My favorite films of 2025 25. Blue Moon (Richard Linklater) 24. Final Destination Bloodlines (Adam B. Stein & Zach Lipovsky) 23. Sirat (Olive Laxe) 22. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (Mary Bronstein) 21. The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson) 20. Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos) 19. Roofman (Derek Cianfrance) 18. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsey) 17. The Shrouds (David Cronenberg) 16. Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) 15. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer) 14. The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho) 13. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier) 12. Superman (James Gunn) 11. Eephus (Carson Lund) 10. No Other Choice (Park Chan-Wook) 9. Friendship (Andrew DeYoung) 8. Sinners (Ryan Coogler) 7. It Was Just An Accident (Jafar Panahi) 6. Weapons (Zach Cregger) 5. 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle) 4. Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron) 3. Eddington (Ari Aster) 2. Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie) 1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) Favorite First Time Watches (non-2025) Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000) Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962) Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996) Bound (The Wachowskis, 1996) Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-Ho, 2005) Out of Sight (Steven Soderbergh, 1998) Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975) The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972) Favorite TV Shows (unranked) The Rehearsal (Season 2, HBO) Long Story Short (Season 1, Netflix) The Chair Company (Season 1, HBO) Pluribus (Season 1, Apple TV) The Studio (Season 1, Apple TV) Smiling Friends (Season 3, Adult Swim) The Righteous Gemstones (Season 4, HBO) Severance (Season 2, Apple TV) The Pitt (Season 1, HBO Max) Common Side Effects (Season 1, Adult Swim) South Park (Season 28, Comedy Central) Hacks (Season 4, HBO Max) Task (Season 1, HBO) Haha, You Clowns (Season 1, Adult Swim) Poker Face (Season 2, Peacock) Rick and Morty (Season 8, Adult Swim) The Bear (Season 4, FX) The White Lotus (Season 3, HBO) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 17, FX) King of the Hill (Season 14, Hulu)
History of Film, Part 7: 1970-1979 • forum.chorus.fm Tetra and I have been talking to ourselves in the History of Film decades threads. More people should join in in the new year! We are into the 80s this month. in addition, I plan on tackling major blindspots from film history using @Nathan ’s incredible post from the Chorus Canon thread. I made a LB list if you wish to clone/pick and choose a watchlist for the year. https://boxd.it/R1a6o
Still so much I need to see but right now I would say my top 3 of the year are: Weapons OBAA Marty Supreme
Since 2007 I have reliably published a Worst of the Year and Best of the Year list, but what about everything in between? There are things to highlight, to celebrate, and to regret. These are 14 awards I would like to dole out. PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: MICHAEL P. JORDAN This was a tough one. I want to give it to someone who intrigued us in multiple films this year, but all of the options were compromised: last years' winner, Margaret Qualley, was part of a great cast in BLUE MOON but was also in the abominable HAPPY GILMORE 2 and HONEY, DON'T. Ayo Edebiri is consistently impressive in the television show THE BEAR, but her two films this year (OPUS and AFTER THE HUNT) were very poor. Dakota Johnson was fine in SPLITSVILLE but gave a bizarre performance in the tonally inconsistent MATERIALISTS, which also featured Pedro Pascal in a similarly low point even if he did fine work in EDDINGTON. Paul Walter Hauser and Gabby Hoffmann were decent enough in some light roles and Benicio del Toro was a close runner-up, but there was someone who carried a movie by playing both leads: twin brothers who get embroiled in a nightmare. Michael P. Jordan is still so young but has been around and standing out for over twenty years. Like FROM DUSK 'TIL DAWN, SINNERS masquerades itself as a very different movie before pulling the curtain back and diving into genre, and Jordan and his characters are there and ready for all of its turns. His film career has been mostly mindless but hopefully if he continues working with Ryan Coogler and Coogler does not get sucked back into the Marvel universe, they can explore deeper things. ANTI-PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: EMINEM People might rush to claim that he is not a real actor and thus this placement is too harsh, but there are important things to remember. One, high-profile musicians are performers, which is an element of acting. Two, non-actors and amateurs regularly entertain and exceed expectations (almost all of the cast of MARTY SUPREME are unknowns or known from another field), and third, Eminem's "performance" as another son of a former HAPPY GILMORE character is not bad compared to Meryl Streep or Robert DeNiro, he is bad compared to the other throwaway cameos from golfers and chefs and Sandler family members and anyone else who showed up that day. MOST WELCOME RETURN (DIRECTOR): RICHARD LINKLATER BEFORE MIDNIGHT and BOYHOOD in consecutive years was maybe the best feat of a director in the 2010's. EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! was also strong, but since then he has been okay at best and awful at worst. 2025 saw the terrific chamber piece BLUE MOON and the rare sort-of biopic that works in NOUVELLE VAGUE. Linklater has always been a spotty director; for every DAZED AND CONFUSED there is a BAD NEWS BEARS. Hopefully he goes on a run and we don't get bamboozled again. MOST WELCOME RETURN (ACTOR): CHRISTIAN SLATER It is a small part in IF I HAD LEG'S I'D KICK YOU, but it was so nice to see him back in a real movie. He has spent the last 30 years or so appearing in movies that you used to call direct-to-video, and then a Redbox movie, and now maybe a TUBI movie. I doubt it will be considered the career renaissance that Brendan Fraser and Josh Hartnett had in recent years, but sometimes life is unfair. MOST UNWELCOME RETURN (DIRECTOR): BENNY SAFDIE A weird thing happened this year. We had new films from Darren Aronofsky, Derek Cianfrance, and Park chan-wook, but none of them were bad. There is hope for every director, but that also means our global treasures can disappoint us. Ethan Coen enormously failed us with HONEY DON'T, but since his older brother has mostly been missing in action, we have to place him second. In a worse spot is Benny Safdie, who dedicated himself to a vehicle for The Rock in THE SMASHING MACHINE which failed both commercially and critically. At the same time, older brother Josh made the terrific MARTY SUPREME, continuing the examinations of people on the edge that he had started with his brother beginning with GOOD TIME. The mother or some cousin should intervene and try and get them back together. You don't want to be Art Garfunkel. MOST UNWELCOME RETURN (ACTOR): JENNIFER LAWRENCE While it was tempting to put Debra Messing on here for the dual shame of ALTO KNIGHTS and being a fan of genocide, Lawrence was given free reign to chew scenery and flail around for an interminable runtime in DIE MY LOVE. She is recently back after a brief hiatus, but maybe she should have stayed gone. The triple threat of X-MEN, THE HUNGER GAMES, and David O. Russell muse is sinful enough, but throw in the poverty porn of WINTER'S BONE, which put her on the map, the unintentionally hilarious DON'T LOOK UP, and leading Darren Aronofsky's worst film MOTHER!, and you have a career completely devoid of a watchable movie. BEST ACTOR IN A BAD FILM: IDRIS ELBA, A HOUSE OF DYNAMTE For a few years after THE WIRE, Elba was in quite the demand. Unfortunately, while his co-star and murder victim Wallace launched into superstardom, Elba has fizzled out. He is not the reason THE OFFICE got so bad (Andy Bernard is worse), but he was a major character in the season that really marked the turning point from smart writing to just another sitcom. He grabbed some Marvel money, did nothing in PROMETHEUS, and managed to appear in the worst FAST AND THE FURIOUS movie. He doesn't have much of a real character in this, playing a President faced with a choice no normal President has to make (Trump might like it), but he exudes a warmth that reminds us why we liked Stringer Bell so much even though he was a callous and hardened killer. WORST ACTOR IN A GOOD FILM: JACK CHAMPION, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH There are just some things you need to know before you make a movie. You know Nicolas Cage will do your movie if there are enough zeroes on the salary sheet, you know that shooting at night makes digital effects look less fake, and you know casting children in a long-running series is probably going to lead to problems. There is a reason we do not let them vote or sign contracts, and there is a reason the baby from Nirvana's Nevermind album cover is desperate to get it removed. Champion was still a child when the second film started development, and either he lost interest in acting or did not try very hard to improve his craft. Hopefully his character meets the same fate as the crew did in the start of ALIEN 3. MOST OVERRATED: TRAIN DREAMS This movie seemed to come out of nowhere. It was getting all this praise and attention, and then it started appearing very high on many year-end lists. While it is a promising film from a young director, it is not much more than that. The great Adam Nayman pointed out the central problem of the film, which is that it paints its characters and its situations through the lens of a modern perspective. Sometimes you get a decent meal at Chili's, but that doesn't mean you have to take a picture of it. MOST UNDERRATED: JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH Is it a good movie? Not really. Will I ever watch it again? I doubt it. However, it is the best film in the series in decades. It operates on the same premise which the third film understood: you are not going to beat the Spielberg films, so just make a monster movie. Gone are locusts and clones and recruiting velociraptors into the Marines. We just want to see people trying to survive. Sometimes that is enough in this cruel and miserable existence. MOST DISAPPOINTING: HIGHEST 2 LOWEST A new Spike Lee film is an event, and reteaming with Denzel Washington is only going to get people more excited. While the film is inoffensive and perfectly fine, is this all we get after the five years since DA 5 BLOODS? Lee has some of the highest highs of any living director, but then he turns around and makes so much stuff that is either stripped of his personality or otherwise narratively inept. There are still great films left in him, so hopefully we get to them soon. MOST PLEASANTLY SURPRISING: CAUGHT STEALING Darren Aronofsky has been terrorizing cinemas and theatergoers for almost thirty years now. Subtlety is not in his vocabulary, and he has never tried to hide the better filmmakers he has shamelessly stolen from (remember when he thought he was the third Dardenne brother?). However, much like Denis Villeneuve, he has found his talents in not trying to make a serious genre but a fun, light genre film. While it is at times like a sequel to THE BIG LEBOWSKI, he keeps it going with a cast of bizarre characters with conflicting motives and a MacGuffin that you continually forget about in this increasingly chaotic chase. BEST THEATER EXPERIENCE: REGAL IN WINTER PARK, THE SECRET AGENT For the price, it better be. The seats are better, the popcorn is actually hot, and the parking is surprisingly plentiful for such a busy area in the height of Christmas. Coincidentally, almost every movie I have ever seen there is terrific. It is almost 90 minutes each way, so I do not make the trip for just any old film. WORST THEATER EXPERIENCE: EVERY VISIT TO AMC The winner for the second year in a row, and a fate I have to suffer through even more now that the best and biggest local theater has shut down. The deluge of popcorn on the floor invites nightmarish flashbacks to those restaurants with peanut shells on the floor. Despite being the newest theater in town, the seats are the worst around. The AMC a little further south has 24 screens and used to be a place to see small art films, but now they don't even bother opening half of the theater. If we are going to lose movie theaters, at least their corporation will go with it.
Eddington (Ari Aster) Sinners (Ryan Coogler) Eephus (Carson Lund) KPop Demon Hunters (Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans) Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos) One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) Companion (Drew Hancock) Superman (James Gunn) Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson) 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle) Albert Pyun’s Captain America (Albert Pyun) Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron) Toxic Avenger (Macon Blair) Queen of the Ring (Ash Avildsen) A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Kogonada) Thunderbolts* (Jake Schreier) I think my ratio of art and trash is pretty good here, maybe a little less truly great filmmaking than I should have? Can definitely think of moves from both ends of the spectrum that I hoped to get to but didn’t. Certainly captures my general vibe, I’d say… except, those director credits being dominated by men kinda sucks, lol. (My music list will be almost exclusively women, and my comics varied, so it balances out I guess?) Speaking of comics, pretty happy with how the year went on that regard for me! Here’s that list:
Every year, there is a scramble to see everything before the end of the year. Unless you live in New York or Los Angeles, you simply are unable to see the independent and foreign films that are given limited releases. This year, DIRECT ACTION, THE SOUND OF FALLING, MAGELLAN and FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER highlight the biggest omissions. However, there is still plenty to celebrate this year. 10. VIET AND NAM DIRECTED BY: MINH QUY TRUONG There is triplet of interconnected cultural issues at play here: on one hand, proper reverence and honor toward those who fought bravely against the French colonialists and the American Cold War proxy, but then contrasted with the dual threats of modernization. The younger generation is dealing with the crippling conservative homophobia while also acclimating themselves to the increasing encroachment of global capitalism that cuts through lives and tradition in ways those military invasions never could. What does our history mean anymore when everything is a brand and nothing is built to last? Can we even put faith in another person when the rat race has long since been an American stereotype and permeated throughout almost all of the world? There is no moral compass, no north star, no universal truth. 9. SIRAT DIRECTED BY: OLIVER LAXE It is tempting to think you have seen it all before. A grandfather and a child search for the missing daughter-mother, and along the way they fight, make up, bond, and learn more about themselves and each other. Instead, what if we jettison all of that and we forget what we were even doing here in the first place? We descend into the darker layers of Hell as the body count rises and the characters get even more desperate. It is the world that people in quiet suburban cul-de-sacs prefer not to think about. 8. MISERICORDIA DIRECTED BY: ALAIN GUIRAUDIE Oedipus still hangs over us all. 7. THE MASTERMIND DIRECTED BY: KELLY REICHARDT It must be maddening to hear Reichardt's pitches to get funding; it is not much of a surprise that she went 12 years between her debut and sophomore films. Reichardt is interesting in genre only in that she wants to see how she can subvert and deconstruct your preconceived notions and the trappings of the expectations. She understands that humanity is the essence of art, and that has always been true and has weathered things like green screen or CGI or now AI. The economic anxiety is palpable here; while it exists in many other films about people driven to crime to survive, it is rarely portrayed as well as it is here. 6. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER DIRECTED BY: PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON Every few years there is a consensus masterpiece. People who never saw a foreign film in their life flocked to PARASITE. It was hard to find a dissenting voice when BOYHOOD arrived. Everyone could not believe how stunning THE SOCIAL NETWORK was. Anderson has been in a bit of a lull for over a decade, but here is a triumphant return. It is political without being strident, action-filled without feeling absurd, and heartfelt without resorting to cliche. It never really shows its hole card until the crescendo, a fantastic sequence predicated on the peculiarity of a road in the middle of nowhere. This is the man who made a film based around a pudding-air miles coupon loophole one minute and then a treatise on the intersection of unrestrained capital versus religious dogma the next. We are lucky that he continues to bless us with new work. 5. GRAND TOUR DIRECTED BY: MIGUEL GOMES Like a companion film to his excellent TABU, Gomes is investigating the veritable landmine of nostalgia, particularly the nostalgia the Old World has when they used to say that the Sun never set on the British Empire. We are acutely aware of this in America, where when someone starts talking about the glory days of the Fifties and Sixties we can usually assume their race, gender, and sexual orientation. Gomes understands the lie inherent in this nostalgia for a time that was nothing to remember for the people in these lands that the major powers would have considered exotic. We still grapple with this predatory behavior in modern global trade and the desire for luxurious vacations while never leaving the resort or the beach. 4. THE SECRET AGENT DIRECTED BY: KLEBER MENDONCA FILHO Mendonca has zeroed in on the neo-fascism of the Bolsonaro regime, but recently he has adjusted his aim to the military dictatorship of a bygone era, which reigned for over twenty years with help from the United States government. There are no easy answers here, and it becomes clear once again that the state can crush the individual. We read about these grand moments in history books, but every time you drive by a medical marijuana dispensary that used to be a Blockbuster or you see Spirit Halloween store popping up in an old department store, you are reminded of how the vast majority of us will only exist in memory as long as the people who know us are still alive. Whether this is frightening or calming to you is a fundamental statement about your belief concerning why we are here and where we are going. 3. CAUGHT BY THE TIDES DIRECTED BY: JIA ZHANGKE In which a woman who has been beaten down by the abandonment of a lover and the nonchalant feelings of the economic machine wanders aimlessly until she finds a moment of humanity in conversing with a robo-employee. 2. IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT DIRECTED BY: JAFAR PANAHI How much culpability do the foot soldiers have for the atrocities they commit? The excuse of just following orders is a central tenet of this moral dilemma. The international community might agree on something like the Nazi regime (although maybe not so much anymore), and it might lay down the hammer on individual moments like the George Floyd murder or the Abu Ghraib abuse, but more often than not that culpability is not transferred to the individuals who make it possible. We were told at the height of the Iraq War that we had to respect the troops even if we disagreed with the war, and we famously let the foot soldiers of the Confederacy go home unscathed. What are the victims supposed to do about these open wounds? Would revenge be meaningful, or even bring forth some relief? Can we just move on after committing something so heinous if we tell ourselves that the system would have just had someone else do it? There is no amount of soap and water to wash some hands. 1. AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE DIRECTED BY: ALBERT SERRA It might be about a bullfighter, but it is asking much bigger questions. The sport is widely reviled in most of the industrialized world, but it persists in areas where it is a tradition and attempts to ban it have been met with resistance. Can we find beauty or wonder in something we find morally reprehensible? While the matador has tremendous advantage over the bull and the kill-to-death ratio is overwhelmingly in their favor, it is a contest where a human looks into the eye of death. You are not getting that when Patrick Mahomes throws a pass or LeBron James attempts a shot. There is something hypnotic about this very matter-of-fact presentation, not embellishing or overwhelming us with cuts and music and bombast. This is film-as-historical document, and with bullfighting likely to be banned sooner than later as the younger generations increasingly oppose it, this will last as a window into what once was, for better and for worse. Next year we have many interesting films to look forward to, such as: GREENLAND 2 MARIO 2 SCREAM 7 MICHAEL JACKSON: THE MOVIE STAR WARS 12 SCARY MOVIE 6 TOY STORY 5 MINIONS 3 RESIDENT EVIL 8 MEET THE PARENTS 4 It will be as fun as usual.
It is very good. This was a very strong year. Marty Supreme was a close 11 and Resurrection makes a strong argument too. I don't know what it all means yet, though.
I want to see Caught By The Tides but worried I won’t get it since I’ve never see a Jia Zhangke film before and I’ve heard it’s sort of a career retrospective.
I don't actively seek out trailers so I was so confused watching it because I could have sworn certain scenes were from his earlier films. A lot of it is footage shot for his earlier films, both used and unused. The end of the film is shot in the present-day with the same actors from those movies. It still works as an individual film, but it is sort of like a series of Easter eggs for people who have seen his other movies.
I was also thrown for a loop when the first fifteen minutes of Resurrection was a silent film. That first voice hits like a kick to the head.
My Favorite Comedy Seasons Of 2025 1. The Studio (S1) 2. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (S17) 3. The Chair Company (S1) 4. The Rehearsal (S2) 5. The Bear (S4) 6. Hacks (S4) 7. Nobody Wants This (S2) 8. English Teacher (S2) 9. The Paper (S1) My Favorite Animated Seasons Of 2025 1. Marvel Zombies (S1) 2. South Park (S27/S28) 3. Solar Opposites (S6) 4. Rick & Morty (S8) 5. Futurama (S13) 6. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (S1) 7. Love, Death & Robots (S4) 8. Eyes Of Wakanda (S1)
However. I strongly disagree with your most overrated. Train Dreams was a contemplative and somber beauty. Left me feeling all types of emotions mainly grief. Thought WHM had one of the best small performances of the year. Yet I loved your most underrated lol. I seriously think people are too harsh on JW Rebirth. It’s a lot better and more interesting than the last three entries.
Thank you. This is how normal, well-balanced people respond to a difference in opinion. That World trilogy might have been enormously successful but I doubt anyone can recall moments from the film except to criticize them. I really wish they would stop doing the mutant dinosaurs bit but overall it is an enjoyable enough b-movie.
I find it interesting to call Train Dreams overrated. Not sure it’s caught on enough by the public to even consider it that. If anything, I’d give that label to Hamnet (though I also enjoyed that one due to its strong performances and despite a weak script).
Overrated/underrated is often dependent on the audience you are talking to. It is widely popular around here and in some critical circles. By the same token, Hamnet was mostly dismissed or criticized in a lot of those same circles. I knew Hamlet was going to be bad going in, but I had higher hopes for Train Dreams. To be fair, Train Dreams is mostly good though.