Another year has come and gone, and 2025 was a pretty fun year at the movies. We returned to Oz, Zootopia, and Pandora, saw seven “live action” dwarfs, retrained our dragons, rebirthed dinosaurs, and caused chaos in Hawaii with Lilo and Stitch. Tom Cruise completed his last (?) impossible mission, we hunted demons with the power of KPop, said goodbye to Downton Abbey, and teamed up with the Thunderbolts* and the Fantastic Four.
So before we start our Odyssey toward Doomsday in 2026, here are my 10 favorite movies of 2025.
10. 28 Years Later
Almost three decades after the events of 28 Days Later, those left in Britain have settled into a new life with rage virus-infected zombies ever lurking just outside their communities. But 28 Years Later is not your average zombie movie. Instead, it explores community, masculinity, grief, and survival. The film is structured in three sections, each surprisingly different to the last, keeping you on the edge of your seat and in wonder of what would come next.
Big name stars like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, and Jodie Comer deliver memorable performances, but newcomer Alfie Williams, who plays a young teen named Spike, totally steals the show. They all have a chance to play in traditional zombie movie roles: hunting, killing, and running from those infected by the rage virus, but they have incredibly emotional and heartbreaking moments as well.
28 Years Later was designed as the beginning of a new chapter of this franchise, setting up what comes next with a truly wild ending. But with the sequel coming out this month, we won’t have to wait long to see where the story goes.
9. Weapons
Weapons is the story of a town reeling in the aftermath of a mysterious tragedy: one night at 2:17 a.m., an entire classroom of elementary students ran out of their homes and disappeared. It tackles parental fears, how easily rumors and groupthink can spread in a panicked community, and how you shouldn’t trust distant relatives that suddenly come into your lives.
The film does an excellent job of keeping you guessing at who or what is behind the missing kids by bouncing between multiple characters’ perspectives during the runtime. Each chapter gives you slightly more information to help you unravel the mystery. It’s unsettling (in the way great horror movies should be), unexpectedly funny, and has one of the great finales of the year.
Aunt Gladys is an icon.
8. Wake Up Dead Man
Rian Jonhson has not missed with his Knives Out series. Each entry is tonally and visually unique from the others while keeping Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc at the center of a compelling mystery. In this third film, Blanc is dropped into a gothic exploration of faith, free will, and murder.
While Benoit Blanc remains the connecting thread in this series, Wake Up Dead Man belongs to Josh O’Connor. He is one of my favorite actors working today, and his performance is so magnetic and fun to watch in this film. He plays a young priest who is the main suspect in a seemingly impossible murder. As is typical for a Knives Out film, Craig and O’Connor are surrounded by a murderer’s row of supporting actors, including Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, and more.
Obviously I won’t give away the twist ending, but I would gladly watch 37 more of these movies as long as Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig want to make them.
7. Sentimental Value
All families are complicated; some are just better at hiding their struggles than others. Sentimental Value is the story of an estranged father who tries to reconnect with his two daughters after missing out on much of their childhood. But the scars of their complicated relationships are deep and difficult to heal. The film shows us how much baggage each of these three characters has and how unwilling they all are to earnestly discuss their issues.
One of my favorite moments that exemplifies this dynamic is when Nora, the oldest daughter, and her father Gustav share a nice, peaceful cigarette together outside during a birthday party, and then in the next scene they start a huge argument in front of the rest of the family. It’s a brief but perfect example of how complex family relationships can be.
The film uses the family’s home as a physical expression of their history, with growth marks on the doorframe and foundation issues resulting in cracks in the walls. It makes me think about the houses I grew up in, the memories those houses hold – the good and the bad – and how the house grew with us as we got older. But whether we’re trying to hold onto the past or live in the present, we have to move into the future together.
6. Superman
James Gunn’s Superman brought me more joy than any other movie I saw this year. It perfectly marries Gunn’s style of humor with the emotional sentimentality of Superman and sets up a fully realized DC universe that feels both new and familiar.
David Corenswet was born to be Superman. He’s able to portray Superman’s power and Clark’s awkwardness, giving both sides an emotionality and vulnerability that makes the character so special. Positioning his kindness as one of his superpowers and how punk rock it is to care about others was a stroke of genius and a much-needed message for our time.
Superman’s action is great, but it really shines in its quieter scenes. Lois and Clark’s relationship is at its strongest when they’re having conversations, and Pa Kent has a moment where he reminds Clark of his inner strength.
The rest of the cast crushes their roles too. Rachel Brosnahan is an incredible Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult is an imposing Lex Luthor, Skylar Gisondo is the perfect Jimmy Olsen, and Edi Gathegi nearly steals the movie as Mr. Terrific. Plus Krypto is an instant icon.
5. Hamnet
Grief comes in many forms. For some, it feels like you’ve been buried alive and you’re struggling to dig your way out of the ground. For others, it’s like a rain cloud hovering over your head and all you can do is sit down and let it wash over you. Hamnet is a story about grief and how two people discover that the only way out is through.
The film is a fictionalized story of William Shakespeare and his family, including his wife Agnes and their son Hamnet. The first half of the story shows their family life and Shakespeare’s early struggles as a playwright. But when tragedy strikes, William and Agnes are left to carry on in their grief together and individually.
This movie totally broke me. I was so emotionally overwhelmed multiple times, mostly thanks to the heartbreaking performances from the whole cast. Jessie Buckley as Agnes is out of this world, and both Jacobi Jupe and Noah Jupe made me weep in tragic and moving moments.
Sometimes the biggest step you can take is to simply reach out.
4. Sorry, Baby
Something bad happened to Agnes. Even though it’s been a few years since the bad thing happened, it still haunts her. Sorry, Baby explores the ups and downs of someone trying to piece together a new reality after a traumatic experience, and it portrays Agnes with such empathy, complexity, and honesty.
Eva Victor, who wrote, directed and stars as Agnes, is sensational. Every choice Agnes makes is so beautifully awkward and it’s impossible not to love her. The film also masterfully calibrates every tonal shift throughout the story – sometimes it’s hysterically funny and quirky, then it can be deeply heartbreaking, tragic, and emotional. And it all feels right in the moment. It’s a fresh take on the subject matter it presents and feels very assured in its presentation. Eva Victor knew exactly what they wanted to do with this film and did it very well.
Sorry, Baby has several moments that I adore, like a scene with a cat, a conversation with a deli man, and a conversation with a baby that will break your heart and make you believe in living. And the way the bad thing is ultimately portrayed is shocking, but not unexpected, and visceral. It’s a very special film.
3. Marty Supreme
If you told me at the beginning of 2025 that one of my favorite movies of the year would be a story about table tennis in the 1950s, I probably would not have believed you. But here we are, and Marty Supreme really is fantastic.
Director Josh Safdie took a story that on the surface doesn’t seem that exciting and cranked up the chaos to 11. It’s pandemonium, but it’s thrilling and electric. The film stars Timothee Chalamet in a truly maniacal performance that’s unlike anything else he’s done before, once again proving he’s on his way to greatness. He commands the madness of every scene, making it impossible to look away from Marty, even as he makes an endless run of bad choices, so narrowly focused on achieving his dream.
Although the film is set in the 1950s, the score and soundtrack are based on music from the 1980s, which doesn’t sound like it would work, but it’s absolutely perfect. The choice makes the movie feel out of time, like Marty somehow exists in the past, present and future simultaneously. I’ll be listening to this score for a long time.
2. Sinners
Sinners really has it all: wonderfully compelling characters, hypnotic music, vampires, thrilling action, sensual romance, and two Michael B. Jordans. He plays twins who come home to Mississippi in the 1930s trying to reconnect with their community and soon discover a dark threat lurking in the shadows.
What makes Sinners special and sets it apart is how patient it is. Director and writer Ryan Coogler (of Black Panther fame) spends the first 45 minutes of the movie really settling the audience into this world, introducing us to and making us deeply care for its characters, understanding their relationship dynamics, their desires, and what drives them.
And then the vampires show up, and all hell breaks loose.
On top of the vampire story, Sinners is also deeply invested in the blues music of Mississippi. One of the main characters wants to be a blues musician, much to the chagrin of his pastor father. And the centerpiece of the film is a euphoric moment of musical and filmmaking genius that offers a visual reminder of the magic and mystical nature of music, how it flows through us and connects us to the past, present and future.
Sinners may be a story with vampires, but it so much more. You will be rewarded by experiencing Sinners, I guarantee it.
1. One Battle After Another
There’s a lot going on in One Battle After Another, but at the heart of the film is a story about fathers and daughters. It’s a simple concept inside a film that is surrounded by revolutionaries, kidnappings, car chases, shootouts, secret white supremacist organizations, and daring escapes. But Leonardo DiCaprio’s determination to rescue his daughter gives the film a propulsion and heart that are easy to latch onto.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s film is electrifying. From its opening moments until the final shot, it grips you tightly and blasts off at lightspeed. It’s blockbuster spectacle filmmaking at its finest. At least seven of my 10 favorite scenes of 2025 are in this film. It’s so much funnier than I expected it to be and the action set pieces are thrilling. There is a car chase in the final act that made me feel like I was levitating out of my seat in the theater.
DiCaprio leads a stellar cast – Sean Penn is a terrifying, looming threat, Benicio del Toro brings humor and warmth alongside his controlled chaos, Teyana Taylor makes a big impression in a short time that lingers across the entire film, Regina Hall is a calming, assured presence in tense moments, and Chase Infinity nearly outshines them all in her first major film role.
Revolutions are messy, long, and led by complicated and passionate people. Sometimes the most revolutionary thing someone can do is to step aside and let the next generation take over. One Battle After Another reminds us how dark our world can be, but it gives us a ray of hope that little by little, we can make it a better place.
Movies with Mitchell 