So we’ve finally reached the end of 2025. And honestly? We’re more worried about movies than ever before. Warner Bros. films may be going to Netflix more than theaters, Disney is cuddling up with AI, and Universal still won’t tell us when Fast X 2 is coming out. C’mon guys, Vin Diesel needs this!
All this gloom and doom is not only sad, but also contradictory to what has been a pretty solid year of cinema. The most talked-about movie of the year wasn’t based on a comic book or an old cartoon. Stephen King adaptations were (nearly) flawless, while Spike Lee and Paul Thomas Anderson made waves. There were even a few good comedies that rolled out, and TWO movies from TWO different Safdies! It’s been a busy 12 months and the staff of InBetweenDrafts had plenty of pictures to talk about. Here are our picks for the best movies of 2025.
10. The Ballad of Wallis Island
James Griffiths’ The Ballad of Wallis Island is one of those rare comedies whose kindness sharpens, rather than softens, its insight. Set on a blustery island that feels gently out of time, the film follows a lonely lottery winner’s quixotic attempt to reunite his favorite folk duo for a private concert. The premise courts whimsy, but what gives the film its staying power is how patiently it observes the emotional residue people carry when art, friendship, and ambition fall out of sync.
Tim Key plays the fan not as a punch line but as a minor figure of romantic persistence, someone whose devotion to music has outlasted the musicians themselves. Opposite him, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan lend real ache to former collaborators forced into proximity with old compromises and unresolved affections. Griffiths directs with a light touch, allowing jokes to emerge from discomfort rather than cruelty, and letting the songs register as lived-in artifacts rather than nostalgic baubles.
What ultimately distinguishes The Ballad of Wallis Island is its understanding that fandom, like love, is a vulnerable act. One that risks embarrassment in exchange for connection. Few films this year have been so disarming about what it means to care, openly and without irony, in public. – Jon Negroni
9. Weapons
New Line Cinema’s Weapons was the mystery horror on everyone’s lips. And no, we’re not just talking about why everyone in the film did the Naruto run! Written and directed by Zach Cregger (Barbarian), Weapons was that perfect mix of sensational mystery and iconic horror flair. The allure of why 17 classmates disappeared in the night was the type of case that kept our True Crime sides obsessed over. Each narrative scene – broken into different character segments – weaved a new layer onto the case, painting a picture that was more sinister and supernatural than expected.
But the biggest draw of Weapons comes from its character moments. Weapons was packed with a strong cast, filled with eclectic characters and complex relationships in this small town. From the scapegoat teacher (Julia Garner) to the no-nonsense father on a mission (Josh Brolin), Weapons felt realistic and grounded, capturing the heightened chaos that rises from a tragedy.
Though, the spotlight role was the villainous performance of Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys. Campy, creepy, and completely iconic, Aunt Gladys is a horror character that will no doubt find its way back onto our screens. She stole the show… and she stole most Halloween costume contests for 2025! – Justin Carreiro
8. Splitsville
2025 proved to be a fine year for comedies at your local theater, which is good because, quite frankly, we all needed some big laughs. Amid the misery of existence in this hellscape year, the silver screen luminated some rich, gut-busting splendors, from a surprisingly robust Naked Gun reboot, to the off-kilter awkward hilarity of A24’s Friendship, to the expectedly warm pleasures that come with a deliciously delirious new Wes Anderson romp in this year’s undervalued The Phoenician Scheme.
Yet, few were as dazzlingly audacious and meticulously boundary-bending as Splitsville, the second feature from Michael Angelo Covino. Alongside co-writer and co-star Kyle Marvin, Splitsville is a plump, prickly affair, following a discontented pair of married couples (Marvin and Adria Arjona, plus Covino and Dakota Johnson) who wind up in a musical chair dance of switching cohorts that strengthens and dissolves their already-fraught relationships in equal measures. It’s delightfully screwball and zany, but more than anything, it’s a reminder of how visually bold and bitingly inspired big-screen larks can be, especially when all-too-many big-screen romps favor stale set-ups, listless cinematography, and half-hearted riffing.
Much like their spectacular first feature, The Climb, Covino and Marvin challenge stunted male aspirations with a deft understanding of tone and character, while also providing punchy visuals that amplify every moment and give it cinematic zest. The result is one of the smartest, funniest, and most satisfying movies about unsatisfied lovers that you could hope to see in any year, but especially this one. There were many ways in which 2025 proved frustratingly lacking, but at least movies like Splitsville helped us keep it all together by the end. – Will Ashton
7. Train Dreams
It’s quite the moment when a novella adaptation best seen on the big screen defies the odds, doesn’t put people to sleep on their couches, and stays in the top twenty-five films on streaming charts for Netflix and JustWatch. Not only is it a pleasant surprise, it’s a game changer for the artsy film world, especially considering that Train Dreams has little dialogue and is visually abstract. Director and co-writer Clint Bentley with co-writer Greg Kwedar (part of the filmmaking team that made Sing Sing) adapt Denis Johnson’s 2011 book with the help of understated, superb character actor Joel Edgerton in the lead. The fictional Pacific Northwest hermit lived from the late nineteenth century through the Sixties.
Delivering the promises that The Life of Chuck made of conveying the specialness of an everyman, the film borrowed heavily from Terrence Malick and was not as original and unflinching as Nickel Boys, but found more mainstream acceptance thanks to a superb ensemble cast and editor Parker Laramie’s lyrical logic in stitching together memories, dreams and subconscious fears with a dash of magical realism. It’s also rooted in themes that are not just historic but feel rooted in today’s troubled times from forest fires to racism. It’s a sign that the people crave something more complex than The Minecraft Movie. Hopefully that appetite will last and not just be a flash in the pan. – Sarah G. Vincent
6. It Was Just an Accident
Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident earns its place among the year’s best by rejecting the comforts most political thrillers rely on. The premise promises inevitability—a former political prisoner confronting the man he believes tortured him—but Panahi drains the situation of melodrama, replacing it with an unnerving attentiveness to righteous hesitation and the slippery, tiring passage of time. What unfolds is less a revenge narrative than a study of how violence lingers, shaping behavior long after its instruments have disappeared.
Panahi’s direction is characteristically lucid. He stages moral conflict in spaces that should be neutral and allows humor and fatigue to complicate the characters’ sense of purpose. The film’s quiet comedy does not dilute its gravity as one might expect. Instead, the humor deepens the tragedy, revealing how trauma survives alongside the ordinary rituals of living. No one here is granted the relief of certainty, least of all the audience.
Panahi does not argue for innocence or vengeance so much as he exposes the cost of both, asking what it means to remain human after one’s humanity has been systematically denied. In doing so, he reaffirms cinema not as an instrument of judgment, but as a space for ethical endurance. – Jon Negroni
5. Frankenstein
In the past few weeks, I’ve been witness to multiple discussions and debates as to how closely Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein sticks to Mary Shelley’s immortal novel. Let’s clear this up now: this is not the most accurate Frankenstein adaptation ever released. It’s close! And it nabs an easy win if you narrow the field down to theatrically released features. But del Toro has taken plenty of creative liberties with the work.
What is unlikely to be a matter of disagreement is whether or not this is the most heartfelt Frankenstein adaptation to ever hit the screen. Del Toro has clearly spent much of his life living in and contemplating Shelley’s masterpiece. Hell, he’s spent at least half of his 30+ year career trying to get this film made. Seeing the completed project, it really does feel like the logical culmination of the filmmaker’s career. The DNA of everything from Cronos and The Shape of Water to Hellboy and Blade II is on display. The result is personal, raw, and one of the greatest triumphs of the director’s outstanding career. – Brogan Luke Bouwhuis
4. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Director Rian Johnson returns for a third outing in his Knives Out universe with Wake Up Dead Man. Following in the footsteps of his previous two entries, this film brings together a wide variety of relatively big names in Hollywood mixed with some newcomers that are sure to begin their career ascension soon (as we are already seeing with Josh O’Connor). Instead of a wealthy family mansion or an extravagant private island, this film chooses a small rural town and a small church as the backdrop for a very confusing murder mystery.
While the last film in the series fell a bit flat with some fans, this film tries to recapture the classic murder mystery genre and feels like you’re playing an intense game of Clue with your friends. Johnson has mastered the art of choosing and leading a cast of actors from varying backgrounds and putting together an ensemble that both works as a group while celebrating each individual character throughout the film. Most importantly, it balances the drama with a healthy dose of comedy that seems to come out of nowhere right when you least expect it. With an all-star cast including Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, and Jeremy Renner, and the returning star of the show Daniel Craig, this chapter in the Knives Out series has all the twists and turns and an ending you won’t see coming that fans of the series have come to expect. – Tyler Carlsen
3. One Battle After Another
In a year when American authority reached new levels of cruelty and its people are ready for revolution, who would’ve thought the movie that exemplified those elements the most would be from the guy who did Boogie Nights? Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest feature isn’t exactly radical, but it has the stones to take a stand against the racism and fragile masculinity engrained in white America’s positions of power. For a movie with an estimated $170 million budget made under David Zaslav’s watch, that’s quite the feat.
Anderson doesn’t waste any of the 161 minutes in One Battle After Another. There’s a consistent feeling of propulsion that never goes too fast or even remotely drags. Whether it focuses on Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro hustling through a hideout with a riot going on in the background or Sean Penn and Chase Infinity staring daggers into each other in a quiet chapel, everything is on a razor’s edge of tension. It helps to have Jonny Greenwood’s jazzy score give extra energy to every scene as Anderson stages all the plot points to chase each other into the dunes.
One Battle After Another is equal parts fierce and funny with some of the most energetic filmmaking Anderson has done in decades. It’s also surprisingly hopeful for a contemporary drama. Because even as the country keeps being crippled by old crones in Patagonia sweaters, there’s a whole new generation of young fighters ready to ride into battle. – Jon Winkler
2. Superman
In addition to not being very good, the DC Extended Universe’s take on Superman was utterly bleak and thoroughly depressing. An entirely fine thing for a film to be! But it’s not Superman. In the happier times of 2013, it was easy to shrug off something like Man of Steel with a “well that stinks” and move on. 2025 has been… less kind.
The unabashed optimism of James Gunn‘s Superman is something audiences need now more than ever, and David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan are just the duo to pull it off. Gunn’s script came prepared for the malaise that accompanies our modern day, giving Brosnahan real-world cynicism that somehow only makes Corenswet’s unflappable cheerfulness feel more believable. In a world that only a few years ago proclaimed the idea of a hopeful superhero as unrealistic, it’s an unexpected and desperately needed delight. – Brogan Luke Bouwhuis
1. Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners arrives as a bracing reminder of what original studio filmmaking can still look like in an era crowded with reboots, sequels, and safe IP plays. Reuniting with Michael B. Jordan for their fifth collaboration, Coogler delivers a film that feels both deeply personal and boldly cinematic, grounding genre spectacle in cultural specificity and spiritual texture.
On its surface, Sinners is a modern vampire horror, but Coogler uses the genre as a vessel rather than a crutch. Drawing from his Baptist upbringing, the film pulses with questions of faith, guilt, and salvation, folding church iconography, moral reckoning, and communal ritual into its DNA. These elements give the story a lived-in authenticity, transforming familiar horror tropes into something more reflective and unsettling. The result is a film that feels haunted not just by monsters, but by belief itself.
Crucially, Sinners also sidesteps the well-worn patterns of Black trauma that have long dominated cinema. Instead of centering pain as spectacle, Coogler reframes it, allowing horror to emerge from myth, desire, and moral conflict rather than historical suffering alone. Jordan’s performance anchors the film with intensity and restraint, showcasing the creative shorthand and trust that has defined his ongoing partnership with Coogler.
By fusing spiritual introspection with genre ambition, Sinners stands as one of 2025’s most confident and original films—proof that new stories, when told with conviction, can still cut through the noise. – Alyshia Kelly
