Review: "The Secret Agent" is a mischievous masterpiece

by Cláudio Alves

Today, The Secret Agent begins its Oscar-qualifying run, ahead of an awards season it enters full of high hopes. And why not? At Cannes, Kleber Mendonça Filho won the Best Director trophy while Wagner Moura was picked as Best Actor by the Main Competition jury, a set of honors complemented by the FIPRESCI prize, which made it the Croisette's most awarded film. Between critical acclaim and yet more festival hardware, The Secret Agent was announced as Brazil's official submission for the 98th Academy Awards, where it surely hopes to replicate some of I'm Still Here's success from last year. Right now, it's up for two Gotham awards, competing in the categories of Best Original Screenplay and Outstanding Lead Performance. 

All that said, at this time of the year, it's easy to let oneself think about cinema exclusively in these terms. The race for gold is a thrilling diversion, yet it shouldn't distract us from appreciating the art for what it is. Nor should it flatten how we look at film. In The Secret Agent's case, this is especially true as it's a work much greater than any award could hope to be. Pardon the hyperbole, but I'd easily call it a masterpiece, an instant classic even…

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In defense of "A House of Dynamite"

by Lynn Lee

A House of Dynamite is…dynamite!  Why do I feel like the only one who still thinks this, and is still excited about a movie that’s fallen completely off the awards buzz radar? 

I saw a screening of Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear doomsday procedural – really, that’s what it is – at this year’s Middleburg Film Festival, right around the time it was getting its bare-minimum Netflix theatrical release.  As the credits rolled, I had two simultaneous reactions:

Wow, that was some damn good filmmaking.

Wow, we are so utterly fucked...

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Oscar Volleys: Best Actress or Jessie Buckley vs. the World

The Oscar Volleys are back! Tonight, it's time for Nathaniel Rogers, Cláudio Alves and Eric Blume to discuss the Best Actress race...

Nathaniel's last Best Actress predictions, from November 11.

NATHANIEL: Hello, my fellow lovers of all things actressing! I have been tearing through screeners and at the movie theater a lot this past week  (missing festivals is deadly when it comes to keeping up). So, I want to start this Best Actress volley by saying that I'm just now coming back down to earth after watching two movies, nearly back-to-back, that are about "performance," even when they're not directly about Acting. They were Sentimental Value (in a packed theater) and Hedda (at home, streaming). Renate Reinsve and Tessa Thompson are both gifted with the kind of "bring everything you got" roles that I'm sure a lot of actors would kill for…

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Golden Horse Awards 2025

by Nathaniel R

Oscar winner Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) with Golden Horse Best Director Jun Li (Queerpanorama). They both won Best Director prizes for gay dramas!

I don't know why I torture myself covering the Golden Horse Awards each year as there are so many films I'm never able to see (or forget about by the time they do become available stateside). Neverthless the Taiwanese awards are among my favourite races to follow in international cinema. I hope to catch up with four of the winners in particular: A Foggy Tale, Queerpanorama, Mother Bhumi, and Lucky Lu. The ceremony was held on November 22nd. Here are the nominations and wins for their 62nd annual edition with some commentary and some random trivia including a Chappel Roan connection (How very random!)...

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Pt 2: International Feature Race - Auteur Spotlight

by Nathaniel R

SOUTH KOREA's Park Chan Wook & Lee Byung Hun [image via Lee Byung hun's Instagram]

To broaden your appreciation of this year's Best International Feature Film Oscar race we already looked at some overall trivia. Before we get to the movie stars (the finale of this three-parter), let's look at some stats involving the artists behind the camera. It's auteur season! We're highlighting 8 directors due to their critical reputation, being a cinephile fetish object, or having previous Oscar history... or in some cases all three! We'll start with...

3 ICONS

• Park Chan-wook (South Korea's No Other Choice) 
Remarkably this 62 year-old auteur and Academy member has only been submitted twice by South Korea  despite a rich filmography...

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