It is no secret: in a world of ups and downs, 2025 had many more of the latter than the former.
Yet I will try to stay more optimistic, as I remember a moment from the 75th Academy Awards, when film legend Olivia De Havilland took the stage. As she was presenting the Past Oscar Winner reunion, she stated the following (and I am paraphrasing a bit):
“Much has changed in our world…but what hasn’t changed is our love for the movies, and their ability to inspire us and to help us through troubled times.”
Over two decades later, those words have not lost their meaning in the slightest.
As in years past, there are certain films I just did not get around to for one reason or another. Most notably, those are The Secret Agent, The Phoenician Scheme, Twinless, Song Sung Blue, Sirāt, Nouvelle Vague, The Testament of Ann Lee, and Chainsaw Man, to name a few.
Having seen just over 80 releases from 2025, there are, of course, all the honorable mentions:
- Sinners (a second viewing made me realize I was wrong the first time around).
- Blue Moon (One of the best performances in Ethan Hawke’s career)
- Train Dreams (Another career performance for Joel Edgerton, plus sublime cinematography)
- Jay Kelly (It is odd to say that I feel we are underrating George Clooney here).
- DJ Ahmet (a feel-good flick from last year’s Sundance)
- Love Untangled (an underrated Netflix coming-of-age gem)
- Thunderbolts* (a surprise in the MCU library due to its subject matter)
- Sentimental Value (wonderful performances all around)
- Left-Handed Girl (a family drama with an emotional punch)
- No Other Choice (Admittedly, my first Park Chan-Wook film)
(Okay, there are actually a lot more honorable mentions than I thought, so this really was not a bad year at all for cinema…minus the whole Warner Bros. debacle).
So, here are my top ten. If you could not see them in a theater (the preferred way, of course), at least you can do so on your couch.
Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch! Couch!
Which leads to number ten…
10.
A shout-out is in order to the two teen girls at my church’s summer camp last year who brought K-Pop Demon Hunters to my attention (Sydney and Gracie, I believe). I originally thought it was a TV series, but they mentioned it was a film, so I gave it a go when I returned home from camp counseling. They said it was a great film, and they were not wrong. I am not alone in saying I knew virtually nothing about K-pop (much less demon hunting) before I saw the film, and I still don’t.
When you think of it, the title is the main thing going against it. Once you see it, you realize it has to do with the personal battles we have, and how we are not alone in them. That, and Derpy the cat. Like many, the album was my top-played on Spotify in 2025, as well as my most rewatched of the year. I regret nothing. (Streaming now on Netflix).
9.
I’ve stated in the past how hit and miss the films of Yorgos Lanthimos are for me (granted, I have only seen four so far). I admired The Lobster and The Favourite, but Poor Things really was far too much for me (despite a brilliant Emma Stone performance).
Stone is back again in his latest film, Bugonia, which is a deep dive into the far deep end of the originality pool. Yet Stone is not the standout to me. That goes to Jesse Plemmons, as a deeply troubled man, determined that the head of his company (Stone) is really an alien. The list of potential Best Actor nominees is (as always) packed, but Plemmons deserves to be in the top five. (Steaming now on Peacock).
8.
A lot of the best war films add different layers to the experience. They can be poetic, allegorical, or even dreamlike. Directors Alex Garza and Ray Mendoza strip all that away in Warfare.
It tells the true story (of which Mendoza was a part) of a group of Navy Seals during one fateful day during the Iraq War. It is incredibly blunt and never even considers pulling any punches. We have all heard that “War is Hell”, but the film still manages to startle you down to your bone marrow, regardless of how many other war films you have seen. (Streaming now on HBO Max.)
7.
The major contribution of 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick was how it reminded people that films are best seen in theaters. While director Joseph Kosinski followed that up with the rather disappointing Spiderhead, he more than bounced back with F1. Kosinski takes the same visceral, almost palpable filmmaking of Maverick and brings it to the race track. As someone with sensitive hearing, this is one of the rare times when I was not covering my ears despite the wonderful sound design. (Available now on Apple TV).
6.
Very few films surprised me as much in 2025 as 28 Years Later. I never saw the first two when they came out, but did catch up with them (and enjoyed them). Even so, the overall drama of young Spike (newcomer Alfie Williams, truly remarkable) navigating life with his parents (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer) would have been just as gripping even if it were not in the apocalyptic world of a zombie outbreak.
Like Garland, director Danny Boyle does not pull any punches, as he does not shy away from seeing the graphic nature of truly possessed zombies (most without clothes on). I never thought I would see a zombie giving birth, but here we are. (Available on Netflix)
5.
At last year’s Actor Awards (formally the SAG awards), Timothée Chalamet (upon winning for playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown) was rather direct: “I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness.” He may not have won the Oscar for that role (he lost to Adrian Brody for The Brutalist), but that speech truly poured over into his role of Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme. Fun question: who is more driven to succeed, Marty in table tennis or Chalamet in winning an Oscar?
The latter is the near frontrunner, but that does not mean we should overlook the truly kinetic filmmaking and the sublime soundtrack (both in score and song choices). Then there is director Josh Safdie, drawing out some truly outstanding performances ranging from Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion to Tyler, the Creator and a completely unrecognizable Penn Jillette. (Still playing in theaters)
4.
Horror films are still going strong, and 2025 was no exception. It seems I have had at least one horror film in my top ten the last few years, but this may be the first I can remember having two (along with 28 Years Later). True, Sinners has been stealing most of the spotlight, but no other film was as effective or well-constructed to me as Weapons.
The premise of a class of children who all (save one) go missing at 2:17 am (running with arms spread out) is like something out of an OG Twilight Zone episode, but amplified for the 21st Century. This also happens to show some of the best work of recent years for actors like Julia Garner and Josh Brolin (who has had quite a 2025). Yet the standout, of course, is Amy Madigan as Gladys, whom I did not even know was her until the credits rolled.
3.
Sometimes, a film comes along that is so critically monumental you can’t deny its impact on it. One Battle After Another also happens to be nothing short of a lotsa fun. Director Paul Thomas Anderson seems to be going all out with all that has made his past films great: mainly memorable characters in absurd circumstances, all fueled by top-notch performances in roles both big and small. The best films truly only get better with one viewing after another. (Available on HBO Max)
2.
There are directors who take risks, and then there is Jafar Panahi. Perhaps it is unfair of me to compare the types of risks a director takes, but I’m not aware of many others that are pursued by their own government for their artistic endeavors, like Panahi is. Strip all that aside, and his latest film, It Was Just an Accident, is still as enthralling a cinematic experience as you will get. Like the aforementioned Josh Safdie and Paul Thomas Anderson, Panahi is able to mine some rather memorable performances from his actors. However, the actors Panahi uses are rookies without much (if any) former experience (other than personal).
The story of former prisoners getting possible revenge on a former captor is told so intimately that you feel for every character. The ending one-take segment, where one character is tied to a tree (which I timed on the second viewing at just under 13 minutes), is as harrowing and gripping as anything you will see in a film, regardless of the language it is in. (Available to rent on Amazon Prime)
1.
Despite how much cinema one consumes in a period of time, I still firmly believe one judges a film best with their heart, and no other film this year pierced the layers of my heart more than Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet. The pain of losing a child is something I have no idea how to fathom, but I can only picture it as being unimaginable. I’ve mentioned many films with remarkable performances, but what Jessie Buckley does here is nothing short of revelatory, so much so that the other performances of Emily Watson and Paul Mescal are unfairly overshadowed.
Then there is Jacobi Jupe (whose brother Noah shows up in the last part of the film). The year has given us countless youthful performances, but what the young Jupe is asked to do is a tall task for any actor of any age, and he seems to deliver it with very little effort. The film ends with us realizing we are like Orpheus in the underworld, unable to not turn around and look back. (Still playing in theaters)
Nothing else to say 