2025 was a mostly terrible year, but I always had a movie to look forward to. In a time when everyday existence feels impossible, it’s incredibly impressive when a movie can manage to take you to another world and let you live a different life for two hours. It’s indisputable proof how magical the medium of film is on a grand scale. Here are the best films I saw in 2025.

1) TWINLESS – It feels like a magic trick when a film can have all kinds of festival buzz and preconceived expectations going into it and then the movie that I finally get to watch months later still feels like a where-the-hell-did-that-come-from knockout. Twinless is an emotionally complex, hilarious and devastating masterclass of tone and plotting. Dylan O’Brien proves he’s one of our most stealthily talented actors working today. James Sweeney blew me away equally as an actor, writer and director. Definitely the kind of film where it’s best to go in knowing as close to nothing as possible.

Twinless can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It will stream on Hulu beginning January 16th.

2) ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER – This might be Paul Thomas Anderson’s true masterpiece. A thrilling, relentless, and incredibly effective film that also acts as one of the most powerful snapshots of how it felt to be alive in the year 2025. It kept surprising me and it got weirder and more fascinating as it went on. The kind of pre-packaged Oscar contender that I can’t even roll my eyes at when it inevitably cleans up on Oscar night.

One Battle After Another will release on Blu-ray January 20th. It can also be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also streaming on HBO Max.

3) KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN – I’m someone who has long relied on cinema to take me out of myself. For when I’m feeling anxious, depressed, or overwhelmed, it has always helped me to go sit down in a movie theater and forget about the world outside of that room for a while. Kiss of the Spider Woman is a powerful love letter to the movie musical, to old Hollywood, and the necessity of escapism in general. Oh, and also put Tonatiuh in absolutely everything from now on.

Kiss of the Spider Woman can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It will eventually stream on Hulu.

4) IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU – This is one of the most stressful movies I’ve ever seen. The kind where you just sit in stunned silence for a while after the credits finished rolling because you just need to decompress from the experience you just had. Rose Byrne gave the best performance by a female actor that I saw all year. Mary Bronstein’s direction is claustrophobic and effective, and her script is intense, sharp and ruthless. It’s exhausting but it’s enlightening, and this character’s journey will stay with you long after you see the film.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It will stream on HBO Max starting January 30th.

5) WICKED: FOR GOOD – A substantial glow-up for the rushed and not-great second half of Wicked. The pacing problems of act 2 are gone, the songs are exquisitely executed, the new songs fit seamlessly into the narrative, and every choice made here, every deviation from the source material, feels so perceptive and inspired. Even though the songs may not be as instantly iconic as Popular or Defying Gravity, this film gives all of act 2’s numbers a breathtaking second life. The rare stage-to-screen adaptation that honors what came before it, but also fully makes proper use of the medium of film.

Wicked: For Good is still playing in select theaters, and will release on Blu-ray January 20th. It can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home.

6) SENTIMENTAL VALUE – A deeply felt and incisive story about the creative process and how creative people use their art to work through their trauma. Renate Reinsve, who I first saw in Joachim Trier’s last film The Worst Person in the World, is once again, outstanding. But it’s Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning, weirdly enough, who ended up really surprising me here. It’s clear at this point that Trier is very much for me, and this continues to be the case.

Sentimental Value can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It will eventually stream on Hulu.

7) SORRY, BABY – Eva Victor is absolutely brilliant. As a writer, as a director and an actor. To have your directorial debut pack this much of a punch, it’s a sign we’re looking at someone who might be one of this generation’s great filmmakers. Sorry, Baby is a deeply effective and emotionally true story about the paralyzing nature of trauma, and about how one thing can color the way you see everything else in your life. This is one for the ages.

Sorry, Baby can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on HBO Max.

8) SINNERS – The way Ryan Coogler grasps everything he wants to say something about – racism in America and the Jim Crow south, otherism, cultural alienation, religious trauma, the fine line between religion and cult, sexism, and the dangers of forgetting this country’s not-all-that-distant past, all the while constructing it as his wacky, go-for-broke, brutally visceral vampire movie, is something I haven’t seen a filmmaker tackle (and succeed wildly with) in a very long time.

Sinners is available on Blu-ray, and can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on HBO Max.

9) THE WEDDING BANQUET – There’s a lot of inherent wackiness in the setup for this story, and I was worried this might delve into the easier slapstick-y kind of humor, and forego some of the heart and pathos that I’ve been accustomed to with Andrew Ahn’s films. Well, I’m thrilled to say Ahn has not lost his touch, and if anything he’s fine tuned it. An emotionally rewarding and riotously funny farce that sneaks up on you emotionally in ways you couldn’t have been expecting.

The Wedding Banquet is available on Blu-ray and can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is currently streaming on Kanopy and Paramount+.

10) MATERIALISTS – Proves that writer/director Celine Song’s debut feature Past Lives was no fluke, and that she is one of our strongest and most astute filmmakers of the romance genre, of this generation. There are many aspects of human connection and human desire that she captures so beautifully and so thoughtfully, through small, individual character moments or monologues, and this film cements her as one of my favorite filmmakers working today.

Materialists is available on Blu-ray, and can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on HBO Max.

11) SUPERMAN – This is how a superhero movie is supposed to feel. James Gunn’s Superman is chaotic, breathless, very funny, very creative and utterly joyful. It never did what I thought it would and I found myself in an awestruck, jaw-dropped state of wonder more than a few times. David Corenswet was born for this. Rachel Brosnahan couldn’t be better. This is also kind of a romantic comedy and I love that about it. A wildly entertaining and fast-paced tribute to the power of human decency in a time audiences need it most.

Superman is available on Blu-ray and can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on HBO Max.

12) HAMNET – As a love story about how art can heal, I found Hamnet to be incredibly moving. Chloé Zhao’s filmmaking is once again atmospheric and evocative of its time and place in immersive and captivating ways. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal will absolutely rip your heart out, but this happens in ways that might be less obvious than you’re expecting. Sometimes, emotional manipulation works.

Hamnet is still playing in some theaters. A digital/Blu-ray release date has not yet been confirmed. It will eventually stream on Peacock.

13) BUGONIA – I love a story that can challenge my perceptions and my expectations of what I thought I was getting at the outset. And this is decisively not for everyone – it’s bold, shocking, and unforgiving, but the film rewards you for taking the time to dissect what it all means. Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone are predictably fantastic, and Bugonia finds Yorgos Lanthimos squarely in his darkest, bleakest sensibilities and I think this is the version of the filmmaker I like the most.

Bugonia is now available on Blu-ray. It can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home, and is currently streaming on Peacock.

14) BLUE MOON – The fizzy, effervescent tone we start with is so inviting and enjoyable early on, that it kind of shocked me when this movie broke my heart. This is probably career best work from Ethan Hawke. This kind of dialogue-heavy, single-setting, could-easily-be-a-stage-production kind of movie has always been my kind of thing. And when it’s about a figure like Lorenz Hart, who I admittedly did not know much about, depicting a pivotal sliver of his life, a night where everything he’s experienced for years comes to a head, it can be deeply cathartic and effective.

Blue Moon will be available on Blu-ray January 27th. It can also be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home.

15) BOB TREVINO LIKES IT – A tribute to the healing power of human connection and the good things social media can do, but it’s also an expertly crafted character study that just about anyone can recognize the emotional truth in. And it’s boasted by some fantastic performances and a stellar screenplay. Writer/director Tracie Laymon based this story on an experience from her own life, and has spoken in interviews about it. I did not go into this film knowing that, and when the film tells you this, it makes the whole experience even more of an emotional gut punch.

Bob Trevino Likes It can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on Hulu.

16) COMPANION – Writer/director Drew Hancock’s debut(!) feature is an incredibly slick, surprising and almost nihilistic romantic comedy. Every performance here is terrific, the writing is icepick sharp in its observations about abusive relationships, technology, gender dynamics and recreational human cruelty. The first big twist was spoiled by this film’s trailers but even if you go in knowing what it tells you, there is so much here that will shock and delight you. From my vantage point, this is one of this year’s strongest horror-comedies.

Companion is available on Blu-ray. It can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on HBO Max.

17) THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE – If the average faith-based movie looked more like this, I might not be quite so repulsed by it. A fascinating look at a historical figure I knew nothing about going in. Between this and The Housemaid, Amanda Seyfried has proven her incredible versatility as a performer, and Ann Lee lands like a punch to the gut. And I want other filmmakers to use this as inspiration to take more chances with the musical genre. This is bold, fiery and audacious filmmaking in nearly every moment.

The Testament of Ann Lee is currently playing in select theaters, and will go into wide release January 23rd.

18) WAKE UP DEAD MAN – Rian Johnson continues to outdo himself with his latest Knives Out mystery, and if he stopped right now, he would have a near-perfect trilogy on his hands, but I do hope he gets to make more. Johnson and Daniel Craig are one of modern cinema’s best actor/director duos and it would seem foolish to abandon this when both are at the height of their powers.

Wake Up Dead Man is currently streaming on Netflix.

19) BLACK BAG – Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp’s second film of 2025, could not have less in common with the one before it. Black Bag is a spy drama with a surprisingly biting sense of humor and a character study of some delightfully wretched people, and ultimately a demented little romantic comedy. One that has a great deal to say about the complexities of modern relationships. And a film with a starry ensemble cast that actually gives everyone in it fun material to work with.

Black Bag is available on Blu-ray and can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is currently streaming on Prime Video.

20) THE LONG WALK – I really hope this country has *some* media literacy left and maybe they’ll listen to the message this movie is trying to deliver, because damn. We need this right now. Something like this is not that far off from being a reality, and we need to do something about it before it’s too late. As a movie rather than a collective warning about where we’re headed, The Long Walk is shocking and compelling, emotionally powerful and deeply harrowing.

The Long Walk is currently available on Blu-ray. It can be rented and purchased on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Fandango at Home. It is also currently streaming on Starz.