I am not a film critic. It’s fun to play one, and I probably had aspirations at one point. But this is a hobby. I have no obligation but to myself. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that.
I always preface my list with a tongue-in-cheek apology for not seeing all the movies I was “supposed” to, and I will again now. I don’t have an opportunity before the year ends to see festival or limited releases like The Testament of Ann Lee, No Other Choice, Blue Moon, It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value, and so on. I do want to get to all of those.
But this year I see a lot on my list that I certainly had the opportunity to see. I must have chosen not to. I’ve heard good things about Bugonia and have no explanation for why I haven’t seen it other than I’m simply not that interested. Same goes for Die My Love, Pavements, Train Dreams, Frankenstein, Materialists, Weapons, and Eddington. I might like these, but if I squeezed them in at the end of the year, I’d be going in immediately judging it based on if it makes my list, and that’s a sure fire way not to enjoy a movie.
So I’m glad to have done the top films lists revisited project the last few weeks, as a reminder that these lists are emblematic of the specific person I was at that specific time. When I revisit this list in 10 years I’ll probably think putting Mickey 17 at number 6 was an odd choice. But that doesn’t matter today. Today I’m just excited to share 10+ movies I enjoyed this year. You should consider seeing these if you haven’t already.
A quick list of honorable mentions, movies I saw and appreciated this year that don’t get mentioned below, but I want to shout them out anyway as worth watching:
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain – A lovely little French animated movie about a child learning that she is not God.
- Friendship – Like a feature-length I Think You Should Leave sketch, for better and worse.
- KPop Demon Hunters – Catchy.
- Highest 2 Lowest – Spike Lee and Denzel Washington reunite for a compelling adaptation of High and Low, featuring a star turn from ASAP Rocky.
- One of Them Days – Keke Palmer and SZA are phenomenally funny in this one-crazy-day comedy.
#10
“I’m capable of and willing to genuinely believe in the opposite of my personal convictions.”
The Phoenician Scheme
dir. Wes Anderson // Trailer
Once again I am confused about where I land on Wes Anderson. The French Dispatch made my top 10 list for 2021, and then I mostly found 2023’s critically acclaimed Asteroid City just kind of annoying. I’m glad to be back on board. Benicio del Toro reliably, as usual, centers a cast of oddball characters brought to life by so many returning Wes Anderson players that it feels a bit like watching someone play with their favorite dolls. I say that with admiration, especially now that Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hanks are in the troupe. They’re such good fits for Wes’s style. A style that is meandering, mannered, and darkly hilarious. Please, help yourself to a hand grenade.
#9
“I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength. And someday, I hope, for the sake of the world, you understand that it’s yours too.”
Superman
dir. James Gunn // Trailer
Superman does not absolve the modern superhero genre of its sins. It has a bloated cast propping up impossibly apocalyptic stakes, too violent for children and overly concerned with setting up future films. Make no mistake, this movie has a job to do. Yet it also has something that’s been missing from mainstream superhero fare for so long I forgot they were capable of it: unqualified sincerity. The movie wears its heart on its sleeve, and Superman’s heart is his actual greatest power. Corny? Sure. Proudly so. We’re talking about art, after all. You have to be emotionally unguarded to say anything worthwhile. Maybe that’s the real punk rock.
#8
“That place in your head. It’s now more real to you than anywhere else.”
Hamnet
dir. Chloé Zhao // Trailer
Hamnet opens with an explanatory (or defensive) epigraph: “In fact, Hamlet and Hamlet are one and the same and were used interchangeably in the Stratford Chronicles in the late 16th century
and early 17th century.” The theory, on which the Maggie O’Farrell novel is based, is that William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in response to the death of his only son Hamnet. Also his wife was a witch. The film, adapted by O’Farrell with director Chloé Zhao, takes these as given, and you need to be on board from the word go to really appreciate what it’s doing. If you do, you will be rewarded. As a moving depiction of grief Hamnet is as weepy as you’d expect, revolving around a ferocious Jessie Buckley. As a celebration of one of literature’s greatest achievements, the movie holds its cards close until the final act when they’re most effective. My understanding is acceptance of the Hamnet-Hamlet connection is relatively fringe among scholars, but it’s worth it to believe for a couple hours.
#7
“Well, it was nice knowing you. Have a nice death. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Mickey 17
dir. Bong Joon Ho // Trailer
Following up a decade-defining Korean thriller with an English-language farce might seem like an odd swerve to anyone who hasn’t seen Okja. In fact this is Bong Joon-ho comfortably in his lane, an existential tragicomedy with a lot to say about class, power, and ego. It’s evident in the premise alone. Among a crew of interstellar colonists, Mickey is the “expendable,” the designated victim of research whom they can reprint the next day to die again. A crowning achievement in the microgenre of “Robert Pattinson doing a weird voice,” the movie offers equally bizarre performances from Toni Collette, as the ship’s devious matron fixated on sauces, and Mark Ruffalo, doing a caricature of I’m gonna guess some politician or other. Mileage may vary, admittedly. I’m not going to pretend Mickey 17 fully lands all its punches, but its swings are too endearingly scruffy to ignore.
#6
“He told me that I want too much, and that I cannot have it all. I’m going to have his job. You watch.”
Black Bag
dir. Steven Soderbergh // Trailer
Steven Soderbergh has released seven movies in the five years since the COVID-19 pandemic, a global outbreak of a novel coronavirus that occurred in early 2020. The quality of those movies is as inconsistent as you’d expect from that rate of output, but with Soderbergh being one of the greatest American auteur filmmakers in its short history, and legendary writer David Koepp penning the screenplays, the highs are high. So it is with Black Bag, an understated thriller about two married spies, one of whom begins to suspect the other of treason. Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender have a simmering chemistry that never boils over into melodrama. Their fidelity makes them outliers in the world of secrets and surveillance; it’s refreshing, but it’s also a weakness in that line of work. They’re smart, sexy, and competent. So is the movie. What more could you want?
Intermission
If you go to movies with the goal of building a top 10 list, you’re gonna leave disappointed. Here are some good times I had at the theater/couch that aren’t best-of-the-decade contenders but are still enjoyable on their own terms.
Chillest Hangout
Roofman
From the “they don’t make ’em like this anymore” collection comes the year’s most charming prison-break romcom. A lot of the marketing focuses on the accuracy of the recreated Toys ‘R’ Us, where Channing Tatum’s character (based on a real robber) hid from the police. And it’s true, that set really takes you back in time, though if you’re like me you probably won’t feel it until he gets to the video game aisle and starts swiping copies of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures to pawn for cash. The movie happening inside and outside that Toys ‘R’ Us is… look, Tatum and Kirsten Dunst are just so inherently likeable that any bumps in the narrative are easily forgiven. Why don’t they make ’em like this anymore? Because they don’t make money. Why doesn’t a Channing Tatum/Kirsten Dunst romcom make money? Where did we go wrong?
Runners-up:
Eephus
Nouvelle Vague
Best Questlove
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
I’ve quickly become a devotee of Questlove as a music historian. I was never even into the Roots at all, but I’ve now seen his documentaries, read his books, and watched every interview I could find. He has infectious enthusiasm and the knowledge to back it up, which shone through in his 2021 documentary debut Summer of Soul. This year he released two follow-ups: Sly Lives, about the rise and fall of Sly and the Family Stone, and Ladies and Gentlemen, part of Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary festivities. Both are must-see if you have any interest in their subject matter. Even if not, you owe it to yourself to watch the SNL doc’s opening, an electric seven minute montage in which 50 years of pop culture collapse into a single performance on television’s most iconic stage.
Most Movie
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Never bet against Jimmy C. The guy who directed Aliens and Titanic is still cinema’s greatest master of creating action at great scale. This movie contains so much movie that it can only fit in theaters. Airship battles. Talking whales (subtitled). Varang. Narratively, Fire and Ash is the first “just another one” of the series, retreading a lot of ground from Way of Water which itself was hitting many of the same beats as 2009’s Avatar. But I show up for the spectacle. That’s why this series is one of the few I buy 3D opening weekend tickets for. Hopefully it continues to be.
Runners-up:
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Wicked: For Good
…Least Movie?
War of the Worlds
The more I think about 2025’s War of the Worlds, a screenlife interpretation of the sci-fi classic starring Ice Cube, the more I think it might be a surrealist masterpiece? This movie has an impressionistic understanding of what computers are. How do you hack a drone? You right click it and select “Hack,” of course. This is a world where a federal investigator abuses military resources to spy on his children and their reaction is barely stronger than “Aw shucks, Dad, cut it out.” It’s weirdly inspiring, actually. It makes me feel like I can make a movie by commissioning some reaction shots on Cameo and splicing in screenshots of Microsoft Teams. It also makes me feel like the safest place in an alien invasion is in front of my PC scrolling on the internet.
Runners-up:
Happy Gilmore 2
Nonnas
My Top Movie of 2024 of 2025
Nickel Boys
Runners-up:
The Brutalist
I’m Still Here
#5
“I have a purpose. You don’t. If you think that it’s some kind of blessing, it’s not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through.”
Marty Supreme
dir. Josh Safdie // Trailer
Why is it so much fun to root for horrible people? Timothee Chalamet’s Marty Mauser certainly evokes Adam Sandler’s Howard Ratner from previous Safdie mood-killer Uncut Gems. His ambitions are grander, if constrictingly specific, but watching him attempt to realize those goals makes the prospect of waking up every single day unbearably exhausting. Josh Safdie’s movies create an air of controlled chaos: Everything will go wrong, and you’re gonna love it. He also continues to draw wonderful performances out of unconventional casting. It pains me to admit the bald jerk from Shark Tank is excellent opposite Chalamet. Chalamet himself is an excellent fit for the try-hard Marty and his comedy of errors, delightfully set to an anachronistic synthpop soundtrack. To Marty’s credit, he has enough youth left to get it together before he becomes a Howard.
#4
“She was beautiful. She had a body that carried her head around and a butt that seemed to say, ‘Hello, I’m a talking butt.'”
The Naked Gun
dir. Akiva Schaffer // Trailer
I knew Liam Neeson is funny. I knew Akiva Schaffer is funny. Regardless, I was worried. The Naked Gun (1988) has (deservedly) gained a reputation as one of the funniest movies ever made, and it’s funny in such a specific way that any attempt to reboot it could easily go wrong. So I don’t have the words to describe the sense of relief that washed over me during the first scene. The minute Frank Drebin Jr. started playing patty-cake with a bank robber I thought, “Oh thank God, they get it.” True to the original, The Naked Gun: The New One throws out jokes at a relentless pace. It doesn’t matter if one doesn’t land, because the next one is already here. And most of the jokes that don’t land are because you missed them. Guess you’ll just have to see it again.
#3
“Do these stories convince us of a lie? Or do they resonate with something deep inside us that’s profoundly true, that we can’t express any other way except storytelling?”
Wake Up Dead Man
dir. Rian Johnson // Trailer
It’s already 2026 but I keep writing “Year of Josh O’Connor” on my checks. The key to the best mystery stories, which the prior installment Glass Onion came dangerously close to forgetting, is the detective must not be the main character. Benoit Blanc exists in this movie to support Father Jud’s story, which is deep and rich enough to ground its own movie even if there wasn’t a murder for Blanc to solve. Rian Johnson has spoken in interviews about drawing on his own upbringing in a Christian (though not Catholic) community. We often associate the phrase “Christian movie” with the dreck from Kingdom Story Company or Angel Studios. This is a true Christian movie, tackling questions of faith without being either didactic or dismissive. Even though I still think the first Knives Out contains the best mystery in the series, Wake Up Dead Man might be its best movie. So far.
#2
“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”
Sinners
dir. Ryan Coogler // Trailer
After directing two of the defining IP-based blockbusters of the 2010s in Creed and Black Panther, Ryan Coogler cashed in his blank check to prove that original blockbusters can still thrive too. Sinners is the feel-good box office story of 2025. Moreover, it’s the sort of movie that can only come together under not just the masterful direction of an artist with a vision but every collaborator bringing their A-game. Michael B. Jordan in dual roles. Ludwig Göransson’s score, never more vital to a Coogler film. Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s cinematography. Production design, editing, visual effects. All coalesced to fulfill this vision, nowhere more strikingly than in That Scene, You Know The One, itself a cinematic achievement we will be discussing for years. If you’ve somehow made it this far without knowing what Sinners is about: Run, don’t walk.
#1
“Will you try to change the world like I did? We failed, but maybe you will not.”
One Battle After Another
dir. Paul Thomas Anderson // Trailer
Shit’s fucked. Out there, y’know? The old guard lost, the new guys are useless, evil spreads unopposed. If you have anything you want to protect, like a child or your sanity, your only option is to recuse yourself and hide. But hiding doesn’t work forever. In this (very) loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, Paul Thomas Anderson unpacks the tension of wanting to help do good while feeling helpless, when trying to do good feels like… many fights in succession. It’s also the definitive parenthood movie of our time. The struggle of protecting something you love from the ills of society your generation wrought can also feel like… a continuing sequence of struggles. Today, raising a good person can itself be an act of defiance. That’s how we rebuild America. By building better Americans. One Battle After Another is the year’s timeliest movie, a jolt of electricity that closes on a needle-drop so perfect that it might be evidence of time travel. This is the message we need right now. Never stop fighting. Viva la revolución.