OPINION: My top 10 movies of 2025

Two months into 2026, I might as well finally close the curtains on the previous year’s best movies. I got quite lucky this year in that I wrote columns on eight of these entries, and I recommend finding them for more extended thoughts. In order, starting with number 10...

Adhering close to genre regulations might deter other filmmakers, but Rian Johnson’s third entry in his “Knives Out” series, “Wake Up Dead Man,” firmly establishes these shapeshifting modern mysteries for a world that knows what an iPhone is.

One of two in this list I didn’t write extensively on, this iteration marks the most mature evolution of Johnson’s style without losing the bite of his scripts. As it takes on religion from the perspective of disillusionment, and the redemptive power of what it can teach us, it doesn’t lose the joy of watching complicated setups unravel.

From complex to simple, the meditative “Train Dreams” has stuck with me since first seeing it at the Refocus Film Festival, a lyrical journey through a man’s life as he experiences love, peace, grief, depression and wonderment at the world around him.

It’s not often nature gets the spotlight in these types of films, but the movie’s connection with it is powerful. As technology progresses, so must our understanding of what it can destroy.

I wrote last week about “Sentimental Value,” and my praise for it has only bloomed in the time since. Captivating as a drama, it’s a movie that is infused with immense feeling, taking in the unspoken and unexplainable connections in familial relationships.

There’s so much I didn’t talk about in my column such as how researching a family history unlocks something within the soul. Comfort in something beyond oneself can only come from understanding.

The other movie I didn’t write a full column on, “Sorry, Baby” is the smallest movie on this list but has fit an anxiety which has slowly crept into so many movies this year when looking toward the next generation.

Agnes, compared to her friend Lydie, has led a life encountering the worst there is to experience as a young woman. Yet, her friend is about to birth a child into this world. Is it possible to promise the next generation they will be safe? As Agnes stares at this new child, whether it’s true or not, it doesn’t take from an undefinable power in those eyes.

The other Refocus pick on this list, “No Other Choice” has by far the most bite of any satire this year. When industry wants to downsize and squeeze out the human workers to make even more profit, where is the finish line?

As Man-su hunts down his fellow candidates to keep his family fed, there’s opportunity for connection in ways only he and his prey can understand. But the job search pits friend against friend, and there’s truly no other choice.

Family continues to be a defining theme in 2025, and “Hamnet” is no exception. Looking at family through a lens of grief, loss can become all-consuming in a way only understood through experiencing it.

In this story about Shakespeare (“Hamnet” cleverly avoids actually saying the name to keep the drama close to the characters rather than historical context), one expects high drama. What’s unexpected is reflections on how drama is preserved and who can be preserved within it.

With twanging guitars and bloody bites, no other movie from last year seems as destined to be named a classic as “Sinners.” Like a throwback but with a complete sense of modern place, the voice of the blues and Black artistry is alive and well.

“Sinners,” despite releasing so early this year, has stuck around for a reason. The fervor around this movie, and 16 Oscar nominations, is all for a reason. Exceptionally memorable, undeniably cool and with the year’s best soundtrack to boot, the vampire canon added a worthy entry.

For a documentary pick, no other doc this year has made the very act of preservation more powerful than “The Alabama Solution.” With footage secretly captured by inmates of Alabama’s worst prisons, no other movie has had the subject be shown through such difficult means.

The point of it all is to talk about how easy it is dehumanize those incarcerated. Those in power have made it easy to forget, but even prisoners deserve basic decency. If the outside world won’t care, then it’s up to those inside to fight for themselves.

Ego, as toxic masculinity seems to be on the rise, can also be quite lonely. “Marty Supreme” embodies this, but also offers a way out in a way not usually seen in a thriller like this.

Best knowing nothing on a first watch, “Marty” is a shocking, blood-pumping movie. Carried by a performance for the ages in Timothée Chalamet, the absurdity of ping pong, and the chase just to play it, is somehow captivating.

But if there was a movie last year which not only embraced the world in all of its potential horror but offered a view of a way forward, “One Battle After Another” is the best.

Cathartic and filled with so many actors’ best performances, “One Battle” is also wickedly funny, thematically dense but still utterly sincere about its strongest theme: the only way to change injustice will be nurturing a generation who can fight it.

Honorable mentions include, in alphabetical order, “Bring Her Back,” “Eddington,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “The Life of Chuck,” “Materialists,” “Mickey 17,″ “The Perfect Neighbor,” “The Phoenician Scheme” and “The Secret Agent.”