Top 10 Movies of 2025

This has been an absolutely terrible year for me. Multiple hospital stays, surgeries, weeks and weeks of chemo on top of that, and you have a recipe for a pretty awful 2025. One side effect of all that I just mentioned was that my movie-going was way down. I missed the first month of the summer movie season because I felt like crap; I was able to catch up on some of those on streaming. I missed the last few months of movies because I am still recovering from my last surgery, so everything new I watched was on some streaming service or another. This was a year when I was looking for an escape whenever I watched a movie. You won’t find any heavy, difficult movies on this list, because that's not what I sought out.

10)

Ballerina: This is the spot I reserve for a movie that I think deserves more attention. There were movies that were better than "Ballerina,” but I had a blast watching this. Marketed as "from the world of John Wick," this follows Anna de Armas' Eve, an assassin looking to avenge her father's murder. Keanu Reeves' Wick does make an appearance and gets into a fight scene with Eve. This was the make-or-break scene for this movie. Could Eve believably hold her own against John Wick? It is a great scene and should prove that Eve could lead her own series and that Ana de Armas has the action chops to be the one to explore these other aspects of the Wick universe. Unfortunately, the movie didn't do well, so I doubt that will happen. If you have seen and enjoyed the John Wick movies, then this is worth your time.

9)

Thunderbolts: Were it not for the movie at the top of my list, this would have been my favorite superhero movie of the year. I said in my initial review that I just wanted this to be fun, and it was. The characters are anti-heroes. They have all done very bad things in their past. This is a group of people used to working alone who are brought together by happenstance. What surprised me was how emotional it was. Yelena (Florence Pugh) in particular goes through a lot. She is an assassin who is struggling to find purpose in life. She finds it with this team. The movie feels more standalone than most of the recent Marvel movies. These characters have made other appearances, but there is enough backstory that the character arcs are satisfying.

8)

The Life of Chuck: Mike Flannigan has created some of my favorite TV shows of the last 10 years and thus has my undying loyalty. The movie is both very simple and complex at the same time. It is about the life of one man and all that makes up that life. In my original review, I praised Mark Hammill, who is Oscar-worthy, but Tom Hiddleston also deserves a mention. He is asked to show Chuck during the best moment of his life and also as he is declining. It’s a powerful thing to see this man go from dancing and loving life to dying in a hospital bed. The movie’s reverse act structure was a compelling and effective way to tell this story and show that we "contain multitudes."

7)

Jay Kelly: I didn't review this for time reasons, but I should have. It is fantastic. George Clooney stars as Jay Kelly, an aging movie star forced to reckon with the true price of his fame. Clooney is great, which is not a surprise. He has such charm and charisma off-screen that it only gets amplified when he plays a role. I really liked the metanarrative: Clooney is just playing himself. Earlier this year, I watched "Happy Gilmore 2." The movie was terrible, and Adam Sandler was just sleepwalking through that part. "Jay Kelly" proves that Sandler is a very good actor when he puts in the effort. He plays Ron, Jay's manager. He is forced to balance a very demanding job with being there for his family. Jay takes up so much of his time that he has almost no time for his wife and kids. Sandler does a great job of showing a man torn between his loyalty to Jay and the pain of not being a better father.

6)

Frankenstein: This is a movie that Guillermo del Toro has wanted to make for a very long time. The man even has a Frankenstein room in his house full of memorabilia, so he is clearly the only man for the job. Del Toro is well known for his gothic style, and it was made for this story. From the design of Frankenstion's lab to the look of The Creature, the del Toro aesthetic is all over this movie. One performance I did not mention was Mia Goth. She plays two roles: Victor's mother, and then she plays his sister-in-law. When Elizabeth sees the creature chained in the basement, she feels pity for him. She shows him kindness that he has not experienced from Victor. Goth has made her name in horror movies over the past few years and has been crushing it. Elizabeth is not some damsel, she can match wits with Victor and is not taken in by his brilliance. She does get a little short-changed, but when the focus is on the Creature and its creator, she isn't needed for much, but she makes the most of her time.

5)

Weapons: This was a very good year for horror. Between "Weapons" and the movie at number three, there were some incredible films that delivered memorable scares. This was the year of Josh Brolin. He was in three movies and was the voice of George Washington in Ken Burns' "The American Revolution." In " Weapons," he plays the father of one of the children who disappeared. The cops have all but given up finding the kids, but he is determined to figure out what happened. He is convinced that the teacher, Miss Gandy (Julia Gardner), knows something and is leading the change that gets the town to turn against her. This movie is split into sections with a different character being the focal point. When Brolin's Archer gets his chapter, he begins to figure out that there is more going on than it seems. Archer goes from an outraged father to a man dealing with forces he cannot begin to understand.

4)

Wake Up, Dead Man: If Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson only made Benoit Blanc movies, I wouldn't complain. Every outing thus far has been a blast to watch. The combination of a star-studded cast and Craig's performance as Benoit Blanc makes these some of the most enjoyable movies. I should have talked about Glenn Close in my initial review. She plays Martha Delacroix, a devout follower of Monsignor Wicks and his right-hand woman. She buys into his brand of Catholicism. Close perfectly portrays someone with blind faith who refuses to listen to any alternative point of view. She was never going to accept Father Jud's compassionate view of faith. One complaint, and it is very minor, is that some characters drew the short straw in terms of development or importance to the story. Callie Spaney and Andrew Scott in particular. Both are great actors, but don't get that much to do beyond being followers of Wicks.

3)

Sinners: There have been dozens of articles written about this movie. It was a huge hit and one of the main reasons Warner Bros had such a good year at the box office. It was a cultural phenomenon that captured the public's attention for weeks. All of the praise and love are well deserved. Michael B. Jordan cements himself as a generational talent. Now, though, I'd like to talk about Hallie Steinfeld, wife to one Joshua Patrick Allen. She is also incredible in "Sinners.”  Mary grew up with Smoke and Stack and used to date Stack before they went to Chicago. She is a white woman in the South who is not afraid to be seen with black people. Unlike many white people during this time, the color of someone's skin was not an issue for her. She embraces the culture and is the only white person at Smoke and Stack's club opening. This is one I wish I had rewatched before making this list, though I will be watching it again soon. It was such an impressively made film with award-worthy performances and incredible music. Plus, it has vampires.

2)

One Battle After Another: I have never loved a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. I like "There Will Be Blood," but do not feel that strongly about it. That goes for the other films of his that I have seen. I love "One Battle After Another." In any other year, it would have been No. 1. It is a long movie, but it does not feel like it. Every performance is incredible and worthy of a mention. The movie is shockingly funny. A lot of that comes from Leonardo DiCaprio, which helps balance out the serious aspects of the plot. Between shady groups dedicated to racial purity, called The Christmas Adventurers Club, to sexual assault, to kidnapping, there are so many heavy scenes. It makes the humor all the more stark. There were not many movies this past year that I had this much fun with. From Leo's drug-addled brain trying to remember code words to Benicio del Toro's little dance as he is about to get arrested, this movie is full of darkly funny moments.

1)

Superman: As I said, I had a very shitty year. It is because of that that "Superman" resonated so deeply with me. The character of Superman is the eternal optimist. I needed this movie this year; I needed its positivity, its message, and its imagery. This movie marks the beginning of the DC movie universe under James Gunn, and a return to form for the Last Son of Krypton. As his cousin Kara says in the “Supergirl” trailer, "He sees the good in everyone.” There is a scene from the end of the movie that I think about all the time. Superman (David Correnswest) is confronting Lex Luthor (Nichols, Holt) about why Lex is wrong about him. Superman says, "I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices I can". He wants Lex to know that he is not perfect and that Lex's jealousy is unwarranted. Even after all Lex has done, even though Lex has this deep-seated hatred of him, Superman still tries to reason with him. It is that message of hope that we all need right about now.