Best Movies of 2025: Best Director

Best Movies of 2025: Best Director

Continuing my look at the best movies of 2025, I am now going to make my pick for the best director of 2025. 2025 saw great efforts from established directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Wes Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Rian Johnson, and Park Chan-wook. We even got two films each from cinematic icons in Steven Soderbergh (Black Bag and Presence) and Richard Linklater (Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague), respectively. We also saw impressive features…

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Best Movies of 2025: Best of the Genres

Best Movies of 2025: Best of the Genres

Continuing to look back at the best movies of 2025, I will now be looking at the best movies from each genre. I will be looking at my favorite foreign-language films, comedies, action movies, and a few other genres and categories. And like every year, each category will have five “nominees” (my personal top five) with my “winner” (my favorite) in bold, followed by short reasoning as to why I picked it as the best….

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Best Movies of 2025: Best of the Techs

Best Movies of 2025: Best of the Techs

The 2025 cinematic year is officially over; now, it is time to look back at the best movies, performances, and achievements of the year. I will begin by looking at the top technical achievements of 2025. I will be looking at the best screenplays, cinematography, production design, score, and other technical categories. Like every year, each category will have five “nominees” (my personal top five) with my “winner” (my favorite) in bold, followed by short…

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2025 Movies I Loved But Didn’t Review

2025 Movies I Loved But Didn’t Review

In 2025, I watched over 170 films and reviewed many of them. There were several, however, that I did not review. Whether it was day job priorities, scheduling, life events, or simply not having the energy to do so, not every film I saw got a thorough review. However, the year offered numerous outstanding films that deserved more attention. Below are ten films I want to highlight that I didn’t have the opportunity to review….

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Top 10 First-Time Watches of 2025

Top 10 First-Time Watches of 2025

Kicking off my coverage of the best movies of 2025, I’m starting with my favorite first-time watches in 2025. From filling in a blind spot to discovering hidden gems to catching a movie I had never heard of, I had a lot of new cinematic experiences in 2025, and I wanted to highlight my favorites. This is an unranked list of my ten favorite first-time watches of 2025 and why I liked them so much….

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Movie Review: Is This Thing On?

Movie Review: Is This Thing On?

  Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? is a more fascinating movie in Cooper’s filmography than it is a good movie. That isn’t to say the film is bad; it’s actually quite good. But the scale of the film, its subject, and how it is filmed compared to Cooper’s first two films is more interesting to think about. Is This Thing On? is a midlife crisis dramedy. The film opens with Alex Novak (Will Arnett)…

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From the Collection: Hell’s Angels

From the Collection: Hell’s Angels

Howard Hughes’s 1930s war epic Hell’s Angels has been added to the Criterion Collection. A high-flying feat of adventure filmmaking and a testament to the audacious, spare-no-expense vision of Howard Hughes, this landmark aviation epic remains exhilarating both for its daredevil aerial sequences and its nervy pre-Code punch. With the onset of World War I, two British brothers recruited into the Royal Flying Corps (Ben Lyon and James Hall) find their bond tested by their…

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Movie Review: Marty Supreme

Movie Review: Marty Supreme

  Marty Supreme follows Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, in an undeniably great performance, a young man who thinks he is something that he is not. Set in 1950s New York, Marty Mauser has dreams of becoming a world-famous ping pong champion. The sport is still on the rise, and nobody takes his dream seriously. Marty will literally do anything to get to the top and see his face on the front of a…

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CIFF 2025 Movie Review: New Group

CIFF 2025 Movie Review: New Group

  Before my screening of New Group, director Yûta Shimotsu introduced the film and heavily emphasized that the movie was “weird.” Coming from the director himself, I knew we were in for something unique, and New Group did not disappoint. It is a bizarre, hilarious, and at times terrifying film with a strong social message. New Group takes place at a prestigious high school in Japan. Ai (Actress) is a typical student who is easily…

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Movie Review: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Movie Review: Avatar: Fire and Ash

  Due to director James Cameron’s obsession with creating new technology for underwater filmmaking, it took over a decade for him to make a sequel to his 2009 juggernaut, Avatar. Having that technology readily available, the time between the second Avatar film, Avatar: The Way of Water, and the third and newest Avatar film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has been only three years. Avatar: The Way of Water was a perfect mix of sequel, reintroduction,…

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