By Dan Skip Allen

2025 has been a year of ups and downs for me personally. I have constantly struggled to make ends meet and find a steady job. The one thing that has kept me going was movies. Especially in the second half of the year. Starting in August, there have been quite a few films that I’ve seen at Film Festivals or Screenings that I have loved quite a bit. This year had a slow start, but it definitely picked up as Festival Season kicked off. Comparing it to last year’s Slate of films, I would say it’s a better year overall than last year. Next year is looking like it’s going to be a big year for blockbuster films, but I’d say this year was a year for more indie, arthouse, and foreign movies to shine. My list shows that. Some great auteur directors have made some amazing films, and some of  those are on my list. This was a great year for film.

Honorable Mentions: Caught Stealing, Weapons, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, Warfare, Bugonia, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Predator: Badlands, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Left-Handed Girl, No Other Choice

10. Eephus (Music Box Films)

3.7/5 Letterboxd 100% Rotten Tomatoes

A group of middle-aged men plays their last recreational baseball game before their field gets torn down to build a school.

It’s no surprise to anybody who knows me that I’m a huge sports fan. As I’ve grown older, my love of baseball has surpassed my affection for other sports that I’ve watched. My love of the Boston Red Sox knows no bounds. Along with this comes my love of sports films, particularly baseball movies. Pride of the Yankees, Bull Durham, The Natural, and Field of Dreams are some of my favorite baseball movies. On the surface, Eephus doesn’t seem like much of a baseball film, but once I watched it, it became much more than just those two things. This small indie film set on a field in New Hampshire about to be bulldozed over to build a new school, with a bunch of normal guys playing their weekly ball game, meant something more to me. A normal guy joking around, bantering with the other guys on the other team, and being just a guy playing ball. I resonated with this movie more than I have with any other this year. Even though I have others ranked higher on my list, none of them means more to me than this one does.

9. Frankenstein (Netflix)

7.5/10 IMDB.            85% Rotten Tomatoes

A brilliant but egotistical scientist brings a monstrous creature to life in a daring experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

The Universal Monster Films were ones I loved growing up so much, created with great craftsmanship and storylines that meant something (unlike some junk we have today). Directors like James Whale put a lot of important intellectual aspects into his two Frankenstein films. That’s what Guillermo Del Toro was able to achieve in a way that only he could accomplish with the latest iteration of Mary Shelley’s story, starting with the performances from Christoph Waltz, Oscar Isaac, and especially Jacob Elordi. They all take their roles in different places than in previous iterations in the past. One thing, though, that I can always say about Del Toro films is that he spares no expense on the production of his movies. From the great production design to the costumes to the makeup, every aspect of this film was on the level of one of the best filmmakers on the planet. You can’t honestly watch this movie and not see the amazing craftsmanship on every level. Del Toro has taken one of my favorite monster movies and given it a whole new visual aesthetic and look that is now the definitive answer to what is the best and, most importantly, my favorite version of the story of Frankenstein’s monster. 

8. Train Dreams (Netflix)

7.5/10 IMDB.            95% Rotten Tomatoes

Robert Grainier lives all of his years in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, working on the land, helping to create a new world at the turn of the 20th century.

Sometimes, a small, subtle movie can get me more excited than the big blockbusters can, and one of those movies was Train Dreams. It’s a film by Clint Bentley and co-written by Greg Kwedar, the team behind Sing Sing. Joel Edgerton, an actor I’ve admired for years now, plays a logger in the Pacific Northwest living a quiet, low-key life through the first half of the twentieth century with his wife (Felicity Jones) and child. His lifestyle and work ethic explore the high demands of that life, the friendships he encounters, and the hardships that come with it. I was genuinely impressed by this character and performance from Edgerton, and he is one of the only actors working today who can demand your attention by being under the radar and very subtle. I was completely blown away by how gorgeous this movie was shot. The period nature and performances here have completed my love for this movie, and I am excited to see what Bentley does next.

7. Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios)

The conflict on Pandora escalates as Jake and Neytiri’s family encounter a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe.

I was a fan of the original Avatar and was equally impressed by the sequel, The Way of Water, but I can honestly say that James Cameron upped his game for this third movie in the franchise As mentioned in my recent review, I was continuously blown away by how gorgeous this film was, with the CGI and visual effects getting better and better. Combined with these technical aspects, Cameron and the writing team have also given audiences more stories, subplots, and some character development that make this not just an average sequel. The messages the writers and Cameron have put into this movie are ones I can honestly get behind. I am a proponent of the environment and finding ways to save the planet and all its creatures. While watching this third installment in the franchise, I understood that Cameron has the same cares that I do. He is just a major director who can do something about it. I didn’t think I would love an Avatar film as much as I did, but that’s why Fire and Ash is one of my favorite movies of the year. 

6. Highest 2 Lowest (AppleTV+)

2.8/5 Letterboxd    83% Rotten Tomatoes

When a powerful music mogul is targeted by a ransom plot, he is forced to fight for his family and legacy while jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington have had quite a long and storied collaboration for over thirty-five years, but their last movie was Inside Man in 2006. Thanks to Denzel, their collaboration continues with this remake of Akira Kurosawa’s film High and Low. It’s a fantastic film with a great script by Alan Fox, and Lee reminds us why he loves working with Denzel so much. New York City was shown in all its glory in this movie with sparkling cinematography by Matthew Libatique; that’s saying a lot coming from a guy who is from Boston. (The Yankees still suck, though.) The cherry at the top of this film is the titular song by Aiyana Lee, excellently used, and is the perfect conclusion to the movie, which was a complete and pleasant surprise. I shouldn’t have counted out this amazing duo of Denzel and Spike.

5. Marty Supreme (A24)

7.6/10 IMDB.          97% Rotten Tomatoes

In the 1950s, young Marty Mauser pursues his dream of becoming a champion table-tennis player.

The Safdie Brothers came on the scene of filmmaking with a storm, from Daddy Longlegs to Uncut Gems. Since then, they’ve decided to go their separate ways, and both released a film this year. Benny did The Smashing Machine with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, while Josh has pulled out the better film here with Timothee Chalamet. Both are sports films; Machine was the true story of a UFC fighter, but Supreme dares us to dream big with a ping-pong period piece loosely based on American Marty Reissman, with Chalamet’s Marty Mauser looking to become a superstar in his own right. The high-tension sequences between matches and outside the table (not court, right?) make sure the movie never slows down and keeps chugging forward, with Chalamet giving us the performance of his career so far. If he doesn’t win an Oscar for this performance, then I don’t know what he has to do to win an Oscar. The score, cinematography, and fast-paced editing completely transfixed me on the screen. Maybe separating to make their own films wasn’t such a bad idea for these two brothers.

4. Hamnet (Focus Features)

4.2/5 Letterboxd    87% Rotten Tomatoes

William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, celebrate the birth of their son, Hamnet. However, when tragedy strikes and Hamnet dies at a young age, it inspires Shakespeare to write his timeless masterpiece “Hamlet.”

Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, this film follows the legendary playwright (Paul Mescal) before his artistic breakthrough, and he marries Agnes (Jesse Buckley) and starts their own family. When their son (Jacobi Jupe) suddenly dies, the grief that strikes them hard leads to the Shakespearean legendary tale of Hamlet. This film absolutely wrecked me from all of the family stuff to the tragedy to the creation of this incredible play. Everything in this film worked on an exceptional level, including an Oscar-worthy performance from Buckley. She was so emotional and pulled at the heartstrings every time she was on screen. I teared up multiple times while watching this movie, and it might be my favorite portrayal of Shakespeare and his work that I’ve ever seen. Chloe Zhao has done it again, five years after her triumph with Nomadland.

3. Rental Family (Searchlight Studios)

7.9/10 IMDB          87% Rotten Tomatoes

Struggling to find purpose, an American actor lands an unusual gig with a Japanese agency to play stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he soon rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.

It’s a rare occurrence that I hear or see something that I haven’t seen or heard about before, but that’s the case here with a real business that fills in the gaps of a family member, loved one, or friend. In real-life Japan, people are hired to play these roles in their lives. With a down and out struggling American actor, Phillip (Brendan Fraser), he’s been trying to find work but can’t find anything in his wheelhouse. Taking a job at one of these companies, he struggles with the concept at first, but eventually, he embraces the job, especially in two roles accompanying an elderly musician and a little girl. He plays a specific role in their lives, and it’s very touching for him to play this role, even when he finds the conflict in playing a lie. I was completely blown away by this film because of the emotional pull it had on me. Some might call it very manipulative, but I didn’t care because I resonated with the old man and the little girl. Fraser is equally as good as he’s been in the past, and this movie had me from the start and didn’t let go until it was over. I urge everybody to see this movie because it has a great message and it’s beautifully filmed by the director Hikari.

2. Sentimental Value (NEON)

4.2/5 Lwtterboxd.    7.9/10 IMDB

Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. Nora turns it down, but soon discovers he’s given the part to an eager young Hollywood star.

Following up on his incredible The Worst Person In The World, director Joachim Trier tackles two topics in one movie: filmmaking and family trauma. A father and director (Stellan Skarsgard) decides to make a semi-biographical movie and wants his somewhat estranged daughter (Renate Reinsve) to star in it. Add to the mix a house they lived in for years that has to be sold, one that has been in the family for generations, and a second daughter (Inga Ibsdotter Lilieas), who also has resentment for her father. This film deals with a family that has a lot of past issues they need to resolve before they can come together as a family after the loss of their mother. I’ve dealt with similar problems recently in my own life, and this movie hit home for me quite a bit. The rest of the cast, including Elle Fanning, was all fantastic, especially Skarsgard, who gave the best performance of his long career. Anybody with past family troubles will relate to this film, and it has one of, if not the best, endings of any movie I’ve seen all year. 

1. One Battle After Another (Warner Brothers)

IMDB 7.9/10       95% Rotten Tomatoes

Bob is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts.

I haven’t always been a fan of the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, but when he does a great job, such as with Boogie Nights and Magnolia, I will definitely recognize his work. That is the case here, with Anderson doing a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Viceland, as with Inherent Vice, but for this film, he has really struck big. Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infinity, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, and Benicio del Toro, among others, lead the stellar cast in this stoner action epic of failed revolutionaries, interracial relationships, and how,, in the thick of fighting, the underrepresented still get failed upon. Anderson captures the pulse of the country with enough seriousness but with a lot of laughter in his insane cat-and-mouse story with the undertone of populist political upheaval back then and now. This is my favorite film from Anderson, and it’s finally time for PTA to bring home an Oscar or two. I always like to say the Academy Awards represent the times we as a society live in from year to year, and One Battle After Another represents our current status perfectly. Hence, it’s why it’s my favorite film of the year 2025.