(taken from Wings’ 1973 hit "Live and Let Die")
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be coming soon. (Note: Anything in bold blue [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.
SHORT TAKES
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
For some time I’ve been interested in The Secret Agent, a Brazilian film now nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role, Foreign Language Feature, and the new category of Casting (with my thought its best chance to win is in the Foreign Language race, although I haven’t seen all the contenders there). However, when the time came to see/write about it I’ve found myself in yet another of those unusually busy 2026 weeks so I’ll have to be brief. Essentially, this film’s set mostly in 1977 during the military dictatorship (1965-’85) with protagonist Armando Solimões (Wagner Moura), a former university professor hunted by government thugs (not sure why except he patented some discoveries even though employed by his college) with a 2-man hit squad trying to find him so he returns to his hometown of Recife where his young son, Fernando (Enzo Nunes), lives with grandparents after Armando’s wife, Fátima Nascimento (Alice Carvalho; she’s in flashbacks), died.
The boy’s obsessed with seeing Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975), but Dad says it’s too intense for him. Armando, encouraged by local dissidents, changes his name to Marcelo, takes a job at the identity card office, spends some time in newspaper archive research trying to get information on his late mother, as he has few memories of her; then he meets Elza (Maria Fernanda Cândido) who wants to get him a fake passport so he can leave the country as she’s aware of his intended assassins ⇒Oddly, this scene’s followed by young women listening to this conversation on audio cassettes, with no immediate clarity of when this occurs, but that’s cleared up in later scenes when we learn they are college students researching the repression years including newspaper photos showing the killing of Armando; one of them, Flavia (Laura Lufési), goes to Recife where she donates blood, talks to the doctor, who’s Fernando now a young man (couldn't find a cast listing for this actor) who tells her he saw Jaws in this building, then a cinema now a hospital.⇐ There’s a lot more plot here, so for details (with Spoilers of course) I’ll direct you to this site. My surprise in watching this at-times fascinating film is that I wasn’t all that involved in what I saw, mainly because some of these characters were on screen quite a bit before I ever knew who they were, I wasn’t all that clear on why Armando was targeted for death, and other plot details eluded me as the lengthy running time began to take its toll on my evening attention span leading to my 3½ stars assessment.
However, I found 2 helpful videos in getting deeper into what eluded me so I suggest watching this one about how The Secret Agent explores corruption from several angles (13:00; Spoilers) and one about why this film refuses to easily explain itself (8:38, with the narration over repeats of the trailer) before seeing the film as they will likely enhance your viewing experience. I kept my initial stars decision as I base that on what I see, not what I learn later, even as my viewing contained high hopes with the first 20 minutes featuring a dead would-be robber at a gas station covered with cardboard as the corpse lay in the sun for days and there’s a dead shark in a morgue with a human leg in its mouth and stomach (this attitude returns later when the leg comes to life, harasses some people in a park). The Secret Agent opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters November 26, 2025, still in 120 of them, has grossed so far $4 million (worldwide $16.4 million), is easily found on streaming where it supposedly rents for $14.99 at Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, maybe even less at other platforms (yet I bought it for $14.99 at Amazon [?] so explore the options).
I see I’m completely out of sync with the CCAL where evaluating this film is concerned: Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are at 98%, Metacritic average score is a hefty 91%. An example of intense supporters is Manohla Dargis of The New York Times (100% MC score, as were many of theirs): “[This movie] mixes the refined in with the crude, an approach that is at once aesthetic and ethical. Here, life can be brutalizing, but there is also love, song, the hot sun, cold beer and, of course, there is also Carnival.” Further, when I sought critics who weren’t so impressed even that was difficult as evidenced by Tara Brady of The Irish Times (MC score 80%; lots of those too): It’s an odd arrangement: despite the languid pacing, the film evokes conspiracy chillers of the 1970s such as Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View. Mendonça Filho loosens and unpicks these genre strictures with eruptions of the surreal.” In retrospect I’d probably go with 4 stars after watching those 2 videos cited above, but I’ve got to be true to my (arbitrary) procedures. I’ll further admit I had a tough time picking a Musical Metaphor to bring this all to closure so I finally settled on a song from the soundtrack, Chicago’s "If You Leave Me Now" (Chicago X album, 1976) because “And if you leave me now / You’ll take away the very heart of me” speaks to me about how important Armando is to his son, his in-laws, and his oppositional community. Speaking of music, let’s go into one more patch of cinematic commentary where I’m once again in the critical wilderness.
Here’s the trailer:
Once again I’m keeping it brief (even more so this time), no spoilers because this documentary is just an exploration of one of the most famous pop musicians of all time but basically confined to roughly early 1970 (with clear evidence it was John Lennon, not McCartney, who broke up The Beatles yet with internal agreements to not let this become public) to the end of 1980 with Lennon’s death, so the focus is on Paul’s short solo career after the breakup, then the years of various lineups in Wings to fill out the foundation of Paul (bass, piano, guitar), wife Linda McCartney (keyboard), and guitarist Denny Laine (formerly of the Moody Blues), exploring ups and downs until the release of the Band on the Run album in 1974. There’s lots of great archival footage and photos, contemporary interviews with those who know/worked with McCartney (nothing from any of the former Beatles, though) featuring honest commentary rather than just positive tributes, especially from former Wings bandmates who say the intention might have been to be a group of equals but the reality is audiences just saw them as a backup band. As a long-time Beatles fanatic (who’s twice had the opportunity to see McCartney’s colossal stage shows) I was enthralled the whole time (5 stars for my personal pleasure), although my 3½ stars reflects my concern that if you’re not already into various aspects of McCartney’s music you might not be all that enthralled with what you will see/hear here.
Once again—again—I’m at odds with the CCAL where the RT positives are 100% [Wow!], the MC average score's 78% (more in the realm of my 3½ stars, which is still only 70%, but based on only 14 reviews so that may change). One of those MC 100s comes from Mick LaSalle of my local San Francisco Chronicle who says: "I’ve been fascinated by McCartney for decades, and ‘Man on the Run’ made me feel like I was getting closer to understanding the real guy.” Still, there are some who reflect my caution, such as Chris Willman of Variety (MC 70%): “The wealth of archival delights is undeniable, but not at the expense of feeling like we might be getting a series of phone calls from McCartney instead of welcomed in for a real visit.” … Man on the Run now resides in streaming, free to Amazon Prime Video subscribers; if nothing else, I think you’d find the performances very enjoyable including my Musical Metaphor of "Band on the Run" where early lyrics of “Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash / As we fell into the sun” briefly sum up the power and problems of the expectations that come with being so "awfully" famous, always having to live up to your own legend.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Where to see Oscar nominees for Best Picture, Best International Film
Theatrical releases now available for streaming
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