Our Annual Report recap of 2025 continues with our ranking of the 25 Best Movies of the Year. Keep it tuned here all month for more accolades, interviews, and lists — including our 50 Best Albums of 2025.
For all the spectacle and poignancy found at the cinema this year, the most striking thing is just how many films felt eerily timed for this moment, stories of resistance and rebellion arriving right when we needed them. Were filmmakers tapping into societal undercurrents bubbling under the surface, or did they simply get lucky with production schedules? All that can be said for sure is that if one year needed the message “kindness is the new punk rock,” it was this one.
However, this wasn’t just a year of epic battles (one after another, even). So many of 2025’s best movies spanned decades, but kept their focus intimate enough for audiences to fall in love with their central characters, whether they be world-famous movie stars, misunderstood monsters, or guitar players whose songs can beat back the devil himself.
Music itself also played a huge role in some of this year’s best movies, from scores by unexpected indie bands or fictional entertainers whose songs protected the world. The overall theme, throughout: In the fight for happiness and freedom, art is one of the mightiest weapons we have.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor
