Favourite Films of 2025

Are we… so back?

It’s been a fantastic year for movies despite some troubling developments in the structure of the film industry late in the year. Warner Bros. is set to be acquired by one of Netflix, Paramount Skydance, or Comcast. Amidst the drama surrounding this, they managed to produce some of the most popular films this year—A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Weapons, and One Battle After Another. Other than A Minecraft Movie, these films are the opposite of what the big tech companies seem to want for cinema. These are big non-IP swings on a rising director slowly cementing himself with the greats, a horror film, and one of the greatest directors ever who required a $130-175 million budget. The future is foggy, but for now, swings like these are surprising, yet so welcome.

Elsewhere, Neon as usual had North American distribution rights to some of the best international titles, including It Was Just an Accident (Iran/France), Sentimental Value (Norway), Sirāt (Spain), The Secret Agent (Brazil), and No Other Choice (South Korea). Amazing stuff here.

2025 had major hits for genre films and big event cinema. It was quite a different year from 2024. The IP titles were hit and miss, and much fewer in number. Disney only released three animated films—Elio, Zootopia 2, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (the last of which went straight to Disney+). Dreamworks only released two animated films—Dog Man and The Bad Guys 2.

There were only four superhero movies in 2025—Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, Superman, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Four. A seismic shift in the movie release calendar from years past. All of these films, despite generally being successful at the box office, were critically mediocre.

And, of course there was Avatar: Fire and Ash. Bring on the fourth and fifth, Jim.

It’s hard to say which direction the film industry will be going in 2026, but it can be said that it veered in a different direction from 2024. Big films from big directors, chances taken on genres, and generally movies that people love that don’t feature capes. Less IP, much fewer superheroes, and fewer legasequels. This was good.

It was a big year for me personally at the movies! I finally eclipsed the 100 movie mark. Dial Code Santa Claus (1989) was my 100th film (Merry Christmas!) The 100th time I put on a movie—which includes rewatches—was It’s a Wonderful Life (Merry Christmas!) This year, I got a TIFF membership, visited the Criterion Closet, started collecting Blu-Rays, and only rewatched Heat twice! That’s growth, baby!

I’ve watched 35 films released or screened in 2025, so let’s get into my 10 favourite.

Disclaimer: I haven’t seen the following big name films

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10. Eternity

A24
November 26
Romantic Comedy

In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.

They don’t make rom coms like this anymore! This was actually very funny, but also romantic. These days, rom coms are so often just boring as hell with hot people or not funny at all and mislabeled as a rom com. The leads in this are hot too! In fact, Miles Teller is actually too handsome for his boring, regular, “I love my wife” character.

The details in the comedy were actually quite impressive. Eternity goes beyond the dialogue and physical comedy. As the characters walk through this train station-convention centre-hotel hybrid place, your eyes are drawn to all the different eternity stalls. Signs like Space World, Meat World, and Yoga World make you want to catch all the eternity jokes. The background one-liners from passers by are some of the funniest jokes in the movie. Eternity was a great time and simply worked for me.

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9. F1

Warner Bros./Apple Original Films
June 27
Sports Drama

Racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver—while chasing one more chance at glory.

Sometimes, it’s okay to not watch a thought provoking film containing themes that make you ponder upon our world. Sometimes, it’s just really fun to watch 20 fast cars race each other around a track.

There’s little to say about the plot and writing because who cares? Brad Pitt is still a huge movie star and F1 was mind-boggling to see in IMAX. Joseph Kosinski made you feel like you were either at the races or you were in the car with Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. Apple designed a camera specifically for the shots in the chassis of the F1 cars. The plot is paper thin and it starts to fall apart if you know anything about F1, but again… who cares? It’s Top Gun but cars!

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8. The Secret Agent

Mubi
December 5
Political Thriller

In 1977 Brazil, technology specialist Marcelo, fleeing a mysterious past, returns to Recife in search of peace, but realizes the city is far from the refuge he seeks.

Wagner Moura is incredible in this. The way he portrays angst and frustration is very convincing. There are comparisons to 2024’s I’m Still Here in its setting in 1970s Brazil under a corrupt government and the film’s centre on a family and a rebel group. Unlike I’m Still Here, The Secret Agent is much less flashy and procedural, despite what the title may suggest. Still, there is a message in the film and it’s another interesting telling of the story of this time period in Brazil.

There are a lot of scenes of people on phones, but they’re edited in a way that’s not boring at all. The transitions between people on the phones and of them simultaneously is very cool. There is a storytelling mechanism that didn’t work for me (it might be spoiler territory, so I won’t expand), which made me like the film less than some. Overall, a great political thriller to enjoy.

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7. Train Dreams

Netflix
November 7 (Limited)/November 21 (Streaming)
Drama

A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.

A common thread in some of the biggest films this year was grief and trauma. Train Dreams is included in that group. It doesn’t explore the chaos and burn of grief, but rather the silence and quiet that follows loss. It’s a slow and soft film that centres around a moving performance from Joel Edgerton. From his character Robert Grainier’s highest highs to his lowest lows, Joel plays exuberance and pain so deeply. There are some brilliant shots when the loggers are harvesting timber, including one where a camera is strapped to a tree trunk that is falling to the ground. Amazing stuff there. A beautiful beautiful film.

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6. Dinner with Friends

Unreleased (no release date yet)
Drama

A group of eight longtime friends who are now in their mid-30s, and regularly meet for dinner in an attempt to hold onto their friendship in the face of the life pressures that are pulling them apart.

The most Toronto movie I’ve ever seen! Dinner with Friends is so real in its depiction of a group of 30 something year old friends moving through life together—relationships, jobs, mortgages, kids, and ultimately keeping friend groups alive as you get older. All of this in the specific context of being Torontonian. The dialogue, the name drops of streets, the slang, all hit close to home for me and it felt like this movie was made for people like me. This small movie might be hard to find, but when it eventually hits online platforms, it’s a must-see movie for people in or approaching their 30s who live in Toronto, or any big city for that matter.

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5. Sirāt

Neon
Early 2026
Drama

A man and his son arrive at a rave lost in the mountains of Morocco. They are looking for Marina, their daughter and sister, who disappeared months ago at another rave. Driven by fate, they decide to follow a group of ravers in search of one last party, in hopes Marina will be there.

One of my favourite screenings at TIFF 2025 and my vote for International People’s Choice Award! Sirāt is a sensory experience as much as it is a film. The techno score propels the movie forward and the cinematography enhances the constant dread you feel watching the character traverse the Moroccan desert. The plot is similar to Sorcerer (1977) and that thrill ride as you follow the characters’ journey is anxiety inducing. Sirāt is a movie experience that’s 10x better in a theatre with a big screen and loud speakers.

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4. Sentimental Value

Mubi
November 14
Drama

Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star.

Who doesn’t love a family drama? One about a dysfunctional family too? Sprinkle a little depression in there? We’re cooking with gas.

Joachim Trier and Renate Reinsve are forming a formidable duo. The Norwegian filmmaker and actress, respectively, follow up 2021’s The Worst Person in the World, with a film that’s up there with it in quality—might be a 1A-1B or first and close second situation.

Sentimental Value isn’t as wondrous as The Worst Person in the World. In fact, it’s quite small and quiet. Aside from scenes at a theatre, everything mostly takes place in homes between 2-5 people. Stellan Skarsgård opposite Renate Reinsve is tremendous, but I thought the best performance was Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, who I had never heard of before. Playing Agnes, Nora’s (Reinsve) younger sister, she exhibits pain completely opposite the way Nora does—hidden, under the surface, suppressed. It’s a subtle performance that is overtly effective.

With Sentimental Value, Joachim Trier is certainly now one of the big names in international cinema, and Renate Reinsve is set to become a much more household name.

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3. Sinners

Warner Bros.
April 18
Horror

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Like most years in movies, the heavy hitters came out later in the year. The one diamond in the rough of the early year slate? Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Marketed as a vampire movie, it’s much more than that. In fact, only the second half is a vampire movie. The first half is a moving story revolving around the Black experience in the 1930s American South, life in Mississippi, and the origins of Delta Blues. The second half is cool and pure popcorn fun, but the first half for me was the more interesting half.

Sinners is shot well (originally on film), scored beautifully, and the blend of its key people is top notch. Ryan Coogler’s style plus Michael B. Jordan’s star power plus Hailee Steinfeld’s allure create a sexy and thrilling vampire-filled movie that is also still thought provoking. This movie is a stepping stone for Ryan Coogler to cement himself as one of the filmmakers, Michael B. Jordan to become an A-list movie star, and for Hailee Steinfeld to take that next leap as an actor.

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2. Hamnet

Focus Features (United States)/Universal Pictures (International)
December 5
Drama

The powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

I’ve never been more crushed by a film. Tears poured down my face and I ran out of tissues.

Hamnet is pure visceral emotion. The plot is relatively thin, but what it does is pull from deep within your soul. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal’s performances tear you to shreds and make you empathize so deeply with their characters’ grief and elation. Even when the writing is light, the performances elevate this story to a height high enough, it’s hard to see the flaws.

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1. One Battle After Another

Warner Bros.
September 26
Comedy Action

An ex-revolutionary who is forced back into his former combative lifestyle when he and his daughter are pursued by a corrupt military officer.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10th film is a complete four quadrant movie. It may not be my favourite of his films, but there’s something for everyone in One Battle After Another. Action, comedy, a political statement, stars, needle drops—it has everything and it’s so effective at it all.

From minute 1 to minute 162, it’s exciting and captivating. Non-stop joke after explosion after heartfelt moment. I wasn’t bored for a single millisecond of this film.

The performances in this are incredible and sure to garner multiple Academy nominations. Now firmly in a different era than the one we’ve been familiar with for so many years, Leonardo DiCaprio shows us he’s still got it. No longer the handsome shiny leading man, he’s now tackling very complicated characters—often fathers—with the same charisma and power he’s had his entire career.

Sean Penn is as convincing as it gets for a disgusting villain. Teyana Taylor nails the conflict in her character. Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall are perfect casts in their roles and knock it out of the park. Chase Infiniti may have had her crowning moment for the next big movie star.

Visually, One Battle After Another could not be beat this year. The cinematography was beautiful and incredibly additive to the storytelling. That car chase scene white knuckle grips you for what seems like an hour. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it in VistaVision, but seeing it in 70mm was pretty damn good too. It’s a tentpole movie that should be seen on the biggest screen possible. If you must settle for your TV at home, then so be it, but this is the tier 1 must-see film of 2025.

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It was a wonderful year of watching movies, and here’s to many more in 2026. See you at the movies!

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