Film-Forward

The Best Films of 2025

If you know where to look, there were plenty of good films in 2025. (Maybe you’ll find new discoveries here.)

Ella McCay

James L. Brooks’s new film feels like it was written by an extraterrestrial being who has consumed too much media from the 1990s and 2000s and attempts to re-create how the human species behaves.

Dead Man’s Wire

This story could be akin to a modern Western—the story of a little guy against the system.

Suburban Fury

Why did Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old mother of four, try to assassinate President Gerald Ford?

Merrily We Roll Along

The hottest ticket on Broadway two summers ago is now within everyone’s reach.

Reflection in a Dead Diamond

Do you miss James Bond already? If your answer is yes, then you’ll be glad to know that this film exists.

Come Closer

The depth and nuance of loss are well-rendered in Israeli filmmaker Tom Nesher’s directorial debut.

Happy Holidays

An assured, affecting, and invigorating film that is likely to hold up to repeated viewings.

Zootopia 2

Its lovable characters and sharp humor get Zootopia 2‘s story across the finish line, if only by a hare… er, hair.