Review: “The Odyssey” is Signature Christopher Nolan (Both Good and Bad)

By Ben Miller

13 feature films into his career, director Christopher Nolan has developed a string of touchstones for his films. You can expect an all-star cast, massive practical set pieces, underdeveloped women, stunning visuals, and clunky dialogue. With his new film The Odyssey, Nolan again delivers on everything you come to expect from a Nolan movie.

This time, Nolan (a well-documented child of cinema history), decides to take his chances with a sword and sandals epic in the vein of Ben-Hur or Quo Vadis. While the filmmaker might not have the reverence for the genre, he dives headfirst into the craft and scope necessary to make a film of this magnitude. When this film is big, bold, and a little silly, that’s where everything excels. It’s when things get more intimate that the film loses its way...

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VOD Catch-Up: Avalon Fast's "CAMP" is a Spooky, Entrancing Campfire Tale

by Joanna Sodeman-Taylor

If you’re anything like me, you walk away from the Oscars each year under an absolute fugue state against all new films. If it was made in the last decade, then no thank you! When it comes to 2026 features, I’ll be spending the summer doing what I do best: catching up on new releases I missed in theaters as soon as they hit VOD. So let’s start with a relatively deep cut, recommended by my good friend and one-time TFE contributor Patrick Gratton and available for rental in the US as of this past weekend.

CAMP is the second narrative feature from Avalon Fast, a Canadian writer/director/producer/editor/actress with a prolific repertoire of short films and a well-received debut in the form of 2022’s Honeycomb. Fast’s acting credits include roles in Alice Mao Mackay’s The Serpent’s Skin, Louise Weard’s Castration Movie Pt. i, and Jane Schoenbrun’s upcoming Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and her ambitions fit comfortably within this cadre of palpably queer, genre-bending directors. I’m automatically fascinated by any artist who describes their oeuvre as GIRL HORROR like Fast does, and CAMP’s uncanny, blossoming synthesis of aching grief and encroaching danger fits that description as easily as it defies it...

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First Predictions: Best Actress is a Mystery!

by Nathaniel R

Will Julianne Moore finally be back in the mix via THE DEBUT

While it took me uncomfortably long to complete the first round of Oscar predictions of the year, I've finally done so ending with Best Actress, Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Director and Best Casting as the final charts to go up. But what I want to talk about is, naturally Best Actress. Quelle surprise!  There are film years where one or two titans feel all but certain this early. There are years where it looks like an abundance of riches coming. And then there are years like 2026 that feel totally mysterious. In short I'm not at all confident about a single one of the women in this first wave of Oscar punditry. I tried many combinations and finally realized it's hardly a preordained year and anything might happen...

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In Case You Missed It: Hidden Gems from 2026’s First Half

by Eurocheese

THE INVITE

Taking a break from the summer heat in an air-conditioned theater or relaxing at home while catching the year’s cinematic highlights sounds divine, doesn’t it? While the first half of the year’s output in theaters wasn’t overly awards-friendly, here are a few treats you’ll be happy you sampled. Let’s avoid the obvious callouts for box office smashes and focus on the hidden gems. Let's start with two in theaters...

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Are the new Best International Film rules a good idea?

As the summer stands between us and the awards season to come, Cláudio Alves and Juan Carlos Ojano discuss some of this year’s new Oscar rules, focusing on their beloved Best International Film race.

Visar Morina's SHAME AND MONEY became the first film eligible for the Best International Feature Oscar this season, when it won the World Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

CLÁUDIO: Much was said about the Oscar rule changes when they were first announced at the beginning of May, with various opinions going around. While the possibility of actors double-dipping in the same category for the first time since the 1930s is enticing, the transformations to the Best International Film race are perhaps more important and worthy of discussion. And who better to discuss it with than Juan Carlos Ojano, the only person I know who has seen every single nominee in the category's history and discussed them through The One-Inch Barrier podcast? But first, let's assess the rules themselves…

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