AFI 100 Years… 100 Movies: An Overdue Update

by Juan Carlos Ojano

CITIZEN KANE (1941) was the top-placer in both editions.

I ended my 2025 by watching the remaining films from the AFI 100 Years… 100 Movies, both from the 1997 and the 2007 editions. From the egregiously racist The Birth of a Nation (1915) to the broodingly dark Blade Runner (1982), it was fulfilling to finally finish these films, an endeavor that I started back when I was in high school and just finished now in my 30s.

So this reminded me that AFI was supposed to do the 100 Movies list every ten years, but they only revisited it once, with 2017 marking its supposed update but crickets from the institute. While it is probably a longshot, 2027 marks another chance for the AFI to release an updated version of the list. For the 2007 version, the most recent films they considered were three films from 2005: Brokeback Mountain, Crash, and Good Night, and Good Luck.

 So with 2025 now over, let’s do an exercise: which films from 2006 to 2025 would most likely be considered to be added to an updated list should it happen soon? Let’s go…

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Weekend Awards Wrap-Up: LAFCA, EFA, BIFA, and more!

by Cláudio Alves

ANORA is consolidating its position as a Best Picture frontrunner. Mikey Madison nears lock status, too, but Best Actress is a more volatile race.

The season has started in full, which means an avalanche of awards coming our way every single day. It's impossible to keep up, so we'll be doing these weekend wrap-ups from now on – like last year, sort of. The past few days saw such groups as Gotham Awards, the NYFCC, and the NBR handing out their honors. All of those have posts of their own, but there's still more to consider. For example, this Sunday was busy as all hell, with the LA, Boston, and Washington, DC, critics announcing their winners. At the same time, across the Atlantic, the British Independent Film Awards held their annual ceremony. That last one is exciting because it's one of the few industry awards we get before the onslaught of guild nominations. One can say the same about the European Film Award and the International Documentary Association. Discover their victors, after the jump…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Big Little Lies (2017)

by Mark Brinkerhoff

Wow. The power of women.

 I remember Nicole Kidman's speech at the 2018 Golden Globes like it was yesterday. You certainly could sense a genuine sisterhood between the five principle stars (Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz and Laura Dern) of Big Little Lies, HBO's unexpectedly titanic, initially limited series. Amid the backdrop of #MeToo, it was quite a moment for Nicole Kidman and company.

The actress's output in the 2010s was, charitably, something of a mixed bag. For every dazzling turn in Rabbit Hole (2010), The Paperboy (2012), or Paddington (2014), there were plenty of barely released (if at all) misfires like Tresspass (2011), The Railway Man (2013), and Queen of the Desert (2015). With the notable exception of Lion (2016), things looked awfully bleak for Kidmaniacs stateside heading into a post-presidential election year...

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Lion (2016)

by Cláudio Alves

The late 2000s saw Nicole Kidman's reputation suffer under the strain of bad reviews and a perceived rejection by mainstream audiences. Jokes about plastic surgery were a dime a dozen, and not even a couple of brilliant turns could dissuade the naysaying masses. But then came Rabbit Hole and a third Oscar nomination, a new chance at proving herself. As usual, she took the opportunity and ran with it, kickstarting one of the most productive phases of her career. From 2010 to 2016, the actress amassed an astounding sixteen screen credits and appeared in the award-winning West End production of Photograph 51. It was also then, as Kidman settled into her 40s and came nearer to the half-century mark, that she started playing more supporting roles. 

Make no mistake, Kidman is a Hollywood leading lady, a confirmed A-lister to this day. But that doesn't preclude her from trying her hand at smaller parts. Coupled with revitalized prestige, a return to Oscar glory in a new category felt near inevitable. And so it was, with the star receiving her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, for Lion…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Paddington (2014)

by Nick Taylor

I’m going to tell you a secret: I think the first Paddington movie is better than its more critically-adored sequel. Not in every way is this one better: There’s a couple instances of harsh overlighting that take out some shots at the knees, like a key character emerging from a phone booth as a one-sided meet-cute. You could also say that both films - but maybe especially this one - are leaning into Wes Anderson-type confectionaries, especially with the score. But Paddington’s got a lot of buoyant, colorful entertainment to recommend it, and I can’t help but feel Nicole Kidman’s delightful, icy villainess has been overlooked as one of this series’ most notable achievements, alongside the children’s-book palette, Hugh Grant’s more lauded performance in Paddington 2, and fumbling the bag on Sally Hawkins for the upcoming trip to Peru...

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