Good Morning, World

I'm sure Wagner Moura's career is going to get a great big boost from this past awards season where he was deservedly nominated for his ace turn in The Secret Agent. (How incredibly handsome did he look at the Oscars this past weekend when he was presenting and he put on those glasses? I swooned.) He's already got seven titles in his "upcoming" projects including a remake of Abbas Kiarostami's masterpiece Taste of Cherry (from the director of Jauja!) and a Star Wars project (of course) -- I'm sure much-deserved bigger projects are in the works though. I'd love to see him reunite with Secret Agent director Kleber Mendonça Filho again. That said -- I've never yet watched Narcos, the show where he played drug kingpin Pablo Escabar seen above, and... that picture is making me think I really should watch Narcos. There's also the Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal of it. Hrm. Thoughts? Also if you wanna give me your answers for a Narcos-themed "Do Dump or Marry?" in the comments, those three are ready and willing...

Alright Here's an Oscar Post

This happens every year I think, even though I block it out -- it gets to be a few days before the Oscars and they're what my movie people are talking about so I "begrudgingly" do a post about them with some of my wishes or whatever. I rightly got called out for being an exhausting hypocrite when it comes to the Oscars the last time I whined about them -- I've tried to explain the attraction / repulsion thing they bring out of me before but really there's not much to it. It's a part of the movies, love it or hate it, so I just want them to do better if they must, so I can not feel attacked while watching the show in order to indulge my fetish for staring at pretty people wearing pretty clothes. Anyway it's probably clear by now who my favorites are -- I shared my own Top 20 List of 2025 back in January, after all -- but I rattled this off-hand on Bluesky earlier so I might as well share this, my ranking of the Best Picture nominees, here on the site itself:

2026 Best Pictures nominees, as ranked by me!

1. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

2. MARTY SUPREME

3. THE SECRET AGENT

4. BUGONIA

5. SENTIMENTAL VALUE

6. SINNERS

7. FRANKENSTEIN

8. HAMNET

9. TRAIN DREAMS

10. F1

No big surprises there! And it's a better batch of nominees than it is worse, so that's nice -- really any of those Top 6 winning Best Picture wouldn't rankle me. Because of the way awards conversations twist everything into shit I do have to keep reminding myself that for the most part I really like Sinners -- nowhere near how much I like its main competetion for this award (and I think we'll all be shocked if it's not either Sinners or OBAA that wins), and some of its champions have gotten real fucking annoying in the past few weeks. But it's a fun movie full of terrific performances and one for-the-record-books sequence. I get why people love it so much. So let's just enjoy the movies and all of those pretty people wearing pretty clothes for a few hours this weekend! The barn's burning down around us otherwise, might as well. Gimme your rankings in the comments!

My Top 20 Movies of 2025

A decade or so ago I was doing gigantic elaborate awards every year here that showcased my favorite movies, my favorite performances, and on and on and on... then the last decade happened and I'm lucky I can even get out of bed anymore y'all. Who has that kind of stamina anymore? Not I. Not I! So yes these things -- The Golden Trousers, as I've been calling them since 2007 -- have considerably narrowed. Tis what its. But I do feel proud that both last year and this year I'm at least getting these locked in before I dive head-long into fresh Sundance stuff, which basically marks the start of the next year of movies. (Apologies to the first three weeks of January releases every single year but you know what you did.) I'm doing Sundance virtually again this year but that still means that I'll be mostly off-line while I do that, so it's likely there'll be no MNPP for you starting this Wednesday, lasting about a week. And so it's best I get this done immediately, before that happens! Otherwise who knows, it could be months knowing me. So let us brush off these 2025 concerns as I head into the future, with one last glance back toward the past with 20 of '25s gifts and wonders....

My 20 Favorite Movies of 2025

20 -- SIRAT

19 -- AFTER THE HUNT

-- Read my review here! -- 

18 -- LURKER

-- Read my review here! -- 

17 -- PETER HUJAR'S DAY

-- Read my review here! -- 

16 -- WAKE UP DEAD MAN

15 -- THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

-- Read my review here! -- 

14 -- BLACK BAG

-- Read my review here! -- 

13 -- DUST BUNNY

-- Read my review here! -- 

12 -- THE SECRET AGENT

11 -- MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART 1

10 -- SENTIMENTAL VALUE

9 -- GRIFFIN IN SUMMER

-- Read my review here! -- 

8 -- BUGONIA

-- Read my review here! -- 

7-- THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE

6 -- THE HISTORY OF SOUND

-- Read my review here! -- 

5 -- NO OTHER CHOICE

-- Read my review here! -- 

4 -- PILLION

-- Read my review here! -- 

3 -- PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF

-- Read my review here! -- 

2 -- MARTY SUPREME

-- Read my review here! -- 

1 -- ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

-- Read my review here! -- 

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I have like 20 runners-up but fuck it, 

I'm done. Goodbye forever, 2025! 

Wagner Moura Break

[censored]

Wagner Moura Nine Times

I posted two photos from this photoshoot of The Secret Agent actor and probable Oscar nominee Wagner Moura way way way back in November (what was that, fifteen years ago at this point?) but I kept hoping that Elle Man magazine would drop the rest of the photos from it without all of their annoying type all over them... ultimately to no avail. Hope died this day! It's a shame -- it's probably the sexiest shoot of him all awards season. 

So I'll post them now I suppose -- even though per usual all that type physically  and spiritually injures me -- since the nominations are tomorrow morning (P.S. What are you hoping to see get nominated tomorrow?) and we're praying Wagner makes it in. I'm really not too worried for him! I think he's got this. But perhaps ogling him will help a little. Well it helps me a little anyway. And really -- what's more important than that? Hit the jump for the rest...

Wagner Moura Two Times

The Secret Agent, the ace new movie from Bacurau and Aquarius director Kleber Mendonça Filho, is out in theaters today! (Check this link for tickets near you.) And its sexy slash super talented star Wagner Moura has been on the awards trail in support of it, which has been a big boon to those of us who like looking at Wagner Moura. Especially since it is a movie that treats him very much as a Movie Star, and makes him look about as fine as he can -- just take one look at the main still from the movie and tell me you don't want to watch two hours of that! But beyond starriness Moura gives another world-class turn in the film -- he shot immediately onto my radar in 2013 in Neill Blomkamp's otherwise forgettable Elysium (he'd already been working, mostly in Brazil, for 15 years before that) and it's been a real pleasure watching him fulfill that promise year after year. TSA is definitely his best work to date, and it'd be awesome if he manages to score an Oscar nom for it -- that said I'm also rooting for Lee Byung-hun in Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice and I foresee AMPAS being stingy when it comes to giving away slots to non-English language performers. They'll usually go for one, not two. So if I had to bet I'd give the edge to Wagner -- this movie isn't as tonally tricky as Park's movie; as dark as it gets, it goes down easier. Anyway I'm rooting for the both of them, and Wagner if you need a date to the ceremony I am (sorry boyfriend) available... (pics via)

Pictures of Wagner

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho's 2019 film Bacurau is a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned so obviously I'm going to be paying attention to whatever he does next -- especially given how it's been five years since Bacurau and all he's made in that time was last year's doc Pictures of Ghosts, which was about the history of movie theaters in his hometown Recife (well technically it was about much more than that, but that was the baseline). So today's word on what he's up to was always going to be exciting -- add in that what he's up to will star the terrific actor Wagner Moura (most recently seen being sexy af in Civil War) and it becomes doubly exciting. It's much bigger scaled than Filho's previous work -- titled The Secret Agent, Moura will play:

"... a university professor in his 40s who is on the run. He travels from São Paulo to the seaside city of Recife during Carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son. But he soon finds out he has been tailed and spied on by neighbors in his new refuge, leaving him no possible escape from the tentacles of corruption.”

There's more info from the director himself at that link above -- he says that making Pictures of Ghosts was integral to his process of getting to this one because it helped him deal with the intimate history of the place, and the time, where he grew up and where the film will be set. Anyway we can't wait!

5 Off My Head: It's NYFF 2023, Baby!

My beloved New York Film Festival has today announced its Main Slate for this the year 2023, and included are the three movies I am most looking forward to for the rest of the year -- and we'll get to what those are in a second, although if you listen to my rambling even just once in awhile you can probably guess. (Since Luca Guadagnino's Challengers moved itself to unknown pastures because of the SAG strike we have to count that one out for the time being.) But per usual it's a tremendous gathering of potential, given the filmmakers included -- Wim Wenders, Catherine Breillat, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Marco Bellocchio, Agnieszka Holland, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Alice Rohrwacher... and that's ignoring the Opening and Centerpiece and Closing night films which were already announced, those being Todd Haynes' May December, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, and Michael Mann's Ferrari. Check out the entire line-up at this link or down below, but first as I do every year here are the five movies from the Main Slate that I'm most excited about...

The 5 NYFF Main Slate Movies I Want Right Now

Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos is a man I will follow to the ends of the earth and further at this point, so this should come as no shock -- the only thing that's shocking is it's not my most anticipated movie of the year, but there's one below that's beating it by an inch. The trailer (seen here) makes this look like everything Yorgos does best wrapped in one psychedelic package, and a big-time showcase for Emma Stone's strangest impulses. Bring it on!

All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh

I just shared that first image from the film yesterday the second it dropped, and I've been all over news of this movie since minute one. Weekend director Andrew Haigh with a maybe-gay movie starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal? Of course I have. 

Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet

This won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this spring and its story of a riddle-like murder mystery sounds right up my alley anyway, but it's the fact that it features what is by all accounts an astonishing turn from German actress Sandra Hüller that's got my attention. Like most people who saw Toni Erdmann I have been Team Hüller ever since, and she's wowed me every chance, and this sounds like her biggest showcase since that marvelous earlier film.

The Beast by Bertrand Bonello

Bonello hasn't made a movie I've loved as much as I loved as Saint Laurent since Saint Laurent, but Nocturama came close. And this one stars George MacKay, so hope remains alive. Set in three distinct time periods it's about a woman (Le Sedoux) who discovers her existence has been forever intertwined with MacKay's character. Would that we are all so lucky!

The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer

This is my most anticipated movie of the year, just beating out Yorgos as mentioned above, and probably only because Glazer works so infrequently that we must properly pop the champagne whenever he shows up to keep encouraging the man to keep making his wondrous movies. Add on the facts that this also stars Sandra Hüller (from Anatomy of a Fall above), it has a score from Mica Levi, and it sounds like it's working on a very Michael-Haneke-type of register -- it focuses on a family of Nazis living an idyllic life right outside of a concentration camp -- and how could I not be all in on this?

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Passes for NYFF are on sale right now -- single tickets go on

sale on Sept. 19th. Hit the jump for the entire press release...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Aquarius (2016)

Clara: It's impressive what people say about lack of education, and they always refer to poor people, but lack of manners isn't in poor people, it's in rich, well educated people like you, the elite, who think they are elite, who think they are privileged, who don't stand in line, you know? People like you who took a "business" course, but lack basic human decency, who have no character, you know? No character, no I mean, you do have a character; your character is money, all you've got is your shit-eating smile; that's what you got. 

Good god just reading those lines of dialogue makes me wants to stand up and cheer here at my desk! A happy goddamn 70th birthday to the queen Sônia Braga today -- if you're feeling crazy right now and need an outlet I suggest watching her two most recent masterpieces with directors Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, the one above and of course last year's Bacurau... actually it's this year's Bacurau, isn't it? I guess so, it was released here in March even though I saw it and reviewed it at NYFF in the fall. Anyway these two films will channel your rage into a great white light which you can then conveniently use to obliterate your enemies with. I recommend it!

Let the Right Udo In

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Here's some nice news to invade our isolations -- who doesn't want to let the weirdo legend Udo Kier into their home right about now? He'll liven the place up, for sure. Udo is doing a live YouTube Q&A on April 1st with the filmmakers behind his immensely satisfying and timely new movie Bacurau out of Brazil, which I reviewed right here during the NYFF back when we still had FFs. BAM (that is to say the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which also has a stellar film program) is hosting Udo with directors Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, and it's at 8pm on the 1st. Pencil this shit in! Oh and see the movie too, if you haven't yet. (Here is the trailer.) You can buy tickets and watch the film online thanks to Kino Now, just like you're a person outside in the real world. Fancy! Below is the window for the Q&A on Wednesday -- I'll re-up this when the time comes!

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Bloody Bloody Bacurau

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One of the movies I've been trying to figure out the year for as of late so I can place it either in my 2019 list of favorite movies or save it for 2020's is Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho's film Bacurau from Brazil, which I saw at the New York Film Festival this past September -- I reviewed it right here. And if it's not immediately clear by the act of me worrying which year it goes in on a favorites list, I fucking loved it. 

It's about a quirky town called Bacurau in the middle of nowhere that gets invaded by a bunch of "foreign adversaries" who've been hired by the government to clear the land -- it's an insanely bloody genre blast that's at the same time deeply political; it's smart, it's insane, it's angry as fuck and therefore perfect for our times, and it stars Udo Kier and Sonia Braga. Literally everything. 

Anyway as seen up top the poster's just been released (via) as well as a US release date -- Bacurau will hit the US on March 6th. So, to work my way back to the start, I am saving it for my 2020 list I guess. Here's a trailer that came out awhile back:

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