Every year, I do my best to see as many new-release movies as possible to track the state of the art form in my head, develop ideas about what themes are most driving contemporary artists in a given year, and prepare to be a well-informed award-show watcher come Oscar season.
In 2025, I’ve seen 88 new movies and have a few dozen on my watchlist still to catch up on. I don’t get a lot of sleep.
It has been an incredible year for movies, with some of the world’s best filmmakers tackling what it feels like to be living through our strange era of human history. This year, the movies were obsessed with parenting, the world we leave behind for generations after us, and dealing with the randomness of life beholden to fascist governments, political violence, and corrupt corporations.
Beyond being valuable pieces of art that reflect our culture and explore what it means to be human in 2025, these are also entertaining movies that go down smooth — for the most part. I’ll do my best to be brief, but I believe everyone should watch these movies before the year is up.
I’ve written about this movie extensively already, but Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece is without a doubt the most exhilarating and emotionally profound experience I’ve had watching a movie this year. With four viewings to my name, I’m still noticing new intricacies in its political thriller structure or finding a new piece of character work moving with every new watch. This film will stick with me for the rest of my life. Read the Daily Iowan review here.
Eva Victor’s directorial debut is a quietly devastating indie drama about a graduate student balancing her 20s with an intensely traumatic experience from her past. With a charmingly funny script, which Victor also wrote, this was the most sentimental and touching movie I saw this year.
This blockbuster hit is undoubtedly one of the great cultural phenomena of the year, but the movie stands up to its popularity. The thematically rich tale of cultural colonialism and rad as hell vampire slaughter is exactly what we need more of right now: a viscerally cinematic experience with an inventive story. Read The Daily Iowan review here.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the band Pavement, so when I heard about this outside-the-box documentary, I knew I’d love it. Director Alex Ross Perry crafted the film by staging a three-day workshop for a Pavement jukebox musical on Broadway, filming scenes of a fake Pavement biopic starring Joe Keery, setting up a functional Pavement museum in New York, assembling archival footage, and recording moments from the band’s 2022 reunion tour. I’ve never seen anything like it and would highly recommend it for anyone looking to rock out alongside some ingenious filmmaking.
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Josh O’Connor is one of my favorite actors working today, and his performance in Kelly Reichardt’s hilarious hangout movie proves why. The camera stays with him nearly every frame of the film, and it never feels dull. He holds the screen so well, portraying a sleazy drifter moving through the politically contentious ‘70s with complete apathy. The film is a wonderfully acidic depiction of a specifically American kind of nonchalant masculinity.
Ari Aster’s satirical portrait of the dread-inducing political hellscape that was 2020 in America captures the paranoia and absurdity of being alive right now — in just five months, it’s aged spectacularly well.
This Norwegian family drama delivers maximum emotional impact, but denies you the emotional catharsis you’d expect from this story about a depressed, distant daughter and egomaniacal father.
The new film from master filmmaker Park Chan-wook is a twistedly funny capitalist satire about a corporate drone who will do whatever it takes to be hired, even systematically tracking down his opposition. Read The Daily Iowan review here.
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s real-life story only adds to the expertly tense moral thriller story in this movie. The depictions of casual authoritarianism — most notably, a tap-to-bribe card reader a police officer handles in one scene — have haunted me since seeing this in theaters. Read The Daily Iowan review here.
If you’re looking for a brisk, visual feast, look no further than this movie. A fist-pumping spy story, this French film follows a paranoid old James Bond-type descending into madness as villains from his past reappear. It’s a ridiculously fun sensory experience that may not be for everyone, but the flashy filmmaking and bloody action are too good not to recommend.
Honorable Mentions:
I’d also highly recommend checking out, “Die My Love,” “Highest 2 Lowest,” “The Perfect Neighbor,” “Eephus,” “Blue Moon,” “28 Years Later,” and “Jay Kelly.”