2026 is, believe it or not, off to the best start at the movies in years. Maybe even since the Pandemic. This is the year where studios are showing they have learned from their mistakes and have figured out a way to course correct. This is the year where movies take it up a notch. Now that’s not the situation for every movie of course (Scream 7 wasn’t exactly a high mark for the franchise,) but more often than not, this year, the movies seem to be doing things right.
Let’s take The Rip, for example. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are best buds. Everyone knows that. And they want to make movies together, like they did for their breakout film, Good Will Hunting. Only so far they haven’t had much success with this. First, was the Ridley Scott movie The Last Duel, which was interesting, but also a little too long and dull for any rewatches. And then there was Air. The story of the Michael Jordan Nike shoe. Not even the story of Jordan, but the story of the shoe. Not a bad movie, by any means, but also not the most compelling subject matter.
With those two movies, they slowly got closer to current times. The Last Duel was set in medieval times, and then Air was set in the eighties. Well, this year they finally figured it out. The Rip takes place in current times and is a tense cop thriller / action picture. As directed by Joe Carnahan, one of the more interesting gritty action directors around, this movie was great, and an absolute course correction on Ben and Matt’s other recent collaborations.
Next up is Project Hail Mary. The less said about Ryan Gosling’s last foray into outer space, First Man, the better. It was directed by Damien Cazelle at a time when the director seemed like he could do no wrong (coming off of Whiplash and La La Land.) Well, First Man proved that there is a such thing as a two hit wonder, as Cazelle still hadn’t made anything decent since (sorry Babylon.) Regarding Gosling, however, clearly the actor wanted to get back into space. He wanted to prove that he could do a space movie right, and with Project Hail Mary he found the right directors. Phil Lord and Chris Miller delivered a movie that was equal parts fascinating, majestic, and funny. This team knocked it out of the park, and Project Hail Mary was an absolute course correction over First Man.
The next example is the most recent, and also the most unique. You see it involves a course correction over a movie that just came out one week before it. Very strange to say the least.
They Will Kill You a course correction on Ready or Not 2
The Invite a course correction on the overnight.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday
Movies so far… Jan, Feb, March
Only two were lousy… Scream 7 and Ready or Not 2.
And even with Ready or Not 2, just one week later there was a movie with the same plot that did it better, as if making up for the failures of that film and doing an immediate course correction.
Crime 101 ***
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come **1/2
The Rip ****
Scream 7 **1/2
Send Help ***1/2
They Will Kill You ***1/2