Blue Heron

• Director: Sophy Romvari
• Writer: Sophy Romvari
• Starring: Eylul Guven, Iringó Réti, Ádám Tompa, Edik Beddoes, Amy Zimmer, Liam Serg, Preston Drabble, Lucy Turnbull, Jecca Beauchamp

Grade: B+

How could this have been prevented? It’s frequently one of the first questions asked once tragedy strikes, and it’s one that Blue Heron, the stunningly assured debut feature from writer-director Sophy Romvari, wrestles with. There are elements of the film that are autobiographical to Romvari’s life, accentuated by specificities which feel like they were plucked from her memories. But its greatest triumph is in not feeling so isolated, as if anyone can find something relatable within its story.

Thrash

• Director: Tommy Wirkola
• Writer: Tommy Wirkola
• Starring: Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Dart, Alyla Browne, Dante Ubaldi, Stacy Clausen, Elijah Ungvary, Amy Mathews

Grade: C-

From its opening introductory text regarding the increasing frequency of intense hurricanes, Thrash – now streaming on Netflix – presents its thesis as a grand metaphor for climate change and its potentially unintended consequences. Of course, it’s nothing new for horror/thriller films to throw in a political or social message through varying degrees of subtlety, but writer-director Tommy Wirkola clues us in right off the bat regarding where his film’s priorities lie. Fortunately the film doesn’t always feel like a glorified PSA throughout its entire runtime, a la Don’t Look Up. Rather, as the film goes on, the climate change metaphor takes a back seat to shark mayhem, to varying degrees of success.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

• Director: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
• Writer: Matthew Fogel
• Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Benny Safdie, Charlie Day, Brie Larson, Glen Powell

Grade: D

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie serves as more proof that, according to the Hollywood machine, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In 2023, when The Super Mario Bros. Movie grossed over 1 billion dollars worldwide in spite of mostly negative critical reactions, the folks at Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo decided not to look inward and seek to find the beating hearts of its titular plumber-heroes. Rather, its sequel gives fans more of the same empty calories they so desperately crave.

Reminders of Him

• Director: Vanessa Caswill
• Writers: Colleen Hoover, Lauren Levine
• Starring: Maika Monroe, Tyriq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford

Grade: D

Colleen Hoover has been a staple in the fiction book community, but has since made her way into the film industry. With It Ends with Us and Regretting You being major box office successes, it looks like Hoover’s work will continue to be adapted to feature films, leading to the release of Reminders of Him. While the film maintains the rom-dram elements that makes Hoover such a popular author, it falls under the trapping of her previous film adaptations.

undertone

• Director: Ian Tuason
• Writer: Ian Tuason
• Starring: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet

Grade: C

A24’s latest horror flick undertone puts a new twist on screen-life horror: instead of playing out the story via windows on a computer screen, the terrors in the film unfurl through a series of podcast sessions. Evy and Justin (played by Nina Kiri and The White Lotus’s Adam DiMarco) cohost a podcast dissecting paranormal events. When they begin to dive into a series of ten audio files sent by a mystery contributor, things start to shift in the home Evy shares with her ill mother (Michèle Duquet). Unfortunately, the story that follows is messy and cliched, failing to live up to the inventive horror films A24 is often known for putting out.

Project Hail Mary

• Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
• Writer: Drew Goddard
• Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub

Grade: A-

“Project Hail Mary” is a highly renowned book not only because of the vast popularity of Andy Weir, but because of how people connect with the story and its themes. Because of this, a film adaptation would have a lot to live up to. Even though films like The Martian proved that Weir’s stories adapt easily to the big screen, the ability to please fans of the original source material as well as bring in a new audience is a daunting task. Luckily, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and writer Drew Goddard proved to be the right ones to take on the project, with what will likely be one of the biggest movies of 2026.

Shelter

• Director: Ric Roman Waugh
• Writer: Ward Parry
• Starring: Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Bill Nighy, Harriet Walter, Naomi Ackie

Grade: C

For the past few years, the early months have graced audiences with the latest Jason Statham action vehicle. With films like The Beekeeper and A Working Man breaking the box office by grossing more than double their budgets worldwide, it shows that the world is not yet done with him. The latest film hoping to join Statham’s string of box office successes is Shelter, a redundant yet competently made action film.

The Rip

• Director: Joe Carnahan
• Writer: Joe Carnahan
• Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Kyle Chandler, Steven Yeun, Scott Adkins, Nestor Carbonell

Grade: B-

Amongst cinephiles, the first portion of the year is often referred to as “Dumpuary”, a time when studios dump their less viable projects after the glut of holiday programming. Nobody would accuse The Rip, arriving on Netflix in a mere few hours, of being another byproduct of the trend, but it’s surprisingly one of the more viable offerings in recent memory. It’s not high-minded enough to decry its streaming-only release, but it’s entertaining enough to command the viewer’s attention as more than something to have on in the background while otherwise occupied. It helps that it’s helmed by writer-director Joe Carnahan, who’s a kind of action schlock journeyman, with credits like The Grey and Smokin’ Aces, as he’s able to fill the proceedings with enough intrigue and twists before relying on gunplay or a high body count.