2025 may well go down as a pivotal year for cinema.
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It was a year of great anxiety for the industry, the art form, and its future -with the business and politics behind the biggest producers of movies never more prominent. The space is becoming ever smaller as more studios threaten to be swallowed up by companies only marginally interested in cinema to begin with. Warner Bros. may be the latest to fall, and whether it is caught in the hands of Netflix or Paramount it faces a terrible future, both for the artists and audiences. There is the increased risk of government censorship from the Trump administration, perhaps at the very least we are on the precipice of seeing movies de-fanged of their relevant subjects and commentaries. And still more and more resources are being given over to franchise projects, sequels, and reboots that -with a few bizarre exceptions- the public seems very apathetic to; leaving less for creatives and genuine artists to thrive on. A.I. has continued to intrude on the movie conversation, even if its theoretical applications would be far more cumbersome than traditional methods of movie-making. It still poses that threat if just enough rich idiots have their way -of making movies out of digital slop. And even with signs of improving theatre attendance, cinemas remain as a business in decline, spurred by studios and streamers seeking short-term gains over the long-term sustainability of a communal artistic experience that has been enjoyed for over a century. The world of film, though specifically Hollywood -the only major industry accessible to many of us in the west- is in a dark place with seemingly only bleak news on the horizon. And it’s not likely to end anytime soon. 2025 might be the canary in the coal mine.
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Which is why it is even more important and impressive to acknowledge how great a year 2025 has been for movies in spite of this. It might even be the best year for movies since 2019 and its string of instant classics. Certainly there are several from this year that I think we will be talking about for years to come. And among them some good original films that performed really well with audiences. Sinners is the first original movie since Oppenheimer to land in the top ten of the year-end American Box Office, with other movies like One Battle After Another and Weapons out-performing studio expectations. KPop Demon Hunters, a global sensation, certainly would have as well had Netflix allowed it a proper theatrical release. But even in the weeds of Hollywood crutches there was some good work being done. Among the reboots this year was Superman, among lega-sequels 28 Years Later, and as franchise extensions go movies like Avatar: Fire and Ash and Mission: Impossible -The Final Reckoning (a genuine ending to a series) delivered pretty strongly. To say nothing of all the weird and wonderful little gems like Die My Love, Caught Stealing, Death of a Unicorn, and Friendship.
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And so with that in mind, let’s celebrate with the top 25 movies of 2025. I have seen 134 movies this year and was lucky in that I have been able to catch most of the ones I really wanted to see by the time I’m compiling this list (going to the Toronto Film Festival this year really helped!). The big exceptions are Mona Fastvold’s puritan-era musical The Testament of Ann Lee (which I had to sadly cancel my TIFF screening for), Kristen Stewart’s directing debut The Chronology of Water, and The Voice of Hind Rajab, a docudrama on one of the great family tragedies amidst the genocide in Gaza. With any luck I will see these soon.
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As with every year, twenty-five movies aren’t somehow quite enough that feel worthy of honour -this really was a very good year for movies- and so first, here are a handful of Honourable Mentions: Friendship (written and directed by Andrew DeYoung), The Long Walk (written by JT Mollner, directed by Francis Lawrence), Jay Kelly (written by Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, directed by Noah Baumbach), The Mastermind (written and directed by Kelly Reichardt), Is This Thing On? (written by Will Arnett, Mark Chappell, and Bradley Cooper, directed by Bradley Cooper), Warfare (written and directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland), Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (written by Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Maïlys Vallade, and Eddine Noël, directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han), Weapons (written and directed by Zach Cregger), Twinless (written and directed by James Sweeney), Caught Stealing (written by Charlie Huston, directed by Darren Aronofsky), Novocaine (written by Lars Jacobson, directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen), and Highest 2 Lowest (written by Alan Fox, directed by Spike Lee).
25. Blue Moon -written by Robert Kaplan, directed by Richard Linklater
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The long-awaited reunion between director Richard Linklater and his great muse Ethan Hawke was one of the best character studies of the year. Going into it the name Lorenz Hart evokes nothing but obscurity for all but the most learned musical theatre enthusiasts. Coming out it is a name that symbolizes great tragedy -not just of his own, but of an era and culture that left him behind. Set almost entirely in real-time, as Linklater likes to do, it gives a great impression of the opening night of Oklahoma!, the first production from Hart’s longtime partner Richard Rodgers (played by Andrew Scott) without him. We see both the bitterness that Hart isn’t trying to conceal and the desperation that he is, in a great theatrical performance from Hawke of a charisma beset by loneliness. The film hearkens openly to the end of an era and the beginnings of another, in some ways silly (hello little Stephen Sondheim) in other ways deeply melancholy. There is something very potent in the vision of America that Hart sees Oklahoma! representing for a jingoistic post-war time, its effects far into the future. Yet here he is in the past. A gloomy though entertaining, remarkable film.
Blue Moon is available on VOD.
24. 28 Years Later -written by Alex Garland, directed by Danny Boyle
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A few years shy of 28 since Danny Boyle's genre-redefining horror classic 28 Days Later, but this zombie legasequel nonetheless arrived at the right time and with the right perspective. Imagining a Britain isolated from the progress of the rest of the world, having evolved for decades in a reality where zombies roam the land infecting what pockets of humanity are left, it creates a vivid and fascinating world that once again explores human nature under pressure and crisis. Informed by the experience of the pandemic and the trauma of an atmosphere of death, it speaks in sharp terms and potent allegory to the anxieties of the world today, the ambiguity of pressing on in a climate of hopelessness, the desire to cling with futility to traditions and icons, nostalgia of a particular impression of normality. And it does so against a good survival story centred on interesting characters, including a child finding himself against this harrowing context, with thrilling and curious zombie encounters -themselves drawn in a compelling new way. It ends on an intriguing though awkward cliffhanger for the sequel movie, but does more than enough to grip you on its own terms as well.
28 Years Later is streaming on Crave, and available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
23. Paddington in Peru -written by Mark Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont, directed by Dougal Wilson
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Admittedly not as strong as the prior two films and with both a central cast member and director missing, but Paddington in Peru is still several notches above any other family movie of 2025. The Paddington series is powered by its wholesome earnestness and that is no less true of the third instalment, which sees the titular bear travel with the Brown family back to his native Peru and go on a riverboat adventure to find his missing Aunt Lucy. The film maintains its sense of charm and clever humour, Antonio Banderas and especially Olivia Colman lending the film some of its best jokes and most colourful moments. It’s messaging on home and belonging is incredibly cute and it feels properly inventive and fantastical for a kids movie in a way that so few movies for that demographic seem interested in anymore. Like its predecessors, it refuses easy jokes or cultural references, its slapstick never comes off as manufactured or cynical, it is just a very lovely story about a kindly immigrant bear and his family taken out of their element. Paddington in Peru radiates its marmalade-like sweetness, you can’t help be endeared by it.
Paddington in Peru is streaming on Crave, and available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
22. The Naked Gun -written by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Akiva Schaffer, directed by Akiva Schaffer
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Like with kids’ movies, another genre so rarely done well (or done at all) anymore are comedies. The same could be said of parody movies and especially of reboots more broadly. But Akiva Schaffer’s new take on The Naked Gun succeeds at all three: a blisteringly funny, smart parody that despite being a reboot is not at all driven by legacy or nostalgia. It’s approach is almost absurdly simple: take that easily identifiable ZAZ-style of comedy with its slapstick, deadpan humour and sight gags and merely apply it to a twenty-first century sensibility. It’s the same type of humour, but with new gags and creative contexts to play in. Liam Neeson delivers with terrific faux seriousness this interpretation of the idiotic, ineffectual cop, matched by Pamela Anderson having the time of her life getting to play his seductive yet silly love interest. With an eccentric satirical bent to both individual jokes and the broader plot itself (which comments very sharply on modern internet culture) combined with the perfect degree of weird absurdity that Schaffer (of The Lonely Island) excels at, and just a couple earned references to the original movies, The Naked Gun is a fun and solid road-map for the potential reemergence of the mainstream comedy film.
The Naked Gun is available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
21. Frankenstein -written and directed by Guillermo del Toro
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Perhaps for his entire career of movies empathizing with monsters, Guillermo del Toro has been building towards his own vision of the greatest monster story in popular fiction. Finally given the chance, he delivered a movie that is perhaps the most powerful encapsulation of Mary Shelley’s themes that we have seen articulated. Notably more loyal to the book than past adaptations (whilst still bearing several of del Toro’s own fascinating additions), it is a movie that tells both sides of the iconic tale -that of the obsessive Victor Frankenstein, played here by a delirious Oscar Isaac, and that of his passionate Creature, played by a soulful Jacob Elordi. Both are given weight and a helping of cautious sympathy -even with Frankenstein you are encouraged to identify. They are the artist and the art, and as del Toro draws parallels to modern technological anxieties, the threat of A.I. most prominently, he maintains the human connection and the tragedy inherent to the story of two figures desperate for love and understanding, though in different capacities. The film is gorgeous apart from that, with an exceptionally vivid and detailed world characterized by intricate set design and exquisite make-up. Del Toro’s been waiting a long time for this Frankenstein, and so as it turns out have we.
Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix.
20. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You -written and directed by Mary Bronstein
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A film that is a nightmare of stress and anxiety, but so intensely honest about the experiences, thoughts, and feelings that mothers are prone to suppress concerning their children out of fear, denial, or shame. Epitomizing all three as the irritations in her life gradually suffocate her, Rose Byrne gives a stupendous performance of an intelligent woman driven to her whit’s end by both the obligations of her severely medically-challenged daughter and disasters in her home and work life, including a caved-in ceiling and a patient (she is a therapist) who goes missing on her watch, while her own therapist (played by a surprisingly good Conan O’Brien) is apathetic to her problems. Bronstein keeps the child always out of view to enhance the strategic dehumanization of her protagonist’s perspective and the complicated feelings she has as a mother striving to love and accommodate amidst circumstances that test how much emotional strain she is capable of bearing. Her frustrations and issues are relayed with a deep resonance though, indicative of the mental toll that anyone would be under if enough inconveniences and micro-aggressions built up. There is something more deeply human in how Byrne’s character behaves than we are generally comfortable with confronting. Bronstein though is brave enough to try.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
19. The Secret Agent -written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho
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It is very important now to have movies that use the past to speak to the present. The Secret Agent is set during the military dictatorship in Brazil during the 1970s, but its intended comment was towards the political climate of Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and it of course has echoes outside of the South American nation as well. That atmosphere of fear and scrutiny is well established by Mendonça Filho in this story about a political dissident sheltering in a safe house in Recife, endeavouring to escape the country with his young son while supporting the resistance movement. And yet it is also a movie characterized by a certain nostalgia for a time and place, a love letter to the director’s home town and its little pockets of eccentricity (as in a subplot involving a leg found in the body of a shark). Wagner Moura is wonderfully intense as the man in danger from multiple avenues, hunted by agents of a corporate magnate with a personal vendetta against him. Each side of the story is thrilling, as Mendonça Filho captures a distinctly 1970s sense of cinematic tension building to a great chaotic climax. And all the while the movie comments openly on the lens of history in an incredibly curious way. It is a history we are advised sternly not to forget.
The Secret Agent is not yet available to stream, rent, or buy.
18. Superman -written and directed by James Gunn
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Superhero fatigue in 2025 was seemingly more widespread than ever; though a studio like Marvel is still capable of producing hits, any prestige or cultural cache has severely dwindled -nobody is thinking of Captain America: Brave New World by the end of the year. But they are still thinking of Superman. Though it is primed to be the start of yet another vast cinematic universe, what makes James Gunn's reinvention of the original superhero so strong and endearing is how well it functions as its own story. Built on a character arc that embraces Superman's virtues of kindness and empathy for all and his immigrant story analogue, it fashions through David Corenswet's infectiously charming performance a figure of hope and aspiration rooted entirely (in spite of his various superpowers) in his fundamental humanity. It is additionally a terrifically funny and colourful movie that has a ball with its heightened superhero universe, yet is sharp too in its social commentary and bold real-world parallels that serve to cast Superman's values in an even more powerful, inspirational light. A superhero film that impresses and entertains us whilst speaking to the moment sentiments we need to hear -you love to see it!
Superman is streaming on Crave and available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
17. A Pale View of Hills -written and directed by Kei Ishikawa
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Slipping under the radar for most who caught it on the festival circuit, Kei Ishikawa’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel was tremendously effective to me. Though it differs in tone from its source and suffers a few poor transition devices, it is one of the most fascinating movies I have seen about the trauma of Nagasaki, entirely set within the years and decades of its aftermath. A story split in time between Nagasaki in the 1950s and the English countryside in the 1980s, with mysteries pertaining to the circumstances of how Etsuko, played wonderfully by Suzu Hirose and Yō Yoshida, came from the former to the latter. A somewhat personal story to Ishiguro, it is nonetheless in conversation with both the specifics of Japanese culture after the war and more broadly themes on the relationships we have to the past, whether it is something to preserve or keep secret. Fumi Nikaido is the captivating stand-out of the piece as Etsuko’s enigmatic friend Sachiko, her every scene coloured by spontaneousness or sympathy or in some cases a mad fear. It all comes together ultimately in a thrilling resolution that challenges your perceptions of the story while retaining its emotional weight. A pale view, but an attractive one.
A Pale View of Hills is not yet available to stream, rent, or buy.
16. Wake Up Dead Man -written and directed by Rian Johnson
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I’ve been thinking about this movie on and off again for months, and not because of its mystery -though that is perfectly interesting and thrilling. But because Rian Johnson chose for his third Benoit Blanc whodunnit -provocatively titled Wake Up Dead Man- to delve into and analyze themes of faith and Christianity in a refreshingly nuanced and mature way. It is a secular movie to be sure, but one in which Johnson allows grace to walk hand in hand with scepticism, contrasting a firebrand spiteful priest sewing division and bigotry with an earnest young counterpart embodying the virtues of his Saviour with love and empathy and none of the judgement. Josh O’Connor’s Father Jud is, the more I think about it, one of my favourite characters of the year -and the conversation being had by the film resonates strongly to someone who -like Johnson- is an ex-Christian atheist with nonetheless a continued fascination with the effects of religion. As this is reckoned with, the movie is brilliant and funny, with some of the best comic beats of the series, though marginally darker as well. The ensemble cast, though a touch underutilized, are very enjoyable too and the locked-room mystery presents a delightful puzzle to solve. It keeps to its roots but expands -more film franchises could follow its lead.
Wake Up Dead Man is streaming on Netflix.
15. It Was Just an Accident -written and directed by Jafar Panahi
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As I write this, the governing regime in Iran is at a potential inflection point. We don't know what will come of the mass protests there, but we know they have been a long-time coming -and nobody better than Jafar Panahi, who has multiple times been arrested and imprisoned for art he has made that is critical of the state. It Was Just an Accident is his latest to get him in trouble, a powerful film on the culture of violence and paranoia that oppression creates. For the longest time we don't know whether the figure abducted by Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is indeed the government agent who tortured him and several other political prisoners years ago, though the evidence is damning. But regardless, his capture and the testimonies of the odd collective of characters holding his fate in their hands speak to those feelings of trauma and frustration boiling over in a way that for some supersedes conscience. Maybe it is not the right thing to kill this man, but it is the cathartic thing. The moral quandary for these characters is deeply compelling as Panahi interrogates through them a broad cultural sentiment -one that certainly resonates outside Iran. It is a movie that very much predicted the current situation, and in watching you can understand it aptly.
It Was Just an Accident is available on VOD.
14. On Swift Horses -written by Bryce Cass, directed by Daniel Minahan
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A melodrama in the vein of Douglas Sirk, there is a lot of classic Hollywood to be found in On Swift Horses, except in one respect and that is its decidedly queer subject matter. Something that wasn't emphasized in any of the film's marketing yet is a critical part of its identity and storytelling -fixated on two people and their respective messy journeys of queer self-discovery in the rural America of the 1950s. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi are fantastic as the film's twin lightning rods, each channeling a certain time-appropriate charm -with some raw sexual magnetism in the case of the latter- while Diego Calva and Sasha Calle make enticing, sympathetic turns as their love interests. A movie that explores the nuances of queer identity and desire in a time when such things were socially difficult to define let alone articulate, glazed in romantic, sensual filmmaking from director Daniel Minahan not often seen in Hollywood anymore, it is quite dramatic and engaging on its own terms as well. Its script is a touch overwrought at times, extravagant in some of the plotting, but these feel like mere genre conventions that have little bearing on the film's earnest heart or its curious dimensions.
On Swift Horses is available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
13. No Other Choice -written by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Lee Ja-hye, directed by Park Chan-wook
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The latest Korean sensation bleakly satirizing the ills of capitalism, Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice is a strange and pointed tale about the lengths ordinary people are pushed to by an inhumane corporate culture. The notion that the only path to job security and domestic comfort is to scheme to murder one's competitors is a hyperbolic one but coloured with enough truth of circumstance that the premise becomes, perhaps in a cautionary sense, plausible. Park leaves all subtlety at the door with his golden-hued opening on the perfect life for Yoo Man-su (played phenomenally by Lee Byung-hun) and his family, only for melancholy gray to enter the picture as he is laid off from his job of more than a decade due to a monopolistic merger he has no power over, and begins his crime spree. It is defined by absurdity, an everyday man attempting murder, but the film's emphatic point is never lost, nor are the consequences of the actions Man-su feels driven to. There is a cynical tinge to the movie, nowhere better expressed than in the perfectly ironic ending, perhaps the greatest punctuation to any movie of 2025. And Park's filmmaking remains visceral and dynamic. An excellent, amusing, dour rebuke of the effects of a crumbling capitalist hellscape.
No Other Choice is not yet available to stream, rent, or buy.
12. The Life of Chuck -written and directed by Mike Flanagan
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There aren’t enough feel-good Stephen King movies. Mike Flanagan, the most prolific modern adapter of King, seemed to agree when he set out to make The Life of Chuck -a bizarre little story told in reverse chronological order that is all about, in its own terminology, the multitudes contained within an ordinary life. It is a movie of both immense scope and profound intimacy beginning at the end of the world and ending in a curious episode from a mundane childhood. It has its sparks of spontaneity and joy -particularly the middle chapter largely taken up by an impromptu public dance that is one of the most electrifying film sequences in years. But it is concerned primarily with emphasizing the apparent banality of the life of its titular character -not in a maudlin way but in a practical way, and demonstrating the true value and beauty even within that. The film is almost proudly saccharine and its scripted dialogue can tend a bit awkward, but it earns its keep through both its enigmatic structure and its authenticity of virtue, in the lovely music and cinematography, in the delightful performances from Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill among others. Even in turns that ought to be sad, it is a life-affirming movie like no other. And one that I hope is found by those who need it.
The Life of Chuck is streaming on Amazon Prime and available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
11. Mickey 17 -written and directed by Bong Joon-ho
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It’s a shame that movies from early in the year tend to get forgotten by the end. And that was the fate I was correctly worried about for Mickey 17, the latest sci-fi satire from Bong Joon-ho. But don’t let the timing convince you it wasn’t one of the most delightfully weird, twisted, and aesthetically boisterous movies released last year. With its vivid themes on resource imperialism and the tendency of the powerful to view workers as expendable drones, it hits hard on its subjects of ire and its modern analogues. Indeed, its villain -played by Mark Ruffalo- is somehow a perfect cartoonish fusion of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, conceived before the two were politically linked in some sharp foresight on the natural attraction between fascist politics and big business. Despite the dystopia, the movie is embroiled in entertaining scenarios and bits of dark humour, often at the expense of a character constantly dying and reconstituting as a clone. And between Robert Pattinson’s eccentric performance choices here, Naomi Ackie’s sweetness and valid horniness, and Mark Ruffalo’s outrageous yet tangible caricature, the movie is nowhere lacking for entertaining characters to follow through wild tonal shifts and genuinely cogent commentary alike. It’s premise is a lot of fun and its execution is skillfully deranged. Not one of Bong’s masterpieces, but a fantastic movie experience regardless.
Mickey 17 is streaming on Crave and available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
To be continued tomorrow with the Top Ten!
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