as destructive as they had seemed, and that we could still find a way. I tried to remind my readers just how important it was to speak truth to power, to hold your leaders accountable, and to fight for justice. So, how were those fears and that hope reflected in the year that we actually got in 2025?
Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in IT: WELCOME TO DERRY — Photograph Courtesy of HBO.
Having a whole HBO show centered around Stephen King’s IT and its iconic character, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, always felt like it would be an obvious success. It’s honestly a little bit strange that it didn’t come sooner, given that the two-part film adaptations, IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two, are two of the highest-grossing horror films ever made (with Chapter One holding the top position). The wait is over as the first season of the films’ spin-off show IT: Welcome to Derry recently ended. Though it received some online fan criticism for taking its time, I found it to be absolutely thrilling. Frankly, I think it’s a lot better than Chapter Two was.
Margaret Qualley, Jesse Plemons, and Willem Dafoe in KINDS OF KINDNESS — PHOTO: Searchlight Pictures.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos — Screenplay by Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou.
I consistently find Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek filmmaker behind works such as The Lobster and Poor Things, to be one of the most fascinating rising auteurs of European cinema. I often think about the Lars Von Trier quote: “a film should be like a stone in your shoe,” and, when it comes to European artists breaking through to the Hollywood gravitational center, Lanthimos is perhaps the one auteur that best manages to adhere to that specific Trier-esque modus operandi or end goal, as his films constantly test boundaries, provoke, or work against conventionality. Despite the odd and boundary pushing premise of Poor Things, it can feel as if, as Lanthimos has been embraced more and more by American audiences, he may have gotten further away from his auteurist roots, but Kinds of Kindness, his 2024 anthology triptych film, does, at times, feel like the American output of his that shares the most DNA with his most famous Greek film, Dogtooth. The closest English-language comparison of his is probably The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Kinds of Kindness is a fascinating work that many will find challenging, as it sometimes explores depravity, features tonal shifts, and is quite lengthy at two hours and forty-four minutes.
Sydney Chandler as Marcy/”Wendy” in ALIEN: EARTH — PHOTO: FX/HULU (Still image from trailers).
Although I grew to be really excited about it, I’ll admit that when I first heard about Alien: Earth, I was somewhat displeased. I admire the work of series creator Noah Hawley a great deal, but, as a defender of Ridley Scott’s prequel films, it upset me that it had been reported that the new show would distance itself from those films and potentially split the canon into two. When I finally watched the show, I was taken on something akin to an emotional rollercoaster ride, as I, from episode to episode, would switch between being skeptical about the show to being head over heels in love with it. So, where did I ultimately land on the show once the season was over and done? Well, I found it to be both a promising and frustrating experience that teased something cerebral that it couldn’t quite live up to, while I thought the show did the titular Xenomorph creature a massive disservice.
Varang (played by Oona Chaplin), leader of the Mangkwan tribe, in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH.
Directed by James Cameron — Screenplay by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver.
It’s time to return to Pandora. Avatar, James Cameron’s original otherworldly sci-fi epic franchise, is often criticized for lacking a significant cultural impact when compared to franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, DC, or TheLord of the Rings. And yet, here we are again, and audiences are already flocking to the theaters around the world to travel back to a world populated by tall blue-skinned aliens with braids that can connect with other life forms. One of the highest-grossing (and most expensive, notably) franchises remains a spectacular cinematic event with state-of-the-art visual effects and performance capture technology. The latest film in the franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is equally breathtaking visually, but there are key narrative and dialogic issues, as well as a general sense of repetitiveness, that hold it back from matching the level of the previous films.
Top Row (L-R): A Minecraft Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures); The Phoenician Scheme (Focus Features / Universal); After the Hunt (Amazon MGM / Sony Pictures Releasing). Bottom Row (L-R): F1 (Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple TV+); Jay Kelly (Netflix).
Oh my, we’re back again! In this edition of additional bite-sized reviews – my recurring blog post series highlighting films that I want to share my thoughts on, but that I, crucially, don’t have time enough to cover in a more lengthy full review — I’ll tell you what I think about 1) one of the biggest theater hits of the year, 2) Wes Anderson’s latest flick, 3) Guadagnino’s most recent feature film, 4) Brad Pitt’s racing movie, and 5) Noah Baumbach’s big George Clooney-vehicle. As is often the case, most, if not all, of these bite-sized reviews may have been seen early on my Letterboxd account, so do note that you can get a sneak peek at my future reviews over there. Let’s get to it!
