The Movie Man: ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘Sinners’ Bring Suspense and Horror to the Oscars

Editor’s Note: Today brings a double feature in our continuing coverage of Best Picture nominees for this year’s 98th Academy Awards. The series concludes tomorrow with the final review. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET to see how the predictions play out.

The Secret Agent

As 2026 began, we found One Battle After Another to be uncomfortably relevant as we watched a movie that depicted a government agency using excessive force to crack down on public enemies. The Secret Agent takes this even further with its depiction of 1977 Brazil under a 21-year military dictatorship. It provokes the audience to think about our first-world luxuries that we take for granted, beyond the established checks and balances of our government.

Like any political thriller, it is filled with suspense as Wagner Moura stars as Armando, a former university professor who is hiding from a death warrant issued by a wealthy entrepreneur who holds an ancient grudge against him. Several sequences get your heart racing as several people flee from police-sanctioned mercenary violence. Moura is certainly a contender for Best Actor – I would give the Oscar to either him or Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme. But the performances all around are worth praising. You certainly needs to tip your cap to the actors playing the corrupt police and mercenaries for making you loathe them entirely.

I must praise the cinematography, which brings out the colors in a tropical setting that help reinforce the themes from the ongoing Brazilian Carnival holiday. However, I was surprised by the decision to drift from political thriller to satire (as the CGI “Hairy Leg” found inside a shark is seen attacking people … an actual claim made by the Brazilian government, at the time). In addition to the setting switching from the 1970s to the present day as history students research persecutions of the dictatorship, I felt unsatisfied from a storytelling perspective with its ending. Perhaps it’s something to screen again later for proper appreciation?

The Secret Agent is no doubt a contender for Best Actor and a likely recipient of Best Foreign Language Film, but I think its chances of taking home the big prize are low.

Sinners

Sinners is an authentic American ghost story. With its Deep South setting, blues soundtrack and a folksy approach to the supernatural, it proves that America, while a relatively young nation, can provide a ghost story that chills just as much as Victorian England or medieval Europe.

Director Ryan Coogler, whose credits include Black Panther, Judas and the Black Messiah, and the Creed sequels to the Rocky franchise, brings us the story of twin gangsters Smoke and Stack Moore (in a single bifurcated performance by Michael B. Jordan) creating a juke joint for the local Black community during the Great Depression. This setting provides the film with a blues-driven soundtrack that extends beyond the film’s background score. But the night of partying becomes a fight to survive until sunrise when the complex is overwhelmed by vampires.

When a single actor plays twins, this can either go well or poorly – there is no in-between. Luckily Jordan pulls it off with a Best Actor nomination. This is alongside his fellow castmates Delroy Lindo (Best Supporting Actor) and Wunmi Mosaku (Best Supporting Actress). The special effects, both practical and CGI, deserve praise. It should be no wonder that Sinners received a record-setting 16 nominations for a single ceremony. It is likely to take home a few honors that potentially include Best Picture or Best Director, but incredibly unlikely to take home all 16 nominations. The only movie to make a clean sweep at that level is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with 11.

Like I said with Bugonia, horror movies generally do not receive honors from the Oscars unless they are for production value. The only horror movie to have taken home the Best Picture prize is The Silence of the Lambs back in 1991. But every ceremony is full of surprises and Sinners has gained a considerable momentum among critics and fans, so this could be the second horror movie to take home the top prize. Or it could be the other way around, setting the record for most nominations and taking home nothing. Anything can happen, and the best thing for us to do is to tune into ABC or Hulu tomorrow for Hollywood’s biggest night.

About the Author: Having lived in Old Lyme and Lyme since the age of three, Kevin Ganey has a lifelong passion for cinema that goes beyond simply watching films. He is the creator of CityOfCinema.com, a site devoted to movie analysis, and co-hosts the Moviehouse Mystics podcast with Koda Uhl, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.