This is the single longest article I’ve ever written for Alabama Liberal at the book-length of over 70,000 words. It’s also the first time I’ve ever done this movie countdown (which started with Alabama Liberal’s inception in 2011) wherein there’s been over 700 movies, and actually is “all” the movies that came out in a calendar year. It’s perhaps my crowning achievement in the entertainment categories of this website, and a pretty fitting way to celebrate 15 years. My thanks to anyone who reads it…
The Worst Movie of 2025: “Stand Your Ground”…Every year, the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel movies that make up the worst 3 or so on the list are usually more things I find personally offensive than merely being inept (where there’s more competition). But “Ground” is a uniquely awful mixture of both since the filmmaking would have most straight-to-Tubi movies feeling smug. We’re talking about action sequences so poorly staged that basic blocking and continuity don’t appear to have even been attempted. And the performances are uniformly awful, from the charisma-less lead (the Norwegian bodybuilder Daniel Stisen, tripping over a language barrier so that all his consonants sound muffled) to the “America First” villain, played by…another Scandinavian (the unconvincing and miscast Swedish actor Peter Stormare, practically digesting the scenery)?
But even though the villains murder the lead’s pregnant black wife in the opening minutes of the movie (even if you see this horrifying plot catalyst coming a mile away, Hollywood’s abysmal treatment of black/white couples is a depressing pattern of anti-miscegenation) solely because they don’t want a couple like that “in their town,” the movie stops short of saying they’re white supremacists or taking an explicitly political stance…why? Even the premise of “Stand Your Ground” isn’t challenged so much as used as a shabby attempt at world building (he can kill the bad guys who have come to murder him inside his house, but not on the lawn–huh?). A low-budget thriller centered around “Stand Your Ground” laws can absolutely be a great a movie as “The Perfect Neighbor” did it this year, but “Ground” is more like the umpteenth “John Wick” knockoff trying to shoehorn a “relevant” hot button issue into a thriller that has no real interest in it. Grade: F
Dishonorable Mention Worst Movie of the Year: “I Know What You Did Last Summer”…The worst mainstream movie of 2025, and a scathing example of everything Hollywood does wrong: a cynical cash grab reboot of a movie that sort-of sucked to begin with that fully wastes some of the most promising young talent around (poor Chase Sui Wonders); wedging in unnecessary things for joyless fan service as if ticking off boxes (like the Sarah Michelle Gellar dream sequence from a character who never met her, and probably wouldn’t have fantasized a picture she saw once aging); and even going out of its way to change legacy characters from the original into something unrecognizable for a “twist” (which I saw coming about an hour before it was actually revealed) that makes no sense even after the character gives their paradoxical motivations. The latter of those begs the question “Why make a legacy reboot of a movie you don’t actually respect the legacy of?” By forcing me into the horrible position of having to defend crappy characters from a movie I never liked to begin with, this movie fully earns its straight “F” rating. Grade: F
726. “Panda Bear in Africa”…Technically, this was made by European companies, but it essentially functions as propaganda for Chinese colonialism in Africa. The sinister message is that a villainously xenophobic and tribalistic “lion” (that would be Africans that don’t want to be under China’s boots) needs to be deposed and all the African animals listen to the good-natured panda bear so there can be peace…with the hyenas? Yikes. But even beyond that, the animation “style” looks like A.I. slop, and the basic story is something that would put most kids to sleep. Insidiously-messaged films for young kids deserve a special place in film hell. Grade: F …Speaking of movies with bad motives…
725. “Animal.”…A propaganda “documentary” for the carnivore diet wherein almost all the male doctors interviewed look like they take steroids and would be big fans of Pete Hegseth or RFK Jr. The film looks like it was filmed in Joe Rogan’s studio (or Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast basement), doesn’t present even token opposition to its wildest claims, and makes some of the dumbest medical assertions I’ve heard in scene after scene: vegetables are bad for you, butter is good for you, people don’t eat enough red meat in a country that eats far too much of it, plants might literally be trying to kill you, etc. The presentation-style and content become almost lobotomy-level repetitive after nearly 90 minutes of hearing the same spiel. Grade: F
724. “Hippo’s Revenge”…I really and truly believed “Lone Star Shark” would be the worst creature feature I would watch in 2025, but “Hippo’s Revenge” might be fractionally “worse” by attempting to be better. There’s no indication at all that the makers of “Hippo” realize the movie they’re making sucks, and the material is played almost jaw-droppingly straight. You wouldn’t think a hippo the size of a car could do things like hide in a mid-sized bush waiting to attack and/or move so quickly bullets apparently can’t catch up with it. Yet “Hippo’s Revenge” invents its own scientific laws uniquely deployed in the worst of bad movies, wherein physics don’t really apply. Worse, long stretches of this movie are quite slow, making me nostalgic for “Long Star Shark 2” wherein our heroine is in danger almost from start to finish. Few movies can be both absurd and dull, making “Hippo” worthy of its placement in the “bottom 5” of 2025–no small feat in a countdown of over 700 movies, which means 99% of films released last year were better. If you can make it to “Hippo”‘s jump scare ending, you might wonder how in the hell the percentage isn’t “100,” and how any managed to be worse. Grade: F
722. (tie)“Sharks in Prague”/”Sharks in Da Hood”…You might think it’s not possible for a shark film to be worse than “Lone Star Shark,” and in almost any other year, you’d be right. However, “Sharks in Prague” is the rare shark movie that feels like the sharks are beside the point (at least the shark and inherent danger of the scenario is shown prominently in “Lone Star”) and decides to bore us to tears in a way I’ve never had a shark movie actually do before.
Meanwhile, “Sharks in Da Hood” may be deliberately trying to be lousy, but is actually worse than the “parody” it’s pretending to be since a good hunk of the movie takes place on laptops with only minimal appearances by the menacing sharks. The CoVid-era production “limitations” feel more like an excuse for a movie that was going to suck no matter what, and they decided to cheap out even more egregiously. Grade: F+
721. “Dream Story”…Has anyone ever wanted to see an adaptation of the same source material as “Eyes Wide Shut” with terrible technical aspects, lousy pacing, unintentionally funny acting, and general clumsiness from start to finish? Nobody? Well, if the appetite is ever out there, this thing exists. Grade: F+
719. (tie) “Lone Star Shark 1″/”Lone Star Shark 3”…It’s an anti-skill to make shark movies that are both awful, but not even remotely enjoyable in even a cheesy, violent, “so bad it’s great” way. Sadly, there were many bad movies about sharks in 2025, but none of them could take this dismal series’s crown as “worst shark movie of 2025.” This series was made specifically to go “straight to Xumo Play” (I guess the scripts weren’t good enough for Tubi or couldn’t meet the high standards of Pluto TV either), and each movie is probably not even a full hour if you subtract closing credits and the bloated opening credits that seem specifically designed to make the movies long enough to be considered feature-length. The second movie is a bit better (you’ll see it higher up on this list), but the first movie is simply watching an awful couple squabble for an hour as a plastic shark stalks them around a lake, and scheming corporate villains plot to kill them from their nondescript office. The third movie–and hopeful series closer–unfavorably recasts the more memorable actress from the second movie and teams her up with the lead of the first movie (confused yet?) so they can bring down the mysterious, evil company that has a “virtual shark” (controlled by high-paying “hunters”) kill its victims. “Shark” also makes the inexplicable decision to intercut incredibly cheap CGI-footage of a separate shark–that looks like scrapped footage from a different movie they were able to buy on the cheap–with its rubber shark. Rarely has an hour-length movie felt like such a long watch. Grade: D-
718. “Borderline”…The more movies I watch (and it’s countless thousands at this point), the more I’ve begun to loathe ugly and dumb movies pretending to be clever. “Borderline” is just such a film, as it takes place in a “black comedy” nightmare world where Eric Dane plays one of the most inept bodyguards in the history of movies, and there are multiple scenes wherein several of the sane, non-homicidal characters could easily dispatch a trio of insane murderers, but decide not to for…reasons? “Borderline” would make no sense as a horror movie playing it straight, so it adds an arc “humor” element just to paper over its more absurd sections. It’s all a very long 90 minutes, and if Jack Nicholson’s son Ray (once again slumming it in the Roger Corman-type roles Jack had to take on during his very early career but wouldn’t be caught dead in after achieving a breakthrough) is smart, he won’t take on anymore “gleaming psycho” roles for a while after playing similar parts in “Novocaine,” “I Love You Forever,” and here during 2025 alone. Grade: D-
717. “Mahavatar Narsimha”…The only 2025 animated movie that gives “Panda Bear in Africa” a run for its money at the absolute bottom of the barrel. It’s not just that it’s lifeless Hindu propaganda (there are animated movies like “David” or “King of Kings” that are Christian propaganda so this merely feels like fair play) scrubbed of any deeper nuances, but this movie also uses obvious A.I. animation that looks only a half-step above the slop a 14 year old could make completely on their own and without much talent, effort, or basic film knowledge. Watching this feels like a glimpse into the eery future of uncanny-valley-inducing “content” that slowly starts to feel unexplainably sickening the longer it goes on. Grade: D-
716. “Ebony & Ivory”…If I lived to be 150, I wouldn’t want to spend 90 minutes watching this again; for a movie that repeats every joke it tells several times, once is enough, and probably more than enough. Like one of the worst Adult Swim shows you’ve ever seen, this comedy would like to be deadpan and absurdist as it spoofs a pot-smoking 80’s meeting between Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder in Scotland, but the tone never wavers from repetitive, one-dimensional “arc”-ness. This feels like a 6 minute long video sketch stretched (and stretched some more) into a feature length movie. Grade: D-
715. “Lake Jessup: Bonecrusher’s Revenge”…I’m a fan of alligator movies, but for every good one like “Crawl,” there seems to be about five crappy ones like “Lake Jessup.” You expect a certain degree of amateurish-ness from straight-to-Tubi creature features, but last year’s “Meth Gator” at least understood the assignment. By contrast, “Jessup” front-loads most of its thrills, and gives us surprisingly few kills in the last two-thirds of the movie, complete with a laughably anti-climactic “final showdown” in the swamp that feels like the movie ran out of money–yet still had the budget for an unnecessary additional ten minutes of exposition. What’s the rest all about? Very repetitive scenes of the hero brooding, and grimacing, and saying his old boss is a horrible person while taking numerous detours from gator hunting to do other stuff. I’ve seen professional quality gator films, and low-budget howlers, but I’ve rarely seen one that I thought was boring. This is the exception. Grade: D-
714. “War of the Worlds”…Although I’m delighted to see any positive portrayals of black/white couples (here it’s Ice Cube’s daughter and her partner), I do wish this one had been a better vehicle than “War of the Worlds”-Zoom-call version. “War” starts out lousy, and then gradually gets worse as the back-half becomes a prolonged Amazon commercial–just as I’m sure HG Wells did not intend. Grade: D-
713. “The Electric State”…Making awful movies isn’t rare (as you can see from the bottom of this list), but people get genuinely offended when you spend 300 million dollars to make an awful movie in a Hollywood-era where budgetary constraints are one of the reasons better mid-budget movies are near-impossible to get made. That may feel a bit unfair to heap all of that scorn on “Electric” since Netflix would’ve probably just spent the “savings” to not make it on a couple of Ryan Reynolds/Gal Gadot spy movies or something, but that doesn’t change the fact that “Electric” is lousy from start to finish, and would struggle to justify its existence if it were forced to. Grade: D-
712. “Gunslingers”…Just when you think Nicolas Cage is poised to make a late-career return to the A-list with strong performances in good movies (for just some examples, “Pig” and “Dream Scenario” were some of the very best movies of the years they came out), he turns in an awful performance in an even worse dud. How did the pitch meeting even go to Cage? “Hey Nic, want to play second-fiddle to the white-hot star power of Stephen Dorff and Heather Graham in a ‘Western’ set in Kentucky for tax purposes, and featuring straight-to-Tubi production values, and action scenes that look like they’re trying to get basic continuity wrong?” Andy Samberg once did an iconic impression of Nicolas Cage as an actor who would star in almost any movie (in the impression, his chief requirement was that the set had a “catered lunch”) and pumping out turkeys like this even when he’s surely getting better offers these days almost proves that. Grade: D-
711. “Barron’s Cove”…One of the year’s stupidest movies, unconvincing from early on, and ending in a way that appears to let a budding child psychopath almost completely off the hook. Grade: D-
710. “Bride Hard”…It sucks that the terrific Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s first movie since winning the Academy Award for “The Holdovers” is playing second-fiddle to faded “Pitch Perfect” actresses Rebel Wilson and Anna Camp. Wilson is typically low-effort as she goes through her well-worn schtick (I’m not sure I’ve seen her genuinely connect with another person on-screen in years) with a performance that fully earned its Razzie nomination, and Camp leans too much into familiar mannerisms. Worse, once-respected action director Simon West (who started his career with “Con Air” and seems poised to end with American bombs and Z-rated Chinese “blockbusters”) has fallen hard with filmmaking this sloppy: 15 minutes too long, repetitive scenes that pile up on top of each other disguising itself as an action “plot,” a borderline scary lack of common sense (like a flimsy wind tube somehow used to transport gold instead of just, you know, putting it in a golf cart and carrying it), and an overall feel that nobody involved was trying too hard. There are many forgettable espionage-based action-comedies that come out every year now; somehow, this managed to be the worst of 2025. Grade: D- …And speaking of lousy espionage action clunkers that used Joy Randolph to poor effect…
709. “Shadow Force”…Bloated espionage actioners about “secret agencies” or assassin organizations run amok have become dime-a-dozen over the years (“Heart of Stone,” “Ghosted,” “The Killer’s Game,” “The Killer,” “Canary Black,” “Argylle,” “My Spy,” “The Family Plan,” “Operation Fortune,” “Back in Action”), and the generically-titled “Shadow Force” (I had to look up the title to even remember what this turd is called) has all the sloppy plotting, hokey “comedic” banter, monologuing villains, and poorly choreographed action you’d expect from this usually-awful sub-genre. What makes this all worse than usual is: 1. An all-too-typical anti-miscegenation bent (the white male villain wants Kerry Washington, and that seemingly triggers the entire plot). 2. The director is Joe Carnahan (“Narc,” “Copshop,” “Boss Level,” and the underrated “The Grey”) who has actual talent, but here is turning in his most impersonal and cruddy film ever. 3. These “evils of the deep state” films have never been more ludicrously dated and cornball given what’s actually going on in this country right now. This has not been a relevant take since the Neo-cons left office nearly 20 years ago, and this is the primary reason these films are being made–because they are not even remotely relevant, which is getting almost painful to keep abiding. Grade: D-
708. “Companion”…A combination of horror comedy, hipster noir, and allegorical hetero-pessimism sci-fi, but many of the “twists” are over by the one-third mark (not to mention given away in the trailer), and the rest of what we’re left with is extremely predictable no matter what genre it’s playing in–right down to characters who monologue long enough for them to be killed (several times) rather than just quickly doing the thing that will let them get away with everything. This is a movie with almost no emotional investment that makes the typical miscalculation that an audience wracked with fear about A.I. should just instinctively empathize more with killer robots than any humans on-screen; everything from “Ex Machina” to “Westworld” keeps insisting this is what we should feel instead of more-than-mild revulsion at the idea of programmed terminators being made into compelling leads. Grade: D-
707. “Honey Don’t”…Let’s be honest, and admit that if this weren’t from the fabled “Ethan Coen” (one half of the Coen Brothers), it would be thought-of as one of the most shockingly amateurish movies of 2025. This sequel to “Drive Away Dolls” is randomly plotted, poorly acted in a way that feels like they were deliberately told to go for “bad,” and the bleached-out technical aspects are a step down from what we normally associate with major directors. Since the “Coen Brothers” split up, Joel made the excellent 2021 film “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” but Ethan is grinding out “B-movie” lesbian noirs nobody asked for in an era where there’s simply too much content to spend a rumored-20 million to make knowing crap. Grade: D-
706. “Influencers”…This is a strange series centered around an unrepentant killer and identity thief (Cassandra Naud’s CW makes Tom Ripley look downright cuddly by comparison), but the original movie was more suspenseful, and featured a more credible, slower pace that let you develop actual attachment to its characters. In this garish sequel, everything is louder, bloodier, and dumber (the ending is actually goofy) wherein our non-sociopath heroine Madison (Emily Tennant) makes some of the same mistakes the good characters in these movies repeatedly make like keeping credible evidence of CW’s existence to themselves, not sharing tangible proof she’s connected to fresh victims, or leaving her unattended instead of just killing her. Making one movie like this was more than enough, but stretching it out into a franchise only highlights that CW is a stubbornly one-dimensional character without much depth–ironic, since the series sort-of implies her victims deserve what they’re getting due to perceived shallowness. Grade: D-
705. “Reunion”…Too similar to “Afterparty” in not only subject matter and basic plot, but also in its dismal portrayal of interracial couples: the murder victim is a white man married to an Asian woman, an additional victim is a black woman killed in the act of attempting to seduce a white woman, and don’t even get me started on the anti-miscegenation cluster that comes with who did the killing and why. No thank you to the whole enterprise and Del Rey Howard’s irritating attempts at “comedy.” Grade: D-
704. “Bang”…If the Razzies gave out an award for “best performance in a terrible movie,” I’d recommend Peter Weller’s turn here as (I guess) the “villain,” even though our roided-up titular hero (played by a turgid Jack Kesy) is so lifeless and unlikable, I’d almost say Weller is really the protagonist here. When the title character in your action franchise barely shows up and de facto surrenders the lead role to the guy we’re supposed to be rooting against, you’ve got a problem. All this is before getting to the sub-Tubi production values and a script so awful that it might change some people’s opinions on whether A.I. writers should replace human ones as nefarious machines might’ve already replaced on humans when it comes to creating the Bang character here. Grade: D-
703. “Speed Train”…Hard to imagine a movie could get much worse without trying to be awful. Some people will probably be stumbling around ad-supported-streaming sites, and see this sci-fi rip-off of hyper-violent “out of control” train movies like “Bullet Train” or “Kill” and then maybe think “well, an action movie on a speeding train–I like those, how bad could it be?” 85 long minutes later, they’ll have their answer. To add insult to injury, one of the posters has even been specifically designed to rip off “Blade Runner 2049” (the placement of actors and identical color scheme) as if merely conjuring memories of a good movie might trick people into thinking this is one and/or to fool people into clicking this on accident. Grade: D
702. “The Old Guard 2”…Ugh. Grade: D
701. “Nuked”…Some of my least favorite actors (except for the delightful Tawny Newsome) take turns hysterically yelling at each other during a nuclear scare wherein the end of the world can’t get there fast enough if it means putting this crew out of their misery during their unrealistic and stagey “big dramatic monologues.” Justin Bartha, Maulik Pancholy, Stephen Guarino, and especially Anna Camp all manage to make their voices get to the highest possible register as they shriek at each other so that “Nuked” becomes a good simulation of getting tinnitus after 80 long minutes. Grade: D
700. “Ella McCay”…It gives me no pleasure to admit that this is one of the year’s worst movies, and pretty much proves James L. Brooks has lost his touch (which many of us might’ve feared after his last two movies before this were “Spanglish” and “How Do You Know”). I still have fond memories of seeing “As Good As It Gets” in a movie theater, and “Broadcast News” at home, and was hoping this would finally be a return-to-form for a director who has admittedly made just as many misses as he has hits. “Ella” wastes an ace-cast with stagey characters that would’ve barely worked in an off-broadway play, and particularly strands Emma Mackey into a clunky title character we never really connect with. And the movie’s handling of politics is nearly embarrassing. Grade: D
699. “Swiped”…There have been many of these “true tech business movies” recently, and almost all of them have been more “warts and all” than “Swiped” winds up being (“Superpumped,” “We Crashed,” “Blackberry”). It’s presentation is much closer to aspirational stories like “Flamin’ Hot,” “Tetris,” “Air,” or “Joy,” but that’s a strange stance for the movie to take since it’s not remotely clear what Whitney Wolfe Herd helped make should actually exist. You would think there might be a little bit of a “Frankenstein’s monster” angle towards swiped-based dating that has sucked the life out of traditional online dating sites that worked just fine (in the movie, they pretend sites like match.com were dinosauric when people were using them just fine before swipe-based dating that does not work was fully embraced by these companies to actively prevent people from finding each other). Is there even a remote acknowledgment she replaced something that worked with something designed to be more addictive, profitable, and increase loneliness by keeping you single longer? No, no there isn’t. That winds up being a huge problem with a movie that is already filmed like a commercial (the bright cinematography gave me sun-sickness) and has about the same depth-level of one too. Even small touches like Lily James wearing distracting, artificially-colored contacts feel bizarre since it’s not like 99% of viewers would really know what Herd’s eye color is. Grade: D
698. “The Fabulous Four”…It’s always strange to me when you watch one of these cozy films about four older female friends reconnecting, but they act like they seriously can’t stand each other throughout (like “Let Them All Talk” and especially “Summer Camp”). Do filmmakers not feel this undercuts the connection people want from this type of movie that has no true reason to exist otherwise? Grade: D
697. “Violent Ends”…I have a personal dislike of poorly made Southern crime movies as I particularly hate to see movies of that ilk get almost everything wrong. “Violent” kills its most likable character early on (yet another example of how Hollywood only sees black/white couples as tragic), has a villain that makes little sense, an unbelievably naive hero who seemingly knows very little about his crime family might actually respond to things, sloppy plotting, repetitive “emotional” scenes and beats, etc. All of this pretends to be based on a true story (it isn’t) almost as an effort to undercut its lack of credibility. Grade: D
696. “The Life List”…Thwarted portrayals of black/white couples don’t just exist in dismal crime films, but also crappy Sofia Carson rom-coms (wherein the “other woman obstacle” is heaved to the side after a few scenes early on–a trope you can also witness in the superior “All of You”). If you don’t want to waste your life, skip this completely, or at the very least you can check out “My Oxford Year” if you simply must watch a Carson movie that came out on Netflix in 2025. Grade: D
695. “Merge”…”Merge” has a genuinely cruddy-looking opening few minutes that made me feel I was in for one of the worst movies of the year, which wouldn’t have been surprising for a less-than-75-minute long series of short films tied together as a sci-fi “movie” people can watch for free on YouTube. However, the quality gets a bit better in the actual vignettes tied together to make “Merge,” and it’s not so much offensive as it is “Primer”-level confusing, but with less actual intelligence from start to finish. Grade: D
694. “In the Lost Lands”…The aptly-titled “In the Lost Lands” is so bad it actually hurt my eyes to watch it. That isn’t hyperbole, because the infamously lousy director Paul W. S. Anderson (his initials are required because he should never, never be confused with Paul Thomas Anderson) uses that sub-Zack Snyder CGI-junk food “look.” However, this is much closer to “Sucker Punch” than “300,” creating a grungy, gag-brown color scheme that looks like nearly every scene is smeared in turds before it got to the audience’s eyeballs. When a movie makes you want to watch it blindfolded, it’s hard to find “the bright side” in the script, but that doesn’t exist either, as it slowly churns through derivative tropes from various post-apocalyptic video games like “Fallout” or Anderson’s own “Resident Evil” series. I was especially unimpressed at the stereotypical villainous black female queen married to a white doofus she can’t wait to overthrow, and even helps him along to “the other side.” Yet another tiresome example of Hollywood’s dismal portrayal of black/white couples. Grade: D
693. “Anemone”…A surprising dud wherein Daniel Day-Lewis makes his not-so-triumphant return to acting in order to star in his son’s movie, which probably wouldn’t have been made otherwise, and definitely wouldn’t have gotten a distributor like Focus even if it had. We’re talking straight-to-Tubi theatrics here. The nepo-stunt casting is about the only reason this exists, since it allows Day-Lewis to do various monologues plucked out of the Acting-with-an-A! handbook: abusive dad, sexually abusive foster dad, life as a solider, PTSD as a soldier, tragedy as a soldier, life as a hermit, bitterness at the world and his “good” brother, etc. Sean Benn mostly sits there and watches him. Riveting stuff… Grade: D
692. “Red Sonja”…Pitch: “Hey, it’s ‘Red Sonja’ with the exploitation taken out!” But that all but misses the point. Another example of how doing a “better” version of a cheeseball classic isn’t better, and is often pointless. And the classy Matilda Lutz also feels miscast in the title role. [You wonder what a “Grindhouse”-era Rose McGowan might’ve done instead.] Grade: D
691. “High Rollers”…I wanted to enjoy this movie filmed on the Mississippi coast, but it’s a downgrade from John Travolta’s previous entry “Cash Out,” which itself wasn’t exactly “Ocean’s Eleven” (either version). Many scenes of “Rollers” are so boring, that my mind actively wandered, thinking “Why’d they replace Kristin Davis with Gina Gershon? There were rumors Travolta and Davis had off-screen chemistry, so did something happen there? It’s not like Davis’s career is that busy, so what gives?” When the off-screen intrigue is mild and vague, yet better than anything you’re actually watching, there’s an issue. Grade: D
690. “Love Hurts”…To say Ke Huy Quan (a 55 year old man known for playing dorkier, mostly-non-sexual characters) and Ariana DeBose (a 35 year old lesbian who will seemingly forever give “theater kid” energy) don’t have great chemistry would be wrong, because that would imply they have any chemistry. As somebody who’s a bit sick of the romance-less genre movies of today (and definitely tired of Hollywood’s dismal portrayals of interracial couples), I was fully ready to embrace an action-thriller with a real relationship between the two leads even if it’s not the main point of the movie. [Believe it or not, movies before the 2020’s often featured a romance between the leads, even if it wasn’t explicitly a romance.] Unfortunately, they seem almost afraid to even acknowledge these two characters are supposed to have feelings for each other–repeatedly cutting to a bizarre subplot romance involving two characters who do have a more obvious spark. Wasted opportunity… Grade: D
689. “Brick”…Woof, this German dog of a movie exists for anyone who believes European cinema is automatically more sophisticated than anything Hollywood makes. On the one hand, it’s almost comforting to know Europe can make dumb garbage no different than America, but that won’t necessarily make it easier to watch a painfully nonsensical (and slow) movie where various characters are trapped inside a brick wall that has inexplicably sprang up–a metaphor for their own walled-off defenses and emotional traumas (bark, bark). Worse, it even carries over Hollywood’s tendency to murder off the interracial couples, as a black woman/white male couple comes to a particularly harsh ending. Grade: D
688. “Lone Star Shark 2”…This is the rare D+ rated that readers might think I’m being too soft on, possibly wondering why on Earth I would rank this a bit higher than “Lone Star Shark 1” or “3.” Part of it has to do with casting, as “Part 1” is DOA by having an unlikable couple squabble the entire time, and “Part 3” brings back that surviving lead with the inexplicably recast lead from this one. Kirsten Kendall is the female lead here, and it’s an inarguable upgrade to have a hot woman in a bikini on-screen almost the whole time–like a Z-grade knock-off of “The Shallows.” Kendall’s presence (she seems to understand the assignment perfectly and almost makes it fun) meshes better with the low-budget production values, making it feel like some “Baywatch” or “V.I.P”-type show you might stumble across late at night. Grade: D+
687. “Shark Island”…I promise this list is not 30% awful shark movies, but admittedly they do make up a disproportionate amount of the “C- to F+” part of the list. Grade: D+
686. “Havoc”…”Mindless Violence: The Movie” would be a better title. This movie is so generically faux-gritty, they don’t even specify what American city it’s supposed to be set in (it was actually filmed in Wales). The acclaimed action sequences actually look like cartoons–with whizzing bullets missing all the important characters while ripping bullet catchers to shreds. For much of the movie, Tom Hardy looks a bit confused, often leaving the dramatic heavy lifting to Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker, the enjoyably ass-whooping Michelle Waterson, and a too-brief Narges Rashidi. Grade: D+
685. “My Mother’s Wedding”…It’s almost impossible to stack a drama with this much talent (Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Beecham, Sienna Miller, and Frieda Pinto) but make it boring. This movie “succeeds” by smothering us with a very familiar familial drama formula that doesn’t work at all and should stop being used: almost everything they’re debating or reacting to happened looooong before the first scene and there was apparently no money for flashbacks that are never shown, so that it’s more than a little hard for us to care. Another chief weakness of the script is that its central message is telling the three grown daughters that their “hero” fathers weren’t perfect, and they shouldn’t idolize their mom’s marriage to them. But that would’ve made more sense if the daughters had a failure to commit to any man “not good enough” and needed to get past that. Instead, the movie makes it plain as day the two heterosexual daughters should dump their partners that the film has more fault with than they do. This kind of “clear as mud” messaging shows more thought was put into the occasional animated bits (that grow repetitive as they aren’t full scenes) than the overall script. Grade: D+
684. “King of Kings”…Christian propaganda films are rarely good (there’s a reason they don’t get mistaken for art very often), but when they’re disguised as run-of-the-mill animated kid’s movies? That might be particularly odious. [I would also think Christians themselves might have an issue with it since it treats Jesus as no different than any other stale IP the studios are trying to squeeze a cheap buck out of. Soon, I imagine there will be a “Superhero Jesus” that springs up in some Angel Studios movie.] Worse, the animation here is A.I.-level awful, often looking like things people could design on their own laptops for free. Grade: D+
683. “Hazel’s Heart”…This bizarre Christian kid’s film is about a young girl who he is brutally mocked by her peers, and worked by her dad until it comes time for her to sacrifice herself to keep her younger, healthier, and more favored siblings alive–at which point she finally receives a nod of gratitude from her sourpuss asshole of a father. “Well done, martyr!” the film appears to be saying, as if Hazel’s lame life wasn’t worth much, but her death finally served some purpose. Not a good message for any kid’s film, but not surprising when you see what’s actually being produced in Christian media today. I rank this slightly higher than “King of Kings” because the snow-covered scenery is better to look at than cruddy, Z-rated animation. Grade: D+
682. “Ne Zha 2”…This cruddy animated movie violates both of the cardinal rules of A.I.-generated-looking animated fantasy slop: don’t be longer than 90 minutes, and don’t be PG-13 so that very young kids can kill some time watching you. Grade: D+
681. “The Twits”…In a way, a movie like this is worse than something completely unpromising like “Ne Zha 2” because it stomps all over Roald Dahl’s source material. Like last year’s “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” this crass version of “Twits” takes the original text, quickly wipes its butt with it, and then invents an awful original plot for more than 95% of the movie. Grade: D+
680. “Hostile Takeover”…Michael Jai White is one of those actors that I never see in movies other than “straight to Starz” ones that look like Dave Bautista turned them down. “Takeover” is barely trying (the whole thing almost looks like you’re watching the haphazard rehearsal footage for a movie like this), but there’s a weird “cozy” feeling to it. Not sure an action movie is supposed to feel as snuggly or unchallenging as a Hallmark Channel Christmas-movie, but this one does, and that uniqueness is about the only thing going for it. Many of the movies ranked beneath this one have some sort of “not just bad, but somewhat offensive” quality to them, and “Takeover” doesn’t, so it definitely has that going for it. Grade: D+
679. “Star Trek: Section 31”…The first straight-to-streaming “Star Trek” film and a very good representation of everything that sucks about the version of Paramount Plus version of “Trek.” The production values are cheap-outs (somehow, using scuzzy LED/CGI backdrops looks worse than foam rubber sets from decades past), the commitment to “Trek” values and intellectualism non-existent, the physical sets and costumes look like re-heated SyFy channel shows from the grungy 00’s, and the dialogue, plot, and overall characters written by hired-gun script workers that have no affinity for “Trek” and may not have ever seen it. I’ve liked elements of “Picard” and some of “Strange New Worlds,” but “Section 31” shows how lacking Plus-“Trek” actually is in creating brand new “Trek” characters and situations that don’t have built-in goodwill from previous incarnations. Grade: D+
678. “Ash”…To be honest, if it weren’t for the diminishment of the “Trek” franchise and its prestigious legacy, I might’ve ranked this movie lower than “Section 31” as it’s so derivative and tiresome, I can’t think of a version of it that could’ve been good. The pretentious director (Flying Lotus…yes, really) thinks it’s enough to heavily rip off better movies like “Alien,” 1982’s “The Thing,” “The Last Days of Mars,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” and “Life,” but bathe it in a grungy, purple-hued color scheme (possibly also borrowed from 2000’s “Supernova”) so that it feels just abstract enough that most reviewers didn’t seem to notice. This is an “original” movie I felt like I had already seen, and seen many times, and have even seen done badly many times, with “Ash” being closer to the numerous knock-offs than its original sources of inspiration. This might prove that Hollywood is so desperate for dated-IP that it’s now even cannibalizing its garbage movies. Grade: D+
677. “Hunting Grounds”…A woman on the run from her mob husband stumbles into your typical “living in the woods” ex-soldier psychopath who at first seems like he wants to help her, but is soon proven more dangerous than the men chasing her. Talk about bad luck! As far-fetched as that premise is, it’s nothing compared to the lead character’s strange decision to keep pretending she’s in more danger from her husband’s mob goons (who have no interest in killing her) than the woods-living stranger who seems to get a real thrill out of killing these men in the most violent ways possible. Grade: D+
676. “Mob Cops”…Every other facet of the mafia has been explored in “true story” based crime films (some of it very loosely baed), so why not the dirty cops on their payroll? I would love to see some of this story retold with good actors and a bigger budget, but this telling is amateurish. Much of it feels like those shoddy reenactments you see on “True Crime” documentaries. Grade: D+
675. “London Calling”…One of those shoulder-shrug crime capers where it looks like nobody is trying very hard or sweating plot specifics too hard. [“Another take to fix continuity errors in the action scenes? Nah, the director isn’t calling for too many of those. We got it.”] Rick Hoffman plays a braying LA “crime boss” that is supposed to be funny but will make you wince during most of his scenes, and the bulk of the movie is essentially a mismatched buddy comedy wherein Josh Duhamel’s hitman has to tutor Hoffman’s fairly young son (he’s supposed to be 18, but looks about 12) on killing people. Huh? You wouldn’t think this material would be played for haphazard laughs that take away the inherent tension in tutoring a child to murder people, which could’ve been a chilling exploration of capitalism’s rock bottom–wait, wait, wait, I’m thinking about it harder than anyone involved in “London” did. Although some involved might’ve questioned why an LA-set movie not only has “London” in the title (only the first few minutes of the movie take place there) but filmed its SoCal scenes in South Africa. Grade: D+
674. “Great White Waters”…Criminals forcing divers to look for something valuable in shark-infested waters was a surprisingly prolific sub-genre of shark movie in 2025. This was the worst example of it since this is just barely a real movie, but I had watched this turd not long after seeing the “Lone Star Shark” series, so it might’ve looked better than it otherwise would have in comparison. Grade: D+
673. “Stone Creek Killers”…One of those movies where everyone on-screen is so miserable, it feels contagious. The vast majority of it is a slog (that is occasionally amateurish in staging) before uncorking a twist ending so convoluted and unconvincing it might’ve inspired movie patrons of year’s past to ask for their money back except this kind of thing now goes straight to places like Tubi. Grade: D+
672. “Find Your Friends”…”Party girls vs. desert-dwelling rednecks” is not a bad setup for a movie (here, some urban women looking for a good rave wind up harassed, then targeted by some local yokel men near Joshua Tree), but “Friends” actual plot doesn’t really kick in until the second half. The first half is tedious–mostly we’re watching our quintet of “friends” arguing with each other–and the second half is poorly staged (the entire movie has camerawork designed to make us feel nauseous). None of it feels like writer-director Izabel Pakzad has much more empathy or connection to her main characters than her movie’s villains do, struggling to give them real depth. Grade: D+
671. “The Getaway”…This refers to a Chinese horror movie where three beautiful women are held captive by an insane grandmother so they can produce kids for her three mutant-looking grandsons. It’s a bit unusual to see China doing their own take on exploitation movie hell, and it seemed to me the result was weepier and less mean than these movies are supposed to be. What’s presented here is hard to find thrills or even a shred of enjoyment in. Grade: D+
670. “Spiders on a Plane”…Movies that are supposed to be bad are often no fun, as sincerity and obliviousness are often pre-requisites for “so bad they’re great” howlers that have been made from Ed Wood to “Hippo’s Revenge.” Making a rip-off of “Snakes on a Plane” is a very limited joke that often feels like it would’ve worked better as a 10 minute (or less) short film. Grade: D+
669. “Another Simple Favor”…Unnecessary sequels always suck, but one that is as off-the-charts stupid as this one is practically insulting. There’s no need to make a cash-grab legacy sequel this snide towards its own audience. When the best thing in a movie is Blake Lively, you know it’s in trouble. Grade: D+
668. “The Map that Leads to You”…An American mall-rat’s big European adventure. Madelyn Cline’s leading character will have you longing for the depth of Sydney Sweeney’s early career characters. Grade: D+
667. “Ballerina Assassin”…This is not the Ana De Armas movie about a ballerina-turned-assassin which had a production budget larger than 100-bucks. This is a derivative junk action movie that might be hoping you’ll mistake it for the De Armas film and watch it on accident while thumbing through Tubi. However, lead actress Preet Kaur is an undeniably attractive screen presence. Grade: D+
666. “Seven Veils”…Dull movie that once again proves three things you may already know: 1. artists are obsessed with themselves and will make only movies about the staging of a play or movie if you’ll let them, 2. Hollywood can’t resist any swipe at black/white interracial couples, in particular showing that any white man would prefer a blonde woman (who will naturally be the main character always, of course), and any black wife who thinks otherwise will be made a fool of, 3. And that Amanda Seyfried is a major talent. Now if only her agent could get her the right vehicle for that talent, as that seems to be the recurring problem (you’ll even see it a couple of times on this list). Grade: D+
665. “The Woman in Cabin 10”…Everyone hates this dumb movie because the plot (in particular the final third) requires you to have a lobotomy in order to enjoy it yet is also weirdly predictable–and movies that are both nonsensical and formulaic are definitely not trying too hard. However, the technical aspects are quite good, and I never want to be too hard on a movie that’s this pleasurable to watch (sleek furnishings and the cozy luxury of a large yacht). Grade: D+
664. “G20”...Viola Davis is admittedly cool here, and makes for a compelling action-heroine (I’ve said for years that I’d love to see her in an “Alien” type leading sci-fi action heroine role), but the movie around her is flimsy, dumb, and feels like something we’ve already seen before. Grade: D+
663. “Wildcat”…2024’s movie called “Wildcat” was an underrated Flannery O’Connor biopic that wound up one of the year’s best. 2025’s movie called “Wildcat” is a typically dumb Kate Beckinsale actioner that finishes with one of the stupidest climaxes of the year, stranding otherwise good actors like Charles Dance and Alice Krige in an unconvincing restaurant standoff with Beckinsale that looks like they shot it specifically for Tubi. Grade: D+
662. “Tin Soldier”…It’s a special kind-of incompetence to take a movie with two of the greatest actors alive (Robert DeNiro and Jamie Foxx) and make it this bad. Foxx plays the least-likely military cult leader ever committed to film (he’s been styled more as a blowhard prosperity preacher, and his speeches are a mix of that along with a “alpha” macho podcaster from the Manosphere), and lead actor Scott Eastwood looks confused and outclassed from start-to-finish. Grade: D+
661. “Muzzle 2”…I felt confused by multiple parts of this movie wherein Aaron Eckhart and his dog do battle with a mysterious cartel leader who has near-supernatural sway over other people. The ending is depressingly gritty and “realistic” in a way the previous movie has not been, pretty clearly reversing the formula that actually works for a movie like this: plausible action, a plot that somehow connects to reality (a sadistic, dark-magic-worshipping cartel boss targeting drug dogs ain’t it), and then an ending where everything miraculously works out. Grade: D+
660. “Bad Men Must Bleed”…There were many crappy, low-budget Westerns released in 2025, which is somewhat surprising because I would’ve thought it would be a relatively-expensive period genre to portray. But films like “Bad Men” don’t really let that stop them since they don’t spend more than $100 to get the period accurate anyway. The plot meanders about in that lazy straight-to-streaming-Western way, movies like this don’t “end” so much as just quietly find a place to give up and stop showing us things. Grade: D+
659. “Day of Reckoning”…Unlike “Bad Men,” this is a Neo-Western (so they can spend even less money by not having to capture a historical time period), and one of the biggest “stars” is Billy Zane. If you just said “uh oh,” you’d be right, and I especially didn’t believe the actions of many of the characters–specifically our main anti-heroine’s sudden (and rather dumb) change of heart towards the end. Grade: D+
658. “Drop”…An interesting premise gets dumber as it keeps going before eventually winding up at a “full lobotomy required to enjoy this” ending. Grade: D+
657. “The Stringer”…I know, I know, I’m supposed to be riveted by this stale documentary trying to pinpoint who exactly took a famous photo from the Vietnam War (one of about 1,000), but I found this almost insufferably dull. To say the plot is much more “low stakes” than the filmmakers seem to realize would be an understatement (as Trumpolini barrels towards war with Iran, Venezuela, and even Minnesota, the endless hang-wringing about Vietnam may not carry the cultural weight with people under 60 that it once did), but the repetitive nature of most scenes (it feels like certain points are made 5 or 6 times), and suffocatingly somber execution doesn’t help much either. This should’ve been a 20-minute long documentary short–probably released for free on YouTube–instead of stretching this out as long as the filmmakers do. Grade: D+
656. “Hurry Up Tomorrow”…When you look at Razzie nominees for “Worst Picture” throughout the years, most of them are bad ideas with horrible execution (like a zoom-based “War of the Worlds” remake that’s a not-so-stealth Amazon commercial). “Tomorrow” is more frustrating than that because there may very well be elements of a good movie buried somewhere under the corpse of the picture we get. Director Trey Edward Shults has obvious talent to burn (his last movie “Waves” is an underrated masterpiece) and committed supporting actress Jenna Ortega is certainly game for whatever (she tries). But there’s not much in the way of script here, forcing the movie to coast by on some fine technical aspects (the movie is better-lit and shot than any of the other worst movies of the year, I’ll say that). But the lead character is deadly dull and hard to relate to, with The Weekend playing a version of himself that is so unlikable, you almost wonder if he’s trying to alienate his own fans. Grade: D+
655. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”…For me, most of the blame for why this movie doesn’t work should be squarely placed on writer-director Scott Cooper’s dreary shoulders as the man has rarely met a genre he couldn’t drain the life out of (“Out of the Furnace,” “Hostiles,” “Pale Blue Eye” were all heavy on the heavy). In “Deliver,” there’s something naggingly abstract and slow about this deep dive into Bruce Springsteen’s depressed mental state during his rise to stardom and recording of his uncompromising “Nebraska” album. The way his relationship with his “complicated” father is presented is a little bit distant–almost like they’re afraid to delve too deep into even though it haunts most of the scenes–and the pace drags something awful during the actual nuts-and-bolts creative process of Bruce making music.
At times you might be wondering “Are they trying to make the most boring movie ever made about a major rock star? Bruce looks about as lively as the ‘Before anti-depressants’ guy in a Prozac commercial.” I watched this movie and “Hurry Up Tomorrow” very close together so that I wondered if it’s a comment on living in the bleakness that is 2025 that even rock stars don’t appear to be having any fun. And even though Jeremy Strong could probably make reading the phone book crackle with authenticity, I’m afraid Jeremy Allen White isn’t very good here. I suspect White would like to be the kind-of actor that Edward Norton or Strong are, but his “seriousness” doesn’t have their cerebral sharpness and electric tension, often coming across as a bit confused–no matter the role. Grade: C-
654. “The Buildout”…Speaking of “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” this movie could be retitled “Lost in the Desert: The Movie” as we watch our two lead characters stumble about in the desert waiting on something to happen to them. The audience certainly knows the feeling as the mysterious cult one of the leads is about to join is only talked about rather than viewed, and the “mysterious” terrors the movie’s description talks about are only hinted at. “Found footage” cheap-o movies can only use their “ambiguity” and inherent amateurish-ness to disguise a lack of budget up to a point, but “The Blair Witch Project” still managed to scare the hell out of us by showing a lot more than “Buildout” has any interest in doing. Grade: C-
653. “You’re Cordially Invited”…A talented cast still made me wish they were doing something else with their time instead. Grade: C-
652. “High Ground”…Sub-Taylor Sheridan dynamics abound in this shoddy, cheap Neo-Western that packs in every cliche you’d expect. Grade: C-
651. “Shelby Oaks”…Are people not aggressively tired of movies like this? Well, I am anyway, but I’m starting to think horror fans will watch literally anything (which you’ll see represented in the next several slots on this list)…Grade: C-
650. “Grafted”…Unpleasant watch from start to finish that manages to combine all of my least favorite horror sub-genres: body horror, racial trauma horror, identity horror, horror where young women get picked off one-by-one, and braindead horror where characters do stupid things almost reflexively (here, a young woman literally decided to hide from a slasher in a confined space underwater). I couldn’t wait for this to be over. Grade: C-
649. “Until Dawn”…Similar to “Grafted,” this was a world I was grateful to escape the second it was over. Time-loop movies have started to overlap with horror so frequently (there were no less than 5 examples of the crossover in 2025 alone) that it feels like the audience is the one actually caught in a never-ending loop. The same way the best action movies are never just about bullets flying, there really should be more to a horror movie than watching beautiful women get slaughtered over and over. Grade: C-
648. “Black Phone 2”…An unnecessary horror sequel that comes across as more goofy than anything as the “beyond the grave” villain lumbers through the motions of terror. Some of the grainy nightmare sequences work early on, but it begins to feel overused by the end of this too-long slog. Grade: C-
647. “Home”…Nursing homes are inherently scary places for all involved so horror movies set in them (complete with the typical nefarious staff, although it’s great to see John Glover back on the scene and having a blast) haven’t been extremely rare. To say this is derivative would be an understatement, and it doesn’t totally help that Pete Davidson may not be cut out for leading man-hood. Grade: C-
646. “Vicious”…Similar to “Home,” this has a familiar horror set-up, and you might know fairly soon you’re not in for the freshest take just by the title (“Vicious” means nothing). Unlike “Home,” this is anchored by a convincing lead performance (Dakota Fanning, adding believability to the scenario). Grade: C-
645. “A Breed Apart”…On this list, you will see about a dozen crappy killer shark movies (and two good ones). So this crappy killer dog movie just might feel fresh by comparison. However, Sharks (the capitalization is deserved) have earned their reign as the preeminent killer creature with a solid half-century of scaring the hell out of us, and “Breed Apart”‘s goofy sloppiness proves killer dogs have some serious ground to make up. Grade: C-
644. “Fear Below”…Several movies had the same basic plot of criminals forcing divers to look for something valuable in shark-infested waters, and this manages to be a little bit better than the awful “Great White Waters” with a couple of decent performances and a period setting. But still not a good movie by any stretch, and the main hooligan villain gets tiresome long before the credits roll. Grade: C-
643. “Into the Deep”…Jon Seda chews up the scenery more than any shark ever could as yet another hood forcing divers to look for something valuable where sharks are. This is a bit better than “Fear” only if you’re looking to see Richard Dreyfuss make a return to shark movies. Grade: C-
642. “The Bayou”…Gator movies are gaining on sharks as the go-to-creature for straight-to-ad-supporting-stream thrills. I’m okay with that since they’re a bit more unusual. Here, various one-dimensional characters get the chomp, and you long for the days of an “artful” or at least well-made piece of trash like “Crawl.” Grade: C-
641. “Hot Springs Shark Attack”…Is making a deliberately awful shark movie radically different from making an unintentionally bad one like about 10 of them on this list? Not really; the “Sharknado” trend is played out, and most shark movies are low-grade enough to have unintentional comedy in them funnier than trying for cringe-worthy-scenes. It turns out trying to suck is a tactic of diminishing returns, and never as good as an earnest Z-grade movie. Grade: C-
640. “The Man in the White Van”…What a strange movie, as an unusually long amount of it is devoted to showing the years that the titular serial killer stalked our heroine before he finally made his fatal move (and how clueless almost anyone around her was to this pattern). The bloated length and years-long timeline somewhat dilutes the suspense even as we see him murdering quite a few women during the years he’s following our “final girl” around, which only raises more questions than it answers. Grade: C-
639. “David”…In terms of Christian propaganda aimed squarely at kids, “David” is definitely better than “King of Kings,” and at least features animation that doesn’t look like the sloppiest of A.I. in a way that inadvertently gave me the creeps while watching “Kings.” However, it’s no “Prince of Egypt,” failing to capture richer, darker, more dramatic themes in its anodyne quest to give us a squeaky Biblical tale and bland songs brimming with confidence and certainly–which is also a miss from a dramatic perspective. Religious movies need a certain level of doubt and shadow to have layers, and too many of them are practically allergic to that. Grade: C-
638. “The Fog of War”…”What happened to John Cusack?” Doubtlessly, this wasn’t the question the makers of this basic, somewhat-pedestrian WWII espionage story wanted me to be asking during the entirety of “Fog”‘s runtime; yet, it was about the only thing going through my mind. I supposed the actual movie is about Nazis or something; much like the filmmakers, I sort-of lost the plot by the end of it as scenes glazed over my eyeballs without fully being absorbed. Grade: C-
637. “The Omro Heist”…I love heist movies, but even those badly jonesing for a “Heat”-style robbery movie (as I was when stumbling across this on Tubi) might struggle to finish this film. Grade: C-
636. “Trouble Man”…A better movie than “Hostile Takeover” shouldn’t be the standard, but this is one if that’s all that matters to you. Michael Jai White is a relaxed screen presence here (and has a good buddy-chemistry with Method Man, along with a couple of funny moments with a “where has he been?” Orlando Jones), but some of the CGI is painfully bad, and there’s a lot of cheesy machismo in the “come hither” scenes with White’s love interest Gina White. Grade: C-
635. “Where the Wind Blows”…For those who have never seen a Western romance (two genres that are often paired up with more action or epic historical sweep than this) this film exists. It’s pretty dull though, even if it’s great to see Michelle Herd working in literally anything. Grade: C-
634. “Regretting You”…Seems designed to make you realize “It Ends With Us” might’ve been a better movie than you realized. Here, a likable cast goes through the motions with a soggy story, and execution that limps from one scene to the next almost as if the creators are unsure they want to continue. Grade: C-
633. “Afterburn”…A likable cast is largely wasted in this run-of-the-mill dystopian tale. There are a couple of scenes between Dave Bautista and Samuel L. Jackson that could almost trick you into thinking you’re watching an average action movie instead of a below average one. Grade: C-
632. “Pets”…I found Bryce Dallas Howard’s 2019 movie “Dads” to be blandly toothless and not particularly illuminating on what being a dad is actually like. “Pets” is more of the same, but worse as we’re treated to a series of pet owners (mostly dogs and cats) talking about their pets in the most vanilla way possible. The movie isn’t even 90 minutes, but feels longer than that. Grade: C- …And speaking of actress-directors that might be better off in front of the camera…
631. “Wish You Were Here”…A disappointing directorial debut for Julia Stiles that follows the tragic young adult romance template (I don’t think Gen-Z has any interest in “happily ever after,” performing their romances either fatally romanticized or eventually traumatic), but Stiles is able to at least round up a real cast–no small thing for a movie I watched on the ad-littered streaming service Xumo Play–that includes Jennifer Grey, Kelsey Grammar, and lead Isabelle Fuhrman, capably striking up real chemistry with two different suitors. Grade: C-
630. “Run”…Uwe Boll is widely thought of as the worst director still active. If you know his work well, you might already be grimacing at the thought of him tackling an issue like refugees immigrating to Europe, a sensitive subject that is surely outside of his ham-fisted wheelhouse. In “Run,” Boll maintains his unique “skill” at getting career-worst performances out of actors (Amanda Plummer must’ve just been grateful for a job, and Ulrich Thomsen is delivering dialogue so awful, he must’ve thought “I can’t believe I have to say this shit” after each take). That being said, the technical aspects of this movie aren’t nearly as bad as most of Boll’s films, and I guess you could make a case that it’s good he’s at least attempting more serious subject matter. [This same material could’ve been a “Traffic” for the 2020’s in a different directors hands.] Grade: C-
629. “The Unbreakable Boy”…Christian film that winds up being a dreary slog, as most of them inadvertently are with their messages of telling characters to settle. There wasn’t one scene where I felt connected to the romance between Meghann Fahy and Zachary Levi. Grade: C-
628. “Stone Cold Fox”…It’s always a relief to see underrated (and under-employed) actors like Krysten Ritter–who can steal almost any scene she’s in, sometimes without saying a word–and Kiefer Sutherland getting work, but I do wish it was in something better than this. “Stone” feels like they’re throwing disparate elements at the wall like needless voiceovers that are rarely as funny as they’re meant to be, random characters that keep popping up who would’ve felt like Tarantino-knockoffs 20 years ago (the lead just so happens to get run over by a soldier that wants to help her, complete with an action-movie obsessed brother), and a terrible character “twist” that feels unnecessarily teleported in from a completely different movie. That last one is another example of how the all-over-the-place tone includes so much sloppily-plotted “comedy” that huge chunks of this movie feel like the actors are just hanging out and/or riffing while the next scene is being written off-screen. Grade: C-
627. “The Man in My Basement”…”Basement” is falsely advertised as a psychological thriller, but I guess there isn’t really an official “dud drama” category of movies. After an intriguing start that could’ve gone anywhere, it’s soon revealed that Willem Dafoe’s mysterious and wealthy stranger really just wants to rent Corey Hawkins’s basement so he can be randomly imprisoned there. This is supposedly to alleviate a form of guilt, but then why is Dafoe acting so precise and quietly ominous? This exacting man doesn’t seem like he’s feeling particularly out-of-sorts, and this is even more obvious when compared to Hawkins’s confused, blinkered hero. For most of the movie, I was convinced the entire thing was a ruse Dafoe had cooked up so he could take Hawkins’s house and the various valuable artifacts lying haphazardly around it (it’s mentioned Dafoe does this for a living), and found it beyond confusing when Dafoe’s profession seems to have no connection to the things of historical value in Hawkins’s house. A person volunteering to be a prisoner (and paying for the privilege) might sound absurd…until you realize that some moviegoers paid money to watch this, wherein the true twist is revealed. Grade: C-
626. “Kill the Jockey”…Gender-bending protagonists and surreal-yet-stiff archness are hardly groundbreaking in films from Spain, where too many films try to put David Lynch into a Pedro Almodovar filter (deadpan actors dryly reciting their lines but in an environment that’s vibrantly colorful). “Jockey” almost feels like ChatGPT was asked to come up with its own version of a Spanish indie. Grade: C-
625. “Motel Destino”…Speaking of “copy and paste” foreign films critics were destined (not bad, not bad) to rubber-stamp no matter what the content was, we have “Destino,” a Brazilian noir that takes very familiar elements (it’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice” without wanting to pay to be called a remake, but the basic plot is the same minus the moral nuance, a great lead actor, or narrative tension) and shoves them into a gaudy color palette and a runtime that is about a half-hour too long. Grade: C-
624. “La Grazia”…Many critics have called this “an unusually restrained effort from Paolo Sorrentino” but what that really means is that “Grazia” is dull, slow, and a half-hour too long. When you take away Sorrentino’s aggressive pop sensibilities, startling bursts of loud music, and overt sexuality, the leftover result is a suffocating look at a boring older man paralyzed with inertia (he cares more about a 40-year-old affair than the actual job of being Prime Minister) and handcuffed to yesterday’s values which “Grazia” insists are actually a virtue. [Sorrentino may be the only person alive who still believes the Catholic Church is capable of picking a black Pope.] Ignore the positive reviews, because when this movie is over, most viewers will be grateful. Grade: C-
623. “The Bunker”…Low-budget junk with a traitor-“twist” that seems painfully obvious. This feels only marginally better than Amazon’s “War of the Worlds” (the other alien invasion movie shot mostly on Zoom) but only because it avoids obvious product placement which shouldn’t really be the bar. Grade: C-
622. “Please Don’t Feed the Children”…If you’re wondering why good actors like Michelle Dockery and Giancarlo Esposito would agree to be in a dime-a-dozen, straight-to-Tubi horror movie, that’s because this is directed by Steven Spielberg’s daughter Destry Spielberg. Unfortunately for “Please,” Destry doesn’t appear to have her father’s innate talent (Steven’s equally low-budget first movie “Duel” is still a good watch more than 50 years later). The plot “twist” here (the title hints at it in a way that’s more clever than anything in the movie) could’ve been better if the execution of it was scarier. Grade: C-
621. “Bone Lake”…Random, playful psychos decide to terrorize a couple at a shared rental house. It takes our main characters way too long to catch on to what’s happening (similar to last year’s equally overrated horror film “Speak No Evil”), and this is one of those “clever” horror movies that’s always a step or two behind where the audience is. Grade: C-
620. “The Testament of Anne Lee”…This is the kind-of movie you either go for completely or not at all; like the “Oscar snub” talk of Amanda Seyfried might overshadow the fact that she wasn’t particularly close for a movie many people don’t like, and a performance that can sometimes feel passionate, but one-note. For me, Amanda Seyfried gives it her all and director Mona Fastvold is committed to the period, but I nodded off a couple of times trying to watch this, found the atonal hymn-singing grating after the 10th time, and felt relieved when it was over. You might also question why this movie views a sexually-repressed religious cult with such a sympathetic lens, almost completely turning off a critical eye towards Anne’s obvious religious quackery. There’s barely even a knowing wink in the direction of “she just didn’t like sex,” rather than taking her “Religious visions” pretty seriously. Grade: C-
619. “Bring Her Back”…Most critics loved this dreary, trauma-based horror film more than I did. Sally Hawkins is insidiously slippery as the foster mom from hell (although the way she messes with the older teen boy in her care makes little sense given what she’s trying to do and not being a run-of-the-mill psycho), but this was a world I was grateful to escape once it was over. It doesn’t so much have a resolution as it just gives up in a pit of despair. Exciting? Grade: C-
618. “Keeper”…Say what now? “Bring Her Back”‘s Philippou brothers are similar to Osgood Perkins in that most critics enjoy their movies more than I do, and the actual experience of sitting through one is more a confusing, dreary jumble than anything cathartic like a genuinely great horror movie might deliver. Grade: C-
617. “I’m Beginning to See the Light”…Not a fan of anti-miscegenation leaning movies wherein an interracial couple meets a tragic fate (here, Jack Huston’s Asian wife Jamie Chung and their daughter are killed almost immediately) and the hero possibly moves on with a same-race woman, who herself has to reject her own interracial paramour in Brandon T. Jackson’s oddly inconsistent character. If the ending of the movie is indeed a “twist,” (it’s a bit vague) then it makes even less sense since a man essentially spends his final moments daydreaming about the life he would’ve had post-family. Not many movies make me say “yuck” and “huh?” at the same time. Grade: C-
616. “The Photographers”…Whenever you’re dealing with characters that are supposed to be stupid, it’s important that 1. The characters are believably stupid rather than obvious caricatures. 2. The actors don’t telegraph to us that they are “in on” the joke. “Dumb and Dumber” and the comedy of Danny McBride have excelled at these stipulations in a way that the Please Don’t Destroy comedy team often does not, wherein we’re always pretty aware that a trio of NYU nerds are pretending to be dumb. Similarly, the hipster-moron main characters in “Photographers” always feel like they’re playing a part, and it grows very tiresome by the end of this barely-professional movie. Grade: C-
615. “Invention”…Other critics went gaga for this movie because it’s very dull and has no formal narrative; “a film that almost no one but the creators can make it through? Terrific” they seem to say for every experimental narrative out there as if they’re all equally good. But “Invention” is scene after scene of Callie Hernandez’s lifeless main character listening to and/or giving bored monologues, as if a group of friends got stoned, recorded the “down the rabbit hole” ramblings and decided to faithfully recreate everything they said into a movie as if hidden within the pot-smoke-pickled brain was the key to…something. Even when “Invention” takes a vague stab at a conspiracy plot, it declines to really pursue it as if “plot effort” should be avoided at all costs. [Although every plot summary I’ve seen for the movie misleading mentions the conspiracy thriller-angle, so they didn’t seem to mind using such “artistically degrading” things as plot to get people to watch this.] Grade: C-
614. “Being Eddie”…A surprising snooze of a documentary; Eddie Murphy may have once been one of the most electric entertainers alive, but you wouldn’t know it from this safe look at a soft-spoken older actor really enjoying his creature comforts like a convertible living room in his LA mansion, and having almost every male comic alive hype him up every few minutes (Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Tracy Morgan, and a few others say things that are almost absurdly puffed-up, like Rock’s assertion that Lorne Michaels should’ve retired after getting Murphy to guest host “SNL” in 2019 to go out on a career high). Murphy has already had previous documentaries made about him, and the problem is that the movie you really want to see about the ultra-guarded Murphy is one he would never participate in. I’d love to see something “unauthorized” that talks about the transexual prostitute that almost ended his career (he refused to do interviews for nearly a decade after that happened), his divorce from the mother of half his children Nicole Murphy (she is not even mentioned by name in “Being Eddie”), or his wild relationship with Mel B and where things stand with the kid he never wanted (Murphy mentions his “10 kids” as the ultimate blessing, leaning into an image of a Diet Coke-drinking dad who barely leaves the house, but it’s glossed over that he wasn’t always on speaking terms with all of those kids, and three of them were unplanned with women he was never married to). It’s kind-of funny that his brother Charlie Murphy has told some entertaining Eddie stories before (like the infamous Rick James sketch on “The Chappelle Show”), but Murphy himself has tried so hard to project an image of a boring dad who drinks Diet Coke and barely leaves the house. It doesn’t totally feel honest (again, the documentary leaves much of Eddie’s private life on the cutting room floor), and it definitely doesn’t feel electric. Grade: C-
613. “The Trouble with Jessica”…The most interesting character dies in the first ten minutes, which thoroughly robs Indira Varma of the showcase she is long overdue to get. The rest of the movie is like a prestigious, dark-comedy take on a sitcom-adjacent type plot (or maybe a minor play), but the central premise feels more than a bit far-fetched (I definitely don’t think the entire plot of moving a dead celebrity would be so easy in a city with more cameras than anywhere else on Earth, especially considering her death will surely be investigated). It also doesn’t help that Shirley Henderson’s Sarah makes little sense from beginning to end, her mercurial nature seeming to be more based in what the plot needs than anything approaching consistency. Grade: C-
612. “Long Shadows”…A more romantic Western than many of the bloodier or more cynical ones ranked lower on the list (except for the lifeless straight romance that is “Where the Wind Blows”). Not saying that’s necessarily a good thing, but it does mean the material here has more of that nostalgic sincerity some fans desperate enough to watch a low-budget Western in 2025 might be looking for. Plus, no movie with Jacqueline Bisset is all bad. Grade: C-
611. “California King”…To fully understand my negative review of “Caught Stealing” below, you might have to watch a movie like this one first to know just how many dime-a-dozen crime movies get made every year. “California” has a couple of laughs (that it’s a more straightforward comedy helps excuse its complete lack of realism into the criminal world), but not nearly enough to justify its existence. Grade: C-
610. “Caught Stealing”…Most critics enjoyed this throwaway crime caper more than I did, but this is the worst film Darren Aronofsky has ever made. [Maybe it being the most conventional is also why it’s being a bit overrated by critics?] Even if you take away the predictable “let’s kill the black girlfriend of the white lead character” trope (and we shouldn’t discard it, as almost the second I saw them kiss, I knew Zoe Kravitz was a goner) you’re still stuck with a sub-Tarantino crime caper that felt like one of the many knockoffs they just cranked out in the 90’s/early-00’s. That may be fitting given the movie’s late-90’s setting, but that doesn’t make it any better than those dime-a-dozen movies; it’s inexplicable that a filmmaker as inventive as Aronofsky would intentionally set out to pay homage to disposable 90’s crime capers. Grade: C-
609. “Safe House”…Similar to “Stealing”‘s predictability in how it treats its central interracial couple, the second we see Hannah John-Kamen kissing a white guy, we know it’s a matter of time before he’s a goner. Just as cliche, “House” insists on a politically-flavorless plot where it’s ex-military members bitter at Uncle Sam’s past mistakes towards veterans who are the real bad guys (because the best way to make a statement about senseless loss of life in unnecessary wars is to…blow up the planet?). A plot where representatives of different branches of the federal government are locked in a “safe house” unsure of who to trust should’ve been a “can’t miss” premise for a thriller, and so it’s disappointing the early tension and some decent performances never gel into much. Grade: C-
608. “The Actor”…Underrated Alabamian Andre Holland may be a great actor, but he didn’t have the best luck with 2025 scripts between this movie and the dull hipster romance “Love, Brooklyn.” Here, he’s asked to play a character who is confused for most of the movie, and his mental state is the same as the audience’s, who will be alternately bored and befuddled by a script that always seems like it’s trying to signal more to us than is actually presented. Grade: C-
607. “Caught By the Tides”…Similar to “The Actor” in that critics pretend to like this movie (which has an unreal amount of tedious travel shots), but most audiences will be relieved when it’s finally over. Even though getting to the ending means you’re left with a very unsatisfying final scene that barely even feels like a real ending so much as a prank on the audience. Grade: C-
606. “The Roses”…If for some reason, you ever wanted a clear example of a movie that shouldn’t exist, you could not do better than “The Roses.” It’s an unnecessary remake of one of the few good movies from the 80’s (but why though?); it inexplicably cast two British actors for its America-set story for no particular reason (a common Hollywood problem); from the shortened title onwards, it dials down the antagonism from “The War of the Roses” so that the couple is only really “at” each other the last quarter of the movie (but why though?); it ditches the terrific framing device of having the divorce lawyer narrate things from the outset as a darkly interesting cautionary tale which robs the movie of its suspense (seriously, why though?); and the sharply dangerous comedic elements have been softened into tedious mush, making the run-up to the “mean-ness” of the split feel endless (by the time Allison Janney shows up as a ferocious divorce lawyer, you might think “too little, too late”). Grade: C-
605. “Mio Marcello”…Although I was excited to watch a movie that directly satirizes nepo-babies and their proliferation over this century’s culture, “Marcello” isn’t really about that (or not in any satisfying way). Most scenes have no flow or purpose, meandering around until most viewers are just grateful it’s over. Grade: C-
604. “This is Spinal Tap 2”…It genuinely sucks that this is the horrifically murdered Rob Reiner’s last movie. Between this and the disappointment of “Ella McCay,” the old comedy masters didn’t have the best swan songs. “Tap 2” is barely trying from start to finish, and you can tell this was cheaply made in comparison to the first one by barely leaving enclosed rooms, and crapping out on the big reunion concert with an abrupt ending. I wish I could be a bit kinder to it just for Rob’s sake, but I’m actually worried lazier/younger viewers might skip the excellent first “Spinal Tap” (one of the best 100 movies ever made, practically giving birth to the mockumentary genre) and just watch part “2” instead, then wonder what all the fuss was about. That’s the risk of cash-grab legacy sequels, but it’s a real one. Grade: C-
603. “Singing in My Sleep”…I didn’t like the bratty main character of this movie, and long for the day where the talented, luminous Annie Ilonzeh (here wasted in the token black widow role so we never have to deal with the scary sight of seeing a happily married black/white couple) will get a proper leading role. Grade: C-
602. “The Old Guy”…Only Christoph Waltz could help make this a character that you do care something about, but you can’t say the same for the movie around him. This entire premise (complete with murky employers we learn next-to-nothing about as if lucrative assassin jobs merely fall from the sky, proffered by smug European voices over the phone) is beyond tired. By now, there have been more semi-comic movies made about quirky hitmen than there could ever be actual hitmen (quirky or not), so there’s not much here you haven’t seen before. Grade: C-
601. “On Swift Horses”…A snooze; Jacob Elordi needs to avoid doing this type of character/performance again. He’s playing characters as divergent as a serial killer in “He Went That Way” and a WWII-POW in “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” and a draft dodger in “Oh Canada” and “Frankenstein” almost the exact same way in a way that’s becoming a bit monotonous to watch. How about a feisty live-wire Jacob? Or maybe just about anything other than a romantic, sensitive, somewhat-mopey James Dean knockoff? Grade: C-
600. “Thieves Highway”…Making a movie around “cow cops” that track livestock theft in the modern age is not a bad idea at all, but the execution here is near-amateur level. There’s also some questionable character choices (wouldn’t near-hanging a villain mess up a potential prosecution?) that feel like they were trying a little bit too hard to capture some of Taylor Sheridan’s TV machismo. Grade: C-
599. “Stranger Eyes”…This movie’s plot is not only confusing but confused, quickly losing interest in its actual child abduction in order to probe…something going on with its two murky male leads. Trying to shoehorn in some muddled messaging about mass surveillance (either coerced or self-inflicted) might be diluted with viewers who actually care what happened to a young kid that’s been kidnapped, making this movie’s ending near-moronic in its grasp at a deeper statement. Grade: C-
598. “Salvable”…An oddly self-defeating movie, as it gives too little screen time to the plot that works best within it: the combustible, layered chemistry between Toby Kebbell’s lead and his “no good” boyhood friend who just got out of prison, played by Shia LaBeouf. Here, LaBeouf is fenced in by a cockney accent so that he just about buries his usual motor-mouthed tics and frenetic angst; truthfully, the control of this performance looks great on him. But the seductive pull of LaBeouf’s “easy money” pal isn’t featured as much as you’d think it would be, with Shia getting less screen time than you might be hoping for. Instead, we see monotonous scenes of Kebbell suffering–with his daughter, with his longtime boxing trainer, with his ex-wife, etc. “Salvable” never truly crackles with tension or electricity because it seems determined to be a slog instead of a 21st century “Mean Streets,” and that’s too bad. Grade: C-
597. “Shell”…Many have noticed that “Shell” takes familiar “body-horror-meets-aging-celebrity” elements that have become Hollywood’s newest navel-gazing cinema trend (“The Substance,” “The Beauty”) and just reappropriates them into something not particularly fresh. The best part is towards the end as Kaia Gerber becomes a lobster-like monster, making you wish the entire movie had been a creature feature. Grade: C-
596. “Obex”…Is it possible that I expect more from experimental cinema than merely existing? It might be, as this is the second critically-acclaimed, archly-tedious Callie Hernandez-starring micro-indie I’m panning this year. But I will say the black-and-white look here at least makes it more visually interesting than “Invention.” Grade: C-
595. “Hallow Road”…If you want a great example of how the “Comic-Con” kudzu of sci-fi and fantasy are unnecessarily spilling over into even the most unlikely of films, it’s “Hallow Road,” which starts out as a tense every-parent thriller wherein Matthew Rhys and Rosamund Pike play adult parents of a college-age daughter who are called in the middle of the night to be told she has ran over someone on a woodland road, her car is stuck, and she desperately needs their help. Then Rhys and Pike spend most of the movie on the phone with her as they travel in a frantic car ride (wherein the backgrounds don’t look even remotely convincing) to her location trying to figure what to do. The everyday ethical conflict is gripping, and you’re definitely interested to see what will happen until a sinister supernatural “twist” introduces itself in about the middle of “Hallow.” It never got me back, and the film craps out in a way that made me feel cheated. Grade: C-
594. “The Rabbit Trap”…A little bit like a later-day M. Night Shymalan movie in that a common-senseless premise has good technical aspects, but can feel overly vague, and drags in most sections. Grade: C-
593. “We Forgot to Break Up”…It’s kind-of cute watching an “edgy” Canadian film, but it’s far from convincing, and often mired in the typical Canadian straight-edged quality that makes even their “punk” films feel overly sincere. Grade: C-
592. “A Working Man”…A Jason Statham vehicle so similar to other movies he’s done that it flirts with self-parody (right down to the foolhardy belief that Statham would so seamlessly fit into an American construction site, and have a couple of beers with the lads after a long day). This is so generic, I felt like it was a sequel to a movie that had never come out. Grade: C-
591. “Play Dirty”…From his grave, Donald E. Westlake must be restless–spinning around thinking “Goddamn, can anyone get my Parker character right on-screen? It’s not that hard.” Here, Shane Black–working in a surprisingly toothless and impersonal vein–makes the similar mistake past screen adaptations have by softening the character, and taking away much of his charge so that he’s a generic heist-action-criminal, taking away anything distinctive from the Parker novels. Grade: C-
590. “House of Dynamite”…One of the year’s strangest disappointments. All the elements are here for a worthy political thriller: great cast, talented director, strong subject matter, etc. But “Dynamite” makes the baffling decision to show us the same events three times from marginally different angles which completely undercuts the suspense the pressure-cooker suspense they hope to build. Although there are worse movies built largely around zoom screens, and FaceTime (the 2025 “War of the Worlds” would be one of them), you can’t help but feel this is a massive missed opportunity. Grade: C-
589. “The Astronaut”…Somehow feels bloated despite being not even 90 minutes without end credits. This is part of a growing sub-genre of sci-fi indies that would’ve been fine episodes of “The Twilight Zone” once upon a time, but have now been stretched out to full-feature length to give streamers some crap for you to churn through. [Of course, “Zone” would’ve had practical special effects that probably would’ve looked better than the crudely animated aliens in this thing.] This is one of those “one twist” movies, but the emotional resonance of what we’re actually seeing and how it affects the other characters present isn’t given much weight at all. Grade: C-
588. “Americana”…Paul Walter Hauser and a surprisingly-good Sydney Sweeney have good chemistry (remarkably) and are charming, but “Americana” is hampered by being too long, not always understanding who its most interesting characters actually are (long digressions featuring people we don’t care about at all), and an incredibly unsatisfying ending. Grade: C-
587. “Extraterritorial”…An outlandish plot sees a conspiracy unfold inside the American consulate. Also hampered by ho-hum execution that makes it feel indistinguishable from the endless straight-to-streaming action films that come out every year. Grade: C-
586. “Out of the Nest”…Cruddy Chinese animated movie that hits some familiar notes if you’ve ever watched one of these types of films before. Grade: C-
585. “Pose”…James McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi, and Leila Farzad are electric actors to watch, and so it almost takes a special skill to present them in such a dull way. Writer-director Jamie Adams manages just that with this half-hearted “thriller” that is never sure if it wants to push things into “Vertigo” territory or take on a more sinister horror-ish edge or merely sit back and muddle through to a conclusion. It eventually chooses the latter. Grade: C-
584. “The Cleaner”…In truth, it’s hard to root for Daisy Ridley’s “hero” here, and Clive Owen’s “terrorist” might be the most sympathetic person in the movie. A mid-movie “twist” seems to acknowledge that by swapping out the main villain part, but that then immediately dilutes the film’s message into something more ridiculous. Ultimately, all these “crazed eco-terrorists” we keep seeing in film (“The East,” “Night Moves”) don’t seem to be very well represented in the real world, making this sub-genre of thriller similar to if you made multiple movies about Antifa. Grade: C- …Speaking of overrated Daisy Ridley thrillers…
583. “We Bury the Dead”…Going in, we’re promised an original and emotionally resonant take on zombie films from reviewers that stretched their own credibility like a rubber band. During the film, you might realize just how unlikely that probably was. This movie is also advertised as one where the zombies don’t just move fast, but hunt, even though we don’t ever really see that on film. Once we find out what Daisy Ridley’s actual mission is in looking for her husband (who disappeared during a near-certainly-fatal catastrophe that wipes out all of Tasmania), “Bury” makes even less sense. This winds up being a disappointingly dumb experience. Grade: C-
582. “This is Not a Test”…Our heroine is near-suicidal and in a very dark place even before the zombie apocalypse starts. Making a movie around a young woman who experiences more freedom and life satisfaction during the end of the world would be fascinating, but “Test” is not that movie. It would likewise be interesting to use zombies as an allegory for abusive parenting (wherein the past just keeps coming and coming no matter how much you think you’ve killed it), but “Test” is not that movie either. Instead, it goes down the least interesting and satisfying route possible, making it a real shame for all involved. Grade: C-
581. “Summer of 69”…Yet another Gen-Z “sex comedy” where nobody young has actual sex (“No Hard Feelings,” “Sweethearts,” “Prom Dates”). Wild times…Maybe by the time they are 35, Gen-Z will be comfortable admitting it would’ve been okay to actually have sex in their late-teenage years rather than just say it would’ve been okay. Grade: C-
580. “In Cold Light”…I’m not really sold on the range of Maika Monroe, who very often delivers flat performances, and rarely makes poor writing seem more credible. That’s certainly the problem here with a far-fetched crime story wherein Monroe attempts to grimace her way through nearly every scene. Grade: C-
579. “Teacher’s Pet”…Fairly standard Lifetime thriller about an obsessed, psychotic “teacher” that employs the usual nightmarish horror movie reality where nothing totally makes sense (the non-murderous adults on-screen seem remarkably gullible) except that everything seems designed to screw our heroine for far longer than it should. Grade: C-
578. “Universal Language”…A lot of critics really enjoyed this movie, but I highly doubt a lot of audiences will. One of those you watch waiting for something great to happen, and then the end credits roll without it ever happening. Grade: C-
577. “I Am Curious Johnny”…Vanity documentaries are always a mixed-bag, because the subject often feels their life is more interesting than it really is. That’s definitely the case here, as you can tell nepo-heir and bon vivant Johnny Pigozzi has more than a twinge of narcissism. Even the documentary itself sometimes strains to make a case for its existence, and more scenes than you would expect have Pigozzi morosely droning on about subjects he seems reluctant to truly dig deep and question himself on. He may let us see that he has the blues on occasion, but always in that limited, vaguely-self-pitying way that the self-obsessed do with the subtle insinuation that they should have even more. Grade: C-
576. “The Featherweight”…A fake documentary (but not a mockumentary, which would’ve been better) centered around a cliched Italian boxer from another era. I was grateful to get away from him once the movie was finally over. Grade: C-
575. “Merv”…A separated couple sharing custody of a dog “might” fall back in love. This is yawn-worthy stuff built around a helicopter-parent couple (of a dog) I had no connection to, but lovers of dogs and rom-coms will probably enjoy it more than I did. Grade: C- …However, annoying pet owners weren’t just confined to fiction films…
574. “American Cats: The Good, The Bad, and the Cuddly”…This is a 95-minute harangue about why it’s bad to declaw cats, an issue best covered in a 10-minute short. But okay, you convinced me not to do it. I’m sold. Now what? Of course, I don’t have a cat, and have no real interest in this topic at all, and kind-of thought it would be funnier than it winds up being (there are sarcastic jokes and light jabs throughout, but almost all of them are more smirkingly-funny than actually funny, and in the back half of the doc nearly all the humor is driven by true anger that declawing isn’t nationally banned), and am a little put off by this movie’s insane argument that the American Veterinary Medical Association are the “bad guys” in its story. At last! A film that finally shines the heroic light on myopically single-issue pet owners and properly castigates “Big Vet,” the people thanklessly saving the lives of their pets for mediocre wages. Grade: C-
573. “Pets on a Train”…Cruddy animated movie that tries to function as a kid’s version of “Speed.” Grade: C-
572. “Troll 2”…”Sooooo…a Norwegian version of Kong vs. Godzilla then?” Anyone who thinks Scandinavian movies are automatically better than Hollywood movies and/or instinctively less dumb should check out this derivative monster-go-smash movie. Better yet, don’t check it out. Grade: C-
571. “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera”…A great example of a movie that should not have been made. Gerard Butler’s character is annoying, and you can practically feel “Pantera” straining to connect the events of the first movie into this one. It comes across like this was probably an unrelated script that was changed to incorporate a couple of characters from the first movie–but not necessarily the ones we would want to see a sequel built-around. [Of course, the ones we might’ve liked to revisit were killed in the original.] Grade: C-
570. “San Francisco Rising”…This documentary confused me completely because it seems to portray the epicenter of the wealthiest state in the history of the world as somehow “struggling” or down on its luck. To see a documentary framed around a rebirth narrative of San Francisco as though it’s a Detroit-level underdog is a bit ridiculous. If San Francisco is portrayed as a “sad case” U.S. city, I’d hate to know what they think of 90% of the country’s other cities. Grade: C-
569. “Fountain of Youth”…A movie so stale I felt like I had already seen it. Grade: C-
568. “Champagne Problems”…Minka Kelly is nobody’s idea of a great actress, and although you might feel she’s well-cast in a predictable, throwaway romantic comedy, I actually think superior actors can often save cookie-cutter material like this which is designed to give viewers a comfort watch as they fall asleep. But Kelly’s “Betty Boop” voice and gratingly cutesy mannerisms (she’s 45 years old) aren’t elevating anything. Grade: C-
567. “Jurassic World: Rebirth”…I was surprised this movie received such positive feedback as I think it’s mostly the same thing we’ve seen a half-dozen times before, and just as predictable as that sounds (you know every character who is going to die, and just about what order they’re going to die in). Sure, it’s probably better than Chris Pratt’s lousy “Jurassic World” trilogy, but that shouldn’t be the standard for anything. 2001’s “Jurassic Park III” involved some genuinely terrific set pieces (like pterodactyls menacing a rope bridge) that made it the only good “Jurassic” sequel. After 2022’s “The Bubble” did such a good job of spoofing the lameness of endless “Jurassic” sequels (the franchise there is called “Cliff Beasts” but the inspiration is obvious), it’s even harder to take these movies seriously. Grade: C-
566. “The Badwater 135”…A dangerously extreme race in the middle of the desert? How on Earth could that movie be boring? Well, somehow these documentarians find a way–padding it out with too many subject interviews that feel far too similar (nobody ever accused professional marathon runners of being the most live wire subjects, and it’s true that people with rigorous discipline or athletic performances are rarely good at talking about it in a way that feels interesting to those who don’t participate). Grade: C
565. “Fall For Me”…How is a movie with this much gratuitous nudity so boring? Almost seems impossible, but somehow they’ve pulled it off. Those who might watch a movie exclusively for nice scenery might like to gloss over this though. Grade: C
564. “Architecton”…I was hoping for something a bit like the awe I felt during the marble sequences in “The Brutalist,” but wound up with something much closer to “Koyaanisqatsi” in that it’s basically narrative-less and fascinated with things most documentaries wouldn’t think are interesting (here, it’s building materials and structures that exist longer than we do, but not forever). But unlike “Koyaanisqatsi” you don’t have the transformative power of Philip Glass’s unparalleled music guiding you through, and you really are watching things that are quite boring (at one point, gravel is mixed seemingly in real time). If critics are being honest, most audiences will find this less a “profound mediation on the foundation of daily life and our unconscious relationship with environmental destruction” and more something they’ll stop watching after about 10 minutes. Grade: C
563. “No Sleep Till”…Documentaries that wish they were dramas run the risk of being not only boring, but naggingly inauthentic as everything feels staged in an “ultra-naturalistic” way that can’t help but come off as false. That’s the exact problem here. Grade: C
562. “Ballistic”…A woman’s Afghanistan soldier son is killed by a bullet made in the factory she works in. “Ballistic” has all the trappings of an enticing conspiracy thriller movie, but craps out in this aspect (and most others) being more of a somber, somewhat-unconvincing drama about misinformation and brokenness. To say that British Lena Headey is miscast for this descent into uniquely-American paranoia would be accurate. Someone like Wrenn Schmidt or Dale Dickey/Holly Hunter (no reason the part couldn’t be a bit older) would’ve gotten into the headspace of the character more. Grade: C
561. “Long Distance”…I almost feel bad for this generic sci-fi thriller since it’s been pretty much buried since coming out, becoming the latest victim of the “streaming wars” wherein it’s pulled from streaming and then made almost unavailable to watch (“Crater” is another run-of-the-mill space-set movie this happened to recently as well). But to be honest, the “sympathy points” probably kept it from getting a “C-” rating instead because it sure wasn’t Anthony Ramos’s unconvincing acting (can this guy change up his familiar voice/mannerisms at all?) nor the too-late-in-the-film appearance of Naomi Scott (along with actual dramatic stakes). Like the characters in “Distance,” we find ourselves in strange, perilous territory when you have to give lousy streaming movies a slight “pity bump” because it’s so unfair that they’re literary unwatchable. 90% of Tubi movies are metaphorically not-worth-watching so something made with a budget larger than 10K should be available for its intended to consume (and then promptly forget) as well. Grade: C
560. “Wolf Man”…A movie that was so universally disliked it might be slightly underrated. Yes, Julia Garner looks lost, and the look of the wolf men in this is definitely crappy. But Christopher Abbott isn’t bad, there’s probably something here worth exploring about werewolves as an allegory for childhood trauma or unstable parents (although a couple of other recent horror movies like “The Beast Within” did the same thing), and this is the first werewolf movie in a while to ground the condition with what it really is: a disease. We rarely think of a condition transferred solely through bite as a virus, so “Wolf Man”‘s take felt almost new despite being obvious. Grade: C
559. “Predator Badlands”…Some sequels to the unsurpassed 1987 “Predator” have been underrated (particularly 2010’s “Predators”), but most have been lousy (Shane Black’s 2018 “The Predator” was surprisingly bad, and nobody expected much out of the “Alien vs. Predator” movies or “Predator 2” wherein Danny Glover replaced Arnold Schwarzenneger, one of the only actors alive who could believably menace a predator alien). “Badlands” is a bit of both, as it has a genuinely exciting first half with an intriguing premise and setting on a very dangerous planet, and a terrible second half complete with goofy Disney-ish sidekick creature, “humans are the real bad guys” idiocy, a genuinely dumb final battle, and a cornball ending scene that is downright syrupy; what a waste. Still, Dakota Fanning excels in a dual role. Grade: C
558. “George A. Romero’s Resident Evil”…In the wake of the excellent “Jodoworsky’s Dune,” there’s been a mini-trend of documentaries about film projects that never got off the ground. However, this one is a bit indulgent as it’s for a movie that I don’t personally believe would’ve been that good. Are aborted adaptations of video games really something to cry about? “Romero” works best in the earlier sections talking about Romero’s filmography and good relationship with his fans, but do I personally believe the actual film this is mourning is something we’ve been deprived of? Not really… Grade: C
557. “The Monkey”…A couple of innovative deaths, but this is a movie that felt like I had already seen it. Grade: C
556. “Marshmallow”…Low budget horror film (when the biggest “name” in the cast is Corbin Bernsen, you know you’ll be lucky to get scenes that are even lit well) that has some serious pacing problems in the first 90% before slapping on an ultra-violent ending that undercuts the more somber, emotional climax we had just witnessed. “Marshmallow” seems to want to make us feel more than terrify us, but the final, blood-soaked seconds appears to be saying “eh, never mind.” Still, I was happy that there was a young, attractive interracial couple that was not brutally murdered by the end (and camp counselors no less!) which is almost unheard of in a “modern” horror movie. Grade: C
555. “Eight Postcards From Utopia”…Other than some title cards, this “movie” consists entirely of context-free old Romanian commercials. You could be like many critics and call it a “profound exploration of how society evolves over time,” but the grainy, crappy commercials actually shown–often slamming into each other after only a few seconds of each ad–actually feels like mindlessly scrolling through a pre-internet version of TikTok. By the time it was over, I had learned little about Romania’s “evolution,” but I sure had a headache. Grade: C
554. “A Life Unwritten”…A movie made with the absolute best of intentions, centering its narrative around an earnest examination of mental health. But this feels much longer than it actually is (the actual length is barely an hour), and the filmmaking is beyond flat. Grade: C
553. “The Slave In Your Backyard: The Local Reality of Human Trafficking”…Similar to “Life Unwritten” in that it’s the most worthy of subjects and good intentions, yet hampered by lifeless execution; some of the stories being told here feel endless, repetitive, and perhaps not as riveting as the filmmakers believe them to be. Grade: C
552. “She Walks in Darkness”…I was excited to see a movie about the Basque separatist movement in Spain as I know very little about it, but you might be surprised at how inert this movie actually is. Scenes stack up on top of each other where very little happens. Grade: C
551. “Tehran”…Similar to “Darkness” above, this was a movie centered around real geopolitical events I had hoped to learn about, but “Tehran” is often repetitive, and each scene drags on for several seconds (or sometimes minutes) too long almost like a sloppy straight-to-Tubi movie would. Grade: C
550. “Ad Vitam”…If you think French movies are automatically smarter than Hollywood films, “Vitam” is here to correct you. It recycles many of the dumbest elements of Hollywood thrillers (a conveniently placed powered paraglider just happens to be where the hero needs it to be to make a quick escape), but also tacks on uniquely French touches like a bloated flashback put into the middle of the movie for no particular reason other than to slow down the momentum to a near-crawl. Ultimately, it won’t fully satisfy either “more sophisticated” French audiences or thrill-hungry American yokels. Well done France! Grade: C
549. “McVeigh”…If I had to make a list of actors who should play Timothy McVeigh, Alfie Allen would not be in my top 500. [Carrot Top wasn’t available?] The weaknesses in his casting become apparent by how many scenes Allen has where he is unrealistically silent and sitting around alone not doing much, almost as if the director knew Allen would struggle to mimic McVeigh’s accent. Even those who might be interested in seeing a biography about the most infamous domestic terrorist–it’s certainly topical given what’s going on with the rightwing in America trying to metaphorically teardown the federal government the way McVeigh wanted to literally do it–will struggle to connect with this opaque presentation. Grade: C
548. “Warfare”…Other than “House of Dynamite,” this is the year’s strangest disappointment. Here, you also have a capable cast, talented director, and realistic premise, but something in the execution doesn’t have the sweep of a “Black Hawk Down”-level mission. It’s a movie based on a single combat mission in the Iraq War with almost no political context, dramatic divergence, or “larger” themes. There were literally hundreds of missions like this over the course of that war, so you might reasonably wonder what drew writer-director Alex Garland to this one specifically? I’m not sure he could tell you, and whatever the reason is definitely isn’t apparent on-screen. Grade: C
547. “Suburban Fury”…This is a very thorough documentary about the woman that wanted to assassinate Gerald Ford. Part of Sara Jane Moore’s endless interview (she stipulated she could be the only person interviewed onscreen as part of her contract) takes place in the backseat of a car to try to make it look a bit more “cloak and dagger” and mysterious than it might’ve actually been as she spins an epic tail around herself. Most of this movie–and it’s two full hours long–made me feel like I was held hostage by an unbearable narcissist. Director/editor Robinson Devor tried his best to cobble a compelling documentary out of this material (and comes as close as anyone ever could), but I’d love to see his considerable skill put towards a better subject. Grade: C
546. “So Unreal”…A documentary consisting entirely of clips from movies that showcased virtual reality or robots (almost all of them negatively). The feeling of laughing at how cheesy A.I. was portrayed in the 80’s and 90’s becomes tiresome after over an hour of it. “Unreal” only skims the surface of the philosophical questions many of these films posed, and gives away almost all of their endings–meaning that even if someone had interest in watching them, they probably wouldn’t after finishing “Unreal,” making the entire experience feel even more pointless. Grade: C
545. “Hummingbirds”…A slice-of-life documentary wherein two filmmakers film themselves hanging out in their border town, and I do mean “hanging out” as the runtime feels bloated even at barely 70 minutes without credits. It’s a humanizing exercise towards the asinine Mexico/U.S. border “debate,” but those with actual empathy are probably not surprised that these young women are just people. The viewers who would be shocked by that will never watch this, and everyone else may get restless hoping for more. But the technical aspects are good here, and I could easily see either of these women making a splash with a different documentary down the road. Grade: C
544. “Deep Cover”…A bad movie wherein most people on-screen are having a better time than the audience (which is perhaps fitting for a movie about struggling actors searching around for what works). Still, Orlando Bloom is the comedic standout here (never thought I’d say that about him), and between this and “The Cut,” Bloom is having his best creative year in…well, possibly ever. Grade: C
543. “Trail of Vengeance”…”The Wire”‘s Gbenga Akinnagbe gives a credible co-lead performance, but this is mostly just Western cliches, complete with endless discussions of “who needs killing,” and many slow, repetitive, dialogue-heavy scenes that feel more like a cheap production is killing time than anything that truly needs to be said. Grade: C
542. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip”…Unnecessary reboot that feels like the most cynical of “re-envisionings,” slapping on the name of a completely unrelated book into a script about a Latin family’s getting in touch with their roots in Mexico. How you do that by reappropriating a book from the 70’s, I’m not sure. Even on its own terms, the movie is often cheesy and toothless. Grade: C
541. “How to Train Your Dragon”…I’m glad this movie made a lot of money at the box office, because otherwise its entire reason for existing wouldn’t have happened. Almost nothing is changed from the animated original except the charm and inventiveness–which are missing; the handful of “new” touches the movie attempts land like a thud, and aren’t even followed up on (striving Astrid’s class difference is mentioned in a couple of lines of dialogue, but then never brought up again, perhaps cut from test screenings when people said “Isn’t that Thandiwe Newton and Ol Parker’s nepo-cast daughter saying that about inherited privilege?”). Grade: C
540. “Emmanuel”…Those of us who grew up with early-HBO might remember “Emmanuel” as an introduction to softcore pornography. This reboot has lots of sex, but very little sizzle, sometimes feeling a bit drowsy with itself, as if to say “you guys are still watching this? All the way through? Like…for plot and stuff?” The title character’s connection to an emotionally–and sexually–shutdown man might’ve been a worthy challenge for the legendary seductress to reboot herself with, but the two never share much of a connection. Grade: C
539. “The Comeback Trail”…It’s almost incredible that a movie which has Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sheryl Lee Ralph (in a too-brief role that’s basically a cameo) sharing scenes isn’t good. And it’s not even that the concept–wherein a desperate producer deliberately tries to kill his washed-up train wreck of a leading man in order to score an insurance payday–is necessarily that bad. In a way, its pumped-up cast might inadvertently hurt it, as your expectations would certainly be lower. Still, you never know how much longer all of these leading men will be around, and there are worse ways to see them than this harmless comedy. Grade: C
538. “Trap House”…Dave Bautista is effortlessly convincing, and somehow finds a way to inject even his lamest roles with credibility and hidden soulfulness. But “Trap” is an odd juxtaposition between R-rated drug cartel thriller and a bunch of teens from a Disney Channel helicoptered into one of those movies. [Bautista’s son seems like he’s more worried about getting grounded than dying in a shootout.] I can’t say it works, but it’s not awful either. Grade: C
537. “Love Brooklyn”…A talented trio of actors are at the center, but this “love triangle” plays it too cool to ever really come to life. Long stretches of the movie are just dull, and the leads have some subplots (like the professional frustrations of the Nicole Behari character and especially the pretentious Andre Holland character in his epic quest to actually submit a single article without compromise) that feel like padding to get to a respectable length. Grade: C
536. “Him”…Not a good movie, but containing a very good supporting performance from Marlon Wayans, here showing perceptive shark eyes like he’s seeing right through the main character. Wayans is committing fully in a way that elevates the inherent silliness of the material (including its crappy official ending, the worst of the several potential ones they filmed). From “Requiem of a Dream” onwards, it’s clear Wayans is capable of more than he usually plays, and I hope some enterprising indie upstart makes good use of that soon. Grade: C
535. “Good Boy”…Setting a horror movie through a dog’s POV is probably a good idea, but this is one of those 70-minute micro-indies that feels more like a short film padded out to feature length. It seems longer than it actually is, and would’ve been a better 30-minute short or part of a larger anthology film. Grade: C
534. “Gazer”…A thriller wherein a heroine can’t process evaluate time correctly is a good setup, but “Gazer” is so slow and amateurishly-staged that it often feels like our own sense of time perception is dilated in a strange way. Grade: C
533. “Holland”…Nicole Kidman and Matthew Macfadyen are characteristically good here, but “Holland” starts off too slow, and winds up too ridiculous. Grade: C
532. “The Boston Strangler Interview”…Calling this a “movie” might be generous as it’s closer to a garish “Dateline” special on the Boston Strangler. Should be viewed by true crime junkies only, but the pop of the Boston ‘tude keeps things moving. Grade: C
531. “To A Land Unknown”…Palestinian refugees are stranded in Greece trying to secure fake papers to get to a better life in Germany. It’s not a bad premise, but the execution here is beyond slack (this is a long 110 minutes) before eventually arriving at a “tragic” ending that actually felt more dumb than moving. [If you desperately needed to get someone medical attention, would you scrambled hard to put them on a…public bus?] Grade: C
530. “My Oxford Year”…A better Sofia Carson romantic-dramedy than most of them (like the awful “Life List”), but a good movie? Not so fast… Calling a movie like this “predictable” is like being surprised water is wet, but that doesn’t mean it has to be so inert in nearly every scene. You can make a movie like this with less tediousness, more snap, and even–dare I say it–authentic locational charm. You’ll see some with those qualities higher up on this list. Grade: C
529. “Miss Odell”…A very long stroll down nostalgia lane as Odell tells stories (most of them pretty mild) about legendary figures she met or worked with back in their mutual heyday. No reason at all this movie should be over two hours. Grade: C …Speaking of over-long nostalgic strolls…
528. “Becoming Led Zeppelin”…One of the most bafflingly snooze-worthy approaches to a rock band I’ve ever seen. The execution falls flat, as huge chunks of “Becoming” are these men (none of them really popping out from the others) droning on in a way their own kids might find listless. You can’t really let an image-sensitive rock band completely tell their own drama-free stories as that’s a hagiographic way to put an audience to sleep. Grade: C
527. “The Playdate”…By now, it’s a bit cliched crapping all over a Kevin James movie, and Alan Ritchson is probably an improvement over the usual John Cena/Mark Wahlberg manic action comedy performance (for stretches of this movie, he’s closer to fully unhinged than the usual pitter patter made by Kevin Hart and The Rock as they dodge bullets). And I did enjoy the outright strangeness of much of this movie since I haven’t seen too many Wahlberg movies where he fistfights in a roomful of animal mascots or has an action climax against a bunch of little kids. But I still can’t cross the rubicon into calling this movie “good” in any conventional capacity. Grade: C
526. “Prime Minister”…Details former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s days in the top NZ job, during the highs (becoming only the second head of state to ever give birth–the first being Pakistan’s only female PM Benazir Bhutto, who was eventually assassinated) and eventual lows (she received an orchestrated backlash during CoVid that seemed so overheated and nutty, she eventually resigned). Ardern quitting the top job to a smug, male-dominated parliament (and mentioning being a wife and mother literally every two minutes to an almost myopic extent) undercuts the movie’s feminist leanings. Just once, wouldn’t it be kind-of cool if a woman leader (either in business or politics) didn’t have to soften her ambition by constantly bringing up her kids or husband or “the good of the country” instead of just “I want this?” Ardern isn’t that person, and I would argue she’s not really the most fascinating subject for a documentary; she’s a bit too tediously self-conscious of her image in nearly every scene, and doesn’t seem to even question “But is the country being left to worse people running it if I step aside at a time of far-right protesters getting louder?” Grade: C
525. “Grand Tour”…”Tour” doesn’t commit to a time period, needing to borrow different elements from the “colonial” time of the 1910’s, but also wanting to showcase modern skyscrapers and inventions whenever it pleases (or perhaps when there’s budgetary problems making it hard to portray exterior shots during the time they need). It’s a confusing, pretentious jumble that goes on for at least a half-hour too long, but the black-and-white photography and Crista Alfaiate’s performance as Molly at least give you something interesting to watch as the film throws tangents at the wall in search of a narrative. Grade: C
524. “Endless Cookie”…I’m not an “Adult Swim” fan, and this movie felt “Endless” all right, but not in an admirable way. Grade: C
523. “Zodiac Killer Project”…Documentaries about the making of aborted film projects are becoming a trend (“An Unfinished Film” and a doc about George Romero’s would-be “Resident Evil” movie are also on this list) in the wake of “Jodorowsky’s Dune,” but this is one of the only ones I’ve ever seen about a failed documentary project wherein the maker couldn’t secure the rights. Here, said creator drones on for 90 minutes straight narrating the movie he would’ve made, but then expands it into a broader critique of true-crime docs that feels hypocritical since he clearly wanted to do the same thing with a “Zodiac Killer” documentary he just wasn’t able to make. Grade: C
522. “Hierarchy”…Slow-moving heist drama working on a tight budget; can occasionally feel amateurish. Grade: C
521. “Coyotes”…A bunch of Hollywood residents trapped in the hills with some deadly coyotes isn’t a bad premise for a horror movie, but “Coyotes” never seems sure of what it wants to show us, with an all-over-the-place-tone that fails at multiple genres at once (it’s never as funny as it thinks it is, but long stretches of the first two-thirds forget about the horror completely and just focus on hanging out with characters we don’t truly care about), and a “kill list” so predictable, you can even guess the order that the expendable characters will die in. Grade: C
520. “The Old Woman with the Knife”…More bloated violence that goes on for nearly a half-hour too long. Lee Hye-young is pretty good though, even if the movie often feels like it’s shielding her in a way from action that is too strenuous or involved (63 year old Hye-young isn’t much older Jennifer Lopez or Halle Berry who are still kicking ass whenever the opportunity arises). Grade: C
519. “Hood Witch”…I’m a fan of Golshifteh Farahani, but this isn’t the star vehicle I would imagine for her. A lot of different elements that never quite gel together despite occasional inspired flashes of energy (mostly centering around the illegal animal trade being used for witch practices all connected through a new app). Grade: C
518. “The Encampments”…Even if you agree with the central premise of this documentary you might find the presentation here is weak from a technical perspective, shallow in content, and repetitive to an extent where it doesn’t deepen, and that you’re essentially hearing the same thing for 90 minutes. Grade: C
517. “Ghost Trail”…A movie about someone trying to get revenge on a former Middle-Eastern torturer and symbol of an oppressive regime is certainly a great story (“This Was Just An Accident”‘s critical praise proved that), but “Ghost Trail” has its protagonist devote an unreal amount of time skulking in the background vs. actually doing anything. [Lead Adam Bessa is so good at looking menacing while smoldering, you might inadvertently think more is actually happening than truly is.] By the end, “Trail” seems almost bored with its own core mission, and you might feel the same. Grade: C
516. “The Amateur”…This movie also wants to get revenge, but more towards random terrorists than an oppressive regime, with Rami Malek’s title geek blackmailing them into letting him take a stab at some intentionally nasty thugs. Unfortunately, 2025’s “Amateur” doesn’t have the politics of the 80’s version (which used the Cold War stratagems of 80’s-era East Germany and Russia to stumble into more relevance than it might’ve otherwise had), and falls back on the tiresome “international coalition of arms dealers.” This irrelevant modern trope is complete with the main quartet of bad guys each being from a different country (none of which are Russia, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea, or either of the two nations the U.S. is currently at war with); yawn. By neutering the original “Amateur” of even its most basic topicality, there’s really not much difference between a “smart” spy thriller like “Amateur” or one of the dumb ones Saban Films cranks out for Tubi every year. Grade: C
515. “The Wild”…Sunita Mani is effortlessly watchable, and can make even the thinnest characters compelling (like her barely-named characters in her other 2025 movies “Death of a Unicorn” or “The Roses”), so it’s thrilling to see her be the lead in a movie. I just wish the use of her was better than in “The Wild,” which strands her in the woods with a frenemy that doesn’t seem to want to be around her, before having her do inexplicable things. Writer-director Jessica Kozak is a better director than a writer, and I do think her next film will probably be better. Grade: C
514. “Vice Is Broke”…The Vice company itself is fittingly given the Vice treatment by Eddie Huang, who does his own amateurish expose documentary filled with side tangents and personal anecdotes that don’t exactly inspire confidence in the movie’s journalistic bonafides. [As if to drive the point home about Vice’s “Jackass”-style news and its shoddy professionalism, reckless decisions, and fundamental immaturity, Huang closes the movie out by getting an ass tattoo of “Rice” made to look like the Vice logo, and even hauls in his wife to pick which cheek it will be on. You can’t help but feel she probably has some stories of her own…] It is almost surreally irresponsible to see Huang take a harder stance against one-time “Vice” runner Shane Smith (because he allegedly owes him money) than “Vice” co-founder Gavin McInnes–who literally founded the Proud Boys and has built one of the most toxic brands in media. Grade: C
513. “Stealing Pulp Fiction”…A likable cast clowns around in a movie that never seems to be trying too hard–or, indeed, trying at all through some stretches. Too much of it feels like the aborted pilot for an IFC series during the days when they were more devoted to comedy shows, but their version of Quentin Tarantino is admittedly hilarious. Grade: C
512. “Four Letters of Love”…Some people might be thoroughly charmed by this low-key Irish romance, and I could easily see why, but I struggled to stay awake during the multiple attempts it took me to finish this. Still, it’s not a bad comfort watch. Grade: C
511. “Boys Go to Jupiter”…Some will love this strange animated trifle, but others might feel they’ve been unknowingly hoodwinked into hipster hell. I was somewhere in the middle, as I appreciated parts of creator/director Julian Glander’s script (it is no surprise that Glander worked for Adult Swim, and people who enjoy those sometimes hilarious, often ramshackle shows will be the target audience here) but grew tired of it before we arrived at the bizarre “happy” ending. The sub-“Sims” level animation is not much more memorable than the large stretches of this movie that simulate boredom in a tedious low-wage job–perhaps too well. Grade: C
510. “Broke”…Downbeat, “hard livin'” rural drama about a rodeo cowboy stuck in a spontaneous blizzard wherein he’s completely unconscious as a foot of snow falls around him (ummm…I guess?). The flashbacks to his pre-blizzard life are somehow just as harrowing and depressive as him almost freezing to death. Watching a couple of nepo-city slickers like Wyatt Russell and Dennis Quaid (who’s gone MAGA right down to his numerous facelifts) cosplay in a movie trying so hard to appear authentic strained my patience, same as the Sheridan-esque insistence to somewhat-romanticize a lifestyle that appears to make everyone onscreen miserable. Grade: C
509. “Hunting Daze”…It’s the French version of one of those “an accident happens to a group of guys on a hunting trip” movies, so what that means is that the “artistry” here is a little bit higher (which is kind-of missing the point of one of these woods-bound thrillers), not a lot happens in the first half of the movie, some of it makes little sense, and the ending isn’t satisfying. Other than that, it fits in well with the rest of the movies you can watch on Tubi. Grade: C …Speaking of genre-bucking European movies that might reach for higher aspirations than they can achieve…
508. “Dracula”…Director Radu Jude is practically the definition of a “love him or hate him” European maestro, and the same way I didn’t really go for his acclaimed (but equally bloated) “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World,” is about how I feel about this version of “Dracula” wherein he lets A.I. write various horrible scenarios for him, and he smugly explains the mastery of his joke through a 4th-wall breaking narrator…for nearly three hours. By the end, I felt like a hostage that had finally been freed, even if some parts of it are funny. Grade: C
507. “Urchin”…Frank Dillane is a nepo-baby (his father is Stephen Dillane) known for playing sneeringly upper-crust villains (like in his superior 2025 movie “Harvest”) so he might not be the most natural actor to evoke sympathy as a drug-addicted street “urchin” unsure where he’ll be living from day to day. [He undoubtedly gives his all to the role, but even the stunt of de-glamming Dillane isn’t particularly novel as he also played a character with substance issues in “Fear the Walking Dead.] Harris Dickinson also directs, and gives himself a generous supporting role so you can watch two recognizable British actors slum it up proper. Most of the movie drags, and the movie’s surrealistic “trip” sequences felt false to me personally. Grade: C
506. “100 Yards”…The byzantine world-building of this period martial arts movie leaves something to be desired, and the plot moves in a circular motion, often feeling extremely repetitive and making the movie come across longer than it actually is. “Okay, but what about the actual fight sequences? I mean, that’s what we come for with a movie like this…” Even in that case, “Yards” is a bit lacking as the mostly non-violent fights feel a bit safe (the swords are literally padded in most sections) and feel more like the result of Chinese censorship and their desire to treat adults like children instead of anything creatively satisfying; the fights never get wild or particularly over-the-top enough to even be memorable. Grade: C
505. “Under Fire”…Dumb buddy comedy movie built around a good action set piece (two cops pinned down by a sniper after a drug deal gone wrong), but finds various ways to squander that banger premise like having the first third of the movie exist at all (it’s lousy), or the end of the movie also leave the section that actually works. It’s also too confusing who exactly the sniper is working for or who is behind things here (they have enough juice to “turn” even seemingly trustworthy characters for last minute twists that don’t really work) in a way that makes you feel the conspiracy element might’ve been shoved into the script after filming had already begun. Grade: C
504. “Death of a Unicorn”…One of those movies that you’re trying to figure out “What’s missing here?” even as you’re watching it. Scene after scene washed over my eyeballs with almost no impact whatsoever, and towards the end I kept wondering why it wasn’t over–frustrated that it kept stretching things out. Its best scene happens early on (when Jenna Ortega first holds the unicorn horn so she’s transported to something cosmic and never properly explained) but it’s all downhill from there. Even when they revisit that moment towards the end, they don’t bother to go deeper in a way that feels unsatisfying. Grade: C
503. “O’Dessa”…To say this movie has more style than substance would be an understatement, but also reveal exactly what’s wrong with a meandering musical that wants to satirize/indict that aspect of our culture. Even the musical numbers aren’t as memorable (or as soulfully unique) as they should be. However, it’s a good showcase for its quartet of main actors to try something different, and all of them fully commit to their roles. Grade: C
502. “A Very Jonas Christmas”…For Jonas Brothers diehards only, as most everyone else will get restless. The first sections of the movie are a little dreary for a Christmas film (the color scheme, and also featuring tired bickering between the brothers in a way that might make them less likable to many of the uninitiated). Grade: C
501. “Armand”…The film itself is lousy, but Renate Reinsve is very good in it. It’s a worthy showcase for how a compelling actress can make even the most far-fetched scenes feel watchable (like allegorical dance sequences in the middle of a never-ending, “very serious” school-parent conference) as you simply can’t take your eyes off of her. But as a movie “Armand” manages to pull off the rare feat of being ridiculous and dull, while being so repetitive it’s probably 30 minutes too long. Grade: C
500. “King Ivory”…This movie would like to be the “Traffic” of fentanyl, but it’s rather obvious its heart lies with the villains and gang battles trying to control the drug on the Oklahoma streets rather than any other aspect of its enforcement or use. James Badge Dale’s cop and his user son aren’t as well-drawn as the movie’s criminals, and you can feel “Ivory” think it’s a drag whenever they’re on-screen. Ben Foster, Michael Mando, and Graham Greene (in one of his final screen performances) do good work as part of the movie’s complex web of street alliances. Grade: C
499. “In Your Dreams”…Between this and 2024’s “Spellbound,” Netflix is quickly becoming the go-to destination for animated movies about parents who are separating, but what a strange sub-genre of kid’s film. Here, the plot and animation style are largely bland and formulaic, with the cumulative effect being something pretty forgettable. Grade: C
498. “The Partisan”…WWII spy thriller that never grabbed me as I had hoped. Maybe I’ve just seen so many not-particularly-well-made movies depicting this era (and not especially convincing given the modest budget) that it’s becoming a bit repetitive. Grade: C
497. “The New Boy”…Cate Blanchett has it out for a possibly-magical “new boy” at her forced-aboriginal-school in Australia. The “secret” of the school’s true headmaster could’ve been a worthy exploration of who exactly is teaching kids in schools, how much oversight is really given teachers, and how much deference should really be given to every teacher. However, the movie doesn’t go down that road and seems curiously uninterested in this twist. And the ending straight sucks. Grade: C
496. “Eenie Meanie”…Samara Weaving must be thinking “Can’t I at least get the prestige parts Margot Robbie turns down instead of the genre trash Maika Monroe turns down?” Here she tries her best with another dime-a-dozen movie most people won’t know exists until they scroll past it on Hulu. Even though it’s barely 90 minutes without closing credits, it somehow still feels bloated and tiresome. Grade: C
495. “Winter Fall Spring or Summer”…There’s only so many movies like this you can take every year. I’ll be happy if there are fewer of them in 2026. Grade: C
494. “Escape the 21st Century”…Works hard, but I’m a bit burnout on this type of frenetic, sillier, mostly meaningless Chinese movie. Most big budget sci-fi spectacles like this make me feel pounded into submission by the time they’re finally over, and this was no exception. Grade: C
493. “Flight Risk”…This premise is seemingly “can’t miss,” but there’s something weirdly inert in the execution here, making me think formerly-prestigious director Mel Gibson truly has lost his touch. I guess overt bigotry isn’t very conducive to long-term artistic talent. And even if it’s nice to see Wahlberg stretching himself as a villain, you can’t help but wish they’d still somehow done more with this against-type casting. As is, his cocky, sadistic hitman is a bit one-note, and not as chilling as he’s meant to be. Grade: C
492. “American Sweatshop”…Lili Reinhart tries her best, but this thriller squanders a promising premise that’s a bit like a 21st century “8mm” or “Hardcore,” and sees Reinhart’s social media “content moderator” trying to discover the origins of a particularly violent clip. That should’ve been a “can’t miss,” but the thriller aspects don’t start in earnest until the final third, and the entire mystery isn’t a rabbit-hole into the dark heart of humanity, but something that feels almost too simplistic (and a bit easy for our heroine to track down). Grade: C
491. “Something is About to Happen”…Feels longer than it should be as languorous scenes drag in a way that could’ve built resonance if this were a poignant drama, but it instead devolves into a cheapened bloodbath. Grade: C
490. “Blue Sun Palace”…I’m starting to believe critics will rubber-stamp any movie that has subtitles. Here, the most engaging character is murdered in the first quarter, and then we have a lot of movie left to watch as other characters slog through their grief, but, mostly, just do very mundane things (there must be a dozen scenes of the male lead just eating food near-silently). Grade: C
489. “Escobank”…An interesting setup for an action movie, but ultimately a disappointing experience. Should’ve been better than it is, and maybe someone more talented (and hopefully with a bigger budget) will remake this premise down the road. Grade: C
488. “Fall is a Good Time to Die”…Meandering ultra-low-budget movie that benefits from the beautiful wide-open spaces of South Dakota. The outdoor scenery helps it avoid the ghastly, over-florescent look of most straight-to-Tubi-or-Xumo movies, but you’ll still get a bit restless before we finally get to the end. Grade: C
487. “When Fall is Coming”…Very slow first half, and a central event (alluded to in the title) that is maddeningly vague. I understand that the director wanted to keep everything vague (is it a murder or suicide or an accident? And then is it a planned murder with conspiratorial elements?) but the events really do matter in terms of how you see all the characters involved, far more than the filmmaker seems to realize. It doesn’t feel sinister or probing enough, as the central mystery isn’t really seen as ambiguous or “did they do it?” so much as “who cares if they did it?” with an overall shoulder-shrug. And that’s a stance that’s hard to connect with. A better 2025 representation of an off-screen mystery is “The Knife.” Grade: C
486. “What We Hide”…Surprised this movie got good reviews because it’s almost like some abandoned melodrama or movie-of-the-week that Jodie Foster might’ve made as a kid. It’s definitely nothing to seek out. Grade: C
485. “Eric Larue”…This movie about a couple of different (and rival) pastors trying to host a meeting between the parents of a school shooter and the mothers of his victims is well-acted and (mostly) believable, as there’s a casual credibility that builds in scenes like Annie Parisse’s mom finally sitting down with Judy Greer. [Although that could’ve-been-climactic-standout-scene ends far too quickly; almost like they’re afraid of “Larue” actually going somewhere.] But “Larue” is about people who are lost, and that has a certain dramatic inertia to it. From start to finish, you’re never sure what Greer’s character even wants or indeed if she wants, as various subplots are hinted at but don’t go anywhere (like her “nice guy” pastor being divorced and a possible attraction between them or an even flirtier dynamic between Greer’s husband and a church devotee played by Alison Pill). The ending of “Larue” is a head-scratcher, complete with a blaring rock song that has a strangely rebellious energy which the rest of the movie did not have. For a better take on similar subject matter, check out 2021’s “Mass.” Grade: C
484. “Failure!”…This movie has two things you don’t normally find in straight-to-Tubi movies: a real actor in Ted Raimi (as the dilemma-facing lead character), and some genuinely innovative filmmaking technique as the entire thing is done in one long take. I wish the script were stronger–it hits some of the same beats and dialogue points many times–but it’s important to recognize when an ultra-low budget film is trying to be better. I wish more movies would do unique things to disguise their rock-bottom budgets. Grade: C
483. “Put Your Soul on Your Hands and Walk”…The effervescent Fatma Hassona is certainly a photogenic subject for a documentary, which is good, because her face is nearly all of this “documentary” as the bulk of it consists of up close shots through meandering (and not always informative) video calls. This is incredibly poor “filmmaking” of a subject where at least some additional effort should’ve been spent rather than filming FaceTime calls. Yes, it’s trying to “present a human face for the devastation” and all, but it soon becomes apparent–through the young and naive Fatma’s insistence that she can’t leave Gaza–that we’re really just sitting around waiting on poor Hassona to get killed. That’s exactly what happens, revealed in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it title card slapped on at the very end that feels almost disrespectful, as if additional context or mourning for her death were somehow completely unnecessary. Grade: C
482. “The Assessment”…A good showcase for Alicia Vikander’s unique creepiness, but once you figure out what’s really going on with these assessments, her insidious previous actions don’t make much sense–nor does the movie asking us to feel sympathy for her at the 11th hour (we don’t). Towards the umpteenth scene where I felt queasy discomfort, I thought “Am I at the age where I want more from a movie than an unsettling feeling from start to finish? I might be.” Grade: C
481. “The President’s Wife: Bernadette”…Plays very different in the age of Trump as we see a conservative President’s wife work her magic to make him more popular than he otherwise would be, but should she though? Grade: C
480. “Aggro Dr1ft”…Harmony Korine is still trying to break new ground–his production company is literally pronounced “Edge Lord”–but an all-infrared movie like “Drift” only underlines how difficult it is for Korine to shake his somewhat distinctive Terrence-Malick-meets-Miami-acid-trip style of macho musing voiceovers and hallucinogenic, restless MTV camera-work making the entire movie feel more like one long “scene” is slushing into another than anything with a distinctive beginning, middle, or ending. Truthfully, “Aggro” borrows a lot from past Korine projects like “Spring Breakers,” but if you’ve ever wanted to see curvaceous women having sex in infrared, this might be your only cinematic chance. Grade: C
479. “A Knight’s War”…I feel conflicted giving this a pan because it’s made with such DIY passion and unabashedly cheesy earnestness that it’s almost like you’re critically judging someone’s Dungeons and Dragons role playing. Yet that’s pretty much “Knight’s War” actually is: the world’s most expensive LARP session as it feels like a Ren Faire rehearsal with some admittedly killer atmosphere, but not heaps of filmmaking craft (situations feel repetitive to the point of ridiculous). Grade: C
478. “Megadoc”…Frustratingly, we still cannot see Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating, self-financed movie “Megalopolis” due to a bizarre rights issue where the movie is unavailable to buy or stream more than 18 months after it was released in movie theaters; Coppola pretentiously insists he wants to keep it a “theatrical experience” even as there are no screens anywhere actually showing it–meaning it’s just simply not been seen by 99.9% of people. Welp, those of us who somehow missed the flop’s 2-week window in cinemas have been unable to see it and ascertain its worthiness for ourselves (which might be Coppola’s real goal). Is it strange that “Megadoc” is everywhere for free while the film it covers has all but vanished like some mythical Atlantis-type place? Yes, yes it is. Also, the filming of “Megalopolis” isn’t particularly interesting. Unlike “Apocalypse Now”‘s lush jungles and chaos, “Mega” takes place on sterile green-screens and sets. We see a few dust-ups between Shia LeBeouf and FFC, but nothing that noteworthy. “Megadoc” director Mike Figgis is also a friend of Coppola, so he might’ve edited out some of the more unsavory behavior he was accused of on-set (fondling extras or Aubrey Plaza said he would smoke copious amounts of marijuana onset wherein he would “rewrite” the script), which also doesn’t make “Megadoc” more worthy of watching. Grade: C
477. “The Left-Handed Girl”…I was excited to learn more about the lives of everyday people living in Taiwan (a world we know comparatively little about contrasted with the abundant screen representations of comparable Asian countries), but this movie is slow and largely un-involving. Grade: C
476. “Koln 75”…Some movies are just not for me, and that’s okay. The audience for this frenetic movie about the minutia behind staging a one-hour jazz concert will find it, treasure it, and tell those “who don’t get it” why they’re wrong not to feel the breathlessness of this telling aligns perfectly with the organized chaos of jazz. Good for them; no seriously, good…for…them. Grade: C
475. “Changing Lanes”…A documentary about making more bicycle lanes and American cities more walkable in general. It’s not a bad topic necessarily–although you might question if added bicycle lanes are the sole means to make a city more walkable and the movie’s myopia towards this solution–but you can’t help but feel them straining heavily for larger significance, and there are many scenes of hectoring local-politics that make the overall experience a bit like being stuck at an endless city council meeting. Grade: C
474. “An Island of the Mind”…Can the best of intentions make up for dull execution? For some people it might, and they’d probably enjoy this movie more than I did then. Grade: C
473. “The Conjuring 4: Last Rites”…The end of the long-running franchise with several spin-offs? Not really, because now they’re just going to replace the winning duo of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farminga with younger/cheaper actors in a series of prequels. “Great!”–said no one but the studio executives. I personally feel the “Conjuring” movies have gotten worse with every installment, and am pretty ready to give it actual “Last Rites.” Grade: C
472. “A Little Prayer”…Critics enjoyed this movie more than I did (even if David Strathairn and the underrated Celia Weston are pretty good), but I didn’t totally believe the relationship/”soulmate”-connection between Strathairn and Jane Levy, and building yet another ill-fated romantic tragedy around an interracial affair (Dascha Polanco deserves better) is beyond tired. Grade: C
471. “Or Something”…A very “Brooklyn” movie as a vague plot with a slight hint of criminality (two strangers must go to a different part of NYC together to get some money owed to them) is really just an excuse for a man with a mustache to talk to a caustic woman, argue about gender, then bond with faux-depth, amble about and waste time in a way that doesn’t seem like they’re really all that concerned with the sole reason they’re in that part of NYC, and then ultimately have an unsatisfying ending. Yes, the twist ending is surprising, but only because so few filmmakers would have us not care about the preceding 95% of the movie we’d just watched by attempting it. Grade: C
470. “Between the Lights”…A good story is hampered by some amateurish technical aspects and pacing issues, as are typical for straight-to-Tubi movies. Grade: C
469. “Kina & Yuk”…This is not a nature documentary (a sub-genre I love), but a narrative feature that has real animals edited into doing something remotely story-worthy for 80 minutes. I can’t say it’s entirely successful even if the snowy scenery is occasionally nice to look at. Grade: C
468. “Back in Action”…Run-of-the-mill big-budget streaming spy caper (there’s about one every month now), but for me this is a little bit better than something like “The Family Plan” mostly because I enjoy the leads better. Not saying the film itself is much better, but I just had a more enjoyable time with it. Grade: C
467. “Thunderbolts”…A sassy cast do their best to become Marvel’s version of “The Suicide Squad,” but Marvel is too protective of their “IP” (that would be the characters in most movies) to really kill off anyone. When almost the entirety of the ragtag Thunderbolts team will be back for more adventures…and more…and more surely… It really does defeat the purpose, if indeed there is a larger one than brand extension and raking in cash for another forgettable adventure that barely makes sense (although Marvel has never excelled at villains, I used to actually be able to tell you who–or what–they were, now they’re going full-blown abstract). Grade: C
466. “Grand Prix Europe”…Animated racer movie that’s probably better than 2024’s cruddy “Rally Road Racers,” but maybe not by much. Grade: C
465. “A Tooth Fairy Tale”…Grade-Z animated movie about a cold war between tooth fairies and night goblins and the forbidden teen romance between the heirs to both kingdoms. Certain scenes feel like time is standing still as the movie sputters along towards a fairly-decent climax involving a malevolent spider queen that’s a threat to all possible worlds…somehow; although you might question how a garden variety spider is such a threat to multiple magical creatures. Grade: C
464. “Lilo and Stitch”…One of the toughest things about getting older is accepting that there are just certain things you will never “get,” and other people won’t get your perspective on it either. Whereas I might’ve spent a huge chunk of my 20’s trying to debate people into submission on topics ranging from politics (important) to why Disney live-action remakes shouldn’t be a thing (less important…but only barely), I can now admit these films will continue to exist, will continue to (mostly) be very financial successful, and the films I care about will be seen by 1/100th as many people. Sigh…depressing, but such is reality oftentimes. Oh, as for the movie, well it’s not an improvement over the animated “Lilo and Stitch” in any way, and really shouldn’t even exist, but it does, so that’s that. Grade: C
463. “Now You See Me 3”…The same way my mind wandered around a lot during “Lilo and Stitch,” the watching of this movie also led to unintentional questions about aging, mortality, and the nature of popularity or alienation with one’s own culture. It’s true I’m not the biggest fan of this franchise overall, but it’s not quite old enough to receive the “new generation team-up with the ‘old’ guard” that the “Ghostbusters” reboots have since most of the original cast (Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Isla Fischer, Lizzy Caplan) has only hit the ripe old age of…40’s? Wow, where does the time go? A movie specifically designed to make millennials feel old while shoving a bunch of unnecessary young turks down our throat as “the new generation” is somehow even worse than the first two–which coasted a lot on the easy likability of the characters. Not sure this is what they wanted me thinking about during all the lame banter and cheesy, convoluted magic tricks. Grade: C
462. “Descendent”…The talented Ross Marquand is somebody I’d like to see as a leading man, but this somber sci-fi mystery drama mostly made me drowsy. You have to watch it very closely in a way that began to feel annoying given how minor its mysteries actually are (the reveals towards the end can feel almost obtuse). For a better example of a family man possibly losing everything around him, I’d check out the drama “Sharp Corners,” which doesn’t need the possibility of aliens to rivet you. Grade: C
461. “We Strangers”…Similar to Marquand in the above movie, Kirby Howell-Baptiste is a star I’d love to see get a proper vehicle for her talents. For me, “Strangers” is mostly aimless, and could’ve used a stronger plot. Some of the best scenes (like Kirby sensually dancing in an otherwise stale bar) feel like cut scenes you’d find in the Blu-ray-extras since they don’t fully connect to the rest of the movie. Grade: C
460. “Riffraff”…You might be surprised that a movie with a cast this good (Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Coolidge, and Bill Murray all in one place) isn’t better than it is. But 2025 saw the loss of Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall, so we might want to enjoy our great actors of the 70’s and 80’s now while we still have the chance. It’s true that “Riffraff”‘s best scenes pretty much all involve Murray’s emotionally distraught gangster, especially when he gets to actually play off of Harris. The tension between them is electric, especially since it’s Murray who’s the aggressor, and Harris trying hard to keep the situation from becoming violent; how’s that for a switch? Anyway, the movie itself is not very good (it’s one of about 50 crime movies that get released every year where we aren’t even in the same universe of plausible criminals), but a good actor’s showcase, nonetheless. Grade: C
459. “Good Night and Good Luck Live From Broadway”…I hate to be a hater, but the definitive version of this material was the 2005 movie version where crisp black-and-white cinematography and a sobering-yet-soulful David Strathairn added the perfect tinge of paranoia to this ideological battle. It’s still the best movie Clooney has directed. However, this “pro-shot” Broadway version is obviously too colorful (why not film a play in black-and-white? It would at least be distinctive), and Clooney is too “movie star” chummy in the role, along with a supporting cast that is trying a bit too hard for you to like them. Everything about it just feels a little bit off, right down to Clooney shoehorning in a shot at Joe Biden as a stealth defense for his misguided efforts to shove the old man off the 2024 ticket. You would think he’d be reluctant to remind us of this since the gambit didn’t produce a successful result, but you honestly get the sense that Clooney thinks he is Edward R. Murrow in a way that can’t but feel vain glorious. Grade: C
458. “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life”…This is a great example of how French films (and European cinema in general) are not necessarily less predictable or conventional than their American counterparts, they’re just slower about winding up at an ending you can see from the first 15 minutes. All the classic cliches are here: the enemies-to-lovers-trope, the black female friend who hardly gets a sentence of dialogue outside of propping up the white heroine (Anna Lengronne, barely used here), an aspirational connection to the arts by telling us the heroine is a better writer than we ever actually see her being, some colorfully kooky old people, etc. There’s even a particularly mean-spirited scene wherein a humorless female writer insists fiction should be political or make an effort to capture the world as it really is–wherein “Austen” makes it clear where they stand on the debate by dousing her in water. Take that, topical writer! Grade: C
457. “Merrily We Roll Along”…Another “pro-shot” Broadway play rather than a proper film adaptation (although Richard Linklater is currently waisting years of his life filming one of those), but only Jonathan Groff seems to be acting in the more intimate style of movies. He manages subtle vulnerability and subtext in a way many of the other Broadway-vets on-screen simply don’t (Lindsay Mendez gives a “to the rafters!” performance, Reg Rogers is doing sub-Nathan Lane, and Daniel Radcliffe looks nervous from start to finish). And by changing the race of Gussie Carnegie (and also Meg, the woman Groff leaves Gussie for), it adds an unfortunate note of anti-miscegenation to the proceedings that truly sucks. The stereotypically grasping Broadway actress that is Gussie looks even worse when all the more multi-dimensional main characters are still white, along with her heartbroken original husband. Grade: C
456. “Pavements”…This is a creative musical documentary about a band I didn’t care about at all. Even if I’m glad they tried to do something a bit different, it’s never as different as the makers seem to feel it is, making the indulgent two-hour-plus runtime unforgivable. Grade: C
455. “Cloud”…This Japanese movie would very much like to say something about modern capitalism and digital con artistry, but makes less sense as it keeps going, collapsing in a heap of apocalyptic melodrama that makes you feel foolish for even caring what happened to anyone on-screen. Grade: C
454. “Misericordia”…And similar to “Jane” and “Cloud,” this was a universally acclaimed foreign film that would’ve likely been more heavily scrutinized if it had been an American movie. Instead, complaints of “this movie makes no sense” and/or “Tom Ripley this is not” have been replaced by “it’s a vibe, so just embrace the ambiguity” lest any critics look uncool for not loving a French thriller that’s too vague to be truly unsettling, and has its central antihero illogically seducing nearly everyone in a way that suggests he might have supernatural powers. Grade: C
453. “East of Wall”…But maybe I’m wrong in saying foreign films are rubber-stamped for their exoticism since this “uniquely American” story was too despite being mostly dull and predictable. However, the exoticism here is more for a slice of “rural America” not always seen outside of Taylor Sheridan (it’s setting is South Dakota) so maybe it’s the same thing: fetishizing the exoticism of a culture to where you ignore obvious cliches the movie traffics in. Grade: C
452. “Jimpa”…Once again, John Lithgow proves he’s one of the most fearless actors alive, here playing a character that is sometimes offensive, and sometimes naked (the 80-year-old Lithgow has multiple full frontal scenes). But “Jimpa” doesn’t seem to realize that its title character is also its most interesting one, and the movie lags whenever he’s not on-screen, which is most of the first and third acts. The third act in particular serves us up a tragic twist nobody asked for, which undermines most of the tension that had been building up towards a climax that never comes. There’s a scene with Cody Fern earlier in the movie wherein lack of conflict in a drama is criticized, and that’s definitely meant to be meta, as if the movie is self-guarding against criticisms that it keeps dodging its juiciest plot threads. Grade: C
451. “Come See Me in the Good Light”…Documentaries where we watch someone we don’t know that well slowly die and/or grapple with serious illness can sometimes occupy a coveted spot in the Best Documentary Oscar category (“The Eternal Memory” was another recent one that did, and I wasn’t huge on that either), but I usually feel that slot would be better spent going to something less anecdotal or navel-gazingly personalized. Grade: C
450. “The Tale of Silyan”…For me, it’s quietly becoming a red flag if a foreign film or documentary has a near-100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and probably signals that it’s been rubber-stamped for exoticism more than properly evaluated for what it’s actually showing us. “Silyan” is dull as hell (at one point there is a lingering shot of a dead stork at a trash dump for what feels like a full minute), and often mistakes being depressing for giving us real insight into the lives of its subjects. Grade: C
449. “Mr. K”…For some viewers, Crispin Glover at peak-weirdness while meanderingly mucking about a mysterious, inescapable place where the rules make no sense is more than enough. Myself, I often want more than just abject strangeness from my head trip movies. Those wondering what a Wes Anderson version of “The Prisoner” might look like could find value here though. Grade: C
448. “The Voice of Hind Rajab”…The worst of this year’s Best Foreign Film nominees. Much of this feels like a familiar thriller we’ve already seen before (there have been several movies centered around frantic help lines) but given the “prestige” sheen by tying it to real life events. You keep waiting for something a little bit more nuanced or fully-fleshed-out than an episode of “The Pitt” to emerge, but you mostly just see repetitive squabbles between the help-line workers–all of whom are mostly one-dimensional characters. Grade: C
447. “Notice to Quit”…Intermittently depressing and saccharine; I did believe the father-daughter relationship at the center, and there are a few touching moments. But Michale Zegen’s character will irritate more than anything else. Zegen is playing a riff on a “Marty Supreme”-esque “hustler” realtor, but he’s not the right actor to flesh a part like this out beyond his nattering patter. Grade: C
446. “Zero”…The plot moves well, the Senegal location is unique, and the production values are not bad for a straight-to-Tubi movie, but the movie’s plot is a muddle (it’s the rare conspiracy movie where I can’t tell you who’s behind it or many of the details even after it’s over), the ending lame (revolutions don’t typically begin after all the leaders of a movement are killed), and it’s incredibly disappointing that Annabelle Lengronne is only in the final scene and only Willem Dafoe’s voice appears, as I had only watched the movie for their involvement. Grade: C
445. “All of You”…One of the strangest things about this movie is that it sets up a sci-fi premise (you can take an expensive “soulmate test” to see who you belong with out of everyone on Earth) that it has almost no interest in, as the soulmate test is more in the background of two lead characters who take different approaches towards it. Brett Goldstein is effortlessly convincing–he’ll be a true movie star in any genre he chooses soon–and Imogen Poots has rarely been better, striking great sparks with Goldstein. That makes the endlessly tortured nature of their star-crossed romance a little bit hard to take after the 4th or 5th setback. And the winning Zawe Ashton is shoehorned into the ill-fitting role of “the other woman obstacle” early on in a way that feels almost cruel given how she’d naturally be the main character in a different story. Grade: C
444. “Hedda”…Tessa Thompson is truly incredible here, and it would’ve been nice if she had broken through to be Oscar-nomiated for Best Actress. The only downside is that the movie around her isn’t that strong, and it continues Hollywood’s annoying habit of changing race, gender, and sexual orientation in just such a way as to yet again negatively portray black women/white male couples (the movies sitting around this one on the countdown–“Zero,” “All of You,” “Black Bag,” and “After the Hunt”–all do to various extents). Grade: C
443. “Black Bag”…Every critic on Earth seemed to enjoy this movie way more than I did, but why though? After an unconvincingly stagey opening dinner party the complex (but archly-smug) plot unfurls, and it’s not clear that the “bad guys” aren’t right, and the icy central married couple have done anything more than maintain the status quo. Great…? Grade: C
442. “After the Hunt”…Luca Guadagnino gives us his version of a Woody Allen drama, but why though? The problems with “Hunt” aren’t just that it’s timing is straight up horrible (a college campus meditation on “cancel culture,” the vagaries of MeToo, and the privileges of…mediocre black female post-grad students? Okay…) at a time when Trumpolini is desperately trying to force prestigious colleges to become Liberty University and keep black students out of them altogether. For me, the bigger problem is that Luca doesn’t appear to actually believe his own message–stacking somewhat-inert scenes on top of each other without that much happening, or much evidence his heart is really in the argument he could be perceived to be making. By contrast, “Queer” also had an “unconventional” plot structure, but you could tell he was into everything he was showing us. Still, he maintains his superior skill with actors, and Julia Roberts in particular hasn’t had a role this good in years. You could see where Luca could probably make 5 movies like this in a row, and still be able to get top-tier talent into pretty much any project he wants. Grade: C
441. “96 Minutes”…Action movies involving bombs on high speed Taiwanese trains should feel more exciting than this right? Your first clue that something might be off here comes when you realize the movie’s length is nearly two hours, making it much longer than its title runtime for no particular reason (it’s not like a lot couldn’t have been trimmed, and the preceding events setting up the movie couldn’t have been done in flashback) and to rob us of what should’ve been a real-time set thriller. Grade: C
440. “Bullet Train Explosion”…Between this, “96 Minutes,” the Godawful “Speed Train,” and “Pets on a Train,” it turns out overseas high-speed trains were a very dangerous place to be in a 2025 movie. There’s a numbness to these “Speed” knockoffs, and “Train Explosion” is a bit too similar to “96 Minutes” in that the melodramatic backstory of the bomber and their grudge against the police is never quite as interesting as the filmmakers think it is given that both of these films are simply too long for what they are and the actual amount of action they contain (hint: not enough). Grade: C
439. “Modi”…Johnny Depp is getting older, but not necessarily wiser could be the takeaway here with Depp making his second directorial effort a rumination on familiar themes like a hard-partying artist with strong opinions, stronger loves, and passionate disagreements. You can’t help but feel Depp is trying to tell us something, but a sneering Riccardo Scamarcio might be the wrong vessel to tell us. There’s one scene near the end that absolutely works and that’s a duel of sorts between Scamarcio’s artist and Al Pacino’s art collector/financier; it’s almost like a mini-“My Dinner with Andre” in that both men are really taking apart each other’s own philosophies and worldviews as much as art itself. Despite that riveting respite, we go right back to basically hating our main character as he throws away yet more opportunities before the movie sputters to a close. Grade: C
438. “Bull Run”…For a while, this was a hard movie to review because it moves quickly and speaks with a type of sub-“Wolf of Wall Street” expository self-awareness that you might inadvertently think “Bull” is actually as clever as it thinks it is. The biggest differentiator between “Run” and the two-dozen finance movies that tread similar territory is how truly strange many of the characters are, almost as if the persona of “master of the universe” alpha-banker is being used to mask deep insecurities and vulnerabilities. That would’ve been a good angle to explore–and it’s not like the actual deals they’re working on or plot points covered here are explained to a degree that would make sense or involve us in any way, so they would’ve been better off doing so. However, “Bull” thinks it’s enough for Tom Blythe’s somewhat vacant lead character to merely rattle off smirking pitter patter in a way that never graduated to truly funny. Grade: C
437. “Happy Gilmore 2”…Can a cynical cash-grab legacy sequel that has no true reason to exist beyond commerce ever be truly good? Perhaps not, but cruelly killing off Happy’s beloved wife and shoehorning in Sandler’s real-life wife and kids (got to get them some spending money of their own here people!) shows Sandler and Co. aren’t too interested in trying that hard either. The ridiculous sport of “souped up golf” is where many of the laughs come from as a parody of “X-treme” huckster/hustler capitalism, but I also can’t help but feel more than half the people watching this movie would probably prefer to see that version of golf too. Is it really satirizing it, or mildly endorsing it by admitting it’s where most of the movie’s liveliest scenes come from? Grade: C
436. “Goodbye June”…Movies about imminent death have a certain strange coziness to them–no sense being too nihilistic on the way out the door–and “June” felt so familiar, it was like I had already seen it. A talented cast can’t quite inject life into this material. Grade: C
435. “Mother, Couch”…Takes the diametrically opposed view “Goodbye June” does on the subject of a mother dying and the effect that’ll have on her kids, here embracing surrealism and allegory in a way that might move you once you figure out what it’s going for (Ewan McGregor’s character feeling adrift and mostly alone in a strange place he’s not sure is sinister or even supernatural), but the experience doesn’t deepen as it keeps going. I think the movie is best early on when there’s a true sense of unease, but you might feel tired by it before it’s over–perhaps a statement on the long slide from “very old” to death itself. Grade: C
434. “The Rose of Versailles”…People who enjoy this source material will probably have a better time with this, but the effect was numbing for me personally, like everything was wrapped in sparkly gauze so that each scene blandly blends into each other. Grade: C
433. “Novocaine”…A good opening setup and likable protagonist (who maybe is a bit slow to pick up on a “twist” the audience sees coming in the first 10 minutes), but this is eventually undermined by a genuinely dumb final third, hambone overacting from Ray Nicolson as the villain, and an over-the-top climax. Grade: C
432. “The Pickup”…This is the rare C-grade movie that people might wonder why I’m raking it so highly in the countdown as most reactions have been far more dismal. Maybe there’s just something aspirational in seeing Pete Davidson’s bottom rung dude get with Keke Palmer (here toning down her usual manic-ness to play the calculating straight woman organizing a major heist, and the serious badass-itude looks great on her). Anyway, nothing too offensive happens, and there’s a decent freeway chase/hijack scene, so you might not regret taking this “Pickup.” Grade: C
431. “The Unholy Trinity”…A below-average Western nearly saved by Samuel L. Jackson having a ball (and almost making the fun contagious) as a cunning outlaw looking to get his share of stolen gold. It’s just too bad that the lead character is Brandon Lessard–who looks like a poor man’s Joe Keery–an actor that turns in a dull, often-confused performance as the dumbest guy in any room he enters. And although a not-too-sharp protagonist might’ve been an interesting hook for a movie to explore (especially one with craftier villains all around him); it’s not entirely clear “Trinity” makes him that way intentionally. Grade: C
430. “Sound of Falling”…Lyrical and poetic throughout, almost feeling like we’re being told the story of a property throughout four generations from the perspective of the family ghost. But it often feels like we’re waiting for something to happen more than ever winds up happening, and the bloated length, vague resolutions, and grim tone can make this feel like a punishment the audience isn’t sure what they’ve done to deserve. Grade: C
429. “Frankenstein”…My pick for the worst of this year’s Best Picture nominees (although you’ll soon see there are a couple of others that are only fractionally better). Guillermo Del Toro’s version of Mary Shelley’s oft-told tale is meandering and aimless, bloated, and pathologically unfaithful to the source material. I’m not even sure the movie’s decision to rob the text of horror elements in order to refashion it into an allegory for abusive parenting cycles actually works…at all. And even if this landed Jacob Elordi an Oscar nomination (and I’m a believer in his long-term potential), he would be wise to stay away from roles that require him to be a lumbering slow-wit for a while. Grade: C
428. “Without Warning”…A documentary that has a fascinating true story (centered around multiple Iditarod races that don’t go according to plan), but the filmmaking here is worse than some YouTube videos. Some beautiful snowy scenery is punctuated with endless talking head interviews that have bad sound and a stagnant look. Even though this is barely 75 minutes without credits, it often feels longer than it actually is. Grade: C
427. “Who By Fire”…Let’s be honest and admit that anyone interested in a story similar to this will probably watch “Good One” instead, which is all for the best since this French-Canadian has terrible pacing, and “One” is over an hour shorter. Some nice scenery and occasional breakthrough moment can’t make up for the overall weaknesses (or sneering Frenchness of the majority of male characters) here. Grade: C
426. “Nobody”…Some Chinese film reviewers swore up and down this animated movie was excellent and “puts Disney to shame” in that usual nationalistic and hyperbolic way, but this is a fairly generic animated movie done with a better animation style than the usual soulless-A.I.-slop cheap computer way. Grade: C
425. “Project Y”…A pair of Seoul-based model-looking women become mixed up with a hyperbolically South Korean criminal element. None of it feels quite realistic or believable enough, but since most Korean crime thrillers aren’t really after realism, it might disappoint some that it even tries in a way that does somewhat undercut the gonzo-fun of it all. Grade: C
424. “Under the Open Sky”…Although better than comparably dreary “slice of life” documentaries like “The Tale of Silvan,” this is still a very boring doc centered around a way of life that could be ending, but whose isn’t in the age of Trumpolini, trillionaires, A.I., and climate change? Grade: C
423. “The Goldman Case”…I would’ve welcomed an actual biography of the story presented here, but this is basically a stage play filmed around French radical Pierre Goldman’s trial. It violates the cardinal film rule of “show, don’t tell,” and the end result is a hectoring drag. Nearly every character on screen over-acts/yells in a way that’s hard to fathom would be allowed in an actual courtroom for sustained periods of time. Two hours of French men loudly sneering at each other is some people’s nightmare, and I would be one of those people. Grade: C
422. “A Traveler’s Needs”…Dull and skippable. The kind-of movie that would’ve gotten lousy reviews and tagged with descriptions like “aimless” if it were an American indie instead of a foreign film. Grade: C
421. “The Other, Gold”…For a vanity-adjacent micro-indie like this that’s been made to showcase a clear talent on the rise (Sharae Nikai is sincerely terrific in the lead role) the real accomplishment is that it was made at all. The pacing and main plot are ambling, several unnecessary scenes with side characters we don’t care about stretch on too long, and the movie doesn’t really want to dig too deep into the topic of friendships that have run their course (the reconciliatory ending seems to abandon the theme altogether). But I do believe the overall creative team will go on to bigger and better things, and there are seeds of a good movie here if the main character were allowed to actually explore her terrible loneliness. And like too many movies or stories centered around writers, the creative project the lead is working on often seems like it might’ve made a better story than the one we’re watching. Grade: C
420. “Father Mother Sister Brother”…A trio of stories set around familial bonds. The first two are so similar (awkward daytime visits between adult siblings and aging parents they can’t quite connect with) that the third one about two overly-chill orphan siblings in France almost feels tonally out of place. I can still remember the days when I was living in non-city Alabama–where indie legend Jim Jarmusch didn’t command too many screens–and would have to travel a great distance to see a new Jarmusch movie like “Broken Flowers” in theaters. The days I would make that distance are gone, as he now seems content to mumble through stories few people should care about. That makes me sad, and filled me with the sense of melancholy estrangement Jarmusch is trying to capture in the first two stories. Grade: C
419. “Homebound”…The first third of the movie sets us up for what would’ve been a genuinely interesting exploration of police privilege with two friends from a lower caste applying for police jobs, but only one of them getting in. The more interesting narrative would’ve been seeing how the power of “the badge” changes a man, has him internalizing prejudice, and sees him change his view of a longtime friend. But “Homebound” is based on a meandering true story that sees none of that happen, a detour into water purifier sales, a “nomance”-romance that goes nowhere, a CoVid breakout, and the actual “plot” of the title only introduced in the final quarter of the film as the two friends try to get back to their parents during quarantine. Yes, yes, “it’s a true story,” and all that–but it feels like three separate films layered together in a way that doesn’t really let them explore any of the most dramatically rich themes they could’ve. [Even towards the end when policemen are literally caning our heroes; it doesn’t stop to ask them how they actually feel towards the police jobs they so coveted.] And the cheesy traditionalism of mainstream Indian filmmaking doesn’t always gel with the mournful, solemn tone “Homebound” is attempting. This just simply isn’t as artful as something like “All We Imagine as Light,” in case “Homebound” actually being submitted to the Academy Awards by India’s regressive selection committee didn’t clue you in. Grade: C
418. “Off the Record”…”MeToo” movies are becoming a bit of a calling card for young white actresses on the rise (Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby,” Rachel Sennott in “I Used To Be Funny,” and Cazzie David’s “I Love You Forever” were all released in the last 18 months), and here Rainey Qualley gets her turn. It’s not exactly “bad,” but it’s not exactly revelatory either, and I preferred “I Love You Forever” for a funnier, better-acted movie following some of the same terrain. It also doesn’t help that Rainey is 36 playing a much younger and less experienced character, and her naivety is a bit harder to believe given that the “bad news” older man who manipulates and swindles her is only 8 years older than she is. Grade: C+
417. “The History of Sound”…On the one hand, it’s actually refreshing to see a gay-themed historical drama where the central plot is not them being outed or the tension of being exposed. However, the main plot–about sound recordings–is mostly a snooze, and you can’t help but feel this movie is at least 20 minutes too long. Ultimately, watching two straight UK actors pretend to be Southern lovers in a slow-paced drama is about as riveting as it sounds. Grade: C+
416. “Plainclothes”…The exact opposite of “Sound” in that this jump-cut-infused, overly-tortured movie cares deeply about the closet, and makes its entire narrative tension whether or not the two main character will get shoved out of it. [In both cases, Tom Blythe’s angsty, conflicted cop practically detonates the closet around them when their respective “outings” come.] Blyth is “intense acting” up a storm here, looking so laser-focused and tormented that he forgets to make his character’s passions any fun. And fellow-Brit Russell Tovey is the (somewhat-unconvincing) object of his affection, meaning this is yet another movie where you can watch British actors play closeted-gay Americans. Fun. [Although “Sound”‘s Mescal and O’Connor have more genuine chemistry, Tovey is the only one of the four that’s out in real life.] Grade: C+
415. “Sirat”…From a technical perspective, this might be the best of the year’s Foreign Film nominees, as the stark desert scenery, expert cinematography, and Oscar-nominated Sound all show somebody competent is organizing things here. But this remains a challenging watch as the first half is tediously aimless, and the second half unsatisfying to the extreme. Grade: C+
414. “Bugonia”…Now that the Coen Brothers have split up (to very diminishing returns in Ethan Coen’s case) Yorgos Lanthimos has become the de facto Misanthrope King for critic’s to heap praise on as he puts his mostly one-dimensional characters through hell in arcly-“comic” screeds about the terribleness of humanity. Now he’s back with a sci-fi movie remake that doesn’t even have originality going for it (other than flipping the genders of a couple of main characters, Yorgos changes surprisingly little from the South Korean original “Save the Green Planet!”). Sure, “Bugonia” is admittedly better than his 2024 Emma Stone/Jesse Plemons dud “Kinds of Kindness,” re-teaming them into this tale that predictably ends with human kind getting what Lanthimos thinks they deserve. The biggest mystery for his next film (that I’m sure will once again monopolize Emma Stone) may very well be if the mid-50-something Lanthimos will ever ditch his aging Edgelord ways and mature beyond the basic worldview of a scolded teenage boy? Grade: C+
413. “Woolly: Sau”…Good scenery and fine footage of the animals, but this documentary about an unlikely successor taking over a sheep farm is more “nice to watch” than “must watch,” and rarely riveting. Grade: C+
412. “The Choral”…Ralph Fiennes is an actor that could make reading the phonebook electric (or whatever the modern equivalent of that would be…maybe reading a 70,000-word Alabama Liberal article reviewing movies?), and he has practically done that before by bringing even T.S. Elliott’s poems to life in “Four Quartets.” He’s never not worth watching, but I have to freely admit that the rest of this stuffy WWI-era movie is a dull affair, and by the end of its too-long runtime I began to feel almost as stifled as Fiennes’s composer is by the overly-traditional men he’s surrounded by. Grade: C+
411. “Blue Eyed Girl”…A good showcase for many of the actors involved, but never escapes its somewhat “TV movie on basic cable” quality. Grade: C+
410. “Before We Begin”…It’s not often a movie fails by being too sincere, but “Begin” does just that. Exploring a new love in that weird period right before you start college is an interesting time, but the execution here could cure insomnia. Grade: C+
409. “Women on Mars”…Here, a group of women in Spain train to become astronauts to Mars in a desert habitat, but the odds of them ever going are so remote as to dilute the interest in the experiment. These women are very Spanish, and a bit unmotivated to live life without their uniquely-Southern-European comforts, the ending revealing that not one of them would even consider going to Mars for real. Without that burning passion for exploration, the commitment to the project can feel a bit insincere, and the overall documentary a bit aimless even though it’s barely an hour long. Grade: C+
408. “All Happy Families”…Look, I like most of this cast (it’s been eons since underrated actors like Becky Ann Baker, and Rob Huebel had big screen roles this substantial), and I like the positive interracial romance at the center here. Even if Josh Radnor gets on my nerves (whether I mean the actor or his often unreadable main character I’ll leave up to you), and I don’t think the overall movie is very strong at all, I can’t totally pan something like this. Grade: C+
407. “1 Mile High Club”…A tough movie to review properly because it’s obvious nobody involved is trying too hard (Tom Arnold is the biggest name in the cast, he spends 90% of his screen-time sitting down in the same airplane seat, and is smirking like he’s about to crack up during many of his scenes). So does the movie succeed at its goal of being a “throwback” to early-00’s horn-dog comedies that have no problem with some good old fashioned filth? Well, yes actually, in its limited aim, the movie does exactly what it wants to do. Unlike the Gen-Z “sex” comedies where nobody actually has sex and the mere act of it is filled with panic, “Mile High Club” is nearly soft-core pornography for about 10% of its runtime. A likable quartet of lead actresses make the fun feel almost contagious, and the “good vibes” of all involved are hard to discount completely. Grade: C+
406. “Good Men”…A worthy premise for a documentary (a documentarian goes around to 50 people he knows and asks them what a “good man” is, plus various questions centered around masculinity), but eventually loses the plot before ambling to a close. It doesn’t help that many of the people he knows are from a Hollywood background, and give a lot of the same answers that feel more like faux-“deep” PR than truly probing explorations. But the handful of people who are genuinely candid (Henry Winkler is one of them) almost make up for the rest. Grade: C+
405. “Heads of State”…A good movie? No. The “argumentative banter” between the two leads is almost painful in places, and it’s ridiculous to make a movie that positively portrays an American celebrity who becomes an idiot POTUS. But Priyanka Chopra proves she can generate heat with just about any actor alive, the effortlessly credible Idris Elba gives his PM character some gravitas, a couple of the action sequences are fun (most notably Jack Quaid having a ball with a brief role), and it’s almost touching to see a braindead action movie that firmly voices support for the existence of NATO. You really wouldn’t think such a thing would be controversial in 2025 filmmaking, but it just might be in some quarters of the U.S. that can’t seem to tell the difference between Russia and an actual friend. Grade: C+
404. “The Empire”…All the signifiers of this being a French film are there: an ending that’s more “WTF?” than “Whoa,” languorous pacing that unfurls with a shoulder shrug as though it’s unsure if it wants to continue, and a plain-looking hero with a sneer on his face that is somehow irresistible to the far more beautiful women around him (Lyna Khoudri, and Anamaria Vartolomei). Still, French films never disappoint when it comes to gratuitous sex scenes and nudity, and neither does “Empire,” and the deliberate goofiness (it’s a semi-spoof of sci-fi blockbusters like “Star Wars”) makes it hard to fully dislike. Grade: C+
403. “The Ice Tower”…Great atmosphere and Marion Cotillard at her most ambiguous are the draws here, but this languorous story could’ve greatly benefited from being about 30 minutes shorter. Grade: C+
402. “Bad Man”…Pretty standard rural crime film wherein nothing feels exactly authentic, but it is nice to see Seann William Scott in a different type of role. In a better movie, his “twist” might’ve been introduced earlier on and having him playing the type of role Eddie Murphy might have in the 80’s instead of keeping it ambiguous for so long. Plus, this movie is filmed in around Birmingham, even if it’s setting is a fictional town in Tennessee. Grade: C+
401. “Eleanor the Great”…June Squibb is effortlessly charismatic, but I’m not sure this is the best use of her. The movie never seems sure either, introducing a tantalizing ethical conflict (she makes up being a holocaust survivor in order to tell her recently-deceased best friend’s story), but eventually revealing that in such a way that lacks commitment; basically shoulder-shrugging its way towards an ending. Grade: C+
400. “Proud Princess”…Ho-hum animated movie that may be pretty basic but has some exciting set pieces (like a chase through some log flumes) and a worthy message against corrupt government. Grade: C+
399. “Secret Mall Apartment”…A group of friends build a small apartment inside a mall, and some of the best sections involve how elaborate the construction and maintenance of their “statement”/”prank”/”hangout” became. [It’s not really an artistic satire about “people living in a mall” since nobody was ever supposed to find out about it except the “artists” trying to have a free place to go.] The interviews with the participants can occasionally feel indulgent–you really do get the sense that this wound up being the highlight of their lives–and the story stretches in a way that makes you feel this could’ve been a short-documentary subject and probably won that category at the oscars. Grade: C+
398. “Killing Faith”…DeWanda Wise is a vivid screen presence that is rarely in this type of lower-budgeted Westerns, and that makes “Faith” more distinctive than anything plot related about religious manipulation and paranoia, supernatural vagaries, the nature of evil, and blah blah blah. Sure, this is a “better” movie than “Trail of Vengeance” or the awful “Gunslingers,” but is that really the standard we’re going for to make a “good” Western in 2026? Grade: C+
397. “You Can’t Win”…I was hoping this would be comparable to “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” in that it’s an artsy, moodier period Western that feels like a more polished 70’s revisionist Western. But “Can’t” is undermined by often being too low-key, and a lifeless lead performance from Michael Pitt that never sparks. Grade: C+
396. “Born Poor”…Out of all the 2025 PBS documentaries I watched, this one was “the worst,” but that’s only because one of them had to be, and this was the least informative overall. You might think it’s a bit too long and not deep enough for it is, and maybe it would’ve been nice to get further context than just understanding that poor people have to think about money a lot, and it sure does suck. We have a media landscape that is way too geared towards the rich (nearly every character on TV is very successful) and it would be nice to see a contrast to that more often, but I’m not sure this is it. Grade: C+
395. “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”…Some interesting elements and performances, but this 80’s set gay drama (at the height of misunderstood HIV panic) is undone by severe pacing issues. Grade: C+
394. “Turbulence”…It has a “Housemaid”-style “twist” you can see coming a mile away, but there’s something undeniably nerve-jangling about this hot-air-balloon-set thriller, especially in the first half. Still, some of the CGI sucks, and many of the lead heroine’s decisions are baffling (she seems to be okay letting herself get killed to preserve the life of a dangerous woman she doesn’t know, but then sanctity of life means nothing to her in the last 10 minutes of the movie). The ridiculousness becomes even more apparent when Kelsey Grammar’s velvety gravitas isn’t there to ground the ridiculousness in the latter half. Grade: C+
393. “The Housemaid”…Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney are good here, but I had to laugh at critics who said this movie had “unpredictable twists,” as they must not have seen a Lifetime movie or read a popular novel in the last 15 years. The “twist” will be all too familiar for those familiar with the dime-a-dozen potboilers that have come out recently. Grade: C+
392. “Bodyguard of Lies”…The Afghanistan War is America’s longest war, and yet almost disappeared from the conversation merely because there was no draft so it doesn’t cast the same shadow as Vietnam did for boomers, who have psychic scars at the horrifying possibility of being asked to actually sacrifice something. Discussing it is certainly a worthy endeavor (I’d rather watch this than the 5,000th Vietnam documentary), but the inert “Bodyguard” itself won’t necessarily help reframe the lack of interest around Afghanistan. Grade: C+ …And for a narrative film take on Afghanistan…
391. “13 Days 13 Nights”…Michael Bay made the irresponsible “13 Hours” about Benghazi specifically, so this French story of the withdrawal from Afghanistan is certainly better than that. But is that really the bar though? This shows the French can kind-of, sort-of do the “Big Hollywood” thing too (a handful of films on this countdown make that point already), but those hoping for more than a French-sheen on the usual-usual might be disappointed in watching this. A worthy story meets mediocre execution. Grade: C+
390. “Superman”…The controversy around Superman’s immigration status was more interesting than anything onscreen in this poorly executed James Gunn reboot (the cheapness of many scenes and Nathan Fillion’s entire performance feel so tonally off it’s like a spoof parody film of superhero movies). Although I would’ve loved to have supported a big, unabashedly liberal blockbuster (suck it MAGA, you don’t even go to the movie theater anyway), I don’t feel “Superman”‘s politics are as onscreen as many people might wish they were, even if Lex Luthor’s ties to shady invaders probably echoes Trump’s bizarre Putin love, and it was satisfying to see the film’s Putin-stand-in get what’s coming to him. I just wish the overall film (and performances) were much, much stronger. Grade: C+
389. “Primitive War”…”Dinosaurs exist during the Vietnam War!” is definitely a swing, and “Primeval” succeeds in making dinosaurs outside the “Jurassic” series feel believably incorporated into semi-modern settings (and as bloody as they would actually be outside the PG-13-trappings of that franchise). The characters are dumb and/or paper-thin, the dialogue often feels like they asked the actors to make something up on the fly, and you can tell all the production money went towards the dinosaurs themselves more than the human “stars” (Ryan Kwanten, Tricia Helfer, and the disgraced Jeremy Piven are the closest things we have here). Even if I’m not sure you need to be a great actor to look shocked at dinosaurs, the “Jurassic World” franchise probably wasn’t hurt by Scarlett Johansson replacing Chris Pratt. Grade: C+
388. “Merchants of Joy”…Documentary about Christmas tree hustlers in NYC. Many of these real-life characters are better in small doses. Grade: C+
387. “Oh. What. Fun”…Similar to Amazon Prime’s other Christmas movie “Merchants,” this is a film you might admire more than enjoy as it centers itself around pricklier-than-usual Christmas protagonists, although this admirably tries to prioritize the role of the mother in many Christmas classics. However, the inherent defensiveness “Fun” adopts throughout can begin to feel one-note. Grade: C+
386. “E.1027”…Experimental documentary that’s heavy on stagey reenactments and restless camerawork. Nice looking, but dramatically distant, and not as memorable as it wants to be. Grade: C+
385. “The Friend”…Too little Bill Murray, as he’s really only shown in a couple of scenes. [For those looking for a Murray fix, he’s surprisingly more prominent in “Riffraff,” despite being more like the 5th or 6th lead there, but centering the plot in “Friend.”] “Naomi Watts inherits a large dog” is about as riveting as it sounds, and the movie often strains when reaching for the deeper emotional currents it hopes to invoke. It’s really just many scenes of Watts being irritated at having such a large dog. Grade: C+
384. “The Great Flood”…A worthy disaster movie gets tangled up in sci-fi nonsense. The first third that plays it (mostly) straight is thrilling, and makes this the rare movie I wish had been less experimental. Grade: C+
383. “Night of the Zoopacalypse”…Didn’t buy the ending and how they save all the animals at all, and this will probably be too scary for very young kids (the grittiness of some of the characters and sustained mood of dread from almost start to finish as much as the ghastly creatures), and so this is a movie without a clear target audience. Still, I enjoyed the atmosphere, and a few innovative sequences (like a hybrid gorilla-giraffe monster). Grade: C+
382. “Pompei: Below the Clouds”…Beautiful black and white photography, but this is a film that could cure insomnia, and only the most determined viewers will probably finish it. Grade: C+
381. “The Smurfs”…No movie that will entertain young kids for nearly two hours is all bad, and it should be said that “Smurfs” didn’t have mine as restless as they are during the true crud that comes (mostly) straight-to-streaming. However, parents will be hard-pressed to love this film or even any standout aspects within it–of which there really aren’t any. Grade: C+
380. “How to Save Democracy”…I was surprised (and disappointed) that I didn’t enjoy this documentary more, as it certainly has worthy subject matter every American should seek out. However, it covers a lot of the same bases documentaries like this always cover (and usually covered better in YouTube videos everywhere from Robert Reich to More Perfect Union), while also making the same mistakes you see a lot too (like pretending Bill Clinton’s repeal of Glass Steagall really made that much difference). There’s also the unfortunate fact that some of the film’s “solutions” would probably make things much worse–like a six-year term for POTUS or a constitutional convention to rewrite sections of the U.S. Constitution, which nefarious conservative forces are absolutely pushing for right now in hopes of getting rid of almost every liberal protection. I actively rolled my eyes when this doc laid out the debunked case for Trump being a “wrecking ball” for worker frustrations and how hard his voters have it, but then no talking heads mentioned that much about his immigrant demonization and the inherent racism of most of his base, nor a word about Kamala Harris possibly losing due to being a black woman in a country where one has never even been governor. Plus, the look of this doc is terrible, with some of those YouTube videos I mentioned earlier often looking much better and with graphics that don’t look stolen from 90’s Powerpoint presentations. [For a “no frills” documentary that covers similar terrain, I’d recommend “Democracy Under Siege.”] Grade: C+
379. “Pot of Gold”…Good scenery props up a documentary about a Kashmir honey bee farmer trying to rebuild after an earthquake. Despite showing you a subculture rarely on film, there are many scenes that feel repetitive despite this doc being barely 65 minutes long without credits. Grade: C+
378. “Predators”…Most critics seemed to like this movie a lot more than I did, but there’s a sterile chilliness to the presentation here, and maybe the overall subject matter (wherein people question the Dateline show “To Catch a Predator” in a way that feels strangely dated) just isn’t for me. Similarly, I’m not overwhelmingly excited to watch Robert Pattinson act in a dramatic movie about this same subject in 2026’s “Primetime.” Grade: C+
377. “Diane Warren: Relentless”…Will Diane Warren ever win an Oscar? This is the movie’s most burning question, and even though the movie attempts to dig deeper into Warren than just her ambition, you can’t help but feel there’s something a little bit limited here. Is merely listing the professional accomplishments (noteworthy as they are) of a workaholic enough for a documentary? Or wouldn’t it be better to find some way to make this tangible to audiences who may be feeling burnt out on “here’s something great that I did with some famous people once” anecdote-based celebrity documentaries? Grade: C+
376. “No Address”…Similar to Uwe Boll’s “Run,” the best of intentions meets shoddy filmmaking here, but unlike Boll’s lousy exploration of Europe’s refugees, this exploration of homelessness doesn’t smack of the same exploitation of a delicate situation. I truly believe “Address” wants to help (there’s even a sort-of PSA by the cast at the end), and that makes the “not good” nature of the movie itself all the more disappointing. Still, “Address” is trying hard to humanize “bums,” right down to the predictable trajectory of William Baldwin’s character, which shows “anyone can be homeless with the wrong breaks.” It’s a good message, but just not necessarily the best telling–and, yes, I feel a bit like a Grinch saying that. Any movie that practically makes you feel guilty for not liking it is at least sincere in its intentions. Grade: C+
375. “Lost in the Jungle”…Speaking of dramatically inert, there’s this documentary that more than lives up to its title as we watch various parties look for children that were missing in the jungle. Although the ticking-clock, life-or-death stakes should’ve felt riveting, this movie’s length and somewhat repetitive reliance on talking head narration could make viewers feel like they’re equally wandering around a jungle for too long. The ending works–how could it not?–but it’s a trek to get there, and I did fall asleep the first time I attempted to watch this doc. Grade: C+
374. “Valiant One”…American military stranded in North Korea after their helicopter goes down is sort-of a “can’t miss” premise, right? Stories about scrappy soldiers having to use their wits and few resources to get across enemy lines are inherently a good starting place for almost any story, but “Valiant” suffers a little bit from having possibly too much downtime (without credits “Valiant” is barely 80 minutes, but it feels longer than its brief runtime) and slightly haphazard execution, like the tacky insistence on playing obnoxious rock music during certain sequences. Still, action junkies looking for a fix could do much worse. Grade: C+
373. “Karate Kid: Legends”…An enjoyable time while you’re watching it, but be warned that you will not remember you’ve seen it the next day. If I had not written down that I’d watched it (and a quick note about how it’s nice to see Joshua Jackson getting film work again, no matter how thankless the role), I might not have remember that I had. Grade: C+
372. “Tron: Ares”…Speaking of wishing Joshua Jackson could catch bigger breaks; “Ares” is heartbreaking because the best thing here is Jodi Turner-Smith looking terrific and prowling around like a techno-lioness in scene after scene (kind-of surprising she’s never played Catwoman or a Black Panther-type character), and you sort-of feel sorry for her ex-husband Jackson, who surely would’ve never let that go if it had been up to him. The movie is overall mediocre, and such a step down from “Tron: Legacy” there will probably never be another one, but at least you get some Turner-Smith before it goes. Grade: C+
371. “Every Little Thing”…Some beautiful photography can be found here, but this documentary often feels longer than it is. This is a cozy watch where you can let your mind wander; if you’re looking for something you don’t have to watch very closely, this could be it. Grade: C+
370. “Monk in Pieces”…As with every documentary about an artist, it’ll help if you’re familiar with the artist’s work and actually like it. At about the one third mark, this doc shares early critical reviews of Meredith Monk’s work calling it “indulgent” and “very boring,” at which point I had to agree. I can’t say anything here is offensive or unlikable, but it just felt pretty endless and less involving than I wish it had. Grade: C+
369. “The Prosecutor”…Puppet of oppression Donnie Yen unconvincingly plays someone defending the wrongfully accused–with kung fu sequences! It might be an original idea to combine a courtroom drama and martial arts action scenes (which are admittedly impressive), but it’s all a bit far-fetched given the actual state of justice in China. Grade: C+
368. “Gondola”…Dialogue-free lesbian romance that has a whimsical attitude, and some interesting visuals. I still feel this would’ve worked better as a 10 minute (or less) short film than something stretched out to feature-length. Grade: C+
367. “Trifoli”…Beautiful scenery can’t totally make up for this movie’s flaws. Grade: C+
366. “Night Call”…This French thriller has a great premise (a locksmith lets the wrong client into a criminal’s house, they steal something, and then he’s on the hook for it), but gets convoluted before it sputters to a close. The ending isn’t satisfying. Grade: C+
365. “In Preparation of Your Next Life”…A central couple we root for more than the movie itself does. Still a very nice performance from Sebiye Behtiyar that humanizes and deepens the stereotypical immigrant portrayal. Grade: C+
364. “Murder at the Embassy”…An Agatha Christie-style throwback that should be viewed only by the desperately nostalgic who need a fix that’s in short supply these days. However, most people might roll their eyes at the slightly straight-to-Hallmark-Channel-ish filmmaking shown here. Grade: C+
363. “One to One: John and Yoko”…Every single year, there seems to be 1 or 2 documentaries about The Beatles or a specific member, and–if you’re like me–you might feel the well is running a bit dry these days. For younger generations, the mania around them may truly be a “you had to be there” thing, as some of the “legendary” songs we see John Lennon perform here are perhaps a bit hokey and basic for modern music lovers. This swirling documentary tries its best to enliven some very well-worn topics (“Nixon man, Vietnam man, give peace a chance, power to the people”), but you don’t come away with a deeper understanding of Lennon and Ono as people rather than just the “activists” they would clearly prefer to be known as. And just to be a bit “grinch-like.” I also feel the recent revisionism towards Yoko’s legacy as not the catalyst for The Beatles breakup (she probably wasn’t though), but a great artist in her own right (she’s not really that either) is undercut by actually playing her songs–most of which might have you turning the sound down on your TV. Still, seeing Lennon perform “Imagine” might have your own heart growing just a little bit bigger, bringing a warm feeling to even the most hardened cynic. Grade: C+
362. “Locked”…By the end of this movie, you might feel like you’ve also been trapped in that car for too long right along with our hapless protagonist, who makes a mistake, but pretty thoroughly overpays for it the rest for the rest of “Locked.” However, it’s impressive that “Locked” is able to so thoroughly milk such a confined premise (in truth, the interior of an SUV probably has even less potential than a glass phone booth in terms of things you could play off of) and finds a new way to explore the popular sub-genre of “thief breaks into the wrong house” movies by having the “house” be a lethal SUV the demented owner can control remotely, mwahahahaha. “Locked” even finds a new angle into Anthony Hopkins’s well-worn sinisterness. By now, he’s played so many aristocratic psychos that this part could’ve felt more “greatest hits” than it actually does, subtly shading his bitter, judgmental killer with a backstory that could almost make him pitiful. But it’s a little bit harder than it should be to connect with Bill Skarsgard’s dumb criminal, since the man is essentially going to be executed for breaking into a car for loose change (or whatever he hoped to find there), and we don’t care nearly enough about him until the last third or so. Grade: C+
361. “Eden”…For many, this is a “really like it or hate it” movie, but–like so many of the most divisive films–I was more in the middle. Yes, I appreciate Ron Howard trying to do something different at 70 years old (although not that different, as “The Missing” and “In the Heart of the Sea” shows he’s always been interested in darker stories set in unforgiving environments), but you might wish for something a little bit more narratively focused, and perhaps even darker. There are many scenes in the first half of the movie where various characters are bloviating about their ideals (probably too many), but not that many where you really feel Jude Law’s character connecting to his late-film darkness. If Howard had dared to really focus on Law’s daring turn from didactic idealist to psychopath, that could’ve been thrilling to watch. As is, we’re stuck with the very bland Daniel Bruhl and an understated Sydney Sweeney as our “lead” characters, even if we rarely wonder what they’re up to when they’re not on-screen. Grade: C+
360. “The Piano Accident”…The first two thirds of the movie are mostly Adele Exarchopoulus seething angrily through braces and a neck cast. The finale devolves into a blood bath, but I can’t say there aren’t a few funny moments mostly dealing with people wanting a selfie no matter what else is going on around the celebrity they’re trying to get one with. Grade: C+
359. “The World Will Tremble”…I wish this same story had a bigger budget and better filmmaking. The true story here is a worthy one that deserves to be told, but this cut-rate filmmaking might not be the best vehicle to tell it. Grade: C+
358. “Lesbian Space Princess”…If movies like “Plainclothes” or even “Bodies Bodies Bodies” are a bit too heavy and tormented in their portrayal of same sex romance, then “LSP” feels like light-hearted relief. Still, this is a one-joke movie (complete with Straight White M-aliens as the villains, their look indistinguishable from each other and/or bland pieces of paper) and it starts to feel more than padded by the end. If this were a TV show on Adult Swim (or that space thing Conan did for TBS), it would probably run 6 seasons and well over this movie’s 80-odd minute runtime, but I guess expectations are just different–and higher–for a feature length movie. Grade: C+
357. “Pepe”…It’s nearly impossible to properly review a movie this experimental, and your own mileage will vary wildly. “Pepe” is the first-person tale of the ghost of Pablo Escobar’s dead hippopotamus, but nowhere near as fun as that premise would suggest (he uses a similarly guttural, gravitas-filled voice like the artifacts did in last year’s “Dahomey”). Much of “Pepe” has little to do with the titular hippo and mostly just has its ghost (or presence) roam around the surrounding countryside to pick up the petty squabbles of the locals it may have known. It’s dull, static filmmaking that gets too much respect from most critics because it doesn’t have a traditional narrative, but if they’re being honest, not 1 in 5 people will actually finish this. Still, some of the shots are beautiful and haunting (particularly the closing one), and when you’ve seen literally thousands of movies, it’s hard not to celebrate anything you haven’t seen before. [This is the reason so many movies like this are poorly received by audiences but enjoyed by critics, who really just want to see something different after so many movies that feel too similar.] Grade: C+
356. “The Woman in the Yard”…I had the opposite reaction that most critics did to this movie, wherein many seemed to praise the first part as “suspenseful” but felt the movie fell apart with a “convoluted” ending. For me, the first two-thirds felt padded and tedious (the movie is barely 80 minutes long if you take away end credits, and so little happens that it can begin to feel like a short film that’s lucked into getting a real actress as the lead), while the finale was a little more moving than I might’ve been expecting. Danielle Deadwyler continues her run of strong performances (“The Piano Lesson,” “40 Acres,” and perhaps the underrated “Parallel” especially), and it feels like it’s just a matter of time before she’s given a true star vehicle in a larger budgeted movie. Grade: C+
355. “Good Bad Things”…I feel like a Scrooge pointing out the fallacies in this movie–clearly made with the best of intentions–but normally when a movie tries to have an “unconventional” leading man romance one of the most beautiful women alive (here, it’s the luminous Jessica Parker Kennedy) they go to great pains to find a way to make it believable, like showing them having an unreal connection or possibly playing up the comedic aspect. Instead, “Good” is hamstrung by its own great intentions, playing the central romance as the most naturalistic thing in the world. The movie doesn’t seem particularly compelled to make their connection much deeper than you’d find with literally anyone, often filling long stretches with banal dialogue, and never that much else. The true romance of the movie appears to the one the lead has with his best tireless best friend, about the only person on-screen he seems to have a connection with or he truly lets his guard down with. If “Good” had dropped the instinctual tendency to be defensive–“Of course it’s natural for the lead to have a great woman! Don’t be a jerk!” it seems to subtly hint at all throughout–and explore the more realistic difficulties the lead must have in dating (LA dating is hard for anybody, after all), it could’ve been a sleeper gem. Grade: C+
354. “Love + War”…It’s a common (and true) knock on war correspondents and photographers that they eventually become addicted to the adrenaline. That certainly seems to be the case for Lynsey Addario, who is often trying as hard as she can to get close to the action, and even seems frustrated at one point interviewing Ukrainian military officers because they aren’t in enough danger. Male war photographers can often cross the line from “courageously reporting things that are absolutely vital” into self-righteously wondering “how can people be at Starbucks when this is happening?” But “Love and War” obliterates that expectation by showing the near-insanity Addario approaches the job when her young kids are practically begging her to stay with them, and angling for a way to make her deaf ears hear that they’d very much like her at home alive instead of leaving yet again, and angling to get as close as possible to flying bullets.
By putting such a heavy focus on the domestic, it does undercut the movie’s repeated claim “you wouldn’t be thinking this of a man,” since it’s unlikely they’d be showing the male subject in such an almost-comically selfish light. I can admire a more nuanced take, but if you’re seeing that Addario has already been taken hostage before, and is routinely putting herself into danger–your sympathies can’t help but shift more towards the family she’s leaving behind daily that could become motherless/wifeless at any time; the same as it did towards the end of “The Hurt Locker” when the preceding 90% of the movie was put on its head by a hero that couldn’t wait to get back to the action. That movie was a masterpiece for not being afraid to dive deeper into its hero’s psyche, but I don’t get the sense that “Love + War” really views Addario in the same way. Grade: C+
353. “Cover-Up”…A worthy subject, but the dry and stern execution often seems like these half-century old events are automatically going to outrage us all over again. In truth, this documentary about investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and (mostly) his Vietnam-era heyday seems almost naively quaint (in the way most Laura Poitras documentaries do) in the age of Trump and journalism becoming such a dangerous job worldwide. Grade: C+
352. “Ice Road: Vengeance”…Has almost nothing to do with the first “Ice Road” movie (which was superior since it involved the “can’t miss” premise of truckers hauling ass on icy Canadian roads), but the setting is unusual enough that hard-up action addicts might like it almost as much. Probably not, but there have certainly been worse Liam Neeson action vehicles (huh? Not bad, right?) in the last decade. Grade: C+
351. “The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep”…Predictable animated spin-off movie and certainly nothing special, but it glides by with such smooth blockbuster efficiency that it goes by easily. Grade: C+
350. “The Minecraft Movie”…Millennials and older thought “this movie sucks, and I can’t believe I’m watching it.” Generation-Z thought “this movie sucks, and I can’t wait to watch it 3 more times.” Generation Alpha thought “I simply love this, and will watch it 10 more times.” Rarely has a movie inspired such a stark generational divide, and I fully acknowledge that “Minecraft” might not be for me, but my kids sure had a great time watching it about a dozen times. Grade: C+
349. “Joy to the World”…A cheesy and far-fetched Christmas comedy where you think you’re too good for it almost the entire time, but there’s not a moment where you’re sincerely going to turn it off. These movies hit a certain spot, and there’s no sense denying it. Grade: C+
348. “Diva Futura”…Would very much like to be the Italian “Boogie Nights,” as it chronicles the challenges of an Italian porno company through the decades. However, the filmmaking here is more than a little soft (like the wounded puppy portrayal of the lead), and it doesn’t necessarily get more profound the longer it keeps going, often jumping around in time to keep adding to its length, but not its depth. Grade: C+
347. “John Candy: I Like Me”…Canadian comic Candy was a talented performer and likable screen presence, but everything that would’ve made him a great person to be around doesn’t necessarily translate into a compelling documentary subject. Bill Murray almost sums up the problem in an early scene where he’s trying hard to find something unlikable or even nuanced to say about Candy other than “he’s a great guy.” A nearly two-hour long hagiography may feel repetitive before it’s all over. Grade: C+
346. “Parthenope”…Absolutely ridiculous–almost like a parody of an Italian film–and overlong, but it has lots of sex scenes so that at least makes it an easy-to-watch flop, unlike Sorrentino’s worse “La Grazia,” which was just suffocatingly stiff. Grade: C+
345. “Finally Dawn”…The title gives it away, but this is a movie you’ll be relieved is over when it finally does end. But a “hot” cast gives it their all, and there are some admittedly cool touches throughout. Grade: C+
344. “Murder in Monaco”…A colorful cast of characters are assembled for this true crime doc about a jaw-dropping death which may involve a conspiracy of shady Russians (who else?). The only issue is that the director undercuts himself by featuring a lengthy epilogue around an unrelated crime possibly committed by the wrongfully convicted Monaco suspect. It’s not totally clear why a completely separate crime would automatically make the male nurse charged (and locked up for years) in Monaco guilty of something he likely couldn’t have done, or why the director doesn’t mention that said nurse would be more likely to commit real crimes after spending years incarcerated for something he didn’t do (which would typically create a criminal where one didn’t exist before).
Either way, it’s an unnecessary digression that almost completely excuses all of the most likely suspects around the initial murder, like an extremely avaricious (and litigious) multi-time widow who keeps suing to stop the truth from coming out and/or the Russian oligarch who had literally threatened the victim’s life to begin with. It also wouldn’t explain the Monaco police or fire departments who both patently refused to do their jobs the day they were called; not sure a hapless male nurse staging a break-in could’ve had that kind of juice (or extreme bad luck). Grade: C+
343. “Stolen Children”…Documentary about an infant trafficking ring in Georgia (the Eastern-European country, not the Southern state). Interesting subject, but the execution is lacking here. Grade: C+
342. “Brides”…Could’ve been a worthy exploration of alienation in Western countries driving naive ISIS-wannabes to extremes in a vainly horrifying attempt at “making a difference,” almost like the female version of a mass shooter psychological drama. But much of “Brides” is happy to just meander around, right up until an ending that feels vague. There’s a few haunting scenes though. Grade: C+
341. “Stolen Girl”…Kate Beckinsale and Scott Eastwood star in a “prestige” Lifetime original movie that is undoubtedly better than most, but also worse than most because of the thin-sheen of being respectable. Yeah, yeah, things are nuanced and morally complicated (with an ending that is pretty unsatisfying in a realistic way), but that’s not really what Lifetime movie viewers want. The same demo most likely to actually watch this movie may find themselves missing the garishness. Grade: C+ The movie below might give those viewers more what they want…
340. “Charlotte”…Twistier than your average straight-to-Tubi movie. The production values are just as awful (that bleached, fluorescent lighting making every scene look like it’s a training video you’d watch at work), but that kind-of works for a movie with strained, David-Lynch-level logic that feels like a stilted nightmare. Grade: C+
339. “Abraham’s Boys”…Just when you thought there were no new ways under the sun to do a serial killer movie, “Abraham’s Boys” sort-of finds a way. Here, it revisions the aftermath of “Dracula” to portray Van Helsing as a highly-believable religious psychopath who may very well be imagining the “vampires” he’s slaying, and the “contagious” nature of vampirism might really just be people that are seduced into a lifestyle that scares him. That’s a killer premise, and I wouldn’t mind seeing this movie remade into something with a bigger budget, and (somehow) a tighter runtime as there are so many monotonously dull scenes in the first two-thirds that it feels longer than its quick 90 minute length. Still, there’s a solid performance by Titus Welliver here, an actor so effortlessly convincing that you could honestly see how he’d get multiple people to believe the same delusion without very much proof at all–possibly even his wife, who was really just horny for Count Dracula instead of ever becoming a literal demon. Grade: C+
338. “Honey Bunch”…This movie is too long, as the first two-thirds feel slow and padded. It does eventually get somewhere interesting, but how many viewers will stop watching before it gets to that point? Grade: C+
337. “Ballad of a Small Player”…Often, I found myself wanting to connect with this movie–and Colin Farrell’s antihero–more than I actually did. One issue is that Farrell is so drenched in flop sweat from start to finish (one hilarious review called this the “wettest” performance of Colin’s career) that he never lets you feel what all this risk taking is actually doing for him. James Caan’s lead in “The Gambler” is clearly hooked on the juice–and let you feel that–but Farrell seems like he’s so tormented (even when “enjoying” a ravenous meal that’s supposed to showcase his bottomless appetite but even that looks painful), there’s rarely ever a genuine spark of mischief in his eye that would let you see how he got so in over his head to start with. The protagonists of gambling movies need to let you in on a vicarious thrill as their habit goes violently from lows to highs to lows, and maybe also let it be a statement on how they view society’s stuffy hypocrisy in general so that you’re almost rooting for their freewheeling freedom (or the delusion of it since they’re very much slaves to a gambling addiction and the crippling debt that follows). “Ballad” is more interested in Eastern spiritual tokenism, killing off the most sympathetic character relatively early, and heavy-handed morality metaphors. That’s a shame. Grade: C+
336. “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore”…Those who have interest in the path-finding career of Matlin (first deaf actor to win an Academy Award, and arguably the first deaf sex symbol by becoming a rather glamorous leading lady) will find this documentary does a good job of detailing her against-the-odds rise, her abusive relationship with William Hurt that started when she was only 19, struggles during her early life, winning the Oscar, her post-“Children of a Lesser God” career and Deaf activism, and her Hollywood-unique marriage that’s lasted more than 30 years. If I had a critique, it’s that “Alone” sometimes gets so wrapped up in Matlin’s deafness (I don’t know if there’s a single minute of the movie where it’s not mentioned) that it can ironically undercut the documentary’s larger point about not letting deafness define what a person can do. Just to give you an example, Matlin has four children, and there is almost no mention of their early childhood, what being the mother of hearing kids was like for her, if she wanted them to avoid her wilder teen years of drugs and hookups, etc. Against its own message, the doc is not totally interested in Matlin as a three dimensional person. Grade: C+
335. “Hamnet”…A movie I was excited to watch…until I finally did. Too much of “Hamnet” feels stilted and repetitive (much of the middle feels lost in the woods), and Paul Mescal’s performance probably too mannered (for me, his Oscar “snub” is one of the most justifiable of the year). Sure, Jessie Buckley gives a layered performance that gets to be romantic, fierce, and distraught in different sections, but I never felt that connected to anything on film until the final, admittedly fantastic final scene. [Of course, much of that final scene might be lifted by Max Richter’s can’t-miss music which could make a McDonald’s commercial feel profound.] Grade: C+
334. “Critical Incident: Death at the Border”…In an era where ICE and the border patrol are presently out of control, you might wonder why a full-length documentary needed to go back to a 2010 killing. There is some connective tissue between how 2010-era border control works (or didn’t) and our current era, but let’s be honest and admit we’d rather see a deep dive into present Trumpian conditions than Obama-era things that may or may not still be applicable 15 years later. Grade: C+
333. “Sorry Baby”…There are a lot of stilted scenes in this weirdly-arch, MeToo-centric story, and it often feels longer than it actually is. It juggles contrasting tones (primarily awkward social comedy and harrowing drama) that feel at odds with each other, along with a nagging vagueness as if the movie is somewhat scared to take its actual subject seriously. This might be critically beloved, but was a miss for me personally. Grade: C+
332. “Black Dog”…A dull movie that will bore most people long before it’s over, but there are beautiful shots of the rarely-filmed Gobi desert in Northwest China, worthy sentiments about the local people left behind in international development (here it’s the Olympics), and some nice themes concerning man trying to “push out” nature instead of be one with it. I just wish the execution was better. Grade: C+
331. “Ari’s Theme”…Can someone with severe physical limitations become a composer before dying? A stark premise for a documentary that could’ve made for a great movie. Unfortunately, some of the scenes wander to the point the execution here feels a bit aimless–which was somewhat intentional to showcase an artist relatably unsure of how to pursue their dream. Stretches of this movie are moving, even if you might wish for just a little bit more. Grade: C+
330. “Amongst the Wolves”…Aiden Gillan is vividly menacing as the main villain, and the lead is sympathetic. But stretches of this movie feel like you’re just killing time until we get to the inevitable “whoop ’em” climax wherein some hoods who have it coming finally get their just desserts. However, the very end of this movie isn’t particularly satisfying, and reinforces how most of what we’ve previously seen is a bit of a slog (we’re not even fully sure what happens to one of the two main characters). Grade: C+
329. “Rust”…This might very well be the year’s best traditional Western, but that’s damnation with faint praise when considering its primary competition was movies like the Razzie-nominated “The Gunslingers.” Unfortunately, “Rust” will be best known as the movie where its young cinematographer (Halyna Hutchins) was killed and Alec Baldwin nearly went to prison for it. But a soulful Baldwin’s relationship with his estranged grandson is the best thing in the movie, and it actually does work to give “Rust” an emotional connection too many Westerns don’t even attempt. Grade: C+
328. “Hollywood Grit”…There were definitely worse movies that most people will see on Tubi (a good minority of this list qualifies), and Max Martini has a certain charisma in the role of a barely-functioning P.I. trying to get to the bottom of his daughter’s disappearance. Nothing groundbreaking or particularly fresh here (and I’m not sure the plot holds up to close scrutiny), but I’m just saying you could do worse if you enjoy this type of LA-noir. Grade: C+
327. “Acts of Love”…A woman with a traumatic childhood is now living in a relatively-tranquil cult, but her estranged, now-adult brother shows up to not only shatter the illusions and deep denial of life in her commune, but also persuade her to leave with him. For a while, an interesting psychological showdown happens, along with genuinely worthy questions around whether or not you can ever really escape your past, and what the best way to even do that actually is? But “Acts” is not only about a half-hour too long, but eventually loses interest in resolving its central questions so much as just shocking us into the ickiest “resolution” possible. Why choose between questionable familial love and commune control when you can just go for straight incest? Grade: C+
326. “All to Play For”…Virginie Efira is always great to watch, and even though you feel sympathy for her here as a mother feeling suffocated by a French bureaucracy very close to taking her kids, this is still a world that I felt grateful to leave. A little bit better than “Armand” (a less believable take around a few of the same themes). Grade: C+
325. “Nonnas”…Twenty minutes too long, and maybe not the freshest ingredients (Rotten Tomatoes-style-summary-pun on the loose!), but this is an occasionally charming true story about what it took to put together a treasured Italian restaurant in Staten Island. Grade: C+
324. “Magic Farm”…I definitely appreciated the satire of this movie (oblivious Americans miss the real story of a pesticide poisoning rural Argentinian locals in order to film mindless entertainment content), but you’ll probably feel this is a movie that’s easier to admire than enjoy, and it felt longer than its brief 90 minute runtime. Grade: C+
323. “Matt and Mara”…It feels like there are 50 micro-indie movies a year that are exactly like this. Nice performances buried in something that hardly feels fresh. Grade: C+
322. “The Accountant 2”…”Accountant” is a curious franchise, as I can’t say I’ve really enjoyed either clunky and convoluted “Accountant” movie, and yet I deeply want it to continue and make 3 more installments. It’s just that all of the elements of a great movie franchise are there: a central action hero more complex than most, interesting “buddy chemistry” with Jon Bernthal’s brother, and the would-be fascinating aspect of what The Accountant actually does. For that latter aspect, I have to wonder why do these movies contain so little math and accounting work? Here, one of the best scenes was Ben Affleck’s Christian quickly discovering that a pizza business is a money laundering front due to their inexplicably-low paper costs. Grade: C+
321. “Thursday Murder Club”…Sleepy movie wherein four master British actors play characters in a retirement home trying to solve a murder or two. I could watch performers like Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley do just about anything (and feel like I have with filmographies as long as theirs are), but even by relaxed cozy-mystery standards this isn’t very good. Television knows how to do comedic takes on “senior citizens solve crimes” properly, as evidenced by “Inside Man” and “Only Murders in the Building,” and it might be admittedly tougher for films to charm us in only 2 hours. Those TV shows only found their ramshackle charm after we spent serious time with their lovable (but often still sly) elders. Grade: C+
320. “Captain America: Brave New World”…What happened here Marvel? Out of the original “Captain America” trilogy (even calling it that feels somewhat wrong to me as the third–and worst–film was more of an “Avengers” movie, but…) the first two movies had political undercurrents that helped make them slightly fresher than most other Marvel movies. But “Brave New World” unleashes a convoluted plot that offers up very little connection to anything going on in our world, and often feels like too much work for too little reward. Has the MCU now gotten so tangled and enmeshed that it is nearly impossible to do a semi-standalone movie or even a completely satisfying one? Bleak…
Other than Carl Lumby’s plot line being allegorical for real-life experiments conducted on black soldiers (often without their knowledge), and convincing performances from Anthony Mackie, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, and a gravelly Harrison Ford (an upgrade over the departed William Hurt), there’s not much to recommend here. Grade: C+
319. “Steve”…Cillian Murphy really “goes for it” in a rafters-rattling performance that grew grating before we got to the end credits. [Believe it or not, most teachers are actually not able to act like stressed-out maniacs throughout the day.] The effortlessly moving subtlety he showed in “Small Things Like These” isn’t here, and this “underrated” (according to some critics) movie suffers for it. Altogether, the movie feels like sub-Danny Boyle level bombast even if the subject matter is worthy. Grade: C+
318. “The Arctic Convoy”…Run-of-the-mill WWII drama-thriller propped up by some truly beautiful scenery. I guess I’m a sucker for arctic sets or worlds set in the snow, even if some of this movie is immediately made on the cheap and some of the CGI is terribly fake looking. Grade: C+
317. “Mola: A Tibetan Tale of Love and Loss”…The title subject of this documentary (a nearly 100 year old Tibetan woman exiled for over 60 years) has doubtlessly lived a fascinating life, but the execution of this documentary mostly just follows her arguing with her 70-something daughter as they chill around various dwellings. It’s a tedious representation of a fascinating story. Grade: C+
316. “Freakier Friday”…Likable, but throwaway; a quartet of good female performances undermined by a body swap plot that hasn’t been fresh in years…Grade: C+
315. “Lost in Starlight”…Very good visuals do their best to prop up a story that sometimes feels like a short film stretched out into feature-length. Grade: C+
314. “When I’m Ready”…Two teens have a romance as Earth-ending asteroids barrel towards a doomed planet. To its credit, the ending doesn’t crap out on its startling premise, and there are a handful of standout scenes (Dermot Mulroney’s lonely diner patron comes to mind) in addition to a generally cozy vibe as we watch our central pair do things like watch movies in a home theater. In truth, this might be the snuggliest movie about ecocide ever made. However, there’s some definite slack on the line here as the movie is at least 15 minutes too long, and “Ready”‘s title seems to signal that it’s in no rush, and will take its sweet time in nearly every way–whether the audience wants it to or not. Grade: C+
313. “Presence”…I’m one of the very few people who thought this was Soderbergh’s better movie of 2025, and didn’t particularly care for “Black Bag.” The cinematography is through the “ghost’s POV,” and you’d be surprised at what an effective trick it winds up being. For me, it never came particularly close to inducing nausea or keeping me at a distance from the story–the opposite in the latter case–but others are saying different. Ultimately, it’s hampered by characters that feel a bit vague (almost more sketches of what they should’ve wound up being), and a tragic climax that winds up being thoroughly depressing the more you think back on it. Grade: C+
312. “Oh Hi”…You might’ve heard “what most men in romantic comedies do would as romantic might get charges filed in the real world,” and “Oh Hi” jumps off from that oft-repeated joke with a heroine that thinks holding a guy hostage will make him realize his true feelings. The problem is that “Hi” seems a bit afraid of its own premise, refusing to take it anywhere truly dangerous (either thriller-worthy or sexually charged or dramatically deeper by probing into either main character), making it the rare film where a kidnapping is seen as more of an awkward inconvenience which begins to feel tedious. Grade: C+
311. “Lettuce with the Colorado Symphony”…This is just a filmed concert without much “extra” pizzazz or artistic touches that some higher-end concert dogs like to employ. I’m not saying it’s bad–and it might be a little unfair to even include it in a countdown like this–but just go in without any extra expectations than hearing some music you can put on in the background of whatever else you’re doing, because it won’t necessarily transport you anywhere the way “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” really took me somewhere. Grade: C+
310. “Lilith Fair”…There was a time where the phrase “Lilith Fair” became synonymous with hushed-toned, uber-sensitive (mostly) white women that produced bland Starbucks rock. This documentary tries to argue against that, but many of the talking heads interviewed from then accidentally reinforce the stereotype with their answers to almost every topic. Listening to late-90’s culture described as “toxically” masculine sounds strange in the Trump years, and the somewhat over-cautiousness of certain artists from that previous era can’t help but bleed into music that seemed specifically designed to soothe people with anxiety. This is a good recap of events for those who are interested, but–like LF itself–not riveting enough to win many new converts. Grade: C+
309. “Dust Bunny”…Bryan Fuller makes visually striking television shows that are sometimes short on common sense (“Hannibal,” “American Gods,” “Dead Like Me,” “Wonder Falls,” and “Pushing Daisies”), and he carries that pattern over into his film directorial debut here. Mads Mikkelsen is as effortlessly watchable as ever, and young actress Sophie Sloan gives a genuinely good performance, but “Bunny” is never as original as other critics have hyped it to be. You often feel like you know pretty much exactly where it’s going, and the mix of cartoonish criminal assassins and storybook fantasy-style CGI monsters didn’t gel in a way that made me believe in either one of them. Grade: C+
308. “The Shrouds”…Collapses under its own unsatisfying vagueness. Yes, yes, “the point is that the main character is lost in a reality he can never fully trust,” sure, but should an audience sit through a two-hour movie that has no real interest in its own mysteries? Conspiracies are introduced, but then undermined, and when “Shrouds” final scene plays, you might say “that’s it?” Sorry to David Cronenberg (who demonstrates he might’ve lost his touch with each passing movie), but that’s never a feeling you want to get from a film’s ending. Grade: C+
307. “Weekend in Taipei”…Speaking of aging directors that might’ve lost their touch: Luc Besson continues his downward slide by co-writing and producing this action movie that feels like it’s going through the motions, and giving you something semi-pleasant to watch on Tubi before the credits roll. Not necessarily offensive, but definitely skippable too. Grade: C+
306. “Charliebird”…Occasionally affecting and some scenes work really well, but this is one of those movies that feels longer than it really is, and the pacing will cause some viewers to stop watching it before it’s over. Grade: C+
305. “She Rides Shotgun”…Taron Egerton is one of the few British actors who can almost be convincing as a rural or “flyover state” hoodlum, and he tries his best here. Even if the overall movie has an idea of criminality that is downright fantastical (unknown crime lords just love going right to the super site where their meth is cooked for a hands-on and highly visible approach to breaking the law, complete with literally dozens of their minions around). Ana Sophia Heger–who we learn is Egerton’s daughter, although her possible abduction in the tense opening of the movie is one of “Shotgun”‘s best scenes–gives a memorable child actor performance. Grade: C+
304. “Batman vs. The Yakuza League”…If you enjoy the endless DC Comics-based animated movies that mostly wind up on HBOMax, this one is a bit unusual. Not as unusual as transporting Batman to feudal-Japan or prehistoric times (as some previous DC Comics animated movies have done, and for me it’s “the crazier, the better”), but so-so in the creativity department. Grade: C+
303. “Hobby Hustle”…This subject matter is just offbeat enough to sustain a niche documentary, and create some compelling “characters.” But why in the hell is this doc two-and-a-half-hours long? When a doc has YouTube-level production values, you want to get in, get out, and try to do the entire thing in less than 85 minutes flat. “Hobby” is severely hobbled by its indulgent runtime. Grade: C+
302. “Dora the Explorer: The Search for El Dorado”…A reboot that may be kind-of a step down from the 2019 movie, but a genial, inoffensive good time for young kids can be found here. Grade: C+
301. “Snow White”…Is it strange to say that I almost feel bad for “Snow White?” This project was supposed to be a benign remake of an animated classic (as Disney has done a dozen times to lackluster-but-harmless effect before) in order to shake the cash register. Instead, “White” found itself mired in controversy almost from the beginning, and the numerous “scandals” (dwarves playing dwarves! a Latina playing “Snow White!” Gal Gadot being in the movie at all! Rachel Zegler openly dissing the original “Snow White” before this one came out!) seem inflated. I’ll admit that this version isn’t anywhere near as good as the cartoon, but that’s been true for almost all of the Disney live-action remakes. What’s so bad here? Although there are numerous changes that don’t work at all (like replacing the prince with a thief, and generally de-romancing the film), there are a few nice song additions (most notably “waiting on a wish”), and I feel I should stress that this is not awful just given how severe the backlash has been. Not sure “not awful” is what any film is going for, but… Grade: C+
300. “Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me in Awhile”…I’m not a Counting Crows fan at all, and so it’s a relief that this documentary sort-of acknowledges their limited musical legacy (as the subtitle might tip you off to), wasting very little time trying to defend their output. Self-aware music documentaries aren’t in abundant supply, so I was grateful for the more deprecating stance this one took. Grade: C+
299. “Birders”…I’m just not much of a “birding” guy, and found this YouTube-released movie boring, but I fully admit that if you have any interest in this subject, this will probably delight you. But it brought me more joy to pair a bird-watching documentary with a Counting Crows documentary in the countdown (get it?! Oh…you do…) than anything in this two-hour movie where the runtime felt like a punishment. Grade: C+
298. “Fight or Flight”…I had been told this Josh Harnett action comedy was “underrated,” and worth seeking out (not that easy as it’s been practically buried since an underwhelming theatrical release), but I find it to be appropriately forgotten as the kind-of movie that washes over your eyeballs easy enough (not all movies feature chainsaw fights on an airplane after all), but never sticks much beyond that. Grade: C+
297. “Psycho Therapy”…Sitcom-y premise for this dark comedy wherein a “retired” serial killer approaches a random author so he can tell him his story so as to write it but without anything specific said about him (sure…), but has to masquerade as the troubled writer’s marriage therapist. “Psycho” never heads in the direction you think it should, almost like it’s afraid to break up its unlikely buddy comedy. Steve Buscemi has a commanding note of hostile authority throughout though, even if this is the kind-of character he could probably play in his sleep at this point. Grade: C+
296. “Blood Star”…Quentin Tarantino has so fetishized the mystique of “grind house” movies that it’s easy to forget most of them were absolute crud that could sometimes be so low-budget and amateurishly made someone might mistake them for an earnest snuff film. “Star” is the rare example of a movie using its straight-to-Tubi crappiness as an advantage, giving us a hallucinogenic experience wherein our novice heroine is stalked by a loathsome, menacing sheriff with a serious case of issues towards women. It’s much closer to the true “grind house spirit” than the more polished films of genuinely great directors who have more recently tried to mimic it. But now whether that’s a good thing is actually pretty debatable. Grade: C+
295. “The Neighborhood Watch”…A couple of lovable losers try their best to save a kidnap victim (or even find out if she’s real since Jack Quaid’s lead is definitely an unreliable narrator). Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a washed-up campus security guard is especially strong here, almost single-handedly saving a movie that is largely built around the leads hanging out. Grade: C+
294. “The Balloonist”…If you ever needed more proof that European “family skewing” movies are quite different than American ones, check out this story of a single mom falling for a man who crash lands his hot air balloon onto her property (classic kids film stuff) complete with dreary worries about poverty, copious amounts of steamy sex, and a general mood of anxiety (a little bit less “classic kids film”). Grade: C+
293. “Picture This”…Simone Ashley takes her turn in the straight-to-streaming rom-com barrel with this rote Amazon movie. All of this might be familiar (right down to the “gaaaaaay best friend!”), but she and Hero Fiennes Tiffin at least have good chemistry. Grade: C+
292. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw”…A little bit better than some of the other “Wimpy Kid” movies (both animated and otherwise) as it touches on themes of “How far do you push your kids to achieve their best before you’re trying to change them completely? And at what point should you be trying to change them?” Still, it’s not going to win many new converts unless they already like these movies. Grade: C+
291. “The New Yorker at 100”…One of those cozy-ish, drowsily austere documentaries about life inside a vaunted (inside joke) publication or institution. Nothing too spicy gets dished here–it is The New Yorker and not The Inquirer after all–but you might find yourself wishing they’d let a bit more existential panic at changing times show through. Physical publications haven’t had the easiest century so far, and The New Yorker isn’t really immune from that reality, no matter how eager they seem not to address it here. The mission statement for this doc appeared to be “genially talk about the past and present, but don’t let on there could be a changing wind in the future…’The New Yorker is The New Yorker’ and always has been, and so on…” They elude to the barbarians at the gate (most notably during a section where a New Yorker writer heads to a Trump rally as if on an anthropological expedition), but don’t seem particularly worried about a breach. Not worried enough, I’d say. Grade: C+
290. “Nuremberg”…I can’t say Rami Malek is very good in this, and the entire thing feels like a pale shadow of the towering “Judgement at Nuremberg,” one of the best films ever made. The biggest differentiator between this and “Judgement” could’ve been the psychological focus, but I don’t feel this film really digs into that deep enough. [It seems to take the “banality of evil” line a little bit too literally as Crowe’s chummy Hermann Goring has a bottomless darkness that is portrayed a bit too abstract here.] Although obviously well-made, it often felt like a movie I wanted to like more than I did like. Speaking of that… Grade: C+
289. “Knives Out 3: Wake Up Dead Man”…I was shocked that I didn’t like this movie more than I did. I’m a fan of this franchise in general (“Glass Onion” is the best one), and thought seeing Benoit Blanc in a gothic setting grappling with questions of faith would surely be a franchise-best (as it was for Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot in the underrated “A Haunting in Venice”). However, “Dead Man” is a dud due to bloated length (there’s way too many repetitive scenes of Josh O’Connor before anything of note actually happens), a mystery that isn’t remotely satisfying, a convoluted plot clearly making itself up as it goes along, less memorable villains than the first two, and the unfortunate hint of anti-miscegenation in the negative portrayals of multiple black/white couples (like Jeremy Renner’s “disloyal” wife or the true parentage of Daryl McCormick’s character). I’d still love to see this series continue, but would certainly welcome a “return to form” for the next installment. Grade: C+
288. “Atropia”…An admittedly cool setting for a farce, and standout central performance from Alia Shawcat as an actor on a U.S. Army base designed to simulate a fictional Middle Eastern country. I particularly liked that she and the U.S. soldier she falls for (Callum Turner) are lying about things in a way that shows even the “grittiness” of war may now be co-opted by media delusions. Is this movie clunky, sometimes lame in its quest for humor, and overlong? Sure, but I could say that about half the movies on Mubi that got much better reviews merely because they have subtitles. Hey, speaking of… Grade: C+
287. “My Undesirable Friends–Last Air in Moscow”…I know it may seem like willful lunacy to give such an acclaimed documentary about such a worthy subject (the gradual all-encompassing censorship of media in Putin’s Russia under the Ukrainian invasion) a “C+” grade, but you can’t imagine how much bloat there is in “Undesirable” until you’ve actually seen it. I was convinced this doc would be among the year’s best films, and easily make my “Top 20” until I actually watched this 5 “episode” doc that’s 5-and-a-half-hours long wherein more than half of it are just are heroines hanging out in their apartments–with an especially bad problem of stagnation taking place in the middle “episodes” of 2, 3, and 4. Right when the pace quickens and things begin to pick up in the last 10% or so, the movie abruptly ends in a way that feels unsatisfying. That might’ve worked for a 100-minute documentary film, but, again, this is over three-times that length. They’re also promising an entire second part wherein the leads are in exile, which might be similarly padded out.
And to be honest, the perspective of relatively-privileged Russians under Putin’s thumb maybe isn’t one we really want to spend that much time under in contrast to the tens of millions of Ukrainians fighting for their homeland, sovereignty, and very lives. Too much of this not only feels navel-gazing, but like we’re gazing at the wrong navels. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” is an infinitely better documentary around similar subject matter of Putin/Russian-government overreach and encroaching propaganda. Grade: C+
286. “Heresy”…At less than an hour (minus credits) this is easily the shortest movie on the entire list, and just barely qualifies as a feature-length film at all. Good atmosphere and (mostly) practical effects despite a low-budget, but the performances sometimes showcase the constraints of having such a low budget, and I’d be lying if I said that even the abbreviated length didn’t almost feel padded given how many slow scenes “Heresy” actually has. Grade: C+
285. “Grand Theft Hamlet”…Shooting Hamlet inside the game of “Grand Theft Auto” is the kind-of experimental movie that can feel stretched-out as a feature length documentary, and would’ve (ironically) worked better as a direct-to-YouTube short film. I’m also afraid this could be a “clever” backdoor way to showcasing this cruddy (and crew-less) visual “look” at a time when people would resist more overt A.I.-created movies. This is truly something I only want to see done once. Grade: C+
284. “H is for Hawk”…Given that grief-fueled falconry and worthy performances from Brendan Gleeson and Claire Foy are good things to build a movie around, I was surprised at how slow and often un-involving this movie actually is. Grade: C+
283. “The Final Run”…Could’ve been much worse, but this low-budget crime movie is the rare film that prioritizes the coppers as the primary obstacle to what’s going on, and the criminals mostly have a smooth working relationship. There are no double-crosses in a way that feels almost fresh, and the biggest threat to the whole enterprise is an annoying cop dating the daughter of our primary drug runner. Yet it strains likability that she doesn’t seem to realize it’s not such a good idea to get heavily involved with a stereotypical jerk DEA agent that is actively trying to lock up her father and daughter. Grade: C+
282. “The Dells”…A good topic for a documentary, but disappointing execution. You never learn as much as you hope for, and I wish the documentarians had dug a little deeper. Grade: C+
281. “Natural Phenomena”…The uniqueness of this movie almost bumps it up to “B-” territory (we’re pretty close to it now) because I can honestly say I’ve never seen a movie wherein a pregnant Cuban woman fights for her chance to prove she’s a great shot before. But “Phenomena” is not even 80 minutes long without credits, and it’s a little strange that it still somehow feels a bit bloated. The “huh? How about that?”-ness of what we’re watching never fully morphs into something truly intriguing. This movie is not based on a true story, so I almost wish they had gotten much stranger with it. Grade: C+
280. “Following Harry”…Harry Belafonte is a legend worth knowing about, but the odd thing about “Following” is that it takes its title literally as we mostly hear about the activists “following” in his footsteps more than about Belafonte himself. Those hoping for a more straightforward documentary discussing Belafonte’s life and iconic career might be sorely disappointed here, but it is a worthy reminder that Harry not only talked the talk, but walked the walk–becoming the rare older liberal icon that was genuine about wanting to pass the torch instead of stay in the spotlight just a little too long. Grade: C+
279. “Finding Peace”…A dull documentary with some beautiful scenery. Often, I felt like I wanted to learn more than I really was (the central zen figure “teaching” us feels vaguer than he should) in this spiritual quest, but for those hard-up for anything wisdom adjacent, this just might do the trick. Grade: C+
278. “Tell Me What You Want”…A European erotic drama that might look a lot better than it otherwise would if you’ve recently seen the not-good “Fall For Me,” uninspired “Emmanuelle” reboot, stilted “Parthenope,” and the awful “Dream Story.” Luckily for “Tell,” I had already seen all of those duds, and this was practically “Last Tango in Paris” by comparison. Sensual star Gabriela Andrada is the right actress to build a movie like this around. Grade: C+
277. “Tendaberry”…A committed debut performance from Kota Johan (she really is a mesmerizing find) can’t quite change the sometimes confusing presentation of what we’re seeing, and the painful fact that is about the 50th movie on this countdown that has a negative and/or tragic portrayal of a black/white couple almost as if modern American films are indistinguishable from ones made 60 years ago. Towards the very end of “Tendaberry” there’s a nicely poetic monologue about the nature of time–it’s often mentioned as a standout scene–but it also doesn’t tonally fit with what came before it, almost like a film mostly populated with “Anora”-style attitude tries to be Terrence Malick in its closing frames. Grade: C+
276. “The Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger”…A movie that has the best of intentions, but I’m not sure “Bank of Dave” really needed a sequel. These are characters we have good feeling for, and it’s not unpleasant to spend time with them again, but none of it feels necessary. Grade: C+
275. “An Unfinished Film”…An unfinished 2009 Chinese indie tries to start back up again, but then CoVid breaks out. The makers go to near-Herculean efforts to finish the movie, but the story devolves into something fictional that details the madness during CoVid time period more than the unfinished film. But I feel a couple of other movies about this unique time either have more to say (“Eddington”) or got closer to my own experiences during CV (“Suspended Time”). Grade: C+
274. “Inheritance”…Phoebe Dyvenor is very good here as a somewhat-lost young woman whose shady papa blows into town with a “job” that might or might not be in violation of the espionage act. Neil Burger’s had some big hits in the past, and then somewhat of a career-lull more recently, but here is continuing the “low budget thriller” creative resurgence he began with “The Marsh King’s Daughter” a few years ago. I think he’s ready to take these newly-honed indie-thriller skills back to the blockbusters. Grade: C+
273. “Nouvelle Vague”…A movie that’s easier to admire than enjoy; I love Richard Linklater’s commitment to not only black-and-white-cinematography, but in honestly trying to make this like a lost film from that era in not only look, but style. I wish more movies would attempt the “time capsule” technique used here or in the 2011 Best Picture “The Artist.” However, “Vague” is a bit like a round-square by making a slavishly devoted artifact to one of the loosest major movies of all time–you can’t help but contrast the discipline in getting the bemused mood, the look, the performances, and especially the smirkingly pretentious attitude exactly right here, but the story they’ve set about capturing (and idolizing) is one where the director was infamously all about spontaneity, technical improvisation, and innovation. “Vague” isn’t that and is much closer to a more conventional French film from the same period. Grade: C+
272. “La Dolce Villa”…It may seem like willful insanity to rank a by-the-numbers programmer like “Villa” slightly ahead of a more serious (but barely) work like “Nouvelle Vague,” but let’s be honest with ourselves and admit that when Netflix viewers are seeking out the words “straight to streaming,” something like “Villa” is more what they have in mind. Slavishly devoted, pretentiously smirking works centered around relentlessly smug directors that worked hard to look like they were barely trying such as showcased in “Vague” is fine and all, but you really don’t have to work so hard to be low effort; just look at “Dolce.” Sure, it has a cornball script, somewhat limited actors, and a general plot trajectory a coma patient could clock in the first 10 minutes, but the characters aren’t dumb (at all), nothing is as screechy or crappy as it could’ve been, there’s gentle charm throughout, and it gets points for actually filming in Italy instead of a studio backlot. In some of the outdoor shots, you can practically feel the Italian sun melting the heart of even the most cynical codger. Grade: B-
271. “Naked Ambition”…Pleasant documentary giving Bunny Yeager her due as an influential photographer. A nice movie to “chill out” with. Grade: B-
270. “Dog Man”…Sloppy plot, but intriguingly chaotic visual style. Grade: B-
269. “Ellie and the Monster Team”…A lot of parents will be grateful when this cheap animated movie is over, but I do think kids will like it. Also, there’s a worthy message about letting A.I. control your life and overly “protect” you from living it so there are more destructive kid’s films in terms of messages. Grade: B-
268. “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake”…I’m a sucker for stop motion animation, and this realistic plot line is certainly a worthy subject. Not necessarily the most exciting subject or presentation, but a worthy one nonetheless. Grade: B-
267. “The Summer Book”…This is no “The Quiet Girl” (the 2023 drama that knocked me flat by slowly working up to one of the most moving endings I’ve ever seen), but “Summer Book” is a good place to spend some down time. It’s slow, but affecting, and mixes “comfortable cozy” with more sober filmmaking than those movies usually have. Grade: B-
266. “Hola Frida”…Benign animated film that serves as a quick introduction to the legendary artist. Is it ironic that such a plain movie exists as a biography for an artist? Sure, but it gets the job done. Grade: B-
265. “The Legend of Ochi”…A strange “kid’s film” that most actual kids won’t want to watch, but I was quietly mesmerized by this bizarre creature feature, even if it eventually grew a bit repetitive, and the ending isn’t strong. Grade: B-
264. “Mitski: The Land”…Simply a pro-shot recording of a Mitski concert. It will depend heavily on whether you like her music or not (in a moment between songs, she gives a shout out to dads who have been drug to the concert by their daughters but not one to unsupportive male partners dragged there by their wives or girlfriends), but the songs are filmed with style and some minimal effects that elevate the overall experience. Grade: B-
263. “All That We Love”…Of any 2025 movie I watched for free on YouTube, this one is hand’s-down the best. Margaret Cho, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Missi Pyle, and Kenneth Choi are all excellent, the gradually pacing feels like a realistic exploration of these character’s lives, and this is clearly one of those quiet indies specifically designed to sneak up on you. Probably the only thing keeping me from recommending it higher is that it was sold as an “older woman seeks out meaningful connections” movie wherein I felt she would be meeting lots of new people, and that doesn’t really happen. Still, that’s a minor quibble for a minor movie that just might affect you if you catch it in the right mood. Grade: B-
262. “Drive Back Home”…There’s a real undercurrent of anger beneath this Canadian road-trip comedy that is a bit exciting for one of their films. I personally think it takes Alan Cummings’s character too long to show up, and I wished there were one or two extra “breakthrough” scenes, but this is still a perfectly fine “estranged brothers” reconnect movie to pass the time with. Grade: B-
261. “Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story”…You might have a good idea of where this TV movie is going, but it’s one of Lifetime’s “serious” true stories rather than just the usual-usual “my husband and/or new boyfriend is a psycho” thriller. Nothing is exactly artful here, but the reconciliation between Smith (Yaya DaCosta in one of her few quality films roles) and her surviving original family is affecting. Entire TV movies are built around “schmaltzy” scenes like that for a reason, and that’s because they work. Grade: B-
260. “Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story”…Splits the difference between a true-life drama like “Not My Family” and the usual Lifetime fair with this true story-based nightmare home invasion. Much of this is clumsy, and you might wonder if the real-life husband was really that naive (maybe he was, but that almost renders him unlikable because he’s literally pleading for inaction at a time when the kidnappers have made it plain as day they’re going to kill his entire family), but Dascha Polanco definitely makes for a realistic, quality thriller-heroine in an oddly thin role. Grade: B-
259. “Masameer Junior”…Is this a rebuke of religious zealotry and violence or a subversive embrace of it? “Junior” might get uncomfortably close to the latter at times (almost the entire movie involves our three protagonists traveling to a different country in order to kill an alleged harlot with the movie sending a pretty ambiguous message towards this by the end), but any movie that prods the bear when it comes to Middle-Eastern men’s paranoid (and often infantile) relationship towards women and absurd power dynamics is doing something worthy, especially if it’s animated. [Its Saudi creator was also arrested on trumped-up charges related to his work on this.] Grade: B-
258. “The Draw”…A tech-heavy dystopia that feels more realistic than most. A good example of a micro-indie using its low-budget in an advantageous way by portraying a future that feels suffocatingly small, anti-creative, and economically-oppressed. Grade: B-
257. “Heart Eyes”…I was impressed that this horror romantic-comedy actually works as a rom-com instead of just a slasher film with unconvincingly-shoehorned rom-com elements. Mason Gooding and Olivia Holt have good chemistry, and there are a handful of genuinely terrific set pieces like the Drive-In movie slaughter sequence. The qualified-success of this movie gets somewhat diminished when you hear that a sequel has already been ordered (but why though?) and they’re going to attempt to recreate this film’s unique experience. Grade: B-
256. “My Mom Jayne”…Going into this, I had very little interested in Jayne Mansfield or (to be honest) her daughter Mariska Hargitay since I’ve never been a “Law & Order: SVU” fan, and the idea of nearly two hours of nepo-navel-gazing didn’t sound like it could offer much to me (Ben Stiller’s doc on his famous parents sure didn’t). However, Hargitay is wide-open here: vulnerable, probing, sober eyed, and ready to truly learn about the mother she could only learn about through fictional black-and-white movies as her mom died when she was 3 years old. Even if you’re like me and have interest in this subject matter, “Jayne” might surprise you with its good execution, and effective approach. Grade: B-
255. “Sinners”…Quite possibly the most overrated movie of 2025. At first, it was easy to root for “Sinners” as one of the very few mega-successful original movies in ages, but then the conversation around it became so hyperbolic–to the extent that people honestly felt the actual best film of 2025 somehow cheated “Sinners” out of Best Picture–that it became easier to see this as something more borrowed rather than truly groundbreaking. “Sinners” is a mismatch of “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn” (two outlaw brothers on the run get besieged by vampires at a bar with one of them becoming a vamp before the end), “The Color Purple,” colorist stereotypes like “Pinky,” male-centric blaxspolation (Michael B. Jordan’s studs clearly have their roots there, and almost any woman on-screen finds him or the Miles Canton character irresistible), and various religious-themed black films that have been around since “Cabin in the Sky” or even the silent film-era (complete with the “white passing” tragic and/or sinful female character in opposition to the good, bosomy, dark-skinned spiritual woman).
By being cliche-filled and weirdly dated, “Sinners” is actually much less of a threat to the white supremacy governing us right now than many people think it is–and certainly less than the 2025 film that supposedly “robbed” a blockbuster horror movie of Best Picture. The actual Best Picture winner of 2025 didn’t need vampires, fantasy allegories, period gimmicks, or anything else to comment on what’s happening in this country, nor did it embrace a foolish anti-miscegenation message (in “Sinners,” things go spectacularly wrong when white people are let into the juke joint…an allegory that makes little sense in a country where almost every black American has white ancestry and racial purity has always been an illusion). Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece went the opposite direction by making a statement on just how ridiculous the need to insist America’s races have ever been separate actually is, and how that often just serves white supremacy’s ultimate purpose. Grade: B-
254. “Hidden Face”…If you’re going to watch a semi-prestige drama that would’ve also made for a good Lifetime movie, I think this is superior to “The Housemaid” by going one step beyond its conventionality and layering in some actual twists. Grade: B-
253. “Echo Valley”…If you’re going to watch Domnhall Gleeson play a villain in an Apple-Plus movie that came out in 2025, I’d definitely recommend this over “Fountain of Youth.” Julianne Moore matches wits with him in a movie that starts out about her troubled relationship with her “no good” daughter (played by Sydney Sweeney, who is determined to be taken seriously by starring in half the gritty indie movies that come out now–“Americana,” “Eden,” “Christy”– in a way that’s admirable), but quickly morphs into something a little bit more exciting. I considered that a positive development, and felt “Echo” did its job well before the end credits rolled. Grade: B-
252. “Quisling: The Final Days”…What makes a leader betray their country? It’s an excitingly relevant question right now, and Gard B. Eidsvold gives a chillingly arrogant performance as Vidkun Quisling (origin of the term “quisling,” and perhaps the ultimate betrayer of his nation) who seems to have actually convinced himself that he did not betray Norway, and will be vindicated any day now with his prosecutors thrown into the cell he occupies instead of himself. As a portrait of how hard it is to convince a (deservedly) fallen person in authority of how their position has changed, Eidsvold gives the definitive performance. But “Quisling” is a bit too long, and a world (and mindset) this queasy is one I was grateful to escape when the credits came. Grade: B-
251. “Anaconda”…I prefer the original which played itself mostly straight with some touches of self-aware cheesiness (like Jon Voight’s entire performance). The snake here looks like crap, and nothing is taken too seriously–often to the detriment of the overall experience. Still, with a cast this likable maybe it’s a good thing that none of this is all that scary, and I’m absolute sucker for jungle adventure films. Grade: B-
250. “Last Breath”…Interesting underwater footage, and the kind-of movie best enjoyed in a movie theater to get the maximum “cozy claustrophobia” feel of being trapped in a small underwater vessel or suit with time running out. Straightforward and compelling in the moment, if not particularly memorable the next day. Grade: B-
249. “The Lost Princess”…Straight-to-streaming movies for ad-supported streamers like Tubi or Pluto are often so lousy that when you see one that does things like lighting scenes correctly, you may feel you’ve stumbled onto the second coming of Scorsese. “Princess” isn’t a “good” movie exactly, but it’s strangely watchable, decently acted (Gary Dourdan’s distinct soulfulness hasn’t been this well-utilized in a while), the technical aspects aren’t too shabby, and you may find yourself more invested in the romances than you ever thought you would be. Grade: B-
248. “Ladies and Gentleman…50 Years of SNL Music”…Very thorough documentary that clocks in at over 2 hours, and could’ve benefitted from being a little shorter since long stretches are just brief clips of famous acts over the years. There’s only so many “greatness of SNL” documentaries and/or feature films (like “Saturday Night”) you can watch before it starts to feel a bit self-mythologizing, but it maintains the importance of shared culture (“SNL” easily serves as a time capsule of important music over the last half-century) at a time when that’s never been more under assault with the neo-fascist push to end all late night programs to the “left” of Mussolini. Grade: B-
247. “The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop”…A documentary centered around passionate board game fans and the sense of community they’ve built. Most docs are either explaining something important you might’ve missed, biographical, or thrilling stories around crimes or real-life action scenarios. “Hobby” is just a cozy time hanging out with some friendly people ready to bring you into their world. Sometimes, that’s enough. Grade: B-
246. “Risque”…At long last, a straight-to-ad-supported-streaming movie gives us exactly what we want: fun, sexy garbage. This stripper-led heist film has copious amounts of gorgeous female nudity, a “flip the script” semi-revenge narrative against greedy strip club owners taking most of the profit for doing very little, and a couple of genuinely surprising plot twists. Better than any straight-to-Pluto-movie has a right to be. Grade: B-
245. “Mr. Pawsitively Perfect”…In terms of Hallmark-esque throwaway romantic comedies that mostly go straight-to-ad-supported-streaming you could do a lot worse. The lead heroine is charming, and the chemistry isn’t bad either. Grade: B-
244. “Depeche Mode: M”…I’m not a huge fan of Depeche Mode–and if you’re not either, this might make you feel like a hostage as the songs drag on–but I have to admit that this is a well-made concert doc. Concert docs are always hard to judge as it ultimately depends on how much you love the music, but this is a good example of excellent presentation standing out. Grade: B-
243. “Cold Wallet”…The Wild West con artistry of fly-by-night cryptocurrencies is a good background for a heist movie, and “Wallet” has a genuinely hatable villain in Josh Brener’s smarmy, sociopath-capitalist crypto-mogul. [Brener is clearly relishing the against-type part.] “Wallet” is basically a run-of-the-mill house burglar movie with hints of “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and better-than-average relevancy. Grade: B-
242. “Don’t Trip”…In order to get his dream movie produced, a man befriends a dangerous nepo-baby who may or may not be a murderer. A surprisingly decent script and somewhat believable premise keeps the pace moving for this ultra-low-budget movie that some may feel is undermined by a “swing for the fences” performance by its nepo-villain, although I felt it worked as a riff on those “Am I joking or am I actually a psychopath?”-edgelord types. Grade: B-
241. “Good News”…A genuinely interesting true story is hampered by somewhat obvious execution. One example would be too many scenes of good guys arguing morality in rooms rather than showing us the daring stunt they’re pulling off. Grade: B-
240. “40 Acres”…The always capable Danielle Deadwyler holds down the post-apocalyptic fort in a movie that can sometimes suffer from vagueness (the conflict between Deadwyler and her near-grown son was explored to better effect in 2024’s “Arcadian,” and the opposing group here could’ve been better defined). Grade: B-
239. “It Ends”…Allegorical movie for the anxiety young people face. Some people will be bored to death and not finish this movie–which isn’t really a horror movie so much as a philosophical exploration centered around characters we get to know well. I was a bit more like the main character in that I definitely wanted to “finish” this endless road, but only understood the point during the poignant final scene. Grade: B-
238. “Opus”…I feel most critics were a bit hard on this film, even if I acknowledge the best scene is the last one, and I wish the closing 10 minutes or so was the beginning of a clearer film centered around the ideology of a reclusive 80’s pop star (not fully explained until the ending monologue). Admittedly, it’s a bit of a trek to get there. Grade: B-
237. “Sunfish (And Other Stories on Green Lake)”…Gentle but sleepy movie that is well-made even if it struggles to hold your attention. Grade: B-
236. “Folktales”…Norwegian documentary with beautiful cinematography and some affecting scenes of kids interacting with treasured sled dogs, but I do think many viewers might get restless before it’s over. Grade: B-
235. “Jingle Bell Heist”…A Christmas movie with a bite to it. Grade: B-
234. “Green and Gold”…Feels longer than its 95 minute runtime, but a worthy premise that details struggling small farmers that actually want to do right by the environment getting squeezed by large industrial farms and the bankers that cater to them. This is also one of the subtler Christian movies made in recent years, making you realize “subtlety” can exist in these types of movie. Grade: B-
233. “The Carpenter’s Son”…If Hollywood insists on making movies about Jesus (and they really shouldn’t feel obligated), then why not a horror movie? This style is certainly preferable to the anodyne family-friendly Christian movies that get cranked out like sausages (it’s at least 5 every year) or–worse–the defensive, “more cerebral” Christian dramas like “Atheists Who Won’t Let Me Stomp on Their ‘Civil Rights’ are Mean Bullies, and God is Very Real You Jerks!” There’s a nice atmosphere of dread here, and some decent performances. It’s not “The Last Temptation of Christ,” but it’s one of the only films since “Temptation” came out nearly 40 years ago to portray Jesus as a three-dimensional person, complete with doubts, fears, and even anger. The nuance looks good on him. Grade: B-
232. “Predator: Killer of Killers”…This animated movie is better than “Badlands,” making it the superior “Predator” entertainment of 2025. It’s largely throwaway, and is pretty clearly just a straight-to-streaming tie-in to the larger movie that received a theatrical, so I won’t say this basic-animation style marketing gimmick is “good,” only better. Your own mileage will vary, but I would say the three stories get worse as they keep going with the viking one the best. Grade: B-
231. “100 Nights of Hero”…Maika Monroe is the lust object here for both Emma Corrin’s “protective” maid and Nicholas Galitzine’s bet-making scoundrel. The first act is good here as we think we’re being set up for a smirking riff on a “Dangerous Liaisons” type of story, but “Hero” has no courage or particular dramatic urgency. The latter showcased by the “100 Nights” being carried out very literally with a story designed to keep boring its central cad to sleep, showing us many repetitive scenes of this (30 nights would’ve been fine for screen purposes). And the lack of bravery by surrendering the story’s danger to a somewhat predictable “down with the patriarchy” third act that feels half-hearted and like the revolution could be fought with no more than a shoulder-shrug. “Bring the system down” rousing doesn’t feel totally convincing for a sleepy movie that isn’t as passionate as it might wish to be, and often feels like it’s going through the motions; like a sapphic rebellion through a CW lens. Grade: B-
230. “The Tattooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz”…Heartfelt documentary wherein an emotional son retraces his family’s holocaust survival. Grade: B-
229. “Jeff Buckley: It’s Never Over”…I had almost no familiarity with Buckley, so this documentary is a solid crash-course into who he was, his only released full-length album, and the influence his music might have had since his death. Not exactly a “must watch,” but a good presentation of the subject if you have interest. Grade: B-
228. “Daniel’s Got to Die”…Bob Saget’s final film role and the rare positive portrayal of a black/white couple are the standouts in this dark comedy that is often annoying, but has a pretty good ending. Grade: B-
227. “Pizza Under Fire”…Barely 70 minutes, this documentary about frontline workers trying to give Ukrainians pizza during the brutal Russian invasion is good at humanizing the conflict without totally overstaying its welcome. Grade: B-
226. “Stolen: Heist of the Century”…Straightforward jewel heist documentary that pretty much just sticks to the heist without that much larger context or other issues. Only one element really made me hungry for more: the rascally central thief (or is he?) has a devious twinkle in his eye that makes you wish he could reveal all his mysteries. Grade: B-
225. “Dust to Dust: Moreu Doresu o Tsumide”…Fast fashion and synthetic fibers like polyester are killing the planet, with the fashion industry being the second worst polluter on Earth after fossil fuels. This documentary takes that worthy topic, and “refashions” it into a documentary about the staging of a fashion show. Unfortunately, it seems to believe the fashion show–a product of the very same consumerist culture it’s trying to critique–is just as important as anything else we’re watching. Many of the doc’s best moments come long before the runway climax–which can feel a tad self-congratulatory for such a small step towards such a huge problem–such as the devastating footage of Kenya’s vast fashion landfills. Grade: B-
224. “Die My Love”…Can a genuinely terrific performance single-handedly elevate a bad movie? That’s exactly what Jennifer Lawrence is attempting to do here, channeling the great actresses of the 70’s to give the kind-of performances Gena Rowlands might’ve if she could’ve inhabited Jane Fonda’s star power and sex appeal. Co-star Robert Pattison and writer-director Lynne Ramsay fall back on their worst instincts as he’s doing inauthentic goofball manic in too many scenes here, and Ramsay layers her increasingly far-fetched narrative with abstract visuals that are more for style than meaningfully connecting us to her main character (it’s not even totally clear if an affair Lawrence’s character has in the movie actually happened or not). But Lawrence doesn’t let anything get in the way of showing us she knows exactly who this “woman on the verge” is, often turning her eyes to their darkest shade as if daring you to look at them (or her full frontal nudity that feels nearly dangerous in a way almost no A-list actress is doing now). She’s a ferocious, lost tiger who can make almost anything justifiable by how dialed-in you are to her general “fed up with this” wavelength (when she kills an unruly dog, you’re actually relieved she did it, as our own mental state becomes tied to hers). Even if the movie around her doesn’t deserve a performance this good, Lawrence should’ve been nominated for Best Actress, making hers one of the most tragic snubs of the year. Grade: B-
223. “Sisters of Ukraine”…Documentaries about Ukraine are becoming an unfortunately-plentiful subgenre as the Russian invasion drags on for 4 years. It’s a sorry indictment of international apathy that so many of these films exist. This doc doesn’t have much in the way of a new angle, documenting the usual cases of human suffering. Grade: B-
222. “To Kill a Wolf”…Very slow, but well-made micro-indie. Grade: B-
221. “The Smashing Machine”…Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been a talented comedic performer (“Southland Tales” or “Pain & Gain” were his best performances before this), but here he takes on a straight drama, immersing himself into a part that is not wildly dissimilar from his wrestling past. Too much of the movie feels ramshackle and meandering, but Johnson delivers. Grade: B-
220. “Lifeline”…Many of us might not have thought much about actor Josh Stewart, the ultimate “I think I kind-of know him” actor, but “Lifeline” could very well change that. He’s terrific here, and the overall movie is slightly better than you might be expecting for a micro-indie most of us will watch on ad-supported streamers. Grade: B-
219. “Song Sung Blue”…Unlike some of the year’s other top acting-Oscar contenders (like “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You,” which also had only one nomination), “Song” wasn’t really built as a vehicle specifically for one performance. Kate Hudson simply steals the movie, and makes a co-lead performance her story. Even if I really wish Chase Infiniti had been nominated instead, Hudson is undeniably good here in a movie that’s otherwise so-so. These are lovable underdogs you do keep rooting for, even if fate seems to be conspiring against them. Grade: B-
218. “Blue Moon”…To me, Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe are the greatest living film actors that have never won Oscars, and so I loved seeing him in a big role that truly utilizes his range. However, the script of “Moon” (erroneously nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar) hits a lot of the same beats over and over again, to the point where we’re pretty grateful to finally leave that bar as the credits roll. Your heart may break for Lorenz Hart, and you might be glad to see the real-life (and nearly forgotten) songwriter finally getting his due with a biopic treatment, but you might also wish “Moon” had done more with his life or not insisted on presenting a single episode from it as something that would clearly work better as a play, and not a particularly great one. Grade: B- …Speaking of big Oscar movies I didn’t totally love…
217. “The Secret Agent”…This is a movie I had an easier time admiring than enjoying, and wanted to like more than I actually did. I had heard “Agent” hyped to the moon (especially in unfavorably comparing “One Battle After Another” to it…sure…), and enjoyed “I’m Still Here” which was similarly around Brazil’s 70’s dictatorship. But “Agent” is at least a half-hour too long, mostly plays “cool cat” instead of more directly addressing its subject matter (non-Brazilians might have to Google what the hell is up with that severed leg), and often feels like it’s trying to be as unsatisfying and dramatically inert as possible. Wagner Moura gives a great leading man performance no different from an American movie star in a topical drama (yes, that’s “no different” for the wannabe-snobs in the back row), but I also question if he really should’ve been Oscar-nominated, same way I felt about the other Academy-nominated dual-performance in “Sinners.” Grade: B-
216. “Hot Milk”…Emma Mackey is an absolute star still searching for her perfect vehicle; I consider it more a matter of when than if, but “Hot Milk” gets closer than “Ella McCay.” It’s a movie about somebody young essentially getting drained of life metaphorically by an older, depressive relative she’s taking care of, a worthy topic not often explored in movies. Grade: B-
215. “Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster”…This is the “HBO one” out of the numerous documentaries around this disaster. The Netflix one is a little bit more thorough, but also about 20 minutes longer so you might prefer this one if you’re crunched for time. Also, this features a little bit more of the human element of those who died (it stuck out at me that one talking head says the implosion would’ve been so instantaneous there could be no suffering as all the people were crushed into one) rather than spending more time on the series of mistakes leading up to the disaster. Grade: B-
214. “Hamlet”…Sir Ian McKellen shrugs off concerns that he’s “too old” for the part (and he is by several generations) to do some “age blind” casting as the famous Danish prince. He’s riveting in the part, and that’s a good thing because there’s not much of a reason for this umpteenth adaptation to exist otherwise. Grade: B-
213. “Wick is Pain”…A feature-length documentary about the terrific John Wick franchise that is more like a behind-the-scenes “making of” short you might release as an extra on a DVD. Still, there are some interesting stories here, and you begin to realize just how unusual the “Wick” franchise actually is by seeing how unlikely it was the movie ever got made in the first place. Grade: B-
212. “Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse”…I can’t lie and say this ultra-low-budget doc has the most riveting execution you’ve ever seen (some people might stop watching the dry opening minutes), but it does a good job of laying out who Spiegelman is, his journey through comics and what he illustrated, and why “Maus” became such a phenomenon. There are now so many vanity docs (there’s a few dozen on this list) that it’s no longer a given that they even tell you that much about their subject or get at the essence of who they truly are, speaking of… Grade: B-
211. “Paul Anka: His Way”…Truthfully, I didn’t know very much about Paul Anka, or his undeniably legendary contribution to music (the subtitle of this documentary alludes to the lesser-known fact that it was Anka who wrote Frank Sinatra’s iconic “My Way” song). I would imagine that’s true of most younger viewers of this doc even if they are familiar with Sinatra or Sammy Davis Jr. or many of the legendary crooners that were Anka’s contemporaries. Now in his 80’s, Anka is still articulate and sunny–his smile looks about the same as it did during his ’50’s heyday–but his stories aren’t as revealing nor as candid as you might be hoping he’d be, and as some entertainers get towards the end. There’s never really a “hey screw it, let’s get this straight for the record” moment. Sadly, Anka only really speaks honestly about the fears of aging, which he seems determined to keep at bay by looking, singing, and acting as if no time has passed for him in six decades of show business. His eternal “Canadian hustler” personality is a little bit like his music: working the pleasant notes, but a little bit too smooth to really pull you in. Anka talks about his longtime first marriage (and five daughters from it) in diplomatic terms, but not much at all about the two women he married for more brief periods afterwards. [You can’t help but notice his ex-wives have a certain resemblance to the gorgeous tall blonde he’s now living with; the diminutive Anka certainly has a type.] If this is your introduction, you might find yourself having a similar sentiment to my own: “Nice guy…not necessarily riveting, but a nice guy.” Grade: B-
210. “The Running Man”…I’m torn here because I enjoy movies speaking directly to our reality-show-enabled-fascistic-leaning-culture as well as genuinely positive portrayals of black/white couples (although here Glenn Powell and Jayme Lawson don’t have enough scenes together), but I have to admit that “Running” has some sloppy filmmaking overall. One example would be the ending semi-montage almost feels like a haphazard rough cut of what the final ending should be; the movie is bloated enough (it’s at least a half-hour too long) that you wonder how it’s even possible the ending feels so rushed. Grade: B-
209. “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants”…I can’t lie and say that there is a lot of gas left in the SpongeBob tank (this is the fourth SpongeBob-universe movie since only 2021, and the second one in 2025 alone after the “Plankton” spin-off movie). But if you enjoy him at all, then maybe you’ll enjoy seeing him on a pirate adventure? Maybe? Although I will say that the adventure of an old-fashioned pirate tale (complete with skeletons that come alive and a dubious, legendary pirate trying to lift an ancient pirate curse) gives this more excitement than “SpongeBob” movies usually have. And since Johnny Depp disgraced himself–apparently blowing up the “Pirates” franchise in the process–fans of pirate movies have to take them in whatever vessel they come in. Grade: B-
208. “The Olympics in Black and White”…This documentary is really just a Frontline special stretched into feature-length, so don’t expect Alex Gibney-level production values, but it’s an interesting summation of how Atlanta landed the Olympic Games, and some of the metropolis-building things they did right for the residents afterwards so that the city benefitted from it more than most host cities after the games have gone. Grade: B-
207. “Coup De Chance”…At the time I had first watched this twisty sexual thriller and exploration of fate vs. random chance, it was widely-rumored that it would be Woody Allen’s last movie since he was having a near-impossible time getting even European funding. That made me have warm feelings towards it and its lesser-tweak on some of the same themes he explored in “Match Point” to greater effect with more compelling characters. However, he’s since come back from the dead (for about the 5th time) to say he’ll continue making movies with increasingly obscure Euro-funding (sooner or later, he’ll be hitting up some shady Russian oligarchs looking to launder money, and will happily direct some towards his umpteenth meditation on the same themes). Woody, give us a chance to miss you, okay? Grade: B-
206. “No Other Choice”…I was primed to like this allegory for cutthroat capitalism more than I did wind up liking it. The viewing of “Choice” was a disappointing experience as I felt this would probably be in my “Top 20” of 2025 before I actually watched it. For starters, I never really connected with the main character as much as I wanted to, and found his final murder to be unnecessarily horrific. It also traffics in the cartoonish horror-goofiness that puts me off many South Korean satires (I’m one of the few critics alive not ready to say “Parasite” is the best movie of this century or even in the top 10). I find that aspect to be ironically dehumanizing, causing us to laugh with glee at the blood spatter of one-dimensional victims instead of re-sensitizing us to their worth as is the supposed-mission statement. “Choice” is just too long, and nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is–it sure is convenient the widow of one victim seems so glad to be rid of him huh?–making me feel it wasn’t as much of a Best Foreign Film “snub” as we had been led to believe. Grade: B-
205. “Xeno”…What if “E.T.” not only first bonded with a struggling, desert-living girl with a distressing home life (her troubled mom’s latest boyfriend is a real beaut), but also looked more like the creature from “Alien” than anything cute and cuddly? It’s definitely not a bad idea for a film–a riff on all those “kid befriends monster/alien/robot” movies wherein the central creature looks downright terrifying and also kind-of is–and Lulu Wilson continues her promising streak as a future star. Still, this is more of a “watch when it’s late Saturday night and you don’t have much to do” rather than something you must seek out. Also, it’s not right for younger kids hoping for a more family-friendly adventure like they used to crank out in the 80’s and 90’s. I went from saying “at last, a kid’s film with real danger just like the 80’s adventures–” to “–oh wait, this really isn’t a kid’s movie, and my young daughter probably shouldn’t be watching this.” Grade: B-
204. “The Rise of RFK Jr.”…A good exploration of who RFK Jr. is, where he comes from, what motivates him, his mindset, and exactly how unqualified he truly is to be overseeing things like the CDC. I’m not saying it’s necessarily the most comfortable place to spend 2-hours though. Also, you might wish there were less time devoted to the early years of his life, and more time devoted to his numerous scandals (some of the sex scandals and animal cruelty are barely covered), in particular his actual tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary. Grade: B-
203. “Remaking the Middle East: Israel vs. Iran”…The “Frontline” treatment is given to the conflict between Israel and Iran, plus the various nations drawn into it. It may feel a bit odd to see representatives of the Iranian government being interviewed (this aired before the U.S. started bombing Iran), and for some viewers it might even be strange to see Israeli military officials interviewed, but PBS does an admirable job of trying to get the most information presented. Grade: B-
202. “Timestamp”…I’m definitely “Team Ukraine” in the ongoing and endless Russian invasion of a sovereign country, but roughly 1% of this entire list is made up of Ukrainian documentaries detailing the lives of citizens or soldiers since the war started. Obviously, any effort to put the war effort back into the front of people’s minds (after all, these people are living it for over four long years while most of the world goes about its business) is a worthy one, but this “slice of life” documentary is rarely riveting or overly informative. It mostly details the efforts of the civilian population to continue with life amidst great struggle, the “Keep Calm and Carry On” way; very worthy subject but–by design–a documentary specifically about the peoples resilience is not even trying to keep you on the edge of your seat. Grade: B-
201. “Sunflowers in the Rain”…Similar to “Timestamp” in that it’s another Ukrainian documentary mostly centered around the civilian population. Grade: B-
200. “Surviving Turning Point USA”…This documentary was made and released before Charlie Kirk’s killing, but that almost makes it even more important in understanding his actual life’s work of trying to control speech in classrooms so as to control the next generation (which I saw whitewashed in the aftermath of his killing). I feel conflicted here because the message of this documentary is worthy at a time when even speaking honestly about Charlie Kirk’s actual legacy could lead to professional censorship (there were literally school teachers in Alabama who somehow got into trouble merely speaking truthfully on the subject in the wake of his death). “Surviving” understands that Turning Point’s academic “watchlist” trying to become the successor to McCarthyism was very much at odds with Kirk’s bogus reputation as a “champion of free speech” and hearing out those who disagreed with him. [He spoke at college campuses nearly all the time because deep-pocketed far-right donors wanted him to recruit likeminded young individuals into their way of thinking, and also so he could shout down “dissent” from the less-experienced kids who showed up to “debate” him.]
However, the filmmaking here is especially weak–“Surviving” is at least a half hour too long (I’m increasingly of the mindset that no documentary should be nearly 150 minutes), there are annoying clicking sounds throughout all of the film’s interviews, and the unhurried Zoom conversations with targeted academics grew repetitive once you realize just how similar the stories are. A worthy watch, but one that could’ve been assembled better. Grade: B-
199. “Common Ground”…On the one hand, just about any movie about the dangers of mono crops and modern agricultural practices is worthy of watching (the Godawful “Animal.” proving the exception to that rule). On the other hand, I slightly preferred “Kiss the Ground”–the first part of Woody Harrelson’s “soil” documentary trilogy–because this covers some of the same ground (pun intended…maybe?), and some of the other celebrity narrators besides Harrelson possibly don’t share his sincerity. Still, any high school or middle school classroom playing this documentary is probably doing something right in educating people on a too-little-discussed issue. Grade: B-
198. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”…The third version of “Fantastic Four” this century splits the difference between the more broadly-appealing (and cheesier) Jessica Alba ones, and the more serious faux-auteurism of Josh Trank’s take. I didn’t find all the parts well cast (Joseph Quinn’s Human Torch was my least favorite take on the character between all versions), but it’s mostly competent and clicks away quickly enough for a two-hour summer blockbuster. Yet my favorite sections mostly revolved around Paul Walter Hauser’s strangely charismatic Mole Man, who has only a tertiary connection to the rest of the movie. I kept thinking “Why don’t we ditch these basic four, and hang out with Mole Man full-time?” Grade: B-
197. “Avatar 3”…I’m giving this the same grade I gave the disappointing second installment, because this movie repeats so much of that one’s mistakes (and basic plot). I know Cameron has a grand vision for the entire “Avatar” series that would include a “4th” and “5th” movie, and I sincerely hope those films happen, but I have to wonder why he repeated the same basic plot here? It’s beginning to feel like this entire 5-film series could’ve easily been a trilogy, and Disney might’ve preferred that to the continued massive cost. The biggest “new” element here is Oona Chaplin’s vibrant villain, who runs away with the movie. I sure hope we get to see the proper continuation of Jake Sully and Neytiri’s saga, but I also hope Cameron knows spending a fortune to give us slight tweaks on the same story isn’t working as well as he might believe it is. Grade: B-
196. “The Family McMullen”…Here, we’re just hanging out with some people we like. Is that enough? Yeah, I think it is. Edward Burns (where’s he been?) looks relaxed, and seems to have barely aged since the original “Brothers McMullen” 30 years prior despite being nearly 60. His romance with Tracey Ellis-Ross is my favorite of the movie’s dozen or so subplots; it’s a nice, breezy, lived-in romance between two actors over 50. In truth, I wish it had been the main focus on the movie, and maybe Burns can write that movie next. [Not that Halston Sage, Pico Alexander, and Juliana Canfield aren’t good here as the younger generation of characters Burns has the most interest in.] Grade: B-
195. “Rental Family”…A movie that occasionally raises more questions than it answers (yes Japanese culture is different, but would a mother really want a stranger to pretend to be her daughter’s father even to the daughter herself?) and sometimes feels like it’s hiding a lack of plot coherence behind its Eastern locale. One thing I do know for sure is that it became harder to root for Brendan Fraser’s struggling actor as the movie kept going, and he actively turned down acting gigs so he could continue lying to a handful of vulnerable people. I would’ve preferred a darker, more probing, and much better take on the nature of identity and how we’re all filling a role for someone else at least part of the time, but “Rental Family” doesn’t really want to give us that. Still if this is what we get, you could do worse than spending time with some beautiful Japanese scenery. Grade: B-
194. “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale”…I’ve never seen the TV series, but I’ve watched all three movies and feel like I more than get the gist of “Downton.” This “Finale” is going to give longtime “Downton” fans everything they probably want, and is also the closest creator Julian Fellowes (not only “Downton” but “The Gilded Age,” where he might be the only creative alive to show that period of American hell with something close to Trumpian nostalgia for robber barons) will ever make to a progressive statement by not totally agreeing with running out of the room every time a divorced woman enters it. I personally miss the Italian scenery and golden-era-Hollywood glamour of the second movie (or the royal visit of the first film), and especially the zingers of Dame Maggie Smith’s Violet. Everything in this movie very much feels like things are “winding down,” but didn’t we sort-of get that already with Lady Violet’s death scene in the second movie? Plus, why not show us what we really want to see in this family surviving WWII? They’re ending the story at the very point I was most wanting to see, and it would’ve made more sense to give us a “Grand Finale” of the characters surviving during WWII “Mrs. Miniver” style–which would’ve certainly been the best “Downton” has ever been. Grade: B-
193. “Dalia and the Red Book”…Animated movie about how unfinished books can demand to be finished, with the characters in the title girl’s late father’s book coming to life in a clever way. Worthy message and occasionally inspired animation… Grade: B
192. “Balomania”…An occasionally fascinating documentary about a subculture of dreamers few outside of Brazil might even know exist. This is about a “criminal” network of balloon makers who make floating murals that have been outlawed in Brazil for decades. Some of their works are truly stunning–like my favorite was one towards the end that could also shoot fireworks, even if that one by itself might also showcase why these things are a big enough environmental hazard to become against the law in the first place. Grade: B
191. “Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey”…A handsome, but dull documentary that’s good to watch as you’re falling asleep and just wanting a cooldown featuring lots of footage of pangolins. Grade: B
190. “The Mastermind”…Anyone else beginning to feel like Josh O’Connor (“Knives Out 3,” “Challengers,” “History of Sound,” “La Chimera”) is being shoved down our throats as the Next Big British Thing? Here, he once again trots out a somewhat-unconvincing American accent and his boyish mannerisms (why this guy keeps getting cast in hard dramas instead of the superior romantic comedies for adults that Hugh Grant would’ve done in the 90’s I’m not sure) to play a character who might be planning heists just for the mischievous thrill of it. However, that’s what’s good about “Mastermind,” a movie where we’re not entirely sure if the lead character–who sets a major art heist in motion–really cares about the money at all. To its credit, the movie has a freewheeling 70’s aesthetic so that the events of the plot are that rare thing–completely natural, and driven more by what’s actually happening than what the movie needs to happen. The ending is pure 70’s, and you could almost see that being the true ending of a forgotten 70’s noir rediscovered after a restoration society resurrects the only cut. However, the “unhurried” pace isn’t for everyone (nor the flat performances from many of the supporting actors), and you very well could run the risk of falling asleep before that ending actually comes. Grade: B
189. “Tokito: Kakushin no Ryori-nin-tachi 540-nichi no Kiroku”…The food here is so beautiful, it almost seems a shame to eat it, and the cinematography is nicely atmospheric whether we’re treated to the warm, amber lighting inside a restaurant you could spend forever in or the wide open outdoor spaces our lead seems to spend time in whenever he’s not cooking. Grade: B
188. “Winter in Sokcho”…A wonderfully depressive, cozy indie covered in snow with a great central performance from Bella Kim as a soulful young woman who pulls you into her loneliness and desire to connect in a world of conventional people with decidedly less dimensions. Grade: B
187. “Holy Cow”…I’ve been disappointed in Gen-Z “sex comedies” that seem strangely averse to having their heroes/heroines actually have sex (“No Hard Feelings,” “Summer of 69,” “Prom Dates,” “Sweethearts”), so luckily French cinema actually brings it in this coming-of-age dramedy. Perhaps less fortunately, there’s also the constrains of running a newly-inherited diary farm to consider and that takes up a huge chunk of the movie’s plot. But there’s also something kind-of unique about seeing the realistic drudgery of farming mixed in with carefree teenage hijinks of drinking, drugging, hanging with friends, and doing dumb stuff partly for kicks and partly to achieve a nebulous goal. Watch “Cow” in the right mood, and it just might sneak up on you. Grade: B
186. “Shifting Baselines”…Stark black and white cinematography is the star here, often adding a cleverly insidious layer to the coverage of SpaceX’s looming starships as though you’re watching one of Riefenstahl’s intimidating Nazi-glamorizations. Unlike those propaganda documentaries, “Baselines” is no hagiography, but the severely-restricted nature of what they’re covering (no SpaceX employee talks to them and instead they’re focused on local residents in the town of most launches, most of whom know very little about what’s going on with the mysterious rocket company that just showed up one day) makes this doc sometimes feel half-finished. Still, this is definitely worth seeking out, especially for those wanting to experience some of the Wagner-esque grandeur of seeing menacingly huge spacecraft in B&W photography. Grade: B
185. “Dead Man’s Wire”…My favorite scene from this movie is the real-life news clip of actual events they show during the closing credits (I haven’t seen the 2018 documentary “Dead Man’s Line” but I suspect I would like it more). The real-life Tony is inarguably a great “character” to build a film around, but I’m not sure this movie really nails that. Bill Skarsgard, Aussie Dacre Montgomery, and English actor Cary Elwes are the co-leads or most important supporting players, meaning a trio of foreign actors has been cast to embody this uniquely American story. Even if director Gus Van Sant doesn’t do anything “wrong” that you can put your finger on, there’s just something that never feels exactly right. Still probably worth watching though. Grade: B
184. “Democracy Under Siege”…Worthy low-budget documentary discussing very real problems with America’s democracy. Most of this was made before Trumpolini was reelected, so there’s an ominous tint over the whole thing that feels more than justified. You truly realize how much our stagnant current system doesn’t so much protect the rights of its citizens as we’ve just gotten incredibly lucky that things haven’t been much worse than they are. Grade: B
183. “Good One”…Critics probably got a bit carried away in over-praising this slight indie. It’s one of those “finely observed” or “quietly lived in” movies that reviewers will probably enjoy more than audiences, but there are a handful of scenes that have stayed with me amongst the majority where nothing much happens. And I found it a much better exploration of the same material “Who By Fire” also covers. Real truths about lifelong male “friends,” middle-age male malaise, and complicated teen daughter/father dynamics feel genuine here. Grade: B
182. “Little Trouble Girls”…Some pacing issues, but this is still a worthy movie where a young female protagonist (Jara Sofija Ostan is terrific) is put through the ringer by a tyrannical teacher clearly harboring feelings towards her, and her own wolf pack of young girls. Sexual repression and religion collide hard here, and the movie’s ending offers some hope. Grade: B
181. “Lake George”…Shea Whigham and Carrie Coons have good ying-and-yang chemistry in this noir that is closer to black comedy and deep character exploration than the thriller you might be expecting going in. In that way, it reminded me of the golden-age of Hollywood noirs wherein you’re really just waiting for the other shoe to drop on a beleaguered main character that feels covered in shadow. Whigham is more than up to the task, carrying himself like a man who knows he’s already doomed, and seems ambivalent if he even wants to continue onto the next scene; luckily, Coon’s feisty femme-fatale is always there to push him. Grade: B
180. “The Rise of Germany’s New Right”…Putting an extended Frontline special in the same countdown as more deliberate narrative documentaries might feel like cheating a bit, but “New Right” is more than worthy of cinematic consideration. Simply put: everyone should see this, and learn about the not-so-subtle fascist resurgence going on in Germany right now. It’s also a painful reminder that the forces of the radical right are never fully deleted, and will just bubble up over and over throughout time since they are usually very well funded. Grade: B
179. “Sally”…Documentary about Sally Ride that is more “warts and all” than Disney-Plus documentaries usually allow for; Sally’s inspiring determination and not-so-inspiring coldness (Sally’s husband seems to have no idea he’s married a lesbian until well after she’s dating another woman and even after she’s left him completely) are talked about in equal measure, even from Sally’s life-partner Tam, herself having no interest in burnishing an uplifting mythology. The more nuanced take looks good on the Disney biographical documentary genre that had begun to grow a little stale. Grade: B
178. “The Palestinian Laboratory”…Anti-Israel documentaries aren’t so rare these days, but this is one of the best ones of 2025 by exploring the Israeli armaments industry, and surveillance tools used for “population management” that sure sound like Oppression Inc. being exported to some unsavory regimes worldwide. Grade: B
177. “Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets”…Most documentaries having anything to do with Israel or Palestine are pretty explicitly in one camp or the other (“The Encampments” being a perfect example), but “Torn” is probably the only one of 2025 that even attempts a more fully-rounded approach. Yes, it’s sympathetic towards Israeli hostages–it’s a little strange that even taking that anodyne stance feels slightly “rightwing”–but it’s really about the sky-high emotionalism of this issue in a way that makes even basic sympathy towards civilians of “the other side” seem like selling out. The cumulative effect of the doc briefly showing snippets of so many screaming matches over Israel/Palestine only highlights how performative most of the “outrage” actually is. Grade: B
176. “Night Always Comes”…The criticisms of this movie are largely unfounded, and Vanessa Kirby delivers an excellent performance of gritty determination. The plotting actually feels how a desperate, ramshackle night in search of a “must have” payday might actually unfold. In truth, most critics were too hard on this one. Grade: B
175. “Merkel”…Angela Merkel is an enigmatic figure not understood well in the United States (the endless comparisons between her and Hillary Clinton obscure the fact Merkel was technically a center-right politician in Germany, and not the liberal party there as many Americans might assume after years of Republican misinformation). This documentary clarifies that to an extent, and, yes, makes you wish Hillary had become POTUS–sorry, but I couldn’t help thinking it even if the two women aren’t as politically identical as the stereotypes suggest. Grade: B
174. “Inundation District”…A documentary that is more like a Frontline special centered around the worthy, journalistic topic of how we should build skyscrapers and entire city districts in a time of rising sea levels. Hint: we’re not doing it very well currently, often acting as if merely ignoring climate change will miraculously save buildings clearly in future flood zones. Grade: B
173. “Deaf President Now!”…Documentary about the fight to get a deaf university president for the nation’s only college specifically geared towards deaf students. Lays out a step-by-step guide how they were able to organize against a university chairwoman who was metaphorically deaf to their complaints, and patronizing towards the very students she claimed to want to help. It’s a good guide to campus protests that achieved something tangible, and a reminder that change rarely comes from the top down. Grade: B
172. “The Alto Knights”…Critics were harsh on this mob tale that sees Robert De Niro in one of the year’s best dual role performances (no small thing as there were more than a dozen of them). Sure, some of the direction by near-85-year-old Barry Levinson feels a bit slow and a bit clumsy (the climactic FBI law enforcement farm raid wasn’t particularly well-staged), but that only makes the occasional violence even more jarring. Truly, film is a subjective medium, and there’s probably an alternate world where people weren’t knocked out by Michael B. Jordan’s dual role in “Sinners” (as I wasn’t really), but more properly praise the genuinely different performances De Niro gives here. My hope is “Alto Knights” will find its audience down the road, because it’s core message–that you can’t appease a sociopath, and when they want to be leaders, everyone suffers–is definitely relevant. Grade: B
171. “The King of Color”…Vanity documentaries are usually pretty bad (you can see some like “I Am Johnny Curious” much further down on the list), but this film about Larry Herbert and his invention of a universal color language with the Pantone Matching System is better than you might think. I really didn’t know someone “invented” what he did–and can honestly say I never once thought about it–and this comfort doc is good at getting you to see things you bypass on a daily basis. It also has a worthy sense of humor about itself (early on, one of the people interviewed admits that Herbert has a bit of an ego to make a documentary like this, and the film doesn’t shy away from that aspect) which I appreciated instead of pretending this is a story that absolutely must be told. Grade: B
170. “Kinda Pregnant”…Amy Schumer with a sunnily-veiled undercurrent of anger (as a lot of Schumer’s best work has), and a handful of genuine laugh-out-loud moments. It’s a better movie than I thought it would be. Grade: B
169. “Faster”…If you can only watch one 2025 movie about F1 racing then…well…then you should watch “F1.” But if you’re looking to watch two movies about F1 racing from 2025, this is what you’re looking for. The plot may be formulaic, but it moves so fast, you might feel it’s less predictable than it is–which is no small thing for movies about a sport that is definitely having a “moment.” Grade: B
168. “Suspended Time”…Drama about CoVid that feels more realistic than most, even if that means that it’s really about nothing much happening (hence the title). The main character has a sweet romance with his charming girlfriend that was more captivating (to me) than the fights with his blowhard younger brother. Grade: B
167. “K-Pop Demon Hunters”…I’m afraid my kids will murder me if I rank this movie even one spot lower. Even if this is not normally the kind-of thing I go for, even I have to admit the songs are excellent, and Rumi’s quest to believe in herself will be undoubtedly touching for this movie’s target demo–of which I am not it. Grade: B
166. “Animal Tales of Christmas Magic”…Simple animated tales that might charm adults in addition to giving young kids something non-harmful to watch. Grade: B
165. “Bono: Stories of Surrender”…People who already think Bono is insufferable won’t be convinced otherwise here, but for those of us who enjoy his innate storytelling abilities, there’s something worthy here in this black-and-white film where he fills us in on the backstory of some of U2’s greatest hits connected to his own life. Grade: B
164. “Happy and You Know It”…Documentary that tries hard to reframe children’s music as worthy music in its own right. It mostly succeeds with its premise, and details several facts those who aren’t well-versed in kid’s music may not know (like the thorny ownership issue over the massive Baby Shark hit where the real creator might have been ripped off). Grade: B
163. “Cosmic Dawn: The Untold Story of the James Webb Space Telescope”…This documentary (from something called “NASA+” which I guess the documentary arm of the space agency) is about the construction of the world’s most powerful space telescope, and how it wasn’t always a given the project could even get proper funding through congress–let alone actually work. As Space-X prepares a fortune-making public offering, this is a good reminder of the thankless job bureaucracies have to go through to make the real breakthroughs. When some of the people involved with NASA light up talking about the challenges and wonder of working on this, the geeky joy is almost contagious. Grade: B
162. “Runt”…Jai Courtney had a strange 2025 because he was good in two separate movies. Something about working in his native Australia appears to bring out a different side of a guy who’s been typecast as a straight-faced, interchangeable action hero in American films. This film has memorable villains, an involving plot, a worthy message about the dangers of rich individuals hoarding land, and charm to spare. Grade: B
161. “The Best You Can”…I thought this movie was going to be cheesier than it actually wound up being. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick obviously have good chemistry (after a near-lifetime together, they should), and the ending shot/monologue is near-perfect. Grade: B
160. “The Baltimorons”…Charming movie about a ramshackle character who kind-of, sort-of stumbles into something with his dentist. I had no idea this was directed by Jay Duplass when I first turned it on, and I think it’ll work best if you reduced, micro-indie expectations–almost like the best straight-to-Tubi movie you could access. Grade: B
159. “Words of War”…An incredibly worthy biographical drama about one of the first Russian journalists to sound the alarm on Putin. Some of the scenes are repetitive and “War” is possibly 10 minutes too long, but the story is as timely today as it was when these events were taking place (is not more so), a reminder of exactly how long the world’s worst leader has actually been in power and killing people. Grade: B
158. “Meeting with Pol Pot”…Reporters are given a “tour” of Pol Pot’s Cambodia that has clearly been staged for their benefit, while the ugly reality pokes its head up. This movie is a little bit repetitive and unrealistic with its endless speeches of characters who debate “ideals” while men with guns stand just out of earshot (can French characters ever have subtext?); to say the speechifying can sometimes trample on the eeriness and danger these characters are actually in would be a fair statement. However, this is a worthy work with an unnerving ending. Grade: B
157. “Sovereign”…Nick Offerman has the chops to be a serious dramatic actor who’s Oscar-nominated one day (I’m not joking) and I predict we’ll see him have a J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”-style breakthrough pretty soon. Here, he’s terrific as one of those ideological conservatives who argues about the “authority” the government and/or the banks and/or reality has in governing his life, dragging his poor teenage son down with him. In real life, you do see these guys (“Sovereign” is based on a true story), mostly on message boards, and even if you walk away from/block the argument, you can’t help but wonder “who actually believes that stuff?” This movie shows you exactly who does. Grade: B
156. “Tornado”…The biggest thing going for this samurai-puppet-show/moody-noir/Western/English-bandit hybrid is its sheer strangeness. It’s certainly unique, and I can honestly say I haven’t seen another movie I can recall being like it. Still, by the time it’s over, you might find yourself wishing it was a little bit wilder than it winds up being. Grade: B
155. “Together”…As a sub-genre, I’m just flat-out tired of body horror. However, this quality take is about as good as they come. It may not be actually scary, but it is a worthy exploration of commitment, commitment-phobia, and the ticking clock hanging over stagnating relationships where you might wonder “okay, where is this going?” Grade: B
154. “Titan: the Oceangate Disaster”…This is the “Netflix one” out of the numerous documentaries around the Oceangate disaster. It features more of a step-by-step guide into all the mistakes and missed red flags that went into creating this disaster (complete with interviews around some of the engineers that were fired trying to bring up this stuff) than some of the shorter ones. The more substantial length could be a demerit for some who just want the gory details of that day, but I’m more of a sucker for corporate malfeasance docs so this fit the bill. It also features interviews with some of the “shook” people who took a trip down in the submersible and feel they just as easily could’ve been the ones killed than the random lot who died on that day. Grade: B
153. “Twister: Caught in the Storm”…Humane disaster documentary that features heartfelt interviews with the tornado’s survivors. Grade: B
152. “Grenfell: Uncovered”…Another disaster documentary about a tragic fire in modern London that is best when focusing on the horrific consequences of the mindless “deregulate” everything mentality. Grade: B
151. “Kill Me Again”…The rare horror time loop movie that actually makes sense and has a genuinely surprising twist that’s properly set up. The production values are a bit better for a straight-to-Tubi movie as well, and the filmmaking is to. Grade: B …Speaking of smaller movies with clever structures…
150. “Final Destination: Bloodlines”…I watched the early installments of this series (in a theater!) but lost touch somewhere around the 3rd movie or so. “Bloodlines” is a pleasant return-to-form for the series, complete with a genuinely impressive period-piece opening that could almost be described as “Hitcockian.” Grade: B
149. “Sew Torn”…Innovative script shows three “options” of what our main character seamstress could do when they find some gut-shot thugs and some drug money on the side of the road after a drug-deal-gone-wrong. Quick pacing, good central performances (including John Lynch’s emotional heavy trying to properly villainize his conflicted son, and Eve Connolly as our nearly-mute hero), an unusual Swiss setting, and a handful of nifty scenes involving sewing thread being used to manipulate murders. Grade: B
148. “Deathstalker”…Wonderfully cheesy 80’s “metal” fantasy throwback. If you’re like me and prefer practical creature effects over crappy CGI, then this movie has an abundance of them that are terrific. A knowing Daniel Bernhardt is leaps and bounds better in the title role than the usual confused-looking blonde dumbass they shoehorn into these parts (not just Rick Hill in the original “Deathstalker,” but Ah-nuld, Marc Singer, Casper Van Dien, Kevin Sorbo, Dolph Lundren, and many others have taken their turn in similar parts), and the voice talents of Patton Oswalt are pitch-perfect as the movie’s sidekick. Grade: B
147. “Billy Joel: And So It goes”…As a subject, I have almost no interest in Billy Joel, and so I wasn’t in a rush to watch a 2-part, 5-hour documentary about him. However, this is very different than the Paul Anka documentary since Joel actually is candid in discussing real things people might care about like his multiple wives. The doc also acknowledges that Joel may be an incredibly popular musician, but not necessarily the most critically acclaimed–and several interviewees discuss his reputation with inside-baseball-like musical candor that is exciting to listen to. Grade: B
146. “The Bad Guys 2”…More colorful anarchy ensues in a sequel that is pretty close to the original in terms of quality. The biggest (and best) addition here is the new villain: Kitty Kat (voiced by Danielle Brooks), arguably the sexist animated animal in years; between her and the total babe Diane Foxington (voiced by Zazie Beetz), I’m convinced somebody working on this franchise is a barely-closeted furry. [This isn’t even mentioning the newly-buff villain from the first film.] Grade: B
145. “The Gorge”…Better than I thought it was going to be, including some of the year’s best visual effects, and believable chemistry between the movie’s two gorge-separated leads. You truly do believe they might be interested in crossing near-certain death for each other. Grade: B
144. “Roofman”…People like myself already know Channing Tatum is a much better actor than most people seem think he is, and has been terrific in roles as varied as “Magic Mike” and “Foxcatcher.” Here, he continues his winning streak with a performance that effortlessly floats between comedy and drama. However, most critics liked Kirsten Dunst’s performance (and character) a lot more than I did, and the end of the movie was infuriating for me as I was practically screaming “don’t go back!” towards our nearly-there hero. I understand “Roofman” is based on a true story, and there’s only so much you can deviate from it, but that doesn’t make it any more satisfying. Since I never for a second believed his character should be trying to date or live as much of a life outside that toy store as he does, you could say I didn’t really care for the movie even if I went for the central performance within it. Grade: B
143. “Devo”…Music documentaries can be tough to review, because a lot of times it boils down to “do you like this band’s music or not?” Well, “Devo” is the exception as I don’t really love the atonal, repetitive, orgasm-of-hipster-millennials music of Devo, but found their backstory–nerds on a mission to warn of the encroaching idiocracy–to be fairly compelling. This is sort-of the opposite of a snoozy-worthy hagiography like “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” as the feistier execution of “Devo” wins the day. Grade: B
142. “Time Travel is Dangerous”…A couple of good friends clowning around, no more, but no less. A charming “vibe” can be had throughout, even if you might be as foggy as a time traveler when trying to remember “Dangerous” the next day. Grade: B
141. “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”…Rose Byrne is up against it as a stressed out mother with a long-distance husband (he seems so unlikable over the phone, I was almost surprised to see a sympathetic face eventually attached to the judgmental phone voice). The seemingly ordinary incident of a leak in her ceiling becomes an allegory for the daily stresses that can spiral out of control as the hole in her roof gets bigger and bigger. Not everything in this movie really gels (it doesn’t totally seem to know what to do with ASAP Rocky’s character), some of the more abstract/artistic choices can be distracting, and you probably won’t be re-watching it, but as a vehicle to illustrate the momentous pressures of modern parenthood, it’s worthy. Grade: B
140. “Sacramento”…Just a nice road trip movie with a couple of friends, with Michael Angarano’s rascally friend looking to reconnect, and Michael Cera’s buttoned-up straight man more content to be the least interesting guy in any room. Occasional laughs and a nicely “shaggy dog” energy can be had here, but it won’t stick with you too long after it’s over. Grade: B
139. “Fairyland”…Likable movie that sometimes goes out of its way not to question the father’s questionable parenting choices. [It seems his daughter spends most of her time by herself while he selfishly parties with an ever-rotating cast of men and treats parenting as an inconvenience to that, which the movie doesn’t feel comfortable completely denouncing.] But Scoot McNairy and Emilia Clarke deliver good performances. Especially towards the end, Clarke–who doesn’t appear in the first third–delivers her final words to her father with a heartbreaking stillness that is all the more perfect for not going over the top. Grade: B
138. “Sly Lives”…Sly and the Family Stone may not be that well known to younger audiences, so it’s good that this documentary exists to give a true musical pioneer his due. Hypocritically, I still wish it had been a little bit shorter. Grade: B
137. “We Were Dangerous”…Slight-but-charming movie about teenage girls stranded at a reform school for “rebellious” young women. Heroines that are easy to root for, beautiful scenery, and an enjoyable runtime that doesn’t test our patience. This is one of the few 2025 movies that might actually be “too short,” but that’s far better than the majority that are too long. Grade: B
136. “Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story”…I personally believe professional manipulator Jodi Hildebrandt is a deeply repressed lesbian who thought the best way to “help” women she had a crush on (you can’t help but notice many of the women she spent the most time “counseling” are attractive) was to drive their husbands away, and then have the women become dependent on her for everything. As a case of sexual repression bubbling up in the worst ways imaginable inside the Mormon Church, Hildebrandt is a fascinating cautionary tale. The doc is strongest when they begin to veer from the specific details of the child abuse (where a little bit can go a long way) into Jodi’s larger pattern, and the overall gullibility of the Mormon community, and really most deeply religious communities. People who enjoyed Jake Lacy’s terrifically creepy turn in “A Friend of the Family” should check this out. Grade: B
135. “Twinless”…Dylan O’Brien is genuinely terrific in the most impressively varied dual role of 2025 (no small feat since a dozen movies used this device). “Twinless” winds and turns in some surprising ways before it gets to its overdue end point, but never in a way that pushes the plot towards anything too suspenseful, thrilling, or meaningful. It’s more about co-dependence and existential loneliness, relatable themes to be sure, but this is undermined by how unsympathetic James Sweeney’s Dennis actually is, making him possibly the most unintentionally creepy gay character since “Chuck and Buck,” but in a way where “Twinless” mostly shrugs it off (just as “Buck” did 25 years ago). The ending of “Twinless” can’t help but feel unsatisfying because it’s essentially asking its two characters to live in delusion without necessarily acknowledging that that’s what it is. Grade: B
134. “Splitsville”…Like “Twinless,” this was a comedy movie that was often surprising, but might wear you out before the end credits finally role. In the first third alone, “Splitsville” is laugh-out-loud hilarious, shows a full penis, a genuinely terrific on-screen fistfight (those calling it the best fight of 2025 are probably right), and quickly gets to the plot development most movies might’ve taken a bit longer–and established more tension–to get to which is the lead character sleeping with his best friend’s wife. Even if they are in an open marriage, you can predict about how poorly this will go (hence the fight), but “Splitsville” burns through about 5 more plots before it’s finally finished. All of this is good, but you might wish the creators had spent just a little bit more time letting things seep in–of course, all of that is a metaphor for the endless-loop purgatory of polyamory (or so the movie assures us), so it’s what they were going for. I just wish they’d gone slightly differently. Grade: B
133. “Hard Hat Riots”…One of those underrated episodes in American history that helps explain the culture war realignment of the Nixon age, and you can’t help but see terrifying parallels to January 6th emerge (even if the filmmakers miss a trick by never mentioning that parallel). This is a PBS Frontline edition around the NYC riots, so the documentary style here is about what you might watch on YouTube, but still a very good, fact-based TV feature that would blow past most “true” film documentaries. Grade: B
132. “Wilding”…Documentary about returning a storied 3,500-acre English property back to nature, repopulating it with animals that haven’t existed on its deforested, and brutally-landscaped grounds in generations. Visually beautiful, and done in a cozy style that fits nicely with the generally uplifting mood. Grade: B
131. “Soldiers of Song”…There have been several documentaries about the endless Russian invasion of Ukraine, and this is one of the best ones–covering some early days of the war, the resilient civilian population, and some musicians trying to inspire people in defiance of the brutal oppressors. Grade: B
130. “2000 Meters to Andriivka”…A “you are there” documentary on the frontlines of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the brave soldiers fighting back. If you’ve ever wondered what “Saving Private Ryan” might look like as a documentary, this is pretty close, but be warned that you might not be prepared for just exactly how real sections of this doc truly are, capturing the confusion, screams, and all-out chaos of battle. [But this is also a Frontline special, and be prepared its more journalistic in intent than a true narrative feature documentary might be.] Grade: B
129. “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight”…Those seeking simple narratives with clear-cut villains and heroes might want to avoid this complex biography seen through the eyes of a young girl in Rhodesia at the moment Robert Mugabe takes over (essentially when it becomes Zimbabwe). Every scene could be viewed multiple ways, and your sympathies might shift from moment to moment. Remarkably, the uncertainty a kid might actually feel as her entire world seems to be dissolving is accurately captured here. Grade: B
128. “Dead of Winter”…Unorthodox casting elevates this nicely small, Minnesota-set thriller. The tall, and effortlessly-intelligent Emma Thompson as an action heroine works so well you wonder why it wasn’t attempted sooner, and Judy Greer (whose numerous performances as exhausted moms and wives always carried a subtle note of hostility) as a sharp-eyed villain is terrific. Essentially, you’re watching three women with various levels of interest in their own survival: a victim that could live a long time but may not want to; a villainous on borrowed time but determined to live longer; and an older heroine whose primary reason for continuing (a life with her soulmate) has ended but finds chipper optimism in thinking of things bigger than herself. Also, I’m a sucker for snow-covered movies, and a beautiful background certainly doesn’t hurt. Grade: B
127. “Fixed”…A dog deciding to have one more wild night before getting neutered is a good setup for an R-rated animated comedy, and the talented voice cast matches well with the over-the-top visuals. If you’ve ever wanted to see an R-rated “Ren & Stimpy” episode, this is pretty close. Grade: B
126. “In Waves and War”…If there were ever a group of men you might not expect to see extolling the virtues of hallucinogenics, it’s probably Navy Seals and other elite units of the military. This unusual documentary takes us on the journey these men go through from suspicious (before treatment starts, several of these guys are dubiously stroking their beard so hard it could cause a fire in their hand) to grateful and relieved. You can’t believe how emotionally candid some of these men get, and their “trips” are vividly rendered as well, often revealing shattering emotional truths. Grade: B
125. “Bring Them Down”…This movie isn’t hard enough on its antagonists. Possibly the most infuriating act of violence in a 2025 movie takes place in “Down” (just when I thought I’d seen it all done to humans, movies now seem to be embracing animal cruelty as a last-ditch effort to shock a numb audience that gobbles horror movies like M&Ms), and I thought the denouement towards punishing those responsible was pitifully weak. Christopher Abbott gives a solid lead performance, drawing you into a character who doesn’t say a lot with only a few flickers of his serious eyebrows. You empathize, and its a unique subculture explored here (the title phrase has a secondary meaning to sheep wrangling I’d never heard before), but I also might’ve preferred a more straightforward timeline that could’ve ratcheted up the tension more instead of confusing us in certain tense moments. Grade: B
124. “Jeffrey Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself”…This Vice expose into the life and crimes of Epstein is surprisingly good, giving you a brief-but-thorough examination of Epstein’s early years, his mysterious finance clients (very few are publicly known), alleged ties to intelligence agencies, his first arrest and the joke “punishment,” the subsequent journalist investigation, and the theories around his death. I learned some things I didn’t already know–no easy feat for a story that has been in the news as much as this one has–and I think the 80 minute runtime is more than justified. Grade: B
123. “Bang Bang”…This was a good year for boxing movies (you’ll see “Christy” and “The Cut” a bit further up the countdown), and this overlooked Detroit-set indie finds Tim Blake Nelson as a feisty, aging scrapper in a role so perfect for him and his underdog talents I’m shocked it wasn’t written specifically for him. Watching “Christy,” “Bang Bang,” and “The Cut” close together only reminds you of cinematic the sport of boxing is, and how varied the takes on it can be. These days, I’m much more likely to watch a boxing movie than an actual match. Grade: B
122. “Eephus”…”Eephus” takes its name from a bizarre baseball pitch that moves so slow it confuses everyone, a deliberate metaphor for this movie centered entirely around an endless amateur baseball game. I’m going to be honest and admit that for every viewer that loves this movie, there will be at least two who probably can’t wait for it to be over (if they even finish it). But there’s something gloriously sad and nostalgic in a tangible way here, and it just might move certain older, emotionally-repressed men to near tears without even trying to. The passage of time, and the loss of the things that you love (not just youth, but certainly including it) is as powerful as any topic you could disguise underneath endless baseball jargon among men trying very hard not to talk about anything real. Grade: B
121. “The Shark Whisperer”…There’s a very good chance I will never understand why the title person in this documentary is doing what she’s doing (there must have been 10 times where I said “What the hell is she thinking?” out loud while watching it), but the ocean-blue footage in this movie is beautiful. And it’s an undeniably compelling sight to see an unprotected person swimming all around (and sometimes on the fin of) a gigantic shark that could kill them in a flash. Grade: B
120. “American Delivery”…Worthy documentary built around the serious subject of America’s shocking maternal mortality rate (one of the worst in the industrialized world). “Delivery” takes a softer, gentler, more empathetic approach than you might expect–often showcasing the expectant mothers themselves and the medical professionals who care for them. You can probably say that’s the right call, but some of us might’ve preferred something a bit more centered on hard data and pointing to specific villains or stories of villainy. “Delivery” is more a call for empathy than a battle cry, and even if that fits this material better, it may not be the most satisfying or electric way it could’ve gone. Grade: B
119. “Ghost Cat Anzu”…You might be hoping for something at the quality level of “My Neighbor Totoro” as a young girl has an adorable oversized sidekick (in this case, a giant orange cat who is not Garfield or Heathcliffe), but even if “Anzu” doesn’t reach the highest level, it’s still a worthy watch. Grade: B
118. “A Sloth Story”…Ordinarily, obscure animated movies you find mostly on Tubi aren’t very good and are just a diversion for the kids when you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for something new to watch. But “Sloth Story” is a surprisingly worthy story about family, the virtues of slow/real food over assembly-line garbage, and offers a good message about the dangers of “anything for a buck” “efficiency” ethos. This movie was better than I thought it would be, and that’s pretty rare for little-known animated movies I’ve seen on ad-supported streaming services. Grade: B
117. “Tales From the Magic Garden”…This is actual stop-motion animation (“A Sloth Story” admirably styles itself like one, but isn’t truly using the technique) in all its painstaking deliberateness. [Just looking at some behind-the-scenes features during the credits made me feel for the artists who created this.] Aside from the main plot, there are three stories–all of them good–and a touching story at the center. Oh yes, you could do a lot worse from foreign animated movies you’ve barely heard of. Grade: B
116. “Shari and Lamb Chop”…Shari Lewis was a tireless workaholic who pushed hard to keep her puppets in the public consciousness (in one moment of this documentary set long after Lamb Chop’s heyday she’s doing a show for only 4 people). Is that the most fascinating thing to build a documentary around? Not necessarily, but this showcase winds up being more interesting than something like “Paul Anka: His Way” because it hints at the darkness Shari’s sunny and driven nature might’ve been fully repressing. Grade: B
115. “Sunday Best”…As “The Late Show” is shoved off the airwaves, check out this documentary about where the name “The Ed Sullivan Theater” came from (Stephen Colbert’s last guest was Paul McCartney, who famously played with The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in that theater over sixty years ago). It’s a good examination of not only the cultural impact Ed Sullivan actually had, but how he used it to platform black musicians and artists at a time when it wasn’t common at all. [Mississippi’s governor strongly denounced Sullivan’s show in a way that feels all too familiar today.] Grade: B
114. “Is This Thing On?”…I enjoyed this more than Bradley Cooper’s last film “Maestro” even if it still suffers from the same problem of bloating (it’s about 15 minutes too long). Some of the best scenes involve Will Arnett “discovering” stand-up comedy in the middle of an awful personal period, and using his desperation to get onstage. Unfortunately, there’s a lot around those scenes of thrilling personal discovery that may dilute the charge the standup bits carry. Grade: B
113. “Mr. Scorsese”…This is a 5-part documentary about the legendary director that might belong in my TV reviews section, but that just didn’t feel right when talking about one of the greatest directors of all time. There are sections of this miniseries that you wish they’d spent more time on–certain films are mentioned for only a minute or two–and many collaborators aren’t interviewed at all (Joe Pesci, Liam Neeson, Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe, etc.) or for far too briefly (this doc is literally directed by Daniel Day-Lewis’s wife Rebecca Miller, but he gives only the briefest of insights into working with Scorsese twice). Still, this is probably the definitive documentary about not only Scorsese’s work, but also his life. People interested in the man at all should absolutely make a point of seeing this. Grade: B
112. “The Invisibles”…This indie has pacing issues, the nebulous world the main character “disappears” to a bit too vague, and it can be a bit clunky around the edges. However, if you can dial into its slow, stirring wavelength it just might sneak up on you, and deliver a genuinely affecting ending that’s about “coming back to life” from a long depression. Even if the earlier sections of the movie needed some trimming, I cared more than I thought I would by the end, and that makes “Invisibles” a qualified success. Grade: B
111. “Ballerina”…Saying something is the “worst” of the “John Wick” movies may seem unfair because this is a spin-off of the main franchise; although Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick–in his final film role–all have considerable screen time here, and the subtitle of “From the World of John Wick” was literally added to “Ballerina” so that we would consider it very much a part of the main franchise. However, there’s just something singularly awesome about the main-line “Wick” franchise that countless ultra-violent knock-offs like “Bullet Train,” “Atomic Blonde,” “Extraction,” “One Shot,” etc. just can’t really match. “Ballerina” is better than most of the knock-offs (the “Nobody” franchise has come the closest to “Wick”‘s level of quality), but is that really “good enough?” The first half is largely “so-so,” but the movie certainly comes alive when they get into the mysterious, snowy-European town where literally everyone inside it wants to kill the main character (a terrific idea for a movie that “Ballerina” doesn’t do nearly enough with). Even there, you might be wondering some basic sense questions like “If this organization that runs parallel to The High Table is a cult, why does Gabriel Bryne’s cult-leader act like his death would be no big deal for the survival of that organization?” The world-building of this parallel organization to The High Table–and there have never been “other” organizations really mentioned in the world of “Wick,” since The High Table is supposedly unavoidable and all-powerful–is sloppy, and the entire plotting of “Ballerina” leaves something to be desired. Still, any movie that has a flame-thrower battle in the snow as part of its climax will never be all bad. Grade: B
110. “Sharp Corner”…This is one of the year’s most depressing movies, as you’re essentially watching Ben Foster’s main character lose everything, and nearly every other adult in the cast has a strange antipathy towards him (from his arrogant younger boss to his disdainful wife, both of whom seem ready to get rid of him pretty early on). His lack of any true connections or support–even a therapist he meets with appears to be dating his wife later on–is perhaps why he’s plunged so obsessively into being the “hero” of the usually-fatal car accidents that keep happening near (or on) his newly-bought house, where the front lawn is part of a notoriously dangerous highway curve. Foster is strong here, the score is thrillingly ominous, and the direction is crisp, building up to a final rainy night sequence of obsession and need that is excellent. The final 10 minutes or so of this movie signal that writer-director Jason Buxton is one to watch. Grade: B
109. “Christy”…For an example of just how much range and subtlety Ben Foster actually has, check out “Christy” soon after “Sharp Corners” (not before, or you won’t fully sympathize with his “Corners” character after seeing his “Christy” villain). With Jim Martin, he creates one of the most lived-in and nuanced portrayals of a domestic abuser since Eric Roberts in “Star 80.” But Sydney Sweeney is a revelation, showing she’s fully committed to being taken seriously as an actress (she’s also great in “Americana” and “Eden”) in a way that fully compliments her true-story portrayal of boxer Christy Martin (or Salters), an early pioneer of “lady” boxing. The outward homophobia of Christy–overcompensating (naturally) for her own sexual orientation–before eventually falling in love with a rival boxer (Katy O’Brian, delivering another solid, clear-eyed performance of electric empathy) might subtly mirror Sweeney’s own (eventual) evolution from Scooter Braun-dating, MAGA-adjacent pinup princess to seriously good actress. Grade: B+
108. “Janis Ian: Breaking Silence”…Ian’s first breakout hit was “Society’s Child,” which broke taboos about interracial relationships (she was booed off the stage playing it despite only being a teenager, and it was a struggle to get it played during the more monolithic media of the 60’s), but–sadly–that only makes up a very small part of her overall story even if I wish it might’ve played a bigger role in this doc. It might also strike some as ironic that Ian apparently never interracially dated anyone, man or woman, based on the relationships that are shown here. This doc has decent production values, good execution, and moves quickly. Ian is also more open in a way that makes you wish Diane Warren’s “Relentless” had been. Grade: B+
107. “Pee Wee Herman as Himself”…To be honest, a two-part documentary movie about the life of Paul Reubens wasn’t high on my “must watch” list for 2025 movies. Sure, I liked Pee Wee Herman (from what I can actually remember of it), and might’ve been curious to see how Reubens handles his notorious porno theater self-sex-scandal and subsequent arrest. But was I more than 3 hours worth of curious? Luckily, Reubens is a funny and self-aware guide through his life’s story, always willing to throw a curveball or self-effacing line at the audience when things are running a bit dry. In a way, his occasionally combative interviews are a good representation of his “creative control freak” tendencies, as it’s clear he’d love to shove doc director Matt Wolf over and take the reins. Reubens died in 2023, making this one of the last projects he ever cooperated with. This will probably the definitive take on his life and legacy; luckily, it’s a worthy one. Grade: B+
106. “Left for Dead”…This documentary about missing black women and the police who barely break a sweat to properly investigate their disappearances has not one, but two (solved) true-crime cases that are genuinely interesting. This takes the undeniable intrigue of the best “Dateline” specials and combines it with a compelling protagonist (the person on-camera most is the brother of one of the missing women, a man it’s impossible not to feel for) and a good message on just how infuriating the system can be when working probable-homicides towards black women. Once you see how the umpteenth detective finally solved both of these cases, you’re almost astounded that the previous cops never thought to put the time in. Grade: B+
105. “Tokyo Cowboy”…A beautiful, quiet movie that will sneak up on you. Here, a work-focused Japanese businessman heads to Montana to “transform” a struggling ranch. Real issues of who owns America’s farmland, who should own it are raised, and how they will adapt to a finance culture determined to swallow the world, but the real draw here is the deft emotional work done by Japanese actor Arata Iura, making his opening up universal and instantly heartwarming. Can a truly gorgeous outside change a person’s insides? The soul-stirring landscapes here suggest that maybe they can. Grade: B+
104. “Scarlet”…Beautiful animation style and a head-tripping/gender-bending take on “Hamlet” in the afterlife make this a unique and worthy animated film. I can’t say I understood all of it–but that’s not unusual for anime films, and fans of this type of thing are in for a treat. Grade: B+
103. “Lithium Rising: The Race for Critical Minerals”…One of the year’s best PBS documentaries is also one of the shortest–so there’s no excuse to skip it! I might be kidding with that last part (am I though?), but the competition for lithium is no joke, as this brief-doc tries its best to ring the alarm on China’s monopolization of this rare commodity. Takes place all over the globe, presenting a vision of lithium wherein the communities it’s being mined in (from South America to Africa) unsurprisingly don’t benefit as much from it as the country that actually controls those mines. Grade: B+
102. “Trump’s Power and the Rule of Law”…Trump is a dirt bag and lifelong criminal with little respect for the rule of law. Even if you understand that–and if you’re spending any time on this site, you probably already do–it’s still worth seeing it given the “PBS treatment” with good, solid, fact-based reporting laying out a case that would win in a court of law; unfortunately, even those are pretty suspect in Trump’s America. Grade: B+
101. “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish Story”…Just when you think scripted experimental films like “Pepe” or “The Invention” are about as weird as you’re ever going to get (to say nothing of the pair listed right below this entry), “Unknown Number” is a documentary that comes along to show fiction how it’s done by focusing on one of the most bizarre true-crimes I’ve ever seen. I don’t wish to spoil who’s behind the cyber-abuse here–but you just about can’t talk about what makes the film so memorable without revealing it. The twist is that good, and I’d strongly encourage you not to look it up before watching “Number.” The back-half of the movie is less of a “whodunnit?” than a “whytheydunnit?” (there are multiple theories, each one creepier than the last). When you hear from the somewhat-vacant central receiver of these abusive texts and her desire to keep talking to the cyberbully who strongly encouraged her to kill herself, you can’t help but think “is she okay though?” Eventual interviews in the last few minutes don’t help shed much light, making the crimes even more mysterious and eerie. Grade: B+
100. “The Paragon”…An enjoyably bizarre Australian film that may technically be a 2024 movie, but it was just too distinctive to fully ignore it for this list as I hadn’t seen it yet for the ’24 list. “Paragon” goes to show that large budgets aren’t required to do solid genre stories with characters you actually care about. Grade: B+
99. “The Surfer”...And if you love weird movies set in Australia, don’t stop with “Paragon,” as “Surfer”‘s strangeness almost sneaks up on you as this movie is not sci-fi, and feels like a forgotten, hallucinogenic 70’s movie Sam Peckinpah might’ve had forcibly shelved for years before it eventually winds up airing on Turner Classic Movies at midnight on Friday. “Surfer” seems like it’s setting you up for a classic “beleaguered, beta-male dad taking on a gang of punks” type thriller, but the middle of the movie is much weirder than that as you question the main character’s sanity, before eventually finding itself back towards something resembling a satisfactory ending. The recently departed Julian McMahon continued his late-career hot streak (he’s also good in “The Supreme’s at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat Dinner” and a small role in the TV show “The Residence”) with probably his best film performance ever, saving the best for last as a menacing “alpha” male cult-leader of a surfing “gang,” a perfect satirization of the type of guy too many young men are listening to in 2025. And Nicolas Cage has done so many wild turns by now that it might almost be impossible for him to shock us, but his work here is layered, believable, and just about perfect as a man going through one of the worst weeks of his life. Grade: B+
98. “Love Me”…If the last couple of movies on this list are a bit too “out there” for you then check out this cozy romantic comedy between…a satellite and an artificially-intelligent buoy on an Earth where humanity is instinct? “Love Me” is probably the year’s best “rom com” by probing deeply into how much of ourselves are “real” and how much is manufactured to replicate images we see everyday in order to normalize “our” own happiness. The natural instinct vs. learned behavior of humans is brilliantly rendered by “things” that aren’t human at all. Grade: B+
97. “Escape”…Like “Paragon,” this may technically be a 2024 movie, but with international productions the lines can get a bit blurry. Either way, please seek out this energized “escape from North Korea” dark-comedy thriller. Grade: B+
96. “The Knife”…A quick movie (it’s not even 80 minutes without credits) that will linger you with for days afterwards. “Knife” is mostly set in a single location as a cozy family home slowly shifts into a trap, fully putting you inside the perspective of black people dealing with cops primed to not believe a word they say. Melissa Leo plays the most insidious of detectives, her true motives nakedly visible beneath every forced smile. Amy Madigan was awesome as Aunt Gladys, but for a more realistic portrayal of the type of person who can ruin a kid’s life by pretending to be their friend, check out Leo’s masterful antagonist here. Grade: B+
95. “Kiss of the Spider Woman”…Reviews mention that we may not have necessarily needed another version of “Kiss,” but a talented cast is giving this their all. Jennifer Lopez slips seamlessly into old-school Hollywood glamor that inmates trapped in a dank prison cell could surely find an escape in, one of the few times Hollywood’s inflated self-image of the life-saving power of its art seems entirely justified. And Tonatiuh and Diego Luna have a believable chemistry and narrative arc (not sure that’s been true in all previous versions of “Spider”). Grade: B+
94. “The Bibi Files”…This might also be a 2024 movie (it came out at the very end of that year), but had such a slow international rollout that most Americans wouldn’t have seen it until 2025. This documentary makes the intriguing–and credible–assertion that Netanyahu deliberately kept the war in Israel going to avoid his own corruption charges, using endless military campaigns (and propping up Hamas prior to October 7th) in order to hold onto power. Documentaries about Israel and Palestine weren’t hard to find in 2025, but this is the best one–superior filmmaking, and a focus on individual power players that sets it apart. Grade: B+
93. “Sex in the Soviet Union”…A documentary about how various sexual topics like homosexuality, abortion, pornography, and sex in general were treated under Stalin and Khrushchev. Fascinating, and more than a little terrifying given the rise in what’s happening in the United States…Grade: B+
92. “Riefenstahl”…Takes a deep dive into the “Hitler’s favorite filmmaker” and tries to get at the inevitable question of “What did she know, and when did she know it?” In archival clips after WWII is over, Leni seems defensive at questions about her complicity (she essentially made Nazi propaganda films portraying their “strength” in glistening, regal black-and-white that made fascism look gorgeous), and it raises good questions about what any artist in an oppressive regime might sacrifice to keep working or whether they were already compromised before ever making the art in the first place. Grade: B+ …And for another documentary about a prickly subject that is also more nuanced than you might think…
91. “I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not”…Enjoyably wild documentary wherein they’re almost daring you to like the subject. Chase might’ve thought he was signing on to a celebrity hagiography (which is what 90% of similar docs are), but documentarian Marina Zenovich (in a perfect world she has the cultural cache that Laura Poitras does) doesn’t really do that as evidenced by previous docs like “Lance,” “Fantastic Lies,” and “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.” Chase is mostly shown as a jerk who deserves his washed-up reputation–the doc spends very little time on his big-screen successes as one of the biggest comedy film stars of the 80’s, but longer lengths on his failed talk show, coke-addled decline, and disastrous relationships on “Community”–but then it boomerangs back around to contextualize his meanness, and wonder what’s driving the backlash towards him specifically in a business that’s full of jerks. Grade: B+
90. “The G”…I’m a huge fan of Dale Dickey, and it’s great to see her in as the lead and title character in a revenge thriller taking on the worthy subject of corrupt conservators taking advantage of senior citizens. But I was a bit disappointed that G doesn’t do much until the last 10% of the movie, and a lot of the movie feels like it’s spinning its wheels, padding out the runtime until we get to what we came for. Still, the elements are good ones here. Grade: B+
89. “Antidote”…Vladimir Putin is a mass murderer who’s killed people all over the planet that he doesn’t like personally. This PBS documentary is a worthy examination of the dangers of someone trying to make themselves synonymous with an ideology (religious, ethnic, or nationalistic), and trying to make people believe that what’s bad for them is also bad for the larger ideology, in this case Russian supremacy. Grade: B+
88. “Dangerous Animals”…This is essentially tied with “Beast of War” (which is a bit better) as the best shark movie of 2025, and “Animals” gets so close to the grand prize by having a genuinely original “shark movie” premise, some innovative deaths, and a memorable villain Jai Courtney’s serial killer who enjoys feeding some of his less-checked-in shark cage tourists (always tell people where you’re at readers!) to the sharks after he’s done letting them have a few contained thrills. Courtney was also good in a totally different type of film in “Runt,” making 2025 one of his best creative years in…ever. Only Orlando Bloom had a better year in terms of “once bland UK/Aussie leading men who seem hell-bent on redeeming their reputations.” Grade: B+
87. “Beast of War”…The “Best Shark Movie of 2025” may sound like damnation with faint praise when your competition is “Lone Star Shark” and about a dozen movies people never heard of until scrolling through the deepest cuts on Hulu. But “Beast” is a genuinely good movie as well, delving into racial tension among Aussie soldiers in WWII to set up an interesting premise before we even see the title beast. Once it finally arrives, I feel confident in saying it’s the year’s best shark–a practical effects creation that reminds you of how viscerally terrifying these beasts are when they’re real instead of cheap CGI. There’s also an interestingly nightmarish color scheme during the back half of the movie that feels like a surreal oil painting brought to life. Well done, mates… Grade: B+
86. “The Long Walk”…Is a meaningless, slow-walking endurance test for teen boys a worthy metaphor for mindless machismo? I think so, because it doesn’t make much sense as a literal feat of strength an actual fascist regime might go for. Viewed through the lens of the joyless, unimaginative Hegseth-ism the “Walk” represents, the movie works best, as its likable cast of naive boys falls one after the other, similar to the disillusionment of growing up. Grade: B+
85. “Highest 2 Lowest”…This is one of the toughest 2025 movies to review because I don’t think it’s a very good remake of “High and Low” (at all) but it’s a good movie in its own right. For those who are unfamiliar, “High and Low” revolves around the stomach-churning dilemma faced by a Japanese businessman when his chauffeur’s son is mistakenly kidnapped instead of his own son during a crucial business deal when he can’t spare the ransom. Does he pay the ransom for his chauffeur’s son who was taken in place of his own son even if it means financial ruin for himself? It’s a hell of a question that plays out like a morality play as much as a tense thriller.
But “Highest 2 Lowest” is Spike Lee’s “take” on the same material that isn’t particularly interested in the moral quandary (it seems like it gets resolved in a few minutes), and would rather focus on thriller dynamics, the business aspects of modern music, when a “fan” becomes a covetous enemy, “young bucks vs. OGs” posturing, machismo, and probably five other things I’m forgetting. Lee may not be so much worried about using the initial plot as a broader knife-twist on capitalism and “what would you do?” probing, but he does make a pretty riveting thriller (the subway ransom drop is admittedly one of the year’s most thrilling sequences), the face-off between Denzel Washington and ASAP Rocky works, and Washington turns in an appropriately jazzy performance as an “over the hill” music mogul improvising in every moment to prove his skills haven’t gone anywhere with age. Grade: B+
84. “Lurker”…Has a lot to say about celebrities, fans, and the increasingly porous line between them in an age where even a star-on-the-rise’s entourage member might get a small following of their own. “Lurker”‘s uncomfortable protagonist may make you wince a lot along the way, but eventually has several breakthroughs in the cat-and-mouse final act that turns out to be the rare thriller that not only reaches for deeper truths within its characters, but actually achieves them. Grade: B+
83. “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy”…To say this is the best of the “Bridget Jones” sequels is a bit of a back-handed compliment. This is not only that, but a reminder of how badly quality romantic comedies are missed. “Jones” shows there is still a very real need for them to tell relatable stories that can combine explorations of grief with real comedy and sex appeal. Not every turn-of-the-millennium icon gets a worthy reboot (“And So It Goes” comes to mind as something that shouldn’t exist), and so it’s worth celebrating “Boy.” Grade: B+
82. “The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs, and Who Has Control”…Documentary about a sexual problem that too much of the medical establishment wouldn’t admit existed because it affected women, and the painstaking road in trying to get “the female Viagra” (Addy) approved past a skeptical FDA. A lively, solid documentary around a story I actually didn’t see covered much in the news (compared to the release of Viagra which you’d have to be in a coma to have missed), and a worthy exploration of women’s sexual desires, and the lack of attention paid to it by the vast majority of the medical community. Grade: B+
81. “Sarah’s Oil”…To say I’m not a fan of the often-irritating Zachary Levi is an understatement, but he’s giving one of his least annoying performances here as a Texas wildcatter who might be trying to help a young Oklahoma black girl (Naya Desir-Johnson, a breakthrough) hold onto her oil rights in the early 1900’s. [To me, having him tempted to screw her as well is a fresh subversion on the “white savior” trope since it essentially admits few people are above the lure of money.] The inspirational aspects of “Sarah” are why most viewers will watch–and they do work in a way that is almost as affecting as “The Pursuit of Happyness”–but I was also impressed with the level of detail the film put into the early oil industry and the legal maneuvering required to hold onto something everybody is trying to cheat you out of. Admittedly, a lot of movies higher up on this list are ones that critics will enjoy more than audiences will (although not all of them), but “Sarah’s Oil” is a straight up crowd pleaser that shows there’s still an appetite for sentimental winners. Grade: B+
80. “Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything”…Excellent documentary about someone who was around for so long, it’s easy to underrate her. Often, we think about those who were “gone too soon” and their life tragically cut short (the “James Dean Syndrome”), but Walters was absolutely a pioneer who did it for so long, we may not even recognize her true contribution. Even better, the doc isn’t a hagiography, not shying away from her competitive ambition, and the cost that might’ve had for her family. By the end, you feel like you actually know a person who had been in the background of your life for so long. Grade: B+
79. Are We Good?…I’m a Marc Maron fan, but I freely admit this “hang out” documentary is maybe not revelatory for those of us well-versed in him, and who might’ve been hoping for something as deep as one of the best episodes of his podcast. [Simply plopping a camera down and filming some of the more jaw-dropping episodes would’ve been riveting.] But they still do a good job of giving you a quick overview of the highlights: a little of Marc’s backstory and childhood, his early comedy, the rise of his acclaimed podcast, him working on some of his newer material at clubs, brief mentions of a few of his acting roles, the famous cats, and lengthier sections on the loss of his serious girlfriend Lynn Shelton. The glimpses we get of the luminous Shelton certainly help you understand why Maron would be wrecked. Grade: B+
78. “The Luckiest Man in America”…Paul Walter Hauser and Walton Goggins sharing scenes in a movie?! I’m in heaven. David Strathairn, Patti Harrison, and others round the stacked supporting cast. Even if the story is a bit slight (you sometimes feel it’s being stretched out to get to just 90 minutes), Hauser’s lovable loser is impossible to resist. Grade: B+
77. “Oceans”…Okay, so I’m a sucker for gorgeous nature documentaries. “Oceans” doesn’t give us much that we don’t already know–although actually seeing the bottom of the ocean scraped by fishing boats is nearly stomach-churning in its environmental destruction–but you’re not really looking for “new” when turning on something like this. Put it on the biggest TV screen you own (or view it at a friend’s if you don’t have one larger than an iPhone), turn off the lights, and be transported to the majestic-yet-mysterious blue of the deep ocean, a place that is both soothing and otherworldly. Grade: B+
76. “Sea Lions of the Galapagos”…As just mentioned, I enjoy a good nature documentary. Similar to “Oceans,” this has stunning ocean cinematography, but it also has an affecting narrative centered around the main animals (similar to most Disney Nature docs), and warm narration from Brendan Fraser. Grade: B+
75. “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie”…Anyone still reading this might think I’ve fully gone ’round the bend in rating this movie “so highly” at a…B+? However, the candy-colored visuals are almost hallucinogenic, the film’s villainous cat lady is like a “Grey Gardens” character somehow wandered into a movie for young kids, the bitchy junior villain having a serious grudge about being forgotten is like a thriller-movie version of a “Toy Story” character, and I go for kid’s movies that are pleasingly strange–which this one certainly is. Shoot the messenger if you want, but everything I was hoping “The Smurfs” movies would be (and never have been) can be found in “Gabby’s” bizarro big-screen debut, and there’s a worthy message in here for the importance of indulging your imagination in a hustle-inclined world. Grade: B+
74. “Elio”…”Elio” is one of the weaker Pixar movies ever made, and I’m sure it’s going to be a struggle to watch it for the fifth or sixth time, as I have literally all Pixar films over the years since they’ve been released. Yet, it’s still better than “Finding Dory” (the actual worst one they’ve made) and some of the classic Pixar cleverness is still there, particularly when Elio first gets introduced to the advanced alien civilization and their near-omniscient gadgets. But the movie should’ve played around more with its stronger elements like the advanced coalition of planets and what they can really do (as is, they are interrupted almost immediately by a war-lord alien) or Elio’s resentment at getting replaced by a “better” clone version of himself, which is a universal anxiety of insecure kids. Here, Pixar felt afraid to really flesh out their world–which all their best movies from “Soul” to “Elemental” do as Pixar world-building is second-to-none. Instead, they just keep their plot humming along through its predictable beats. It’s still a “good” movie, but the fact that it’s not a great one is one of the year’s worst missed opportunities. Grade: B+
73. “Wicked: For Good”…Part 2 of the “Wicked” movie was so disliked I think it might actually be underrated. The movie’s politics about demagoguery and the worthiness of resistance even if those leading it are ultimately scapegoated are still good, Jonathan Bailey and Cynthia Erivo still have pretty good heat, and it really just feels like people didn’t like the movie because it’s deliberately more of a bummer than the first one (and also more mature in nature than the simpler times of “Part 1”). It is more of a downer, and I can admit it’s not as good as the first one, but neither was it as outright bad as many are claiming either. At this point, I’m grateful for any large-budget movie that speaks to the issues plaguing our times–even if it’s solely through a PG-rated allegory. Do I think that’s more important for the resistance than an R-rated, 3-hour Brazilian movie almost nobody in America will actually watch? Oh, I know it is. Grade: B+
72. “The Naked Gun”…It’s saying something about comedy’s diminished place in the culture when you’re just happy a gag-heavy spoof film is being made at all. Twenty years ago, most of this movie would’ve looked a bit stale, but now you’re almost marveling at a bunch of over-50 year old actors (Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, Kevin Durand, CCH Pounder) getting a theatrical release for dick and diarrhea jokes. Not that long ago, millennials enjoying their teenage years (cough, myself, cough) could go to the movie theater any given month and see a movie like this, and it’s a bit sad that that era of self-knowing crap now looks “miraculous.” 2025’s “Gun” can still make you laugh out loud a dozen times (a line about Bill Cosby here, a running joke about cop movie characters guzzling coffee there) which is more than most comedies manage these days, and there’s a scathing take on “alpha” male tech bros who only think they’re old fashioned macho guys…until they get into a real fight for the first time. Grade: B+
71. “Adjunct”…Like most people I did not know much about how little adjunct professors are paid or their less-than-fair working conditions before watching this movie; this eye-opening dramedy tells us about that and other topics. The lead character is impossible not to like in his quest towards academic job stability…Grade: B+
70. “Jay Kelly”…Let’s be honest and admit that if this exact same movie had been directed by Paola Sorrentino and was in Italian, it would’ve made most critic’s “Ten Best Lists” and be sitting near-100% on Rotten Tomatoes. But because “Kelly” is an American film starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler that went straight to Netflix, the critical reaction has been a little bit muted (even some of the film’s detractors are surprised it received zero Oscar nominations). “Kelly” isn’t perfect (the train section is too long, and Laura Dern’s character seems to exist largely to breathlessly barrel into each scene) primarily because its central message isn’t totally believable; do we really believe the title character would’ve been better off dropping out of movies to raise bratty daughters? Plenty of people aren’t movie stars and still have strained relationships with their adult children.
However, it represents Baumbach’s most assured directing effort to date. His seamless blend of memories, or putting two characters on a phone call together (emotional calls truly do feel like you’re in the same room, distance be damned) is the most technically accomplished work of his career. Even if the film’s best section wasn’t set in Italy, this would still feel like an Italian movie, with the depressed-yet-whimsical surrealism of a professional pretender right beneath the surface of its amber hued lighting. Elsewhere, Adam Sandler has a wonderful scene breaking down in front of Patrick Wilson, and Clooney prove he’s the rare movie star that can believably tint his charm with melancholy. This role obviously fits him like a glove, and proves that Clooney (also strong in 2024’s underrated “Wolfs”) is ready to return to the consistently strong performances he hasn’t really been delivering since the early 2010’s. Grade: B+
69. “Nobody 2”…I disagree with critics who say this movie is better than the first one. The original “Nobody” (which missed being in my Top 20 countdown by one spot the year it was released) had a better plot, more affecting main character arc, a more fleshed-out villain (here, Sharon Stone slithers menacingly like she’s in an 80’s rock video in a way that is scarcely believable beneath all the mugging around), and was more emotionally resonant overall. Still, this worthy sequel captures that feeling of “summer fun” in a way most action movies with 5-times its budget simply can’t. The thriftiness is practically the entire point in the “Nobody” movies, since it grounds the action in something realer. Here, we watch some admittedly memorable set pieces, like our titular assassin (Bob Odenkirk, a better action star does not exist today) whooping ass on a ridiculous duck boat, or blowing up a water park full of assassins. If there is a “Nobody 3” or “4” or “5,” I’m in. Grade: B+
68. “Sisu 2: Road to Revenge”…Although “Nobody 2” was a slight downgrade (for me) over an excellent original, I do agree with critics that “Sisu 2” is superior to the first one–right down to Stephen Lang’s more vivid villain. This might be the rare 2025 movie that is almost too short, but why quibble when “Sisu 2” manages to do something close to impossible: making car chases feel fresh in a variety of ways involving the transport of a deconstructed wooden house. One of my favorites involved the WWII-era-helmeted bike riders, showing you a sequence that reminded me of my favorite moments in “John Wick 3” (him having to find a way to kill heavily-protected goons with bulletproof helmets) and “Mad Max Fury Road” combined. Grade: B+
66./67. (tie) “Unstoppable” and “The Fire Inside”…Two very-late 2024 sports movies about athletes from gritty personal circumstances (shady stepfathers and constant money struggles or sexual abuse and constant money struggles) having to overcome adversity to triumph in their sports. Both benefit from ace supporting work (“Unstoppable” has Jennifer Lopez, Don Cheadle, and Michael Pena, while “Fire” has Brian Tyree Henry), and climactic title bouts where the legacy of their subjects is on the line. Although critics preferred “Fire,” I suspect audiences might prefer the more straightforward uplift of “Unstoppable.” Either way, both are worthy movies around main characters it’s impossible not to root for. Grade: B+
65. “The Lost Bus”…Straightforward and hyper-effective disaster movie that fully enmeshes you in its true-story hell. There’s a lot of ways a story like this could’ve been done wrong (like if it were starring Zachary Levi and directed by a hack), but Matthew McConaughey grounds his lovable-loser-turned-reluctant-hero in soulful realism and director Paul Greengrass stages set pieces like the thrilling climax that will put you on the edge of your seat. Grade: B+
64. “Whatever It Takes: Inside the Ebay Scandal”…I’m a sucker for those “corporate malfeasance” thrillers that hit their stride with paranoid 70’s thrillers like “The Parallax View” or “The Conversation.” This is like a real-life version of those films, as a corporate henchman working directly for Ebay’s CEO and top level executives set out to mess with an elderly couple they wanted silenced because they…ran a critical blog? [Sounds like Alabama Liberal better watch his Ps and Qs if I ever take a swipe at Craigslist!] As a scathing indictment of Big Corporate power run amok, this fits the bill, and it’s telling that the law enforcers who agree to be interviewed almost can’t believe a major American company was acting this way towards relatively-minor dissenting voices outside the company. The more it keeps going, the more jaw-dropping it gets in the best possible way, crafting compelling “characters” out of its not-interviewed villains. Grade: B+
63. “Running for the Mountain”…Anyone wondering why the name “Joe Manchin” became the political equivalent of “Benedict Arnold” should check out this documentary that shows why it wasn’t such a mystery the West Virginia Senator kept Biden’s agenda from being enacted (including voting rights legislation that could’ve possibly prevented some of what’s happening now, in addition to progress on abortion rights, the environment, and dozens of other top issues). Manchin’s deep ties to the coal industry–and coal’s stranglehold on West Virginia politics more generally–were ripe for a documentary expose, and “Mountain” is a good one. Grade: B+
62. “Con Mum”…Heartbreaking true-crime documentary that has more emotional weight than many of them do. Often what separates a decent documentary from a great one isn’t just subject, but the “characters” involved. All three of the principal players here (a long lost mother, a naive son longing for a maternal figure, and his suspicious wife) are interesting and recognizable people. “Con Mum” lays out the deception step by step like a slow-moving car crash, so that you’re gutted by the eventual ending: the son was so desperate to reconnect with the family he lost, he lost the one he built. Whew… Grade: B+
61. “Aum: The Cult at the End of the World”…This is about one of the scariest cults American audiences may not be familiar with as we see an inexplicably popular religious organization rise (and then terrorize) in Japan. “Aum'” straightforward execution doesn’t go for innovative technique or flashy tricks, knowing that it’s jaw-dropping story is more than enough to keep you up at night. Grade: B+
60. “I Love You Forever”…Ray Nicholson seems to be cornering the market on unstable bad guys; “Novocaine,” and “Borderline” were also in 2025 alone. His unsettling smile/eyes, and innate “something’s not right with this guy”-factor is put to good use here in what I consider to be his best performance so far. “Anti-rom coms” that wallow in hetero-pessimism (if not fatalism) aren’t exactly rare in the 2020’s, but “Forever” feels different by layering its tale of emotional abuse with believability and context. [For me, too many movies like “Sorry Baby” treat their subject matter with maddening vagueness.] Sofia Black-D’Elia makes for a well-rounded heroine who is completely credible as the layers of exhaustion get incrementally worse. And co-writer/co-director/co-star Cazzie David (daughter of Larry David) never lets her first film forget to be funny amid the serious subject matter–the right approach to how performative most of Nicholson’s character’s meltdowns actually are–right down to the laugh out loud ending. Grade: B+
59. “The Perfect Neighbor”…Unfolds like a real-life horror movie as eerie footage mostly from police body cams is cut together like the most artful “Dateline” special you’ve ever seen. A revealing look at how barely-closeted racial tension can build, and the mindless prejudice black children can face for the high crime of merely being joyful. But the straightforward true crime limitations here (I think too many people could walk away from this thinking the story is merely anecdotal and this one woman is a villain instead of seeing something larger at play in cultural attitudes) meant the Academy was correct not to pick “Neighbor” as the Best Documentary of 2025, even if this is still a worthy watch. Grade: B+
58. “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever”…I had very little interest in the subject matter of this documentary–about a rich tech guy trying to “maximize” his life by following a lifestyle so rigid some people question how much he’s really living–but the execution moves quickly, certain scenes are fascinating (like the lead’s backstory and then what he did to achieve his eventual “transformation”), and the central figure turns out to be more interesting than you might think, a worthy “character” to sustain a near-90-minute documentary. By the end, you might be more sympathetic to him than you imagined you ever could be, and maybe even a convert to his line of thinking. Grade: B+
57. “La Cocina”…Beautiful black-and-white cinematography and occasionally jaw-dropping sequences (like a busted pipe that causes flooding in the title restaurant). Although too long, this combines some of the “weirdness” seen earlier in the B+’s with more grounded characters and overall relatable. Grade: B+
56. “The Phoenician Scheme”…I’m one of the few reviewers that didn’t truly go for “The French Dispatch” or (especially) “Asteroid City,” making this Wes Anderson’s true first live-action movie I’ve even really enjoyed since “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” [2024’s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More” is good, but really four short films tied together as a feature length movie–and Netflix even released them as individual shorts.] Does “Phoenician” reach the dizzying heights of “Budapest?” No, but it’s at least Anderson on the right track for the first time in a while. Grade: B+
55. “Made in Ethiopia”…Interesting documentary about a Chinese factory opening in Ethiopia that deepens and surprises as it keeps going. At first, it’s pretty clear the Chinese just want to take advantage of incredibly-cheap labor in Ethiopia under the guise of “creating prosperity through good jobs and economic development” (the faux-idealistic rhetoric of Chinese-government-aligned businesses is indistinguishable from the PR bullshit of American corporations), but very little in their exploitation scheme works how they think it’s going to. [One of my favorite scenes is when some of the male elders and local Ethiopian officials–who seemingly have no interest in actually working in the factory–show up to shakedown the Chinese businesspeople who thought they could run the table on such simple people.]. This is a probing meditation on the reality of global business, and exactly who benefits or doesn’t when international players come to town. Grade: B+
54. “The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram”…This is probably the best Frontline documentary of the year, and the second-best PBS documentary in general behind only “White with Fear.” It follows a shadowy network of people trying to encourage white supremacy, and even white supremacist terror attacks online. Who these losers are in “real life” is arguably the most jaw-dropping part, proving that most people really are living out the song “You Only Live Twice,” their online personas giving them a chance to live out an alternative reality for dreams or nightmares. Grade: B+
53. “Souleymane’s Story”…A “slice of life” drama about the grinding anxiety and constant “hustle pressure” immigrants face in France, although it could just as easily be anywhere else as well. Abou Sangare is the stand-out in his film debut, and writer-director Boris Lojkine does the right thing in casting a non-professional actor here. I think this film would pair nicely with last year’s excellent “Io Capitano” to show how perilous the journey to get to Europe is, and how it’s not much easier to stay there too. Grade: B+
52. “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey”…Sour-head critics were pretty rough on this tender speculative fiction romantic drama that’s clearly been made with the best of intentions, and takes its characters seriously as it explores what’s truly holding them back in their pursuit of relationships. Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are about as wide-open and defenseless as I’ve seen them, and I found their earnest vulnerability touching. Does every concept in “Journey” truly work? No (at one point there’s a de facto Burger King commercial that was clearly included to help the movie achieve financing), but isn’t it heartrending to see a movie even attempt a goofy, “improv”-ish energy to try things you don’t see all the time? Would you really rather watch something you’ve seen 50 times before than what “Journey” is offering up? Go in with clear eyes, an open mind, and an unhurried schedule, and you just might find yourself moved more than the dismal reviews are suggesting you will be. Grade: B+
51. “Zootopia”…The first “Zootopia” was a near-perfect movie. It managed to not only create a kid-perfect allegory for tolerance, but also give us a resonant emotional arc for an animated rabbit–Judy Hopps’s journey from idealistic small-town kid to heartbroken resident of the real-world back to mixing her determined optimism with real results. Well done!
Unfortunately, the sequel isn’t quite as good, but on its own terms would still be one of the year’s best animated movies. Some of the best sections explore new lands–the swamp was my favorite–and the false history of “Zootopia.” Grade: A-
50. “Coconut Head Generation”…A documentary about a film discussion club at a Nigerian university that initially focuses on the type of heated cultural conversations we could easily find in an American university (showing things aren’t as radically different as you might think), but then “Coconut” eventually broadens out to be about the struggles Nigerian students face more generally–both in near-absurd living conditions, but also political struggles like protests against SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) that could get students expelled, revealing the overly-cozy relationship between university administration and the government (hmmm…also maybe not so different). Grade: A-
49. “Breakdown: 1975”…Enjoyable documentary about how the greatness of mid-70’s cinema was owed directly to the real-life turbulence that had preceded it: the assassinations and cultural upheaval of the 60’s, the Civil Rights movement finally forcing real victories, the sexual revolution, a rise in crime, the Manson murders, the overdue dissolution of the Hayes code and loosening of the studio system, the Vietnam War and draft fears, and perhaps especially the rise and fall of Richard Nixon, Trump’s paranoid forebear. For movie lovers my age, 1999 has a near-mythical reputation, but this documentary helpfully shows that 1975 may very well have been its most direct ancestor. Grade: A- …Speaking of nervy 70’s conspiracy thrillers…
48. “Relay”…Harkens back to the paranoid corporate thrillers of the 70’s, and winds up being one of the best thrillers of 2025. Sam Worthington is stronger than he usually is as a corporate henchman villain, but this is mostly a showcase for the always-reliable Riz Ahmed and Lily James, using a “relay service” as a way for her potential-whistleblower to quietly negotiate a way not to come forward but keep on living. Intelligent thrillers like this are in short supply, so seek this out. Grade: A-
47. “The Dark Money Game”…One of the year’s best documentaries might technically be considered a miniseries (I consider only two movie-length episodes vague territory), but both “parts” present distinctive (and quality) narrative films on how out of control our dark money system has gotten. Part 1 is “Ohio Confidential” about a specific case of corruption (although on a massive scale) that is a diamond-perfect example of the overall problem. And then Part 2 is “The Wealth of the Wicked,” which broadens out to do a more Frontline-style, information-heavy expose of the overall problem. Both of them put together make for one of the year’s best docs with a message that could not be more relevant. This is a timely warning that should be sought out immediately by every voter in the country. Grade: A-
46. “Fackham Hall”…Whether you prefer “The Naked Gun” reboot (which in its own way has a few good barbs against the illusion of “traditional” males) or “Fackham,” you really can’t go wrong as they’re both worthy resurrections of the spoof genre. I was surprised by “Fackham”‘s inspired ensemble (none of these actors are particularly known for comedy), and numerous sly gags at the pompous delusions of British society, much of it built on incest and exploitation. Because “Fackham” is more of a social satire trying to get you to question the very foundations of “privilege,” it was one of the year’s best comedies. Grade: A-
45. “Julie Stays Quiet”…MeToo-centric narratives aren’t in short supply these days, but “Julie” is the best one of 2025. It doesn’t go for garish melodrama or stilted, awkward comedy (cough, “Sorry Baby,” cough), that could create distance between us and our protagonist. It simply gets you as close to Julie as possible, making you feel like you really know her, and at least a little bit of what she must feel inside. That’s not an easy task given that Julie does not want to talk about it, and the lived-in claustrophobia of this movie lets you feel what she must really be going through. A remarkable achievement that is all the more powerful for being so subtle. Grade: A-
44. “Surviving Ohio State”…If “Julie” is arguably the best MeToo-centric drama of the year, then this might very well be the best documentary version. It centers around the outrageous Ohio State sexual abuse scandal, how long it was allowed to go on, and how unconcerned practically every “in charge” adult was with what was actually happening. Bonus points for “Ohio” for not shielding Congressman Jim Jordan from his extreme capability. Rumors are that this documentary (which had not premiered but was being made) helped sink his ill-fated bid to become Speaker of the House, since people don’t usually want a congressional leader to be mired in hiding an infamous sex abuse scandal. Grade: A-
43. “Mond/Moon”…Similar to “Julie Stays Quiet,” this is a highly-realistic and credible quasi-sports movie centered around a MeToo-adjacent narrative. Here, a female fighter gets hired to train some wealthy Middle Eastern girls in martial arts and self-defense. Almost from the moment she arrives in Jordan, something seems off about the employment situation, and how the sisters are treated by their domineering older brother who seems to control every aspect of their lives–all with the help of near-relentless surveillance and constant bodyguards. This is one of the few movies to critique the Muslim tendency to “protect” women in a way that’s indistinguishable from oppressing them, and the ending is a sober reminder that “Western” women can freely leave places that have become tourist hotspots, often oblivious to the suffering of those who are literally forced to stay. Grade: A- …Speaking of films where our heroes might be a bit helpless in turning the tide of tyrannical thinking int he Middle East…
42. “It Was Just an Accident”…Half a great movie undermined by a frustrating final decision that makes no sense on the part of the main characters. It’s impossible to go into why “Accident” fumbles its ending without heavy spoilers, but I didn’t believe the climactic resolution for a second, and thought the main characters were real fools for handling it in that way. All of that seems to happen merely to set up the movie’s admittedly haunting final shot, but that final shot wouldn’t even exist if events directly preceding it had gone the way they’d been leaning the entire movie. “Accident” has snappy performances, occasionally hilarious dialogue, and a worthy theme of civilians finally fighting back against Iran’s ridiculously oppressive regime. However, real-life events in Iran have obviously transpired since this movie was in theaters, and the weakness of the quintet of main characters here isn’t exactly helped by the 2026 news cycle. Grade: A-
41. “Apocalypse in the Tropics”…One of the best 2025 documentaries that you’ve never heard of. In a perfect world, this would’ve been one of the “Best Documentary” nominees, as the timely story details the rise of shady Christian nationalists taking over the government of Brazil. A good companion piece to watch with the U.S. set “Bad Faith” as an exploration of the global problem of encroaching Christian theocracy. Grade: A-
40. “White with Fear”…White grievance is driving today’s Republican Party more than any other force (it’s not like the 90% of them that aren’t rich are really clamoring for Elon Musk to have a tax cut), and this documentary shows how that’s hardly novel to this decade. By showing the roots of the stranglehold the GOP has on the majority of white conscious (no Democratic candidate for POTUS has won a majority of white men since 1964, and they haven’t won white women since 1996), this documentary is vital in understanding the issues that drive the conversation, and how ingrained they are on even a subconscious level. Grade: A-
39. “The White House Effect”…Shows that skilled director(s) can truly make a barebones documentary work. Here, Pedro Kos, Bonni Cohen, and Jon Shenk make an entire documentary out of decades-old clips of then-Sen. Al Gore, Dukakis, Reagan, and others in order to tell the story of how George H. W. Bush pretended to be “concerned” about environmental issues in order to contrast himself with Reagan (so openly hostile to them he had Jimmy Carter’s solar panels torn off the White House roof), but then did less-than-nothing about it for four years. This would be the last time a Republican POTUS even pretended to care about the environment. Among the documentary’s many revelations is the fact that there was a time where the environment wasn’t a partisan issue (as it still shouldn’t be today), and as recently as the early-90’s you could still count on a majority of Republican voters to embrace such leftwing ideas as a livable planet. The oil companies and their endless river of cash towards politics eventually put a stop to that. Grade: A-
38. “One of Them Days”…Sure, it may seem strange to rank this movie so highly over films that have received breathless critical praise (I’ve got some movies that have literal 100% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes sitting down in the C-range because I might be the only reviewer who actually watched them instead of just assuming they were great), but “Days” is the best possible version of a “Friday”-style 90’s “day in the life” black comic caper. In fact, it’s much better than those movies actually are once you get past the nostalgia and diminished expectations for 90’s movies. Keke Palmer and SZA move through realistic set pieces that are still hilarious, with Big Booty Bernice the most unusual bully in a 2025 movie, and Katt Williams turning in his best work in ages as a man made homeless by a horrendous payday loan place now playing streetwise-Cassandra trying to warn others away from doom. Grade: A-
37. “F1”…Almost everyone was shocked when this movie was nominated for Best Picture, but they might be underestimating just how universal it is to see someone “over the hill” go for one last shot at greatness. Brad Pitt floats the movie into his comfort zone, putting on a racing helmet that fits him like a glove. The nuts-and-bolts detail they put into getting the bizarre specifics of the sport right (I’m not sure most comparable movies like “Ferrari” really did) ground it in reality whenever the cheesier melodramatics threaten to swamp the story (some of Damson Idris’s scenes could’ve been trimmed a bit). And if you’re not someone who will ever sit through an F1 race (like me), you might find yourself shocked at just how gripping the races actually become. Grade: A-
36. “Restless”…Excellent addition to one of my favorite sub-genre of movies: the unlikely thriller hero(ine) such as “Nobody,” “Becky,” “Emily the Criminal,” “Thelma,” or “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore.” The underrated Lyndsey Marshall has her best role since Cleopatra in “Rome” 20 years ago as a hardworking protagonist that has the misfortune to have the neighbor from hell move in–they share a wall together. Almost immediately, he unravels her home’s peace, and eventually her peace of mind. Sadly, I’m more than able to relate to this low-key thriller, as there are few things worse than a horrible neighbor. Your home is the most important place there is for tranquility or recharging, so what happens when you can no longer rely on that? “Restless” gives us a worthy answer…Grade: A-
35. “My Father’s Shadow”…One of the best Nigerian movies ever made as we see a pivotal event (a 90’s election where the ruling party isn’t willing to accept the resulting loss) told through an incredibly personal story of a father and his two sons trying to have a nice day in Lagos despite dilemmas both national and individualized (the father is trying to get paid for work already completed). Grade: A-
34. “Bob Trevino Likes It”…Barbie Ferreira’s selfish father (French Stewart, in one his most curveball castings) doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore, so she seeks out someone with his name on Facebook, coming across the surrogate father(ish) figure she wishes was real (John Leguizamo, playing against type in the most enjoyable way). A deeply emotional movie with twists and turns that add to the resonance, not least of which are its strong performances from several actors exploring different types of actors than they might usually play. Grade: A-
33. “Suze”…Possibly Michaela Watkins’s best film role, and the kind of movie that is a little bit like “Bob Trevino” in that it extends so much empathy to its unlikely leads that it might make you see the world a bit differently. In terms of movies I wasn’t familiar with until stumbling across them for free on Tubi, this is about as good as they’ll ever come. Grade: A-
32. “Harvest”…Contains uncomfortable truths about the nature of peasant “revolts” (at one point the people are backed away from a desirable outcome with the mere confident flash of teeth from Frank Dillane’s villain). Here, a community is torn asunder by the arrival of a mapmaker, and changes to their way of life by an overseer who doesn’t live there. Even though a period piece, the themes are timeless and universal, making this quite possibly the most scathing anti-capitalist movie of 2025. Grade: A-
31. “Best Wishes to All”…An allegory for Japan’s inverted demographics pyramid as a young woman finds out the horrifying secret to her grandparent’s happiness: it’s based entirely on the suffering of someone else. Fittingly, her initial horror at finding out this uncomfortable truth turns her worldview inside out when it’s revealed nearly everyone else already knows about “the real world.” For a movie that’s not even 90 minutes long without closing credits, “Wishes” can sometimes feel a bit too vague and slow for its own good, but philosophical horror doesn’t come much better than this–possibly even leading to questions about life in our industrialized (and hardly equal) age. Grade: A-
30. “Dead Mail”…Possibly the best 2025 movie you’ve never heard of. Here, we’re treated to a micro-indie thriller that feels like a vivid nightmare (for once, cut-rate production values aren’t a hindrance and might actually add something). “Mail” has a fascinatingly twisted mystery I didn’t see coming, and one of the strangest villains I’ve ever seen in a movie–made all the more so because he’s absolutely believable, and in no way trying to be quirky. Grade: A-
29. “Chaperone”…One of those quiet, smaller indies that I didn’t even realize was one of the year’s best films until the perfect ending scene. Here, Misha (Mitzi Akaha, who I had never seen in anything before but is clearly meant for big things) is a floundering 30-year-old tired of being pushed to “want more” from her career and personal maturity. She begins dating a high school athlete who mistakenly thinks she’s much younger, the low-stakes irresponsibility of it being just what she needs against the dreariness of dead-end adulthood. “Chaperone” doesn’t go the broad comedy route you may be expecting, letting Misha turn into something closer to a 70’s antihero by the end without ever spilling too far into Lifetime movie territory. “Chaperone” is one of the best movies I’ve seen about the desire to feel young and carefree again, and how the stubborn refusal to accept aging can inadvertently shade into something darker. Grade: A-
28. “The Materialists”…A movie that pops the materialistic delusions of New York dating? Yes, please; Celine Song’s underrated follow-up to her overrated “Past Lives” debut is almost like the anti-romantic comedy, setting its audience up for one thing, while slowly pulling back the layers of what we’ve been trained to expect (and want) from these privilege-porn modern rom-coms where almost anyone worth knowing (or worthy of romance) is rich. This would pair nicely with “Chaperone” as a double feature wake up call from what most romantic movies present to us. Grade: A-
27. “The Cut”…Orlando Bloom delivers a career-best performance with a startling intensity I wasn’t totally sure the usually-vague Bloom even possessed. This movie is about an over-the-hill boxer desperately trying to “make weight” so he can compete in a comeback fight, turning the entire film into the type of “too easy” montage we normally see in other boxing movies. Even if there are a couple of implausibilities (like the way Bloom finally sheds the final pound at his weigh-in), the overall film is so strong it seems a shame to quibble. 2025 had several good boxing movies (“Christy,” and “Bang Bang” also featured undeniable lead performances from sometimes-overlooked actors) but “The Cut” is the only great one with the combination of John Turturro’s equally-mesmerizing work as a shady boxing trainer, critique of just how surreal body imaging can actually become, and a quiet final shot that stayed with me for days as Bloom watches a fry cook and his ambiguous expression could inspire real debates about how far is worth it for a shot at greatness. Grade: A-
26. “Orwell: 2+2=5”…Excellent documentary about Orwell’s life, his work, and his near-prophetic musings on totalitarianism’s seemingly un-killable nature. Damian Lewis narrates personal and philosophical passages of Orwell’s diary as current dictators are shown using Orwell’s bleak work practically as a “how to” guide. By now, many film-loving liberals have probably seen frightening documentaries about The Powers That Be’s scheming, globe-dominating ways, and so it’s a minor miracle that “Orwell” is able to present something so fresh from words written more than 75 years ago. Grade: A-
25. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”…This Best documentary of 2025 winner about a conscientious Russian schoolteacher slowly being smothered by the rising tide of Russian pro-war propaganda pairs excellently with “Orwell” if you’re interested in an unsettling documentary double-feature. Grade: A-
24. “Sentimental Value”…I struggled to not put this on my “top 20” list, and its exclusion might be unjustifiable given just how good the parts of “Value” are that genuinely work. However, I felt the dynamics of having three different daughter/surrogate-daughter characters turn down working for Stellan Skarsgard’s Gustav Borg was a bit repetitive (there are just too many scenes of him trying to convince Dakota Fanning, Inga Lilleaas, or Renate Reinsve to do what’s best for them), and this is essentially just a movie wherein a legendary director is trying to coax his anxiety-prone nepo-actress daughter into a great part written especially for her. [If only we were all so lucky, hey?] The stakes aren’t quite what “Sentimental” seems to think they are, but Skarsgard gives a fantastic, lived-in, effortlessly credible performance. By the movie’s mid-point, I felt I knew him as a real, flesh-and-blood person. And “SV”‘s most affecting moments just might move you to tears, along with a dozen nice touches (like the story of the house that plays out from the opening scene’s narration until the final scene’s staged take) that made the overall experience feel more worthy. Grade: A-
Honorable Mention: “Union”…Unfortunately, this is a 2024 documentary instead of being eligible for the 2025 countdown, but the movie’s hyper-limited release made it unavailable to me until ’25. This doc is about the first Amazon factory to have a union, how Herculean that fight actually was, and the constant risk of splintering between various voices who feel they aren’t “being listened to” even if they’re contributing very little to the overall fight–a sadly common issue in the majoritarian fight against the oligarchy. If it were a 2025 movie, it would definitely have made this Top 20 countdown.
Very Close Runner-up: “The Librarians”…I couldn’t quite find room for this excellent, late-breaking documentary (the last I saw before finishing this list) about book banning and the fight to keep great books on library shelves. Seeing just how many books conservatives want to ban, it might seem like Texas Republicans are okay banning almost any book or perhaps outlawing reading altogether. It’s put librarians–once the most staid of professions–at the center of a cultural battle, and a few might even be…rebellious? This real-life dystopian fable is playing out all too far from our cultural consciousness, and this timely documentary seeks to change that.
The Top 20 Movies of 2025
20. (tie) “Eternity” and “The Life of Chuck”…These are two sentimental favorites that may not quite be up to the cut “the best films of the year” but are definitely some of my personal favorites. Those who miss “The Good Place” will probably love “Eternity,” an afterlife romantic comedy with depth, good performances (particularly from Miles Teller, finding new reservoirs of soulfulness he hasn’t been asked to tap like this since “The Spectacular Now”), and real truths about romance, long-term compatibility, and who is or isn’t your “soulmate.”
“Life of Chuck” is more narratively tricky, and the viewers who would be most drawn to its sentimental message might get frustrated and stop watching before it gets to its most affecting scenes. But “Life” deserves more credit than it received for taking big swings (I can honestly say I haven’t seen something quite like it before), and being nearly forgotten after having been unfortunately dumped in an unfavorable summer release slot. Those who watch it in the right mindset may find themselves swept up on “Chuck”‘s unusual wavelength. Also, Alabama viewers might like to know it was filmed in around Mobile, Alabama.
19. “Lilly”…Similar to “Life,” this is another Alabama-filmed movie that I might not have included if it weren’t for the fact that it’s set in the neglected location of this website’s name. However, I also feel “Lilly” is one of the most underrated of the year, getting a negative rating on Rotten Tomatoes whereas much worse movies were over 90% on that site. It revolves around the story of Lilly Ledbetter in her lawsuit against Goodyear Tire’s sexist hiring, firing, and promotion practices at its Gadsden, Alabama plant. It’s a beyond worthy story, and a great showcase for Patricia Clarkson’s underutilized acting talents. Sure, there’s clunkiness in the technique involved in the telling (some scenes are almost amateurishly staged), but the movie’s strengths more than make up for its weaknesses. Seek out this deserving exploration of the extreme prejudices towards women in blue collar jobs far outside the media’s normal lens of California and New York.
18. “The Last Class”…Similar to “Lilly,” this is a movie that I probably wouldn’t have included if we weren’t in the Trump regime, and in desperate need of counter voices in the media. Robert Reich has done as much as anyone in trying to pushback against the rising tide of oligarchy in America and their increasing capture of major media platforms and outlets. I think it’s beyond cool that “The Last Class” documentary became one of the highest grossing documentaries of 2025 through a rebel movement that cut out major film distributors and did many private screenings instead.
The actual film is about Professor Reich’s final semester teaching his long-running Wealth & Poverty class at UC Berkeley, and may be considered a bit slight for the weight of “One of the Best Films of the Year” on a 700+ film countdown (it’s less than 75 minutes without credits, and it was originally going to be a short posted to YouTube). But it’s undeniably affecting, both in the uplifting classroom scenes where you can see Reich really breaking through to certain students, and also in the quieter moments where he talks directly to the camera about his concerns of the future, the gravity of aging, and how much his early teachers meant to him. This is one of the few 2025 documentaries that might make you a bit misty-eyed, and certainly delivers a full meal in a short amount of time. Seek it out.
17. “Mickey 17”…Is it gimmicky to put “Mickey 17” in the 17th spot? Definitely, but it’s also where I do believe it probably belongs. To counter his overrated 2019 movie “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho has made this underrated space-faring adventure that’s still wonderfully class-conscious, but also around a narrative that truly works. Robert Pattinson’s title character is an “Expendable,” someone meant to test risky things in space, die many times in their attempt to colonize a new planet, and then be reborn as a clone of himself. It’s a clever allegory for the “lowly” workers often thrown at big projects as the “great men” with their names on them take all the credit (here played by Mark Ruffalo as a believably goofy villain that reminds you most of 2025’s most dangerous politicians are as unintentionally funny as they are dangerous). It also features a genuinely positive romance between Pattinson and the terrific Naomi Ackie, making it one of the few 2025 movies that positively portrayed a black/white couple.
16. “Wild Diamond”…A French film about Liane (Malou Khebizi in a breakthrough role that layers in vulnerability and sexuality in unexpected ways), a 19 year old struggling in South France who is desperately trying to get on a crass reality show, which would be a form of winning the lottery in her limited imagination. Many films try to get at the warped reality of modern social media and trash TV on the psyche of young people, but “Diamond” actually succeeds by realistically exploring the mundane scumminess of life outside the hyper-real flash-pop bubble of shallowness, and why someone might be determined to get back inside of it.
15. “Familiar Touch”…Movies about aging and dementia are depressing, but it’s a part of life that the world (and America in particular) avoids almost to an absurd degree. Movies that are described as “finely observed” are often boring, but here the description is actually perfect. This is a tender, near-documentary level drama about Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant in an excellently lived-in performance on the opposite end of the age-spectrum as the one in “Wild Diamond,” but no less of a breakthrough because of it), her new dwelling in a care home, the connections she makes with those around her, and the quieter one with her son (comedian H. Jon Benjamin, probably the biggest “name” in the cast and shining in a rare dramatic role).
14. “Rosemead”…This is a movie I might not watch again, but definitely stayed with me after seeing it. Lucy Liu plays a real-life mother who made an unthinkable decision, but “Rosemead”‘s beauty is in the way it does not portray her as a bad mother, but dangerously dares to flesh-out her decision so that you eventually understand her. It’s an extreme movie centered around an indefensible position, but reminded me of an older European film in that it attempts to do just that anyway. And Liu gives a career-best performance that I genuinely wish had at least been in the Oscar conversation instead of nearly-ignored completely. She’s terrific here, and made me wish she had been given more roles to showcase her underrated talents.
13. “Weapons”…My pick for 2025’s best horror movie, and generally one for the ages. Since this is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) hits in this Top 20 section, I’ll forgo rehashing the plot. Especially since the movie works best if you do not know much about it going in. I didn’t know any spoilers before I did, and was genuinely surprised to find out the movie’s twists, turns, and finding out what happened to that missing classroom of kids. Amy Madigan’s Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress might not have been who I would’ve chosen (you’ll see that further down on the list), but is still an undeniable performance that nearly pops off the screen with only 15 minutes of screen time that feels much larger in the mind’s psyche.
12. “The Mountainhead”…For me, some of the year’s scariest characters aren’t necessarily in a horror movie or thriller (sorry “Weapons,” even if you came close), but instead make up the quartet of tech-tyrants that casually throw around bringing down governments or even murder as a business deal in this razor-sharp satire. This is one of the best black comedies since “The Death of Stalin,” and all the chaos is centered with a beautiful, but ominous snow-covered landscape–the perfect place for the uber-rich to isolate themselves from he destructiveness of their glitchy-tech creations. As a stand-in for Peter Thiel, Steve Carell is particularly good at playing the scary “father figure” of the group, giving his best performance since his breakthrough work in “Foxcatcher.”
11. “Eddington”…Believe it or not, this was the 2025 I most couldn’t figure out what to do with. There’s a part of me that thinks it fully deserves a place in the “Top 10” or even “Top 5” of this list. And there’s another part of me that thinks it doesn’t belong in the “Top 20” at all. Still confused even as I’m writing this, I ultimately decided to split the difference for this excellent mess of a film that fully reminded me of a “70’s movie” in that you’re never quite sure where it’s headed, and even fully sure the filmmaker knows either.
It’s often overlooked that many shaggy-dog, itchy-paranoid 70’s films now looked at as classics are quite disheveled–bordering on disorganized–when you actually watch them. But the restless spirit that propels “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Nashville,” “Mikey and Nicky,” “Straight Time,” and more can be found in abundance here. Joaquin Phoenix is at his best here, playing a protagonist that probably would be viewed as the villain in another movie, if “Eddington” didn’t insist he’s merely lost, pathetic, and doomed to be bested by unseen Powers That Be business interests he barely even knows exist instead of the petty rivalry with the left-leaning mayor he’s decided to fixate on instead. “Eddington” has pacing issues and a subplot or two that don’t quite work, but I would absolutely maintain that this is Ari Aster’s masterpiece over his somewhat-overrated horror films. It’s a shame too few people decided to check it out for themselves.
10. “The Ballad of Wallis Island”…Most of the “Top 20” is pretty topical and speaks to the uniquely-dispiriting moment we’re in. “Wallis Island” doesn’t, but is perhaps the best “pure escape” movies of 2025, and shows how comedy done right can still creep up on you with an unexpected emotional wallop. For most of the movie, you’re a bit conflicted between “rooting” for the central musicians (Carey Mulligan, and Tom Basden, who I had never seen in anything before but left a strong impression here) to reconnect or thinking what they had can’t work in the present. However, “Wallis” slowly reveals the movie’s true love story is the connection between their mutual super-fan (Tim Key, likably playing a nattering idiot who gradually peels back surprising layers) and Basden’s creatively-lost rock star. The climax is a private concert on the beach that reminds creatives that the real love story of their lives is the one they develop with their fans, and the ones most affected by the art they create.
8. (tie) “The Plague” and “Anniversary”…Where do fascists actually come from? Who are the people that prop up this terrible ideology? In different ways, these two underrated 2025 dramatic-thrillers answer that question and had me glued to my seat.
Even though “Plague” isn’t really political, I found it a terrifying examination of group dynamics among young boys, as something like a psychological version of “Lord of the Flies” breaks out between the middle school-age kids at a swim camp. Kenny Rasmussen is the outcast Eli who’s a natural target for stealth-sociopath Jake (Kayo Martin, whose smile and “kind” eyes have a chilling dimension, he’s almost scarier when he’s grinning right at you) and the gaggle of young boys that follow his every inclination. Everett Blunck’s Ben is the protagonist who is torn between fitting in and defending Eli, who doesn’t seem to care whether he’s defended or not. The ending of the movie probes real questions about who good acts really help, the frustration of helping people that barely notice, and the battle roiling around in the soul of most puberty-age boys. And Blunck gives the single best performance by a child actor in a 2025 movie.
“Anniversary” is a more straightforward thriller, and revolves around a central undone by the twin horrors of growing fascism and an untrustworthy new member: Phoebe Dynevor’s chilling climber begins dating the family’s adult son, expertly played with slow-burning menace by Dylan O’Brien as the type of small man who thinks he can become “big” through an authoritarian movement. By making the political personal, “Anniversary” gets at the psychological aspects of people, and why they’re so easily drawn towards the indefensible. Doing all this through the lens of a single family’s deterioration made this one of the most affecting political narratives in ages.
7. “Train Dreams”…When Terrence Malick made his return to film with “The Thin Red Line,” “The New World,” and the sensational “Tree of Life” (one of the best movies of this century) after decades of absence, I felt we would be getting regular masterpieces like those movies from him. Instead, the results have been more mixed, and “Train Dreams” is probably closer to what viewers would prefer from him than anything he’s actually made in 15 years.
As Robert Grainier, Joel Edgerton gives a sensitive-yet-sturdy performance as the type of laborer who built America, but rarely received credit for doing so (between this film, the documentary “Union,” and “Mickey 17,” this wound up being a terrific theme for last year’s movies to explore). It’s beyond-overdue to give these men (and the wives and children they often left behind) a film of their own, but “Dreams” does more than that by expressing a free-floating visual poetry that blends scenes together so that you feel you really know who Robert was and how he lived. It’s aided by a wonderful supporting cast (Kerry Condon shines in her two scenes, William H. Macy hasn’t had a role this good in ages, and character John Diehl might have never had a film role this good), William Patton’s three-dimensional narration (I seek out audiobooks where I know he’s the narrator because I know I’m in for a treat), and a soaringly moving ending that is the year’s second best usage of a yellow plane after the final “Mission Impossible” movie.
6. “The Alabama Solution”…Simply put, this is 2025’s Best Documentary and even if I’m glad the scorching warning that is “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” pulled an upset over the very-good-“Dateline”-special that is “The Perfect Neighbor,” I still would’ve preferred “Alabama Solution” pulling an even greater upset. It’s true that I’m somewhat partial to Alabama stories (“The Life of Chuck” and “Lilly” being in the Top 20 prove that), but this particular pick is no mere “home state” bias. “Solution” is genuinely excellent, and proves a scathing indictment of the worst prison system in the country, which is definitely saying something in the United States of Over-incarceration.
5. “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning”…Am I overrating this action spectacle or are other critics underrating it? It’s true that I’ve been watching Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible” movies since I was younger than my son is now, and I was delighted to pass the torch by watching this latest version with my son–possibly making this a sentimental favorite.
But it’s also true that too many critics didn’t appreciate the movie’s timely warnings against A.I. and inarguably the best action sequence of 2025. “MI 8” didn’t even receive a Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination nor one in the Sound category for its awesome submarine sequence. It being completely shut out in the technical categories was a ghastly snub. But the real fans who got to watch this in IMAX were treated to breathtaking sequences in the arctic, numerous callbacks to previous installments that just might’ve made you feel a twinge of nostalgia, a James Bond-worthy homage with that submarine set piece, and–yes–a thrillingly giddy aerial chase on biplanes that is the most incredible stunt sequence I’ve seen in years. Making the central plane bright yellow (a clear nod to “Out of Africa”‘s best scene) only shows the deep love Cruise and Co. have for their film history, and maybe even a bit of optimism about its future.
4. “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”…My pick for the year’s best foreign film is this Zambia-set drama showcasing a major city I’ve literally never seen a movie about before (Lusaka, Zambia’s capital and largest city). Whereas any other Zambian movie I’ve seen up to this point is mostly about safaris or action set closer to the movie’s more scenic regions, “Guinea Fowl” revolves around a story that’s grittier, more urban, and all-too-universal as our heroine Shula (Susan Chardy, who I hadn’t seen before, but am excited to see more of) must reckon with the horrible legacy of her recently diseased uncle. The ending–a literal illustration of the movie’s title–is a clever allegory for the way too many African women may be unable to get others to listen to them.
3. “Arco”…Sorry “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” you were good, but this is actually the best animated movie of 2025. For those who haven’t yet seen it, I’d rather not spoil too much for you before going in, as I wasn’t that familiar with the movie’s plot before watching it, and I felt that added to the movie’s overall thrilling sense of delight. Beautifully animated, and fully emotionally realized, get your kids to watch this as soon as possible, and let its soaring optimism uplift you.
2. “Mary Supreme”…When you’re the kind-of person that watches well over 700 movies in a single year (and have been doing that for most of your life), what you really want to see is something you haven’t seen before. I can honestly say “Marty” excelled at blending different influences and time periods: it’s technically set in the 1950’s, but borrows 70’s character aesthetics (they weren’t as concerned with generic likability so much as relatability), pumping 80’s music, and the loose, go-for-broke plotting of wild 90’s Indies. All of this propped up by the most eclectic movie cast I’ve ever seen (how in the hell are Gwyneth Paltrow, Abel Ferrara, and Kevin O’Leary all Oscar-worthy in the same movie?), and one of the most thrilling sports-movie climaxes in cinema history. Let’s be honest and admit that it’s pretty hard to make a game of pingpong look as exciting as the final one in “Marty Supreme,” but this one is not only riveting, but an actual extension of its title-character’s core. Fantastic
The Best Film of 2025: “One Battle After Another”…My thoughts on this movie’s excellence are well known, and even though I’m delighted it (deservedly) won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, I would’ve also loved to have seen it win Best Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor might give the most surprisingly excellent performance of 2025) and at least be nominated for Best Actress (Chase Infiniti was the unquestionable breakout of 2025, letting her vulnerably empathetic eyes draw you in the way Taylor used her electric movements and entire body to).
Here, I’m going to include links to articles I’ve written about the movie’s deeper themes that I think the film’s detractors missed…
Most People Don’t Get “One Battle After Another”‘s Deeper Themes (Some of Them Explained Here)
And also video links to ones talking up the film’s excellence, both after winning Best Picture…
And before winning Best Picture…
Thank you to anyone who read this list or even part of it!
I appreciate you