Fair warning before diving into this review: as long as it was competently made, I was going to like The Disciple, Joana Natasegara’s documentary about the rap group Wu-Tang Clan and their mysterious and infamous 2015 album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. I love the Wu-Tang Clan. Their debut album, Enter the 36 Chambers, is one of my favorite albums ever, and any time I get to learn more about the group that…
Read More
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival is here! I have been attending the festival since 2011, and it is my favorite festival in the world. I love the atmosphere, the focus and love of cinema throughout the festival, and of course, the movies. I love the diversity of films at the festival and being able to see a wide array of films from across the globe. I love discovering new, talented filmmakers, actors, and creatives throughout…
Read More
I was not as over-the-moon for Danny Boyle’s 2025 28 Years Later as other critics, but there were elements that I did like. I liked Ralph Fiennes as a quietly deranged doctor who has built a shrine of bones to those who have perished in this apocalyptic zombie hellscape. I liked the idea of a seemingly indestructible zombie named Samson who terrified zombies as much as humans. I like the film’s grim tone, bold…
Read More
2025 is officially over, and now it is time for my picks for the best movies of 2025. I thought 2025 was a great year for movies. Easily one of the best of the 2020s. I think I will remember 2025 as an epic year. It felt like there was a real effort to make movies on the biggest scale possible to bring people back to the theater. While we saw tentpole films like A…
Read More
In my continued analysis of the best movies of 2025, here are my picks for the best performances of 2025. Every year, this is the toughest list to make, and every year, I feel bad about leaving some performances off. While I loved performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Jessie Buckley, Wagner Moura, Sophie Thatcher, Eva Victor, Ryan Bader, Vincent Cassel, Jennifer Lawrence, Adam Sandler, and many others, I believe the performances I chose are…
Read More
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…
Read More
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….
Read More
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…
Read More
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….
Read More
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….
Read More
