It's been quite some time since Gus Van Santhas been in the spotlight. To many's surprise, the visionary director had been away from the big screen for seven years until his inspiring feature-film comeback, Dead Man's Wire, which opened in a limited capacity in 2025, expanded into theaters early in 2026, and is now on Netflix. Best known for sensitive dramas and sympathetic portraits of societal outcasts, like My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Milk, Van Sant seems like an unlikely choice for this biographical crime drama/thriller about a hostage crisis in the 1970s, but the versatile filmmaker returned to his early roots as an indie director making anarchic crime thrillers and pitch-black comedies like Drugstore Cowboy and To Die For. This overlooked film is due for a reappraisal now that it's widely available for all audiences, and, luckily, it features a compelling performance by the star of IT: Welcome to Derry, Bill Skarsgård.

Long before the Metaverse, Oculus, and Charlie Brooker's acclaimed speculative sci-fi series, master director David Cronenberg plumbed the depths of virtual reality's implications with his fleshy, frantic masterpiece Existenz. Featuring an uncanny lead performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh as the "game pod goddess" whose creations kick off the intrigue, as well as Jude Law and Willem Dafoe, it's an utterly unique vision of video gaming and the horror that can ensue when it bleeds into reality.

It's not often that a classic and wildly beloved film or franchise can return decades later to an equal amount of acclaim and success. It's unheard of for a film in that situation to not only be good, but to also launch a fantastic trilogy of its own. Against all odds, that's what happened to the iconic Rocky franchise, which has evolved into something generationally great in the hands of Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan.

With 2019’s The Irishman, director Martin Scorsese and star Robert De Niro reunited for another movie dealing with the history of organized crime in America. This was a seismic event, as the two artists were perhaps most associated with the mob movie, and their last collaboration had been 1995’s Casino, another sprawling mob epic based on real events. Even more encouraging was the return of De Niro’s Casino, Goodfellas,and Raging Bull costar Joe Pesci, and even better than that, Al Pacino would be working with Scorsese for the first time. The movie arguably became the defining mobster film of the 21st century, and the central trio made it even more meaningful, with one caveat: their age.

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Obsession.

Horror films have entered a new era where they are about the only thing that is getting fans into theaters, but the genre has had a long and widespread tradition in entertainment. A perfect vehicle for social commentary, horror is even better paired with the thriller genre. That is about the only way to describe The Silence of the Lambs, a psychological horror that walks that line perfectly.

For years, YouTube has been a fertile ground for aspiring filmmakers, a place where they could demonstrate their skills outside traditional norms. While it has often been seen as unorthodox, this methodology is beginning to bear fruit. Recent films like Backrooms, Obsession, and Iron Lunghave proven to be some of 2026's biggest successes, and YouTubers like Kane Parsons, Curry Barker, and Markiplier are to thank. Backrooms has become A24's highest grossing movie ever, and Obsession is on track to become one of the most profitable films in recent years, earning over $200,000 on a $750,000 budget. However, it is the success of Backrooms that we've seen not just the director be the reason why, but the YouTube community itself.

Christian Bale has long been a powerhouse in entertainment, from his unnerving role as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho to the Caped Crusader himself in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. Batman hung up his cowl in 2012 after The Dark Knight Rises, but that wasn’t the end for Bale. Pretty soon after, the performer delivered a gripping performance in a forgotten thriller that deserves a second chance.

For better or for worse, Zack Snyder has made a name for himself with films that have impressive visuals, meticulous montages, and unforgettable soundtracks. Though sometimes an acquired taste, all of these elements came together magnificently in the 2009 feature film adaptation of Watchmen. An ambitious film for any director, Watchmen was adapted from Alan Moore’s graphic novel that questions fascism and the hero worship of superheroes in a complex and immersive tome. Adapting one of the best graphic novels to date would be a high order for anyone, which could have been the reason that Watchmen didn’t find its audience early on. In recent years, however, the film has become more embraced by audiences who were admittedly too hard on it at first.

What is Christopher Nolan's best movie? The answer might vary among cinephiles, thanks to Nolan's filmography, which spans a wide variety of genres. Some would point to Memento, as its non-linear structure makes for a compelling mystery. Others would throw The Dark Knight trilogy into the ring, as it helped put Nolan on the map and showcased that superheroes can be taken seriously when in the right hands. The best answer is a movie that Nolan made 12 years ago, a science fiction odyssey that still holds up today. It also contains two key elements that helped cement Nolan as a top-tier filmmaker.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has produced no shortage of memorable quotes over the years, yet nearly a decade after Spider-Man: Homecoming arrived in theaters, one line still stands above almost everything else the franchise has produced because of how perfectly it captures the essence of heroism. The quote comes during one of the movie's most important scenes. After Peter Parker (Tom Holland) recklessly endangers countless lives while trying to stop Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) finally loses patience and takes back the high-tech Spider-Man suit he provided.

William Goldman’s 1985 novel Heat had the makings of a gritty crime thriller destined to be adapted for the big screen with its exploration of the moody life of a former mercenary-turned-bodyguard, plagued by a gambling addiction and a desire to flee Las Vegas. Goldman’s novel was adapted twice — first, in the 1986 thriller of the same name starring Burt Reynolds under the direction of Dick Richards, and then the 2015 version, called Wild Card, starring Jason Statham by director Simon West.