This isn’t a criticism of Jim’s compilation job or whatever (Great job, Jim!). This is my massive disappointment with what poses for film criticism in 2026. Do these so-called professional reviewers even watch movies that aren’t insipid bottom-of-the-barrel Hollywood fare? The top 14 are all English-language pictures, and, with the exception of “Blue Heron”, got relatively big, mainstream, nationwide releases. I’m not even paid to watch movies and I feel like I’ve seen a far more diverse selection than most of these reviewers.
The fact that “Is God Is” and “Disclosure Day” even cracked the top 20 is…somehow wrong in every conceivable sense…and I didn’t even hate either one. Grant may be shocked that “Project Hail Mary” made the list, but I’m more surprised at the number of schlocky horror movies that seem to garner (un-)critical acclaim these days. It feels like the entire critical establishment has lowered its collective standards and given a free pass to the genre. (For one example: “Sinners”, which made (and topped) a suspicious number of “Best of 2025” lists.)
It’s interesting to compare this list with the ones from the aggregators (RT, Metacritic), which are essentially doing much the same thing you did here with a less discriminating pool of reviewers (is it a less discriminating pool or less discriminating reviewers? I’ll let you decide). Many of the ones that reach the upper echelons of those lists aren’t on this one at all. Six of Metacritic’s top ten don’t make this list at all. Go figure.
This is also a proper damnation of where we are in terms of commercial film distribution and screenings. It would have been nice for “Blue Heron” to get a run in local theatres (even if it’s somewhat overrated by, well, everyone), but it’s hardly a surprise that it didn’t. I’d say this po-dunk mountain town is doing orders-of-magnitude better in this department than just a decade or two ago, but there are still tons of acclaimed films that don’t bother to wash up on our shores. Yet, we still have a new shitty horror movie or two in our multiplexes every week and entire months of the year that are suspiciously barren.
There’s also the issue of what counts as a 2026 film. (“The President’s Cake”, for example, was nominated for a Best International Feature Oscar, but I’m guessing it didn’t screen almost anywhere in the US until 2026…my own best of 2026 list is crawling with 2025 films that didn’t play here until 2026. Come to think of it, most of the ones on this compilation list are also from 2025.).
Incidentally, if July 1st is still a half-a-day or so before the midpoint of the year, “Minions & Monsters” opened just on time to make the best-of-the-first-half-of-2026 list.
Also, Jim: Your Esquire Link connects to Consequence of Sound’s list.
Thanks for compiling all this data. A few surprises in here, though largely what I expected to see. THE BONE TEMPLE deserved more than a three-week run here, and I have to imagine its last week was significantly truncated, too. Probably a result of being a January release. That is a shame.
The immense acclaim for PROJECT HAIL MARY still confuses me... I can't wait to be "right" about it in three years when we're evaluating the best films of the decade, and then the consensus flips, lol. "Why was this on our top-10 lists?" To me, it's very much a Marvel movie in disguise. Some entertaining bits here and there, I guess, but deeply unserious in tone. Wanted to see more of Sandra Hüller's Eva, who's kind of the dark heart of the movie, but the film (and perhaps source material) keeps its distance.
I felt liken I might have missed something with Blue Heron, but I didn’t skip a week of Now Showing since January. I’ve had a few late, and a few shorter than usual, but I don’t think I missed an entire week.
At the risk of sounding like me…
Jesus fuck…what a provincial list.
This isn’t a criticism of Jim’s compilation job or whatever (Great job, Jim!). This is my massive disappointment with what poses for film criticism in 2026. Do these so-called professional reviewers even watch movies that aren’t insipid bottom-of-the-barrel Hollywood fare? The top 14 are all English-language pictures, and, with the exception of “Blue Heron”, got relatively big, mainstream, nationwide releases. I’m not even paid to watch movies and I feel like I’ve seen a far more diverse selection than most of these reviewers.
The fact that “Is God Is” and “Disclosure Day” even cracked the top 20 is…somehow wrong in every conceivable sense…and I didn’t even hate either one. Grant may be shocked that “Project Hail Mary” made the list, but I’m more surprised at the number of schlocky horror movies that seem to garner (un-)critical acclaim these days. It feels like the entire critical establishment has lowered its collective standards and given a free pass to the genre. (For one example: “Sinners”, which made (and topped) a suspicious number of “Best of 2025” lists.)
It’s interesting to compare this list with the ones from the aggregators (RT, Metacritic), which are essentially doing much the same thing you did here with a less discriminating pool of reviewers (is it a less discriminating pool or less discriminating reviewers? I’ll let you decide). Many of the ones that reach the upper echelons of those lists aren’t on this one at all. Six of Metacritic’s top ten don’t make this list at all. Go figure.
This is also a proper damnation of where we are in terms of commercial film distribution and screenings. It would have been nice for “Blue Heron” to get a run in local theatres (even if it’s somewhat overrated by, well, everyone), but it’s hardly a surprise that it didn’t. I’d say this po-dunk mountain town is doing orders-of-magnitude better in this department than just a decade or two ago, but there are still tons of acclaimed films that don’t bother to wash up on our shores. Yet, we still have a new shitty horror movie or two in our multiplexes every week and entire months of the year that are suspiciously barren.
There’s also the issue of what counts as a 2026 film. (“The President’s Cake”, for example, was nominated for a Best International Feature Oscar, but I’m guessing it didn’t screen almost anywhere in the US until 2026…my own best of 2026 list is crawling with 2025 films that didn’t play here until 2026. Come to think of it, most of the ones on this compilation list are also from 2025.).
Incidentally, if July 1st is still a half-a-day or so before the midpoint of the year, “Minions & Monsters” opened just on time to make the best-of-the-first-half-of-2026 list.
Also, Jim: Your Esquire Link connects to Consequence of Sound’s list.
Thanks for compiling all this data. A few surprises in here, though largely what I expected to see. THE BONE TEMPLE deserved more than a three-week run here, and I have to imagine its last week was significantly truncated, too. Probably a result of being a January release. That is a shame.
The immense acclaim for PROJECT HAIL MARY still confuses me... I can't wait to be "right" about it in three years when we're evaluating the best films of the decade, and then the consensus flips, lol. "Why was this on our top-10 lists?" To me, it's very much a Marvel movie in disguise. Some entertaining bits here and there, I guess, but deeply unserious in tone. Wanted to see more of Sandra Hüller's Eva, who's kind of the dark heart of the movie, but the film (and perhaps source material) keeps its distance.
I remember seeing Blue Heron on the AMC Fitchburg schedule for 1 week, but I may be mistaken.
Totally agree with Grant about Project Hail Mary, most overrated movie of the year.
I felt liken I might have missed something with Blue Heron, but I didn’t skip a week of Now Showing since January. I’ve had a few late, and a few shorter than usual, but I don’t think I missed an entire week.