Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
I usually publish this post on December 31, but my list is already pretty much ready. The only two contenders that I still haven’t seen are No Other Choice and Marty Supreme.
Here are my Best Movies of 2024 (topped by Anora, A Complete Unknown and The Bikeriders) and my Best Movies of 2023 (headed by Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall and Past Lives) lists.
I HAVE seen 144 2025 films so far. BTW that 144 total for 2025 doesn’t include the 78 festival submissions that I’ve screened (those will be 2026 films) nor the 54 movies from earlier years that I watched this year.
The first thing you’ll notice on this year’s list is the four-way tie for the top spot. I’m embarrassed that I just can’t rank these films that are so, so different from each other. Here we go:
- 1. (tie) Frankenstein: who is the real monster? Netflix.
- 1. (tie) It Was Just an Accident: trauma, justice and complications. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- 1. (tie) Caught by the Tides: China evolves, she persists. Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango, Criterion.
- 1. (tie) One Battle After Another: sometimes hilarious, sometimes thrilling, always outrageous. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- 5. A House of Dynamite: a master filmmaker reminds us of the terrifyingly plausible. Netflix.
- 6. Train Dreams: quietly thinking and quietly feeling. Netflix.
- 7. Hamnet: a grieving couple finally aligned. In theaters.
- 8. Left-Handed Girl: a family’s path to to catharsis. Netflix
- 9. Pee-Wee as Himself: a man hidden in his own invention. HBO Max.
- 10. Sentimental Value: generational healing. In theaters.
- 11. Twinless: smart, funny, satisfying. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango
- 12. No Sleep Till: turbulent weather, turbulent lives. hoopla.
