Movie theaters kicked off 2026 with an unusually high number of potential blockbusters, but the critical reception and box office pulls have been mixed: Project Hail Mary—surprise success! Wuthering Heights—far below expectations. The Bride!—total flop. Instead, some of the year's top films have come with much smaller fanfare. In our list of the best movies of 2026 so far, film critic Max Cea breaks down how independent cinema is picking up the slack by releasing festival favorites like Pillion and the Oscar-nominated documentary The Voice of Hind Rajab. Read on to discover some of his other favorites below. —Josh Rosenberg, editor, news and entertainment |
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While some blockbusters were a bit of a letdown, Pillion, The Voice of Hind Rajab, and The Plague started the year off strong for independent cinema.
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The year is off to a great start for movies, as long as you're not a major studio. The highest-profile films of the year so far—Wuthering Heights, The Bride!, Send Help, Scream 7, and, yes, even Project Hail Mary—didn't hit the highs that critics expected. The most common denominator was the one thing no blockbuster should ever suffer from: dullness. Still, I hate to paint with such a broad brush. Some of the films listed above—including Project Hail Mary's recent box-office wins—should be commended for earnestly swinging for the fences. But there's no reason big budgets should preclude fresh ideas or stories that honestly dig a little deeper. |
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First thing's first: Backpacks are not just for students. They aren't only meant for college kids. Grown men with actual jobs—conference calls, commutes, office badges, the whole soul-eating corporate shebang—deserve a good backpack, too. And honestly, they make way more practical sense than messenger bags, brief cases, or flimsy totes. A backpack spreads the weight evenly across your back, not concentrated on one sad side of your body. We're aware that a lot of work backpacks are, for lack of a better term, hideous. Some look like you're about to summit Everest on your lunch break, while others go so hard on practicality that they forget you still have to walk into an office and be seen by all your coworkers. Then there are the stylish ones—sleek, minimalist bags that photograph well but can barely hold a laptop, let alone your chargers, water bottle, lunch, and everything else you need to get you through the workday. Looking good is important, and so is having durable materials, enough pockets, a real laptop compartment, and a decent capacity for everything you need. |
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Among the movies screened at this year's SXSW was a little indie that really could. We Were Here, written and directed by Pranav Bhasin, is a knee-slapping short mockumentary about Indian retirees who push back against AI's dominance by taking over the jobs of machines. I guarantee you won't see anything funnier for the rest of 2026 than an old man, duct-taped to the back of a minivan, making beeping noises and yelling to the driver how close they are to the curb. We Were Here is a triumph all on its own, a ten-minute darling with heart, wit, and DIY grit. But against the backdrop of a festival overrun with AI start-ups, Bhasin's film shines even brighter as an insightful, maybe even radical work of art that ponders artificial intelligence and offers genuine soul instead. It is the sort of movie that inspires award-winning actor Andrew Scott. It's why he's the face of Redbreast Unhidden, the official showcase for short films at SXSW. "It's about supporting filmmakers," Scott tells Esquire. |
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 This story contains spoilers for Paradise season 2, episode 8. Thomas Doherty doesn't have an exit plan for the apocalypse. "I'm gonna be like everyone else, running around like a madman," the 30-year-old actor and star of Hulu's Paradise jokes over Zoom. He might find his way back to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was born and raised. "The air is fresher," he says. But beyond that, all Doherty wants or needs when things turn belly-up is his adorable golden doodle, named Daisy, by his side. "If I can't go back to family," he says, "it's gonna be me and Daisy against the world." At the end of the sci-fi series second season, Doherty's character, Dylan, is certainly feeling the end of the world. He's the brainy rebel on a mission to stop the collapse of America's now-abandoned nuclear facilities, until a twist places him at the center of almost every fan theory about Paradise's future. Dylan was first introduced to audiences in the premiere by the alias Link—a nerdy nod to the wandering champion from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. But we later learn Doherty character's real name and his potential connection to the show's calculating antagonist Sinatra, played by Julianne Nicholson. Alongside every twist on Paradise, Doherty is as heavily invested in figuring out the mysteries as the show's inventive fans. "She could be his mum," Doherty theorizes, "But we don't know. That's the thing about any Dan Fogelman show. You want a question answered, you'll get the question answered. But with the answer comes five more questions." In Paradise's first season, agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) fought to reveal the truth behind the secret bunker that humanity lives in following an apocalyptic event. His quest put him face-to-face with the bunker's controversial leader, Sinatra. She revealed then that her son died (supposedly) of an unknown illness when he was a young boy, and that her grief compelled her to throw her resources into the Colorado mountain bunker way before the Antarctic volcano erupted. But as season 2 carried on past Link's introduction, theories slowly sprung up on Reddit that speculated a connection between his true backstory and Sinatra's secret project, codenamed "Alex." At first, fans threw around everything from time travel to parallel universes. Then, in the penultimate episode of season 2, the show proposed the very real possibility that the viewers were on to something. Link/Dylan may be Sinatra's son. Whatever Sinatra secretly planned with "Alex" apparently "worked," as she phrased it. But in the season 2 finale (now streaming), fans are still left without many concrete answers. "Almost tricking the audience can be dangerous, because you're thinking about the perception of the performance instead of the truth," Doherty says. "A lot of the time you just have to trust the writing." In a conversation with Esquire, Doherty graciously answers some—but not all—of your burning questions below. Is Dylan really Sinatra's son? What are his and Xavier's visions really about? How is "Alex" the supercomputer involved? And what does Doherty think about where Link/Dylan is headed in Paradise's third and final season? By Eric Francisco |
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"That's the thing about any Dan Fogelman show," Thomas Doherty tells Esquire about Paradise. "You want a question answered, you'll get the question answered. But with the answer comes five more questions." / photo by: Ser Baffo/Hulu |
Now that Paradise is over, I bet you're thinking: What should I watch now? Well, the TV calendar is looking really promising next month. We broke down the top 10 shows we're looking forward to this April, including Euphoria season 3, the return of BEEF on Netflix, and the final season of Hacks. But I want to know what you're excited to watch! Let me know by writing to me at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com. Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here. |
The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk |
Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, talked to Anthony Breznican about his onstage tribute to filmmaker Rob Reiner at the recent Academy Awards. Wheaton starred as one of the kids in Stand by Me (1986), alongside River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. "Everything that is good in my life right now began with Stand by Me and Rob Reiner," he said. "It was very important to me that I stand up to remember him." Read the full interview here. Looking for the Best Movies of 2026 so far? Film critic Max Cea breaks down why he's head over heels for a few of the year's indie hits, despite some early disappointment from major studio offerings like The Bride! and Wuthering Heights. Check out his recommendations here. |
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Three cheers for Harry Potter's new Ron Weasley, played by Alastair Stout. / photo by: Aidan Monaghan/HBO |
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The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week |
Winner: The New Ron Weasley I've never been a massive Harry Potter fan, but I must admit that the new trailer for HBO's upcoming series charmed me. How? By giving us a perfect shot of Alastair Stout (pictured above) as the new Ron Weasley. (He's taking over the role originated by Rupert Grint in the films.) His little "brain explosion" hand gesture when he first meets Harry vaulted him to the top of my cutest kids on TV rankings. Loser: TV Screens Without James Marsden on Them Not only is Paradise season 2 over without another cameo from U.S. President James Marsden, but Jury Duty returned without the Hairspray actor as well. The Prime Video comedy just isn't the same without him. But don't worry, Marsden returns to screens next month in Your Friends & Neighbors season 2. Winner: Jokes! Did you catch the trailer for RuPaul Charles's new slapstick comedy film, Stop! That! Train!? The parody disaster thriller's quick one-liners feel like we've finally received Gen-Z's Airplane! I couldn't be more excited. Loser: KFC's Pickle Puffer The fast-food chain is selling a real, see-through puffer jacket stuffed with sliced pickles and brine. It looks—and I'm sure, tastes—as insane as it sounds. Winner: X-Files Fans Following his Best Director win at the Oscars, Sinners' Ryan Coogler is taking on a surprising new project: rebooting The X-Files for Hulu. The new series will star Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler as two FBI agents who investigate extraterrestrial cold cases. With all the renewed interest around government files and UFOs, the TV show honestly couldn't arrive at a better time. |
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