The children are our future. At least, that’s what the 2025 box office would lead me to believe. Because when I think of 2025, the first thing that comes to mind is kids’ movies. I don’t know if there were more movies for the chillins this year, or if they just performed better than last year’s crop (the 2025 box office was a slight uptick overall), but I swear kids’ movies, and horror, are the only sure things these days.
Zootopia 2, A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, KPop Demon Hunters, whatever the hell Ne Zha 2 is supposed to be, these are the films filling seats in today’s theaters. Oh, and Avatar, but that one’s for the child in all of us.
Now, there were two box-office breakthroughs this year (spoiler alert: they’re my number one and number three) that were original films and actually performed well. Yet I get the sense studios weren’t thrilled about that. Why else would they make such a concerted effort to downplay those successes? Studios want to pull the strings, so it makes sense they’d bristle at directors who claim full ownership of their art. The struggle is real.
I guess what I’m saying is the corporate fuckification of the movie industry feels more noticeable than ever, and it’s hard not to wonder what that means for theatergoing, if theatergoing will even exist in the coming years.
With that existential dread out of the way, let’s get into it!
Honorable Mention
Bugonia
Companion
Wake Up Dead Man
The way I feel about this movie is the opposite of how I feel about Rodney Dangerfield, meaning I got a lotta respect for One Battle After Another. I enjoy all the dynamic setpieces and the kooky characters. I think it’s safe to say “kooky” when the Golden Globes categorized this as comedy at this year’s ceremony. What’s funnier than opening a movie with liberating an immigrant detention center, am I right?
But for many small reasons, this wasn’t a total game changer for me. I had trouble locking into the manic pace of the film, and rarely cared about anything going on when Leo wasn’t on screen. I also hate Johnny Greenwood’s dissonant piano-heavy work that he calls a score. The set-pieces are fantastic but I wasn’t always on board.
I include this film because 1) It’s the most important movie of the year. 2) I don’t feel strongly about my other candidates for the 10 spot and 3) Out of all the movies on my list this is the one I’m most excited to rewatch and reevaluate. I’m giving myself an escape hatch for later when I decide I love this movie. Which could happen. One rewatch after another.
Mickey 17 was the first 2025 movie I saw in theaters. I loved it, but I never thought it would have the legs to make it all the way to list-making time almost a year later. Not that it isn’t good enough, just that nobody is talking about this film anymore. What’s the opposite of recency bias?
I didn’t care what kind of movie Bong Joon Ho wanted to make after Parasite. Why? Because I trust him. The man knows his forte, “eat the rich” stories loaded with dark comedy, and he knows how to translate that vision whether it’s in Korean, English, or whatever the hell kind of accent Robert Pattinson is doing in this film.
Pattinson is my favorite leading man working today. In an age where stars like Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson have riders in their contracts about never losing a fight, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a star who couldn’t care less about how people perceive him. I mean, this guy is Batman! He doesn’t need to play a low-status weirdo who talks like Ren from Ren and Stimpy, but he does.
Pattinson and Bong know how to match each other’s freak, and that makes me happy.
Never could I have imagined a film called “Final Destination: Bloodlines” would make my Top Ten, but why shouldn’t it? I love this franchise, and after countless nights lying awake stewing over it, I’ve come to the conclusion this is the best Final Destination movie ever made.
FDB has everything you could want in a new installment: an intense opening disaster, this time set on a building resembling the Space Needle, along with humor, horror, and characters you like, even though you know they’re gonna get it, bad. It even brings Tony Todd back for one final last hurrah before his passing.
What makes FDB my favorite entry is how it reinvents the lore of the franchise. Here, the question becomes: if someone who was supposed to die survives, what happens to them… and their children? This fresh idea, combined with the film’s twists and turns, results in a sequel that’s more than a thrill ride, it gets in your head. Not in a way since the first installment did.
“Yeah, but nothing beats the log truck in Final Destination 2!” you might be screaming at me. Fair. But wait until the climax. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I believe it was Hank Scorpio who once said, “Can’t argue with the little things, it’s the little things that make up life.” Because this is what the film Eephus is: a series of little things. In the grand scheme of life, does it matter that a bunch of middle-aged men are losing their baseball field? Maybe not. But it matters to them.
I’m sure all of us who have seen Eephus have a moment or two that sticks with us. For me, it’s when Bill’s kids show up for his final at-bat, only to watch him strike out. He then has the following exchange:
Bill: You know, that might have been the last time the kids saw the old man come to the plate.
Graham: They’re so young, they won’t even remember this.
Bill: They’re 10 and 12.
Graham: Then they’ll probably love that you struck out. It’s funny.
Bill: Not to me.
And that’s life. Not every situation works out. What matters is how we choose to live with the setbacks. That’s the quiet power of Carson Lund’s Linklater-esque tribute to baseball. Life moves fast, even when you’re playing the slowest game imaginable, but it’s the little things we remember.
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I hate how so many end-of-year lists look the same. It’s all the same prestige titles, the same “important” films, the same ten movies shuffling through awards season. I’m as guilty as anyone including these films on lists but I wanted to have one pick this year that would rattle some cages… with a motherfucking chainsaw!
Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc. Ignore the stupid title, is one of the best action movies and love stories of the year. A film that begs the question of, “What would you do if you fell in love with a bomb?” Can love conquer all? Or will it blow up in Denji’s face? Literally.
It’s not like this film didn’t make its mark. Apart from being a massive hit in Japan, the film won its opening weekend here in the states. Take that Regretting You! Anime has become a force to be reckoned with at the North American Box Office, and I for one welcome our new Anime overlords.
Danny Boyle is a gamer. There’s no evidence the 69-year-old has ever picked up a controller, but his movies feel like games. They’re shot and paced like video games, bursting with the same restless energy. He also collaborates with Alex Garland, who has written for games (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry) and has since been tapped to direct the Elden Ring film.
Why would I want a movie to feel like a game? Because it results in a film that’s never boring. Every infected encounter cuts to a special kill shot, like a finishing move. Mainland Britain feels like an open-world map where you hunt the infected, except you only have so many arrows, like a survival horror game.
Eventually, you get lore from a beloved presence in Ralph Fiennes and this zombie free-for-all gains legitimacy. It’s easy to forget Boyle and Garland are storytellers first and adrenaline junkies second, but they are. The result? The best 28 Days film yet (though I haven’t seen the new one) and one of the best zombie movies of the last decade.
Wow. Back-to-back years (literally, because they get stuck together) of instant-classic body horror with this and The Substance, how spoiled (or punished) are we? If you love movies like Society or anything Stuart Gordon or David Cronenberg ever cooked up in that lab, you’ll feel right at home with Michael Shanks’ Together. It’s funny, awkward, disgusting, emotional, and, above all, sticky.
Allison Brie is one of my favorite working actresses because there isn’t anything she won’t do. If you haven’t checked out her collaborations with Jeff Baena (RIP), you should. She screams, cries, laughs, gets naked, humiliates herself, and brings a fearless energy to everything she does, Together being no exception. It’s a performance that demands commitment, and Brie commits.
Dave Franco is a nice counterbalance with his apathetic slacker persona. But it’s when they are together in the most uncomfortable of situations that this movie pops. And the fact they are married in real life adds a whole other level. Just don’t watch this one if you have an aversion to electric saws.
There were four major Stephen King adaptations this year, and somehow Weapons feels like the best King adaptation that isn’t a King adaptation. The small-town setting, the colorful ensemble of characters, the violence, the humor, the mysterious stranger in town. It’s like if ’Salem’s Lot, Needful Things, and The Regulators had a three-way and this was the aftermath
Like Barbarian, Weapons was smart to keep all its cards close to its chest and not spoil anything in its advertising. Every reveal and scare is parceled out with patience, precision and humor. Considering his sketch comedy background, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Zach Cregger understands timing. He knows when to hold back, when to land a joke, and when to pull the rug out from under you. That ending man, insanity.
Weapons also gave us a new queer horror icon in Gladys. I mean, she’s evil but you gotta love her vibe! #WeStanGladys
I was ready to hate this movie. I have nothing against Josh Safdie and company, but I’ve grown weary of Timothée Chalamet’s “I want to be the best” mantra, which he’s been repeating on every podcast and awards show for the past few years. Unless… he actually is the best?
Safdie Brother films (even sans Benny) are exciting because they’re so propulsive. Every scene feels like it’s juggling five plots at once, like plates spinning, ready to come crashing to the floor. Characters scream over one another as situations spiral from bad to worse. It’s like a car crash, you can’t look away. Or an exploding gas station. Or a seal playing table tennis during halftime at a Harlem Globetrotters game.
Marty himself is far from your typical protagonist. He’s self-absorbed, a compulsive liar, a con man, and unreliable, but this is why he works. Marty feels like a real athlete, driven by ego. Remember that Michael Jordan documentary? Marty carries the same arrogance, and I appreciate how Chalamet leans into it.
This authenticity extends to the supporting cast. The Safdies have a knack for inspired casting, whether the performers are trained actors or not. Bringing in real-life villain Kevin O’Leary as the film’s antagonist is a stroke of genius. Add to that sports-internet personality Luke Manley as Marty’s naïve buddy Dion and legendary grizzled filmmaker Abel Ferrara as a mobster who has a bathtub fall on him. The world of Marty Supreme feels alive.
The environments feel real too. The period-perfect costumes, sets, and locations are energized by anachronistic ’80s needle drops, which injects youth and vibrancy into a period few regard as “cool”.
Above all else, the movie is fun. Table tennis works well on camera, something we all learned from Forrest Gump. Even though Marty is an asshole, you want him to succeed. After everything he’s been through, and with his pregnant love interest Rachel (Odessa A’zion) by his side, you root for him to catch a break and win big.
And maybe I want Timmy to win big, too. He won me over.
Vampires might be my favorite horror subgenre. Hell, I even made a vampire movie. I love the mythology and the rules of vampires: all-powerful beings, chained to our mortal coil by severe limitations. Because of this, they must learn to walk among us to survive. It’s fascinating to see how vampires in any story choose to cohabitate with our world. In the case of Sinners, it’s through the power of music.
I remember seeing the trailers for Sinners and thinking, “What is this, an episode of True Blood? This looks silly.” I worried the vampires would be too melodramatic to be scary. The time period, the tone, the budget, these all felt like massive swings. Lucky for us, Ryan Coogler knocked this one into the stratosphere, tearing the fucking cover off the ball in a way few filmmakers could.
It’s a treat to see a period piece executed at this level. The world of Sinners feels alive, populated by likable, larger-than-life characters, though none larger than Smoke (Michael B. Jordan) and Stack (also Michael B. Jordan). Jordan is a generational talent, and his ability to give these smart-talking twin gangsters such distinct personas is a hell of a feat.
If Jordan is the heart of the film, Ludwig Göransson’s score is its soul. It’s a surprising fact when you realize this movie, made by and starring so many people of color, was scored by a white guy from Sweden. But hey, ABBA is from Sweden too. The Swedes know their tunes.
The music of Sinners pays tribute to blues, folk, and even the sounds of the future, underscoring how music brings people together, even the “sinners” of the world. Music is a shared language, and the film understands this fact.
I know not everyone loves the shift from period-piece drama to full-blown vampire free-for-all, but I believe there’s power in the way the film is structured. The first half shows these human characters living and loving in their natural world. But when the sun goes down, the world no longer belongs to them. It belongs to the vampires, and not until sunrise does it shift back to the world of the living.
The structure of Sinners is good versus evil in its purest form.
I always say the best movies exist in multiple genres. Sinners is a horror film, sure, but it’s also funny, romantic, and sad. It has action and musical sequences. It pushes beyond the limitations of its label. That’s why it was a hit, and that’s why it’s in the awards-season conversation.
Sinners might even be my favorite vampire movie ever made. It’s a tough call, I love Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but Sinners has vampires, the blues, and killing white supremacists. That’s the vibe we need heading into uncertain times, and it’s why this film earns my number-one spot.