Starring: John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslaney, Karina Arroyave, Jamie Lee Curtis
Grade: B-
Harry Lehman is a man out of time. How do I know this? Because throughout The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, you’ll be shown and told this, in roundabout ways, over and over again. And for a film lasting at only 88 minutes with credits, that doesn’t leave much room for anything else. Thankfully writer-director Noah Segan has a seasoned pro in John Turturro (who plays Harry) to lend the film and the character some much needed heft that’s otherwise missing.
While watching Gabriela Osio Vandem and Jack Weisman’s Nuisance Bear, I found a strange parallel to Tiger King. Specifically in that series’ depiction of the often cruel ways that wild animals are exploited for our entertainment. There’s nothing as plainly evil here, but our casual apathy towards the existential plight of the polar bear species writ large is front and center. This manifests in different, often fascinating ways within Vandem and Weisman’s documentary, but it speaks to the larger theme of intrusion or invasion of the natural order of things.
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Abbi Jacobson, Beanie Feldstein, Pamela Adlon, Samira Wiley, Bowen Yang
Grade: A
If I had a nickel for every 2026 movie with voiceover work from Bryan Cranston and Julia-Louis Dreyfuss that made me cry, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. The first movie was The Sheep Detectives, the surprisingly successful talking animals detective comedy in the vein of Knives Out. The other, and arguably superior film, is Tangles, a breathtaking animated family drama that delves into a tragedy that very few films attempt to cover.
Starring: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailin Salas, Tom Waits
Grade: A-
When walking into a new Martin McDonagh film, one can fairly expect to see some of the same hallmarks that have stuck with him throughout his celebrated filmography. Wild Horse Nine sees McDonagh staying within his lane, but it quickly becomes his most melancholic film to date, a poignant treatise on mortality and legacy, featuring the best performance of John Malkovich’s long career. How McDonagh can weave so many complex themes and disparate tones into a dark comedy about Americans meddling in foreign affairs goes to show why he’s one of the most celebrated auteurs working today.
On an August afternoon in 1972, several interconnected figures were invited to the home of Duke Ellington. This party wasn’t created to generate headlines – outside of the attendees, it’s likely that nobody actually knew it was happening – but it still stands as a historic event. Among the partygoers was experimental documentary filmmaker William Greaves, and the result of his filming of the gathering is Once Upon a Time in Harlem, a revelatory, joyous celebration of a critical period in Black history.
Starring: Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Stephan James, Matt Dillon, PJ Byrne, Jay Duplass, Tracy Letts, Robert Morgan
Grade: B
If there is any type of movie that is easy to greenlight in 2026, it’s those based on popular IP. From comic book movies to book adaptations, Hollywood has recently become a machine that pumps out projects based on material that people already like. Every once in a while, however, a movie like Obsession comes out and takes the world by storm and becomes a phenomenon. In 1976, that movie was Rocky: an inspiring, underdog sports drama that audiences fell in love with. 50 years later, I Play Rocky attempts to showcase what the Sylvester Stallone film did while still being the IP movie that Hollywood likes to release.
Starring: Will Sharpe, Stephanie Hsu, Rio Vega, Lyna Khoudri, Paul Kircher, Birane Ba, Gauthier Battoue
Grade: B-
Animated film adaptations of graphic novels and manga present a unique challenge. Yes, the heavy work of the animation style and story structure has already been tackled, but it can be too easy for a filmmaker to lean on the source material. In Waves provides a textbook example of this phenomenon, as Phuong Mai Nguyen’s adaptation of AJ Dungo’s graphic novel features some of the year’s best animation, and the story hits all the right notes for a weepy teenage romance, but there are crucially missing elements that hold the film back. It’s crucial to understand, though, that Dungo based the graphic novel on his own experiences, which could explain some of the shortcomings.
Every once in a while, an app comes along and takes the world by storm. From entertainment apps like Vine to social-based ones like Snapchat, it seems every five or so years something comes along and changes how we view technology. This was the case with TikTok, an app that struck gold during COVID due to the way it blends entertainment and social functions.
Below is my conversation with Zac Cooper, the writer, director, and star of God I Want You, ahead of its Midwest Premiere at the Heartland Film Festival. We discuss his own history with religion and how it evolved during the making of the film, his working relationship with actor Jesse Epstein, and his love of romantic comedies. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Ben Sears: Do you remember the impetus of where God I Want You started? Was it inspired by a certain event in your life, or someone you know?
Zac Cooper: It was definitely taken from aspects of my life in my 20s, and friends I worked with and went to college with. It’s kind of embarrassing when you’re the main actor because it makes it seem like it’s more autobiographical than it is, but it is. The annoying artist answer is that all of those things happened, and none of those things happened, but it was filled out by other people I know who grew up in that culture and experienced a “deconstruction of faith” throughout their 20s. It was a project that I’ve had in my head for a while but it took a while to try and distill it down into something simple and filmable.
BS: I’ve always been interested by filmmakers who put their faith, or lack thereof, on screen. How much was your character’s faith informed by your own faith?
ZC: It’s definitely my own expression of my journey with faith, and exploring my doubt. I wouldn’t call myself religious, but I have people who worked on the film with all different beliefs, and it was a great collaboration. The goal of the film was not to try and be preachy, but to bring audiences into this world, and I just wanted to explore the similarities within everyone’s lives. When I stopped going to church, it sounds silly to say, I found that we all have the same life problems. We all have our own little bubbles, but I had different rules I would follow when I was growing up, which would bring up different feelings of guilt or shame.
BS: Did the production of the film help you to view religion or faith any differently?
ZC: Not necessarily differently, but it would help me to reflect and examine my relationship with faith, and my past with it. I have moments where I can get on my high horse when I say that religion is dumb, but you go back and read history, and people have always believed that there’s something greater than us in the sky, so who am I to say whether this is right or wrong? I think the film has a perspective, but it’s not trying to “both sides” anything, or it’s not trying to be preachy.
BS: It’s more about how people tend to use religion as a shield for making certain decisions.
ZC: Definitely, this kind of language isn’t in the film, but I definitely grew up with people who would say things like “God told me that we should date”, or “God told me we’re supposed to break up”. That was more in high school or college, but that kind of mindset does warp and carry over into adulthood, especially in a culture where finding your spouse can be such a pillar of that religious cultural status.
BS: Coming to God I Want You from It Happened One Weekend, this film feels more adult, in that it deals with sex and relationships, whereas your previous film was about whether friends can begin dating. What’s been your thought process of making two films within the same genre, while tackling it in a more mature way?
ZC: I think part of it was simply experiencing more life than I had when I made my first feature. I think I just felt more confident and feeling less self-conscious about those ideas.
BS: You’re working again with Jesse Epstein, who plays Meg. Did your familiarity with her help when you were working on those more intimate scenes?
ZC: Jesse was a huge collaborator, even behind the camera. She’s credited as a producer, and has a “story by” credit, and she helped me to get the script to a better place. She’s a professional actor, so she brings that level of performance to it, but when you’re friends in real life, it can be a little awkward on the day, especially since I’m also directing, because I had to think of it so mechanically in terms of where to put the camera. But afterwards, we just went back to being friends.
BS: Did she help to shape those conversations about sex or religion, or generally help to make her character feel less like she was written by a man?
ZC: Yeah, I wrote so many drafts, so it’s hard to pinpoint what came from where, but her contributions are definitely woven throughout. I would bring stuff to her, and she would always help. I’m always open to collaborating, if something doesn’t feel real. As a writer, you’re always trying to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but you’re still limited to your own experiences.
BS: I know that you’re a real film connoisseur – old and new films, foreign films, genre films, et cetera – but you’ve continued to work in the rom-com space. Does that come from a long-standing fondness for the genre, or do you see yourself branching out to horror films, for example?
ZC: A Horror movie would definitely be easier to get made, especially in this day and age. I love all kinds of movies, but what I gravitate towards as a filmmaker are small, intimate films about relationships. Those are like catnip to me. The more personal, the more intimate, the better. When you don’t have any money to make a film, those are easier to make because they’re just people in rooms, or in restaurants where you know the owner. I just like to make films that are light on their feet, and comedic.
God I Want You will have in-person screenings at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, and will be available to stream online throughout the festival.Buy tickets here.
Starring: Rinko Kikuchi,Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Edda, YOU, Yoh Yoshida
Grade: B+
Ballroom dancing is rarely explored in film nowadays, in spite of the possibilities it can showcase for filmmaking. There’s layers where it can express a character’s thoughts and display great crafts, like cinematography and editing. Some prime examples include Dirty Dancing and Silver Linings Playbook, but director Josef Kubota Wladyka explores various ideas through his third feature film, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
