By John Corrado

New releases for the week of December 5th, 2025.

Theatrical Releases:

The Secret Agent (Limited Release): This Brazilian political thriller has been gaining steam since it premiered at Cannes, and is now shaping up to be an awards season contender. Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the film is set in the 1970s, and stars Wagner Moura – in a performance that has been earning raves – as a man on the run from the country’s waning military dictatorship. It’s a dense but richly rewarding cinematic experience. Opens at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto. (TIFF 2025 Review)

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (Limited Release): It’s long been known that Quentin Tarantino initially intended Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 to be one movie, before they were separated by producer Harvey Weinstein (who didn’t want to put out a four-hour film), and released six months apart in 2003 and 2004. Now audiences have a chance to see both films as they were originally intended with the long-awaited theatrical release of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, which presents both movies back-to-back, with an intermission between them and a few notable updates. Namely, Vol. 1’s anime sequence is expanded and the film’s gory climactic battle at the House of Blue Leaves is now presented fully in colour for the first time, instead of the original version’s black-and-white. This allows audiences to collectively experience the entire saga of Uma Thurman’s The Bride, slowly working towards getting her revenge on the titular Bill (David Carradine).

I saw The Whole Bloody Affair at a press screening earlier in the week, which stretched from the early morning into the afternoon, and it’s a long but rewarding theatrical experience at four-and-a-half-hours. Both films are such striking, tonally distinct pieces; the first movie is a breathless, 1970s martial arts-inspired action flick, while the second is more dialogue-driven, imbued with elements of a slow-burn Western. The new animated short film The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge, which premiered in Fortnite and brings to life a deleted scene from Tarantino’s script, also plays after the credits. So stay right to the end. Playing in 70mm at Varsity in Toronto.

The Tale of Silyan (Limited Release): Director Tamara Kotevska follows up her Oscar-nominated Honeyland with this documentary about the bond between a farmer and an injured white stork in North Macedonia. It’s a lovely companion piece to Honeyland, that once again features striking cinematography. (Full Review)

More Releases: Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (Wide), Merrily We Roll Along (Limited)

Streaming Releases:

Jay Kelly (Netflix): Noah Baumbach’s latest film, starring George Clooney as an aging movie star and Adam Sandler as his assistant, is now available to stream on Netflix following a run in theatres. I was a fan of this one, particularly the performances from Clooney playing a version of himself, and Sandler in a wonderfully warm dramatic role. It’s one of the best movies of the year. (Full Review)

More Releases: Oh. What. Fun. (Prime Video), My Secret Santa (Netflix)