There was a time, probably two decades ago now, where I gave a shit about the Oscars because I’d actually seen the movies that were nominated and I liked a bunch of them and I had opinions about who should win.
Think about a year like 1998. There were only five nominees for best picture back then. Three of them were great, mainstream movies: Titanic, Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential. The fourth starred Jack Nicholson doing his thing in As Good As it Gets.
If you’re reading this, and you’re over forty and you love movies, there’s a good chance you saw at least two of these movies in the theater, most likely three, and I’d bet that you’ve quoted Good Will Hunting at some point in the last year.
Now fast forward to this year. The Oscars now nominate TEN MOVIES and if you’re like me, year-after-year, you’ve only seen one or two. Last year I’d seen zero. Case in point for 2026:
Did you enjoy Sentimental Value? How about Hamnet? Or Bugonia?
Have you even heard of Train Dreams or that there was a Frankenstein movie?
Likely, no.
I’d guess that if you like movies you’ve heard of Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another and Sinners and F1.
Of these, I only saw F1 (awesome) in the theater and Sinners (impressive, interesting) at home.
But I did see a bunch of movies this year that if I were running a sort of “Oscars for Guys who Like Guy Movies” that I’d nominate.
So this isn’t a “best movie” Oscars list. It’s not about prestige or awards or what you’re supposed to like. This is an alternate Oscars list for guys. These are the movies I saw this year that I genuinely enjoyed, that I would tell a friend to go see. That, in my own favorite description of whether I’d recommend a movie or not, I simply say, “Yeah, it was a good time.”
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F1
This was my favorite in-theater movie of the year because I love racing movies and I love sports movies and we get so few of them now on the big screen that I want to give credit where it’s due.
If you liked Top Gun: Maverick, Days of Thunder, or really any action or sports movie with speed and life-or-death chases/races while a charismatic movie star holds the whole thing together, you will absolutely like F1. Brad Pitt is great. The racing scenes are incredible. Loud, fast, stressful in the best way. And the story is strong enough that you’re never bored or rolling your eyes waiting for the next scene.
This movie knows exactly what it is. It’s not trying to sneak a lesson in on you. It’s not trying to be anything other than a really good time. You sit down, you lock in, and two hours later you walk out thinking, that ruled. We don’t get enough of that anymore.
Caught Stealing
I didn’t even know this movie existed until I saw it pop up on TV, which honestly might be the biggest problem with movies today, because it was awesome.
The film stars Austin Butler as a once-promising baseball prospect living in NYC who gets caught up in a ridiculous crime by his punk rock friend and it sends him on an absurd quest to stay alive amidst dirty cops, gangsters, corrupt Orthodox Jews, and more. The film takes place in the late 90s, which may be some of the appeal for me, at least. It’s a terrific black comedy, mystery and thriller combo.
One thing I can guarantee though: If this movie came out in the 1990s or early 2000s and you were in college, I promise you every single guy you knew would have owned the DVD. It would have lived next to Rounders, Boondock Saints, Boiler Room, Knockaround Guys. That whole category of movies that guys watched over and over and quoted nonstop. If you liked any of those, watch this one ASAP.
Mission: Impossible: Final Reckoning
I’m not interested in debating whether this is the best Mission: Impossible movie or where it ranks in the franchise.
What it absolutely is, though, is a greatest-hits album of insane set pieces and ridiculous stunts and big reveals.. And Tom Cruise doing everything in his power to make sure you know that he does all his own stunts, and that those stunts are badass.
And the thing I enjoy most about these movies is that you can tell the people making them actually care about you having a good time. There’s no other agenda. No commentary. No sermon. Just a very sincere attempt to entertain you as much as humanly possible in two or three hours.
Fellas, appreciate Tom Cruise while he can still do this stuff, because there’s nobody else like him working today.
The Yearly Jason Statham Movie, AKA, A Working Man
At this point, I can’t make a yearly dude movie list without including a Jason Statham movie.
While other actors his age are off signing Marvel deals or trying to reinvent themselves, Jason Statham has committed to continuing to play the best character he’s ever played, which is Jason Statham. I thought Beekeeper was his best movie to date, and A Working Man isn’t far behind.
These movies exist for one reason: to showcase Statham being Statham.
Statham is always grumpy. Statham is always working a ho-hum job with a past as an elite killer. He solves mysteries. He says great one-liners. And he kicks the shit out of guys who are much bigger than him. That’s it. His movies are not trying to be anything else.
Watching a Statham movie is like going to your favorite pizza place. Is it a five-star restaurant? No. But if you want a great slice and you show up knowing exactly what you’re getting, it delivers every single time. I respect that more than I probably should.
Anaconda
I want to be up front here: I am not telling you this is the funniest movie of all time.
What I am telling you is that it’s funny, it knows it’s ridiculous, and the fact that Hollywood even made this kind of movie in 2026 makes me happy.
Jack Black is hilarious. Paul Rudd is great. The concept is goofy and self-aware and loosely tied to a personal cult favorite from the 1990s (Anaconda), and the whole thing feels like someone saying, “Screw it, we have Rudd and Black signed, let’s just do this.”
Is this Wedding Crashers or Superbad or Old School or The Hangover? No. It’s not on that level, and it’s not really trying to be. But it tries to be funny. It doesn’t mind being way the hell out there. It doesn’t mind pushing the envelope or letting you in on the joke.
And honestly, if we don’t go see movies like this, Hollywood will simply stop making comedies altogether, probably. So give a little credit. This film took some swings. It went big for laughs. And I laughed enough times to make it worth going.
The Accountant 2
This was a straight-up crowd pleaser for me.
The original Accountant was surprisingly fun, almost like a Jason Statham movie mixed with A Beautiful Mind starring Ben Affleck. Great action. Great fight scenes. Sharp dialogue. A weird, interesting main character. That movie was cool and I’m glad it earned a sequel.
The Accountant 2 leans into all of that and gives us the brother/rival dynamic that was so fun the first time around with Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal. You find yourself liking their relationship. You like watching them work together. They play off each other really well and it’s all the better because they’re trained assassins. The mystery keeps moving. And the movie does a really good job using Affleck’s character quirks for both tension and humor.
You definitely want to see the first one to fully appreciate it, but together they’re exactly the kind of movies I want more of.
Honorable Mention: Sinners
I don’t totally know what to do with Sinners.
I like Ryan Coogler a lot, and I honestly might enjoy listening to him talk about this movie for two hours more than I’d enjoy watching it again. It’s unique. It’s interesting. The characters are cool. Michael B. Jordan does his thing. From a purely artistic standpoint, where a super talented director is mixing genres and riffing on his favorite movies, it’s impressive.
This sounds so stupidly pretentious, but I think I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. Does that even make sense? I have a hard time leaving it off this list because every time I do I want to add it back on. That’s my honest assessment. It’s fun and weird and slow at times, but also super awesome at other times. You’ll have to decide for yourself.
So, that’s my list. If you’re looking for an alternate Oscars list built around movies you’d have a good time watching, try this.
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Jon Finkel
Editor-in-Chief, Midlife Male
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