Another year has come and gone, and with it emerged a cinematic landscape that was satisfying to navigate — from a breathtaking 16th century tragedy to a fearlessly inventive retelling of a gothic classic.
As the Current’s film critic, these were my favorite movie releases of 2025.
- One Battle After Another
Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, 11-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) tells the story of Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former member of a revolutionary group who sets out to find his kidnapped daughter (Chase Infiniti) before harm comes to her at the hands of a ruthless military colonel from his past (Sean Penn) and an elite alliance of white supremacists. The black comedy-action film is viciously clever as it unmasks the façade of American idealism. Nuanced performances inject humanity into every scene. Anderson has never won an Oscar, but that streak finally may end at March’s ceremony.
- Sentimental Value
Norway’s selection for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Academy Awards, this emotionally resonant drama follows Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), a celebrated filmmaker who reunites with his estranged daughters (Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) after their mother dies. One of the daughters is an actress, and Gustav fails to cast her in his new film about his traumatic childhood. Director and co-writer Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World) guides the character-driven narrative with tender restraint into some uncomfortable places where family resentment quietly festers.
- Hamnet
Co-written with poetic elegance by Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) and Maggie O’Farrell, author of the novel on which it’s based, this historical drama tells the story of the romance between William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife (Jessie Buckley) and the effect the death of their young son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe), has on their marriage. Zhao transports viewers inside late 16th century England with meticulous attention to detail and a screenplay which brims with sorrow, while exploring how that grief impacts creativity. The final scene inside the Elizabethan theatre is profound and cathartic.
- Marty Supreme
The sport of table tennis has never been so entertaining, not even when Forrest Gump was playing it on the big screen 30 years ago. Set in New York City in the 1950s — and loosely based on real-life table tennis player Marty Reisman — the pulsating drama stars two-time Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name) as the title character, an arrogant ping pong pro blinded by ambition. Directed by Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems), the film is wildly unpredictable and branded with a visceral energy that drives the tension to a breaking point — all while swinging a paddle.
- Nouvelle Vague
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater (Boyhood) does a phenomenal job fully embracing both the spirit and visual language of the French New Wave in his charming and stylistically flawless dramedy. Linklater tells the story of how French director Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) made the 1960 French crime drama Breathless – and Linklater does so within the same mold as the French Swiss auteur himself. Depending on your knowledge of the revolutionary film movement, the vision behind every seemingly improvised scene will feel effortless. Its spontaneity and playfulness are irresistible.
- Sirāt
Spain’s selection for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Oscars, the mesmerizing drama by French-born Spanish film director Oliver Laxe (Fire Will Come) follows a father (Sergi López) and his young son (Bruno Núñez Arjona) searching for their missing daughter and sister, respectively, at a rave in the Moroccan desert. Set to a relentless techno soundtrack that takes the narrative into devastatingly emotional terrain, Laxe has created a hypnotic soundscape that shrouds the viewer into a state of disorientation — like seeing a dreamlike mirage in the distance.
- Sinners
Director Ryan Coogler’s Jim Crow-era vampire film is such a unique contribution to the horror genre, it’s easy to forgive some of the tropes he tosses in to keep mainstream audiences from straying too far. Ambitious and metaphorically compelling, Coogler delivers his blood-soaked message with deep-rooted history and bold storytelling.
- Frankenstein
The cinematic reinvention of iconic characters is a bottomless cavern that directors will continue to mine, but in the hands of Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), a return to Mary Shelley’s early 19th century novel becomes a welcome standout. Del Toro has crafted the most empathetic version of the Creature (Jacob Elordi) ever put on screen.
- The Perfect Neighbor
Director Geeta Gandbhir strips away the sensationalist nature of the true-crime documentary to make this unnervingly realistic film a cinematic achievement. Through police body cam footage, the murder of 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens at the hands of her volatile neighbor in 2023 unfolds like a slow-burning nightmare.
- 10.The Life of Chuck
Directed and adapted by Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) from a Stephen King novella, this fantasy drama follows the title character (Tom Hiddleston), an accountant whose entire existence is at the center of a sprawling narrative told in reverse order — from a global catastrophe to Chuck’s tragic yet hopeful childhood. It’s haunting and life-affirming.