My Top 5 Movies of The Year So Far
- Alex Schlerf
- Jul 22
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 26
With Rogue Eye Media back up and running again, plus being at about the halfway point of the year, I thought it was a good time to look over what we've gotten so far in 2026. Although there's still a ton to come, it's been a great year for movies even starting back in January.
Today, I'm going to rank my top five movies of the year so far and give some honorable mentions. These will only be movies that released in 2026, anything that I've watched that's prior will have to be a whole seperate list. I want to make it clear that this is my opinion and I have no issue with anyone who would rate these lower or higher. I'll definitely come back around to this maybe in a few months or at the end of the year, just to have a more complete list. But for now, enjoy my assessment of the halfway point!
Editor's Note: The Odyssey and The Invite are already available as reviews on either the YT channel or the site, so those will be shorter blurbs and will contain links to the full reviews.
Honorable Mentions
All my top five on this list are either a 4.5 or 5 star, so these that just missed are all high four stars. First would be Send Help, which occupied the top spot of my list for a very long time due to it being the first real hit of the year. The January release date may have originally felt like a lack of confidence, but in no way did that end up being true. Sam Raimi takes the horror genre for a complete spin and Rachel McAdams puts in a genuinely phenomenal performance. I think it's a bit too repetitive to go above where I ranked it, but still I thought it was very creative and could hold on to a top ten spot by years end. Next would be The Drama, which was a film for me that solidified Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as two of the greatest actors of their generation. Not that the actual script or film itself isn't good, it has some really deep and impactful themes, but the two of them just make the movie. The performances are so layered and they each add elements to them that wouldn't have existed if other actors inhabited the role. I think they revealed the twist a little too early and it can be a bit slow, but this is a very worthy inclusion in the honorable mentions.
The last one out for this list was Kane Parsons' Backrooms, a film that I think has become underrated when talking about the year so far. Obviously the main attraction is the idea of liminal space and the horror that can come with that, but I came out appreciating the themes they tried to tackle way more. Using therapy as a storytelling tool not only worked for our main character (Chiwetel Ejofor), but also eventually for Renate Reinsve's character as well. This is as much a mental health exploration as a horror film and that's why it has stuck with me so much. The acting is incredible and I can't believe how well shot it is for a debut film. Very excited for more projects in this universe!
5: The Invite
The Invite is not a film I really had on my radar at all before the year, but it ended up completely blowing me away. The main draw for this was the humor and that is very clearly there from the jump. This is probably the most I can ever remember laughing at a movie in a theater in my entire life and everyone else around me was doing the same. It's not your average comedy script, there's both creative and classic humor that both equally keep you entertained the entire time. However, it's not the comedy elements that made this earn its spot on this list - it's both the technical side and the actual impactful themes towards the end. This movie was shot entirely on 35mm film, something I have a ton of respect for director (and star) Olivia Wilde and cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra for focusing on. It makes it really feel retro in some ways, while also new enough to be accessible for audiences. Although the film is making you laugh every few lines for the first 3/4ths of this, there is moments towards the end that will have you either emotional or completely silent because of how impactful they are thematically. There's monologues from Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, plus a callback from earlier in the film in relation to Wilde and Seth Rogen's characters. This film was not only a creative comedy, but knew exactly when to focus on a deeper storytelling element and that was the most impressive part for me.
4: Obsession
Simply put, Obsession is the creepiest movie I've ever seen in my entire life. I've never really been a horror person, but I've warmed up to it in the past year, so I've seen a lot more of the genre recently than I ever have. That means that I feel like I've seen it all in terms of jump scares or creepiness, but this took it to a whole other gear. I was actually uncomfortable for a large portion of this film, which has to be in large credit to Curry Barker in his debut feature length project. The concept is obviously fascinating because it plays on my generation's tendency to "obsess" over the other gender to the point where it becomes ridiculous. This turns what sounds like a ridiculous idea into an actual scary idea, due to the horror behind Nikki's character. Speaking of Nikki, Inde Navarrette is the other big standout positive here. I've never seen her in anything up to this point, but it's a performance that I hope follows the Amy Madigan awards track from last season (I think this performance is significantly better than Madigan's was). Really the main thing is her ability to make complicated facial expressions the entire time. This comes out not only when she's in this hypnotized form, but also when you can see the real Nikki trying to fight back. It's such a devastating character and I think the audience wouldn't feel as bad for her if it was not for Inde's fantastic acting job. This is such a creative project and I have been so glad to see it do as good as it has at the box office!
3: Toy Story 5
I rewatched all of the Toy Story films leading into this one and I genuinely think it's the greatest franchise of all time. At the very least it's the most consistent, with each movie both being wildly entertaining and also emotional. There's not a single film out of 1-4 that didn't make me cry, with 3 and 4 specifically making all the tears flow. I say all this to showcase that I was incredibly cautious going into this fifth installment, just because of how good the franchise is and I was hoping it wouldn't fall at what could potentially be one of the final hurdles. However, I can say that I was absolutely not disappointed with this film. I went into it expecting that the impactful theme would be the idea of tech vs. toys and how that's affecting the youth of this incoming generation. There definitely was that and I especially appreciated how it was applied through the stranded Buzz toys, but really I came out of this being emotional at other things. The main through line about toys not being wanted anymore ends up manifesting with Bonnie and another new child with a offhand connection to Jessie (Joan Cusack). Not only were all the scenes relating to Jessie's old owner so profound and emotional, there was also the slow friendship between these two kids that are struggling to tackle loneliness. It's devastating to see their struggle and it makes the payoff towards the end that much better. This was funny, emotional and nuanced even for a franchise in its fifth installment.
2: The Odyssey
The Odyssey is a cinematic experience of the highest degree. Part of the appeal for this film has to be the actual theater experience itself, wether you see it in regular format or 70mm IMAX, but that's not the only reason this is getting all the praise that it is. Nolan takes a greek myth and adapts it perfectly, also adding his own technical style that elevates the story in ways nobody could ever imagine. The filmmaking is on a whole other scale, as there's many sequences that will genuinely have you on the edge of your seat. Some of those sequences seem to be Nolan testing the waters for a potential horror film, as it feels like a scene focused around Samantha Morton's character was pulled straight from a Robert Eggers movie. The first two hours feel just tense and large-scale, but the last hour is what makes this film iconic. This final act not only brings in the emotion, but does things that make you rethink the entire runtime that came before. It takes the story and makes you understand why Nolan chose this to be his follow up to Oppenheimer. There's scenes in the end that recontexualize what we've seen before and I just think the writing within it all is outstanding. Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson all deserve awards love for different reasons. Ludwig Goransson is a master of the keys (I am literally listening to the score as I am typing this). Every other shot is an otherworldly visual. I could go on and on (and I did in my review listed above!), but at the end of the day I just feel grateful I was able to experience this film.
1: Project Hail Mary
One of my largest regrets in taking my break from this site was not being around to write a review for Proiect Hail Mary. For those of you who don't know, I have a large connection to this source material. The book has been my favorite novel ever since I read it around 1.5 years ago and I was incredibly excited to see it adapted into a film. At the same time, I kind of thought the book was unadaptable. There's so many large scale concepts that I just couldn't see what filmmaker could tackle a project like this. Who better then the genius creators behind Spider-Verse, Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Add on Ryan Gosling in the lead role plus a Daniel Pemberton score and you've got a dream team. So yeah, I think this film is perfect and it's probably going to end up as one of my favorite films of all time. Obviously it's entertaining, goofy and funny basically the whole way through. But at the same time it balances that humor with the seriousness and brutality that the story is at its core. Ryland Grace has been put in an impossible situation and the filmmakers pair his journey to this point perfectly in the flashbacks throughout the film. Gosling added layers to this character that I never even thought of reading the book and he truly makes this movie as good as it is. Although most of the back half of the film is intense and deals with heavy themes, the final scene will leave you with hope. Not only happiness because of where we end up, but actual hope for the world. This touched me in an emotional way that not even the book did, which is credit to everyone involved. Although The Odyssey may be more impressive technically (where PHM is no slouch either), the emotional and real-world impact here I think has left a longer imprint on me. Rocky Grace Save Stars.
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