This has been an annual tradition for at least the last 20 years in which I’ve been writing about movies. Although I’m busy as hell with the music stuff on top of all the movie stuff, I’m going to share my year-end list with a few notes, but I’m going to try not to do too much overwriting, as I’m apt to do. (Too late!)
Also, make sure to read through to the end for my top 5 albums of the year, because as my beloved local arthouse The Metrograph so aptly put it, “Music Was My First Love.”
Probably the toughest part was figuring out where some of my favorite horror/genre films could fit in with the other non-genre films. I guess I’ll include links to my reviews when appropriate and a few interviews, though many of them were for a site I’m no longer part of, so we’ll see. I have little desire to give more traffic to a site that barely made me for my work in the first place.
I also want to reprint my 25 Most Anticipated Movies list from back in January, so you can see which one of my anticipated movies actually delivered. There aren’t many – I count maybe seven?
25. The Conjuring: Last Rites (New Line/WB)
What has become one of my favorite horror franchises since debuting in 2013 with the James Wan-directed film that introduced Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warner, supernatural investigators, came to its most logical conclusion with one massive case that even introduced options for possible future movies, with or without Wilson and Farmiga. This was definitely Michael Chaves’ magnum opus after playing in this world for the past 7 or 8 years, and I loved it!
REVIEW
24. Bugonia (Focus Features)
Probably my favorite Yorgos Lanthimos film to date, pitting Emma Stone against Jesse Plemons in this remake of the Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet, I thought this movie worked better than some of Lanthimos’ other highly-acclaimed films, in terms of blending the funny and the crazy, while still remaining in the genre realms of other films like Poor Things. I have no idea if this will be in the awards conversation come January, but it totally should be.
REVIEW
23. The History of Sound (Mubi)
Everyone is raving about Paul Mescal in Hamnet and Josh O’Connor in just about every other movie released this year, but both of them gave their best performances in this period drama from South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus (Living). It follows the life of Mescal’s Lionel from the early 20th Century to later in life, where he’s played by Chris Cooper, somewhat similar to Train Dreams, which probably JUST missed being included in this year’s list. Lionel travels around the country recording folk music with his good friend (and secret lover), played by O’Connor, but they’re then separated and the film explores how Lionel deals with that loss.
Interview with Oliver Hermanus
REVIEW
22. Rental Family (Searchlight Studios)
This wonderful film from the monosyllabic filmmaker Hikari starred Brendan Fraser as an American actor in Tokyo who takes a job with the company “Rental Family,” to act as a surrogate for various clients who hire him to play specific roles, whether it’s as the absent father of an adorable little girl or a journalist interviewing a famous Japanese actor past his prime. It took me a second viewing to really appreciate what Hikari was doing with this film that fully explores Tokyo in a way we haven’t seen from any film from Hollywood. (Okay, okay, Wim Wenders did a pretty good job last year as someone non-Japanese making a film in Japan.) Either way, Rental Family confirmed Fraser to be one of the most likeable and decent actors and people on the planet.
Interview with Hikari
REVIEW
21. Eternity (A24)
Probably one of the biggest movie-related bummers of my year was not having a chance to see David Freyne and Patrick Cunnane delightful romantic fantasy-comedy, starring Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, and Callum Turner (along with Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early), until it was already in theaters. I thought this was just so funny and clever, and I would have loved to talk to the filmmakers about it. Sure, comparisons have been made to “The Good Place” and Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life (and I’d throw “The Miracle Workers” In there, too), but I just love movies that explore the afterlife in a comedic way. I mean, you’re already dead, so what can be funnier than that? Well, Eternity explored that very idea. Speaking of which…
20. Final Destination Bloodlines (New Line/WB)
The Conjuring may be ONE of my favorite horror franchises, but Final Destination absolutely IS my favorite horror franchise. Getting to watch another movie in the franchise after 11 years away made me happier than almost any other movie I watched this year. This one wisely focuses on a family and how the death curse from the previous five films could actually be something hereditary. I loved the premise and the cast and the kills, which were all done in a way that was quite hilarious, plus this also gave the late Tony Todd’s moritician character the proper send-off he deserved.
REVIEW
Interview with Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein
Interview with Producer Craig Perry
19. Weapons (New Line/WB)
I loved Zach Cregger’s earlier films Barbarian, and his follow-up did not disappoint, even though it was probably one of the stranger horror movies of the year. You can read my review and watch my interview to learn more, but it’s based around the disappearance of 18 middle school kids, and how the community and a few specific people (including Julia Garner as the kids’ teacher) deal with the loss. I may be due for another rewatch, since every time I watched this movie, the more I liked it and what Creggers achieved in his original storytelling.
REVIEW
Interview with Zach Cregger
18. Frankenstein (Netflix)
I’ve been hearing about Guillermo del Toro’s obsession about making a movie based on Mary Shelley’s classic monster novel Frankenstein for as long as I’ve known him, which is about 20 years. Well, it didn’t disappoint with an epic big screen experience that shows off some of the best crafts of the year, with a cast that includes Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth doing great work, but Jacob Elordi’s performance as Frankenstein’s creature was one of my favorite movies of the year. (Yeah, my arch-enemy Christoph Waltz was also in it, but I tried not to hold that against GDT’s fantastic film.)
REVIEW
17. One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
I’m not sure Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly-lauded political action thriller is in my Top 3 for the filmmaker, but probably Top 5 for sure, and that’s a combination of the story being told with the brilliant partnering of Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Bob” with characters played by Chase Infinity, Teyana Taylor, and Benicio Del Toro. But for me, this was just as much the story of Sean Penn’s racist Col. Steven J. Lockjaw and how his life interacts with those others due to a sexual dalliance with Taylor’s “Perfidia Beverly Hills” earlier in the film that made the filim such an entertaining experience with some bonafide action sequences. Penn deserves another Oscar for the role, and I’d be perfectly fine if the movie sweeps.
REVIEW
16. After the Hunt (Amazon MGM)
This movie launched this year’s New York Film Festival, but I skipped the Opening Night gala (which I wasn’t invited to) and even the press screening just to watch it a normal press screening, and I was really blown away by what I watched. It essentially is a story involving Julia Roberts’ Yale philosophy professor and her star student, played by Ayo Edebiri, who accuses Robert’s assistant (Andrew Garfield) of sexual assault, and how that leads to all sorts of tension and drama. This is among Luca Guadagnino’s top three films that he’s ever made, and I especially loved how he used his regular actor Michael Stuhlbarg to bring humor to a very serious topic. Film critics REALLY dropped the ball on this one.
MY REVIEW
15. The Long Walk (Lionsgate)
The first of two Stephen King adaptations in this list, this one being one of his earliest novels, released under the Richard Bachman pseudonym, a fairly simple high concept sci-fi premise of a future where 50 young men from different states must compete in a walk across the country, never slowing between 3 MPH. With a fantastic adaptation by Strange Darling filmmaker JT Mollner, and an ensemble cast of fantastic young actors including Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus), Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang (Karate Kid: Legends), and more, this was easily one of the best movies to date from Francis Lawrence of The Hunger Games franchise.
REVIEW
Interview with screenwriter JT Mollner
14. The Baltimorons (Independent Film Company)
I was so thrilled to see Jay Duplas returning back behind the camera and this single-night Christmas love story did not disappoint, as it introduced the world to Michael Strassner as Cliff, a divorced guy with a new fiancé who cracks a tooth on Christmas Eve and has to find a dentist able to fix it. That dentist is Liz Larsen’s Didi, and after an awkward first encounter, she ends up helping him after his car is towed, and the two of them spend the night together travelling around Baltimore, which I’m sure has never looked better. This is just a wonderful film to watch on Christmas, and sadly, I never got around to reviewing this one, probably due to lack of time.
Interview with Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen
13. Sentimental Value (Neon)
It’s taken me a long time to become a fan of Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier, something that only began with 2021’s The Worst Person in the World, starring Renate Reinsve. Trier doubled down by bringing Reinsve back for this family drama, starring Swedish legend Stellan Skarsgård as acclaimed filmmaker Gustav Borg, who has become estranged from his actor daughter (Reinsve). When she turns him down for a role in his most personal film, he turns to Elle Fanning as a popular American actress. The fourth piece of the equation is Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Borg’s other daughter, who decided not to pursue acting. This is just such a brilliantly moving family drama with one of Trier’s best scripts and slam dunk performances across the board.
REVIEW
12. Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century)
People are already going into James Cameron’s third movie in his Pandora trilogy with cynical skepticism, with some critics falsely stating that this is exactly the same as 2022’s The Way of Water, and nothing can be further from the truth. That movie was more set-up for what Cameron and his cast do in this one, really getting more into the Sully family dynamics, complicated by grief and conflict between Neytiri’s traditional faith and values and Jake’s urge to arm with weapons and fighting back. Probably one of the best looking and sounding movies of the year with so many jaw-dropping sequences, and the introduction of Oona Chaplin’s leader of the Ash People, who makes such an excellent foil to Steven Lang’s Col. Quarritch, in his most layered role as Jake Sully’s antagonist.
REVIEW
11. Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Ryan Coogler continues to impress, especially with his frequent collaborations with Michael B. Jordan. It was very cool to see him break away from the franchise world to make a far more personal film that combined blue music in 1930’s Mississippi and then threw in some racist vampires… and also, non-vampire racists. (I’ve spent a lot of time down in that area for the Oxford Film Festival, and I miss all my Miss. friends.) To say this movie came out at just the right time would be an understatement and the combination of its fantastic ensemble cast, including the brilliant young Miles Canton, and Coogler’s impeccable tone and pacing will make this an Oscar contender that deserves every award it wins.
REVIEW
10. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount)
As with The Conjuring: Final Rites, if this is the absolute finale in one of my favorite action franchises, starring Tom Cruise, I’ll be absolutely delighted, because filmmaker Chris McQuarrie found a way to stick the landing on the journey of Ethan Hunt, which has been fairly connected over the past four movies. Any worries that the story of the evil AI, the Entity, might not pan out was laid to rest with some of the franchise’s set pieces from an underwater foray into an atomic submarine ready to crash to the bottom of the ocean to a biplane dog fight that proved that Cruise would do almost anything to keep audiences entertained… and it worked!
REVIEW
9. The Life of Chuck (Neon)
Filmmaker Mike Flanagan veers away from horror while remaining in the Stephen King realm with this adaptation of the fairly recent short story that looked at the life of Benedict Cumberbatch’s title character, a news weatherman whose life we witness through the eyes of others and in so many creative ways, including an amazing and unforgettable dance sequence. It’s far more fascinating and entertaining than it might sound, and I was baffled by how divisive this became after winning the Audience Award at TIFF last year.
REVIEW
8. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Marvel/Disney)
Before you put your fingers on your keyboard about this entry, you probably should know that I’ve been a fan of Marvel’s Fantastic Four since I was very small child, and I’ve had so many disappointments from one bad FF movie to the next. With “WandaVision” showrunner Matt Shakman, Marvel Studios finally got it right with a cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bacharach, and more of a focus on family. I also loved the decision to set the movie in the ‘60s and have the main villain be Galactus, and do it RIGHT! So yeah, I quit buying and reading comics in 2025, but at least I got a great FF movie!
REVIEW
7. The Ballad of Wallis Island (Focus Features)
One of this year’s nicest surprises was this comedy from British comedians, Tim Key and Tom Basden, the former playing a lottery winner who invites his favorite folk duo McGwyer Mortimer (played by Basden and the always wonderful Carey Mulligan) to his remote island off the coast of Wales, without telling them, since they split from each other a decade earlier. This was just another character-based dramedy that lay on the strengths of the writing and the small cast, similar to Jay Duplas’ The Baltimorons, and I loved the repartee between the main characters in this awkward encounter.
REVIEW
6. Song Sung Blue (Focus Features)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve written a lot about this joyous Craig Brewer movie, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Minneapolis couple Lightning and Thunder, who create a “Neil Diamond Experience,” becoming hugely popular in their community before facing tragedy. I loved all the musical performances, and was blown away by the film’s dark turn about an hour into it. There was just so much to love beyond the Neil Diamond songs, as it beautifully tells the unlikely story of a blended family, and it made me want to learn so much more about the original Lightning and Thunder, documented in a film by Greg Kohs that started Brewer down this path. I’ve seen the movie three times, and I’m sure a fourth viewing is in the cards.
REVIEW
Interview with Craig Brewer
5. F1 (Apple/Warner Bros.)
I’m not sure I would have seen me loving Joseph Kosinski’s racing movie, starring Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, and Kerry Condon as much as I did, but I’m sure seeing it for the first time at Radio City Music Hall retrofitted with IMAX didn’t hurt. Watching the veteran driver Sonny Hayes, played by Pitt, trying to coexist with the young upstart, played by Damson Idris, made F1 such a hugely entertaining movie, both on and off the race track, and it’s pretty cool how Kosinski has grown as an action filmmaker since appearing on the scene with Tron: Legacy.
REVIEW
4. The Threesome (Vertical)
Despite its title, this is not a raunchy R-rated sex comedy even though the title and initial premise might make it seem like it. It is the new movie from filmmaker Chad Hartigan, who burst onto the screen with the great Morris from America a bunch of years back. The threesome involves a one-night stand that happens when Jonah Hauer-King’s Connor finally gets a chance to sleep with his dream girl Olivia, played by the amazing Zoey Deutch, but she insists on including the younger Jenny (Ruby Cruz), who they meet at the bar. Who can say “no” to that? But this isn’t a movie about a one-night stand threesome, but what happens after, once both women get pregnant and Connor has to step up to be there for both of them. It’s really one of the most amazing (and sadly overlooked) films of the year. If this played at Sundance, I’m sure it would have won the Audience Award.
3. Left-Handed Girl (Netflix)
Taiwan’s Oscar submission was a pleasant surprise, but only because I never saw director Shih-Ching Tsou’s Take Out, her first collaboration with Anora’s Oscar-winning filmmaker Sean Baker, back when it was released in 2004. In fact, Ms. Tsou has been working with Baker for years as a producer on films like Red Rocket, The Florida Project, and Tangerine, and Left-Handed Girl is very much of her movie even with Baker involved as co-writer, co-producer AND editor. Baker’s involvement does come to a fore a few times, but it’s generally a nice family drama set in and around a Taipei night market where a single mother tries to raise her two daughters (one college-age, the other just five) in that mad scene.
REVIEW
2. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (20th Century)
Even weirder than me loving a movie featuring Neil Diamond music was when I first watched Scott Cooper’s biopic about the period in Bruce Springsteen’s career when he was coming off a world tour and was dealing with childhood trauma and depression, leading to him making his low-fi “Nebraska” album. I never was really that big a Springsteen fan, but Jesse Allen White’s performance is nothing less than one of the best of the year, and I was saddened when movie writers turned on this movie, killing his chance of getting a well-earned Oscar nomination. Maybe SAG will come to their senses and nominate him for their Actor Award ‘cause it’s one of the biggest crimes of the year that he hasn’t just been winning everything. I also thought Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, and Odessa Young were great in supporting roles in this film that explored dealing with depression in a way that really blew me away.
REVIEW
1. Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
I still remember where and when I went to see Richard Linklater’s latest collaboration with Ethan Hawke, going in with very few expectations, since the movie debuted all the way back in February at Berlinale with very little buzz, even as Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague was getting much of the fall festival attention. Mind you, I was never a huge fan of Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical “Oklahoma!” I liked it just fine, but I never really knew much about Richard Rogers’ previous musical collaboration with Lorenz Hart for decades writing, so many classic songs. Blue Moon spends a night at New York’s Sardi’s on the opening night of “Oklahoma!” as the morose Hart (played by Hawke) proceeds to wax philosophical about the direction of his life. It didn’t just include Ethan Hawke’s best and most transformative performance of his career, but it was also a movie that cut me to the core, especially in the heartbreaking later scene where Lorenz Hart declares his feelings for the lovely Elizabeth, played by Margaret Qualley.
REVIEW
Interview with Ethan Hawke, Bobby Canavale, and Andrew Scott
1B. Orwell 2+2=5 (Neon)
As usual, my top doc of the year gets to share the #1 slot, and that was Raoul Peck’s amazing portrait of 1984 author George Orwell, using the author’s words within his sci-fi novel to comment on some of the political mayhem that has hit our country and globe over the past few decades. I was pretty blown away by what Peck achieved with this film, having been a fan of his movies for many years now. This one was next level, yet I ended up not reviewing it since I didn’t do a column the week it was released.
And without further commentary, here are my top 10 docs for the year, only a few of which I had a chance to review…
Top 10 Docs of 2025
1. Orwell 2+2=5
2. One to One: John and Yoko
3. Cover-Up
4. Love + War
5. Teenage Wasteland
6. All God’s Children
7. Art Spiegelman: Disaster is a Muse
8. Ladies and Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music
9. Slumlord Millionaire
10. Billy Joel: And So It Goes
A highly honorable mention to DEVO, a great doc about one of my all-time favorite bands going back to high school.
And lastly, my Top 5 Albums of the Year…surprisingly, the Beaches’ new album “No Hard Feelings” didn’t make the cut, even though I’ll always credit the Toronto rockers for finally helping me get over my proclivity for “dude bands,” so yeah, all five of my favorite records of the year were either by female artists or female-led bands…
And I’ll start by giving an honorable mention to the debut 8-song “EP” by Bushwick band, Double Standard, a great all-woman (and mostly queer?) band that have followed in the Beaches’ tradition, which I literally only discovered a few weeks back. If I have some time, I’ll try to work on my “Top Songs of 2025 playlist” and share that … but in the meantime…
5. Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky
I’m pretty sure some Momma song popped up in my randomized playlist on Tidal (my chosen streaming service despite the Spotify link on the album title above) and I quickly became a fan, and I listened to their new album a LOT in 2025. I guess they fall into the “shoegaze/dream pop” realm of rock music (which I’ve always loved) but they’ve also got a bit of Veruca Salt in them, whether deliberate or not. One of so many great woman-led bands coming out of Brooklyn these days, though originally from California.
4. Renée Rapp – Bite Me
I was more familiar with Ms. Rapp from her acting on “The Sex Lives of College Girls” (don’t judge! It’s a very funny HBO show from Mindy Kaling!) and in Mean Girls. I did know she was a popular recording artist, but this album is pretty brilliant and when it popped up on Tidal, I just had to check it out. Was surprised how funny and sassy (if that album title didn’t make that clear) and moving the album is, and I equally enjoyed her song “Lucky” which closed out Now You See Me, Now You Don’t.
3. Wet Leg – Moisturizer
Yeah, yeah… not a hugely original choice, since I’m sure this is on most music journo’s Top 10 list, but I actually preferred this album to Wet Leg’s debut, and NOT just for THAT song (“Catch My Fists”) but for many others including “Mangetout.” Another group I was bummed I couldn’t catch when they were in town, mainly due to lack of funds, but I’ve seen lots of live videos. Someday.
2. Scowl – Are We All Angels
When this record came out – I’m pretty sure Scowl was another Tidal “discovery” for me – I gave it the greatest compliment by saying that it was the closest a band has come to making a record on par with Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” And then, on top of that, they played a record release party at the Pyramid Club in the East Village where I first saw Nirvana in the late ‘80s… and I got there too late and couldn’t get in! Story of my life. I actually had a few other chances to see them live, but a combination of not having money and being too afraid by how crazy the moshpit might get at their shows… it just didn’t happen. Mark my words: This hardcore band is going to be HUGE!
1. LISA – Alter Ego
“Wait, who is Lisa?” I hear some of you ask, and those who know her as 1/4th of KPop superstars Blackpink might need a moment to recover from their whiplash by this choice. If you watched the latest season of Mike White’s “The White Lotus,” you might know her as Lalisa Manobal, the Thai actress who played “Mook,” but she’s better known for her rapping and dance moves as part of Blackpink. After releasing a few singles, she released her first full album this year, and holy shit, it was great!
Mind you, I became an unexpected Blackpink fan in 2025, since my Instagram feed became populated with live videos and other funny memes (probably after it decided that I would probably enjoy watching the dance moves by Korean baseball cheerleaders… guilty!) Anyway, Alter Ego (which was accompanied by a companion graphic novel… one of the last comic books I read this year) is such a varied album showing off the many sides of the Thai-born pop star. After watching her amazing Coachella performances, I inadvertently bought tickets to see a DIFFERENT Lisa (a Japanese singer/songwriter, apparently) play a show in New York City, only to learn the night before that it wasn’t the Lisa who made my #1 album of the year. That’s the kind of year I had. Anyway, I definitely fell in love with Lisa this year, and I’m a bonafide “Lilly.”
(Another honorable Mention goes to Connecticut jam band, Goose, and their double whammy of Chain Yer Dragon and Everything Must Go – just discovered their music this year, and maybe if they get a woman or two in the band, they’ll be able to get into my year-end list eventually. #NoMoreDudeBands)
That’s it for this year. I hope to put together a “Most Anticipated” List for 2026 while also trying to continue to roll out the weekly Weekend Warrior column with video (time permitting) and finishing this Laptop album I’ve been working on for over three years. It’s gonna be great, but we really gotta finish it, and that’s going to start right in January with a trip to Nevis!
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