For cinephiles, 2025 was—much as with every other aspect of society—not for the faint of heart. Netflix’s intended purchase of Warner Brothers Discovery, not to mention Paramount’s hostile takeover bid, holds ominous implications for the long-term future of movie theaters. The introduction in September of a fully AI-generated actress named Tilly Norwood flipped out Hollywood. New ideas continued to take a back seat to existing intellectual property, with “Zootopia 2,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and Disney’s live-action version of “Lilo & Stitch” winning at the box office. The murders of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele end the year on a truly horrific note.
Thankfully, 2025 also offered plenty of terrific films. Here are my picks for the year’s best, with one big caveat: as of this writing, I have not seen Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” which is certain to rake in lots of awards, or James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” which is certain to rake in lots of money.
- “Jay Kelly”
It wasn’t a stretch for George Clooney to play a handsome movie star, but the latest work from writer-director Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”) gave the actor his best role since 2011’s “The Descendants.” In “Jay Kelly,” Clooney is a hero of the big screen thrust into a mid-life crisis after a series of unexpected events. In different hands, this material would be Hollywood navel-gazing, but Baumbach, who co-scripted with actress Emily Mortimer, gives us multidimensional characters and dialogue that is smart and funny. Special mention goes to an excellent Adam Sandler as Jay’s mensch of an agent.
- “Eddington”
Given that “Eddington” is a merciless skewering of the political divides, culture wars and free-floating rage that dominate American life in 2025, the idea of watching this film might strike some as slightly more pleasant than open-heart surgery. Even with a top-tier ensemble cast featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone, the movie polarized audiences, which is a specialty for writer-director Ari Aster (“Beau Is Afraid,” “Midsommar”). But for those of us with a taste for pitch-black comedies and a side of misanthropy, this bilious tale of politics in smalltown New Mexico is enthralling.
- “Sorry, Baby”
Perhaps surprising for someone who launched their showbiz career through online sketch comedy, the film debut of writer-director Eva Victor is a remarkably assured tonal balance of humor and heartbreak. Victor stars as Agnes, a Massachusetts college professor struggling with a past trauma about which she has only confided in her best friend (Naomi Ackie). The movie is a sensitively crafted and acted examination of endurance, but with a lightness of touch that eschews melodrama. There is not a single false note in “Sorry, Baby.”
- “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
While most Academy Awards prognosticators think Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”) is a lock for Best Actress (and she is excellent, don’t get me wrong), if there were any justice in such things, Rose Byrne would be Oscar-bound for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” a febrile dark comedy from writer-director Mary Bronstein. As Linda, the melting-down mother of a girl with an unidentified illness, Byrne chafes against a world that appears to be conspiring against her at every turn. Linda’s every interaction is fraught with peril—Conan O’Brien is particularly memorable as a prickly work colleague—while she continues to make dubious, if all too human, decisions.
- “Train Dreams”
Loosely adapted from Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, “Train Dreams” follows Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a reclusive logger and railway worker who drifts through the 20th century, quietly observing life’s grandeur and injustices. Writer-director Clint Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar (they also collaborated on last year’s “Sing Sing”) imbue their film with lyricism, beauty and the hushed reverence of being in a forest at dusk. Edgerton perfectly conveys taciturn soulfulness, with excellent supporting performances from the likes of Felicity Jones and William H. Macy. “Train Dreams” also boasts one of cinema’s most poignant endings in a year that had some doozies.
- “It Was Just an Accident”
A chance encounter leads Iranian auto mechanic Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) to suspect that the unassuming family man who has come to him with car trouble is none other than the “Peg Leg,” an unusually sadistic member of the despotic regime who tortured him years earlier. Vahid enlists the help of fellow ex-inmates to determine if this man with a prosthetic leg, Rahid (Ebrahim Azizi), is the one who subjected them to manifold horrors. How sure can these traumatized people, all of whom were blindfolded while in captivity, be in their identification? If Rahid is that monster, what revenge, if any, does he deserve? The naturalistic camerawork of “It Was Just an Accident” ratchets up the tension. Dissident Iranian writer-director Jafar Panahi comes from a very knowing place, having spent several years imprisoned in Iran for “propaganda.”
- “Weapons”
In 2022, writer-director Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian” came out of nowhere with a combustible mix of horror, comedy and a playfully nonlinear narrative reminiscent of the Tarantino playbook. Three years later, Cregger topped himself with “Weapons,” which boasts the same ingredients as that prior movie but now with the assuredness of someone fully in command of his storytelling powers. Segmented into chapters, each focusing on a different character, “Weapons” revolves around a central mystery: why did nearly all the students of a third-grade classroom race from their homes at 2:17 a.m. one morning and disappear? Julie Garner is the classroom teacher whom many parents believe is somehow responsible. Cregger deftly navigates the multiple storylines, and he is ably assisted by a knockout cast that includes Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich and an unforgettable Amy Madigan.
- “Sinners”
After languishing in the Marvel cinematic universe with “The Black Panther” franchise, Ryan Coogler had the opportunity this year to stretch his imagination. “Sinners” is nominally a vampire picture, but the writer-director sets his movie in 1930s-era Clarksdale, Mississippi, smack dab in the curdled heart of the racist Deep South. Long before any bloodsucking begins, Coogler takes his time introducing his array of characters, particularly young bluesman Sammie (Miles Caton) and twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan pulling double duty) who are busy starting up a juke joint. If vampires and Jim Crow are two legs of the three-legged narrative stool found in “Sinners,” music is the third leg. As Clarksdale is the birthplace of blues, Coogler gets to celebrate the genre and its storied legacy. By all rights, this mashup should be a mess, yet “Sinners” is a blast.
- “Sentimental Value”
The Norwegian import that won a 19-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival is a powerful exploration of parenting, grief and reconciliation. Such themes can be heavy stuff, but writer-director Joachim Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt (the pair also did “The Worst Person in the World”) are too smart and nimble to let weightiness overshadow vibrant storytelling and richly drawn characters. Stellan Skarsgård is Gustav Borg, a once-celebrated filmmaker who comes back to his former home after the death of his ex-wife. His return provides an opportunity to patch things up with his estranged adult daughters, Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). Nora is having none of it, however, especially when Gustav asks her to star as her own grandmother in a thinly veiled autobiographical film. The lead performances are tremendous.
- “One Battle After Another”
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood,” “Licorice Pizza”) spent 20 years wanting to adapt Thomas Pynchon’s presumably unfilmable book “Vineland,” which makes it even more extraordinary that this comedy-drama feels so immediate. “One Battle After Another” feels like it was written and shot mere months ago: amid a federal clampdown on illegal immigration and the shadowy workings of a secret society called the Christmas Adventurers Club, an ex-leftist terrorist-turned-burnout goes searching for his teen daughter who has been kidnapped by a racist Army colonel. Leonardo Di Caprio is the burnout, Chase Infiniti is the girl, and Sean Penn is the military man; all are assured of Oscar nominations. Anderson’s ensemble cast also includes Benicio del Toro stealing every scene as a fix-it sensei and Teyana Taylor as a revolutionary with the memorable name Perfidia Beverly Hills. A rollicking blend of action, comedy and family drama—including perhaps the movies’ best car chase in 40 years—“One Battle After Another” is a masterpiece from arguably the most exciting American filmmaker working today.
Honorable mentions: “Bugonia,” “28 Years Later,” “No Other Choice,” “Eephus,” “The Shrouds,” “Rental Family,” “Companion,” “Influencers,” “Wake Up Dead Man,” “Warfare” and “F1.”
This article appears in Dec 24-2025.