It is now time to look forward to the new year by taking a look back and evaluating the last one. The films of 2025 were kind of a mixed bag for me. As with most years, it was met with high highs, and some low lows. There were a few that met and/or exceeded expectations (One Battle After Another), along with some that failed to live up to the hype (Sinners). There were some pleasant surprises (The Ballad of Wallis Island), and some that were surprisingly bad (Spinal Tap II). The ones that were better than the overall consensus (Mickey 17), and the ones that needed to be critically ripped to shreds much more than they were (Jurassic World: Rebirth). And then there’s always the “what the hell were they watching??” movie. The one that looked bad but suckered me in with weird amounts of positive reviews, only to reveal itself to be an even bigger steaming pile of garbage than I had previously thought, ending with my questioning if the filmmakers had to sell their souls to Satan in exchange for the generous ratings (Heart Eyes). Overall, it was an enjoyable year of movies that closes the first half of the decade on a more hopeful note for the industry than I was feeling at the start.

Please note that these are movies that were made available to the general public in the USA this year. I’m aware that a few may have been made prior to 2025, but were not available to be seen until now. Also, it’s my list, so I’ll make and/or break whatever rules I damn well please. Furthermore, most films were only seen once, and some stretching back to earlier in the year, so not every single one is as fresh in my mind as others that were seen more recently.

Enough babbling, here are my top 10 movies of 2025:

10. The Ballad of Wallis Island

This was easily the biggest surprise of the year for me. On the surface, this was exactly as advertised; a nice little quirky indie comedy about an eccentric lottery winner who uses his winnings to hire his favorite musical duo to perform a private concert at his home on an island so remote that he’s not privy to the public drama surrounding the now divorced couple that is the band. But it was what’s revealed underneath as the plot unfolds, which is an almost overwhelming sense of wholesomeness, that sent this immediately into my top 10 with a bullet. It’s almost impossible to think about this movie and not smile.

9. Caught Stealing

I love the films of Darren Aronofsky (yes, even Noah), but they usually aren’t easy watches. At best, they’ll just rip your heart out of your ass (The Wrestler), at worst, they’ll legitimately ruin the next 24 to 48 hours of your life (Requiem for a Dream). But his craft is always top notch and he’s a rare example of a filmmaker that does not sacrifice artistry for superficial entertainment. Caught Stealing was the first time I saw a trailer for one of his movies that made me worried that the time had finally come for my man Darren to cave to mainstream sensibilities. And while this movie is undoubtedly his most accessible, it still is not the style-over-substance crime slop that is usually reserved for the likes of Guy Ritchie. Instead, it finds a healthy balance in being a stylized, darkly comedic action thriller and not shying away from Aronofsky’s signature exploration into the bleakness of humanity. I look forward to revisiting this one at least a few more times.

8. Roofman

Much like Darren Aronofsky, my relationship with most of director Derek Cianfrance’s films has been complicated, but in the best way possible. They are masterfully crafted, but usually have this way of saying to you “Are you having a good day? Yeah? Great. Now sit back and let me fuck that up for you.” Granted, most of his films tend to at least have glimmers of hopefulness (except Blue Valentine), but he usually sends you to hell and back first. Similar to Caught Stealing, the trailer for Roofman had me oddly worried that Cianfrance was going to make a movie that wouldn’t ruin my day. To my surprise, even with Channing Tatum’s undeniable charm and the somewhat playful tone, the film still manages to tell a deeply human story that had much more heart than I thought it would and stuck in my mind for days after…without feeling like I needed to retreat to a dark room to think about my life for awhile.

7. Frankenstein

It’s almost a goddamn war crime that Netflix didn’t give this film a bigger theatrical release. Almost all films by Guillermo del Toro demand to be seen on the big screen, and his epic take on one of the most popular gothic horror fantasies in history is no exception. I have no doubt in my mind that if I had seen this on a massive IMAX screen that it would’ve made it into my top 3 of the year. But even seeing it for the first time in an inferior fashion was good enough to crack the top 10. As much as I appreciated his venture into the world of animation with 2022’s Pinocchio, this felt like a welcome return to what del Toro has always done best; beautiful period piece horror with massive set pieces and stories that convince us that human beings are the real monsters. I can only hope that I get an opportunity in the future to see this movie the way it was so clearly intended to be seen, which is not in my living room.

6. Weapons

I can’t wax poetic about this movie too heavily without veering into spoiler territory, so I’ll keep this brief. I’m at a point where I feel like I’m gonna hurl whenever I hear the term “elevated horror”. I was rolling my eyes during a different entry in the sub-genre in question earlier this year once I figured out that the “metaphor” was, yet again, about the hardships and grief that come with motherhood. I initially was going to write this one off, but I saw it was a film by Zach Cregger, whose film Barbarian made its way into my top 10 of 2022 with its very original story and unique structure. As soon as I heard George Harrison’s Beware of Darkness over the unsettling opening credit sequence, I knew I was in for the long haul. From there, Cregger gives us another dose of his distinct storytelling style that is scary, exciting, darkly humorous, twisty, unpredictable, and never boring. Honestly, this is one filmmaker that is almost single handedly keeping me interested in what I personally feel is getting to be a tired genre at this point.

5. Train Dreams

This is a film about a logger and his life experiences set against the backdrop of the rapidly changing early 20th century America. That’s really all I can say about this movie. And if you’re wondering how a film I have so little to say about could make its way not only into my top 10, but top 5 films of the year, I offer you this cliched response; it’s a movie that you need to see for yourself to understand. This is not a sweeping epic or flashy drama about the hardships of the time. It’s a quiet, meditative moving portrait that uses mostly imagery to tell its story. This film reminded me of the first time I watched a Terrence Malick film (which was The Thin Red Line for those interested) and how hard it was to articulate just what I had experienced, but the images and overall feel of the film were perfectly clear in my head that it almost became overwhelming. I had to recommend that some of my friends watch it just so that if a Terrence Malick film ever came up in conversation, we could give a nod to each other in solidarity that what we witnessed could not simply be put into words. I plan on doing the same with Train Dreams.

4. Marty Supreme

Now that the Safdie Brothers have decided to direct their own separate movies, and even though I admittedly still have yet to see brother Benny’s The Smashing Machine, I can quite confidently say which of the brothers is adamant on making sure I have a constant anxiety attack for the duration of their film, and that’s brother Josh. I didn’t watch a trailer for this film prior to seeing it, so I have no frame of reference for what my expectations could have been. What I do know is that I wasn’t prepared for a movie about an aspiring world ping-pong champion chasing his dream in 1950’s New York City to cause so many instances of needing to pick my jaw up off the floor and leave me with sweaty palms at the end. Alas, I am the fool in thinking that the guy who made me live deep inside the NYC heroin scene in Heaven Knows What, get chased through the seedy drug and neon light filled underbelly of the city with a total degenerate trying to earn bail money for his brother in Good Time, and hang out in the Diamond District with a gambling addict who keeps digging himself into a deeper hole by the minute in Uncut Gems, was going to let me breathe easy for 150 minutes this time around. All that being said, I cannot wait to revisit this anxiety attack again as soon as possible.

3. Mr. Scorsese

How long should a documentary about one of the greatest living filmmakers in history be? Well, what we got was about 4 ½ hours. The answer to the question, however, can not be answered, as there is no amount of time spent on this man that would ever be considered enough. Keeping in mind that these are supposed to be short and sweet thoughts about my ten favorite films of the year, I must practice self control and stop myself before this veers off into a novel about the greatness of Mr. Scorsese. So I will leave it at this; I do not merely suggest you watch this documentary, I command that you watch it. Immediately. And then be sure to watch the entire filmography (yes, even Boxcar Bertha in all its horribleness) of this legend.

2. One Battle After Another

This film was easily the wildest ride I’ve had at the theater in a long time and definitely the wildest I had in 2025. Leave it to Paul Thomas Anderson to make a film that is timely, exciting, whip-smart, disturbing, terrifying, panic-inducing, and truly hilarious without it ever becoming muddled. It’s serious and comedic in all the right places, never letting either aspect undermine the other. It’s political without ever getting preachy. No finger shaking at the audience telling them what to think and how to feel about it, which is a damn rarity these days. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the extremely rare filmmakers who hasn’t had a miss yet. I’ve always looked forward to whatever his latest project is and this movie has me even more excited than I ever have been for what he does next. No matter what it is, take my money. This was easily my favorite film released in 2025. The only reason it can be the best of the year and sit at #2 is because…

1. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

…this masterpiece finally got a wide release in the same year!

Ok, ok. I know this technically became available for the public to watch back in 2006. But it was only available in sporadic screenings and exclusively at The New Beverly Theater in LA, which is owned by director Quentin Tarantino. Because of this technicality, I am considering this an official 2025 release. Also, it’s my list and I can do whatever the hell I want.

I was in high school when Kill Bill was released as two separate chapters in the theater. At the time, I was unaware that Tarantino did not originally intend it to be as such. Even after finding out about the original intended version of the film, which was supposed to be a 4 ½ hour epic with an intermission, it never hindered my love of seeing it in two parts. I will say though, aside from being forced to wait for Vol. 2 to be released in theaters after seeing Vol. 1, I have never put this movie on and not watched it in its entirety. For the longest time, I just assumed this was a personal preference. Now I understand the truth; this movie needs to be experienced as a complete work. To watch it in any other fashion is to only experience a single part of a movie, which is just wrong. For the last 20+ years, I have just watched both volumes back to back. That was until December of 2025.

This wasn’t just a trip to the movies, this was an experience that can not be understated. The last time I remember leaving a theater and being speechless was seeing Interstellar in true 70mm IMAX. That was back in 2014. It wouldn’t be for another 11 years that I exited a theater thinking, “this is why I go to the movies”. Even having seen both volumes of this movie countless times, knowing every line, action beat, eye gouge, severed limb, the mystery of the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique and its spectacular reveal at the end, I honestly felt like I had seen this movie for the very first time all over again. It honestly went from two films that I loved over the years to one of the most exquisite cinematic masterpieces I have ever seen. I will most likely have to write an extended in-depth piece about this experience down the road, as I feel that I’m rambling way too much at this moment, but it’s almost impossible not to after seeing this film. However, I will leave it at this: the only, and I mean ONLY complaint I had with this film was that it has made me question whether or not I will ever be able to watch the film split into two parts ever again. Tarantino has already said he doesn’t intend on releasing the Whole Bloody Affair for home viewing, as it really needs to be seen in a theater. And while I agree, and will absolutely return to this if and when it gets released again and every time after, I do secretly hope for a home release so I can watch it over and over again. If you haven’t experienced this movie yet, believe me when I warn you; there is no going back.

And that’s a wrap on 2025!