2025 was a good year… for movies, that is. This year, cinema gifted us with less comic book CGI saturation and more character driven works. Studios put more focus on getting good screenplays. Indie dramas found a bigger home than they had in a while, while some good horror films staked a claim.
In just about every genre, the year made it clear that modern cinema is finding its mojo again and I am pleased to report there was an abundance of good-to-great films to choose from.
Here are my choices for the 10 best films of 2025.
- THE LIFE OF CHUCK– Mike Flanagan
That the studio failed to properly promote this wonderful piece of cinema is beyond rational thought. Mike Flanagan masterfully adapts Stephen King’s story of the end of “a” world.
The film tells its tale in three acts, moving backwards and beginning with Act III. What begins as an almost horror story, reveals itself to be something profound.
Flanagan’s best film yet focuses on a farewell to the titular character and evolves into an exploration of the moments and people who move through our lives. From the smallest gesture to the dearest of friends, our minds build the history of a life in every second and the way we see the world is shaped by these fragmented encounters. As humans, we contain multitudes.
By the final scene, our hearts and souls have been warmed by this beautiful cinematic journey.
The cast is uniformly great, but it is Mark Hamill who deserves nomination chatter. His supporting role as Chuck’s grandfather is incredibly touching and poignant. I have seen this film four times and am deeply moved with each viewing.
The Life of Chuck is Stephen King. It is Capraesque. It is the best film of 2025.
2. SENTIMENTAL VALUE– Joachim Trier
Emotionally intricate. Complex. Mature. Trier’s film is the kind of intricate human drama that reminds us how powerful the art of cinema can be.
Joachim Trier has taken a delicate and unobtrusive approach to telling this story. His direction is patient and the actors are allowed the space they require to let their characters grow. Every moment has a lived-in feel, as if we have known these people for decades. There is a rich naturality to the multilayered screenplay that may lead some to profound tears. Audiences will never find a hint of melodrama in Trier’s sad and poetic masterwork.
Sad, funny, and quietly moving, Sentimental Value is an absolutely sublime motion picture.
3. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER– Paul Thomas Anderson
Anderson’s finest work to date is an insanely electrifying motion picture that speaks to the divided America of today, but don’t think Anderson’s sights are set on only one target. Everyone gets skewered in this occasionally absurdist and always potent treatise on a country that has gone insane.
In a sea of award-worthy performances, Sean Penn is absolutely mesmerizing in the performance of the year.
Anderson has a lot to say within his labyrinthine narrative and his screenplay has a powerful political charge. This isn’t a “message” film, but a masterful work with no guard rails and we are in the hands of a filmmaker who refuses to play by the rules.
Brutal, fascinating, moving, and (at times) very funny, Anderson never takes a didactic approach. The director wants his audience to understand the nuances and embrace the societal comparisons to today, but entertainment is his main course.
Paul Thomas Anderson is a fearless artist and One Battle After Another is a true masterpiece.
4. MARTY SUPREME– Josh Safdie
Josh Safdie’s first film without his brother is rich in character and atmosphere and revels in its gritty 50’s New York City settings.
Timothée Chalamet is incredible as the titular character who dares the audience to stay with him. The film’s presentation of the main character recalls director Ted Kotcheff’s excellent 1974 film, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, where Richard Dreyfuss played an almost unredeemable character.
Everything about this unique work is challenging and exuberantly cinematic.
Safdie has created a triumph of American filmmaking and a tough, emotionally challenging piece that flows with a streetwise swagger.
5. THE SHROUDS– David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg does a supremely David Cronenberg film that has a deeply philosophical center.
This is a film that addresses personal loss and how we deal with death. The power of memory and the act of grieving become something darkly ethereal and beautiful.
Cronenberg has never made a film so personal and in this brilliant piece, the filmmaker shares his grief with those who are adventurous enough to walk his path.
6. IS THIS THING ON?– Bradley Cooper
The biggest surprise of the year. Bradley Cooper directs this emotionally rich comedy-drama about marriage.
Will Arnett is a revelation as the actor traverses the painful reality of marital separation while trying to find your true purpose. Laura Dern does her finest work as the wife of Arnett’s character who is trying to come to terms with her supposed need for a separation and undying love for her husband. Neither really understands how they got this stage in their marriage and their combined journey is something quite special.
There are moments where I smiled and laughed while other scenes brought me to tears. Certain moments felt warm and comforting, as others were affecting in their pain and anger. Such is marriage.
Cooper’s film has it all, but most important is the pure honesty that burns in every frame.
7. DEAF PRESIDENT NOW!– Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim
Deaf President Now! is one of the most riveting documentaries of the decade and one of the most important human rights stories ever told.
It is the rare film (fiction or nonfiction) that is able to capture a moment in time so completely while standing behind a strong message with conviction. This stunning new documentary is a rousing, informative, and eye-opening experience. The filmmakers seek to teach those who were not aware of one of history’s most important revolutionary acts; an act that would become a turning point for Deaf rights and a catalyst for the Americans with Disabilities Act, paving the way for broader legal protections for people with disabilities, including Deaf and hearing-impaired individuals.
DiMarco and Guggenheim present their film in the hope of dispelling such uninformed perceptions. Deaf President Now! is not only insight into a forgotten piece of history, it is a call for acceptance and inclusion and a demand that everyone’s human rights be recognized. 37 years later, the actions of those four brave students continue to echo in the sounds of change.
8. NO OTHER CHOICE– Park Chan-wook
Park’s film has a lot to say about isolation and corporate greed and how the quest to keep the rich richer spits in the face of the working man.
Lee Byung-hun nails another unique role and brings a humanistic power to a man who is sidelined by workplace betrayal. The actor goes through the range of emotions while finding a kindness in his character’s desparation.
Rarely is a man’s descent into murderous revenge so moving.
With its darkly comedic slant and heartfelt dedication to character, Park’s latest is as unique and involving as any of his works.
9. BLUE MOON/NOUVELLE VAGUE– A Richard Linklater double gift for 2025
Blue Moon–
Ethan Hawke should begin writing his acceptance speeches, as his performance in Blue Moon is one of the most incredible pieces of acting this decade has to offer. Hawke is nothing “short” (those who saw the film, forgive the pun) of mesmerizing as Lorenz Hart, one of Broadway’s most acclaimed songwriters of his time.
Taking place almost completely in a bar, Hawke has an incredible amount of dialogue and sells every line. Hart drinks and reminisces and wants and needs and pines.
The performance takes our breath away, as does the film.
Nouvelle Vague–
Richard Linklater has figured out how to conquer the boundaries of space and time. I firmly believe the filmmaker created a time machine and went back to the summer of 1959 to document the making of Goddard’s Breathless.
But seriously folks, my statement is a compliment to linklater’s painstaking recreation of that pivotal moment in cinema.
Guillaume Marbeck becomes Goddard, as the film immerses us in a time that changed the way movies are made and seen.
Two great films in one year. Bravo Richard Linklater!
10. SINNERS– Ryan Coogler
History, horror, music, and richly textured filmmaking combine in Ryan Coogler’s dazzling work.
Coogler populates his film with history and truth, giving it all a genre sheen. While the wrap-up can’t sustain the supreme focus shown in the first half (and there are too many endings), the picture contains some of the most breathtaking sequences you are likely to see this year. There is real emotion to the direction, to the design of the screenplay, and to the entire project.
Michael B. Jordan is stunning in his dual roles, delivering both a classic leading man performance and a Method-style becoming of two separate characters. Identical twins down to their southern drawls and facial hair, the actor makes each one their own personality and embodies (twice over) the screenplay’s power, pain, violence, and sexual heat in a role that should see an Oscar nomination come calling.
Ryan Coogler is one of the best filmmakers working today. Sinners is one hell of a motion picture.
Now, off to 2026!