OFCS members don’t just write film reviews. Here are several articles you might find interesting.
Best of Lists
The Best Films of 2025 So Far
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Number 5: Truth & Treason tells us a universal truth: sometimes the greatest act of courage and defiance is not in using guns but in using words.
Kartemquin at 60
- Excerpt: Exactly one bank in the United States was prosecuted in relation to the 2008 financial crisis, and wouldn’t you know it would be a small minority-owned bank that looked more like an easy victim than a guilty party?
Interviews
Ang Geck Geck Priscilla and Charlyn Ng on “Ah Girl” — Childhood Trauma, Parenting, and Healing in 1990s Singapore at Rotterdam
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Ang Geck Geck Priscilla describes how “Ah Girl” turned her own childhood trauma into a hopeful story about parenting and healing in 1990s Singapore.
Arsh Jain about Master Bantoo — Indian Wedding Band Musicians, Guerilla Filmmaking, and Community Distribution
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Arsh Jain explains how real Indian wedding bands inspired “Master Bantoo” and a guerilla shoot inside actual weddings to restore dignity to invisible musicians.
Edwin on Sleep No More: Work, Fear, and 80s Horror Aesthetics at the Berlinale
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Edwin describes “Sleep No More” as a horror film without ghosts, where the true source of fear comes from modern working conditions and the unsettling anonymity of labor.
Hanung Bramantyo and Anya Zen on “The Hole, 309 Days to the Bloodiest Tragedy” — Indonesian Horror, 1965 Killings, and Political Protest
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Hanung Bramantyo explains how “The Hole, 309 Days to the Bloodiest Tragedy” uses horror and mysticism to confront Indonesia’s unresolved 1965 political trauma.
How Elderly Care, Guilt and Psychological Horror Intertwine in Zenzo Sakai’s “IAI” — Interview at Rotterdam
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Zenzo Sakai on using horror to portray the guilt of caring for an elderly parent in Japan.
Mejbaur Rahman Sumon on “Roid” — Mythology, Adam and Eve Symbolism, and Timeless Rural Life from Bangladesh
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Mejbaur Rahman Sumon explains how “Roid” turns a Bangladeshi village story into a timeless Adam and Eve allegory about desire and myth.
Mohammad Touqir Islam on Dalupi — Floods, Protest, and Incidental Cinema from Bangladesh
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: As for the future, he is preparing a government-funded children’s feature and developing projects related to the Rohingya issue, a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, and historical crime figures from the 1990s. For Touqir, stories are everywhere; the challenge is only to live close enough to them to hear them.
Pankaj Rishi Kumar on To Die a Frenchman, Colonial Memory, and the Dream of Citizenship
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: A conversation with Pankaj Rishi Kumar on memory, colonial legacy, and the quiet subversion at the heart of “To Die a Frenchman.”
Rezwan Shahriar Sumit on “Master” — Power, Corruption, and the Private Life of a Leader
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: “Master” ultimately asks viewers not only how leaders become corrupt, but how families witness that transformation and how societies repeatedly allow it to happen.
Essays
Death isn’t the scary part in the Czech political horror The Cremator
- Excerpt: Though surrounded by corpses, this long-banned Czech New Wave film is scariest for its depiction of collaborators.
Peter O’Toole’s Sixth Oscar Nomination: An Analysis
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: On his sixth Academy Award nomination, Peter O’Toole faced yet again more insurmountable odds to have much chance of winning the long-elusive Oscar.
Awards Coverage
The Contenders 26: Jan. Retrospective/Mar. Forecast
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Path to Oscar 2025: Documentary Short Subject
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Path to Oscar 2025: International Feature
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Path to Oscar 2025: Live Action Short
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Path to Oscar 2025: Original Score
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Path to Oscar 2025: Original Song
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Poll: Re-Awarding Best Original Screenplay, 2001
Upcoming Film Previews
Arco, Updated
Disclosure Day, Updated
Girls Like Girls
Hoppers, Updated
Kokuho, Updated
A Magnificent Life
My Most Anticipated Films of 2026
Christopher Barsanti @ PopMatters
- Excerpt: As surely as “Dumpuary January” follows the fall awards season, a new year brings a slew of anticipated films. If the industry is in trouble, nobody has told these directors.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Updated
Omaha
Project Hail Mary, Updated
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, Updated
Rose of Nevada
Supergirl, Updated
Undertone, Updated
Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight
Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight
Other Types of Articles
Indictment: The McMartin Trial
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Indictment: The McMartin Trial chronicles one of the most infamous court cases in American history. A shocking tale of frenzied panic overruling common sense, Indictment’s impact still hits the viewer.
Movie Madness Episode 630: You’ve Got Red On You
Erik Childress @ Movie Madness
- Excerpt: Eight movie reviews this week including Emerald Fennell’s “adaptation” of Emily Bronte, a Don Winslow adaptation, new Gore Verbinski and possibly the funniest film of the year amongst others.
Movie Madness Episode 631: When The Legend Becomes Fact…
Erik Childress @ Movie Madness
- Excerpt: There is certainly a trend in this week’s physical media roundup with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski.
With Love, Meghan: The Complete Series
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: I do not know if “woefully misguided” is the best term to describe With Love, Meghan. Other terms that come to mind are “ego trip”, “vanity project” and “television sludge”.
Box Office History (Week 7, 2026)
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 13
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 14
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 15
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 16
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 17
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 18
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape
Oscar History: February 19
Wesley Lovell @ Awards Landscape