Hamnet is the Best movie of 2026.

And Sinners is the best of 2025. HAPPY OSCARS WEEKENDvoice

Movie poster for Hamnet spotted by me in the Paris Metro, January 2026

The Oscars are this weekend, and I want to talk about a film that knocked me sideways a few months ago.

I saw Hamnet at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 4th. I walked out of the theater, didn’t talk to Elizabeth, didn’t check my phone, and hit record on a voice memo. What you’re about to hear is that. Unedited, unpolished, straight from my brain.

I don’t do this often. Usually I process, I research, I build out the references, I pour the mezcal. But some films just need the first impression preserved like a fossil. This is one of those.

I’ll say this much before you press play. We got a few spoilers in the audio and mild one coming right here…..

there is a moment in this film where you realize that the world young Hamnet is seeing, the world beyond the veil, is the stage of the Globe Theatre. The underworld is the theater. The theater is where the dead speak. I’m still not over it.

The last time a movie hit me like this, I turned it into a whole symposium.. with you. That was Sinners, and if you missed that episode, it’s still one of my favorites, a communal breakdown of Ryan Coogler’s spiritual blues opera that became the most alive conversation this community has had.

Our Community Guide To Sinners, The Best Film of 2025 (Updated)

Hamnet lives in that same sacred space for me: a film so true it feels like it’s channeling something older than itself.

I’m not going to tell you what to feel about it. I’m going to let you hear what I felt, ninety seconds after the credits rolled.

I’m rooting for Hamnet and Sinners and their cast and teams this Oscar weekend! Happy Oscar weekend. Go see the things that move you with people that move you.

I’m putting this straight-from-the-brain thought audio (thaudio?) behind our paywall. And appreciate any and all support as we build out our independent media worlds!