This round we got another promising expansion of the Wizarding World, a horror film with a terrific lead pairing that never quite figured itself out, and one of the more frustrating historical dramas of the entire season. Here's The Roundup....
AN UNHOLY UNION
Before I criticize it — and trust me, that's coming — I want to acknowledge what this movie gets right. The concept is excellent. Take isolated horror, mix in psychological obsession, cast Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza opposite one another, and you've immediately got my attention. On paper, this sounds like one of the season's strongest pitches.
And for long stretches, the chemistry between Olsen and Plaza justifies that excitement. They're very different screen presences, which is exactly why the pairing works. Olsen brings sincerity and emotional vulnerability, while Plaza's naturally off-kilter energy constantly makes you question her intentions. The movie ultimately doesn't capitalize on that potential.... but the potential was absolutely there.
WIZARDING WORLD
Building a cinematic universe is hard. Building one that audiences actually care about? That's even harder. While Ilvermorny: The Hidden School didn't capture me the way The House of Black did last season, I still came away encouraged by the larger picture. LRF is gradually constructing a version of the Wizarding World that feels willing to explore corners of the mythology we've barely seen before. That's exciting.
Not every entry has to be a home run if the franchise itself continues expanding in interesting directions. Exploring American wizarding culture through Ilvermorny gives the universe a distinctly different flavor without feeling disconnected from what audiences already recognize. Maybe this installment wasn't quite the magical experience I hoped for. The franchise itself still feels like it's heading in the right direction.
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BEST ACTRESS
Let's be honest. The Best Actress race this season has been.... underwhelming. There have certainly been good performances, but very few that have felt like undeniable "this actress is winning the Golden Reel" moments. Compared to other years, the field has lacked obvious heavyweights. At least Round 9 gave the category a little life.
Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza both receive substantial showcase roles in An Unholy Union, and whether either ultimately gets nominated remains to be seen, but the category desperately needed recognizable contenders entering the conversation. Sometimes awards races aren't defined by one transcendent performance. Sometimes they're simply waiting for enough credible candidates to show up.
BOX OFFICE
Well.... I think we can officially stop talking about the billion-dollar profit milestone. At this point, it would require something bordering on miraculous. Round 9 essentially broke even, which ordinarily wouldn't be disastrous. But Season 36 lost the luxury of "just okay" financial rounds months ago. The early bombs dug such a deep hole that every remaining release almost needs to overperform just to keep pace.
When I look at what's left on the calendar, I don't see the obvious billion-dollar rescue mission. This season isn't collapsing financially. It's just slowly running out of runway.
KILL BIN LADEN
This one frustrates me because I completely understand the movie Alex Conn wanted to make. A procedural thriller. A tense collection of meetings, intelligence briefings, and impossible decisions culminating in one of the defining military operations of the century. That should work.
Instead.... Everything that should've strengthened the concept seemed to weaken it. The historical accuracy often felt.... flexible. The characters rarely behaved like real people wrestling with extraordinary circumstances. Instead, too many of them came across as exaggerated caricatures, almost like political satire that never fully committed to being satire. At times I honestly felt like I was watching an SNL sketch stretched into a feature-length drama. And structurally, the movie never establishes momentum. It bounces from room to room, briefing to briefing, conversation to conversation, without ever generating the mounting tension a story like this desperately needs.
Instead.... Everything that should've strengthened the concept seemed to weaken it. The historical accuracy often felt.... flexible. The characters rarely behaved like real people wrestling with extraordinary circumstances. Instead, too many of them came across as exaggerated caricatures, almost like political satire that never fully committed to being satire. At times I honestly felt like I was watching an SNL sketch stretched into a feature-length drama. And structurally, the movie never establishes momentum. It bounces from room to room, briefing to briefing, conversation to conversation, without ever generating the mounting tension a story like this desperately needs.
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AN UNHOLY UNION
Yes.... It's in both columns. Because this might be the season's greatest example of wasted potential. The cast works. The concept works. The direction is... fine. Not spectacular, not disastrous—perfectly competent. The screenplay is where everything begins falling apart.
Rachel Hallett Hardcastle clearly had an idea she wanted to explore, and I genuinely appreciate the ambition behind it. But somewhere between the premise and the execution, the movie starts spinning its wheels. Scenes begin repeating the same emotional beats, the tension plateaus instead of escalating, and by the time the climax arrives, the film hasn't really delivered on the horror or psychological promises it spent two hours making. The result isn't a bad movie. It's almost worse. It's a movie that constantly reminds you how much better it could've been.
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