The world at a crossroads: vancouver film festival 2026 recap
Nine films, one running theme. From The Trial of Hein to Behemoth, the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival kept circling displacement and isolation, with the biggest Indigenous slate VIFF has ever shown.
Paper Tiger
James Gray's Paper Tiger is a 1980s New York crime drama about two brothers caught as the mafia hands the waterfront to the Russians. Adam Driver is the reason to see it, but the film is really about being a father and a brother.
Spielberg Is Back on Transformers. Michael Bay Might Be Too.
Steven Spielberg is returning to Transformers as executive producer, and Michael Bay is in early talks to direct Transformers 8. Here's what the reunion could mean, and what's still unconfirmed.
Still Night, Burning House
Seen at VIFF 2026: Carol Nguyen's feature debut follows her family to Vietnam to make peace with an uncle's death years after the fact. It's quiet, beautifully shot, and more about healing than grief.
Other Mommy Opened to $27.5M With a D+. The Social Reckoning Opened to $5.5M With a B-.
The worst-graded movie of the weekend won it. The better-liked Sorkin sequel finished fifth. Other Mommy and The Social Reckoning tell you everything about what sells tickets in 2026, and what doesn't.
Death Has No Master (VIFF 2026): The jungle spares no one
Asia Argento inherits a jungle estate and finds it already occupied. Our first take on Death Has No Master from VIFF 2026: a slow burn with a fantastic soundtrack and a hard left turn.
Behemoth: Every Day Is an Audition
Pedro Pascal plays a cellist who can't commit to anyone or anything, and Tony Gilroy turns that into a celebration of art and what it costs. A festival capsule review of the best Pascal performance yet and a surprising detour from the Michael Clayton director.
FATHERLAND (2026): A quiet beautiful rage
Thomas Mann comes home to a divided Germany, caught between two ideologies and unable to show vulnerability to either. Paweł Pawlikowski's Cannes-winning drama is lean, stark, and possibly the most beautiful black-and-white photography you'll see this year.
Digger Bombed. Hollywood Is About to Learn the Wrong Lesson.
Digger opened to about $8 million, Tom Cruise's worst start since 2007, on a budget that swelled past $160 million. The easy takeaway is that audiences don't want originals. The real one is about what studios are willing to pay for them, and it lands the same week Paramount takes over Warner Bros.
The Trial of Hein Review: A Village on Trial
A man returns to a German fishing island after fifteen years, and the village puts him on trial to prove he's really Hein. Our VIFF 2026 capsule review: a roofless, half-built set, a first-time director ten years in the making
Paramount and Warner Bros. Are Now One Studio. The 30-Movie Promise Is the Tell.
A judge just cleared Paramount's roughly $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, and the states made the new mega-studio promise at least 30 wide releases a year. That sounds like a win for moviegoers. Look closer and the 30-film floor has a hole big enough to drive a mid-budget drama through.
Pocket Mirror (VIFF 2026): A Lonely Little Mystery About a Cat You Never See
A lonely retail worker becomes convinced her cat has been replaced in Adrian Murray's quiet Canadian drama, a world premiere at VIFF 2026.
Smudge the Blades Review: Cody Lightning's Heartfelt Hockey Drama
A Zamboni driver says he was drafted by the Rangers, but nobody can say who he is. Cody Lightning's second feature, a TIFF award winner now at VIFF, is a funny, heartfelt hockey drama where no one winks at the camera. Here's my capsule review.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
John Turturro plays a pickpocket past his prime in a city that no longer runs on cash. A quick capsule take from VIFF 2026, with a full review to follow at release.
Bond 26 Now Has a Script. The Bigger Story Is Who Doesn't Get a Say In It.
Steven Knight says his first draft of Bond 26 is done. That's not really the story. This is the first Bond script written without a single Broccoli or Wilson in the room, and between Denis Villeneuve's reverence and Gary Oldman's Jack Lowden slip-up, it's worth asking what a Bond built entirely by outsiders is going to look like.
Come and See (1985): The War Film the Soviet Government Tried to Bury
François Truffaut said a true anti-war film was impossible. Come and See is the film that proves him wrong — and the story of how it got made is almost as disturbing as the film itself.
Buzzard: Capitalism's Ugliest Little Con Man
Joel Potrykus's Buzzard follows a small-time scammer whose anti-corporate rage only ever expresses itself as more scamming. Streaming on the Criterion Channel, this micro-budget character study turns its rough edges into part of the point.
Resident Evil (2026): Why Zach Cregger's Reboot Actually Works
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil reboot skipped Leon, Claire, and Jill entirely, and still opened at #1 with a 96% Tomatometer. A look at why treating the games as a sandbox instead of a script finally cracked the video game movie curse, and why Cregger says he's done doing this again.
Companion (2025) Review: A Great Sci-Fi Premise That Doesn't Trust Itself
Companion just hit Netflix with a strong premise about a robot reclaiming her autonomy, and a lead performance from Sophie Thatcher that deserves a more confident movie around it. Here's why the tonal whiplash keeps it from landing, and how it stacks up against the one film in this current wave that actually commits.
The Only Woman in Venice's Competition Just Won the Golden Lion
Venice promised gender parity in 2016. In 2026, exactly one of twenty competition films was directed by a woman, and it just won the Golden Lion. A look at "Woman Unknown," May el-Toukhy's post-WWII drama, plus the rest of this year's Venice winners.