2025 Roundup: Movies
108 or so in 2023; ~ 100 in 2024; only 90 this year. More teaching than usual! That’s the culprit.
For 2024, here. For 2023, here.
Kelly Reichardt wins again.
Best New Stuff
The Mastermind (2025)
No Other Land (2024)
The Secret Agent (2025)
Sentimental Value (2025)
One Battle After Another (2025)
{I’m missing several things I absolutely wanted to see! I suspect if I’d seen “It Was Just an Accident” it would be up here too. And several others from this list!}
Best First-Timers (the older stuff)
Himiko (1974) [Masahiro Shinoda’s historical fantasies absolute new favorites. they look so great]
Demon Pond (1979) [like so]
An Actor’s Revenge (1963) [god it looks great]
Kuroneko (1968) [wonderful! ghost story! mom kills and kills because she misses you and you’re not returning her calls]
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980) [How To with John Wilson, an ur-text]
Le Bonheur (1965) [filling in the gaps of as-yet unwatched Varda. Perfect film]
Jane B by Agnès V (1988) [pair with Jane B’s own little documentary on same and then watch Kung-Fu Master]
The Unknown (1927) [100 years old almost and NO SPOILERS]
India Cabaret (1985) [it’s a good year to go deep on Mira Nair]
Leila and the Wolves (1984) [having to bribe the Lebanese civil war fighters for a couple days so the film crew didn’t get shot filming in an ACTUAL WAR ZONE]
Claire’s Camera (2017) [ Isabelle Huppert and Hong Sang-Soo remain a perfect pairing]
The Fifth Empire (2004) [prep for Portugal trip: not every filmmaker working into their 80s and 90s fails]
Dutchman (1966) [height of American crisp black and white, drama-of-the-week, “race relations” theater]
Pathfinder (1987) [imperfect but Norwegian preChristian indigenous storytelling]
Birth (2004) [desperate grief and creepy kid]
Deep Crimson (1996) [operatic and sordid]
The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974) [absolute propaganda but/and essential viewing]
Sympathy for the Devil (1968) [utter mess of a Godard and Rolling Stones in the studio, somehow together]
Best Rewatches
Battle for Algiers (1966)
The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Mulholland Drive (2001) [RIP you grand weirdo]
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
High and Low (1963) [to wash the taste of the Spike Lee out of my brain]
Instrument (1999) [if you grew up on Fugazi, you want this in your brain]
La Collectionneuse (1967)
Black Girl (1966) | pair with The Silent Monologue (2008) and Colobane Express (1999), thx Metrograph]
Newer Stuff / Mostly Unregretted Hours
Boys Go to Jupiter (2024) [charming and it knows it]
The Shrouds (2024) [unresolved conspiracy plot | utter grief]
Pepe (2024) [cocaine hippo]
Sinners (2025) [no one knows what to make of this, but the “pick poor Robin clean” sequence sold me]
The Phoenician Scheme (2025) [the first one of his I didn’t dislike 2 days later in a LONG time]
Blue Sun Palace (2024) [earnest! well-done! Queens / Immigrant / Tragedy / Off-kilter ending sold it]
Peacock (2024) [whereas the ending here, not so much]
The Apprentice (2024) [utterly repugnant and nearly what he deserves]
Mickey 17 (2025) [well cast! big dumb climax. Kind of a reversion to type of The Host, ah well]
The Brutalist (2025) [more ambitious movies please, ultimately wasn’t for me]
Wake Up Dead Man (2025) [they’re fine!]
Popcorn for the People / Didn’t Annoy
28 Years Later (2025)
Predator: Badlands (2025)
Superman (2025)
Weapons (2025)
Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)
The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)
Perennial Jennie Specials Rewatched
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) [best of the bunch]
A Room with a View (1986)
Not Exactly “Good” But A Good Time (older stuff)
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) [like being hit in the head with a multicolored chair]
Night of the Juggler (1980) [if you want a kind of remake of High and Low, this is your film]
Killers on Parade (1961) [utter Hanna Barbara characters assassin movie + amazing goat scene]
Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) [if you like Heat’s ending, you should watch this instead]
Little Murders (1971) [the Donald Sutherland nihilist church bit]
THX 1138 (1971)
Arthur (1981) [Liza’s clothes are wonderful]
Cold Comfort Farm (1995) [has no idea what to do with the novel’s baseline antisemitism]
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1996) [The Who are amazing; the Stones, a bad performance!]
Charlie is My Darling (1966) [shambly]
Down with Love (2003) [cut out the split screen sex jokes, bad taste!, and it’s a delight]
Eh
How Fernando Pessoa Saved Portugal (2018) [perfect for a flight back from Lisbon]
Someone, Somewhere (2019) [therapy drama! but French, so the short sessions might actually be in real time]
Harder-to-Classify Documentaries
The Cherry Tree with Gray Blossoms (1977) [best talking tree documentary I know]
2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025)
I Am Somebody (1970)
We Are Universal (1971)
Megadoc (2025)
Christo’s Valley Curtain (1974)
Architecton (2024)
Rewatches with regretted user hours
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) [right after watching the series and reading the book]
Pirates of Penzance (1983) [watch the clips of the Public Theater show, because that’s where they *really* shine]
No Thanks! (newer films)
Highest 2 Lowest (2025) [an insult]
Marty Supreme (2025) [hated it! what if a dirtbag were the best in the world at his sport]
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) [this one’s on me. focus-grouped]
Is This Thing On? (2025) [smug]
No Thanks! (older stuff) (worst to least worst)
Gattaca (1997) [smuuuug]
AlphaGo (2017) [drek documentary you will someone know less than you did before about Go after watching this]
David Lynch: The Art Life (2016) [of course it’s not going to tell you why he got married so many times but you have to wonder]
Winter Kills (1979) [nihilistic]
Something Wild (1986) [expropriative]
Greenland (2020) [somehow Trumpy]
The Portrait of a Lady (1996) [digital camera effects utterly have not aged well]
The Anderson Tapes (1971) [much to like! Walken; weird surveillance camera sounds; but kind of hateful]
Heat (1995) [men! shouting! too much shooting! this is much beloved! not by me!]
