It’s an unofficial rule in Hollywood that a middling year for film must be immediately followed by an incredible one. Take 2018. A year remembered for divisive Oscar winners like Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book was blown out of the water by 2019 — easily one of the best years for cinema in recent memory. Go further back and the pattern holds: 2009 was marked by The Blind Side and The Lovely Bones, while 2010 delivered heavy hitters like Black Swan, Toy Story 3 and The Social Network.
By most accounts, 2024 wasn’t a great year for movies. That’s not to say there weren’t standouts — I’m partial to Anora and Kinds of Kindness — but overall it offered more misses than hits. Fortunately, the pattern has held: 2025 has been a pretty excellent year for film. Sure, there have been some flops (looking at you, Wicked: For Good), but on the whole, I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
As a proud AMC A-List member, I try to get to the theater as often as I can. This semester has been busier than usual, and I haven’t seen as many new releases as I’d hoped. A few notable films I still need to catch — Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value — feel like sure bets for my eventual “best of” list. But the films below are the ones I did manage to see this year, and I absolutely loved them.
- Sinners, dir. Ryan Coogler
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You can’t talk about the best of 2025 without mentioning Sinners. I saw this film in theaters, having only seen the trailer once or twice, and was completely blown away. The film follows twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown to open a juke joint for the Black community there, only to be targeted by a group of vampires once their night begins.
Ask anyone who knows me — I am obsessed with Sinners and especially the soundtrack. Everything about this movie is unreal, but the music is simply next level. Beyond that, I was impressed with Michael B. Jordan’s dual performance as twins Smoke and Stack, two characters who feel so distinct you start to forget they’re played by the same man. Beyond Jordan, I also loved the performance Wunmi Mosaku gave as Smoke’s partner Annie; she’s the heart of the film and easily one of my favorite characters of the year.
- One Battle After Another, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
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Paul Thomas Anderson is my all-time favorite director, so having him team with Leonardo DiCaprio was a dream come true. One Battle After Another was everything I could have wanted and more. DiCaprio stars as Bob, a washed-up, paranoid ex-revolutionary who is forced to confront the consequences of his past when his nemesis, played masterfully by Sean Penn, kidnaps his teenage daughter, Willa.
What can I say about One Battle that hasn’t been said before? It is an incredible feat of filmmaking. Virtually any sequence could be chosen as one of the greatest of the year. DiCaprio is incredible as always, but newcomer Chase Infiniti stole the show for me in her debut performance as Willa. Holding your own against DiCaprio, Penn, and Regina Hall isn’t an easy task, but she absolutely crushed it. Plus, the Dirty Work needle-drop is one of my favorites in any film this year.
- Zootopia 2, dir. Jared Bush & Byron Howard
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Okay, Zootopia 2 might seem like a leap to include on this list, but I don’t care! I loved it so much, and I’ve been counting down to this sequel since it was first announced. The second film shows Nick and Judy struggling to adjust as partners, while simultaneously uncovering an anti-reptile conspiracy theory in Zootopia.
Zootopia 2 feels like a return to form for Disney, whose output in recent years has been…disappointing, to say the least. While it isn’t as mystery-driven as its predecessor, it’s unironically hilarious and filled with absurd movie references that’ll fly over kids’ heads (The Shining reference completely took me out). And, of course, I’m already looking forward to the end-credit teased third installment dealing with birds.
- Weapons, dir. Zach Cregger
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Is there a 2025 villain as iconic as Aunt Gladys and her ridiculous orange wig? I doubt it. Funnily enough, despite the ridiculousness of its central villain, Weapons marks the only time this year that I actually screamed out of fear in the theater. It follows the disappearance of 17 children in the same third-grade classroom, all of whom woke in the middle of the night and ran out of their front doors without explanation.
I’ve written on Weapons, so I’ll attempt not to be redundant. But to put it simply, I loved this movie so much. It hits the balance between comedy and horror perfectly. The campiness never stops it from being completely terrifying. There’s also so many ways you could interpret the film, from being a commentary on isolationism to the psychological impact of school shootings on communities. It is so thematically and aesthetically rich, and I highly recommend it.
- Bugonia, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
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As a Lanthimos superfan, I can confidently say that he has never put out a film that I haven’t adored. Bugonia continues the tradition of Lanthimos directing my favorites of the year, following 2023’s Poor Things and last year’s Kinds of Kindness. Jesse Plemons stars in Bugonia as a conspiracy-obsessed man who kidnaps the wealthy CEO of a tech start-up, believing she is an alien hell-bent on destroying Earth.
Weird premise, right? The movie itself is even weirder. Lanthimos remains an underrated comedic legend. Bugonia had me and others in my theater laughing out loud. Emma Stone is incredible as the callous CEO trying to survive the delusions of a crazy man. Beneath the absurdity lies a rich social commentary on the exploitation of the working class, the danger of conspiracy theories, and the question of whether humanity is inherently good or bad.
- Sorry, Baby, dir. Eva Victor
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If you, like me, thought Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt fumbled its examination of sexual assault in academia, look no further than Sorry, Baby: similar themes handled with far more nuance and clarity. It follows Agnes, a literature professor struggling to move on after being sexually assaulted by her mentor in college.
Sorry, Baby is an incredible directorial debut by Eva Victor. It combines humor with maintaining its heart throughout its runtime, resulting in a black comedy that never loses sight of its emotional core. Victor also starred as Agnes, delivering an incredibly nuanced performance that elevated the entire rest of the film. This film reminds me of Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun — two debut features that make me beyond eager for what the filmmaker does next.
As with any year, 2025 has had its cinematic ups and downs. Leonardo DiCaprio chasing his daughter on a mountainous road? Definitely an up. The original songs in Wicked: For Good…downs. (Sorry!) But the hits have far, far outweighed the misses. I’m excited to knock the rest of 2025’s films off my watchlist. Hamnet…you’re next!