Top 10 Films of 2025
In 2025, I didn’t get to watch as many films as I usually do (only 75!), but thankfully, I was still able to catch some great films that left a lasting impression on me. The films that made it to my top ten of the year include three book adaptations, blockbusters, and micro-budget films, from buddy comedies to sports dramas—the majority of which are original features! These films feature some of the best original scores, sequences, and final shots of the year. You may notice a couple of these films were released in 2024, but I chose to include them as 2025 films because they were not released in theaters near me until 2025.
10. One of Them Days
The once-thriving comedy genre has been struggling at the box office over the years, which makes it particularly noteworthy when a rare comedy is successful. And despite being released in January—considered the graveyard of releases—One of Them Days started 2025 off on the right foot by bringing the good ‘ole-fashioned buddy comedy back. It’s directed by Lawrence Lamont from a script by Syreeta Singleton—both in their feature film debut—and starring Keke Palmer and music artist SZA as best friends who have just one day to find rent money to pay back their landlord; what follows is a day filled with hilarious hijinks. The leads’ effortless charm and chemistry, combined with a strong supporting cast, including Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), Janelle James (Abbott Elementary), and Aziza Scott (in a standout role), made the film feel fresh, funny, and like lightning in a bottle. A sequel has already been greenlit—let’s hope lightning can strike twice.
‘One of Them Days’ is currently streaming on Netflix.
9. The Brutalist
By the time I reached the intermission of Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour epic, I was convinced I was watching one of the greatest films ever made. I wasn’t alone: I overheard two guys in my theater discussing the film during the break. One asked, “What do you think?” The other responded, “It’s really good.” Part one of The Brutalist, dubbed “The Enigma of Arrival,” depicts the rise of talented architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Jewish-Hungarian Holocaust survivor making a new life in America. From its opening scene that culminated in the upside-down shot of the Statue of Liberty, combined with the blaring score by Daniel Blumberg, the film felt like something special. But then I watched the second half, dubbed “The Hard Core of Beauty,” and I wasn’t as enamored with the film as I was before. Not because it was bad—the second half just surprised me by not following the trajectory I had expected. It’s messier. It’s more melodramatic. But it was always intriguing. In fact, the final scene—the final lines ("It's the destination, not the journey.”)—was both a surprising, yet also a perfectly memorable way to end the film.
‘The Brutalist’ is currently streaming on HBO Max and Hulu.
8. F1
Top Gun: Maverick is a tough act to follow, but director Joseph Kosinski comes close with F1, the sports drama set in the world of Formula One racing starring Brad Pitt. The film echoes the same beats as Maverick by focusing on an aging has-been who returns to his adrenaline-fueled career to work alongside a new generation of thrill-seekers. Pitt’s natural charisma makes the most out of a paper-thin character, but thanks to the film’s riveting racing sequences and addictingly pulsating score by Hans Zimmer, it’s one of the best theatrical experiences of the year.
‘F1’ is currently streaming on Apple TV.
7. Weapons
Ever since the film’s creepy teaser trailer, I’ve been hooked on Weapons, Zach Cregger’s follow-up to his breakout hit Barbarian. The premise of 17 kids from an entire classroom going missing—with security cameras showing the kids walking out of their homes of their own volition in the middle of the night—is an excellent (and scary!) premise for a horror flick. Weapons unfolds through multiple perspectives, each informing us more about a previously introduced character, culminating in the reveal of Amy Madigan’s character, who is sure to be a new iconic horror villain. Despite the eerie premise, you’ll find yourself laughing just as much as you’ll be scared, with writer-director Cregger crafting a new, thoughtful, and original horror featuring memorable scares and laughs so well that it brings to mind the spirit of Jordan Peele.
‘Weapons’ is currently streaming on HBO Max.
6. Superman
DC Studios needed this win. As the first film in the new DC cinematic universe led by former Marvel Studios director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), rebooted after a series of box office and critical bombs—partly due to corporate mismanagement—Superman (2025) had a lot to prove. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say I was a little skeptical that Gunn would be able to pull this off. While I’ve enjoyed all of his superhero films (I think his Suicide Squad is the best film in the old DC cinematic universe), they’ve all been snarky in a way that I don’t think would work with Superman. Thankfully, Gunn chose not to bring that quality to his Superman reboot. Instead, he wisely brought back another signature quality of his—sincerity. Instead of the dark, gritty, self-serious hero we saw in Man of Steel, Gunn’s Superman (played by a perfectly cast David Corenswet) is young, naive, optimistic, and personifies goodness. It’s the perfect superhero film for the time we’re living in: a film that’s pro-immigrant, the most surprisingly anti-Zionist superhero film since Black Adam, and believes that kindness is the new punk rock.
‘Superman’ is currently streaming on HBO Max.
5. Wake Up Dead Man
Unpopular opinion, but I love both Knives Out and Glass Onion. I appreciate that writer-director Rian Johnson’s mystery films are all so different and that they refuse to repeat each other. This applies to Wake Up Dead Man, the third installment in the Benoit Blanc cinematic universe starring Daniel Craig. Set in an upstate New York Catholic church with Josh O’Connor (Challengers) as this mystery’s protagonist, the film is less satirical and more serious than the previous two films, though that doesn't mean it’s any less humorous. This change in tone allows the film to be more thematically rich, bringing attention to the weaponization of religion, while at the same time refusing to villainize it entirely by showing the positive impact of faith. Inspired by his own Evangelical upbringing, it’s Johnson’s most personal film yet. It’s so cool that we have a series of mystery films that are actually good (the series’ only contemporary rival is Kenneth Branagh’s three Agatha Christie adaptations—all bad). I hope he and Craig make a hundred more of these films!
‘Wake Up Dead Man’ is currently streaming on Netflix.
4. Sinners
For all the fuss about the death of blockbuster filmmaking (and for good reason), Sinners is proof that there are some films you just can’t make without Hollywood. This original horror set in the Deep South, featuring predominantly Black characters fighting vampires, with music playing a crucial role, couldn’t have been made this well without the money and talent behind the scenes to make it happen. When the film reaches its apex midway into its story, firing on all cylinders—from Ludwig Goransson’s (Black Panther) transcendent score, Autumn Durald Arkapaw's (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) stunning cinematography, Hannah Beachler's (Black Panther) beautiful production design, Ruth E. Carter's (Black Panther) authentic costume design, and writer-director Coogler’s clear-eyed vision—it culminates in the scene of the year, evoking a sense of Black Joy I haven’t witnessed since Steve McQueen’s Lover’s Rock. After Creed and the two Black Panther films, Coogler once again demonstrates his impressive ability in balancing blockbuster entertainment with layered themes centered around Blackness; the film itself was inspired by his late uncle’s love of Delta Blues.
‘Sinners’ is currently streaming on HBO Max.
3. I’m Still Here
I watched this film just three weeks after Trump’s second inauguration, and little did I realize just how quickly our own country would resemble the one depicted in I’m Still Here, Walter Salles’s (Central Station) heartbreaking historical drama based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir of the same name, depicting the 25-year-effort of Eunice Paiva in seeking justice for the forced disappearance of her husband, Rubens Paiva, by the military dictatorship in Brazil. This is an incredibly depressing film to watch, showing the psychological toll that crimes against humanity can have on survivors, especially when knowing it’s based on actual events. But it’s also incredibly moving, led by a tour de force performance by Fernanda Torres as the family matriarch trying to keep her family together in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
‘I’m Still Here’ is currently streaming on Netflix.
2. Nickel Boys
I watched RaMell Ross’s (Hale County This Morning, This Evening) Nickel Boys the day of Trump’s second inauguration. Not intentionally, though, as I went in blind, not knowing anything about the film. “That was a great movie to watch today,” a woman next to me in the theater said after the film ended. She was right. That day was January 20, 2025, a day honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys, the film follows two Black boys (played by Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson) as they try to survive a segregated and abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. Whitehead based the story on the historic Dozier School for Boys, a reform school that operated for over 100 years in Florida and was ripe with abuse, beatings, rapes, torture, and even murder of students. Numerous unmarked graves have been found since the school’s closing in 2011. Whitehead wrote the book in response to the first election of Donald Trump. “I didn’t want to deal with such depressing material again,” he said. But then Trump was elected.”I felt compelled to make sense of where we were as a country.” Nickel Boys is a reminder of this country’s sinful history, one it still hasn’t fully addressed. It’s a reminder that there is no great version of this country to go back to “again.” Trump and Republicans want to whitewash our history books. But preserving this history and educating the masses–even through art–is one step towards justice.
‘Nickel Boys’ is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
1. One Battle After Another
I’m surprised, too. I haven’t seen most of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, but of the ones I have seen—Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza—I didn’t really like them, and I have no desire to see them ever again. But One Battle After Another, loosely based on the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, is different. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed-up ex-revolutionary and incompetent parent to his 16-year-old daughter Willa (played by Chase Infiniti—a star!), as the two are forced to be on the run from a vicious military officer, the film is funny, exciting, but also frighteningly topical. There’s been a lot of online chatter about the film recently, with many attacking it for mocking revolutionaries and leftist politics, but I saw it differently. I thought this is a nuanced portrayal of rebellion against fascism. I was inspired by the depiction of everyday people, of community members, protecting each other. It’s also the ultimate movie about being a parent. David Ehrlich said it best in his review that encapsulates the film so well, I’m envious I didn’t write it myself:
“Having kids is the most fearless thing a person can do in a world that grows more pernicious by the day, but raising them means being terrified every waking minute for the rest of your natural life … Bob accomplishes exactly nothing during the course of his frantic pursuit of Willa, but in failing to protect his daughter from the regrets of his past, he discovers that she’s the best of her parents, and more than capable of staring down the same demons that left him so paranoid. That she’s the answer to his fears, not the personification of them. That raising kids can be a revolution unto itself if you do it right — one that doesn’t need to be televised because it takes place right in the relative comfort of your own home.”
‘One Battle After Another’ is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Honorable Mentions:
Black Bag, Marty Supreme
Biggest Disappointments:
Elio, Good Fortune, Hamnet, The Life of Chuck, Mickey17
Films I Wish I Caught:
Bugonia, Friendship, Highest 2 Lowest, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, The Testament of Ann Lee, Train Dreams, Twinless
