Top 10 Movies of 2025

In all honesty: from a purely financial perspective, 2025 wasn't exactly a "great" year for film. Over the course of 12 months, we saw continued industry contraction, more and more adult-skewing movies bomb at the box office, and franchises that were once seen as reliable cash cows begin to fatigue and even outright falter.

That's not to say, however, that amidst this turbulence, that there weren't great gems scattered over the year - far from it. In fact, in assembling my own Top 10 list, I was surprised to find that I actually had a hard time stopping at only ten. It just goes to show that while the economics of filmmaking might be increasingly precarious, artistic impulses remain as alive as ever - they just need a healthy ecosystem in which to thrive.

10. The Long Walk

2025 was a banner year for Stephen King adaptations, with “The Monkey,” “The Running Man,” and “The Life of Chuck” all being released over the course of 12 months. For my money, though, it was “The Long Walk” that was easily the best and most compelling of the lot.

Director Francis Lawrence – who’s made a name for himself in recent years by directing the majority of the “Hunger Games” series – didn’t hold back in adapting King’s novella in a way that legitimately leaned into the brutality of the central premise, offering a vision of a future society that’s bleak and unsettling. Helping matters too here is a cast of up-and-coming actors, including Cooper Hoffman (son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and David Jonsson (who basically stole the show in last year’s “Alien: Romulus”) - both turn in stellar work here and effectively anchor the movie’s mounting dread in an emotionality that rings true, especially by the time we reach the final act.

“The Long Walk” isn’t exactly a “feel-good” movie, but it is a relentless, oftentimes savagely watchable one. And for those who are willing to enter it with the right headspace, it offers an experience that’s simultaneously unnerving, resonant, and thoughtful.

9. Black Bag

Full disclosure: the first time I watched “Black Bag,” it didn’t really land with me.

Oh, I could certainly appreciate the craft of it – director Steven Soderbergh is nothing if not precise – as well as the acting talent on display, including such heavyweights as Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan. It was the story, however, that threw me for a bit of a loop that first go-around: David Koepp’s screenplay is pretty much the definition of a brain-teaser, constantly keeping the viewer on their toes as they try to figure out the film’s central question: is MI6 operative Kathryn St. Jean a double-agent, or is she not?

Like any espionage thriller, that question is basically just the starting point of things, with Koepp quickly taking the story through several loops and double-backs that, at least for me, often felt more exhausting than entertaining on first watch. However, on second viewing, these very narrative contortions actually became way less confounding, and – now being able to see the whole puzzle for what it was, and the cleverness with which it was constructed – my initial frustration gave way instead to a deep appreciation for what Koepp and Soderbergh had pulled off here.

What I’m saying, really, is that “Black Bag” is basically the definition of a “you-have-to-see-it-twice” movie. And it’s that second viewing, I suspect, that will prove to be the thing that turns a lot of “shrugs” into big “thumbs up.” It certainly was for me.

8. Heart Eyes

To be frank: on paper, “Heart Eyes” shouldn’t be as good as it is. For one thing, we’ve had no shortage of “meta” horror movies over the last 30 years, and even with the added specific angle here that is “Scream-meets-Love-Actually,” you just wouldn’t think that there’d be enough meat on the bone for such a hybrid to really work. And yet, work it does – spectacularly. Give credit to director Josh Rueben, who directs the mayhem here with a real confidence, and leads Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, whose chemistry on-screen is better than, frankly, what I see in most straightforward romances nowadays.

It also doesn’t hurt that the jokes are genuinely funny and the tension is legitimately earned – increasingly a rarity in today’s crop of horror flicks. Fun times, this movie is.

7. Superman

I went into James Gunn’s “Superman,” like a lot of people, skeptical: skeptical that the character could be made to feel fresh again, skeptical that James Gunn was the right filmmaker to do it, and – above all else – skeptical that anything could get me remotely excited for the “birth” of a new DCU, which in recent years has been uneven at best and outright dispiriting at worst (“Aquaman 2,” I’m looking at you). Throw in the fact that superhero movies have, on the whole, frankly felt less essential in recent years, and I have to admit: there didn’t appear to be much to be excited about here. And yet – YET – “Superman” managed to win me over, delivering a soulful, earnest crowd-pleaser that effectively embraced the modern era while ALSO paying homage to the character’s cinematic history.

With great performances from David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, and an energetic score by John Murphy, James Gunn’s film didn’t merely reintroduce Superman, it recontextualized him – and in a day and age where comic book films feel increasingly cynical and self-referential, it was a real treat to see something that actually embraced its own sincerity (albeit with no shortage of James Gunn-isms). The best thing I can say about “Superman?” I’m eagerly anticipating the follow-up, due out next summer. Bring it on.

6. 28 Years Later

Talk about a love-it-or-hate-it kind of movie.

Based on the film’s polarizing response (and the fact that its recent sequel, “The Bone Temple,” has made less than half as much money at the box office), I think it’s fair to say that “28 Years Later” did not work for everyone. In fact, based on conversations I’ve had with folks, it seems that the very things that people hate about the movie – it’s deliberate messiness, the jarring editing, the strange directions the story goes in – are the exact same things that other folks love about it. In other words- the feature is the bug, and the bug is the feature.

What can I say? This really worked for me, especially on rewatch – I admire director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland for not settling for a conventional legacy-sequel, but instead aiming for something significantly bolder and more challenging, both narratively and in style. There’s nothing about this that one would call “mainstream,” and honestly, it was probably a pipe dream for Sony to expect that a movie like this would be met with anything other than the hostile reception it received from the general audience. For what it’s worth, I’m glad “28 Years Later” exists exactly as it is – and I’m crossing my fingers like crazy that we still get the third (and final) film of the trilogy.

5. Eddington

“Eddington” is a hard movie to LIKE, exactly. Director Ari Aster purposefully leans full-tilt into the “2020”-ness of it all, submerging audiences in all of the anxieties and cultural flashpoints that made that year so uniquely exhausting – COVID, racial strife, political radicalization – while telling a story that feels like a three-way combo of “Fargo,” “Lone Star,” and “Hereditary,” all doused in a cynicism that’s frequently amusing and off-putting.

Still, even if the movie isn’t exactly endearing, it is very well-crafted, with a script that feels like it was written with a knife and a gaggle of performances – in particular from Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal – that fully commit to the ugliness on display. We recognize the people in “Eddington” and empathize with their behaviors, even if we don’t particularly enjoy spending time with them.

Chances are likely that, if you do check out “Eddington,” you’ll leave it in a worse mood than you went in with. But I can also pretty much guarantee that you’ll have a hard time shaking it – and for that alone, Aster’s film is one of the year’s standouts.

4. Titan: The OceanGate Disaster

2025 was an unusually strong year for Netflix on the documentary front: between “The Twister: Caught in the Storm,” “Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror,” “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish,” and the entire string of “Trainwreck” docs, the streamer consistently offered a wide array of exposes that were individually compelling, well-made, and frequently unsettling.

But none were as haunting – or frankly, as enraging – as “Titan: The OceanGate Disaster,” which detailed the ill-fated Titan submersible and – most prominently – the unchecked pride and ego of its founder, Stockton Rush. The last few years have seen no shortage of would-be “geniuses” lionized as visionaries, only to have said visions prove to be nothing less than catastrophic delusions – from Elizabeth Holmes to Sam Bankman-Fried, man’s inability to make their self-mythology line up with reality has proven to be a dispiritingly recurring pattern.

That Rush’s own hubris lead to not only his own downfall, but also the death of four others– including that of a nineteen-year old – is almost beyond comprehension. “Titan: The OceanGate Disaster” itself does a thorough, unsparing job of detailing both the technical failures and the human arrogance that allowed such an event to occur, thanks in no small part to a treasure trove of archival footage and one-on-one interviews with Rush himself, former OceanGate engineers, and most of his entire inner circle.

All in all, just fascinating, tragic stuff, and the kind of documentary that sticks with you long after the credits roll.

3. F1

The blockbuster of the year, and – for my money – an ode to the grown-up, star-driven kinds of summer entertainment that we simply don’t get enough of anymore. Rather than leaning on overcooked visual effects, deep comic-book lore, or multiverse shenanigans, here, director Joseph Kosinski builds his cinematic house atop technical craft, gee-whiz racing spectacle, and potent star power, courtesy of Mr. Brad Pitt.

Brad, it should be said, is probably as effortlessly charismatic as he’s ever been here, coasting through the movie with the kind of movie-star confidence that you simply either have or you don’t – and his presence alone gives “F1” an extra jolt that it would have lacked otherwise.

That said, the filmmaking here is excellent, as Kosinski (who, between this, “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Only the Brave,” and the underrated “Oblivion,” has proven himself to be one our more consistently reliable action storytellers) directs things with an old-school panache that brings to mind the works of such greats as Tony Scott, John McTiernan, and even Steven Spielberg in spots, all filtered through his very specifically modern sensibilities.

Above all, though, “F1” is just a great time at the movies, and the fact that it was the summer’s biggest money-maker, behind only the new “Jurassic World” (ugh), shows that there still exists an appetite out there for well-made, non-superhero filmmaking…which, to me, is extremely encouraging. Bring on the (inevitable) sequel, pronto.

2. Materialists

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Celine Song’s first film, “Past Lives” – to me, it was a little too heavy on subtext and a bit too light on, well, actual drama. So I went into her follow-up, “Materialists” expecting more of the same brand of tasteful, well-acted, but emotionally remote romance. Color me surprised, then to find that the movie not only worked WAY better for me, but also landed emotionally in ways that I wasn’t expecting. Credit goes to the core actors here – Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal are all great, with Johnson in particular doing some of the most grounded, self-assured work of her career – and a script that is sharp and observant about modern romantic relationships, without ever crossing that line into being precious or self-important.

Song’s direction also feels more confident– there’s a cool, metropolitan “vibe” to “Materialists” that's genuinely interesting, without ever falling into being too smug or arch. Also? The core message of the movie – that love isn’t about status or self-optimization, but about self-sacrifice and an "others-focus," is…well, a good one. And in a day and age where the “what-can-I-get-for-me” perspective feels like it’s increasingly taking precedence over genuine intimacy/relational responsibility, it’s nice to see a Hollywood romance that isn’t afraid to argue for something deeper.

1. Weapons

More than any other movie I saw in 2025, Zack Cregger’s “Weapons” completely and utterly absorbed me.

Cregger’s first film, 2022’s “Barbarian,” represented a great calling card, signaling a director that wasn’t afraid to take big swings and wrong-foot an audience, even if it frustrated them. With his follow-up, however, Cregger proves himself a director who is fully in control of both his voice and ambition in ways that bequeath his relatively young experience. Every element of “Weapons” – from the pitch-perfect script, to the cast of actors all delivering top-tier performances, to the deliberately paced direction, to Ryan and Hays Holladay's haunting score, to the oppressive, creeping atmosphere of the whole thing…it all just works beautifully here, clicking together in a way that is both fun and unsettling, while also (in its best moments) recalling such classics as “Signs,” “Se7en” and even “Mulholland Drive.”

Whether “Weapons” itself ultimately stands the test of time like those films remains to be seen, but I think it can be confidently said: Cregger is the real deal. And from top to bottom, “Weapons” is nothing if not exceptionally made.

What were your favorite movies of 2025? Sound off in the comments below.