Best of 2025: Brandon Schreur’s Top 10 Movies

The time has come once again to look back at all the movies that have come out in 2025 and pick our favorites.

It’s been an interesting year, to say the least. There’s been a lot of good movies in 2025. Tons of good movies. Having said that, I don’t know if there have been as many great movies as there have been in some other years. A couple of picks that qualify for the “great” category immediately jump to mind — these are titles that you see floating around on just about everyone’s list. But I don’t know if we had an abundance of “great” in 2025.

That’s the way it shakes out some years, and that’s fine. We’ve still got loads to talk about. As always, I have to disclose that there are some movies that I’d like to see but haven’t yet had time for. The Secret Agent, No Other Choice, Rebuilding. I’ve heard good things about all of them and am excited to check them out at some point.

And in continuing to keep with tradition, I’ve got some honorable mentions that include The Monkey, Grand Theft Hamlet, Thunderbolts*, Friendship, The Life of Chuck, 28 Years Later, The Naked Gun, Highest 2 Lowest, The Long Walk, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Hamnet, and Blue Moon.

10. Superman

Imagine a world where love always triumphs over hate, where billionaires are held accountable, and where immigrants can be superheroes without that having to be controversial. That may not be the actual world that we live in. But it’s the world that James Gunn invites us into with Superman. Whether you’re there for all the comic book nerdiness or because you just want to see a good Superman flick, Gunn’s first DCU feature film does it all.

9. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

A small little movie that, sadly, didn’t get publicity or wide enough distribution when it came out, A24 and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl rocks. It starts in such an absurd way — a woman, dressed as Missy Elliott, finds a body in the middle of the road one night and refuses to get out of the car. Is it a vampire? What’s going on here? Then, this woman’s cousin comes along and starts dancing in front of the car. Huh? As the movie begins to show its cards and reveal itself, it quickly becomes clear that this is masterful at balancing tone; On Becoming a Guinea Fowl deals with some really heavy subject matter, but some parts are so strange that they’re played for comedy because you don’t know what else to do other than laugh at it. Go back and catch up with this one if you missed it in theaters, trust me.

8. Weapons

I love original horror. You love original horror. We all love original horror movies. And Weapons is about as original as they come, at least in the year 2025. Sitting in the theater watching this for the first time, I had no idea where it was going for the longest time. Then we get to Aunt Gladys. And as the pieces all start to fall into place, we’re left with something that, on paper, seems like it shouldn’t work. None of this should work. But you get a guy like Zach Creeger to do it and, somehow, it works.

7. Wake Up Dead Man

I really enjoyed the first two Knives Out movies, not so much because I thought they were super deep — I mean, they touch on some stuff, and I love how that first one ends, but they only go so far — but just because they’re fun. With Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson goes, ‘What if we still make it fun but, like, take the opportunity to really say something, here?’ I don’t know if it would have worked if Wake Up Dead Man was the first Knives Out movie. But I’m so glad that we got this. It’s a film that handles religion, like, better than most other media out there; it’s critical about weaponized religion, as it should be, but it’s also not just dismissive and explores Josh O’Connor’s character’s faith in an appropriate way. More of this, please!

6. It Was Just an Accident

We talked about how On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is able to masterfully balance different tones and genres. Jafar Panahi is also very, very good at this. I mean, even if we were only talking about the actual It Was Just an Accident movie here, it’d still be great. It’s about some people who were tortured by the Iranian government but were blindfolded the whole time; years later, when they’re free, one of them thinks they recognize someone as one of their torturers, only, again, he was blindfolded, so he kidnaps the guy and drives all over town trying to prove it’s really him before deciding what to do with him. That’s all great; you wouldn’t think a movie with that premise would be funny, but, yeah, it is. And then there’s all the added backstory to the movie; how they had to film it in secret because the Iranian government doesn’t approve of this kind of thing. And how Jafar Panahi has now been sentenced back to prison. The fact that this was even made is astonishing. The fact that it was made and is really, really good makes it a miracle.

5. Train Dreams

There have been movies and biopics about all kinds of different people; this guy accomplished this thing, that lady sang this song, etc. Train Dreams is a movie that’s just about a dude. Just a dude. Nothing super special about him. But the poetic nature of this movie, the cinematography, the calmness of it all. I was won over immediately. And the journey that we’re taken on, this story had me choking up by the time we reach its end.

4. Eephus

A group of men, all of whom have more important things they should probably be doing, gather at a baseball field in a small town in Massachusetts one fateful Sunday. They’ve been doing it for years. But today will be the last time they ever do so, as the park is about to be torn down. They hang out. They argue. They joke. And then they go home. It’s so simple. But there’s also so much going on under the surface with Eephus, making it an almost existential experience that has so much to offer.

3. Marty Supreme

After walking out of The Smashing Machine earlier this year, I was kind of bummed out. I didn’t hate the movie, but it wasn’t nearly as good as anything the Safdies had made before. Thought their era might be over. And then comes Marty Supreme. And now I know which Safdie I want in the divorce. This is brilliant; it’s epic, it’s sprawling, there’s always something that’s going on in here in a very Uncut Gems kind of way. But it’s also not just a retread. Timothée’s character might have some similarities to Robert Pattinson in Good Time or Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems, but I fully believe he’s an entirely different person with his own (many) shortcomings and all that. This is unique, it’s different, and it’s just so much fun to watch.

2. One Battle After Another

When Paul Thomas Anderson makes a movie, it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s going to be good. You might like some better than others. But, in my humble opinion, the man has yet to make a bad movie. There Will Be Blood may be my favorite of his, but I don’t know, One Battle After Another feels like it comes close at times. Leo being stoned! Sean Penn being weird! Benicio del Toro being cool as hell! Chase Infiniti being one of the best breakout performances of 2025! It’s all just so good!!

1. Sinners

I don’t know if there’s anything I can say about Ryan Coogler’s Sinners that hasn’t been said already. It’s the best movie of the year. It’s easily the 2025 movie that I’ve seen most this past year. And I never grow tired of it. Never feel myself hoping it’ll hurry along to the next moment. I just love living in this movie. As many have said, if the vampires never even show up — if this whole movie had just been about Smoke and Stack starting this juke joint and everyone having a good night — it’d still be a thrilling watch. The scene. You know the scene. It’s everything. Then the monsters do show up (Sammy!!!!) and Coogler fully commits to being an old-school vampire flick. There are just so, so many things that make Sinners great. I think it’s a movie that we’re going to continue to talk about for the next couple of decades. And I’m just really glad it exists.

Source: Comingsoon.net