2025 Best Picture Nominees
TLDR
Sinners
Bugonia
Black Bag*
Wake Up Dead Man*
Train Dreams
It Was Just an Accident*
F1
28 Years Later*
Caught Stealing*
Deep Cover*
KPop Demon Hunters*
Rental Family*
Avatar: Fire and Ash*
These are my Top 10 films of 2025. I believe these were all released in 2025, though I did watch some in 2026 to catch up. I’d categorize them really into 2 groups: 1-3 and 4-10, then Honorable Mentions, followed by the enjoyable Just for Fun Mentions. I end with some Terrible Mentions.
*means they were not nominated for Best Picture by the Oscars
I’ll do a one sentence summary for each movie, then go into why I liked it, plus a quote of a friend’s thoughts. I’d say, don’t read past the first italicized line of each film if you don’t want spoilers, but I will try to keep all content spoiler free (though inevitably you will glean insight into the film’s plot if you read, especially the quotes, so just avoid everything if you want a truly unspoiled viewing experience).
I’ve seen all ten Academy Award Best Picture nominees. And 11 of 12 of the Golden Globe Best Motion Picture nominees (missing Nouvelle Vague). I thought it was a relatively weak field this year. As for the nominees I didn’t select in my top 10:
The Secret Agent wasn’t as good to me as I’m Still Here (I’m comparing them because they’re both period dramas of political turmoil in Brazil in Portuguese).
Frankenstein, Sinners, and Sentimental Value were all underwhelming for me.
F1 is great, but it’s a blockbuster crowd pleaser, with insanely little depth.
Bugonia and Train Dreams I liked but they didn’t hit as well for me.
Blue Moon was good, but it is a film about and for theater nerds and is really just a play for Ethan Hawke to show off.
It Was Just An Accident was also very good, but its penultimate scenes left an awkward impression and I left disappointed.
The Absurdism of 2025
I have recently found myself drawn to Absurdism, the philosophical branch popularized by Albert Camus. To put it simply, it begins with the premise that the universe has no inherent meaning. From there Nihilism suggests that because nothing matters, we should give up, and Existentialism suggests we must create our own meaning, Absurdism offers a third way, somewhere in between: accepting the lack of meaning, living with that awareness, and enjoying what we can anyway.
This year, that philosophy feels less like an academic exercise and more like a survival strategy. Reviewing these ten films I gravitated toward in 2025, a clear theme emerges: societal instability. Against a backdrop of a returning rampant Trump administration, the looming shadow of the AI revolution, and a seemingly impending recession, these films generally radiate a profound sense of helplessness.
They feature protagonists with a lack of agency and control, they’re people just trying to survive as they get tossed and turned by large scale systemic waves. Yeah, it’s probably true in most films, but this year’s crop really felt like protagonists were just subject to the chaos. Even when a villain appears (like Peter Dinklage and Kevin O’Leary in Roofman and Marty Supreme, or Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another) they are merely the physical manifestations of much larger corporations; Toys “R” Us and Rockwell Ink, or a secret society (The Christmas Adventurers). In A House of Dynamite, the villain isn't even identified; the antagonist is simply the inevitable conclusion of a nuclear world perpetually on edge, even if many of us don’t think about it.
I’ve categorized these ten films into four distinct societal challenges:
Healthcare: Hamnet, The Ballad of Wallis Island
Existential / Mass Destruction: A House of Dynamite, Thunderbolts*
Political / Institutional: One Battle After Another, Jay Kelly
Economic: No Other Choice, Good Fortune, Roofman, Marty Supreme.
If I psychoanalyze myself, I find a sane comfort in them. They validate the anxiety I feel sometimes, reminding me that I am not alone in my lack of control. Interestingly, this stands in stark contrast to my current television habits, where I find myself watching Competency Porn like The Pitt, Shogun, Andor, Death by Lightning, or The Bear. In those shows, people are masterful who can fix things; in these films, people are just trying to survive.
We can see the characters’ responses to this lack of designed purposeful meaning through three philosophical lenses:
Nihilism
A House of Dynamite occupies the bleakest end of the spectrum. Despite all the organized preparation and rigorous systems, control quickly dissipates. The characters are forced to simply accept a dark, inevitable fate.
Absurdism
The Thunderbolts* stops fighting for purpose and finds peace in their companionship, literally battling a character called The Void... which, spoiler alert, they cannot defeat.
Agnes doesn't pursue a reason or logic to their tragedy, but she finds connection through art and shared grief, and eventually acceptance.
Jeffrey Manchester, the Roofman, treats his fugitive purgatory as something to be enjoyed, finding happiness despite the ridiculousness of his situation.
Marty is quintessentially defiant in his pursuit of ping-pong, laughing in the face of a never-ending (albeit oft self destructive) struggle.
Jay Kelly confronts the void as he recognizes that the Hollywood machine has taken his irreplaceable time and that in the end none of the work mattered very much and he isn’t very happy. By the end, he knows he is not in control of his legacy, and he decides to take some responsibility in appreciating those around him more in the present, even if he continues to regret and wish things were different.
One Battle After Another is a conflict with no goal and no end, the protagonists, played with comic brilliance by DiCaprio and Del Toro, simply decide to have a beer and face the danger with joy. This is absurdism at its clearest.
Existentialism
In No Other Choice, depending on how you view it (I choose to see the protagonist defying the title); he opts to forge a new life through sheer force of will, however bleak it may be, with a new life code. The movie title may imply he had no other choice, but I really reflect on it thinking how he really does have a lot of control and ends up being quite capable to affect his outcome.
Good Fortune finds its characters debating the very morality of being human and how chance may have a lot more to do with their circumstances than they originally believed, eventually constructing new personal moral standards that are worth living by.
Herb and Charles are both lost in The Ballad of Wallis Island, having had meaning only through their partners. Herb eventually attains existential authenticity, finally removing the facade and the pretenses that he has been emptily executing, and he learns to live life purely for himself. Charles finds a new version of optimism, finding beauty again in the world.
These films reflect our current moment, with characters finding themselves not in control, but they are lucid in accepting their limitations and focusing on what they can find purpose in: themselves, their craft, or their community. In a world where the big systems are broken, perhaps the only sane response is to laugh, have a treat, and keep pushing the stone up the hill.
…
I was about to end it there when I kept thinking about how this lays out. And realized it wasn’t working quite right, so I decided to expand the question and really unnecessarily break this down across another spectrum. I have no idea if this is a real thing or if I entirely made it up and it’s sacrilegious, but regardless, I wanted to plot the 23 movies on a single chart. So I’ve created a philosophical matrix. On one axis we have, “Does the Universe have a Scripted Purpose?” and on the other we have “Do we have Agency?”. I devised nine categories to demonstrate where a film may lie. What it inherently believes, or what it’s designed to demonstrate. I’ve called it An Ontological Agency Matrix. One axis demonstrates what you believe about the world and the other about what you believe about yourself. Each film can… hopefully be placed somewhere here based on its plot and characters.
I then gave each of the 23 movies on this list (dropped the terrible ones), a score on each question / axis and plotted them. Why? I guess just intellectual exercise. And hey, you’re on my website, so you’re welcome to just not read this, so I don’t feel bad. I am curious what other people think of my decisions. How I scored them and what they think. It’s quite hard because often multiple characters may express different opinions, but I tried to take the script as a whole, which inherently means focusing on the protagonist a lot, and their end state.
The x-axis was 0 for utter chaos, 5 for structured but lacks purpose or vice versa, and 10 for structured, scripted, designed, and purposeful.
The x-axis was 0 for being tossed around with absolutely no say, 5 for understanding the system and being able to decide some things for yourself, and 10 for being in full control of yourself and being able to create meaning and purpose for yourself.
Here’s a definition for each of the nine sections (starting on the top row, left to right)
Existentialism: The individual possesses absolute agency to create their own meaning and morality within a universe that provides no inherent script or purpose.
Humanism: The individual exerts high agency to protect and prioritize human dignity, treating ethics as a collective, "sane" purpose in an uncertain world.
Essentialism: The individual achieves mastery by discovering and aligning with a pre-ordained destiny or an inherent, "true" version of themselves.
Absurdism: The individual finds "conscious defiance" and joy by mastering a personal craft while acknowledging the total lack of cosmic meaning.
Pragmatism: The individual secures "sane comfort" by focusing on localized mastery and practical integrity within an unstable, indifferent environment.
Determinism: The individual exerts influence by understanding that their actions are a logical, necessary link in a chain of cause and effect.
Nihilism: The individual is a passive observer of a world that is fundamentally chaotic, devoid of meaning, and indifferent to human existence.
Structuralism: The individual is a "subject" defined and limited by massive, invisible architectures like economics, politics, or social systems.
Fatalism: The individual is a passenger in a rigid, "unbeatable system" where the outcome is already written and their struggle is irrelevant.
The easiest section was Nihilism in the bottom left. 28 Years Later and Train Dreams were somehow very much opposites in vibes, but shared a similar philosophy. We exist in this world, but are subject to a chaotic world, and simply just have to survive in it. We have little agency, and life flashes by.
In the opposite corner we have films that have some sort of God and purpose. In these three there are discussions and sometimes even proof of a meaning to life.
The left column, The Void, was the most popular still. Lots of films seem to lack a hope of a universe with a scripted purpose or even structure.
Somehow the most “pragmatic” film is One Battle After Another. There’s some agency, but there’s a neverending conflict and struggle. People continue to fight, demonstrating that agency, but the system both feels indifferent, and yet highly structured.
The most “structuralist” film is a House of Dynamite. Just systems, processes, and the inevitability of nuclear disaster, where humans are simply just ants running around pretending they have control.
Bugonia and Hamnet were tough since they both felt like there were grand plans to the universe, but that’s possibly because in the former there is a genuine conspiracy assessing humanity and in the latter it’s a fictional script filling in real life events, so it has a sense of true purpose because it’s written to be that way.
I had to give Sinners a bit more agency since the mid / post credit scene proves that individuals truly can make their own decision.
The Essentialism section has characters dealing with a chaotic world and deciding to be better than it and create some meaning and purpose. Vahid and Chiva in It Was Just an Accident decide to be better than their trauma. The Thunderbolts decide as a team to support each other and find meaning in the world, subsequently defeating their antagonist simultaneously (albeit temporarily). In No Other Choice, Man-su certainly takes control and drives forward his own plans and self interest, regardless of how many people it burns along the way. Marty is a tough one. He leans more Absurdist, but I’ll give him… the benefit of the doubt (though even now I don’t believe he can pull it off) that he genuinely will change and be a more supporting and down to earth partner and father after walking away from table tennis.
So what does this tell us? Basically nothing. Movies that I liked leaned into a chaotic void, but that’s probably a personal bias because I think the world is a chaotic void. Plus some of The Design films are really more that the film is heavily scripted. On the other axis, films often have protagonists and they usually grow and have a strong amount of autonomy and success by the end of the film usually. Does this really mean that high agency is common? Or more that it’s common amongst Hollywood films? I dunno, this is looking like a pointless exercise other than that I thought and learned a lot from this all. Not as much about how movies fit into it, but more about just ways to think and approach life. Philosophy!
Anyway, back to your normally scheduled programming. Geez, what a general lack of diversity, but hey, these are the films… though I suppose I could have used a still of someone other than Jared Harris for House of Dynamite, and probably should have, but hey, it’s Jared Harris and he rocks.
Hamnet
In 16th century Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Agnes Hathaway falls in love and nurtures a jovial family.
Look, Jessie Buckley crushes it. Again. She’s basically fantastic in everything she’s been in (and I harbor a deep regret that I never went to London to see her in Cabaret). And my goodness this was a powerful one. We watched it as part of movie night club (where we make a meal in relation to the film). Mulled wine and a delicious steak and ale pie. The movie is remarkably well paced for a dramatic period film. I’m also generally not a big Shakespeare fan. I just cannot understand the early modern English that he used, and it is just difficult to follow. However, in the performances in Hamnet, you don’t really need to have the dialogue to follow along. It’s just beautifully crafted by Chloe Zhao that you can just vibe along and totally feel in step with everything. The movie is harrowing and brutal, and so beautiful. The final scene at the Globe theater is just spectacular. I will take it down a peg for not creating an original score for the final scene, but I get it. Max Richter is incredible, and On the Nature of Daylight is one of the best scores ever written (just watch Arrival or The Leftovers). It’s an uninspired choice for Best Picture, but it feels like an easy winner.
I’m also going to paraphrase an “interview” I had with Mattos, who had finished the book by Maggie O’Farrell before watching, and had some thoughts on the differences between the two. Since a summary of differences between the two mediums is always good content for the internet, here is a summary of that exchange:
The book is a story about Agnes. The movie gives William a much larger role, while still maintaining her as the obvious lead. This is a helpful change to focus it on a two way relationship.
Shakespeare’s name is never used in the book. He is only referred to in reference to his family. Such as Agnes’ husband or Hamnet’s father.
They take a chapter to track the travel of how the plague came to Stratford from Aleppo which in the film they sort of replicate in the shadow puppet show.
[my commentary] This is an interesting choice, since the films choice of William watching the show in London gave the implication that Shakespeare is the inadvertent carrier somehow of the plague, and it’s his fault it arrives at his home (even though he hasn’t been home yet, I don’t know the incubation times)
Judith gets it from fleas that were wrapped around glass beads that she touches at the market
Stepmother Joan is a bit more fraught in the movie and acts as more antagonist. She beats Agnes when she finds she’s pregnant and Agnes’ arrival at the Shakespeare home is very different.
What they don’t truly touch on in the movie is that John (the father) feels that he can repay his debt (the one that William is working to pay off) to the Hathaway family by taking in Agnes.
Agnes and her mother in law (Emily Watson) have a more developed relationship. With the mother in law verbalizing and reflecting on the happiness of being pregnant and fruitful. And how older women, later in life after losing children and no longer be fertile, struggle with their own happiness. She muses about moving from one season of her life to the next. And empathizes with Agnes’ experience and they bond through the pain.
The kestrel burial scene wasn’t in the book. But it was a beautiful scene that has a wonderful visualization to the limbo / the space between life and death.
Another big change was the lead up to William first going to London. In the book, it’s more inner monologue of intuition that he’s depressed and unhappy versus the movie it is much more a neurodivergent expressive explosion of frustration. It’s a good choice visually and economically to go the route they did, but it does reduce how intuitive Agnes gets portrayed.
Agnes also senses that William is with other women. But that is entirely omitted from the movie.
I [Kwan] like that decision. Building and devastating this happy family has more weight. And then finding a way for them to come back together and meet through another story.
The bracelet that William gives Agnes really surprises her that he has wealth.
Susanna (the first daughter) is older and manages the estate.
And William’s sister Eliza, is quite thrilled to have a new sister (Agnes). She often provides a different perspective and has a much larger role.
Agnes is also the town healer and more involved in the community.
Available on Peacock, as of 3/10.
“TBD”
No Other Choice
In South Korea, Yoo Man-su deals with the effects of his employer, Solar Paper, being acquired by an American private equity firm.
Up until watching Hamnet, this was my top pick. It’s a more typical winner for me as it does highs and lows really well. I didn’t laugh during Hamnet, but I did during No Other Choice. Go in knowing nothing. It’s more fun that way. The economic turmoil coming for us with the AI revolution is going to hurt a lot. And this movie is well designed and expressed our chaotic animalistic lashing out very well. A friend described the viewing experience as unsure if they wanted the protagonist to succeed or fail. It is fully in Korean, so it’s a subtitled film, but it is highly rooted in a physical nature, with not so much dialogue that you feel like you’re just reading the whole time. It’s visually very pretty as well, similar to its compatriot, Parasite.
Available on HBO Max, as of 3/10.
“Fun premise. A couple very high highs. Medium across the rest.”
One Battle After Another
In a slightly alternate version of America, this is the story of two left wing revolutionaries, "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills, and a right wing military officer, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, who aims to capture them.
What I really enjoyed about this film is how both the left and the right in this film are mocked mercilessly for their individual idiocy. It’s a ridiculous film in a near alternative future that is just a parody of our world. Both sides are blinded by their own inadequacies. I really enjoyed Sean Penn’s Lockjaw. He was a stellar antagonist, and surprisingly carried a lot of the physical humor. Sergio St. Carlos was hilarious as well throughout the film, while he is much more competent than the other two, he still becomes a favorite rogue agent.. I didn’t understand the hype to watch it in specialized large formats though.
“I can’t tell you exactly why I enjoyed this absurdist comedy thriller father daughter film so much, only that I did so immensely.”
Roofman
In 2004 in Charlotte, NC Jeffrey Manchester escapes from prison and hides out in a Toys “R” Us.
This movie has no right to be good, and yet it is. It feels real and baked (I guess it was a true story), but it really shouldn’t be. It’s silly and dumb, but like its leading man, has a quiet realism that feels highly relatable. Channing Tatum takes this smart idiot role so naturally… I wonder why. It helps that it’s a true story, because the stranger than fiction premise feels so truly foolish that if it was fiction we would pan it for being illogical. Kristen Dunst is also wonderful and their chemistry together is top tier and again very relatable. And Tatum’s character is no hero in the story, the movie really excels at tapping into just what a true mess America was in the early 2000s (I’m not absolving it of not still being a mess either). There’s real sadness and charm to this Tatum’s Roofman. He demonstrates the best and worst of America so well that I can’t help but feel an optimistic depressive state thinking about the film. So much of the alleged meritocracy, honor, and prosperity that we offer as the American Dream is a lie, but despite that, we have somehow also cultivated wonderful communities, people, and hope.
Available on Paramount+, as of 3/9.
“If you’ve seen Logan Lucky, then you already knew that Channing Tatum was more than capable of being a leading man. In my opinion he’s one of the most underrated actors working today, proving that he can do pretty much any genre. But while Roofman depends largely on his performance, it also succeeds in so many other areas. The other performances are all unsurprisingly fantastic. Kirsten Dunst gives a solid moving performance as a strong single mother, Peter Dinklage is funny as always, and Lakeith Stanfield plays his character so well that is never knew what he was going to do next. Which is also a testament to the writing. Within the last 15 minutes of the movie, I still was not sure how it was gonna end and I was filled with anticipation and anxiety. And get those emotions from what is mostly a comedy (and a hilarious one at that) is truly admirable. So many scenes had me clinching on to my seat worried about the protagonist. Roofman was simply just a fun anxiety inducing ride that felt like one hell of a roller-coaster.”
Thunderbolts*
A group of side characters and antiheroes form a dysfunctional team to deal with an ill-advised classically American experiment gone wrong.
In recent years, Marvel and superhero films have felt tired and unoriginal. They’ve spent years in an inflationary race towards the algorithmic average and have simply lost the connection to viewers. This was the rare exception that proves the rule, though to an extent it’s just Guardians of the Galaxy on Earth featuring a bunch of side characters we already knew. David Harbour is genuinely funny, I’m still looking to create a knockoff West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts jersey with the sponsor Dmitry’s Elite Industrial Lighting and Electronics. And the quote “So what? We all just punch and shoot?” is just a wonderful one liner. The reveal of Sentry’s super power is just jaw dropping when you first see it. Just a startlingly effective choice. I’m always biased towards mental health films, and this one does it pretty well.
Available on Disney+, as of 3/9.
“Thunderbolts* is the Incredibles for the modern era. It is the rare Marvel movie with real heart, one written by someone who even cares enough to understand that “lost” and “found” can look very different depending on who or what you have surrounding you. The Thunderbolts find purpose in each other, and Bob, increasingly isolated from the support of those bonded through shared experience, cannot see past the deleterious void that manifests around him as the darkness blinks the city out of existence. I had not expected to see the pull of the depressive spiral displayed so viscerally and heartbreakingly in a Disney blockbuster, and I certainly didn’t expect it to make me cry. This movie defeats the “big bad” with the power of friendship and I could not be happier for them. I give Thunderbolts* 5/5 stars.”
The Ballad of Wallis Island
An eccentric superfan invites folk duo McGwyer Mortimer to a remote Welsh island to play a private concert, the twist is the former partners haven’t seen each other in years after they broke up professionally and romantically.
It will certainly help if you like folk music and staring off into British coasts during some damp weather. Tim Key does a wonderful job of playing a passionate fan of a niche folk band and is the heart and soul of the film. Carey Mulligan is a natural folk singer / perfect girl who got away. And Tom Basden really is all of us. Just trying to survive the transition to the next stage of life with some dignity intact. It’s a simple eccentric story that has low stakes, beautiful songs, and lots of warmth.
Available on Amazon Prime as of 3/9.
“The main crux of why I liked it was that it ended in a very real world way. Important relationship wounds were healed and they got closure. Felt real. The chemistry was really good, and the music was genuinely great. Had a good mix of humor and melancholy, similar to Garden State.”
Good Fortune
In Los Angeles, the naive guardian angel of texting and driving (responsible for saving those who text while driving) decides he wants to do more than just save lives, he wants to save lost souls (a more challenging and rewarding vocation), and for his first attempt he chooses Arj, an aspiring documentarian who has multiple part time jobs.
A lot of this movie is silly. But I liked the commitment to the concept and a “return” of Aziz Ansari (quick tangent; he hasn’t really been around much since the 2018 #MeToo incident, and both then and now I have always felt that he was unfairly associated with awful offenders. Yes, men in general should improve on picking up on their partners’ cues and recognize power dynamics at play, both of gender and other factors, but let’s not be overly critical of the men who do reflect and work on themselves). His Netflix show Master of None was one of my favorites (and is absolutely peak Millennial).
I admit the ending is a bit heavy handed and disappointing, but overall I found it enjoyable for its core premise that really explores the socioeconomic class barriers that define our society these days. It is jokingly summed up in the trailer, with Keanu saying, “I tried to show him that wealth wouldn’t solve all his problems… It seems to have solved most of his problems.” Keanu is the heart and soul of the film. He plays a wonderfully sweet and naive angel who just wants to do more. He brings so much optimism with his purehearted enjoyment of the human experience. His delivery of every line is endearing, but the reality is that it’s true. Our society is becoming more and more money-centric. That Happiness Plateau that was often cited around $75,000-$100,000 of income (from a study in 2010…) (that happiness doesn’t increase as much after that threshold, has been proven wrong in more recent studies that consistently demonstrate that more money leads to higher reported happiness.
Available on Starz, as of 2/17.
“It was okay. It was fine I thought. It ain’t no Point Break. ”
Marty Supreme
Set in the 1950s (mostly in New York/New Jersey), Marty Mauser (loosely based on Marty Reisman) works and hustles his way to becoming a professional table tennis player.
I definitely suggest it to anyone who is a fan of Josh Safdie’s other films Good Time and Uncut Gems. It has a similar frantic and stressful pace that turns off some viewers but makes it irresistible to others. I’d almost describe the Safdie films as the artistic film representation of the recent young male spiraling descent into sports gambling and prediction markets. That isn’t that hot of a take, given Uncut Gems literally features that pretty heavily. But it really does spotlight the toxic traits of his protagonists.
Marty Mauser is… a lot. And in this film you just keep wishing he would wake up and make better decisions, but then he simply wouldn’t be the interesting character that we find ourselves glued to the screen to watch. In a way, for our risk adverse generation, we find the blind faith and deluded salesmanship almost magnetically fascinating.
Read more about Marty Reisman from this Esquire article.
Available eventually on HBO Max, probably May, 2026.
“So lately I’ve been having this thing of trying to be better at enjoying movies even when I don’t agree with the character’s decisions. I think there’s probably a lot of “great” movies out there with weird, shitty people making terrible decisions and I kind of figured this might be one of them. I know it’s not always as simple as that but just bear with me. Also, I’d heard about how Good Time and Uncut Gems––both early joint Safdie features––were panic attacks in movie form and I prepared myself for something similarly unpleasant with Marty Supreme.
Yes, Timothy Chalamet’s character Marty makes, at times, remarkably frustrating decisions. And yes, this movie IS a panic attack. And yet, I loved it. Marty is in the desperate, dogged pursuit of greatness and he has this unshakeable belief that greatness is his destiny. He won’t stop at any cost, because I don’t think he can stop, and whether that’s admirable, crazy or both is really up for the viewer to decide. The way I see it, this is a movie about someone obsessed with legacy. I mean, that’s part of why I think he cries when he sees his newborn son. It’s about someone who’s propelled into insane lows and highs all because of an (almost) unreasonable belief in what we he’s meant to do, to create this legacy, and all of a sudden there’s his legacy right in front of him in a way he hadn’t really anticipated. It’s wild, man.
Unfortunately for Benny Safdie, we now know which brother is the more talented. And isn’t it funny that in their first major solo efforts, both brothers’ stories are about people in the desparate pursuit of greatness? Also, casting was 10/10 I had no idea that was Penn Jillette.
It’s funny how Benny’s movie is about someone who tries and fails, then fades into obscurity, and Josh’s movie is about someone who tries and succeeds, seemingly at the cost of most of his friends and family.”
Jay Kelly
A legendary actor played by George Clooney (and is basically George Clooney) has a mid-life (maybe two-thirds life) crisis, and travels to Europe where a Tuscan film festival’s career-tribute award sparks introspective philosophical reviews of their lives for him and some of his team.
Look, it’s just George Clooney playing George Clooney. It isn’t exactly asking for you to suspend too much disbelief. If you’re not a fan of his beautiful face then you’re probably not going to enjoy it, but I found the film simple and beautiful. It isn’t particularly innovative, nor unpredictable. In fact, it’s probably a pretty tired premise. But it spoke to me. In my own personal era of worrying about life passing by and not working hard enough. I found it a contemplative cautionary tale focus on a healthy work life balance, with just a hauntingly beautiful final line that still resonates often, rent free in my mind months later.
Available on Netflix, as of 2/17.
“Blends the line of fiction and truth in several ways, testing to see if George/Jay is capable of playing himself. It’s a showbiz comedy about how the applause always comes at the expense of something else, yes, but mainly it’s an identity crisis picture. Jay is a n actor who’s always asking for another take because he think s he can get it better on the next go round and his daughters become a literal example of that.
Sandler is excellent and his character could have easily been a sad sack or a loyal puppy dog but there’s a scheming underneath the smile, or perhaps just confusion as to where the line in the relationship between personal and business really is.
Also features a touching tribute to Baumbach’s relationship with Bogdanovich.”
A House of Dynamite
Split into three simultaneous perspectives, each featuring roughly the same 18-minute period after the launch of a nuclear missile, US government officials across a myriad of agencies deal with the impending threat.
I like an operational movie. I like learning something from film. The American government is generally pretty exceptional at logistics, and seeing the apparatus of systems, processes, and personnel that trigger in such an incident is fascinating. It is a stressful film, that makes you appreciate life more. It features a great cast, including former coworker and soccer buddy (one time) Gabriel Basso. My biggest criticism was that Idris Elba was a really random choice to play the president, and for it to be kind of a cameo surprise is a weird move (for some reason his camera doesn’t turn on for most of the video calls, so his reveal is a surprise?). It’s possible I had some recency bias after seeing him play the Prime Minister in the enjoyable, but silly Heads of State action film.
It had mixed reviews, but I honestly chalk that heavily up to the fact that many people simply don’t like genuinely dealing with their own mortality, fragility of our society, and how our own progress seems more and more likely to lead to our downfall. Director Kathryn Bigelow does a fantastic job of portraying everything that would take place in such a situation and forcing both the characters and the viewers to reckon with weapons of mass destruction. Generally, experts agree that the movie’s setting is highly unlikely; the missile being both singular and random in origin. They’re more divided on the accuracy of the US Missile defense system.
Regardless, the movie does a wonderful job of reminding us of the knife’s edge the world lives on since the advent of nuclear weapons. Two years after the stellar Oppenheimer came out, this is the perfect movie to continue to demonstrate the world he ushered in.
Patricia Jaworek and Isabelle Williams write an informative and thought provoking follow up for those who are sitting in silence contemplating everything at the conclusion of the film. It explores what a potential aftermath of such an incident could be. Could also be helpful for many of the audience critics who disliked the film for its ending.
Available on Netflix, as of 2/17.
“Not a feel-good-watch, but you’ll feel good watching Rebecca Ferguson shine yet again!
I really enjoy films that show the same window of time from different perspectives. The pacing is immediately fast and tense, quickly plunging you in anxiety-inducing data you don’t fully understand. While it may not necessarily be a super memorable film against other similar thrillers, it’s quite engaging while you’re watching it.
And the cast was stacked! The aforementioned Rebecca Ferguson (will truly watch anything she’s in), Idris Elba, Anthony Ramos. While it’s not a trilogy (my usual weakness), it’s a strong standalone film with a cool cast and an anxious score!”
Honorable Mentions
“Juggling a hodgepodge of genres at once but it works. Great acting from all the cast members. Music is the best part, feels ritualistic, almost tribal/voodoo like, creating an engaging atmosphere. Visuals are great too, lush and saturated stylize the world. ”
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
I didn’t really get Challengers or Josh O’Connor before, but after this one, I was quite impressed. I’m not a big fan of whodunnit mystery movies, but this one broke that mold (much to the chagrin of fans of the genre). It was my favorite of the Benoit Blanc / Knives Out series. This film is carried by Josh O’Connor’s Father Jud’s genuine faith and authenticity. He represents a truly wonderful aspect of religion that in recent years has been overshadowed.
This movie is also the antithesis of the Absurdism / lack of meaning philosophical discussion.
“A sincere movie about faith went in search of an unserious franchise.”
Train Dreams
I watched this with my family and they were mostly annoyed that very little happened. I tried to explain that that was kind of the point, but suffice to say, it didn’t land as a family movie. It is a beautifully shot film, targeted towards the pensive person who goes to the movies alone. I actually found it to have a similar overall theme to Jay Kelly. But this version is the Pacific Northwest instead of Italy, is anonymous versus famous, and nearly devoid of dialogue versus the incessant talking of Hollywood folk.
Spoiler alert in the testimonial blurb below!
“Train Dreams is naive. The movie at least. Terrible things befall Robert Grainier. He participates unwillingly in a murder. His wife and young daughter are killed in a forest fire. The man who is the closest thing to a friend is felled by a snag. Yet, the movie tells us that “it’s beautiful…all of it” and that, in the end, it will be revealed that “everything is connected.” This is not how the book goes, which is far more clear-eyed about the moral ambiguity and lurking evil of the century of American progress that Robert Grainier is swept along in. But I liked the movie, nonetheless. Its fundamental sentiment is nostalgia, as it looks back on something lost (something in fact burned, chopped down, killed, choked out with gasoline engines) with both tender acceptance if its passing and obsessive, constant examination of the world in its absence. And we might have to dwell a bit on the world we lost before we can imagine, properly, the world we want.”
Black Bag
A tight spy thriller that’s pretty solid. Led by Fassbender and Blanchett, their quality shines in this dialogue heavy film. It’s vibes over action and CGI. More about relationships, both romantic, platonic, and working, this is Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but not a silly action movie. More an overly complex, but a hyper sleek and efficient spy film.
“Black Bag was more believable as a thriller. The interpersonal dynamics were kind of distracting and pushed belief, but the suspense was more sophisticated and interesting.”
Bugonia
The bulk of this movie is an intense abduction film. With the majority set in a house I would never want to step foot in. Led by another two stellar A-listers, Plemons and Stone. It is not very Yorgos Lanthimos until the final act. It is deeply uncomfortable throughout, doing an incredible job of the torture of a captured woman at the hands of two misguided men. It is a bit heavy handed in its exploitation of lonely men who pursue community via conspiracy theories via the internet. But that can be easily forgiven since it doesn’t feel too far from reality these days. The chess match is wonderfully tense, and somehow constantly absurd. The ending is great. I found it a little too distressing to give it a higher ranking.
“Is Emma Stone’s character in Bugonia an alien sent to Earth to destroy us? The incredibly tense plot keeps you guessing, but the life of Jesse Plemons character and most everyone beside Stone’s girl boss CEO is grim enough to make you want to believe there’s some greater conspiracy behind all the misery. Still, there’s a surprising amount of humor in the film, even with all the violence and kidnapping depicted. I enjoyed it, even if it didn’t leave me feeling great.”
It Was Just an Accident
More applicable now than when it was first released, this Iranian film does an incredible job of giving a glimpse into a part of dissent in a dictatorship that we rarely see. Like the Brazilian films I’m Still Here or The Secret Agent, we get the “before” / “during”. This is the after. The ones who survive and how they reintegrate into society. The film does a great job of maintaining that stress and PTSD, balanced with genuinely brilliant comedy and mundane day to day operations showing how normalized this terrible world can be and how people have to move on to simply live their lives. This would have been a top 10 if not for the penultimate scene (on the hill at night). I found the scene so close to being great and wish it was just done better. The reveal comes out of nowhere and feels forced and tired. Perhaps though, he really was tired. The long single shot scenes are really well done as well. Help keep it so tense and engaging when all you want to do is take a break and leave their society and return to ours. The final scene is a very cool choice. And is one of the rarer ambiguous scenes that I actually enjoy, not just tolerate.
I also cannot find anyone to give a testimonial / blurb for this one… I guess that makes it the least popular.
“TBD”
I’ve reviewed Letterboxd’s most popular films of the year to double check what I still haven’t watched (Housemaid, Eternity, Primate, Die My Love, Anaconda, Sorry, Baby, Together, Is This Thing On?, Testament of Ann Lee, amongst others). If you have strong feelings that I should watch one of these let me know! At the bottom I’ll list the movies I did watch.
Fun Films
Okay, this category are films that I really enjoyed, but are more fun and typical blockbusters, and less “best films”.
F1
It’s mind boggling that this film is nominated for a Best Picture award…
If it’s not clear, F1 is an advertisement for F1. They don’t pretend to hide it… I mean it’s in the title (and am I really going to buy Heineken, Tommy Hilfiger, and Mercedes now? (I wish I knew the economics behind this film, a quick search reveals that they offset their production costs by around $40m through the real sponsorships the protagonists’ fictional team had, but I imagine there were even more funds raised)), but it’s a brazen and blatant attempt to make a sport that is not particularly interesting, dramatic. Amusingly, their plot has to focus on a completely fictional, extreme circumstance, and irrelevant to the winning of the competition to be remotely worth watching. It’s like a sport admitting that the actual championship isn’t really worth you following, but is trying to get you to watch anyway, for the vibes. It is shallow, predictable, and illogical, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable ride.
It isn’t even my favorite racing film; Rush, Ford v. Ferrari, and Talladega Nights are better. But none of them do the cinema part as well. What Nicole Kidman preaches before films, “We come to this place for magic…” is how I felt, and her ex-husband Tom Cruise is probably thrilled by the big cinematic production as well. I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much if I hadn’t seen it in IMAX, since what F1 lacks in substance, it makes up for with it’s cinematography, energetic pacing, and music / score. It’s quippy and its basic dialogue just gives me enough, and while it follows a typical sports story arc, I genuinely felt stakes and stress (being in the drivers seat of an F1 car on the big screen generally gives you the feeling that a crash could happen at any second). Sure, it’s illogical how much happens over the course of 9 races (3-4 months), but as I’ve mentioned before, the sport kinda sucks, so they’ve gotta create some drama in a short amount of time.
Joseph Kosinski has directed three of my favorite films in recent years. This, Top Gun: Maverick, and Oblivion. I wasn’t a fan of Tron: Legacy and Spiderhead, and haven’t seen Only the Brave, but worth keeping an eye on him and what he does because he’s looking very promising to become a Hollywood staple. We’ll see how his two current projects a Miami Vice film and an untitled UFO conspiracy thriller film go.
However, I do like that they (attempt to) explain most of those inconsistencies with narration or one liners. How can Brad Pitt pick up an F1 vehicle after over sitting out 3 decades of technological development? There’s an offhand comment he actually has been following and keeping up with F1 and is aware of the upgrades. How can all these weird gray areas and rule bends work out? Well the announcers (narrators) will just tell us why it’s okay. Also, this team is an absolute money pit, even if they survive the season, Javier Bardem (who absolutely crushes it again) is just going to lose more money next season. And how do they get so lucky on the final race day? Every character just looks to the heavens and they all just say it’s a miracle. I don’t know what exactly happened, but even for me, a nitpicker, I can just let it go, because I don’t really care about racing or F1, I’m here for the vibes. And darn it are the vibes great. Hans Zimmer absolutely nails it again. Man, I’ve just been listening to that song on repeat all year long. The editing and cinematography are spot on. And Brad Pitt’s cool-American-cowboy devil-may-care, but-I-love-the-team and Mr.-Miyagi-mentoring-this-rookie, super-charming-style-to-get-the-gorgeous-Irish-technical-genius (Kerry Condon), and all-I-love-is-the-race is so basic… and yet, I’m so basic that I loved it.
Andrea wrote like 6 different blurbs, but they’re all great, so it’s one large testimonial!
“Music as a replacement for emotion. Strings, piano, or sick synth beats. F1 is a movie that wields synths like swords. Slicing away awkwardness and disbelief and injecting pure adrenaline.
In an AppleTV world where throwing money at something hopes to make it good. I believe F1 is one of the only topics and films where it succeeds. Money and cars like peas and carrots. It couldn’t be done by anyone else. And that special awe-inducing sauce deepened its realism.
Many people have told me they hate Brad now. I believe this means he has fully locked into a Dark Knight era. The Dark Knight Hollywood deserves. A producing powerhouse, a sex pot for those 30 and above, rizz off the charts, and a man most at home on the screen as proven by his highly notorious and repeated failings as husband and father off-screen. Any protagonist he plays effuses a bit of darkness only history and experience can give.
Damson, the newbie, with nothing to lose and only so much immense fun to have. It’s so obvious and so right. Brad doing his biggest passion project ever, Damson, the ebullient visitor into his world. Being our eyes and ears and hearts. Albeit ears now more deaf than before.
And Kerry my beautiful shining star. Our true north. Our reason to do it all. To dream bigger than we’ve thought to. The sacrifice that pays you back. It can only be a woman that carries the collective conscience of the film and still manages to make it look and sound sexy.
Apple’s only real good decisions tend to be casting. Because they have the money to do it. Everyone in this movie is having too good of a time to not empathetically have one too. ”
Deep Cover
We need more movies like this. It is just fun. Never takes itself too seriously, and manages to still deliver a coherent story. I mean it is chock full of talented actors. I don’t want to give it away, but I assure you, this movie about actors has some surprising actors in it. The plot is insane, and just wonky enough to maintain some realism without it needing to abide by our real world rules. I mean yeah, is everyone shooting a gun got terrible aim when they’re aiming at our protagonists, and perfect aim otherwise? And why don’t those three guys in the back of the room notice Orlando Bloom stealing that lady’s car keys? Does it really matter? No. I laughed at the absurdity and the fun of this weird film that had no right to be this enjoyable.
A couple of Taskmaster contestants doesn’t hurt either.
“There’s little better than a genre film spoofing genre film done right!! Featuring a cast stacked full of icons, Deep Cover is so genuinely fun that it may have actually repaired my opinion of Colin Trevorrow post-war (the Jurassic World trilogy). This is the type of movie that I sit around wishing would get made-I just wish they got to shine in theaters too.”
KPop Demon Hunters
Look, Golden is a banger. It’s got a fast pace and has a lot of funny moments and one liners. It’s from the studio that did Into the Spiderverse, and that style of animation and quick wit is quite amusing. That said, this movie has a lot of flaws, and misses the mark. A fun time, that kept me entertained, it probably needed some more time to percolate in the writer’s room.
The existence of KPop Demon Hunters implies somewhere there are demon hunters for other genres, which highly amuses me. Give me an expanded universe! New Orleans Jazz Demon Hunters or Swedish House Demon Hunters!
Issues:
The main character’s recovery from the dark low point to getting her girls back and her boy sacrificing himself and beating the fire, was underdeveloped and very fast.
Are the demons that bad? Are they all suffering? Are they not all just flawed humans? If it just takes a little shame spiral to lead into losing your soul… that doesn’t feel like enough. What does it mean to be a demon? Sometimes you can’t sing? Other than skin tattoo pattern, she didn’t really seem to have a defining demon quality… except that she could handle and battle her shame better than the other girls could. Confronting your fear and shame should have been the real “solution”. She should have gone to her friends and helped them confront their intrusive thoughts.
I don’t understand. The souls are food one way. And just voluntary support the other way? Doesn’t really make any sense.
While we’re at it, I mean… a lot of people get raptured / die. I mean an extraordinary amount of people that would have society reeling. You can’t do it and just not address why the world isn’t falling apart…
What was the mother / leader of the crew doing when the shield fell? Everything after that point just felt like a “speed run” and just bow tied to end. Though on the other hand, it was nice that it didn’t dillydally, and didn’t really pretend or waffle. Just was like “radical self acceptable” will give you strength to win. Normally I find myself in very straightforward films being like, hurry up, do the classic movie beats, but here it moved along so fast I didn’t have time to complain.
I really like the different homages to Korean “shamanism / historical art”, but I wanted more reference / background. Like… what the heck does bird do!? Like if bird was just removed. Nothing would have changed except the hat would be on the cat.
“Setting aside some mixed metaphors (more on this at a later time), K-Pop Demon Hunters checks all the boxes.
-Female empowerment with friendship at its core? Check.
-A romantic relationship that slow burns so slowly that the climatic exchange never even results in a kiss? Check.
-Songs that you can’t resist singing and dancing to? Check.
-A shared moment among the Asian diaspora AND the rest of the entire nation? Check!!!
It’s hard nowadays, in the age of streaming and endless choice, to find a cultural moment that feels like everyone is participating in. For a very brief time, K-Pop Demon Hunters was everything, everywhere, all at once, which, for me, meant that we were all together, even for just a moment.”
Caught Stealing
Similar to Deep Cover, this is what standalone films should be. Absolute ride. They build a world fast and fun. Austin Butler is crushing it, with movies in this category two years running (The Bikeriders).
“Came for Bad Bunny. I love a crime thriller, especially set in a gritty 90s NYC. Zoe Kravitz & Austin Butler are both sooo hot and have insane chemistry. Overall, very sexy, chaotic, and really got me on the edge of my seat, heart rate up!
This movie is about what it’s like being a dedicated sports fan.
It’s like Baby Driver but hornier, messier, and with a cat.
Zoe Kravitz with a gun shaped lighter will really do things to a mf (I’m a mf).”
28 Years Later
Understandably polarizing, I liked how weird and idiosyncratic it was. The third film in the 28 Days Later series, it starts a separate trilogy in universe. Alex Garland wrote the original and Danny Boyle directed. A partnership was also responsible for Beach and Sunshine. After some creative disagreements the relationship broke down and the two stopped working together. For whatever reason they decided to bury their old differences and reunite for this trilogy. This film is an odd fever dream of creators who no longer have to take notes from the studios after decades of success. It’s certainly unhinged, and has some weird focuses here and there, with some odd tonal shifts, but I appreciated the independent artistry. I also recognize though that it mainly serves as an introduction for this new trilogy they have cooked up.
“28 Years Later had a solid first half then took a hard left into full blown psychosis. That being said its sequel, The Bone Temple, was full blown psychosis the whole movie and it was way better.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash
I’ve vehemently disliked the previous two Avatar movies, but my father is obsessed and wanted to go watch this one in theaters too. I found the central conflict actually much more compelling this time. It’s an actual genuine moral conundrum of what to do with Spider. Plus, the wild-eyed iconoclastic antagonist pair were quite chaotic and enjoyable. The kids acted very gen z and were kind of annoying. The final battle was a waste of time and could have been replaced by the other movie’s final acts, but hey, I guess third time’s the charm. I finally sort of enjoyed one of these movies… but it’s still not… a good movie.
“The story sucked so hard that the amazing visuals couldn’t make up for it.”
Rental Family
A late addition, now that it’s on streaming, there’s a lot to like in this film. Will summed it up best, noting that it was two plots; a man struggling to find purpose for himself and a man learning how to support others via his new job. At times it does each very well, but it does neither particularly well at the end of the day. They demonstrated the services really well through A simple solution to the side plot with the daughter he has to play father for would have been just to let the daughter know that he is an actor (shout out to The Rehearsal and Nathan Fielder for his inadvertent foray into this realm), and they could have still had many of the same story beats, just without the problematic and stupid nature of the situation they did go with. They needed to explore the other two employees of the agency a bit more. Having the agency grow made sense, but they could have expanded on that growth more. Also, Tamae Ando’s character needed more time and plot, she’s the prostitute named Lola (though I swore in the film her name was Natsumi, in hindsight, it may have been that Lola was her name for clients, and Natsumi was her real name…). Her interactions, profession, and relationship was all very intriguing. Brendan Fraser was very good, but some of the language switching was jarring, it could have been a bit more consistent in Japanese. I think it would have been better that way. In the end, it was an enjoyable movie night, but I left with a lot to be desired.
Freakier Friday
A double late edition. Caught it on the plane the day of the Oscars, so I wanted to sneak it in. This movie has no right to be good. I’m not saying it’s great, but if you liked Freaky Friday and want more body switching good classic family fun, head on over and watch this. A really well done faithful and fun sequel that maintains the spirit of the original while adding enough to make it interesting. It’s a great family film that is just a great time.
The Worst Films of the Year
Fountain of Youth
Despite its high budget and cast of A-listers, it was soulless and forgettable, lacking the wit and charm of the adventure classics it attempted to mimic. I don’t even really remember it. That really sums it up.
A Working Man
Just another bland Jason Statham action movie, that’s just a half baked attempt to do a similar derivative after the weird success of The Beekeeper. But it’s certainly not even remotely as good as that.
Honey Don’t
This was a strange weird fever dream that someone (ahem, the director) had of Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza. The plot barely makes any sense, just a convoluted way to legally conduct the fantasy they wanted to see.
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
I don’t understand how this franchise still has legs. It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s barely about magic (mostly just CGI and cameos). The pivot to including a younger crew is just a weak attempt to appeal to the next generation, written by someone that certainly doesn’t understand them, heck maybe hasn’t even met one.
Regretting You
This movie was messy and weird, and just all around cringe worthy. I’m not sure what the intent is, but there’s bad chemistry that doesn’t help, messy timelines, and ridiculous situations and emotions galore.
The Great Flood
I mean… I did not expect the second / third acts, but geez this was a weird movie. I guess if you like the natural disaster apocalypse genre, go for it, but this was a mess.
All 2025 Films Watched
Love Hurts, The Gorge, Mickey 17, Captain America: Brave New World, Drop Dead Years, Heart Eyes, O'Dessa, Sinners, Thunderbolts*, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Drop, Novocaine, A Working Man, Warfare, 28 Years Later, Fantastic 4: First Steps, The Accountant 2, Fountain of Youth, Friendship, Superman, Ballerina, The Amateur, The Materialists, Heads of State, F1, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Thursday Murder Club, KPop Demon Hunters, Nobody 2, Weapons, One Battle After Another, Him, Tron: Ares, Roofman, Honey Don't, Black Bag, Companion, Bugonia, Running Man, One of Them Days, The Roses, Life of Chuck, The Ballad of Wallis Island, Frankenstein, Good Fortune, Eddington, Merrily We Roll Along, Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man, Train Dreams, Regretting You, No Other Choice, The Great Flood, Wicked: For Good, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Marty Supreme, Jay Kelly, A House of Dynamite, Sentimental Value, Now You See Me: Now You Don't, Caught Stealing, The Smashing Machine, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, Deep Cover, The Phoenecian Scheme, The Secret Agent, Twinless, Hamnet, The Instigators, If I Had Legs I Would Kick You, A Nice Indian Boy, Blue Moon, It Was Just An Accident, Zootopia 2, Predator Badlands, Rental Family, and Freakier Friday