William Brangham:
The holidays are a great time to catch up on the year’s best films, whether streaming at home or heading to a movie theater.
Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with two film critics who shared their top picks of the year. It’s part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.
Jeffrey Brown:
It’s that time of the year when we spotlight some of 2025’s best movies from big blockbusters to a few hidden gems that you might have missed.
For that, I’m joined by Linda Holmes, host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour,” and Mike Sargent, host of the podcast “Brown & Black” and co-president of the Black Film Critics Circle.
And it’s nice to see both of you again. Thanks for joining us.
Let’s start with some of the bigger movies of the year.
Linda, you want to start?
Linda Holmes, Pop Culture Correspondent, NPR:
Yes. To me, movie of the year in a few ways is “Sinners,” which is from Ryan Coogler. It’s about twin brothers played by Michael B. Jordan who end up having to battle some vampires.
Actress:
The vampires is different, maybe the worst kind. The soul gets stuck in the body.
Linda Holmes:
Not only do I think it’s a really, really good movie, but it’s also a really good story of a movie. It’s really a situation where Coogler, I think, was able to get the deal that he wanted to make the movie he really wanted to make.
It is original. It is not from existing intellectual property. It felt completely fresh to me.
Jeffrey Brown:
OK, how about one more while you’re at it, of a big movie?
Linda Holmes:
Yes. I always try to give a little bit of love to the superhero genre when it does a good job.
Jeffrey Brown:
Why not?
Linda Holmes:
I think this year’s “Superman” was pretty good. Is it the best movie of the year? Maybe not. But I think this is truer to who I think Superman is than some of the other recent efforts.
David Corenswet, Actor:
Everybody OK?
Hey, buddy, eyes up here.
Linda Holmes:
Good film. Enjoyed it.
Jeffrey Brown:
All right.
Mike Sargent, what did you like among the big movies this year?
Mike Sargent, Co-President, Black Film Critics Circle:
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” which is the third film in the “Knives Out” series starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. This is written and directed by Rian Johnson.
And this is actually, I think, maybe the best of the three. It’s an interesting premise. It’s about a priest who’s killed and everybody in the parish is potentially a subject. This leans strong into character. And it really shows that this series could go on for a long time.
The other film I have to mention is “Weapons.” And this is a film by Zach Cregger. It stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner. And what this film reminds me as a storyteller and a lover of stories is, it’s not just the story. It’s how the story is told.
Actress:
You’re either negligent or complicit.
Mike Sargent:
Yes, there are plot points, there are plot holes and things, but you don’t care because it’s so much fun to sit there and go, OK, what’s going on?
Jeffrey Brown:
All right, well, that leaves us wanting more. Thanks for that.
So, Linda, how about it among the indie or smaller films. Pick one that’s stuck with you.
Linda Holmes:
It’s hard to define indie and small for me sometimes.
Jeffrey Brown:
Yes.
Linda Holmes:
But I did think one of the quieter films that I very much enjoyed this year was “Blue Moon,” which is directed by Richard Linklater, and it stars Ethan Hawke as…
Jeffrey Brown:
The two of them back together again, right?
Linda Holmes:
Back together again after a number of projects together.
Hawke plays the lyricist Lorenz Hart, and it’s set on the night that “Oklahoma” opened. And “Oklahoma” is when Richard Rodgers, who had been Hart’s songwriting partner, was pairing up with Oscar Hammerstein. And obviously they went on to have a lot of success together.
So this is sort of the night that Hart feels his partnership slipping away from him. And it’s just very moving and it’s very much about art and people who make art. And I enjoyed it a great deal. And I really recommend it.
Jeffrey Brown:
All right, Mike, have you got a smaller film for us?
Mike Sargent:
I do.
Actually, it’s a film called “The Secret Agent,” And this is from writer-director Kleber Mendonca Filho. And it’s about a tech specialist who’s in his early 40s. He’s on the run from an authoritarian regime. Takes place in Brazil.
Actor (through interpreter):
This is the person.
Actor (through interpreter):
I want a hole in his mouth.;
Mike Sargent:
Now, what makes this film work besides Wagner Moura’s award-winning performance is that — how it’s shot. This — you almost feel like you’re watching a documentary. It’s very little artifice. Things are dirty. It seems very real. Every single actor, you completely believe them in their role.
This is one of those films when you watch it and then you go and you watch some kind of Hollywood movie, it just seems — like, wow, seems like totally false.
Jeffrey Brown:
All right, so speaking of documentaries, it was a good year for documentaries. Linda, what — give us a couple that you liked.
Linda Holmes:
There’s one that I really liked called “The Perfect Neighbor,” which is a very upsetting film, I will say, out of the gate. It is about a white woman who lived near a Black woman and her kids and a lot of other people’s kids.
And this woman just became very agitated by the kids and was harassing them. And ultimately it ends in this tragic, violent end. And it’s just a terrible story. It was mishandled, but it’s just an awful situation.
Man:
Sheriff’s office! Come outside with your hands up!
Linda Holmes:
The other one that I would mention on a kind of a happier note…
Mariska Hargitay, Actress:
I have spent my whole life distancing myself from my mother, Jayne Mansfield.
Linda Holmes:
It is a documentary that the Actress Mariska Hargitay, who is on “Law & Order: SVU,” made about her mother, Jayne Mansfield. It’s called “My Mom Jayne.”
I’m so skeptical when famous people make documentaries about their families.
Jeffrey Brown:
Right.
Linda Holmes:
But she absolutely redeems the whole project. It’s very honest. It’s very fair to everybody. It’s a beautiful story with some surprises, but also a lot of just very heartfelt storytelling about her mother and her kind of relationship with her mother’s memory.
Jeffrey Brown:
All right, Mike, what jumped out at you in the documentary world this year?
Mike Sargent:
Two documentaries I will mention.
One is called “Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden of Black Genius),” and that’s directed by Questlove. And this is a documentary about Sly of Sly and the Family Stone. And they are a band that fused funk, soul, rock, and they broke racial and gender boundaries in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
Man:
Guys and girls and black and white. So you get all that input.
Man:
They sounded like nothing else sounds.
Mike Sargent:
This goes beyond just the usual musical doc. It explores the emotional, cultural burden placed on Black genius in America.
And it really paints a very vivid portrait and really makes you appreciate the genius of Sly Stone.
The other documentary by the great Raoul Peck is a documentary called Orwell: 2+2=5.” And it’s about George Orwell and his life. And what’s interesting about this documentary is that it juxtaposes what’s going on today along with his writings from over 67 years ago and what was inspiring him to write the pieces he wrote like “Animal Farm” and “1984.”
And this is really life is like science fiction, because what you see him talking about, what he was writing about, what he’s saying is disturbingly prescient today.
Jeffrey Brown:
All right. I want to give you both a shot at a film to see with the whole family.
Linda Holmes:
Absolutely. If you’re looking for a movie for kids, “Zootopia 2” is out. And even though it’s big, it’s Disney, I do think it’s visually inventive and a lot of fun.
The other one I would mention, there’s a film coming out at Christmas called “The Choral,” which stars Ralph Fiennes as the director of a community chorus during World War I. Some people absolutely are going to find it a little bit corny, but I found it beautiful and really moving.
Jeffrey Brown:
All right, Mike Sargent, what do you have in the family fair?
Mike Sargent:
There’s a film called “Arco.” It’s about a little boy who travels from the future into our future and meets a little girl. And he needs to get back home.
And without saying much more, the animation is terrific, very much a beautiful film worth watching. And I have to say another film that I did not expect much from is “The Bad Guys 2.”
Actor:
How are we supposed to get a fresh start when we get blamed for every bad thing that happens?
Mike Sargent:
It’s a sequel to the DreamWorks animated heist comedy. And this is really such an enjoyable film. It’s really — I think it sets the bar pretty high.
Jeffrey Brown:
A good list for all of us.
Mike Sargent and Linda Holmes, thank you both very much.
Linda Holmes:
Thank you.
Mike Sargent:
Thank you.