Best Movies of 2025

10. 28 Years Later


9. The Phoenician Scheme


8. Mickey 17


7. Bugonia


6. Bring Her Back


5. Black Bag


4. Sinners


3. Eddington


2. Weapons


1. One Battle After Another

Movie Update 35

Here are a few movies I saw before the end of the year. I won't keep you in suspense: I liked them all.

Dreams


One of Akira Kurosawa's last films, Dreams is more like a collection of shorts, all based on various dreams he had and presented in very different ways. You can detect some progression as it goes on, as the early segments feature children as the central characters, while later ones are generally darker, and the last few all star the same person. But mostly it's just disjointed ideas brought to life in usually interesting ways. I liked the movie more than I thought it would, from its bizarre fantasy imagery to its more unsettling moments. I've never felt more cold watching a movie than I did watching the blizzard segment. It also features Martin Scorsese in a cameo as Vincent van Gogh, which is weird.

The Limey


I kind of like the idea of Steven Soderbergh, but I haven't actually really, really enjoyed a movie he's made until now. The Limey is an extremely sharp and tight revenge thriller starring Terence Stamp as an older British career criminal who takes a trip to America after getting out of jail to get even with the man responsible for his daughter's death. There's really no nonsense about the movie, it's pretty short and has very few characters who aren't directly related to the single central story thread. It's not the most exciting movie ever, but it's occasionally quite tense and sometimes even pretty funny. It also has a lot of nice little touches, like Soderbergh inserting snippets of a much younger Stamp from another movie to establish his backstory. The whole thing is very minimal and hazy, with its frequently jumping around in time in moments of reflection. Not quite great, but a very good take on some pretty basic material.

Miracle on 34th Street


I've seen pieces of this movie before, but the part that I didn't know, and what I think is totally brilliant about it, is that it never answers the question of whether the "Santa Claus" in this movie is actually Santa Claus. It doesn't answer the question because the answer doesn't matter, what matters is the message he's trying to give to the people around him. Well, I thought it was clever, anyway. Otherwise, it's a charming old Hollywood movie with charming old Hollywood acting, and it's sort of interesting seeing Natalie Wood this young even if her character is pretty annoying. A really nice family holiday movie, that nicely skirts a lot of issues with that subgenre.

Running on Empty


Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty is an odd little movie, combining elements of crime and soap opera. The story begins years before the film itself starts, when a couple decides to bomb a laboratory owned by a company that made napalm, and accidentally severely injures a janitor that wasn't supposed to be there and goes on the run. Years later, they're still on the run, changing identities and moving every time they suspect the law might be on their trail, with two kids in tow. They're pretty used to it, but the older son, played by River Phoenix, is getting a bit old to be staying with them, almost ready to graduate high school. Things really change when he both meets a music teacher who's impressed by his piano skills and wants him to go to college for it, and falls in love with the teacher's daughter. Family drama ensues. It's the kind of thing that probably shouldn't have worked, but Lumet is a director who seems to be able to do a lot with some slim material. It's far from his best movie, but it's a pretty good one with some strong emotional moments.

Movie Update 28

These are some pretty runty-ass movies! They weren't bad, though.

The Good German

I've only seen two films by Steven Soderbergh, which both happened to be very populist and not terribly original. But he's known as a very experimental filmmaker, at least by Hollywood standards, and even if you don't like The Good German very much, you have to admit it's ambitious. I ended up enjoying its modern day take on lots of old noir tropes, but more interesting than the film itself is the way it is dedicated to the style of the period. It's in black and white, and more than that the way it was filmed is very much the traditional old way, with old cutting and old blocking and everything. It doesn't really actually look like it was made in the 40s, because of the lighting, and because of the weird disconnect with the very modern standards of sex, violence, and language. I don't understand the point of going this far with replicating a look without replicating a tone as well. But you can't say the whole thing isn't interesting. And I think George Clooney and Cate Blanchett make a good pair on-screen, anyway.

The Red Badge of Courage


A war film by John Huston, based on a book about a soldier in the Civil War who fears death and yet yearns to earn his own war wounds and be looked well upon by others. It's an odd movie for a couple of reasons, most notably the incredibly on-the-nose narration, which not only directly quotes the original novel but also addresses the audience in a weird, hitting-you-over-the-head kind of way. It definitely wasn't surprising that this was added by the studio against Huston's wishes, and that they also cut the film down to its scant 70 minute running time, which is hardly enough time to develop themes, especially when so much of that time is just Huston's (admittedly well shot) war scenes. There's the potential for a great 50s war movie in here, but it was lost between filming and release.

Tetro


Francis Ford Coppola's post-70s career is frustrating, showing little evidence that a man who could create a film as perfect as The Godfather still knows what he is doing. Tetro is interesting though, a more personal project than most of his other work, about a couple of estranged brothers who reunite in Spain. It's shown in black and white except for flashbacks, and shows the devastating effect certain actions can have on family ties. It's not exactly the most entertaining movie ever, but there's definitely some stuff going on here that you don't really see in most other movies. It's also really nice to look at, with some stylistic experiments and just really good cinematography throughout. Definitely the best thing I've seen by him that was released in the last 30 years.

Thor: Tales of Asgard


That cover is misleading; it shows a grown up Thor, but the film takes place in his more formative years, before Loki was evil, and before Odin even allowed him to venture out of Asgard. At least they didn't extend the lie far enough to show him holding the hammer. Tales of Asgard isn't much different from the other Marvel movies, being competently animated and telling a pretty standard story, although being Thor, it's less a typical sci-fi action plot and more a typical fantasy one. Thor goes on a journey with Loki, hangs with the warriors three, gets help from Sif, and accidentally gets into some bad shit with the frost giants. As a supplement to the live action film... it's fine. There's nothing terribly exciting about it, but it doesn't really mess up anywhere either. It's a way to pass 70 minutes if you like comic books, I guess.

Movie Update 1

I won't name all my posts like this, I'm just catching up right now.

Bringing Up Baby

I'm taking a film class this quarter and we watch a movie every week. The first was Casablanca, which I had previously seen, and is completely great. After that we saw a few silent movies, and then this, an example of the "screwball comedy" which has died out since it was released. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are both great actors and work well together to create a funny movie. It seems overly silly nowadays, but it works if you don't take it too seriously. It's full of sitcom situations and enjoyable fast-talking, and I guess it works if you want to see what people like to laugh at a long time ago.

The Gold Rush



One of two silent comedies we saw on the same day, Charlie Chaplin's film about recurring character "The Tramp" and his attempt to find love and riches in the cold north. I don't think he's as funny as Buster Keaton, at least in these two movies, but I think this may be a better film as far as emotional range and actual filmmaking go. It does have many funny moments, and is probably as good an example you're going to find of what silent movies were all about.

Inside Man

Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster have been two of the better actors in Hollywood for a while, and Clive Owen has only started to emerge in the last few years, but I've already grown to like him a lot. You put all three of them together in a movie with an interesting, twisty heist plot behind it and it's probably going to be pretty good. Everyone plays their part well (although what exactly Foster's character was supposed to be was a little vague), and it creates a nice tension where you aren't sure what you want to happen. Owen's bank robbery isn't quite what it appears to be, and the script is great, filled with smart dialogue and an interesting structure as scenes with the two cops interrogating the victims after the fact are spliced in to the normal narrative, leaving you guessing.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

I've got to see more movies with Robert Downey Jr. Between this and A Scanner Darkly, I've decided he's the best actor today when it comes to funny, quirky characters that you find yourself liking even if they aren't the best people. Val Kilmer is almost as funny and Michelle Monaghan is great as the girl who used to be a slut but is really just a clever, nice person at heart. All of the actors work together well in this hilarious take on a mystery movie which has some of the best narration I've ever heard. It continually tops itself with how crazy it gets, and is just extremely fun to watch.

Ocean's Twelve


Yet another movie completely stacked with big-name actors, almost to the point of absurdity. It's not as good as the remake it's a sequel of, but it still has its moments. It has a few too many music-focused montages and it doesn't really spend as much time on actual heisting as it should. It spends more time on the cat-and-mouse between the different characters and seems to be pretty far from the first.

It's got pretty enjoyable dialogue, although maybe the cast is just a little too big to give all the characters the screen-time they deserve. While they spend time fleshing out Brad Pitt's relationship with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bernie Mac is almost completely absent and Shaobo Qin seems like a utilitarian throwaway. The big "gotcha" twist at the end is okay at first, but it seems a bit lame to me in retrospect because you don't really get a chance to figure it out yourself and it renders a very large part of the movie a complete waste of time. I enjoyed watching it, but hopefully the upcoming sequel gets back to the best parts of the whole concept.

Sherlock Jr.

The other silent comedy, maybe not as well-formed as The Gold Rush but I found it to be more enjoyable. Buster Keaton is a master of both subtle and completely physical comedy, and Sherlock Jr. contains probably the best comedic chase scene I've ever seen. It also has a great, innovative sequence involving a character stepping inside a movie screen. It's oddly structured, as the main thread is partly abandoned in favor of the movie within the movie, but it's a really pleasant watch.

Spirited Away

I've only seen a few films by Hayao Miyazaki, but I can tell he's one of the best creative minds to ever do animation. Spirited Away is endlessly inventive with setting, character, and plot, and is realized with very good, naturalistic animation. Miyazaki is great at creating realistic protagonists that you genuinely like and root for. It's one of those movies that just has a soul, with a great atmosphere that can be both frightening and heart-warming. Seriously, the guy is a genius.

Unknown

I had never heard of this small movie before I saw it, which seemed weird to me because of its great cast. The concept is interesting and is brought to execution as well as can be expected, with good acting, betrayals, mystery, and twists abound. I've seen better thrillers, but this is certainly a good one. It's a little ambiguous about what exactly happens, but it's not too hard to follow and is definitely an interesting ride.

Way Down East

A silent film by famed film pioneer and racist D.W. Griffith. The cut we saw in class was quite long, and it seemed like it took forever, but I wasn't all that bored to be honest, so I guess it's an accomplishment. It's pretty damn primitive nowadays, but back then this was groundbreaking stuff. It has funny moments and a well-structured story that reflects the values Griffith wanted to convey. The ending sequence is pretty far out there and seems out of place, but it's not a bad movie at all.