Charlotte Film Festival
It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year! The annual Charlotte Film Festival is back at the Independent Picture House (IPH), running from September 22nd through the 27th. This is not just any ordinary festival; it features newly released indie films, documentaries, and various shorts. You will find exclusive daily talks by industry veterans, post-film discussions, and special presentation films that you can only see at IPH! To see the full schedule for the week and to purchase tickets ahead of time, click this link for more information.
My sojourn to our local cinema paradise will include four films this year. I need to make a brief midweek stop at the Spectrum Center to watch Gorillaz play their first concert ever in Charlotte (another write-up coming soon). So, what does Matt at the Movies have on his plate from the bevy of amazing options?
Opening Tuesday night features the Japanese drama Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, which dives into the life of a former Tokyo ballroom dancer who experienced a tragedy and tries to return to the studio while navigating her grief. This is just the amuse-bouche I need to cleanse my palate with my feelings to start off the week, and it has had amazing buzz from prior showings on the festival circuit.
I’ll be back Thursday evening to catch Domhnall Gleeson’s British comedy The Incomer, where he portrays a council worker trying to uproot two siblings, tied by their ancestors to a small Scottish island, back to the mainland. The film features many surreal scenes that blend the past and present to break up the awkward comedic tone.
Fast-forward to Sunday, and I have a double header beginning with IPH director Brad Ritter’s favorite pick of the week, Hen. The Greek film follows the life of the self-titled hen as it makes its way in the world, escaping from an industrial farm until it finds its place at a small, family-owned restaurant. If it’s anything like the 2022 Polish film EO, I should be in for a treat.
We round out the festival with a special appearance by my lovely wife to catch writer/director/documentarian John Wilson’s newest venture, The History of Concrete. If you aren’t familiar with his work, I would highly recommend his HBO series How To with John Wilson, which is as fascinating as it is absurd. After attending a writing class on how to write and sell Hallmark-style movies, John tries to apply the same concept to his new documentary about the history of concrete. This ridiculous concept will surely result in a lot of laughs to close out the festival.
2026 Fall Preview
We are entering the time of year when some of the heavy hitters vying for Academy Awards start to show their faces. Fall is also a prime slot for horror, and international films start hitting local cinemas after their long runs through the festivals here in the States as well as across the pond. Today, we’ll check out eight films set to hit in the coming months that fit these descriptions. We’ll start with a review of the first film, Zack Cregger’s Resident Evil, which attempts to reboot the campy video game series with some extra horror zest.
Resident Evil (In Theaters)
In a nutshell: We return for our eighth installment and second reboot of the popular horror game franchise as organ transport courier Bryan has the task of dropping off a high-level package to the nearby Raccoon City Hospital. As he traverses the heavy snowfall and blustery countryside winds, he encounters some strange occurrences where something bigger may be afoot to the surrounding populace.
Spill the tea: The first Resident Evil, dropped in 2002, captured both the eerie ambiance and zombie horror of the first-person shooter. It featured our T-virus queen Milla Jovovich as the lead, Alice, and was under the helm of her soon-to-be husband Paul W.S. Anderson (no, not PTA, the Academy Award winner). These movies were serviceable, schlocky, and something to throw on during a lazy, rainy day.
After a failed reboot in 2021, writer/director Zack Cregger stepped in fresh off two massive horror successes with Barbarian and last year’s Weapons, which won Amy Madigan an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. He is an expert at subverting your expectations of what a horror film SHOULD be. He has the ability to pop in humor, great needle drops to confuse you, and breakneck, gory horror that completely catches you off guard for some genuine scares. Cregger was an avid enthusiast of the video game series but decided to take a different approach that focused on the experience of playing the franchise over the lore.
Time is money, why should I go?: I vividly remember being in Chicago on a hot summer day with my wife, and to beat the heat, we went in blind to watch Cregger’s debut, Barbarian. It was a viewing we both remember for the insanity that ensued, where the two of us agreed we hadn’t seen a horror film quite like it before. Resident Evil is best when the story is smaller. As the main character, Bryan, has his first interactions with the infected out in the snowy countryside, we are in his shoes trying to take in what could be happening to these people.
The pacing, dread, and ultimate humor that is sprinkled throughout allow us to both jump out of our chairs while still having a laugh. Bryan is a young adult and inept at the many facets of survival. As we watch him work through various stages of his journey, we constantly question both his choices as well as his psyche when the world around him falls apart. There are several callback “Easter eggs” to the video games, but Cregger chose an ultimately better path for the story, which far surpasses any of the previous seven film installments.
Star of the show: Austin Abrams has had quite a couple of years. In his younger years, he was always the sidekick friend in young adult films, but the past two years saw him playing alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt (Wolfs), as a local druggie loser in Cregger’s Weapons, and in the upcoming film to be covered in our fall preview, Whalefall. He has an earnestness and naivety that comes through as either fearlessness or being a dope. The best thing about his acting is you always seem to root for him, even if you know he’s doing the wrong thing. His thought process and communication with the world lead to a lot of comedic moments that balance out the film and, frankly, were missing from the other films. For Resident Evil, this was a perfect casting choice by Cregger.
Best 5-minute stretch: In the first 20 minutes, Bryan is driving through the backcountry to deliver his package to the hospital and, with the low visibility of the snowy weather, hits what he thinks was a wandering person. His first interaction with the infected, followed by his journey for help at a small farm, turns him from a loser courier into a stone-cold killer. The events that he goes through to make that change were the best and most frightening parts of the film.
30-second timeout: In the third act, when he enters a fully infected Raccoon City and makes his way to the hospital, we see a small horror-comedy where the gore truly intensifies. While I enjoyed it for the most part, we started to see some human mutations that were reminiscent of David Cronenberg levels of visual discomfort. There needs to be a conclusion and a big bad at the end of each of these films, but this one seemed a little half-baked.
Don’t Sleep On: More Resident Evil films in the future! Cregger has said that filming this took a lot out of him, but if the series can bring in some real auteurs of the genre, this could be a very exciting continuation.
MatM Score: 7.5/10 (Easily the best entry of the franchise)
Primetime (September 25)
In a nutshell: This psychological crime thriller is loosely based on TV host Chris Hansen’s reality TV series To Catch a Predator. Directed by Lance Oppenheim (You Can See Everything), who is making his narrative film debut, retells a 2007 Esquire article showing the darker side of the production aimed to catch child predators who are set up by online stings, making arrests live on camera.
Spill the tea: A24 Films locked in the current king of Hollywood, Robert Pattinson, to play the lead role of Hansen. Hansen himself was offered a chance to preview the film but did not consent to signing an NDA, raising doubts about how Hollywood will portray him. There is a great cast, including multiple Emmy Award winner Merritt Wever and a surprise appearance by the indie singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. The film premiered in Venice, and A24 hopes to add this to their quite impressive string of successful 2026 releases.
Time is money, why should I go?: When you watch the trailer, you see an almost vampire-esque Pattinson mimicking every mannerism of Hansen but with a much creepier tone that seems to naturally flow with the nature of the smash-hit TV show. Using the show’s iconic line, “Why don’t you take a seat?”, we are thrown into the world of primetime network TV to experience the rise of this completely niche program. The lengths that Hansen, his producers, and the network go to in order to exploit this lightning in a bottle have dramatic repercussions to anything in its wake.
Pattinson is off the charts, and it could garner him his first Oscar nomination from a phenomenal year’s work that has already seen him in The Drama, The Odyssey, and the upcoming finale, Dune: Part Three. The tone of the film certainly plays to Pattinson’s strengths, as he’s ascended the ladder into the acting elite by playing icy, offbeat characters with a chip on their shoulder.
MatM Excitement Meter: 9/10
Digger (October 2)
In a nutshell: Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) is an eccentric Texas oil tycoon. When an explosion hits one of his oil refineries, it sets in motion a potential incoming geological disaster that could wipe out half a continent. This dark comedy harkens back to the time of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and its political absurdism, featuring Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu making a peculiar comeback with the help of Hollywood’s greatest champion, Tom Cruise.
Spill the tea: This is not what we call a “four-quadrant” film that can appeal to the masses of theatergoers. At a reported price tag of $125 million, Warner Bros. is betting big that this beautiful yet somewhat monochrome-looking film will be carried by good word of mouth. Cruise completely transforms into this quirky, larger-than-life role that we have not seen since 2008’s Tropic Thunder. Not since the days of Magnolia has Cruise pushed himself into unfamiliar acting territory after years of “saving cinema” by pumping out blockbuster after blockbuster action flick.
Time is money, why should I go?: I think this is a perfect opportunity for a real film fan to explore their curiosity. I’m curious to see if a dark comedy, a genre that has not been friendly to any studios over the past decade, can be a hit with its audience. I’m curious to see if Iñárritu can pull something more out of Cruise that pushes past campy, Oscar-bait slop. I’m curious to see if the geopolitical humor connects or feels like a bunch of men in their sixties holding on to try and revive a dead genre. The final and most important thing I’m curious about is: if this movie doesn’t succeed on such a large budget, are two of the industry’s brightest names going to movie jail?
MatM Excitement Meter: 6/10
Fjord (October 9)
In a nutshell: Inspired by true events, the story follows the conservative Christian Gheorghiu family as they relocate from Romania to wife and mother Lisbet’s remote Norwegian hometown. The aggressively progressive society they enter seems unyielding to non-assimilation, which hits a breaking point when a neighbor suspects they are abusing their children. The resulting aftermath of the accusations within the small town poses a moral dilemma of conformity versus isolation.
Spill the tea: The film took home the most iconic festival prize at Cannes this year, winning the Palme d’Or. Romanian writer-director Cristian Mungiu hasn’t been shy about his feelings regarding the isolated and cold nature of Scandinavians, whose politics can verge on the edge of left-wing fundamentalism. The tension created by Romanian outsiders trying to find common ground with the native Norwegian people showcases a lack of empathy and understanding from an intriguing viewpoint. Mungiu’s ability to sign both Romanian-American Sebastian Stan and Norwegian Renate Reinsve to this project gives the film an added weight of star power from two of Hollywood’s brightest actors. The film was officially nominated as Romania’s international selection for this year’s Academy Awards.
Time is money, why should I go?: Stan and Reinsve are two of the best working actors today. Stan made his bones with the Marvel franchise but in 2025 garnered a Best Actor Oscar nomination for playing a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. The same year, he was magnificent in A Different Man, drawing massive critical acclaim. Reinsve’s stock has continued to rise since her exceptional work in 2021’s The Worst Person in the World. Last year, she received a Best Actress nomination for Sentimental Value and co-starred in this summer’s psychological horror smash hit, Backrooms. These two have earned the price of admission.
MatM Excitement Meter: 9/10
The Social Reckoning (October 9)
In a nutshell: Following up on 2010’s cultural watermark The Social Network, we return to Mark Zuckerberg and the world of Facebook. The film follows the 2021 leaks and tracks the whistleblowers who disclosed that the social media platform was well aware of its societal harm but prioritized profits, leading to—but not limited to—events like the January 6th US Capitol attacks.
Spill the tea: Oscar-winning writer and director Aaron Sorkin takes the helm from David Fincher, with Jeremy Strong taking over the role of the divisive billionaire tech mogul Zuckerberg. Sorkin as a director has made some strongly themed films that never seem to get over the hump of his whimsical tone, which harkens back to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I’m not sure if he has the tool bag to keep up with Fincher’s editing pace and stylization that made the original film so iconic.
Time is money, why should I go?: The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White, who plays Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, works with the whistleblower to tackle subjects ranging from intentional misinformation during the 2020 election to the effects of Instagram on teenagers and the role big tech plays in an America glued to its smartphones. There couldn’t be a more perfect time to reflect on these societal ills as we move into the current tech/AI onslaught. If Sorkin lands the plane on this, then noted method actor Jeremy Strong could set himself up for an acting nomination in the process.
MatM Excitement Meter: 7/10
Whalefall (October 16)
In a nutshell: We’ll keep it simple. A young scuba diver gets SWALLOWED by an eighty-foot-long sperm whale, and he has one hour’s worth of oxygen to survive. I’ll shout it louder for the people in the back: HE GETS SWALLOWED BY A WHALE!
Spill the tea: While the synopsis seems both insane and completely gnarly after watching the trailer, director Brian Duffield is no stranger to filming in the water following 2020’s Underwater. He worked with Daniel Kraus, who authored the titular novel in 2023, to come up with a working screenplay. The film stars actors Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, pairing up once again after their successful 2025 horror hit Weapons.
Time is money, why should I go?: While this film will test the limits of your ability to handle completely claustrophobic and vile scenery, it’s really a story about a son (Abrams) trying to process the hard lessons learned from his father (Brolin) to fight to survive. Watching this trailer caused me to be both incredibly frightened and in awe at how anyone could pull off such a feat on the big screen. I’ll be there… with a barf bag.
MatM Excitement Meter: 8/10
La Bola Negra (November 6)
In a nutshell: The tagline for the film is as follows: The plot is set in 1932, 1937, and 2017, exploring the interconnected lives of three gay men.
Spill the tea: Co-directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi took home the Best Director award at Cannes, and Spain chose the film as its selection for Best International Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. Netflix won the battle for distribution for a reported $4–5 million and will have a limited theatrical release (including in Charlotte) before its streaming debut on December 4th.
Time is money, why should I go?: I am impressed by the epic scale of this film. We have had several excellent films the past couple of years that dive into the exploration of queer identity, including 2023’s All of Us Strangers, 2024’s Queer, and last year’s The History of Sound. This film seems to go beyond the scope of all the aforementioned stories to explore a deeper exploration of Spain’s history regarding gay culture. I had a hard time processing the multiple storylines mixed with the gorgeous cinematography, but this has all the makings of an awards darling. Could Netflix finally get over its seemingly cursed Oscar hump to take home Best Picture?
MatM Excitement Meter: 9/10
Wild Horse Nine (Nov. 6)
In a nutshell: Before the 1973 Chilean coup d’état, the CIA sends two officers to Easter Island for a “last vacation” before one dies of cancer, burying years of murky government secrets with him.
Spill the tea: Writer/Director Martin McDonagh has no problem being an outside voice to the American experience. This film is a critique of US foreign policy and how the two agents wrestle with their past actions in what feels like veteran Chris’s (John Malkovich) last assignment. Oscar winner Sam Rockwell plays fellow officer Lee, who is Chris’s protégé. While they use the historical background and timeline of CIA intervention in South America, this is not based on a true story.
Time is money, why should I go?: A second satirical dark comedy shows up on our list, but this time in the hands of the one best to ever tackle the genre, Oscar winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin). I’ve seen this trailer more times than I can count over the past six months, and I can’t wait to see how Rockwell and particularly John Malkovich play off each other. There is an early groundswell that this year could be Malkovich’s time to take home his first Oscar. He just took home the Best Actor award at the Venice International Film Festival, so the precedent has been set for a big push over the next few months.
MatM Excitement Meter: 9/10
Once again, I hope you can make it out to the Charlotte Film Festival next week. The picture house will be buzzing with excitement and great energy with plenty to experience. We’ll see if these films hit critically or financially in the coming months, but the Oscar race is starting to take form. I’ll be back next week with a special Matt at the Movies review of the Gorillaz concert at the Spectrum Center before diving into Robert Pattinson’s new film, Primetime. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time at Matt at the Movies here at Y’all Weekly.