Summer Blockbusters: A Wish, A War, and a Web-Slinger

Summer 2026 gave us three completely different trips to the movies: a horror movie, a mythological epic, and the fourth installment in our favorite neighborhood hero’s story.

Starting off strong, Obsession, directed by Curry Barker, follows Bear, an awkward guy who tries to ask out his childhood crush, Nikki. Unable to muster up the courage, Bear buys a cheap item from a pawn shop: a One Wish Willow. It works a little too well, and things start spiraling into something darker and bloodier that Bear could have never anticipated. 

Obsession has really stuck with younger audience members who have felt underrepresented by the movie industry. Gen Z see their lives reflected in this movie as it revolves around themes of consent, relationships, and independence. 

Some people focus on the details and fashion and what is revealed by the small choices the director makes. Junior Amity Holden (‘28) notes how Nikki’s outfits changed as she “lost herself to Bear’s obsession”. Amity discusses how Nikki’s outfits "started to lose layers”. At the beginning of the movie, she wore leather jackets, sweaters, and shirts, and at the end when her obsession got out of hand, she only wore “one dress or tee usually stained with blood”. Amity also explains how Nikki began to wear “more red, dark brown, and black” at the end of the movie as if she was trying to signal to the audience that she has gone over the edge. 

Christopher Nolan’s projects are always ambitious, pushing the bounds of the industry, and his latest movie, which became the biggest movie of the year, is no different. Nolan transforms Homer’s three-thousand-year-old epic The Odyssey into an action-packed, three hour (an hour for each millenium) long film that keeps us on the edge of our seats. Matt Damon stars as a war-wary King Odysseus who is trying to get back to his home and family on Ithaca.

Shot with innovative IMAX technology in 70 MM film, Nolan's signature, the scale of the movie is almost overwhelming. Not to mention the soundscape – the film juxtaposes thunderous pockets of sound (I know lots had to cover our ears during the lightning and cyclops scenes) with lilting ambient music.The Odyssey questions the “justice” present in the siege of Troy and what makes a hero in the ancient Mediterranean world.

The Odyssey is by far the biggest summer blockbuster. The movie covers the span of ten years from the end of the Trojan War to Odysseus’ return to Ithaca, blending grand mythological adventures with the intimate bonds of a family. Scenes alternate between larger-than-life battles and longing to be reunited with one’s loved ones. Nolan expertly mixes different themes in the epic to tell the story of a war ravaged king, and in doing so asks a question that lingers long after watching the movie: what truly makes a hero?

After the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home erased Peter Parker from everyone’s memory, Spider-Man: Brand New Day picks up with Peter alone, trying to protect a city where no one remembers he exists. Tom Holland and Zendaya return as Peter and MJ, but MJ has forgotten everything about Peter and their past relationship.

Brand New Day is easily Holland’s most emotionally intense Spider-Man movie. In contrast with multiverse portals and cosmic battles, this movie is centered around a more street-level story about loneliness and isolation and how that impacts the psyche of a hero. Peter’s powers have also been changing in strange new ways, adding a more gruesome aspect. 

This Spider-Man movie is different from the rest. Rather than focusing on a fantastical journey with cinematic battles, this movie addresses more the emotional toll of being a hero. Some students welcomed this change. Julian Freund (‘28) says that the “plot was better developed than other Tom Holland Spider-Man movies.” He also notes how the movie was more emotional with Peter having intense reactions such as “depression and grief.” Overall, the new style was welcomed because it highlights a different challenge that superheroes have to overcome, emotional turmoil and loss.

So what vibe will your summer movie watches be? Obsession for the scare, The Odyssey for the scale, or Spider-Man: Brand New Day for the spidey?