As with the past few years, 2025 found studios scrambling to figure out what will get increasingly selective moviegoers back out to theaters opening weekend. Fortunately, some of the top earners — 2 on this list were also in the top 10 for domestic box office — happened to be excellent movies too. As is often the case, there were plenty of other titles that didn’t make much money but are absolutely worth seeking out. Here are my 10 favorites from another strong year of film:
- Sinners (streaming on HBO Max and available to rent/buy)
The most compelling horror release of the year, Ryan Coogler’s marriage of monsters and music synthesizes his strengths as both a storyteller and a stylist. In a dual role, Michael B. Jordan leads an exceptional ensemble as a pair of twins trying to turn over a new leaf by opening a juke joint, before uninvited guests show and want a bite of the action. Set mostly during a sweltering autumn evening in the Mississippi Delta, Sinners moves with an infectious rhythm that gets in your veins and doesn’t leave until after the post-credit epilogue. - Splitsville (available to rent/buy)
There were plenty of excellent comedic choices from Friendship to The Naked Gun but none had quite as many hard-earned laughs as this raucous relationship romp. Writer-director Michael Angelo Covino also co-stars as a real estate wheeler-dealer who feels secure in his open marriage with his wife (played by Dakota Johnson), until his newly divorced best friend soon takes interest. Knock-down drag-out fights are had, songs by The Fray are desperately sung and mentalist tricks for an ill-suited crowd are performed. - Predators (streaming on Paramount+)
Unrelated to the pair of Predator movies that were released in 2025, this provocative and incisive look at the Dateline spin-off To Catch A Predator is as stirring and unpredictable as documentaries get. Both an indictment of the artifice behind reality television and the carnivorous culture that ceaselessly consumes it, director David Osit’s exposé tackles taboo subject material with laudable focus and conviction. The film’s final moments and closing line have reverberated in my head and stayed with me longer than I could’ve expected. - Wake Up Dead Man (streaming on Netflix)
Rian Johnson’s magnificent murder mystery franchise maintains its high-water mark for quality with a whodunnit set in a rural Catholic church that has plenty of secrets for Daniel Craig’s detective to uncover. In one of his four starring roles of 2025, Josh O’Connor plays a young priest who’s the main suspect when a senior member of the parish is found stabbed to death in a storage closet. A supporting cast that includes Glenn Close and Josh Brolin — among many other familiar faces — bolster another engrossing cinematic page-turner. - A House Of Dynamite (streaming on Netflix)
An American nightmare in three chapters, Kathryn Bigelow’s apocalyptic thriller buzzes with a trademark intensity she’s developed after decades of superlative filmmaking. It’s a fly-on-the-wall depiction of how high-ranking officials in the government and military react when a ballistic missile of unknown origin is launched with its sights on a major US city. Written with believable precision by Noah Oppenheim and edited ruthlessly by Kirk Baxter, the movie is thematically taut and almost unbearably suspenseful. - Superman (streaming on HBO Max and available to rent/buy)
It feels like it’s been a bit since a superhero saga actually felt like it was pushing the genre onward and upward but James Gunn’s inaugural entry in his DC Universe does just that. Digging deeper into the comic book lore and forgoing the Man Of Steel story beats we’ve seen on-screen too many times before, Gunn also carefully considers how a symbol of hope and optimism would fare in 2025. Superman’s tights are never easy to fill but David Corenswet makes the iconic role his own with a self-deprecation and vulnerability that don’t come at the expense of heroism. - If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (available to rent/buy and streaming on HBO Max starting January 30th)
Rose Byrne gives the year’s finest performance as a psychotherapist ironically disobeying the “oxygen mask” principle of self-care as she’s stretched beyond her emotional limits. With inspired casting choices like rapper A$AP Rocky and Conan O’Brien as an unindulgent colleague, this psychological drama is a raw depiction of motherhood as a black hole of perpetual pressure. Steeped in autobiographical details from writer-director Mary Bronstein’s personal life, this is ferociously honest storytelling of the highest order. - No Other Choice (coming to theaters this month)
Korean maestro Park Chan-wook follows up his romantic mystery Decision To Leave with a pitch-black comedy ripped right from the headlines. Squid Game standout Lee Byung-hun stars as a recently unemployed executive in the paper industry who decides to off his competition for a potentially lucrative job offering. With loads of tongue-in-cheek digs at caustic corporate culture and organizational indifference, Chan-wook takes a darkly funny conceit and goes to surprisingly profound places. - The Testament Of Ann Lee (coming to theaters this month)
I certainly didn’t have “musical about the founder of a religious sect” on my bingo card at the start of the year but Mona Fastvold’s ephemeral and audacious period piece is an immediate triumph. Amanda Seyfried puts everything she has into her portrayal of the titular Shaker who overcomes persecution and personal tragedy to lead a movement of community and equality. Co-written by Fastvold’s partner Brady Corbet of last year’s The Brutalist, with unforgettable music from that film’s composer Daniel Blumberg, The Testament Of Ann Lee is a stunning achievement. - One Battle After Another (streaming on HBO Max and available to rent/buy)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth feature finds the master painting on his most grandiose canvas yet, shooting in VistaVision with his cinematographer Michael Bauman to jaw-dropping effect. In a career filled with stellar work, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers his best performance to date as an ex-revolutionary forced back into action when his daughter is kidnapped. Anderson has made several masterpieces already in his career but there’s a centeredness and worldly wisdom that makes One Battle After Another a particularly remarkable statement.
Reprinted by permission of Whatzup