I mentioned in Monday’s post that 2026 has been the best start to a movie year in as long as I can remember. Through the first three months — usually a dumping ground for a studio’s weakest material — I have seen more than a half dozen films I can wholeheartedly recommend and a handful more that are at the very least interesting.

Two of those movies will almost certainly make my year-end top ten list: Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. And if they don’t, that will mean the rest of the year is lights-out good.

I won’t say much about Nirvanna here because I’ll be singing its praises a year from now, and because it is best experienced if you know as little as possible going in. I’ll just note that it’s a hilarious, heartfelt, original comedy that has nothing to do with the Seattle band.

The Bone Temple is director Nia Dicosta’s chapter of the 28 Days Later series, the fourth film in the franchise and a direct sequel to last year’s 28 Years Later. It turns the zombie apocalypse into a gorgeously violent and achingly human fantasia and features an incredible Ralph Fiennes performance.

The Bone Temple is one of a quartet of horror movies I’ve really enjoyed this year. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien have wickedly good chemistry in Sam Raimi’s girlboss satire Send Help. Samara Weaving finds herself in deeper trouble in Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come, a fun sequel to 2019’s great Ready or Not that brings the delightful Kathryn Newton onboard. And Zazie Beetz is a sexy, kickass marvel in They Will Kill You, which feels like a cross between Ready or Not and Kill Bill.

Another film that will vie for my year-end best-of list is Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die, a bracingly original return to the big screen by director Gore Verbinski. Sam Rockwell leads a wonderful ensemble cast (including Zazie Beetz, having a great year) on a deliriously deranged time travel odyssey.

From the Heat files comes Crime 101, a smart L.A. neo-noir that reminds me of the fun, pulpy crime movies I loved in the 90s. I didn’t love Project Hail Mary as much as the rest of the world, based on the effusive online praise, but it’s a sweet, funny sci-fi tale with beautiful visuals.

The Rip and People We Meet on Vacation both make for perfectly serviceable streaming content, while The Bride! and Wuthering Heights are fascinating failures.

And that leaves Scream 7, the only truly bad movie I’ve seen so far this year. The producers’ cowardice in dismissing original star Melissa Barrera came back to bite them in the ass when they pivoted to make the franchise’s most boring and lifeless entry.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a look at what the next nine months have in store on the big screen.