After the drop in quality last year thanks to 2023’s Writers and Actors’ strikes, it felt inevitable that we would see a return to form at the movies in 2025. However I don’t think anyone expected it to turn out to be such a great year, with multiple films being touted by different people as not just the best of the year, but the best of the decade to-date. On the personal film front, I watched 900 movies (204 of them in theaters), finally saw an Akira Kurosawa film (or six), and expanded my physical Criterion Collection to nearly 100 titles. Not to mention got to experience a lot of pleasant surprises, including the thrilling “F1,” the emotionally resonating “Eternity,” the horror-comedy “Heart Eyes,” the colorful “Superman,” and the actors’ showcase “Sentimental Value,” plus some happily satisfying sequels like “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” “Zootopia 2,” “Wicked: For Good,” and “Predator: Badlands.” But ten films rose above the rest as the crème de la crème of 2025, and here those are.

Honorable Mention: Friendship

I am very aware that this film is not for everyone. I’m not even sure it’s for a lot of people. But “Friendship” has such a delightfully dry and mean sense of humor that I have continued to find myself thinking about it since first seeing it in the summer. It perfectly nails the comically simple dynamics of male friendships, to the point where some people I’ve watched the film with didn’t even realize that a joke was a joke. I will revisit this film many times in the future, and at the same time wouldn’t be shocked if one viewing was enough for a lifetime for others.

10. The Naked Gun

I cannot relay how refreshing it was to sit down in a theater and watch a studio comedy in the year 2025. People speak about the state of movie theaters in general, especially when it comes to the ever-changing world of streaming, but one thing that truly hurts is how few comedies are released now. Long gone are the days of star-studded films like “Step-Brothers,” “This Is the End,” and “Game Night” grossing over $100 million, if we see a comedy at all it is dropped unceremoniously onto Amazon Prime and forgotten by the time the credits roll. So maybe I’m attaching a little bit of nostalgia to my inclusion of “Naked Gun” onto this list, but also, the film is just that funny. Not only is the joke-per-minute incredible (there are bits I didn’t even catch the first time), but the hit-to-miss ratio is insanely impressive. Liam Neeson perfectly follows in Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan footsteps, and Pamela Anderson continues her career comeback as his ditzy love interest. I hope “Naked Gun” shows studios there is a demand for comedies on the big screen, as it was one of my favorite theater trips of the year.

9. No Other Choice

A darkly comedic commentary on how multinational corporations (like BlackRock) are ruining the world and bringing working people to the brink, there are so many shots and edits in this film that made me say “cool” out loud. 2025 was full of international films like “The Secret Agent,” “Sentimental Value,” and “It Was Just an Accident” that found mainstream audiences, but I think “No Other Choice” stood out the most. Thanks to Park Chan-Wooks specific eye and Lee Byung-hun’s cunning but desperate performance, the film is as infuriating as it is entertaining.

8. Train Dreams

Not only beautiful in its naturalistic cinematography, but also in its meditative look into an American way of life that doesn’t exist anymore. Joel Edgerton delivers an understated performance, but the real star of the show is the look of the film. Shot using nearly entirely natural lighting, the beauties of the early-20th century are perfectly captured, while at the same time offering a melancholic look at the fact that oftentimes it doesn’t matter the work you put into something or how much of your life is dedicated to a cause; there will come a day where everything we have done is no longer remembered (“we are but children on this earth, pulling bolts out of the Ferris wheel thinking ourselves to be gods” an old man says to a group of young workers).

7. Marty Supreme

It’s so easy to write Timothée Chalamet off as a junior Leonardo DiCaprio or as annoying and awards-hungry on the press circuit, but there is no denying that he is really talented, and he is a charismatic tour-de-force here. As the jerk you can’t help but root for, there may be a little bit of Chalamet in Marty Mauser, a professional table tennis player chasing greatness. Paired with surprisingly effective supporting performances from non-actors Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary and Tyler “The Creator” Okonma, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow’s first non-Marvel performance in nearly a decade and a breakthrough Odessa A’zion, “Marty Supreme” overcomes a few questionable creative choices to offer an energetic ride that will likely be mentioned as one of Chalamet’s finest moments for the rest of his career.

6. Bugonia

This film could have only been released in this point in history. Similar to “Eddington” (a film that grew on me as the year went on), “Bugonia” takes advantage of humanity’s growing distrust of institutions and the appeal of conspiracy theories to explain the current mess we find ourselves in. Thanks to excellent performances from Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, two of the best actors working today, the film is darkly comedic while also playing a fun cat-and-mouse mind game. You are unsure to view Stone as a helpless victim or a manipulating villain, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ direction keeps things contained while others could have let things get over-the-top. It will be interesting to revisit this film in the future, and how closer to reality than fiction it maybe becomes.

5. The Ballad of Wallis Island

A simple comedy-drama that we don’t see very often but would have felt right at home in 2013. With a trio of of delightful performances and some good songs, this is a light watch that I was happily surprised by, and its charm held up upon a rewatch.

4. Sorry, Baby

Simultaneously one of the funniest and most gut-wrenching films of the year, made all the more impressive considering it is a debut from writer-director-star Eva Victor. Tackling real-world problems with real-world levity, Victor’s film feels real and honest, and I can’t wait to see more from her in the future.

3. One Battle After Another

A true feast of a film, there are so many moments in this stoner epic that stand out. Featuring excellent performances from a funny Leonardo DiCaprio, a calm Benicio del Toro, an understated Regina Hall, and a breakthrough Infiniti Chase, and an incredibly engaging score by Jonny Greenwood, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film is by far his biggest in scope while doubling as his most accessible.

2. 28 Years Later

I really had no dog in the fight before seeing “28 Years Later;” I didn’t even see the original “28 Days” until last December. But I was blown away not just by how good “Years” turned out to be, but by how many unique creative choices it made. I went in thinking I had an idea what it would be like, another studio legacy sequel that checks the boxes for the sake of nostalgia and blockbuster must-dos. What we ended up getting from director Danny Boyle is a movie that dares to not only trust its audience, but sets out to shock them. There are so many parts of this film, even after three viewings, that I found myself smiling at because of how refreshing it was to be surprised by a big-budget studio film. All-too-often we go into these $100, $200 million movies knowing exactly what we will get, from the narrative beats to the visual elements. So for “28 Years” to encourage its audience to lean into the weird while embracing the unexpected, was such a rewarding feeling, and one of the reasons the film stuck with me for as long as it has since first seeing it six months ago.

And the number one movie of 2025, and it wasn’t even close, was…

1. Sinners

I cannot tell you the last time a film left me buzzing as I was walking out the theater the way “Sinners” did. I was lucky enough to first see it by happenstance at an early IMAX 70mm screening while visiting New York City, and at multiple times during the film my girlfriend and I turned to each other with “oh my god, this is so cool” looks on our faces. I saw the film seven more times in theaters after that, including at the drive-in and thrice more in IMAX (including a six-hour drive to Canada to experience it in 70mm a second time), and each time it managed to hit the same. The “music through time” sequence, the expanding aspect ratio, the incredibly soulful performance from Delroy Lindo and amusing villain turn from Jack O’Connell, to say nothing of the incredible musical score, cinematography, and eye for period detail by director Ryan Coogler and his team… all of it, truly top-tier stuff. In a world continuously full of remakes and straight-to-streaming slop, “Sinners” was an original film that took the movie world by storm, and rightfully so. The film works as a Depression-era period piece, a vampire action flick, and an ode to what music means to humanity. I love this movie, and pretty much from the moment I first saw it over eight months ago, I knew I had seen the definitive best film of 2025.

I thank you for reading along with my top films of the year, and hopefully added a few to your radar! I no longer do write-ups for the worst movies, the world has enough cynicism, but for the sake of posterity, a few titles that ruined by day were “War of the Worlds,” “Fixed,” “Wolf Man,” “The Woman in the Yard,” and “Ash.” Anyways, 2026 has plenty of big movies from famed directors to be excited for, including “The Odyssey” and “Dune: Part Three,” and franchise continuations like “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Scream 7,” but until then, I’ll see you at the movies!