Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order by title):
Ballerina
Companion
Materialists
Thunderbolts*
Wake Up Dead Man
10.Den of Thieves 2: Pantera:
The legend of "Big Nick" O'Brien (Gerard Butler) expanded a year ago this week when the utterly delightful new January movie classic Den of Thieves 2: Pantera made its way into theaters. Inspired by a shift in setting from Los Angeles to the French Riveria, Den of Thieves 2 trades in the gruffness of the original for breezy buddy movie hijinks and it works like a charm largely due to how effortless the chemistry between Big Nick and his nemesis-turned-pal Donnie (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) proves to be. The chill hangout vibe ultimately transforms into the type of old school heist movie anyone who sat down to watch Den of Thieves 2 expected it to be and writer/director Christian Gudegast once again delivers the goods as the tension of the big score (this time they steal diamonds!) carries over to a huge climatic car chase/shootout through winding tunnels and mountainside roads that wraps things up on one hell of a high note. Den of Thieves 3 can't come soon enough.
9.Bugonia:
In a year full of films commenting on the current state of the world that ended on hopeful notes that expresses optimism for humanity's future, it was refreshing to watch a movie that had the courage to go swiftly in the other direction by delivering a conclusion so bleak that the whole audience I saw it with promptly exited the theater in stunned silence once the credits begin to roll. Bugonia-which is loosely inspired by the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet!-has its fingers on the pulse of what makes this world such a stupid, cruel place and director Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Will Tracy do a brilliant job of laughing, crying and yelling about the things that will ultimately lead to our extinction. The fact that the primary vessels for Bugonia's fierce blend of emotions are the heavyweight duo of Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone only further heightens the brute force it hits with.
8.The Long Walk:
There has been no shortage of dystopian movies about teenagers living under fascist rule being forced to put their lives on the line to compete in a grueling athletic competition designed to manufacture consent for the immense cruelty the regime inflicts upon the population. Hell, this very film's director Francis Lawrence has helmed quite a few of them himself as the primary architect of the film adaptations of The Hunger Games franchise. What distinguishes The Long Walk from its peers is the unflinching brutality in which depicts the violence the regime carries out against innocent civilians along with the care the script and its cast take in portraying the powerful bonds that build as these men attempt to fight off death together for as long as they possibly can. It's an incredibly powerful look at the resiliency humans are capable of showing when they stand together to fight for their survival and I hope more people will check it out now that it's on Starz.
7.The Naked Gun:
Rebooting The Naked Gun couldn't have worked out any better than this. Everybody involved with this production knew exactly what brand of slapstick silliness that this iconic franchise was built on, the hit rate of the absurd, rapid-fire jokes is unbelievably high, and director Akiva Schaffer's ability to keep the zany energy level high throughout ensures that its 85-minute runtime flies by.
6.Weapons:
Buying stock in Zach Cregger after Barbarian was the right call. Cregger's most sprawling, ambitious project to date does a masterful job of juggling a plethora of tones and narrative threads as it slowly establishes a connection between a group of people (Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Cary Christopher) in a small town in Pennsylvania that have been impacted by a bizarre event where a group of kids in the same elementary school class all got out of bed, walked out of the front doors of their homes and disappeared into the darkness of night without a trace at the exact same time. The finale where all of the pieces of its hyperlink narrative finally converge is one of the most satisfying in recent memory and it tickles me that Amy Madigan has a legit chance to win an Oscar for playing such a delightfully demented character that I wouldn't dare spoil for the people that have yet to watch this.
5.Superman:
DC's days as the laughingstock of the comic book movie game may be numbered. Serving as the first entry of the new-look DCU that WB CEO David Zaslav hired him to co-run with his longtime producing partner Peter Safran back in the fall of 2022, James Gunn's Superman lays the groundwork for a potentially bright cinematic future for the previously embattled brand by delivering a take on the Man of the Steel that honors his hopeful spirit without shying away from the pervasive darkness that exists on Earth. Its narrative device that mimics the feeling of jumping right into a standalone comic that was picked up off a shelf is a great solution to the plague of exhaustive recurring plots that has regularly kneecapped Marvel post-Endgame and Gunn once again nails the casting by filling the movie with magnetic, scene-stealing actors who feel like they were born to play their respective roles.
4.Bring Her Back:
On paper, another horror movie dealing with grief and trauma isn't overly appealing. In practice, Bring Her Back completely revitalizes what has become an overdone staple of modern horror by focusing on somebody who is so tormented by the pain of the loss they endured that they've completely lost sight of the person they were before. While there's plenty of brutality and grim atmospherics to be found here in a story that involves a foster mother (Sally Hawkins-who masterfully weaponizes her reputation as a "nice" lady to give a horrifying yet not entirely unsympathetic villain turn) who will stop at nothing to bring her deceased daughter back to life, the true heart of the film is a beautifully developed (Billy Barratt, Sora Wong) relationship between half siblings who end in Hawkins' character's care after their father passes away in a tragic accident. The presence of this quietly devastating emotional undercurrent is what ultimately puts this above the Danny and Michael Philippou's (also great) last movie Talk to Me for me.
3.Marty Supreme:
Early on in Marty Supreme, it appears that Josh Safdie is gearing up to tell a pretty routine story of an ambitious NYC kid (Timothee Chalamet) who aspires to be the greatest table tennis player in the world during the early 1950's when the sport was first starting to rise to international prominence. This misdirection doesn't last long and soon; it's off to the races as Safdie once again goes full steam ahead into chaotic dirtbag mode. Chalamet gives the performance of the year, if not the decade as a sleazy hustler whose unrelenting pursuit of ping pong excellence comes at a high price for the poor souls who dare to care about him and Safdie makes one hell of an impression in his first solo directorial effort by making a movie fueled by adrenaline, swagger and unpredictability. A24 electing to invest so much (a reported $65 million, which is the highest budget for any movie they've produced in their 13-year history) in a movie that's largely full of unlikable characters and maintains a level of chaos that's only slightly below Safdie's last project Uncut Gems for the bulk of its runtime is a miracle that's worth celebrating in a day and age where those things don't tend to happen very much.
2.Friendship:
Friendship marked the first time that modern cult comedy hero Tim Robinson has headlined a movie, and I can say without hesitation that it's the hardest I've laughed at a movie in ages. Writer/director Andrew DeYoung-who Robinson ended up bringing in to collaborate with him on his HBO series The Chair Company that also released in 2025-authored a hysterical, sneaky potent look at the unique difficulties men have with trying to make friends as adults. Robinson does Wilt Chamberlin-type numbers as a solitary office worker living in the suburbs who alienates a new acquittance (Paul Rudd) with his strange behavior at a social gathering then proceeds to go to insane lengths to try and get back in his good graces and the supporting cast-especially Kate Mara as Robinson's wife and Billy Byrk as a cellphone store employee who helps Robinson go on a spiritual journey-do a great job of matching Robinson's consistent commitment to selling the shit out of every ridiculous bit the script throws at him.
1.Sinners:
During the press tour, Ryan Coogler kept saying he wanted audiences to feel like they had a full meal by the time the credits had rolled on Sinners. Coogler didn't just make a full meal with Sinners; he made a god damn legendary feast that I'll cherish having for the rest of my life. The cornucopia of themes/genres Coogler assembled here comes together with a stunning degree of cohesion thanks to the passion and clarity of his vision along with the talented team of artisans that he tasked with helping him bring his singularly bold vision to life. This movie is just pure fucking magic, and I wouldn't be surprised if I grew to hold it in even higher regard in the future than I do currently.
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