- TIFF 2026: Trash Mountain, Babies, Everybody Wants to F*ck Me (September 15, 2026)
It’s tough out there for comedy fans. As any aging comedian will tell you, it’s difficult to get theatrical laughers made, as more and more people go to theaters solely for event movies, cinematic babysitters, or buzzy horror. Making a profit on making people chuckle has become the providence of TV creators more than film ones. But the fight continues at TIFF, where several comedies, including Jesse Eisenberg’s hysterical “The Debut,” aimed for that incredible moment when a crowd of people escapes the real world for a funnier one. The three comedies in this dispatch are unlikely to set the box office on fire, but at least one does exactly what it sets out to do, while another should speak to its target audience and fans of its stars. The third? We’ll get there.
The best of the bunch is Kris Rey’s “Trash Mountain,” a deeply personal project for stand-up star Caleb Hearon, co-writing a vulnerable comedy about his struggles with family and grief after the passing of his father. Hearon is an interesting screen presence, someone who first feels too mannered for what’s obviously a Sundance-esque “family lessons” comedy, but he proves to have unexpected range. He’s clearly playing a version of himself, but that can be harder than it looks, especially when it requires this level of vulnerability.
Hearon plays Gavin, a Chicago man who lives a vibrant life as a drag show host, a reality far from the drab, semi-conservative reality of life in Missouri, where he grew up. He’s forced to return there after a call from his sister Abbi (Zooey Deschanel) reveals that their dad has died. Gavin wasn’t close with pops, and it’s clear they lived very different lives. He heads south and moves in with Abbi, her husband (Kyle Marvin), and their two kids, but he’s constantly talking about when he’s going back to Chicago. Hopefully, they can get this wrapped up before Thanksgiving.
Of course, they can’t. It turns out that not only does no one know where dad’s Social Security card is—they need it to settle the estate—but Gavin discovers the extent of his father’s hoarding. The house is a disaster, filled with empty beer bottles and a freezer with something so smelly it sends everyone reeling. “Trash Mountain” is a film about siblings processing grief and their conflicted feelings about their father while cleaning up his shit—an all-too-common reality that hasn’t really been captured on film before.
It’s also pretty charmingly funny. Jaboukie Young-White is sweet as a love interest for Gavin while Deschanel reminds one how grounded she can be in indie material. She does a lot with a little and proves to be a true supporting partner for the less-experienced Hearon. Jacki Weaver is saddled with a bit of a caricature as the grieving grandma, but she gets some of the biggest laughs. And Hearon and co-writer Ruby Caster are careful not to paint the South with too broad of a brush, including characters like Deschanel and Young-White’s to show that there can be good people in flyover country too.
I wish a movie that’s about how messy and cluttered life can be didn’t wrap up as neatly as this one, but Hearon and his collaborators have earned enough goodwill by then to make it work. So many of us have had or will have to reckon with the full scope of our relationship to our parents when they’re gone. Few are able to make this genuinely sweet of a movie about it.
There’s a personal angle to Lauren Miller Rogen’s “Babies,” too. Earlier this year, Lauren’s husband, Seth Rogen, made some headlines when he said on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” that having kids “doesn’t seem that fun.” Lauren and Seth have been married 15 years, and almost certainly have been asked when they’re having kids. Who wouldn’t want Seth Rogen as a dad, right?
“Babies” feels like a response to those conversations, and a counter to the dozens of movies that Hollywood has produced about the joy of parenting. What about the joy of not having to potty train? Although, one should note that Rogen’s endpoint is more ambitious than just “kids are messy,” and makes convincing arguments about why a loving couple wouldn’t want to bring a kid into the world beyond just the fact that AI and climate change might end it. The filmmaking can be frustrating, but the ideas here, as well as a few of the performances, should find a loyal audience of fortysomethings who haven’t really been seen on screen before. Childless married couples in fiction don’t have to be the villains.
Anna Kendrick is the lead in “Babies,” which we know because of the incessant voiceover that tracks her thoughts about the people in her life. There’s so much that works in Rogen’s script but almost none of it is in the inner monologue of Annie, which not only doesn’t sound as genuine as when two performers are allowed to riff believably in character but spells out way too many of the film’s themes as it goes along. Someone should “Blade Runner” cut this film and take most of it out.
What you would be left with is the story of Annie and Aaron (Rogen), a couple who still sometimes talk about kids but have never taken the plunge. Like a lot of people their age, they’re surrounded by the little ones spawned by their friend group. Kate Berlant and Dan Stevens play a divorcing couple with a child that Annie adores. The drama at home forces Annie and Aaron into temporary parent roles, illuminating both the joy and pain of the job.
Issa Rae plays a pregnant friend with whom Annie is trying to open an art gallery that’s to be funded by an obvious slimeball played by Ed Helms. David Strathairn pops up as Annie’s dad, forced to take care of a wife with dementia, and re-entering the dating scene. What does this have to do with having kids? It actually speaks to the script’s most impressive angle: People often think that childless couples just aren’t ready for the drama. Annie knows how to deal with tough stuff.
Clearly going for a bit of “L.A. Woody Allen” vibe with its big ensemble, “Babies” works best in its small beats: Usually a choice by someone in its undeniably talented cast. And that’s what makes the overwritten scenes and voiceover so much more frustrating. It has a habit of repeating its themes and bits instead of building on them or allowing the actors to find more dimensionality. I feel like it will be a more direct hit to couples like Lauren and Seth, which is probably the way it should be, but there’s a better version of this film that works at pulling in those of us who have to worry about carpools and college tuition, too.
Finally, there’s the atrocious “Everybody Wants to F*ck Me,” a comedy that’s supposed to be skewering male sharks in the 2020s dating pool but is actually one of the most misogynistic films in years. Taron Egerton does his absolute best to rescue this flailing script, but it truly feels like a 2000s Dane Cook project that got pulled out of the bin. With very minor variations, you could put an aging Happy Madison star like David Spade in the lead and drop this on Netflix tomorrow. And so it actually becomes depressing to see a star as talented as Egerton give his all to a movie that has nothing to give its audience.
Egerton plays Adam Samuels, a London art gallery employee who has mastered the art of the sex game. In the film’s first sequence, he picks up Mia McKenna-Bruce’s character at a bar, seduces her with talk of how much he loves “Before Sunrise,” and has sex with her. The next morning, he kicks her out with talk of his “bojangled headspace.” “Everybody Wants to F*ck Me” pretends to be about gross men, but it also posits a world in which gorgeous women are dumb enough to fall for dudes if they have a Maya Angelou book in their social profile or an Agnes Varda poster on their wall.
The gender politics get even gnarlier when Adam meets Sofia (Jessica Henwick), who takes him home, drugs him, and does something to him. Suddenly, every time Adam is alone with a woman, she throws herself at him. It could be on a train, in a hospital room, or even at home with his female dog.
As you might imagine, Jonathan Schey’s script gets pretty dark, although this is one of those films that’s nowhere near as kinky as it could have been, and, even worse, does some pretty demented shit only to the walk back from the edge at the end, leaving viewers with the feeling that this movie has nothing to say beyond: “Don’t believe in first impressions, online or in person.” It’s a movie about how shallow people can be in an online world that allows manufactured personalities. Too bad it’s equally lacking in depth.
- A Dog with a Bone: Maria Sten on “Neagley” (September 15, 2026)
Danish-Congolese actor and Maria Sten has some big shoes to fill (literally). Granted, she’s spent three seasons on Prime Video’s hit action series “Reacher” playing no-nonsense private investigator Frances Neagley, frequent ringer and closest companion to Alan Ritchson’s itinerant titan Jack Reacher. She’s a fellow MP and compatriot who can throw down just as easily as Reacher can with half of Ritchson’s bulk, and her appearances in the flagship show have made her a household favorite. But in the upcoming spinoff “Neagley,” it’s her show through and through, which comes with no small amount of pressure.
Where each season of “Reacher” sees its bulky problem-solver in a new town, a new dilemma, and with a new supporting cast, “Neagley”‘s home is in Chicago, where she’s set up shop as a private eye. And this season uses the mysterious death of a childhood friend of Neagley’s to force her into uncovering a broader conspiracy, with the help of a conflicted Chicago cop (Greyston Holt’s Hudson Riley), a streetwise kid (Jasper Jones’ Keno), and her protege at her PI firm (“Mortal Kombat II” alum Adeline Rudolph as Renee Birdwhistle).
In the week prior to the show’s release, Sten sat down with RogerEbert.com during a press junket in Chicago (hours before Sten was to catch the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field) to talk about expanding her role into a full-length series, the training required for such a show, and what the new series will teach us about Neagley as a person and a fighter.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You’ve been playing Neagley since 2022, and the character’s been a big hit since the first season of “Reacher.” What were the first rumblings of a possibility that Neagley could sustain herself as the center of a spinoff?
Interestingly enough, that came up when I first booked the job. If it went well, and it was a success, we thought there might be a possibility of a Neagley spinoff. I thought, “Right, of course, because that happens, sure.” But I’m just so surprised we’re finally here, because I didn’t feel that was necessarily in the cards. Reacher is very much Reacher, and Neagley comes in to help him out, as is true in the books. But I’m so thrilled to be able to take her on her own little journey. Even when I read the books she’s in, I felt she had so much more hidden under the surface. So I’m excited we’re finally getting to see all of that now.
Yes, because Neagley hasn’t been the central focus of a Lee Child book to date, and all the “Reacher” seasons are based on a specific book. What were the challenges you guys had in building on that source material to craft more layers for her to delve into?
We have freedom in the sense that there is no specific book to work off. The writers just went off the cuff with whatever we wanted. But of course, it was important for me to carry on the skeleton and fabric that were initially in the books, everything we had built in the show, and stay true to and expand on that. That was super important to me.
Greyston Holt, Alan Ritchson, Jasper Jones, Maria Sten
One of the most interesting things about Neagley as a character, and her relationship with Reacher, is that they’re so alike in so many fundamental ways: Tough, antisocial, uncompromising. But when it came time to build the show, what did you want to do to differentiate her from Reacher as a different kind of lead for a show in the same universe?
I think there are some key differences, even though they are so similar. One is that Reacher isn’t looking for trouble; trouble seems to find him. But Neagley is a PI; she’s always looking to solve problems. That’s a big difference in the show’s nature and thrust. Neagley is a dog with a bone, and you feel that in the show.
But she has a softness to her, especially around children, which we’ve seen in “Reacher,” and it’s something she’s hiding from the world. This show has more vulnerability. There’s a lot of heart, and there are some incredible character arcs, because we have these four main characters [Neagley, Keno, Riley, and Birdwhistle] who are going to hopefully hang around. They get to have their collective journey in this first season, which is different than Reacher, who treks around and gets into trouble with different people every year.
Speaking of those softer elements, it’s interesting to see how they peek through Neagley’s exterior, like her love of Kellogg’s cereal or the fun wrinkle of the shelf of action figures in her apartment. Did things like that, which come from production design or other elements, help you internalize those other aspects of Neagley?
I mean, the production design for the show is incredible. Even from the old-school noir vibe of Chicago, that’s the world that we’ve built, and there are these little quirks to Neagley that are things we set up in the prior seasons of “Reacher” and now get to expand upon. Everywhere Neagley is, there’s a little Easter egg of something in her office, in her house, in her car. She’s got these little gummy worms in a cup in her car, because those kinds of things are what make the character pop. I think that’s what makes her fun and interesting. I told them that there were specific trinkets I wanted from specific books in that apartment to make it feel authentic for her and they put it in there.
We get to dive a bit into Neagley’s backstory with this show, including her aversion to touching people (haphephobia) and where that comes from. How early was that seeded in Neagley’s character, and what’s it been like to build on that past to inform Neagley’s present?
It’s in the books, so it’s always been a character trait for her. But the books never explored the reason behind it, so we always felt a new show needed to answer that question. It’s a key element to her as a person, and in a lot of ways, without it being loud, it’s a huge part of her life. Walking around the world not being able to touch people is a huge thing to carry. We felt that was the thing we needed to dive into this season, and man, do we dive into it.
Maria Sten, Greyston Holt
Neagley is obviously a very physical role, and has been for the four seasons of “Reacher” before this. But when it came time to take the lead, did you have to do additional work to sustain the level of action you’d need across eight episodes? What more did you have to do?
Once you get to episode seven, you’re really just trying to survive, because the schedule is just so intense. And of course, we like to ramp up the action towards the end of a season. And you have to be in good shape going into it. I think it’s just conditioning and making sure that you’re healthy and fit. I definitely got out of that experience saying, “Okay, I need to lift heavier weights. [laughs] My joints need to survive another season of this. That’s such a high priority for a show like this—not just for aesthetic reasons, but for health reasons, because I like to do as much as possible myself and give it authenticity.
What about things like gun training—did you need additional work on that for this show?
I’ve been working with the same armorer since season one of “Reacher,” who’s an amazing Canadian armorer. We have a shorthand now; he’ll watch stuff, and when I get up there every year, we’ll do drills. Remembering how you clear a room, how to disarm someone, how to take a gun apart, etc., to get that muscle memory back.
And before we started filming “Neagley,” I did a private session with an instructor to fire some live rounds. Because I think it’s really important to know what that feels like in your body versus just firing blanks. It’s a very different sort of bodily experience, just to make things as authentic as possible.
Spinning off into your own show, you have to shoulder the responsibility of carrying a series’ tone and to lead a cast to some extent. Did you talk with Alan Ritchson at all about those responsibilities, and did he have any advice?
Not specifically about that, because I’ve done that in the past. But I think the bigger thing is that it’s a property that is so well known and loved by so many, because Lee Child’s books have sold, you know, a billion copies worldwide, right? So you have a responsibility to those fans to pay homage to that and stay true to the universe he created. There’s a lot of expectation around these properties.
For my part, I felt a lot of pressure because “Reacher” was so successful, and I wanted to step into these shows, fill them, and not disappoint people. Everybody loves “Reacher,” so I felt the kind of pressure we both experienced when we signed on to these shows. I’m so thrilled for Alan, and he’s such a great Reacher; I hope I can continue and build on this show’s success.
- “Neagley” Can’t Reach The Heights of “Reacher,” But It Punches Above Its Weight (September 15, 2026)
It happens often enough to seem inevitable. Time passes, and old friends we adore fall out of touch. Nobody plans it. The feelings haven’t changed. Yet life moves in different directions, and fond memories become more frequent than phone calls. Most of the time there’s time to fix that. Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) doesn’t have that option.
She’s busy working cases and coming to the rescue whenever her military mentor, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), needs her. She doesn’t have room in her schedule to check on her childhood friend, Tommy (Jhaleil Swaby)—not until she’s speaking at his funeral. His parents have suspicions, Neagley has suspicions, and although her father tells her she’s avoiding his fatal illness, the private investigator in her goes to work.
Based on the character created by novelist Lee Child, Maria Sten takes the reins of her own series in “Neagley.” The “Reacher” spinoff hits streaming on Prime Video on September 16, but there’s no chance to catch your breath. The top two members of the Army’s 110th Special Investigations Unit immediately hurl us into the breakneck action of a ransom exchange.
Adeline Rudolph
Neagley is a character that every “Reacher” fan has fallen for. With good reason. Sten is incredible at crafting a Neagley who is tangible and fierce, while remaining (if you know the character) untouchable. She suffers from haphephobia, or touch aversion. The trauma behind that central character trait is revealed in this first season of the Chicago-based series. The character development is tragic but appreciated. Every plotline is related to her friend Tommy’s case, and as Neagley curb-stomps everyone involved, she gains a team of her own—totally against her will. Our girl is a loner by choice, but she’s soon working with Detective Hudson Riley (Greyston Holt), the hustling street kid Keno (Jasper Jones), and wannabe Junior P.I. Renee (Adeline Rudolph).
Following the trail of a creepy narcotic that even Wonderland would reject for tripping too hard leads the Neagley Gang to a cult. One more sinister than the usual. So that’s bad. Especially once we meet the cult leader Lawrence Cole (Damon Herriman), who’s never without his groovy sunglasses. Herriman knows his way around a cult thriller; after all, he has a history of playing Charles Manson. He did it twice (“Once Upon A Time … in Hollywood,” the second season of “Mindhunter“). He’s done it again with a character oozing enough toxicity to trigger a gag reflex.
Maria Sten, Greyston Holt
Allow me to break the suspense: this show isn’t “Reacher.” The pacing isn’t slower but steadier, darker but less brutal. The action sequences are ballistic, while the plot has enough twists and payoffs to make the ride worth it. It’s just so serious. Even with sprinkles of humor, it’s perhaps too serious for the Reacher-verse. It’s true: “Neagley”‘s sedate tone aligns with the lead character’s personality. The tongue-in-cheek swagger in “Reacher” does the same, but the spin-off could use more contrast to bring Neagley into fuller fruition. The connection would be stronger if Neagley’s world wasn’t painted in the same colors as she is—contrast makes for better focus.
However, in its most touching moments, this is a show about fathers and their children, father figures and their protégés, and parentless kids of all ages searching for family. What’s missing from a solid, if not yet fully realized, debut season is that while “Reacher” has a Francis Neagley, “Neagley” doesn’t have a Jack Reacher.
The big guy makes an appearance or two, the performances are seamless, and the cast works well together, but the characters themselves lack dynamism. The secondaries in “Reacher”‘s fourth season, led by Sydelle Noel, are dynamic but complicated, with idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes. The Neagley Gang presents more like bundles of goals and backstory wrapped in archetypal veneers: the mobster son trying to be a good cop, the plucky street kid seeking connection, the posh woman looking to prove herself. That is not a dig at the actors. They play the roles they were given well; I just wish they’d been given more to play with.
Still, you cannot miss Sten taking the lead as the untouchable Neagley; she does not miss. Go ahead and try her.
- TIFF 2026: Strong Son, God Bless You Mr. Kopu (September 15, 2026)
A pair of very different films about young men trying to find their place in a world in which male role models can be complicated premiered at TIFF this week, and both are worth seeking out when they work their way from the festival and out into the real world. In fact, both are the kind of under-the-radar flicks that fest goers would be wise to catch at places like TIFF over the star-studded disappointments.
In the Discovery program of TIFF this year sits Ian Bawa’s confident and personal “Strong Son,” the story of a bodybuilder who doesn’t say much even as his silence obviously hides deep emotion. Mandeep Sodhi is effective as Harvey Singh, an Indo-Canadian bodybuilder whose life has been shaped by images of physically fit men. His father Jagdeep (Amrit Parbhakar) raised him as a fan of wrestling, but one gets the impression that neither man spoke much about what was going on with Harvey under the muscular surface, or what his obsessions were repressing. Even before “Strong Son” gets into issues of caregiving for a struggling parent, it’s clear that Harvey hides deep feelings: A swirl of anxiety and depression that sometimes leads to bursting into tears. His life doesn’t get easier when dad’s declining health forces both to shift their day-to-day reality and confront mortality and pending grief.
The roots of this story are personal for Bawa, whose mother passed away when he was 20, forcing a relationship with a distant father. His real father even played the role in the 2019 short film that inspired this one, a movie about a South Asian dad that couldn’t have been more personal. But dad died unexpectedly, totally altering the traditional short-to-feature journey of this film, giving this project a rich vulnerability that a lot of features lack.
It’s never manipulative, finding truth in how even the most physically perfect people on earth can hide emotional imperfections through their silence. Harvey barely speaks and struggles to start a relationship with a girl at work, but we feel like we know him through the way he carries himself and Bawa’s direction. It’s a relatively simple film that works on the complexity of masculine emotion and expectations.
It helps that Bawa doesn’t ignore craft in a way that so many young filmmakers do when they make a movie instead of going to therapy. “Strong Son” is a visually confident piece of work, enhanced further by impactful sound design. There are aspects of the screenplay that still feel like one of those projects that’s caught between short film and feature in terms of storytelling, but Bawa will likely figure that out with his next film, one I’m eager to see in a few years, hopefully in Toronto.
Less directly personal, more action-packed, but just as good is Alex Liu’s wicked “God Bless You, Mr. Kopu,” also a story of a young man seeking his place in the world, but one that works more as a thriller. It’s a sharp flick that’s not quite what it appears at first, and it’s a movie with colorful characters collaborating to bring it together. “Red Rocket” star Simon Rex does his best film work since that Sean Baker movie in a project that could find a loyal audience if it gets a wide enough release.
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi plays Mafu Kopu, a Tongan immigrant in New Zealand looking not only for work but purpose. He finds his way to a new company called FORGET, which is a pretty aggressive brand name for a cleaning product. It’s not about forgetting trauma; it’s about forgetting stains. Sure, sure. And it’s something everyone needs in their house. It’s also something that’s sold door-to-door, which is the job Mafu gets in this U.S. company.
At first, it’s disastrous, but the brand’s most successful salesman, Marco Cass (Rex), takes Mafu under his wing to teach him the tricks of his trade. Well, one big trick actually: Believe it or not, Marco literally hypnotizes those willing to let him into their living rooms, using a Zippo lighter as a totem, clicking them into a trance in which they’re willing to buy anything.
Marco uses Mafu’s Tongan background to open up an entirely new economic pipeline. People are more willing to let in someone who looks like them, so Mafu almost plays set-up man for Marco, easing possible tension before the cool cat closes the deal in his unusual way. The themes about white businessmen taking advantage of communities of color are obvious but not underlined and highlighted.
Of course, it’s all way too good to be true, and Liu drops a massive twist before his final act, one that’s hinted at but does kind of make for a script that’s a bit difficult for Liu to write his way out of. More than the twists and inevitable violence, I enjoyed the scenes of Rex and Schuster-Koloamatangi riffing off each other, utilizing the very different energies of a quiet Tongan and a slick American.
It’s also easy to sense a personal commentary here from a filmmaker who says in the notes that he cut himself off from his Polynesian heritage in ways that he regretted. It’s a culturally rich film with strong performances—Grace Palmer is also excellent as a potential love interest who works at Forget—that uses the language of a thriller to dig into culture. If it doesn’t all come perfectly together, it’s still riveting to watch it spin apart.
- TIFF 2026: Julián, Sunburn, In Alaska (September 15, 2026)
It happens every year: Themes emerge from a film festival program that couldn’t be predicted going in, leading you to wonder what that says about how art engages with the real world that year. What does it say that these three films grapple, in very different ways, with youthful identity, and how the world can sometimes make it hard for kids and teens to find themselves?
It’s a scary world out there in 2026, and these films all, in their own way, offer an oasis from those fears through joyful animation, playful comedy, and an unexpected coming-of-age narrative. While the third film here misses some of its marks, the first two are absolute TIFF gems, the kind of movies that one hopes will have adoring fans when they leave the fest circuit.
The first of the pair is the latest from the geniuses at Cartoon Saloon (“Wolfwalkers”), the hand-drawn “Julián,” a movie that I’ve been telling people who ask what I’ve liked this year is “wonderful” because it’s truly the best word to describe this moving gem, one of the best animated films of 2026. Louise Bagnali adapts a slight children’s book by Jessica Love into a moving story of how aging can threaten to dull creativity, expression, and identity.
It’s a gorgeously rendered piece of art that hums with the specific vibrancy of its community while also exploring universally understood themes of family and dreams. Somewhat episodic and slight at first, “Julián” grows with its protagonist, capturing something familiar to anyone who remembers being told or shown that their childhood dreams were unrealistic. Seven-year-old Julián is so specifically himself but also speaks to the hopes of millions. He’s wonderful.
Julián wants to be a mermaid. It happens over a long summer with his abuela, who he barely knows but he’s forced to live with while his dad is away. At first, culture and age clashes lead to frustration, such as when Julian’s grandmother’s Afro-Caribbean cuisine doesn’t exactly vibe with the boy’s palate, but Bagnali pulls magic out of these moments, sometimes quite literally, such as when a sun that Julian has drawn in crayon comes to life and flits about the room. Is it Julian’s imagination? Magic? What’s the difference? The sprite known as Luna becomes Julian’s ally, a friend in a scary new place.
As for human beings, Julián befriends three local girls and becomes somewhat obsessed with their style, trying to grow his hair long and join them as a mermaid in a Brooklyn parade. Both Julián’s grandmother and abuela’s friends question the gender role for Julián, forcing him to cut his hair and act like a boy. Anyone who has been told their style, expression, or beliefs were too much will relate to Julián, a kid who just wants to have fun and be himself. We so often push that out of kids too early.
Julián’s creativity is mirrored in the film, which bursts with color and light in ways few animated films are allowed to (though it’s definitely a trend at Cartoon Saloon, a company that understands how to use form as much as the creative leaders at Studio Ghibli). The use of pinks and blues, the sunshine on the streets and in abuela’s apartment—everything shines but never in a way that detracts from the realism of this story. Bagnali threads the needle visually, marrying her protagonist’s creative mind to the world around him and reminding us how important it is to cherish both.
Serville Poblete’s “Sunburn” shares that blend of youthful exuberance, regional specificity, and charming characters. One of the bigger sleeper hits of TIFF 2026, it’s a buoyant gem, a movie inspired by hangout flicks like “Dazed and Confused” but with its own distinct, playful personality. The concept is simple yet engaging: On one of the hottest days of the summer, the power goes out in a Toronto apartment complex, forcing the young people outside to find some relief and something to do. We jump between characters in this brightly lit, colorful setting, falling in love with most of them thanks to Poblete’s incredible work with young performers, giving them confidence, backstory, and agency. This is a funny, sweet ensemble piece about some young people on the cusp of change while others are living for the moment.
If there are leads in this true tapestry piece, they are Shay (Joshua Obra) and Vince (Dashawn Blackwood), two teens becoming guys. They’re at that age when they can still be a little goofy and awkward, but also want to impress both girls and friends. I have three teenage boys—it’s rare to see that in-between space between childhood and adulthood so perfectly captured on film. There’s an age when a teenager is still kinda a kid but also moving toward being a man. And Shay and Vince are there: able to be goofy with the little ones in the complex, and serious with the older teens and twentysomethings.
“Sunburn” balances silly, nuanced comedy beats with conversations about what’s about to change. Again, trust this parent when I tell you that teenagers know when their youth is ending. And it’s funny to think about how a day without screens can send them reeling through their joyful present and into an unknown future.
It’s also a truly culturally vibrant film, with a cast of Jamaican, Filipino, and Guyanese performers, shot by Poblete and her team in the heat of a 100-degree day. It’s a movie with a pulse, which is so often lacking in our low-lit drama era, and it’s a movie that doesn’t just take the lives of young people seriously; it adores them.
Finally, there’s the more intense “In Alaska,” an Inuk-Canadian film directed by Jaap van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak. The teenage half is strong enough to overcome some drawbacks in the more procedural adult half of a thriller that plays better when it focuses on character and setting instead of plot. Shot in Canada’s northern wilderness, it’s a strikingly beautiful film at times, with the frozen tundra looking both terrifying and gorgeous. Leo Matthew Temela gives the kind of performance that should get a casting agent’s attention, but he’s on parallel tracks with Noomi Rapace, who often seems miscast and under-directed. Her involvement likely helped secure funding, but people will remember Temela’s half of the film.
In his debut role, Temela plays the deeply troubled Woody, a depressed Inuk teen who has attempted suicide numerous times. No one knows how to help him, and so you get the sense that they’ve given up. One day, he loads a rifle and heads out to a field, intending to end his life. When he can’t go through with it, he fires an errant shot that, believe it or not, hits the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, leading to a burst of oil that quickly pours millions of gallons of oil into the wild. Knowing this is a big problem, he takes off to find family who he can stay with in Nunavut, braving the deadly landscape as he tries both to hide from the authorities (led by Rapace) and find himself at the same time.
“In Alaska” is effective in its small beats: a character choice by Temela, a shot of the icy conditions, fluid editing. It’s less effective in the big picture, especially as Rapace’s half of the film drains some of the building energy from Temela’s. She’s not bad so much as unnecessary, even as the script tries to weave her mental health issues into Woody’s. In the end, “In Alaska” isn’t your average coming-of-age film, which makes it valuable; that, along with Temela’s brave work, is just enough.
- Official Trailer for 'The Lost Ones' with Henry Golding & Alex Pettyfer (September 15, 2026)
"There are some of us that can hide our demons deep down inside..." I'm sure there are. Paramount Movies has debuted the official trailer for a thriller titled The Lost Ones, about a family that moves to a new home in the woods. This is being dumped on VOD to watch starting in October. And from the looks of it, definitely does not seem like anything worth watching. One of the worst trailers we've posted this year! But get a look anyway. In the countryside, a family's fresh start begins to fracture... Their daughter's visions are getting harder to explain — and their neighbor isn't the only one with something to hide. When the perfect family relocates to rural America, the isolated idyll quickly becomes threatened by a disturbingly volatile neighbor. This stars Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Laura Haddock, Saise Quinn, and Maddie Evans. Is this trying to be a horror movie? Or supernatural thriller? Is the neighbor even the bad guy or only trying to stop them? Who knows - not much in this trailer makes sense. How did they even cast these actors in this? Enjoy. // Continue Reading ›
- Mexican Zombie Comedy Series 'I Would Rather Die' Official Trailer (September 15, 2026)
"If I'd known I was going to end up dead anyway, I wouldn't have given a damn." Prime Video revealed an official trailer for a Mexican horror comedy mini-series titled I Would Rather Die, originally known as Prefiero la Muerte in Spanish. It's ready for streaming in October for everyone to enjoy. "Between being a teen and being a teen zombie, growing up has never been this hard." The zombie comedy (zomcom) series has similar vibes to 2013 horror comedy Warm Bodies with Nicolas Hoult, also about an undead boyfriend. In this one, Archie is the ultimate high-school loser in the sleepy Mexican town of Mendoza — until he gets bitten by a zombie at the corner mini-mart. Now stuck between puberty and the undead, he teams up with his goth best friend and his platonic crush to stop an evil plot that could send the whole place into a full-blown apocalypse. Pyramid-scheme vitamin pushers, hardcore religious ladies, school bullies, and one very messy coming-of-age zombie comedy collide in this horror. 🧟 "Looks like pure chaotic fun." Starring Diego Bernal as Archie, Lilith Curiel, Farah Justiniani, Fernanda Castillo, Armando Hernández, Luis Fernando Peña, and Lissa. Even if it is similar to Warm Bodies, still looks like a freaky fun zombie series. // Continue Reading ›
- Super Creepy Jessica Chastain in Horror 'Other Mommy' Trailer #2 (September 15, 2026)
"You're trying to trick me!" "Bela, it's me!" So creepy! Universal Pictures has unveiled another new scary trailer for the horror movie Other Mommy, the next movie by genre mastermind Rob Savage (director of Host, Dashcam, The Boogeyman). This is even scarier than the first one! Looks like a horror hit incoming this October! Bela, an 8-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity that comes out of her closet that looks exactly like her mother. The presence, who she names "Other Mommy," becomes increasingly threatening to her and her family. Oscar winner Jessica Chastain stars in dual roles as Bela's mother and as the "Other Mommy," a manifestation of the entity. Jay Duplass plays dad, Bela's father, and Arabella Olivia Clark plays Bela. The cast includes Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, and screen legend Karen Allen. This is actually adapted from the book titled "Incidents Around the House" written by Josh Malerman, turned into this movie by freaky filmmaker Rob Savage. The whole ball pit motif being used throughout is really clever – and seriously horrifying. Every shot of Chastain is freaky! I'm so in. // Continue Reading ›
- British Comedy 'Ghosts: The Possession of Button House' Full Trailer (September 15, 2026)
"If we don't get this kid back into his body, he could die!" Lionsgate UK has unveiled the main official trailer for the horror comedy titled Ghosts: The Possession of Button House, a big screen movie version of the hit BBC series of the same name. It's haunting UK cinemas this October. This extra kooky supernatural comedy movie is a continuation of the TV sitcom "Ghosts" (running from 2019 - 2023) though no US release is set yet. Has anyone been watching this series? 👻 "After its enormous success as a television series, we are thrilled that audiences will get to experience Ghosts on the big screen. It will be an unmissable event." This film brings back the entire original cast once again: Lolly Adefope, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond; joined by Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe. The original "Ghosts" series (kinda of like What We Do in the Shadows) follows a group of ghosts from different historical periods haunting a country house while sharing the house with its new living occupants. Filmed at the iconic West Horsley Place in England. This movie is about what happens when one boy gets fully possessed, while the rest try to find him and put things back in order again. // Continue Reading ›
- Chilling Full Trailer #2 for 'Primetime' Movie Starring Robert Pattinson (September 15, 2026)
"I'm a huge fan of your show! But – I don't wanna be in it!" A24 has revealed the second official trailer for Primetime, the unsettling new cinematic spin on the harrowing TV news program "To Catch a Predator" attempting to uncover & incriminate pedophiles. From director Lance Oppenheim (of Some Kind of Heaven, You Can See Everything), this thriller film stars Robert Pattinson as the host Chris Hansen, who seems to have his own psychotic motives for running this how. In 2006, "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history. Just last year there was also a documentary film titled Predators (watch the trailer) from Sundance, which took a very critical look at the show, the host Chris Hansen, and what was really going on behind the scenes, and whether it was actually helping stop predators or making everything worse – sensationalizing the idea of catching criminals. Primetime stars Pattinson with Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, Phoebe Bridgers, Alex Winter, and Bokeem Woodbine. This just premiered at the 2206 Venice Film Festival to mostly good reviews. A unique film that's worth a watch. // Continue Reading ›
