The Golden Globes will be given out this Sunday, and since they ignored key films I loved, I thought it was the perfect time to hand out my own Cinema Junkie Awards.
Picking the best of any year is always agonizing because films are so wildly diverse. Sometimes I want action, sometimes I want to be chilled to the bone, other times I just want to be challenged by something bold and provocative, and sometimes I just want comfort food.
Honorable mentions
Let me start by mentioning some films that just gave me joy — not perfect films, but ones I can return to because they make me smile.
"Superman" gave me Krypto and returned the DC Man of Steel to the heroic heights of the comic books created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster — Jewish men from immigrant families who had fled persecution in Eastern Europe.
"Sisu: Road to Revenge" gave me a senior citizen action hero who kicked ass on an epic scale.
"Sentimental Value" and "Nouvelle Vague" (a truly sweet valentine to the French New Wave) provided the best behind-the-scenes look at the creative process.
James Sweeney crafted the most deceptively smart and funny script of the year with "Twinless."
"One Battle After Another" delivered the absolute best — and most cleverly executed — car chase of the year (maybe the decade), plus it had a delightful Benicio Del Toro. The film would have scored higher on my list, but it had two distinct flaws: an "I Am Sam"-level misguided performance by Sean Penn and Paul Thomas Anderson's hypersexualized treatment of Teyana Taylor's character. I get that he is showing how Penn's and Leonardo DiCaprio's characters see this Black woman, but just because the characters have a leering gaze does not mean Anderson's camera has to view her through the same lens. I've read that white men love this film, but Black women hate it. If that's true, I don't think white men realize they are the butt of the joke here. The film is based on Thomas Pynchon's book, and Pynchon's satire does not come through as sharply as it should (another flaw), but the white dudes are pathetically ineffectual. Check out "Inherent Vice" for a better PTA-and-Pynchon film.
Documentaries were strong this year: "Mr. Nobody Against Putin," "Empire Skate," "Mistress Dispeller," "Pee Wee as Himself," and especially "The Shadow Scholars," a riveting examination of Kenya’s hidden essay mills, where tens of thousands of highly educated yet underemployed Kenyans write academic papers for wealthy Western students.
Animated films were impressive, too. We had the violent action of "Predator: Killer of Killers," the beauty of "Little Amélie or the Character of Rain" and the global hit "KPop Demon Hunters."
Women filmmakers also delivered top-notch work. My favorite was Eva Victor's quietly effective "Sorry, Baby" (which includes one of the most achingly sweet scenes of human connection and kindness). Also noteworthy were Chloé Zhao's "Hamnet" and Mary Bronstein's "If I had Legs I'd Kick You."
I also want to drop a short film on this list. After producing Stripper Energy: Fighting Back From the Fringes, the Tribeca short "Monster Slayer" hit me hard — not just with its similar message about marginalized women subjected to abuse and forced to take matters into their own hands, but also with its brilliantly elliptical approach to its topic. Kudos to filmmaker Cate Skipp.
Top 10 films of 2025
10 (a tie): Both "The Secret Agent" and "It Was Just an Accident" deal with trauma and oppressive regimes. "The Secret Agent" is set in the 1970s and explores the ramifications of Brazil's military dictatorship at the time. Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident" was shot surreptitiously in Iran — an accomplishment in itself. It focuses on a former political prisoner who kidnaps the man he suspects was his sadistic captor, then ponders the moral dilemma: Should he exact violent revenge? Forgive him? Demand an apology? And what if it's the wrong guy? Both films convey eerily similar vibes to today’s United States.
9: The Spanish-French co-production "Sirât" begins at a chaotic rave in the desert as a father looks for his missing daughter. Then it takes some shocking turns that leave you devastated. Stunning visuals and sound design, too.
8: As someone who cares little for Timothée Chalamet’s wispy emo appeal, I was delighted to discover he’s perfect as a smug, narcissistic bastard in "Marty Supreme," where he says the most offensive things — like this: "I am going to do to Kletzki what Auschwitz couldn’t. I’m gonna finish the job. … It’s OK, I’m Jewish, I can say that." Kudos to filmmaker Josh Safdie for making an absolutely riveting film about ping-pong in the 1950s — and making it the nastiest film of the year. Although the trailers try to spin it as a feel-good underdog sports film, don't believe them! This is a kindred soul to the Safdie Brothers' "Uncut Gems."
7: If "Marty Supreme" is about a hustler in constant frenzied motion, Lav Diaz’s "Magellan" is all about slow, contemplative filmmaking. It’s a portrait of the historical figure from the perspective of those he colonized. This character is even more vicious than Marty, but Diaz’s filmmaking is all about restraint and giving the audience time to let the themes sink in. The amazing sound design lets you close your eyes and still know exactly where you are.
6: Next up are a pair of documentaries about cinematic female icons. First, "My Mom Jayne" is a portrait of sex symbol Jayne Mansfield from the perspective of her actress daughter, Mariska Hargitay. Mansfield was always painted as the dumb blonde and a Marilyn Monroe imitator, packaged by Hollywood studios. But Hargitay uncovers a fascinating alternative story that plays out like a compelling drama.
5: And then Cody Jarrett's "Tura!" plays out even more like a tense thriller as we discover the hidden story behind actress Tura Satana. The "Tura!" doc really knocks it out of the park as it shows us what a badass Satana was off camera as well as on. Your jaw will drop when you hear her full story. I am so grateful for this tribute and celebration of Satana, who has been such an inspiration to me. She is part of my sacred circle of kick-ass women — Satana, Pam Grier, Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg — who let a little girl growing up in the 1960s know that it was OK — no, it was her duty — to explode stereotypes.
4: Next are two films that celebrate cinema, but in radically different ways. "Reflection in a Dead Diamond" is a glorious and audacious homage to 1970s Italian giallo and sexy spy films like "Danger: Diabolik" and James Bond. Every frame is dripping with style and, frequently, crimson blood. This film is nothing but style, but it's not empty-headed. Filmmakers Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani have studied gialli and Eurospy films and understand what makes them work — and why we are so mesmerized by them. They understand the surreal dream logic and they knowingly play off it. My favorite part is a killer who hypnotizes his victims into believing they are in a movie, cannot tell reality from fantasy and die when they see "The End" on the screen. That's meta in a clever and fun way. It’s also dizzying and delicious.
3: Bi Gan's "Resurrection" is equally intoxicating, but delivers a far richer emotional experience as it goes beyond just a love of cinema to explore what makes us human.
2: Here's a film that only played here at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, but it won my heart. It is a tiny indie film, but its very slightness in the face of Hollywood behemoths is part of its charm and radical rebellion. The film is "Debut, or, Objects in the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued." Julian Castronovo’s film defies categorization, but it displays an obsessive need to impose order on chaos as it weaves a quirky neo-noir mystery. It feels like it was made on a laptop during the pandemic — and feels fresh and innovative for that reason.
1: The film that just deserves all the awards is Ryan Coogler’s "Sinners." The performances are flawless, the script is richly layered, the cinematography and editing rock and the sound and music are next level. It’s a horror film, a vampire tale, a movie about race, a celebration of Black culture and a bold and defiant challenge to Hollywood, showing that a Black filmmaker could negotiate creative control and ownership of his film. To studio execs, that’s way scarier than vampires. So that has me wondering if, when the Oscars come around in March, Hollywood will once again overlook a Black-made film in favor of a white-made one with a few Black characters ("One Battle After Another").
Spike Lee famously noted, "Every time somebody is driving somebody, I lose." That's because "Do the Right Thing" lost Best Picture to "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1990, and then "BlacKkKlansman" lost to "Green Book" in 2019. Both instances show how the Oscars favor films where white characters and white creators control the narrative, but because there are Black characters, the Academy can pretend it is supporting diversity. "Moonlight" — and to a lesser degree "12 Years a Slave" (lesser because of the presence of Brad Pitt) — are the exceptions that prove the rule of the Academy's nearly 100-year history.
Craft Awards
Best Actress: Liz Larson, "The Baltimorons"
Runners-up: Eva Victor, "Sorry, Baby," and Sally Hawkins, "Bring Her Back"
Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan, "Sinners"
Runners-up: Sergi Lopez, "Sirât," and Sope Dirisu, "My Father's Shadow"
Best Supporting Actress: Wunmi Mosaku, "Sinners"
Runners-up: Amy Madigan, "Weapons," and Teyana Taylor, "One Battle After Another"
Best Supporting Actor: Jack O'Connell, "Sinners"
Runners-up: Delroy Lindo, "Sinners," and Benicio Del Toro, "One Battle After Another"
Best Editing: "Sinners"
Runners-up: "Reflections in a Dead Diamond" and "Marty Supreme"
Best Sound: "Sinners"
Runners-up: "Sirât" and "F1"
Best Cinematography: "Sinners"
Runners-up: "Reflections in a Dead Diamond," "Resurrection" and "Nouvelle Vague"
Best canine performance: Indy, "Good Boy"
Worst films: "Avatar: Fire and Ash" and "Wicked for Good"
Most disappointing — but still worth a watch: Guillermo Del Toro's "Frankenstein," Yorgos Lanthimos' "Bugonia" and Park Chan-wook's "No Other Choice" — from filmmakers I adore, but not up to their usual high standards
