The Movies of 2026 - Q3
September 17, 2026 - Movies
During Jul, August, and September, I only watched four films that are worthy of mention. I haven't yet seen The End of Oak Street, which I'm looking forward to, and I'll probably enjoy Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and Coyote vs Acme, but I likewise haven't seen either of those yet.
The Odyssey
All the hype, and it should have been right in my wheelhouse. But I did not like The Odyssey. Maybe it's that the audio was mixed too loudly at certain points, maybe Odysseus came across as too much of a murder hobo, maybe it's just because I was in a bad mood the day I watched. For whatever reason, I walked out of the movie about 20 minutes before the ending, and I don't really regret it.
Backrooms
Backrooms was weird. Which I gather it's supposed it be. Apparently, the genre is creepypasta? Well, it succeeded in creepy.
Apparently the idea for this originated on 4Chan with a discussion of liminal space which inspired a web series named Backrooms. I'm only now reading the episode descriptions as I write up this article, and I'm deciding that I need to check out the original Backrooms web series.
Chiwetel Ejiofor was very good in this - I've always enjoyed his performances, my favorite being the 2022 series The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Spider-man: Brand New Day
That I was going to like a Tom Holland Spiderman movie was never really in question. In the end, I liked it less than Spider-man: No Way Home and more than Spider-man: Far From Home. I'll need to watch it a second and third time to really form a solid opinion, but the X-Men character (yes, I'm avoiding spoilers) felt a bit misused, and Frank Castle being involved felt a bit off. Also, the overuse of universal superpower inhibiters is getting a bit too hand-wavey.
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
I'm betting this movie is one you haven't heard of. Frances McDormand is the star, but the film also includes Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, and a very entertaining Peter Dinklage.
The movie's plot involves the main character putting up billboards to call out local law enforcement who she feels haven't been doing their jobs well, after they fail to solve a crime which affected her very personally.
Although there's some action, the movie is primarily a drama, and ends without a clear resolution to the plot. I normally hate that, but nonetheless I really enjoyed this film.
That's it for now. I'll write up the Q3 television shows soon.