Another great year at the movies, probably the best yet since I started keeping track of everything I watch. A year filled with films trying to grapple with life on the edge. How do we confront this current moment in time where the powerful have amassed unimaginable wealth and control over every aspect of private and public life?
Is art enough? Are films actually able to change hearts and minds? The jury is still out. In response, this year has brought us a smattering of perspectives from the unapologetically angry to the cautiously optimistic. Each offering a new way out of this isolating, atomized world of niche interests and no common sense of shared reality. How do we get back to each other? How can we bridge this gap of mistrust, fear, and paranoia? Most importantly, who benefits most from all of us being at each other’s throats?
I didn’t set a specific movie watching goal for 2025, but still ended up logging over 400 films with 312 of those being movies I saw for the first time. Of that total, 108 movies were 2025 releases, more than I saw in 2024, despite saying I’d ease off! So here are my top 15 movies of the year, with a few honorable mentions.
2025 – Ranked
“Life is precious. Enjoy every single second. You never know when.”
15. Final Destination Bloodlines dir. Adam B. Stein, Zach Lipovsky
Going into 2025, this was my most anticipated of the year. So relieved that it did not disappoint. Goofy, ridiculous, and over the top sure, but Bloodlines is a refreshing new angle for a series that not only changed the horror genre, but how every day people look at ordinary household objects. That’s cinematic impact! I saw Bloodlines three times in theaters and watched it twice more at home once I bought it on blu ray.
Highlight: Never has there been a more fitting sendoff to a horror icon than what Bloodlines does for Tony Todd. A surprisingly tender and emotional tribute in a movie franchise primarily known for its violence and slapstick, gallows sense of humor. Todd and the crew both knew this would likely be his last on screen appearance. They gave him the opportunity to speak directly to the audience and pass on his words of wisdom to the living, posthumously.
On Repeat: “Fallin’” by Connie Francis. Do you think they came up with the tower disaster before or after listening to this song?
Also “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, can’t believe this was never used in any of the previous entries. One of my most played songs of 2025.
Man, “Shout” by the Isley Brothers and “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash too. This series has always excelled at “ruining” songs in the best possible way. A whole new list of omens to keep an ear out for.
“You know how people say ‘just be yourself?’ Like, what version of me? I hate most of them.”
14. Twinless dir. James Sweeney
There’s a way that lying becomes second nature for gay men early in life. Almost out of reflex or as a defense mechanism. It is exhausting to keep up the charade of heterosexuality that culture demands. So it becomes much easier to operate at a base level of deceit. But what happens as a result is multiple layers of identity, pile on top of each other, year after year, and the role you play becomes so far removed from the real self that you lose sight of that person entirely. Suddenly, you are an adult man with the insecurities and identity crisis of a teenager. The defense mechanism is useful for hiding your true self, but at the cost of no one really knowing you. Including yourself.
Highlight: Dylan O’Brien quietly gave one of the best performances of the year. Pulling double duty as two twin brothers, distinct from one another. I don’t purport to know anything about his personal life, but O’Brien does that “gay voice” a little too well.
On Repeat: “Crazy for this Girl” by Evan and Jaron. A song I had forgotten about entirely, but somehow still knew every single word.
“Your pain is not a coincidence. You are not a coincidence. We are not a coincidence.”
13. Eddington dir. Ari Aster
The collective decided to memory hole 2020 and Ari Aster said, “not so fast!” A hideous reflection of the societal brain rot that was unearthed and pushed to the absolute limit at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic. Repulsed all of my senses. The movie equivalent of a slap across the face. Your reaction depends entirely on if you’re into that sort of thing or not.
Ari Aster asks us to examine the circumstances that create people like Joe, not because we should feel bad for him, but because understanding him has become a matter of survival. Similarly, Ted Garcia is a self-righteous hypocrite who barely follows his own mask mandate. Not someone who should be trusted or even respected, but does eliminating a single, corrupt politician actually address the root issues affecting our society? Probably not.
Highlight: The antifa, super solider shootout brings this crazed neo-Western to its logical conclusion that still ends in a way I couldn’t have predicted even if I tried.
On Repeat: “Firework” by Katy Perry will never be the same.
“I can make your parents hurt themselves. I can make them hurt each other. I can make them eat each other if I want to. Do I want to, Alex?”
12. Weapons dir. Zach Cregger
I know Cregger is far from the first person to make a horror movie about the dangers of suburbia. But he perfectly captures that paranoia bubbling under the surface, just waiting for a tragedy to exploit and rage over. Whether it is about gun violence, kidnapping, child trafficking, or sexual abuse is mostly beside the point. The community is hurt and they need someone to blame.
Highlight: You shouldn’t be reading this if you want to completely avoid spoilers, but that ending is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and I don’t think in a million years I would’ve guessed that that is the direction it was heading. Aunt Gladys gets what’s coming to her that had me shaking with laughter. Not sure if I found it actually funny or if it was nerves, or simply the shock of it all. Now that’s how you do catharsis.
“When I pray no one answers. I only pretend he does. Then I do whatever I think god probably would’ve suggested. Usually, it’s obvious.”
11. The Phoenician Scheme dir. Wes Anderson
Can the villains of our world be redeemed? Will they ever change? God I hope so. Power, greed, and violence are the commodities of the ultra rich and uber connected. They are the backbone of much of our society for better or worse. Eliminating them would be too simple of a solution, someone else waiting in the wings would gladly take their place. So instead, we must find a way, impossible as it might seem, to appeal to our higher selves. Not because there’s a reward attached, either financial or spiritual, but because it is the right thing to do.
Highlight: So many good, recurring bits. But I cannot get over when Zsa-zsa’s plane is bombed and the attendant, seated for turbulence, is split directly in the middle, leaving only his bottom half behind in perfect Wes Anderson symmetry.
“She doesn’t have anyone, you know. She’s just a kid who never caught a break. Look, she’s screaming into the void. No one even likes her posts or replies back.”
10. Bob Trevino Likes It dir. Tracie Laymon
Earnestness and a desire to be seen is something steeped in shame in our current age of social media isolation. Yet, everyone wants to be heard, cared for, and appreciated. What a contradictory and cruel world we’ve created for those who are unafraid of their feelings, but have no where to put them. How do we connect when all the channels to do so are heavily surveilled and monetized? If you ask Lily Trevino, it’s as easy as sending a friend request, ignoring potential rejection best you can, and trying again and again.
Highlight: Barbie Ferrera’s best performance to date. As if I wasn’t annoyed enough by Sam Levinson for not knowing what to do with her Euphoria character. He was sitting on all this talent and for what?
“If you are not to award me love, then I will indulge in rage. And mine is infinite!”
9. Frankenstein dir. Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro had a song in his heart and thank god he was given the opportunity to sing. The story is timeless, having been told many times over. But in his signature empathy for the monsters of fiction, del Toro imbues the Creature with enough heart and terror to remind us of the outsiders in our lives. People ostracized and villainized for having the gall to ask for a bit of compassion in a world so unwilling to relinquish control.
Highlight: Jacob Elordi was not originally supposed to be in this film. Now it is impossible to imagine it without him. A star making performance and worthy addition to the monster’s on screen appearances.
“Everyone around you is just like me. It’s just I want it more… and I’m better.”
8. Lurker dir. Alex Russell
In 2025, everyone’s a little parasocial with it. Social media has created an army of braindead superfans and craven clout chasers who would do or say anything to get ahead. Especially if it means being in closer proximity to those they idolize. The rise and fall of celebrity is a story Hollywood has been telling itself since its inception, but never before have the fans been so ready to cannibalize one of their own at the slightest hint of transgression.
Highlight: The psychosexual relationship between Matthew and Oliver is delightfully unnerving. It walks right up to the line, but never crosses it. A tease in the best way.
On Repeat: “Snakes in the Garden” by Archie Madekwe and Kenny Beats. Usually the original music for a fictional movie pop star is bland and forgettable. Matthew better watch out, there’s a new number one Oliver fan in town.
“See, white folks, they like the blues just fine. They just don’t like the people who make it.”
7. Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler
Assimilation as a form of cultural vampirism, I’ve never seen anything like it before. The dominant culture, selective in its prey, latches onto the bits and pieces it likes and can exploit then sells it back in a lesser, more diluted form. Detached from the original context and absorbed into the larger narrative under a promise of racial harmony. The vampires certainly make it seem like a fair trade, but everything about American history screams, “Do not believe the bloodsuckers!”
Highlight: You would have to be completely cold blooded to not be moved by the juke joint dance scene set to “I Lied to You.” My jaw was on the floor, all the hairs on my body stood up straight, and I’m getting misty eyed just thinking about it. The connective tissue across time, culture, and place. The inherent sorrow and suffering of life, but also the great well of joy. One final moment of reprieve, an escape from a world ravaged by racism and hate.
On Repeat: Obviously “I Lied to You” by Miles Caton!
“This isn’t supposed to be what it’s like, This isn’t it. This can’t be it.”
6. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You dir. Mary Bronstein
We live in such isolating times, where individuals are expected to hold up a never ending list of responsibilities, and if you ask for help, god forbid complain, you risk ostracization. “Everyone else has managed to figure it out.” But is that true? Or are others just better at hiding the spiral out? It’s not enough to be the 21st century girl boss who has it all, you also have to do it with a smile the whole time. Make it look easy and please, for the love of god, keep those uncomfortable feelings to yourself.
Highlight: Not exactly a particular scene or moment, but from the first few minutes of the film it becomes clear that Bronstein was going to delay the reveal of Linda’s daughter for as long as possible. I was immediately intrigued and engaged from this one singular choice. Hooked my attention til the very end. Brilliant.
“You have to write to satisfy some urge in you, to answer some question about something that you don’t comprehend.”
5. Hamnet dir. Chloé Zhao
A movie like Hamnet could not have come at a better time. A year where the theater going experience is under attack from streaming giants eager to monopolize the competition and an old studio system that refuses to change with the times. Hamnet loudly and poetically calls out the magic of the communal theater going experience, how processing emotions with the collective helps ease the burdens of the individual. In an increasingly atomized and singular world, we need these experiences (and these movies) now more than ever.
Highlight: I’ve talked about this at length, but the Globe Theatre scene will stick with me for the rest of my life. It embodies everything I love and value about the shared, communal experience and the power of art itself.
“Yes, but we didn’t have the same childhood. I had you.”
4. Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier
Family, am I right? What do you do when a parent’s neglect does not come from a place of malice, but rather distraction? In the pursuit of one dream Gustav abandons another with Nora and Agnes left to pick up the pieces. A melancholy beauty that stands out in a year with so many other films grappling with fathers failing their children, processing pain through art, and the fragile subjectivity of memory.
Highlight: The moment shared between Nora and Agnes, relitigating their childhood, is one that will surely hit like a ton of bricks especially for anyone with an older sibling.
On Repeat: “Ooh La La” by Faces. Okay, so yes technically this isn’t actually in the movie. But it was featured so prominently in the trailer (of which I saw dozens of times) and whenever I hear it, I think of Nora, Agnes, and Gustav and weep so that has to count for something.
“You can’t beat me because you are a loser and I’m a winner and that’s fucking life!”
3. Bugonia dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Deliciously mean spirited. In 2025’s stacked roster of “we are so fucked” cinema, this might be the most succinct critique of our time. Conspiracy and scapegoats as a ways of making sense and order out of an increasingly out of control sociopolitical and economic situation. Desperation leading to the worst possible human impulses. Errant corporatism spits in your face from one side of its mouth, while apologizing out of the other. Unchecked greed and exploitation under a guise of pleasantries and focus group tested buzzwords.
I don’t how (if) we’re getting out of this one folks.
Highlight: It is a bit of a cop out to say Emma Stone’s entire performance, but that is the truth. There’s a couple line deliveries where she really sells the absurdity and completely caught me off guard in how matter of fact her approach is.
On Repeat: Best use of Green Day’s “Basket Case” imaginable. “Good Luck Babe” by Chappell Roan, haunting in new, previously inconceivable, ways.
“To put food in my family’s mouths, there’s nothing I won’t do.”
2. No Other Choice dir. Park Chan-wook
Everyone these days wants to make punchy, anti-capitalist art but so few are all that interested in getting into the nitty, gritty details. Not Park Chan-wook. He takes the trite and played out, flips it on its head, and implicates the audience in the process. You’re in this picture and you’re not going to like it! Also it’s the most staunchly anti-AI film of the year at a time where studio executives are eager to cut corners and replace creatives with machines. Paying artists is expensive and since movies can apparently make themselves, what other choice do they have?
Highlight: I’ve been complaining about the lack of dissolves in modern films all year long. No Other Choice came in right at the end and delivered more than I could ever ask for. Some of the best editing and cinematography of the year.
“You know what freedom is? No fear. Just like Tom fucking Cruise.”
1. One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
What was my life like before I had knowledge of the quote “a few small beers?” An exhilarating, pedal to the floor, no holds barred race against time that is equal parts an inditement of one generation’s lack of revolutionary follow through and the hope filled promise of today’s youth. Electrifying, thrilling, heartfelt, and hilarious too. I was on the edge of my seat for the fastest two hours and forty one minutes of my life. A film that perfectly embodies what we are up against this year and the next. No one man is going to be able to get us out of this alone. But together? We may just stand a chance.
Highlight: Is there a scene from this year more iconic than the final road chase? I’ve never been so locked in in my life.
On Repeat: “Dirty Work” by Steely Dan, “Ready Or Not (Here I Come)” by The Jackson 5, and “American Girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Three of the best needledrops of 2025 and they’re all in the same movie!
Bonus Picks!
“I am the fire! By my hand, my people grow strong! We do not bend down and die just because Eywa turns her back on us! We turn our back on Eywa!”
16. Avatar: Fire and Ash dir. James Cameron
Highlight: Varang. The most interesting and compelling character introduced in this franchise thus far. One single character has managed to annihilate 15 years of the most obnoxious “Avatar has no cultural impact” discourse. The montage where the RDA provides her clan with firearms is proof that Cameron still has the juice, no matter what the contrarians have to say.
“When you grow up, you can tell me whatever. Like, if you have a thought, and you’re like ‘that’s a bad thought.’ I probably had that same thought but, like, ten times worse. So you can just tell me, I’ll never be scared by that. If someone does something bad to you. If someone says something scary. If you wanna kill yourself, like with a pencil or a knife or whatever, you can just tell me. I’ll never tell you you’re scaring me. I’ll just say, “Yeah, I know. It’s just like that sometimes.”
17. Sorry, Baby dir. Eva Victor
Highlight: I mean obviously Eva Victor’s final monologue. In 2025, I became an uncle. Prior to this, I logically understood how fragile and vulnerable new life is, but emotionally I don’t think I fully grasped how I’d feel seeing her for the first time. A mixture of love, fear, and hope all wrapped in one. Victor’s screenplay and performance capture this conflicting sensation in ways I struggle to describe myself.
“Look for the blood and the smoke.”
18. Warfare dir. Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Highlight: When that IED goes off at the midpoint. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sound quite so loud in my entire life. Watching this movie was an endurance test for my nerves. First time I’ve seen a movie where I’ve shed tears out of pure stress.
On Repeat: “Call on Me” by Eric Prydz. Both the full length and radio edit versions made it to my Spotify wrapped. Had I committed to just one version of the song, it would’ve been my number two most played song of the year…
“Dad, look! You’re gonna miss it.”
19. Jay Kelly dir. Noah Baumbach
Highlight: I mean the whole train sequence is simply spellbinding. The flickering lights of the train windows like celluloid through a film reel, as Jay Kelly reflects on his life in the only way he knows how. Cinematic snapshots of memories rewound.
“Hagar! You spent too. Much. Time. On the. Internet!”
20. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning dir. Christopher McQuarrie
Highlight: The submarine heist aspect ratio change! In a movie this jam packed with highwire action set pieces, it is hard to pick just one, but thinking about Ethan crawling through those missle silos still gives me chills.
Happy New Year!
Reel Take 
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