It’s that time of year again, where I dust off my typing fingers and churn out 6500 words on the best films of 2025. As the Academy is about to close the books on the last year in film, I think we can safely say that 2025 was a pretty damn great year at the movies. A very deep bench of good to great movies, with a top ten that delivered a number of films that could become all time classics. Having said that (hey, that’s the old name of this website!), I haven’t awarded any movie a five star ranking, yet. I could see a few getting there on future re-watches, but that stat goes to show how great a year it has been. Skipping any categories this year and just jumping into the list!

Past Best Of content by me:

A Year In Film: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007

The Decade’s Best: 2010-19 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The Decade’s Best: 2000-09 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

On to the list!

The Also Rans (All Movies Worth Your Time And Discussion): 
Is This Thing On?; The Mastermind; Nouvelle Vague; F1; Play Dirty; It Was Just an Accident; Sorry, Baby; Freaky Tales; Together; The Monkey; Keeper; Elio; Resurrection; Roofman; Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale; Tron: Ares; Companion; KPop Demon Hunters; Eden; The Fantastic 4: First Steps; Pressence; Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy; Captain America: Brave New World 

The Contenders:

Hedda
Nia DaCosta’s adaptation of the play of the same name, also reconnects her with Tessa Thompson for a fun and nasty dinner party that is always on the verge of bursting at the seams with intrigue. Everyone has got it out for someone, and as the night unfolds, jealousy and old grudges reveal themselves to make everyone’s night a living hell. Great performances from Thompson, Nina Hoss and Imogen Poots keep you on your toes as DaCosta’s filmmaking sits you in the building anxiety and doesn’t really let go. The film is also one of the finest looking and sounding pictures of the year, and if freaking sucks that this just dissapeared into the black hole of Amazon Prime for nobody to ever see again.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
The last(?) in this Christopher McQuarrie era of the Mission: Impossible franchise probably it’s weakest collective effort, but their are a number of reasonable enough reasons for that. With that said, there a pair of set-pieces in this film that stack up against anything the entire series has to offer, with the biplane finale being a truly exhilarating hit of filmmaking and stunt work by Cruise and company. Yes, I wish the first half wasn’t so wheel-spinning, yes I still wonder why Ilsa couldn’t be here, yes the movie is trying a bit too hard to tie everything together, but the movie can still inspire awe in movie making, which is in short supply nowadays, and for that it is worth holding up as a corner of cinema that may not exist much longer. 

Thunderbolts*
Marvel hasn’t lost it’s swagger nearly as much as many haters would have you believe, they have been remarkably consistent both pre and post-Endgame by my watch, but Jake Schreier’s non-Avengers (or is it?) team-up is a breath of fresh air that the MCU can still do something fresh and new for the genre. This is a B-Team of heroes powers-wise, but through this group of losers comes a story about tackling the demons that try to keep you on that lower tier and how having a team can lift you up. Sebastian Stan and Florence Pugh are to of the MCU’s greatest assets, so to see them at the front of a movie was a welcome change, while the supporting crew also delivers in spades to create a new team in the universe to root for. Can’t wait to see what Schreier does with the X-Men and how Bob factors in to the upcoming Avengers shenanigans.

Die My Love
Lynne Ramsay’s latest is another liteary adaptation that dives into the psyche of it’s protagonist and she doesn’t even attempt to hold your hand through it all. That’s not say you don’t know what’s going on, she just trusts her actors and her visual language to convey what she wants you to feel; and her star, Jennifer Lawrence, does just that. Bouncing off of Robert Pattinson as her seemingly lost in the assumed madness that Lawrence’s post-partem Grace is dealing with, Lawrence is raw and ferreal as she not only deals with all the feelings and emotions that come with having a child, but being jetisoned out of the life she knew and loved for a smaller and quieter existence in a more rural part of the country. Lawrence is just going for it, putting you into her headspace, in what has to be one of the most visceral depictions of post-partem stress put to film. Another lower film on this list that I look forward to watching again, I hope this finds a bigger audience in the years to come; don’t sleep on Ramsay!

The Secret Agent
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s latest takes us back to the 70’s in Brazil, where fascism is running amok and being a decent person who stands up for what is right is getting harder and harder to do. Enter Wagner Moura’s “Marcelo,” who is on the run from something (we find out what), and we fall into his new life of being in hiding as he tries to escape the country. Marcelo is neither a spy or government agent, the film is instead twinged with an espionage vibe of the paranoia driven 70’s classics that poured out of Hollywood; and Moura’s performance stands right next to the mega-stars of that era. Filho fills the rest of the cast with a series of incredible faces and gets excellent work out of a lot of non-actors to fill out the good guys and the bad that are all trying to survive this culture war. I can’t wait to revisit this film, and all that awards buzz this generated was well deserved.

Blue Moon
Ethan Hawke is electric in this Richard Linklater chamber piece that takes place in Sardi’s on the opening night of Oklahoma! on Broadway. Oklahoma! is the first work of Hawke’s Lorenz Hart’s former partner, Richard Rogers, and Oscar Hammerstein (who would go on to be one of the greatest musical duos to ever do it) and Hawke is remarkable as he works through all of the feelings that this arises in him. He’s honest, he’s a liar, he’s jealous, he’s appreciative, he’s short… Hawke rarely shuts up in this picture, which never leaves the bar and drops in a broad cast of characters for him to bounce off of. A talky hang out movie, constantly underscored with classic showtunes on the piano, there are far far worse ways to spend a couple of hours, but Linklater and Hawke’s latest collaboration isn’t far off from their totemic best.

Cloud
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest is a slow burn crime movie that gets flipped on its head in a hurry when a pack of bounty hunters show up at our protagonist’s door; and they don’t plan on asking any questions. Masaki Suda stars as an online hustler of sorts, buying in bulk and selling off items at far higher prices in online auctions, but the items might not always be legit and he’s created quite a few enemies over the internet, who track him down for revenge. The film becomes a on the run/standoff movie that extends over multiple locations and with plenty of death along the way. Kurosawa has a way of getting under your skin in his work, and while there is nothing fantastical on display here, the film still feels haunted in the best ways that his work can often manifest. The film’s subtle pace is never dull, as it builds to a rewarding finale that fits alongside the many late-capitalism bummers that have come out this past year.

Hamnet
Chloe Zhao’s latest is a literary adaptation of one of the biggest books of the last few years, and features one of the best performances yet by one of our greatest working actors in Jessie Buckley. Buckley stars as Agnes, the wife of a popular playwright in late 1500’s England, and she has an otherworldly connection to the natural world and has been called a witch by some, while also giving her husband a palm reading that reveals he will die with two children at his side. Paul Mescal plays her husband, who is often off in London/on tour with his work, but he makes an impact every time he comes home and in the film’s crescendo of a finale. Jacobi Jupe is also excellent as the young son of the two, the titular Hamnet, who is under the watchful eye of Agnes as she had given birth to three children, not two. But Buckley is the best in show here, with a twin birthing sequence in the middle of the film that features the single best piece of acting in a movie all year. Buckley wordless captures the love, sorrow, and astonishment of the moment; you’ll be in tears. 

Wake Up Dead Man
Rian Johnson’s latest in his Benoit Blanc films is another great showcase for Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc and a large cast of suspects, but Johnson’s film gives more space to another lead character than ever before in this series in Josh O’Connor; and he kills it. O’Connor plays a priest, who is still trying to figure it all out, and even though his faith never waivers, the balance between him and Blanc respectfully mines the debate around what is religion good for; and how it can be so easily perverted. A game ensemble is plenty of fun, but Johnson gives them much less to do than the previous two films, joining Blanc in the backseat a bit to give O’Connor the light. Sure to grow on future viewings, it’s littered with references and subtlety that will be rewarded on re-watch, but until then this stands as a pretty impressive picture that sits third in my rankings of this Blanc trilogy (so far).

Pillion
This sub-dom-rom-com takes you head first into the world of gay biker sub-culture and leaves you on the other side with a sweet and transformative coming of age film for our supportive subordinate. Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård stars in Henry Lighton’s feature debut, with Melling’s Colin willing to do whatever it takes to stay with Skarsgård’s Ray. And that’s not to say that Ray is taking advantage of Colin, this kink goes both ways, and one of the best running gags of the film is Colin’s getting off before Ray does. Melling conveys so much across his sad little face, growing along his path to discovery of what works for him and what he needs out of a relationship that is seemingly only supposed to go one from the outsider looking in. Honest and full of joy, with a third act turn by Skarsgård that tells us so much about his character, while being an incredible 180 of a performance as well. Can’t wait to see what Lighton does next.

Weapons
Zach Cregger’s follow-up from Barbarian is a sprawling horror/thriller that wasn’t really what I was expecting. Not in a bad way, just in that it is as much a mystery film as it is a horror one, with a chapter structure that wonderfully builds and re-contextualizes everything that comes before each new part of the story. Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, and Cary Christopher all get to lead a chapter along the way, turning in haunted to hilarious performances, while all of them are tinged with a little sprinkle of Amy Madigan’s iconic Aunt Gladys. Also, Cregger has quickly established that he knows how to end a movie with his first two features, with Weapons’ being in the running as one of the best scenes of the year.

Materialists
Celine Song’s follow-up to Past Lives was always going to be a tall order, but she is quite successful with a leveling up of budget and scope, as she navigates another sort-of love triangle among folks in NYC. Dakota Johnson stars as a matchmaker, who meets a striking prospective candidate for her company (Pedro Pascal) on the same night she runs into her ex (Chris Evans). The film never really pits anyone against one another, as the tension among the three leads is fairly gentle and isn’t looking to make anyone into a villain; which feels true to life. Yeah, things might feel a little clean, and a B plot involving one of Johnson’s clients is quite jarring on first watch, but Song ultimately gives us another examination of love with a high/low society twist. 

Jay Kelly
Noah Baumbach’s latest seems to have already faded away for most who saw it, and while it’s nowhere near my favorite Baumbach picture, it has a lot more going on for it then people were giving it credit for. It’s an often sad and self-loathing memory piece, set in the world of Hollywood, about people that don’t need our sympathy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find empathy in their stories. The film isn’t looking for pity, it is just taking you along for the ride as the biggest star in the world, played perfectly by George Clooney, starts having a come to Jesus moment that he may be wasting his life on the things that don’t really matter. The film earns its pathos, and is sort of a timely reminder in this day and age that just because you have everything, you still might not have anything that truly matters. Baumbach’s work behind that camera continues to improve, while he is able to gin up a star studded cast to fill in every role of any consequence. “Can I go again? I’d like another one.”

Pavements
Alex Ross Perry’s film around the band pavements is one part rock-doc, one part bio-pic, one part musical, one part concert film, and one part behind the scenes bonus feature; which is somehow swirled all together into a film unlike any other. As a non-Pavement fan, there was plenty to learn, and learn to like, about this indie sort-of-success rock band from the early 90s, but Perry adds layer after layer of mischief and edifice to create something wholly original and endlessly refreshing in the music genre. It’s a movie that is pretty hard to describe, but you can’t trust everything you see on the screen to be authentic, while also feeling like this is the only way you could tell the story of this reclusive band. The least seen movie film on my list, give it a shot if you are a fan of bands and bio-pics.  

After the Hunt
I hate to feel like I am a Luca Guadagnino apologist, but the way people bump off him is just baffling to me. The guy only puts out bangers, and the reaction to After the Hunt wasn’t surprising based on history, but people need to lighten the fuck up. Luca and his amazing cast are having a blast, but basically everyone was lining up to deem this a tone deaf piece of MeToo-ism/or Tar-lite; and it’s why we can’t have nice things. Julia Roberts is tearing down the walls, Andrew Garfield is daring you to be charmed by him, Ayo Edebiri is being messy as hell and Chloë Sevigny is an awkward freak. I mean, people were out there praising the brilliant Michael Stuhlbarg performance dotted across this movie, but then not registering that maybe everyone else was in on the joke too? I had a blast, I hope you do too.

Predator: Badlands
Dan Trachtenberg’s second Predator film is borderline perfect in that it absolutely executes and turns out a film that is essentially exactly what it set out to do. It’s the ideal experience with a big sci-fi action film; lots of fun, an engrossing world, great characters, and not trying to change the world. Obviously, sci-fi films can be full of messages and calls for change, but Badlands is content with just being a great time at the movies. Elle Fanning is so much fun as an android that aligns with our lead yautja (her Oscar nom this year would be just as deserving here) and Trachtenberg builds out a wonderful pack of characters you want to root for. I want to see Trachtenberg continue to level up, and he may not be returning to the Predator franchise, but the guy has a knack for this series, and I’d take a sequel… 

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Mary Bronstein’s second feature (make Yeast [her 1st film] more available challenge) features one of the year’s best performances in Rose Byrne; playing a mother on the verge of a psychotic episode after she’s forced out of her home, into a hotel, and her daughter won’t commit to trying to get better from some unknown ailment, all while solo-parenting. Dark, phantasmagoric and quite funny until the bleakness almost consumes all, this felt like one of the freshest films of the year. Original and unflinching, it was one of many films about parenting/motherhood this year, and can run alongside any of its peers. 

The Top 20:

20. Honey Don’t
While I had some fun with Ethan Coen & Tricia Cooke’s first endeavor together (slight but never taking itself seriously), with their follow-up they embrace a bit more of that Coen Bros. tone and dark crime comedy; while never forgetting to let Margaret Qualley cook. Charlie Day made me laugh every time he popped up, Aubrey Plaza provides a sexy counterpart to Qualley, while Chris Evans continues to be a delight in dirtbag shitheel mode. The ending gets a little sweaty, but I was kept on my heels by the plot and greatly appreciated a movie that wasn’t afraid to be horny. Coen & Cooke apparently have one more script they are sitting on, and I’m game if they are, especially after already taking a huge step forward with their second outing.

19. Caught Stealing
Darren Aronofsky has followed up his Oscar winner The Whale (his only bad film) with a throw back to NYC and 90s crime cinema that I found extremely fun and refreshing. Austin Butler continues to prove he’s a motherfucking star (even if people won’t see him out of IP), and Aronofsky uses all his skills to make a flashy, brutal crime flick that doesn’t pull any punches. Full of tons of friendly faces, Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio having the most fun of that crew, Bad Bunny a close second, while Matt Smith commits to the bit. All these folks are begging for original films from big time directors, and people seemed too predisposed to not even give this a chance. I think it will be re-discovered one of these days, if Aronofsky doesn’t continue to passively make enemies with the current critical community, but you shouldn’t wait for the reclamation project, start it. 

18. The Testament of Ann Lee
Mona Fastvold is one half of a creative team, with Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), and she might have topped last year’s effort from their partnership with her historical bio-pic of the shaker Ann Lee. Covering her life from nearly cradle to crave, that’s about as far as the comparisons stop from being anything conventional in this genre. Part religious epic, part musical through way of quaker hymns, Fastvold puts her trust in Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, who takes the ball and sprints with it. Utterly committed as Lee, you’d follow Seyfried across the Atlantic too, even if it means you might never have sex again. The film is unique and original, full of life and affection, and while it doesn’t agree with its protagonist, it does respect the game. Lewis Pullman is quietly devastating as Ann’s brother, who is putting his feet to the ground to spread the gospel of Ann, but is also filling a hole in his soul that he believes only Ann’s prophecy can fulfill. Epic and enthralling, this is probably the most criminally underseen film of the year. Put it on physical media!

17. No Other Choice
Park Chan-wook’s latest is a masterclass of late-capitalism tomfoolery that will probably rise quite a bit on a re-watch, alas, the film is a hilarious and damning indictment of where our corporate overlords are taking us; while having some fun with what it could drive some people to do! Lee Byung-hun commands the screen as he devises a devilish plan to get the job that will save his family home. Smart, weak, determined and emasculated at every turn, Lee gets plenty to play in one of the best performances of the year. Son Ye-jin & Yeom Hye-ran also deserve shout outs for cutting through the bullshit they have to put up with from the men in their lives, delivering just as fun and funny performances as Lee. Park is also just on another level here, he’s so damn good, and this film’s ending is right up there with the best of the year; which is littered with all-timers. One of the movies I thought the most about since seeing it, and I can’t wait to catch it again.

16. Train Dreams
Clint Bently’s adaptation is a lyrical journey into the past, dealing with the awe & wonder of the time, and the pain and grief that comes from a less pre-modern society. This story is mostly told through its beautiful cinematography, engrossing score, and brilliant omniscient voice over (Will Paton), that makes the film feel like a novelistic epic cutting across the industrial revolution of the Pacific Northwest. Joel Edgerton is the quiet heart at the core of this film, bringing so much to the table with just his weathered face selling us on all the emotions he doesn’t know how to say, while the rest of the cast is peppered with a series of scene stealing character actor work. Bill Macy, Paul Schneider, Clifton Collins Jr, and Kerry Condon all drop in on Edgerton’s Robert’s life, but Felicity Jones is evocative as the woman who loves a man that didn’t think he could be loved. Moves at a whip, is never not gorgeous, and shows us how we may have, sort of, stalled as a society in our modern times. Where is the next great thing, is the only way to go down? Train Dreams will bore into your brain.

15. Friendship
Andrew DeYoung’s film stars Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, and while Robinson doesn’t have any creative credits on the film officially, you can tell that he and DeYoung are a match made in heaven. The film is somehow able to sustain that Robinson vibe over the course of a feature length film and he brings everyone else in the film along with him. Rudd is delightfully riffing on his personal type he unfairly gets accused of being too one note by some people, Kate Mara is subtly excellent as a loving, but burnt out, partner to Robinson’s lead doofus, while Robinson himself creates a full character that doesn’t just feel like a re-tread of his comedic persona. Plus, the licking of the toad scene is one the biggest laughs I’ve had in awhile. 

14. Superman
James Gunn’s first film in his new DC Universe is a rousing a success, sprinkling in some of the ensemble magic he’s brought to his other superhero efforts, while injecting the film with a humanist anti-facist worldview that feels so urgent and radical for something built for so many people to see. David Corenswet is great as Clark/Superman, while Rachel Brosnahan is a great foil/lover in Lois Lane. The two have an early scene where they just spar, and talk, and the chemistry is electric. I honestly wish Gunn would put them in a Before style movie where they just talk at each other for ninety minutes. No cgi, no tights, just them. What a radical departure that would be for the superhero genre! Nicholas Hoult is deplorably delightful as Lex Luther, while the cast shines well below him as well. I’m all in for this new DCU, and I’m excited to see how Gunn and his filmmakers continue to differentiate themselves from the MCU.

13. A House of Dynamite
Kathryn Bigelow’s latest is the film we deserve, as the taught nuclear thriller is terrifying because we currently have zero faith that anyone in our government would handle this sort of situation as competently as the people do here. Told in a triptych of the same stretch of time, Bigelow peels back the layers of how fucked up and hectic something like this would be if it happened in real life. The sprawling cast is peppered with great moments and performances, while the film’s ending has pissed off seemingly everyone but me who has watched this on Netflix (I saw in the theater!) We deserve this movie, we need to think about this, and while this happening in real life is not inevitable, it’s fucking terrifying the position we are currently in and maybe some people will watch this and see that better options are out there. Or, maybe, I’m too optimistic. 

12. Avatar: Fire and Ash
James Cameron’s latest Avatar film landed a little soft with me on first viewing, not that it wasn’t the most technically impressive film I’ve ever seen (it was), but it didn’t feel new in the way Way of Water did; I also wasn’t ready for all that Spider. On second viewing, almost all of these feelings melted away. The film feels like a companion to Way of Water, not a trilogy capper, and it works all the better for it. Spider isn’t as omnipresent as he felt in my first go, and he actually works really well as a pawn in the game being played between the Na’vi and Sky People. And then there is Varang, who Oona Chaplin beautifully brings to life, that brings a fire (sorry) and energy to the proceedings that plays wonderfully off Quaritch. Yes, I wish we got more of her and her people. Yes, I wish that Kiri’s arc felt a bit more epic. But, Jake and Neytiri get a pretty special story as they manage grief and find the will to keep moving forward. Bring on another!

11. The Shrouds
David Cronenberg’s latest is an unflinching look at death, grief and the future of both, instilling plenty of humor and stark observation that we come to expect from this Canadian master. Vincent Cassel returns to Cronenberg to sort of play the director himself, as this film was borne out of the director’s own grief after the loss of his wife. Not too body horror-y, but certainly traversing in the mundanity of being dead, Cronenberg’s film never really raises your blood pressure, but it never lets you loose from its grip. Diane Krueger and Guy Pearce are having a ton of fun around Cassel’s straight man at the center, and don’t worry, David won’t leave you wanting for some psycho-sexual espionage shenanigans; if that’s your thing!

10. Mickey 17
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite follow-up was met with sort of a shrug and, well, I think that is pretty unfair! He takes some big swings, per-usual for the director, with tone and message and I think he mostly lands the plane. His sci-fi epic is anti-facist, damning of capitalism, pro-animal rights and features one of the great freak actors, Robert Pattinson, letting his flag fly in two roles! Full of laughs and culminating in a fairly epic set-piece, with some of the most adorable aliens you’ll ever meet, Mickey 17 really throws a lot at you. I get feeling like it was too much, or being turned off by the blatant parody, but subtlety is underrated and playing to the cheap seats is a necessary tool of great mass art; which I think Bong is always aiming for, actually. All in all, I think people severely under-served this flick, and expecting another Parasite was a bit naive given Bong’s history as a filmmaker.

9. Warfare
Alex Garland teams with his Civil War military advisor, Ray Mendoza, to create a harrowing and awesome (filling with awe, not cool) recreation of a real-life mission gone bad from Mendoza’s past. They fill their cast with a bunch of Grade AA Dudes and let the tension ramp up as the walls slowly get pressed in around them. The film is going for a vérité experience and resoundingly succeeds, never shying away from the violence and carnage of war without ever glorifying it. This mission was a fuck-up above these soldiers heads and they are rescued by incredibly capable soldiers, but the film doesn’t want to be a political football; which is sort of admirable in this day and age? The reality brought to the table is meant to speak for itself, this all basically happened, and that can be thrilling to watch without feeling like jingoistic propaganda for any cause. Mendoza could safely argue Warfare is in service to honor the men he served with, to be a living memory of their struggle, and show us all the hell that warfare can be. 

8. Marty Supreme
Josh Safdie’s solo directorial debut is a big swing table-tennis period piece epic starring Timothée Chalamet and it rarely misses. This is largely thanks to Chalamet, who is on fire in this thing, hustling at every turn, but creating a character you want to punch and love all at once. As Marty, he never shuts up, and he will often crack you up by touching the third rail and smiling, but it’s in the quiet moments that Timmy really shines and unlocks the movie’s (and his performance) greatness. Gwyneth Paltrow shows up and reminds us that she could be one of our greatest stars if she wanted to be, vulnerable and sexy, the yang to Marty’s yin, as a sort of hustler who is aware of their mistakes and has come out on the other side; maybe more mature. She plays her intrigue and attraction to Marty so damn well, you just wish she’d be in more movies! Odessa A’zion meets both of these stars along the way, bringing her own sense of hustle to the game and a confidence that may get everyone in a bit of trouble by the end. Safdie has also leveled up as a director with his work here, creating a picture that feels like it has jumped out of the past and re-creates its period setting beautifully. It took a re-watch to get here, but Marty Supreme is one of the best films of the year.

7. Black Bag
Soderbergh is in his bag, with this taught, funny and thrilling spy movie starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. What if your job was to find a mole in the agency, but the prime suspect was your wife! That’s the hook, and Soderbergh doesn’t miss a chance to thrill and have fun as we bop along with David Koepp’s script and David Holmes’ score. Rounding out the cast with Tom Burke, Marisa Abela, Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris and Pierce Brosnan doesn’t hurt matters, as everyone is game and knows exactly what movie they are in. There are a couple of fantastic dinner set-pieces, and Fassbender loves being an awkward little freak at every turn; an awkward freak we believe Blanchett truly loves! Soderbergh seems to have been spun into a bit of an existential crisis after this movie failed to break the box office wide open, but that’s on the audience, not him; he continues to be the most prolific master filmmaker working today.

6. Left-Handed Girl
Shih-Ching Tsou co-directed with Sean Baker on her first film (Take-Out), and is out on her own many years later (after working as Baker’s producer) with this family generational dramedy set in the night markets of Taipei. A mother, Shu-Fen, moves herself and two daughters (I-Jing, 5 & university-aged I-Ann) to a tiny apartment to open a noodle stand and to maybe run away from a life that wasn’t really panning out for any of them. The three of them all settle into their new way of life, wondering why there isn’t more for them, all trying to scrape by the best they can; all while family and societal shame is hiding right around the corner. The three female leads are all exceptional, with Nina Ye delivering one of the funniest performances of the year as the titular girl. Her left-hand gets up to some stuff, it even has its own theme song, and she will make you laugh, and maybe cry, along the way. Tsou’s direction is assured and alive in the way you would expect from a filmmaker who collaborates with Baker, with everything feeling quite real and grounded; until it doesn’t, reminding you this is a movie after all! This one is sitting there on Netflix waiting for you to discover, and I can’t wait to see what Tsou does next.

5. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Rungano Nyoni’s second feature is a stellar reflection on the pain and trauma that one man can cause a family, and the societal structures that are in place to protect them; even in death. It’s also a very funny and observed film that follows Susan Chardy’s Shula as she navigates the mourning period of her dead uncle; who she happens upon along the side of a road in the film’s opening scene. Each scene reveals a new tragedy in this family, fills you with frustration at the perseverance of the patriarchy, but Shula’s journey manages to squeeze out joy and hope for her and the young women in her family who want to fight for change. I really can’t overstate how excellent this film is, and it stood up on repeat viewing; easily. Nyoni deserves a spot alongside these master filmmakers, let’s hope she gets to keep making pictures.

4. The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson, somehow, has become our most underrated major director working today? The dude hasn’t missed a beat, but he’s consistently met with basically a shrug (only for people to come around a couple of years later) with each new release. Enter The Phoenician Scheme, a two-hander with Benicio del Toro & Mia Threapleton, as del Toro’s Zsa-zsa Korda dodges assasination attempts and tries to woo his covenant living sole daughter to be his heir to his empire. From there it ultimately becomes a fantasy where a tycoon of industry is convinced at every turn that the way he views the world, and the riches that came with it, is mostly wrong and that the only thing that matters in life is the love and connection to those around you. Preach, Wes! Full of an insane cast, who are all excellent, is par for the course at this point for a Wes’ picture, but Threapleton and Michael Cera are two very welcome additions to his troupe. Cera is hilarious in a dual-ish role, while Threapleton comes out of nowhere (well, she is Kate Winslet’s daughter) and holds her own with everyone she is put up against on the screen; “I love it.”

3. Eddington
I’ve been a huge fan of Ari Aster since Midsommar (Hereditary is also quite good!), with him now placing himself in my top 3 films with each of his films starting with that Hårga Horror^TM. Eddington was enjoyable on first viewing, but I had a bit of a hard time wrapping my hands around it as it had me a bit off-footed. It’s not quite the sprawling ensemble you might think it is with the stars that are wandering around the film, this is firmly a Joaquin Phoenix star vehicle (returning after the insane Beau is Afraid with Aster) and I wasn’t expecting that! I love a Joaquin Phoenix star vehicle, he’s in the running as our greatest working actor, and he is incredible here. Phoenix’s Joe Cross creates a character who is an amalgamation of our four legged archetype stool of the white American male psyche (pathetic psycho, pathetic faux-macho, pathetic chaotic-dogooder, pathetic racist-macho-psycho) that fill my top three films this year, in one the best performances of the year. I mean, just listen to him breathe in this movie. Stars like Emma Stone and Austin Butler make huge impacts in their limited screen time, tragic and unsettling, respectively, while Pedro Pascal is a great parody of the liberal politician that sadly isn’t all that much parody. Aster is fucking with us, setting this story right in the heart of the pandemic, but in only a few brief months since it’s release, his script has only revealed itself to be even more prescient of the state of our world; Big Tech/AI is the true enemy of society and they exploited the political termoil of 2020 to land where they are at today. I’m begging we don’t throw Aster in movie jail after a couple of misses (box office wise, the quality is through the roof), as his craft and wit has only continued to grow with each new film.

2. Bugonia
Bugonia has the best ending of the year, maybe of this century, as it is the ultimate chef’s kiss finale to a film that perfectly captures the clustercuss we are currently living through and isn’t necessarily all that hopeful we are going to make it out. You have to laugh! And I laughed a lot before that too, as this pitch black comedy from Yorgos Lanthimos sees him re-teamming with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons for a stand-off with intergalactic stakes. Plemons captures the brain rotted psyche of so many of our too-online folks that, sadly, run the world, while Stone is just having a blast in the are they/they aren’t performance for the ages that will keep you guessing til the final scenes. Stone also gets to skewer “girl boss” vibes that ring quite true. This is a film full of truth, which is why it works so damn well, and why I laughed as much as I did; or else you’d cry. Aidan Delbis’ will make you cry…, as he delivers a great performance alongside Stone and Plemons that serves as both a bit of audience surrogacy and potential wild card as the lead duo dukes it out. Bugonia sat at number one for a few weeks for me, but an IMAX viewing won out with my number one…

1. One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson has only been my number one film once in the last 18 years I’ve been doing this (The Master), and in the years since when he missed the top, his respective films have basically all caught up to be in contention if I was looking back after repeat viewings. PTA is, depending on the day, arguably my favorite director working at the moment, so I was so happy (but not surprised) that OBAA is here at the top. He has assembled an amazing cast from top to bottom, with the five or six main faces turning in some of the best work they have ever thrown up on a screen. Leo as the loveable loser with his heart in the right place, and his brain a few tokes behind. Benicio with his Latino Harriet Tubman shit is the centerpiece of the film and set piece of the year. Penn plays one of the great villains, who is scary in his pursuit of power, but pathetic in such a way that is so incredibly on the nose that he is also hilarious to watch every time he waddles across the screen. Teyana Taylor lifts off to the next level with a fiery performance that is full of pain and devastation at the decisions she has to make. Finally, Chase Infiniti instantly becomes a star by going toe to toe with Penn and Leo. All of this exists in a script and filmmaking by PTA that is gorgeous, relevant and timeless in a way that will lead to this film lasting for years to come. Right now, it currently sits at 8th on my PTA rankings, I can’t wait to see how high it climbs in the coming years of re-watches.

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Thanks for reading, and here is some other The Best Of content by me, plus find me on @letterboxd:

A Year In Film: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007

The Decade’s Best: 2010-19 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The Decade’s Best; 2000-09 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3