There are great movies every year and, depending on who you are, some years have more great films than others. For me personally, this year around 40 of the 100 films that I saw I would recommend to different kinds of people. All of those 40 deserve a shoutout but I want to take a closer look at the very best that have stuck with me.
First I want to give a shoutout to a film I saw this year that will be released in 2026 but was my favourite theatrical experience of 2025. I need everyone to see this film, especially if you are Canadian and even more so if you live in the GTA.
Honourable Mentions:
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (Dir. Matt Johnson)
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie brought me my most precious theatre memories in 2025 and I look forward to some more this year. The film is an absolute comedy delight full of insane storylines and jokes that needs to be seen to be believed. I don’t say that to be hyperbolic. You often cannot believe what you are watching during this film. (Watch the trailer to get a taste.) But there is so much more to this film that I think it will be endlessly rewatchable for years to come. I’ve seen the film twice already but cannot wait for my third viewing with people. It’s the perfect film to put on with some friends, especially if they have ever spent more than a few days in Toronto. Watch in theatres on February 13th, 2026 and in the following weeks!
I also want to mention
Merrily We Roll Along (Dir. Maria Friedman)
Should be on Netflix or Available to Rent in the Coming Months.
I am not listing this because it is unfair to compare a filmed version of a stage play with these cinematic feature films. All the things I usually look for in movies like great camera moves, lighting, production design and the overall art direction is dramatically different. If you look just at the story, the songs, the acting and the music this film certainly would be competing to be in my top 10 so it deserves a shoutout. Please support this filmed version, the performances from the leads Johnathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez are all excellent. Its worth watching just for Radcliffe’s scene stealing song that surely won him his Tony.
20. Roofman (Dir. Derek Cianfrance)
Watch on Paramount Plus!
19. A House of Dynamite (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
Watch on Netflix!
18. Warfare (Dir. Alex Garland)
Watch on Prime Video!
17. The Smashing Machine (Dir. Benny Safdie)
Watch on Hoopla! (You can get it for free with your local library account)
16. Caught Stealing (Dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Watch on Crave!
15. Sound of Falling (Dir. Mascha Schilinski)
Watch in Theatres!
14. Left Handed Girl (Dir. Shih-CHing Tsou)
Watch on Netflix!
13. Black Bag (Dir. Stephen Soderbergh)
Watch on Prime Video!
12. Weapons (Dir. Zach Cregger)
Watch on Crave!
11. Sentimental Value (Dir. Joachim Trier)
Watch in Theaters!
10. The Voice of Hind Rajab
Watch in Theaters!
An urgent, heartbreaking film. Everyone should try to see and support this film. It is a story that helps to get pass the social media and gets to the humanity of the people in Gaza. Full of expert filmmaking through unique angles, smart use of focus and concise edits help bring you into the tension and despair of the situation. With great performances and a strong structure that keeps you in the emotion of the film’s situation. A whole review is available here.
9. The Perfect Neighbor (Dir. Geeta Gandbhir)
Watch on Netflix!
This is another urgent film tackling a real life tragedy. The Perfect Neighbor uses found footage to give a honest look at a horrific incident in Florida. The story that we see play out mostly through police camera footage shows all the details that make you invested and intrigued. The people are given depth and their personalities are shown well through the limited time that they actually talk in front of the camera. The editing is very well done, tracing the timeline and the events that escalated towards the film’s central incident incredibly well.
By the end, the film delivers a strong perspective but it lets you make your own conclusions beforehand and becomes a topical film that hopefully makes you look at those you do not know with more empathy and understanding. This film shows a lot of fear and anger. One hopes that it inspires love and care to be the philosophy of more people’s lives. This was a preventable tragedy that looks at the personal and the political perspectives with a profound sense of depth.
8. Frankenstein (Dir. Guillermo Del Toro)
Watch on Netflix!
Frankenstein may be the most beautiful film of 2025. Its production design, costumes and makeup are going to be worth Oscar nominations and (perhaps) even winners during this year’s awards season. This combines all of what I have loved about Del Toro’s last few films: his love of story, his genius for set design and locations with colours that pop but also fit the narrative. It’s a great look at both the humanity in ourselves and the monsters that humans can become.
Most of all, I feel this is a great story about stories; one where the real action and drama takes place over the telling of a story and how Del Toro delivers it to us. Frankenstein features fantastic performances, with Jacob Elordi giving us his best work and standing out in an all-star cast with Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz and Felix Krammer. For a 2 1/2 hour epic, it constantly keeps you engaged and also has some great sound design which brings you into the action and tension of the set pieces. A great film.
7. One Battle After Another (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Watch on Crave!
Going into this film, the hype was insane and, of course, a lot of it delivered. Paul Thomas Anderson has a really strong sense of how to use set pieces and scenarios to impart human drama. The performances are all amazing, even though you may get more Sean Penn then you expected. It has an amazing score that helps the edit and pace feel breezy. One Battle does feel like a film that will be very easy to re-watch, even though it tackles so many important and political active ideas.
There is genius in the synergy of the film’s technical elements but, most of all, I love how the film implies issues and situations that have a larger importance than the characters we see on screen. It leaves us wanting more of these characters even after spending a lot of time with them. (Well… maybe not Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw.) One Battle will be very worth of the many trophies that it will likely earn this awards season (though I will naturally view it as a villain for beating some of my top 5 films in different categories). But this is the best version of a film that I will be disappointed to see win many Oscars.
6. Resurrection (Dir. Bi Gan)
Watch in Theaters!
With an ambitious as hell concept, Resurrection still resonates emotionally. Featuring several different stories representing the final dreams of a person that are presented in wildly different ways, this film shows how director Bi Gan could direct any kind of film. It’s an ode to the power of images and personal moments that will last with us forever. What’s more, the film gets you thinking about how we are just made of memories that become fractured and dreams that we may never remember as they were.
Film is something that almost opposes dreams as it shows something that never changes and can be played back to confirm the details of it. But Bi Gan also uses that idea to get us more invested in the whole concept and invites in the viewer to embrace seeing film as a dream and a memory that by not fitting a typical story structure feels like a memory and dream in each part. The last segment, in particular, surpasses all expectations for what a person can do with a camera or a short amount of time. Resurrection is a masterful use of camera movements and production design and the amount of work to make the last story work feels like something delivered from a dream rather than a film set. Undoubtedly, this is film worth experiencing in a theatre as it’s clearly the best way to get invested within its visuals.
5. It Was Just An Accident (Dir. Jafar Panahi)
Watch on Demand (Amazon / Apple)
This is one of the more accessible and inspiring Palme D’Or winners of the 21rst century. Jafar Panahi is able to make a more dialogue-heavy drama work wonders as a universal narrative. The story is filled with tension, comedy and political commentary that is easy to empathize with his characters. The ensemble of actors are all excellent, especially Majid Panahi who does a great job as the most outlandish and expressive member of the group. It’s an interesting and comedic film throughout but its greatest accomplishment is the strong buildup to what may be the best ending of the year and the best last shot of the year. It redefines what the film was all about and makes it a film that I have a strong need to revisit.
4. Sinners (Dir. Ryan Coogler)
Watch on Crave!
This is a much desired shot of cinematic adrenaline that came during the more banal beginning of the year. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has now been talked to death but rightfully so. The film combines the blockbuster and large scale filmmaking Coogler has been mastering in his career with a personal and exciting story that has a lot to say about art, music and the culture that surrounds it. It tells a tale of how art can be possessed by those who do not create it and offers some thoughts for those who want to think about the impact that religion has on art.
The film easily has the most iconic sequence and shot of 2025 with music to match from the masterful Ludwig Goransson, who continues to impress in his collaborations with these top auteurs. Although the rest of the cast delivers noteworthy performances, Michael B. Jordan gives one of his strongest performances, launching himself right back to the ‘movie star conversations’ where he belongs. Personally, I cannot wait to see what Coogler will do next as this is already on the road to becoming a modern classic.
3. Marty Supreme (Dir. Josh Safdie)
Watch in Theaters!
This is also another film that screams modern classic. Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein do it again as co-writers and co-editors for Safdie’s directorial solo debut. Though ‘debut’ feels like the last word that should appear when writing about this film. After all, it is clear that Josh and Ronald knew exactly how to approach this film and they have a strong group of collaborators like cinematographer Darius Khondji, composer Daniel Lopatin and casting director Jennifer Venditti who all bring their own skill and style to elevate the worlds that Safdie has created.
More impressively, Josh Safdie hired one of the best production designers ever in Jack Fisk. With this record-high budget, Fisk creates an amazing version of 1950s New York along with interiors for international locations which all feel authentic and ‘lived in’. Timothee Chalamet gives one of the best performances of his career and one that will be deservingly in contention to win an Oscar. The film also features strong work from Odessa Azion (who makes her presence known as the anchor to this story), Gwyneth Paltrow in a great comeback role and the rest of an ensemble of great brief performances from non-actors. In the end, Marty has a script with more heart, as much adrenaline as Uncut Gems and some of the wittiest dialogue of the year, making this a must-see film.
2. Hamnet (Dir. Chloe Zhao)
Watch in Theaters!
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Nirvanna the Band the Show The Movie is Hamnet, though it is equally special. Everyone in the theatre was crying. You could hear sniffles from people rows behind you. I cried more during Hamnet than, maybe, any other film… ever. It is a melodrama that gets the emotions correct. Paul Mescal who always ends up being partly responsible for me crying during films (Aftersun) is given the more subtle but just as crucial emotional moments that drive home the devastation and separation that the main couple feel. Jessie Buckley is, of course, insanely compelling and you are with her through every emotion that she goes through.
The love that starts this film ends it. The music hammers home the emotions perfectly. Chloe Zhao, as a director, proves that she knows exactly how to use beautiful cinematography to pull an audience into a character’s inner world and uses the frame masterfully. We always look where she wants us to look, even in wide shots. Though while Jacobi Jupe may end up unacknowledged during awards season, it is his performance as the titular character that makes the film work so well. He is easily the unsung hero of the film.
1. No Other Choice (Dir. Park Chan Wook)
Watch in Theatres!
After two viewings, I can confirm that this film is one that holds the uncanny ability to excite, fright and provoke laughter, often in the same scene. It’s a film that I would watch anytime yet it’s also a film that demands that you look into its dark commentary on the state of the job market, masculinity, family expectations and A.I.
The ability to be all these things makes No Other Choice a unicorn of a film from a unicorn of a director like Park Chan-wook. Somehow, he’s able to create films with images that you would never think of and transitions that wouldn’t even be considered by most films but he does them expertly. His cast is exceptional. Lee Byung Hun, in particular, does amazing with this role, keeping us along for this insane journey and invites us to care about him. The story astonishes us with the turn of events that occurs while remaining critical of what he does. No Other Choice is an amazing film that I think almost anyone would enjoy.
Do yourself a favor and check it out in theaters this January (or right now if you are near TIFF Lightbox).
