BEST/WORST FILMS OF 2025
2025: The year's best films, their directors and how/when/where you can see them:
(1) One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Buy or rent on various streaming platforms; also streaming on HBO MAX
(2) Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
Now in theaters
(3) The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
Buy or rent on various streaming platforms; also streaming on Peacock
(4) Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Buy or rent on various streaming platforms; also streaming on Peacock
(5) The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvold)
Coming to area theaters early 2026
(6) Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach)
Stream on Netflix
(7) La Grazia (Paolo Sorrentino)
Stream on MUBI February 2026
(8) Die My Love (Lynn Ramsay)
Stream on MUBI
(9) Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater)
Stream on Netflix
(10) The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho)
Coming to area theaters early 2026
Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):
Blue Moon; Caught by the Tides; Caught Stealing; Cover-Up; Eddington; Eephus; Father Mother Sister Brother; Frankenstein; Grand Tour; A House of Dynamite; Is This Thing On?; It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley; It Was Just an Accident; Left-Handed Girl; Magellan; The Mastermind; Materialists; Megadoc; Misericodia; Mr. Scorsese; No Other Choice; Resurrection; Sentimental Value; The Shrouds; Sinners; Sirat; Sound of Falling; Springsteen--Deliver Me From Nowhere; Suspended Time; 28 Years Later; Train Dreams; Wake Up, Dead Man; Warfare; Weapons; When Fall is Coming.
The dishonor roll:*
1) K-Pop: Demon Hunters; Ne Zha 2 (a tie)
2) Love Hurts
3) Captain America: Brave New World
4) Love Me
5) The Unbreakable Boy
6) The Electric State
7) Went Up the Hill
8) Oh! What! Fun!
9) The Empire
10) Five Nights at Freddy's 2
* The absolute WORST movies I saw this year were "V13" and "The Priest: Thanksgiving Massacre." But considering their virtually invisible theatrical presence, neither seemed worth mentioning.
