IFSCA’s Best Films of the Century, thus far list (2025) | SPECIAL FEATURE

In early October of this year, the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), of which I am a voting member, released its list of the 100 best films of the century thus far. I had taken part in the voting, got the opportunity to write a few review-type blurbs for certain films, and I was really delighted to be able to take part in this process. Today, both for posterity’s sake (meaning for the purpose of preserving and presenting my writing for my site’s readers) and to widen the list’s reach, I want to share my very brief review blurbs for the films that I was selected to comment on, release my 10 film ballot, and navigate you to the list home over on the IFSCA WordPress site. Let’s get to it.

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Top Ten Films of 2023 | Flashback

Looking back years from now, I think 2023 will be remembered similarly to how people remember 2007 and 2019. It was an incredible year for cinema, and it was therefore incredibly hard to cut this list down to only ten (with one honorable mention). Some of the films that almost made it onto the list, but came up just short, include All of Us Strangers, Fallen Leaves, The Promised Land, Infinity Pool, and La Chimera. It’s wild to think that even though I really loved Barbie, it wouldn’t even have found its way into a top twenty for the year — that’s how good of a year for film 2023 was.

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Hollywood’s Biggest Night Celebrated Indie Film’s Greatest Champion | 97th Oscars – Recap and Review

On Sunday, Conan O’Brien hosted the 97th Academy Awards. It was the first time that the tall red-haired beloved comedian had hosted Hollywood’s biggest night for AMPAS, and it was in a year where it felt like one film ran away with the major awards. Indeed, multi-hyphenate filmmaker Sean Baker — someone who is known for his decidedly non-mainstream indie oeuvre, which has made him a true critical darling — became a 4x Academy Award winner with his very first nominations. Baker’s Anora took home Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Lead Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture. Baker’s film dominated the night, but how should we feel about it as a winner and how did Conan do as an Oscar host? Well, let’s run through The Great, The Good, The Mixed Feelings, The Bad, and The Ugly of the 97th Academy Awards.

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My Top 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2025

It’s a new year, and there is so much good cinema to look forward to in the coming twelve months. Today, I want to highlight specifically twenty-five of these films and count down to the film that I am the most excited to see in the new year. Now, granted, some of these films could theoretically be moved to 2026, but all of the films on my list are either currently listed as 2025 films or are expected to come out this year. If available, I’ll also post trailers for films, but, of course, not every film production has begun its marketing campaign. Also, if you are interested in a longer list of films that I am excited to see in 2025, then allow me to point you in the direction of my Letterboxd list, which contains 80+ films — click here to check it out! But let’s now count down from 25 to no. 1. What are the films that I am the most excited to see in 2025?

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Why did ‘Dune: Part Two’ underperform? | 97th Oscars – Nominations

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in DUNE: PART TWO — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures.

It was a good morning for horror fans as Nosferatu received several Oscar nominations, while The Substance broke through in the above-the-line categories, as it was nominated for five categories in total. It wasn’t, however, the best nomination morning for science fiction fans hoping to see Dune: Part Two get the recognition the critical acclaim would suggest it deserves. Sure, it, too, got five nominations, but it was a serious step down from the ten it got for part one, and it missed out on nominations in categories that some thought it was, frankly, a frontrunner in. So, what gives? Today, I’ve laid out ten reasons for why it had a somewhat disappointing nomination morning. So, let’s get to them.

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Who Will Be Nominated? – Final Predictions | 97th Oscars

It’s finally that time again. Tomorrow, AMPAS is announcing its list of nominees for the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. So, of course, now is the time to fill in your final Oscars nominations predictions. This is exactly what I’ve done here. Below you’ll see what I’m predicting along with a few comments here and there. The choices are ranked from either one to five or one to ten based on how confident I am that something is getting nominated with 1 being the most confident. Let’s get to it.

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Top Ten TV-Shows of 2024

Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti in THE PENGUIN — PHOTO: Macall Polay/HBO.

I watched so many television (and/or streaming) shows this year. In my notes, I was trying to jot down all of the shows that I had seen and, given that I also watch a lot of movies every year, I was even a little bit shocked at how much time I spent watching entertainment (especially because I was very busy with other stuff this year). But, hey, I do love crashing and/or chilling in front of the television, watching a good show, and then jotting down my notes. And, you know, there were a lot of good shows this year. Some of the shows that it hurts to have to leave off the list this time around are Bad Sisters, Disclaimer, The English Teacher, Under the Bridge, The Boys, and Sugar (and I could, honestly, go on). But there can only be ten shows on this list, and let’s now have a look at what shows made it!

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Top Ten TV-Shows of 2023

Bella Ramsey as ‘Ellie’ and Pedro Pascal as ‘Joel’ in HBO’s THE LAST OF US — PHOTO: HBO / Liane Hentscher.

The long-awaited (and very late, sorry) list of the top ten TV or streaming shows of 2023 is finally here! I watched a lot of excellent shows in 2023, and I loved a great many shows that couldn’t land a spot on this list, such as Shrinking, Silo, Black Mirror, and Hijack. But, in the end, there are only ten spots on this list, and, well, there are some outstanding series here that just had to be on the list. Speaking of which, let’s now finally get to that very list.

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Christopher Nolan’s Coronation Had Kenergy | 96th Oscars Recap and Review

(L-R) Emma Stone, Christopher Nolan, and Ryan Gosling at the 96th Academy Awards — IMAGE STILLS: A.M.P.A.S. 2024.

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 96th edition of the Academy Awards on a night where awards prognosticators felt most of the big awards were already spoken for beforehand. However, conventional prognosticating wisdom did not always win out, as the presenters read out the winners of the Academy’s 23 categories. The early frontrunner and expected Best Picture winner Oppenheimer did, indeed, become the biggest winner of the night with seven total Oscars including wins that saw shatteringly good work from Robert Downey, Jr. and Cillian Murphy earn them their first ‘Little Golden Men.’ Hollywood’s safest bet and — as I liked to call him last night on social media — the ‘Crown Prince of Cinema,’ Christopher Nolan, had his grand coronation as Steven Spielberg passed the baton, awarded him with the Best Director award, and gave him a big hug. For many, that is what the night will be remembered for — i.e. the triumph of the immensely popular biopic and Christopher Nolan who, as some will undoubtedly perceive it, went toe-to-toe with Barbie and came out of the explosion that was ‘Barbenheimer’ with 7 golden statuettes in tow. Indeed, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a hugely deserving winner of all of the awards that the cast and crew went home with (including Best Picture, which was announced in a relatively confusing way by film-legend Al Pacino), but that’s not all the 96th edition of the Academy Awards should be remembered for. 

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Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 96th Oscars

To paraphrase one of Hollywood’s all-time best awards hosts, it is a wonderful day for Oscar! Oscar, Oscar — who will win? In quite a few categories tonight, it seems we already know. But there are some genuine close calls this year with actress, costuming, and production design being particularly interesting. Read on below to find out which films I think will be the big winners tonight, where we all expect Christopher Nolan to be crowned for his achievements as the safest bet in Hollywood when it comes to visionary modern directors.

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