The Top 10 Films of 2025

Before we can start 2026, it's time for a look back at the Top 10 of 2025. Some years, I'm struggling to pick ten great films for the annual recap, but the past year has provided a bumper crop of thrillers, franchise winners, original drama and solid horror.

For every bomb like "Him" or "The Woman in the Yard", there were several winners to offer a bounce back experience at the multiplex. Speaking of which, thank you to AMC and their A-List program which served up 107 films for me this year on the big screen.

There were a lot of great or just plain fun films that battled for a spot here. The movies just on the fringe, that were in and out of this list as I finalized it include "Marty Supreme", "Blue Moon", "Warfare", "Materialists", "The Life of Chuck", "Sisu: Road to Revenge" and "Fantastic 4".

So here are the Top 10, in reverse order, each with my original review from time of release and an alternate poster to the one you probably saw at the theaters.

10. WICKED: FOR GOOD

It's no secret that the final act of Wicked on stage can't compare to the opening act. The great news for fans is that the fleshed out second act on film is a triumph, offering no let down from last year's first installment.

WICKED: FOR GOOD is a powerhouse finale and sure to be a massive blockbuster this holiday season.

Director Jon M. Chu and his returning creative team start the film off with a fast paced pursuit of Elpheba, months after she flew off at the end of the first film. She's a one woman force against the Wizard and his plans for Oz and she's not a big fan of that yellow brick road!

Cleverly weaving in far more of the OG Dorothy/Wizard of Oz story than the play, all the pieces of that familiar story flavor the expanded second half. As good as Cynthia Erivo is as Elpheba (and she's terrific), Ariana Grande nearly steals the majority of the movie as Glinda.

This chapter provides a much larger character arc for Grande to execute and she does so perfectly, hitting every punch line and tragic note with equal commitment.

Glinda has taken on a PR role for the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum, quirky shine at full beam) and relishes her role, making the citizens of Oz happy. But she's torn as her newly betrothed Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is appointed head of the guard that's assigned to track down the "wicked witch", Elpheba.

Every time that Grande and Erivo share the screen, the film lifts of to another level.

As many times as we've seen the stage musical, all the plot points here around Elpheba's sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) and the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow seem so much more powerful on film.

Knowing there were less songs in Act Two, original composer Stephen Schwartz has composed two new, full length songs for the film adaption.

Elpheba's mission anthem "No Place Like Home" is good, if a little heavy handed in the visual execution around it. But Grande's "The Girl in the Bubble" is powerful. Chu also manages to shoot the entire song with a clever series of camera tricks that visually stun.

All your (and our) favorite songs are here and are brilliantly realized with a massive symphony orchestra and sets that knock your eyes out. Chu stuffs every frame of every scene with a level of production design and detail that startles.

"Wonderful" is expanded in all the right ways, bringing a nice comedic flair from Goldblum that's needed, with the darkness that haunts this half of the story.

"As Long As Your Mine" is everything you want it to be and then some.

Erivo's "No Good Deed" provides the "blow the doors off" Defying Gravity moment to this half of the story and it left our sold out audience jaw dropped. Big applause after that last note soars.

The film's conclusion is incredibly satisfying, with Erivo and Grande tearing your heart out with the title song. As for the final couple minutes, Chu and company have taken the ending of the stage version into the stratosphere.

What an incredible ending. Ignore the perpetual complainers online complaining that the film is "so much darker than the first half"....yeah, we know that.

I've seen comments like, "I dont know why they had to make a sequel..." Um, yeah, they split the stage musical in two halves, this isn't a sequel.

Are there things to complain about? Maybe one. I feel like the only miscast role is Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. She's fine, but I was suddenly thinking of Pierce Brosnan in "Mamma Mia" when she had a couple singing lines here....

It's a minor flat note buried deep in the power of Bailey, Erivo and Grande nailing every moment they are on screen.

Ethan Slater is really good here as Boq too, in the much darker portion of his story.

If you finish this film and are hungry for more of Chu's vision on film, check out his criminally under seen film adaption of "In The Heights", its excellent.

If you're an older viewer like me (what? who's old!?) there's a stunning wedding that serves up the most opulent nuptials since Harris and Redgrave stolled down the aisle in 1967's musical blockbuster, "Camelot".

I feel like we all got lucky with this cast, writing team and director. This could have gone wrong in so many ways, but they have all elevated the material for the big screen. Speaking of big screens, we saw an early preview in Dolby Cinema and I highly recommend that experience, as you'll feel every orchestra crescendo and spell as it rumbles the theater. How about that tornado scene!!!

Sure to be the most successful screen adaption of a Broadway musical and the biggest global opening for a movie musical of all time, part two delivers on all the promises of the first installment, equaling the original in every way.

I predict Oscar nominations aplenty and for as much as I doubted Grande going in, she earned what is sure to be a Best Actress nomination for her trials as Glinda this time out.

Enjoy your turkey, have a great time with the family and then go see this film on the biggest screen you can find.

But bring your Kleenex, you're going to need 'em.

Just like the first chapter, WICKED: FOR GOOD gets an A+.

9. HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

Watching Denzel Washington & Spike Lee's 5th film together unfold is a moviegoing thrill. HIGHEST 2 LOWEST is a challenging, twisting film that pulls you in unexpected directions. The language that these two talented men collaboratively create absolutely SINGS here, quietly at first and then soaring to a perfect finale.

Lee has been exceeding expectations for nearly a decade. His last two films have both been jaw dropping for me. 2017's "BlacKkKlansman" and 2020's "Da 5 Bloods" revealed a re-energized Lee, using his talents to paint in very different genres including crime thrillers and a multi generational look at the Vietnam War and its five decade impact, in the form of an action flick.

He's pushing new boundaries here, while deftly examining his own relevance in today's influencer/TikTok driven world of fame (infamy?).

Washington stars as Music Industry mogul David King, living a life that most could only dream of.

Director of Photography Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, A Star is Born) swoops drone cameras around King's penthouse as the film opens, capturing a view of the Manhattan skyline that stuns as "Oh What A Beautiful Morning!" soars in your ears.

It's a loving visual and aural introduction to King's world that drips success, beauty and luxury at the highest level.

Washington portrays David as a man still thrilled by a business deal, the excitement palpable as he works on a life-changing new buyout. He connects briefly with his stunning wife, Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera from "Blue Bloods") asking her to pause the check she's about to write to a non-profit artist group. The deal he's working on will wrap up all their finances short term.

We watch as King takes his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) to a basketball camp at the university, where Trey meets up with best friend Kyle (Elijah Wright). Kyle is the son of longtime David confidant and driver Paul Christopher. Jeffrey Wright is fantastic as Paul, a former convict who shares a past with David that has somehow inspired deep, unquestioned loyalty.

Paul seems to be one of the few people outside of David's marriage that can tell him their unvarnished opinion without fear.

The first half hour of the film glides by at a leisurely pace, gently slipping us into KIng's everyday life at home and at work. I began to wonder if Lee was creating a family drama. Just when I started getting comfortable in that groove, Lee drops a blistering crime thriller onto the screen.

Trey is kidnapped and the bag guys want $17 million dollars in Swiss Francs, which thanks to this film, I now know weigh a hell of a lot less than greenbacks.

The New York City police department and detectives descend on King's penthouse.

Broadway veteran LaChanze is excellent as Detective Bell as is John Douglas Thompson (21 Bridges) as her counterpart, Detective Bridges. Rounding out the squad is Dean Winters (Rescue Me and "Mayhem" in those insurance commercials) as Detective Higgins, who has the most interesting story arc of the three. (Insurance commercial references provide some big laughs!)

When another twist turns the kidnapping on its head, Lee ratchets up the pace, turning Denzel into a reluctant action hero delivering the ransom money.

The entire sequence is a Lee classic, stealing the multiple phone calls and directions that the Zodiac Killer sent Dirty Harry on in the original Eastwood film, into a celebration of the vastly different boroughs and cultures across Manhattan.

Like Ryan Coogler's brilliant sequence in "Sinners" in which music from across centuries all meld together in a seductive saloon siren song to the vampires, Lee weaves the long foot, car and motorcycle chase through the subway and neighborhoods of New York City that he has, for so long, celebrated.

But the true tension in Lee's crime thriller isn't from the well shot and exciting chases.

It's in watching Washington as King, wrestling with his legacy at work and at home. With finances suddenly pulled in multiple directions, what is the right choice?

What will people think?

It's fascinating watching KIng struggle with the immediacy of social media. His empire was built in an older, slower world. He appreciated loyalty, but it's tested.

King realizes that empire was built in a very different time.

Is he still relevant? Does anything he's done in the past really matter to the latest generation?

You can feel Spike Lee asking many of those same questions in the film, about his own work.

From my viewpoint, this film completes three films that serve as some of the strongest work of Lee's career. Watching Denzel and Spike play and riff in their 5th Joint is perfection.

A$AP Rocky is excellent as young rapper Yung Felon. He exists in a world a few miles from King's penthouse but so far away it could be on another planet.

Watching those worlds collide is unpredictable, suspenseful and as thrilling as any film Lee's ever created.

Pairing up Washington and Wright (American Fiction, The Batman) creates fireworks of relentless dialogue, real, passionate and life changing for both of them. Watching two of our best American actors under Lee's direction is a masterclass. Just nominate them both for this film and get it over with. Superb.

The last thirty minutes is a tension filled character study with explosive violence and quiet, one-on-one scenes with Washington delivering many words at once as only he can, serving up an explosive statement on life and the choices we all make.

David King learns a lot about himself in these 24 hours.

It's a cinematic thrill to be along for the ride.

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST ends with a pitch perfect final scene that could fit just as easily in a musical as it does here. Since David King's world is the music business, it's an easy fit. Lee hits every note on the way to an A+, creating an operatic thriller/character study that Washington throws on his Armani suited back and carries off into a stunning NYC skyline.

8. JAY KELLY

"All my memories are movies...."

A dramatic and funny showcase that feels authentic from its first frame to its superb final minutes, JAY KELLY emerges as one of my favorite films of the year.

Every moment of this carefully crafted character study avoids cliches, revealing the life of a very famous movie star and those that surround him.

George Clooney has never been better than he is here as aging action MOVIE star Jay Kelly. Kelly has everything that a long career in Hollywood can bring. His European home is stunning, his travel by Range Rover fleet or private jet is world class.

Kelly is surrounded by a constant group of support staff, led by his agent of many years, Ron Sukenick, played to perfection by a great Adam Sandler. For any of you out there that haven't caught on to the fact that Sandler is one of our best American dramatic actors, here's more celluloid proof that should win him some acting awards this season.

Ron is at Jay's beck and call, 24/7/365. He's committed to Jay and cares about him like family. Some of his other staff, might not be quite so loyal, or the gig is starting to wear thin.

Laura Dern (Jurassic Park, Blue Velvet) is hilarious as Liz, whose been at Jay's side as long as Ron, but has a keener eye on the reciprocal nature of his loyalty.

Candy (Emily Mortimer) seems to be anxious to move on to a new gig as well.

Jay's life as a movie star leaves him little time for family, a fact that hits him squarely in the face as his youngest daughter gets ready to head off to college with her friends after a last summer fling across Paris and Italy.

Billy Crudup is excellent as Timothy, a friend from Jay's past who resurfaces and fires up the first moment of Jay's self realization about the years behind him.

We've all seen films about very successful people who come to a turning point in their lives. We've certainly seen behind-the-scenes tales of famous movie stars and the glamorous life that they lead. The challenge of those films is to feel sorry for the person who has everything when they have a moment of self realization about their priorities.

But that's what is so different, so emotionally resonant in JAY KELLY.

Director/Writer Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) finds the perfect actors in Clooney and Sandler to become Jay and Ron. Both are at a turning point in their lives, approaching or crossing sixty years old. It's a time when you face your mortality for the first time and question the choices you've made.

What happens in the film is as spontaneous and unpredictable as Jay's sudden whims to break his routine. I had no idea where it was going but I loved every single minute of the journey.

Jay's relationship with his oldest daughter Jessica (a terrific Riley Keough) and father (Stacy Keach) become major plot points in the final half of the film, as Jay heads to accept a lifetime film achievement award and invites his family.

I made assumptions about where the film was going, but didn't credit Baumbach with enough originality. His storytelling and reveals pack an emotional punch that surprised me, especially with Jay and Ron.

The film is packed with stars, some in small but pivotal roles. I'm not going to mention them all here, so you can be surprised as well, but look for the always great Jim Broadbent as a mentor of Jay's and Greta Gerwig as Ron's long suffering wife. The scenes with her and the kids are all hilariously believable.

If someone asks me what me favorite film ending is of all-time, I always lean quickly to Warren Beatty and Julie Christie at the end of "Heaven Can Wait". Now, I'll hesitate and think about the final minutes of JAY KELLY, a brilliant, heart pulling line of dialogue that speaks to all of us, especially those of us in the same stage of life as Jay.

This is intelligent, funny and moving film work of the highest order. I need to watch a lot more Baumbach, because it's hard to believe this isn't his masterpiece.

JAY KELLY gets an A+. Clooney and Sandler deserve every accolade that's about to come their way.

7. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Paul Thomas Anderson has been one of my favorite filmmakers since his divisive 1999 masterpiece, "Magnolia". I always approach his films with great anticipation for what he'll serve up.

I was a little apprehensive entering ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, knowing he had adapted it from Thomas Pynchon's novel "Vineland". The last time he adapted a Pynchon novel, it resulted in 2014's "Inherent Vice", a complete mess and my least favorite PTA effort.

I had nothing to worry about.

BATTLE is a frantic, action-packed dark comedy of epic proportions. It's adult, unflinching and twisted in the absolute best ways.

I didn't expect Anderson to conjure up sequences that felt like richly 1970's William Friedkin, or the best of Quentin Tarantino and DePalma, but he does, brilliantly. That's not to say this is my favorite PTA film. "There Will Be Blood" still remains firmly at the top, but this is a challenging, fascinating film.

Like QT's "Inglorious Basterds", ONE BATTLE runs just shy of three hours, but NEVER feels like it. Anderson keeps a barrage of characters coming at you in such a frenzied, hilarious pace that you can only hang on and enjoy the ride.

The film opens with a ragtag, safe to say, self-important revolutionary group, the French 75, in the final stages of planning to release a large group of illegal aliens held at the border. This sequence takes place around 2009, so it doesn't inherently carry all the baggage of the current global immigration debate. This is fine, as PTA never seems wholly interested in blatantly shoving one viewpoint versus another down your throat. He's focused on introducing us to some very extreme, crazy people on both side of the debate, peeling back layer after layer of their everyday lives.

(Like the best dark satire of our times, it will likely make you examine both sides and your position within that universe. There's plenty to interpret and discuss, to be sure. If you think that PTA is glorifying one side more than the other, take a step back and really look at these characters on BOTH sides.....)

These lives create the biggest action sequences of Anderson's filmography.

That opening sequence and a later bank robbery are pure Friedkin, moving at a violent pace as Jonny Greenwood's music score screams around you or sits just beneath the action, clicking the thrills like a voyeur metronome sitting just out of sight. Greenwood ( There Will Be Blood, The Phantom Thread) perches comfortably as PTA's composer muse, creating unique and unsettling notes for anything Anderson can envision.

Michael Bauman (The Brutalist, Licorice Pizza) shot the film in VistaVision/IMAX and its gritty as hell in the urban scenes, while painting every California landscape in its own, unique light.

Leonardo DiCaprio is hilariously stoned and off-kilter as Bob, providing the literal fireworks for the detention center breakout. His partner in the gang is powerhouse Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), who owns every room she's in, relishing the terror of anyone she sets her sights on. The descendant of a long line of revolutionaries, she is 110% committed to the cause, while Bob just seems to be having fun blowing some shit up.

During the operation, Perfidia runs into Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, embodied by Sean Penn in his best screen performance in years. Their encounter takes a very unpredictable turn, raw, frank and pivoting on the power dynamic between the lifelong rigid(?) military man and the anti-establishment firebrand.

Bob and Perfidia's relationship hits a wall when they have their first child together, creating a turning point for both of them as their personal priorities shift.

After some clever and hilarious key plot points that I wont divulge here, the film flashes forward 16 years.

Their daughter Willa, now played by Chase Infiniti in a career launching performance, is a normal teenager living with her Dad, under the impression that her Mom died many years before.

Watching Infiniti in her scenes with DiCaprio and Penn is impressive. She goes toe to toe and rises above. I'd be shocked if she and Penn don't both get Oscar nominations for best supporting actress/actor.

Benecio Del Toro has never been funnier than he is here as Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, Bob's friend and fellow revolutionary who runs the karate school in town. I'm not saying any more about him because I laughed my ass off at every line, every quirky movement and choice that Del Toro makes. He steals every scene he's in.

If it feels like I'm describing the entire film, I've barely touched on the plot points. Like a modern day Robert Altman, creating a contemporary "Nashville" about family, revolution and power, Anderson deftly weaves many threads together into one brilliant narrative.

When Bob's distant past suddenly invades the present, the film is off and roaring again as a conspiracy/escape thriller that never lets up.

These characters come off the page thanks to Anderson's superb writing and an amazing, flawless cast.

I laughed loud and hard at the long scene in which Bob tries to call into revolutionary headquarters but can't remember his passwords. DiCaprio's comic timing and unending supply of profanity are off the charts.

"Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, Hooterville Junction!" LOL

I was blown away by a long sequence at the end dubbed "River of Hills" by the music score. Dialogue-free, beautiful staged by Anderson & Bauman and set to Greenwood's tribute track to Don Ellis's propulsive "French Connection" score, it's a tense dual of cars across the many hills of a desert. For me, its the best use of rear view mirrors on film since Spielberg's "Duel".

It's stunning and explosive when the camera pulls back from those tight shots to widescreen mayhem.

In the "Like Tom Fkn Cruise" scene, tell me I'm crazy, but isn't that the Wicked Witch of the West's theme music from "The Wizard of Oz" weaving in and out of the track? Come on, Greenwood is just playing with us in the smartest ways possible at this point.

Another sequence felt like Brian DePalma's 'Scarface" was suddenly invading the film in both the look and score. These is chameleon-like, original filmmaking at its best.

Who knew Paul Thomas Anderson had an action film brewing in him?

Laugh out loud funny, violent, shocking and envelope pushing, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is my third favorite PTA film behind "There Will Be Blood" and "Magnolia" and that's bloody great company.

An A+ by any measure.

6. WEAPONS

I knew walking in that WEAPONS had a brilliant story hook. What I didn't expect was its smart, "Pulp Fiction"-like story structure, so many killer performances and how tight director Zach Cregger would wind the screws.

The hook is one of the best in years. At 2:17am one morning, 17 of the 18 young students in Mrs. Gandy's class run from their homes and disappear.

Cregger sets up the first ten minutes with a Dateline type feel, but instead of Keith Morrison's booming voice, a young child speaks to us about what happened.

It's haunting and clever, pulling you into what feels like a traditional mystery. We see a parent's meeting at the school in which devastated mothers & fathers hurl threats at Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), accusing her of knowing what happened to their children.

Justine is shattered and spends her days obsessed with the welfare of the one little boy who did show up for her class the next morning, Alex. Is he okay?

Cregger's screenplay begins to reveal pieces of Justine, slowly, methodically. She's harassed, intimidated and flawed. When all the parents of the missing children have no explanation, the most logical suspect is Justine. What did she tell those kids?

We're then pulled into her nightmares, which got some great jumps and laughter from the nearly sold out IMAX preview crowd.

What's fascinating about Cregger's style is that he delivers a LOT of laughs of the darkest nature, sometimes at the scariest moments of the film. But every time you think he's going for fun kills, he shocks you with some intense, grisly gore that pulls you back into terror.

It's all brilliantly structured, not a word I use often in the horror genre beyond the usual suspects where Kubrick, Peele or Carpenter are involved. As Justine's story unfolds, the film moves solidly out of horror and back to mystery.

Then we jump to another character, Archer Graff, played by Josh Brolin in one of his best performances in years. Archer's son is one of the children who ran off into the night. Like many of the parents, he can watch that run over and over on his ring camera footage. Arms spread out like he's about to take off, Matthew Graff flies out the front door, across the street and into the dark woods.

Archer is falling apart, singularly obsessed with finding his son. We begin to see some of the same scenes we've already seen in Justine's story, but this time from Archer's viewpoint, both literally and psychologically.

Then Cregger pops to another character and reveals their story, overlapping yet another view. Then he jumps to another character, then another.

In lesser hands, this would quickly become annoying and tedious.

Not here. I actually grew more excited for each jump, knowing that I'd learn more about just what in the hell is going on in this town.

As frequent readers know, I'm a huge Tarantino fan and it's no small compliment to say that I feel like Cregger has captured the essence of the QT chapters in the way he tells his story, punctured by big laughs and huge scares.

There were two scenes that I wanted to look anywhere but the screen as the camera slinked slowly into dark rooms. Both payoffs scared the hell out of me, along with one of those classic dream within a dream sequences that John Landis created way back in "An American Werewolf in London".

The cast is great across the board, Brolin dominates every scene he's in, Garner creates a multi-faceted, troubled young woman who seems lived in, real.

Alden Ehrenreich (Solo) continues to morph into one of our best character actors. This guy is almost recognizable every time I see him in a new film. His struggling cop becomes one of the funniest through-lines of the story.

Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange) is terrific as the Principal of the school whose children are missing. His scenes with Garner as Justine argues why she wants to stay in her classroom are superb.

Amy Madigan is unrecognizable in her role as the distant relative who's long overstayed her welcome.

Two very important pieces that help define WEAPONS are its music and photography.

I swear that Cinematographer Larkin Seiple (Everything Everywhere All At Once) knows what scares me. Every camera angle, every dark corner and daylight angle delivers the creeps. It's beautifully shot, morphing from a horror film to a detective story to personal drama flawlessly.

The music score by Ryan and Hays Holladay and Cregger is really surprising. When the music over the opening scene morphed into what felt like a 70's ballad set up, I was thinking, "what the hell is this", but a couple minutes later, it settled in as another intriguing choice by Cregger, the sum of which have created one of the best films of the year.

I see those folks online complaining that the ending is a disappointment. I disagree. Superb and ORIGINAL horror concepts are always hard to land. "Hereditary" is one of my favorite scary films of all time, but the last five minutes sucks.

Not here. Cregger delivers one of the most manic, wild, bloodthirsty and propulsive finales in recent memory.

It feels like he's wound the rubber band up as tight as it will go without breaking and then lets it all go in a violent, funny and thrilling finale that left our crowd looking for breath.

WEAPONS is a fully loaded, funny, gory thrill ride with brains and surprises in every chamber. It gets an A+.

5. FRANKENSTEIN

A sweeping, epic fantasy that only the brilliant Guillermo Del Toro could create, FRANKENSTEIN is a big, sprawling, beautiful cinematic experience that I can't wait to watch again.

It's been a lifelong quest to bring Mary Shelley's classic to the screen for Del Toro, and that passion shows. Each frame is a carefully crafted, stunning visual experience.

From an ice bound ship (yes, that was built for real, not CGI) to the most stunning Dr. Frankenstein lab ever seen, this one knocked me out for every bit of its never slow, two and a half hour running time.

Del Toro structures the film like an intricate fantasy/horror puzzle, popping back and forth in time as our main characters tell their story.

We meet Victor Frankenstein (the reliably great Oscar Isaac) as he flees from a massive, growling creature across a barren ice landscape, where he's brought aboard that massive, icebound ship by Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen). Victor tells his story, starting with his childhood, in scenes that capture a youth of wealth and strict discipline at the hands of his father Leopold (the regal and perfectly cast Charles Dance from "Game of Thrones"). Leopold is a famous surgeon when the science was just emerging. I'll share no more, except to say that this entire sequence captures the beauty of the age like no film since Kubrick's stately 1975 film "Barry Lyndon". The lush countrysides, the falling snow, the color contrasts in the funeral scene....I kept popping back to watch them again. Visually stunning and sure to earn Director of Photography Dan Lausten (The Color Purple, John Wick 4) and Oscar nomination.

Victor is much closer to his Mother (Mia Goth) who offers him kindness and comfort in the face of his Father's demands. Goth's costumes in these scenes are incredible. Del Toro weaves together his costumes, set design and photography in a way that's wholly recognizable as his film. That style has never been better utilized.

The film moves forward to the bits of the Frankenstein story that we remember from James Whale's original classic film and every iteration since, but they are re-imagined here into something much more epic in scale.

Victor begins his experiments to bring the dead back to life. He's shunned by the medical community but gathers intense interest from Harlander, a wealthy man with unlimited funds who finds a kindred spirit in Victor. Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained) is perfectly cast, bringing just the right tinge of eccentricity alongside the pathos.

Harlander's niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth-again!) is betrothed to Victor's younger brother William, played by Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front) as a young man on the right side of wealth, ambition and life, challenged by the much darker drive of his older brother.

Del Toro delivers one visual wonder after another as Harlander and William construct Victor's laboratory in an abandoned, cliffside castle. Then he delves directly into the graphic gathering of all the strong, dead bodies that are graphically carved into a wholly new, massive Creature.

There are few more famous scenes in cinema than the 1931 original film with lightning bolts and tesla coils sparking in black and white while Colin Clive screams, "It's Alive!!!!".

Rather than recreate it, Del Toro's creates something much bigger, more dangerous and incredible to watch. Along with the ship, the laboratory and catacombs beneath it were also full size, practical sets built for the film. That matters.

Jacob Elordi is excellent as The Creature, blending menacing stature with childlike innocence perfectly. Just when I thought the role wasn't going to offer Elordi more than a few grunts and a single word, Del Toro turns the film on its head and structures the ability for the Creature to share his tale.

And what a tale it is. It was such a pleasure for me to discover, I'm not going to ruin a bit of it for you by detailing the Creature's story.

Elordi endured 10 hours a day in the makeup chair, often doing 20 hour days on the production, prompting Del Toro to call him "superhuman".

David Bradley (After Life) also delivers in an important role as the blind man with a much bigger part in the story than Gene Hackman had in "Young Frankenstein".

As Victor and The Creature's two tales begin to blend, there are grand scale events of destruction. Some of property, some of the heart.

There's a fascinating relationship as Elizabeth discovers the creature shackled beneath the laboratory. A mental child ready to be molded.

Goth and Elordi are great in these scenes that maybe only Del Toro could mold so delicately. Look, he managed to emotionally connect a woman and a fish creature in his brilliant "The Shape of Water", my favorite film of 2017, so perhaps creating a bond between an innocent semi-human creature and an intelligent young woman or another era comes naturally, but this level of film making doesn't.

Del Toro says so much here, especially when you consider that the newly born Creature, like every newborn, is a blank imprint for the world to instill the values and attitudes of the people in its life. Consider Victor and Elizabeth and the impact they have on shaping the Creature. You could talk about those scenes for hours, and I imagine many will.

I loved observing how the creature went from stooping over at birth to standing boldly and confidently by film's end, in direct opposition to Victor's own bearing.

It's one of a thousand tiny details that permeate every layer of another Del Toro masterpiece.

The heart of the film is about love, forgiveness and the legacy we all inherit, wrapped in one of the biggest, most beautiful gothic horror films I've ever seen.

Alexandre Desplat bathes the entire film in a symphonic score that perfectly complements the emotions of the film, just as he did with "The Shape of Water".

Like that film, FRANKENSTEIN may just be my favorite film of the year.

Del Toro's done it again, as ONLY he can. A stunning A+.

4. AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

James Cameron just delivered a jaw dropping Christmas gift with AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, an IMAX 3D thrill ride that is,for me, the BEST of the series.

The ever grumpy naysayers are murmuring, "It's too long", "its repetitive" "it's boring". NOPE, NOPE and HELL NO.

For the entire middle of the film, it feels more like Mel Gibson's killer adventure "Apocalypto" than Avatar, and the final hour..... buckle up.

For me, it's Cameron's best film since "Aliens", with strong echoes of that film and "The Abyss" that will make any Cameron fan smile throughout.

As a matter of fact, I think by the end of this one, I felt like I need to go back and watch "The Abyss" again, as there is a pleasing duality with this stunner.

Cameron starts this third film off with just a taste of what's to come, soaring through the skies of Pandora.

What sets this epic chapter apart is the sense of family that covers every spectacular frame. Behind the action scenes, which are of an impossible scale and some of Cameron's all-time best, there are deeply felt themes of loss and grief.

Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their children are all reeling with grief after Neteyam's death. While Jake entrenches himself in preparing for war with the sure-to-return forces led by Colonel Quaritch (the perfectly evil Stephen Lang, getting better with each chapter), Neytiri retreats into hate over the loss of her son.

When the decision is made, due to both emotions and survival, to return Spider (Jack Champion) back to his kind (as harsh as it sounds for all the right reasons), the family joins a band of floating traders, led by Peylak (David Thewlis, a welcome addition). This begins a massive journey that kicks this edition off in style, introducing new creatures, and fascinating airborne ships.

It's not long before they face off against a terrifying new Na'vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the beautiful & lethal Varang. Oona Chaplin, grandaughter of Charlie, is a powerhouse villain for the franchise. When she meets Quaritch, the combination of their hate for Jake torches the saga to new heights.

Think about some of the greatest action films of our lifetime. The classic face offs in "Terminator 2", the bridge chase sequence with Jamie Lee and Arnold in "True Lies", ANY part of "Aliens". Cameron's been behind them all. He's been building his available technology toward this moment.

With FIRE AND ASH, he's able to commit to screen some of the largest scale action sequences in history and they are STUNNING. You have to see this film in IMAX 3D. The visuals are thrilling.

Every fantasy/sci-fi film buff of a certain age remembers the first time they saw the huge space battles in "Return of the Jedi" with warring ships flying by in every direction, echoing WW2 dogfights. Well here we are decades later in years and generations later in special effects. There are long sequences here that take those memories you have and blow them up into something bigger,better and breathess.

The motion capture technology that Cameron and his team have perfected is so nuanced that you never feel cheated out of any actor's performance. The visuals also are now so strong that every moment is shown with brilliant clarity on the IMAX screen. There are no muddled, dark corners here. This is modern moviemaking at its zenith.

The returning cast is terrific, including Edie Falco as General Ardmore, who's having a hell of a time corraling Quaritch this time out. Falco is a rock, as is Jemaine Clement as a scientist who's unwilling to sacrifice the indigenous Nav'vi for a profit.

Britain Dalton is excellent as Lo'ak, throwing an entire subplot about a wise whale counsel on his back and running with it. It's a coming of age story mashed up with the best moments of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" that could have been silly, but lands powerfully during that massive finale.

Cameron's been building for two films toward his EPIC conclusion here and it's thrilling.

And exhausting, in all the right ways.

As Cameron pops back and forth between several suspenseful showdowns, he cleverly weaves them together into a powerhouse visual feast that left my sold out IMAX 3D house cheering and applauding when the final credits rolled.

Cameron has said that he's created the second and third films, "Way of Water" and "Fire and Ash" as films that could conclude a trilogy perfectly, if the box office fell off.

Based on the crowd I saw it with, the opening day box office on a run that will roll for weeks over the Christmas and New Years holidays, I'm ready for the fourth and fifth films that Cameron, now 71, has promised if audiences want it.

Count me in, James.

I never count him out, but I didn't expect him to deliver the best of the series and one of my favorite films of the year underneath my Christmas tree.

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH gets a wide-eyed, jaw-dropped, appreciative A+.

Find an IMAX 3D showing near you and get ready for the ride of the year.

3. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING

Tom Cruise and company have saved the best for last, delivering an epic, funny and dramatic finale that might be the best IMAX showcase of all time.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING is everything you want in a summer movie x10.

From the opening Paramount and Skydance logos, set to a thrilling new music score by Max Aruj & Alfie Godfrey, to its perfect fade out, this is action movie bliss.

Cruise is a mad man.

I feel like after that motorcycle jump off the mountain in the last chapter, he said, okay, what can I do as Ethan Hunt to make that look pedestrian? Asked and answered. Buckle up.

NO SPOILERS here for the many surprises within. At nearly three hours, the film is loaded with them, along with deft, fast immersions into past films.

The film opens with Cruise in hiding several months after the events of the last chapter. The Entity has taken a grip over all things on the global internet.

The world's governments are on shaky ground, with the Entity now feeding idle minds and people glued to their phones with the ultimate deep fakes.

It all feels a bit to realistic and timely.

Esai Morales is back and terrific as Gabriel, the human partner of the Entity. He's the perfect blend of suave megalomaniac and warped visionary. In true Mission Impossible form, the loyalties and true motivations of many characters are mysterious and half the fun to figure out.

US President Erika Sloane, played by the always formidable Angela Bassett (What's Love Got to Do With It) is begging Ethan to come in and help her as the world teeters on the brink.

Her surrounding cabinet, including the superb Nick Offerman as General Sidney and Holt McCallany returning in fine form as Serling, make even those meetings at long conference tables feel like suspenseful cliff hangers.

Hunt's team is as funny and clever as ever, with Simon Pegg's Benji leading the way. Pegg has been great in all the films, but he's at his best here, running the team as Ethan globe hops to save the world.

Hayley Atwell's Grace was a fantastic add in the last chapter and she's even better here, fleshing out her world class thief into a full blooded character.

Ving Rhames, here since the very first chapter nearly three decades ago, brings Luther fill circle, adding a lot of heart to the action.

I'm not going to discuss the plot in depth as I don't want to spoil anything.

Cruise and his director muse Christopher McQuarrie have an incredible movie making bond. They are the Scorsese/DiCaprio of action films. You can't put your finger on the unspoken alchemy of the best Actor/Director bonds in film history, but its not an overstatement to put Cruise/McQuarrie in that pantheon.

I didn't think I needed another underwater sequence involving a submarine. I was wrong. The submerged action sequence as Hunt returns to The Sevastopol from the last chapter is stunning. In that twenty minutes, I sat jaw dropped, thinking about everything from James Cameron's film "The Abyss" and the 1968 classic "Ice Station Zebra" to Stanley Kubrick's film making techniques in "2001". Visually, this one is a stunner. The scale of it is epic.

But McQuarrie and Cruise save the best for last, an airborne conclusion that left the packed IMAX audience stunned. It's the first time in my movie watching life that I said something out loud 5+ times watching one scene. No one could hear me as the plane's engines roared and the perfect music score pounded in IMAX glory, but they were all commenting out loud too. Many variants of "Holy Sh*t!" and "WTF!" moved through the crowd in waves. This is thrilling movie making at the highest level.

Cruise is truly a movie star, but name another actor that has been this committed for decades to entertaining us and topping what he delivers to his audience.

He's one of a kind.

I fully expect many Oscar nominations early next year for this final entry.

I'd be thrilled to see Cruise get a nomination for Best Picture as the film's producer. McQuarrie deserves one for Best Director. Bassett could easily be nominated for Best Supporting Actress, alongside Best Special Effects, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Score.

About the music. Aruj & Godfrey have somehow managed to top Lorne Balfe's terrific scores for "Fallout" and "Dead Reckoning: Part One", no easy feat. Lalo Schifrin's original theme for the TV Series is legendary, providing a core piece of music history that composers as diverse as Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer and Michael Giacchino have spun riffs on for the films series, all successfully.

Aruj & Godfrey deliver the goods on the action cues, but also provide eerie, atmospheric backgrounds to the sub sequence (do you hear those momentary echoes of James Horner's notes from "The Abyss"?) and plenty of humor and emotion throughout.

There's no better feeling than getting goosebumps in a theater, when a movie takes you there. The main credits gave me that moment, the airborne battle gave me another.

I can't wait to see this again on Monday.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING is a summer movie beast of thrills, laughs and chills. What's a better grade than an A+? Cruise and Company have delivered a modern action blockbuster and a sendoff for the ages.

Run like Cruise to your nearest, biggest screen and settle in for one hell of a ride.

2. F1: THE MOVIE

WOW. Absolutely blown away by F1: THE MOVIE, an old fashioned, perfect summer blockbuster that looks and sounds incredible in IMAX.

Jerry Bruckheimer has created the same magic he did so many summers ago with the opening music and visuals of "Top Gun" and "Days of Thunder". This time, he drops you into the world of F1 and behind the wheel of the fastest cars in the world. Filmed at the real F1 events around the globe, the film oozes class, drips money and thrills.

When I say that we were on the edge of our seats for all the races, I mean that literally. Director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) delivers a flawless experience that exceeded my very high expectations.

Brad Pitt is a movie star, effortlessly charming, real and funny as driver Sonny Hayes. Talented, haunted by his past and lurking at the corners of Nascar and other race formats, he was at the top of his game in F1 when tragedy struck.

Former race team partner and great friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem, reaching his career peak in cool) approaches Sonny to join his last place F1 team. He's got a talented but very young emerging star in Joshua Pierce (Damson Idris) but needs a lead driver or he may lose his F1 team. Idris is a breakout star here and the perfect, funny and dramatic foil for Pitt's Sonny.

Cervantes has the only woman head engineer in the sport and luckily for us, Kate McKenna is played by Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) in a great, unpredictable performance. Condon is a standout, as is Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso) as Pierce's mother, Bernadette.

This is old fashioned movie making, elevated by modern technology and a $200 million budget that fills every inch of the IMAX screen. Tiny cameras were inserted in the cars, allowing us to see Pitt and Idris driving the cars on the actual tracks and all the action going on around them. Drone cameras swoop through the action from dizzying heights above the tracks to a couple inches off the ground between the cars.

In IMAX, its one of the most stunning visual experiences I've had in a very long time.

I was already loving the movie and then we hit a pivotal early scene, with Sonny arriving to test drive the team's car design around the track. As Pitt straps in, Chris Stapleton's song "Bad As I Used To Be" pounds out of the IMAX system and Sonny speeds around the track trying to hit a lap time.

It's one of the best, perfectly set up, pure entertainment big screen moments since Kosinski's "Top Gun" Maverick" blew us away in theaters. Kosinski, Bruckheimer and Pitt are just getting started.

The characters are funny, good and evil. Competitive passions run high, creating some awesome high drama moments.

Pitt is back in Cliff Booth mode here, oozing the same "cool" as he did as the stuntman in "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood". He is fantastic from opening scene to final credits. We walked out asking, who of the current young male movie stars are primed to take the place of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as action film leads? We couldn't come up with anyone. There's a quality that Pitt has here that shares widescreen movie star DNA with Steve McQueen. This is his biggest payday as an actor, $30 million for the role. He's worth every penny.

This is one of Pitt's best films and continues to establish Kosinski as the go-to creator of mass appeal, traditional summer blockbusters. There's a huge difference here. It's one thing to come in and create a massive hit sequel to a known property like Top Gun.

What's even more impressive here is his creation of an entirely new story in the world of F1 racing. He has said they had 5000 hours of racing footage they shot, which he and his team have edited into this stunning experience.

I've never watched an F1 race. I've been close to one, checking into The Wynn Las Vegas the morning after the race, but the film MAKES me want to watch F1. Stunning. Speaking of The Wynn, its beautifully featured here in a sequence around the Las Vegas F1 race. The city looks fantastic, as does this stunning resort. It's the best ad for The Wynn I've ever seen. Kudos to their PR team.

A rare, absolutely perfect blend of thrilling action and human drama, F1 is the movie of the summer. Find an IMAX screen near you and buckle up, like the sold out, cheering crowd we saw it with, I was blown away. An A+ from this pit crew for the best racing movie ever made.

Based on all the folks we saw it with sporting F1 gear from their favorite team, this is going to be a massive hit and deservedly so.

And, finally at number one, my favorite film of the year by a wide stretch is.....

SINNERS

Ryan Coogler's SINNERS is a rarity. An original, adult drama that morphs into perfect & relentless vampire horror. The last half is packed with Avengers-style thrills, but this is no kids movie.

Sex, violence, gore and music pour out of every frame of Coogler's creation.

I don't remember a non-musical in which music played such a huge role. It's sexy, seductive, fun and terrifying. With both his writing & direction, Coogler has conjured up a mystical blend of Walter Hill's 1986 film "Crossroads" and Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" that works on every level.

NO SPOILERS here. This film demands to be seen with unknowing eyes.

Michael B. Jordan stars in a dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, returning to their tiny home town in 1930's Mississippi. They're flush with cash from their recent years in Chicago, wearing the finest clothes and driving a flashy car. As they arrive, it's clear that the citizens either love them or fear them, but the respect for them is universal.

The first hour of the film pulls you deep into the Jim Crow era south, unflinching in its portrayal of the everyday, casual racism of the era. The Smoke/Stack Brothers have come back to town to open a juke joint for their community. They're committed to opening their joint the same day that they buy on old saw mill, spreading the word to the town.

The citizens are packed with memorable and wholly original characters that Coogler crafts with humor and care.

Newcomer Miles Caton stars as Preacher Boy Sammie Moore, the son of the local pastor whose gifted with a rare musical talent. His guitar rarely leaves his side. When he sings and plays, it touches spirits of every kind. He's also the young cousin of Smoke & Stack. They're bringing him to perform opening night, much to the consternation of his father.

Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X, Get Shorty) is perfect as Delta Slim, a local piano playing blues legend chasing his next drink. Lindo is fantastic throughout, it's one of his best performances in a career loaded with superb work. I hope he gets remembered for Best Supporting Actor come Oscar season.

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Hawkeye) is very good as Mary, a local woman whose past with one of the brothers echoes throughout. Steinfeld is excellent, delivering a many layered performance that will keep you guessing.

Jayme Lawson (The Batman) blows the doors off the joint as Pearline. When she takes the stage and belts out "Pale, Pale Moon", she serves up a crescendo that builds and builds to a stomping, frenzied explosion of energy that rocked the IMAX theater and last night's crowd.

Omar Benson Miller is terrific as Cornbread, the joint's doorman and Li Jun Li (Babylon)is powerful as Grace Chow, who owns the town's store and also serves up a hell of a drink at the joint.

I could go on and on about this cast and the townspeople they play, but you need to meet them yourself. Discovery is a huge part of the journey here.

When evil comes a calling via Remmick, a vampire with glowing red eyes and a voracious thirst for blood, his terror envelopes all the characters that Coogler has so carefully crafted for more than half the film. Coogler treats the vampire threat like Spielberg did the Great White in "Jaws" you barely see it until the halfway point of the film and then fasten your seatbelt, here we go.

Jack O'Connell (Unbroken) plays Remmick like a seductive Irish neighbor with a very dark side.

Composer Ludwig Goransson's score is a brilliant action score haunted with the blues and bloody harmonica licks that sink deep. It's ever present, pulling you gently into the muddy swamps.

When the terror kicks in, it doesn't stop.

Coogler created both "Black Panther" films for Marvel and he's an expert at crafting fast and large scale action that knocks you out. Freed from the need to keep it PG-13, the bullets and blood fly and the fangs sink deep.

Several of the huge action scenes leave you on the edge of your seat and surprise you with their fast pivots and unexpected deaths.

Michael B. Jordan is fantastic. He's starred in every film that Coogler's made to date. From their debut together with "Fruitvale Station" in 2013, through "Creed" and both "Black Panther" films, Jordan & Coogler have forged a powerful creative bond. Jordan is terrific in both roles and I can't even begin to understand the CGI wizardry that allows them to interact like they do here, onscreen together for most of the film.

With SINNERS, Coogler has managed to create a true original. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's portrayal of the 1930's South cuts deep. You feel the pain of these characters long before any vampires descend.

Coogler is at his best visually, especially during some of the musical performances at the joint, as the influence of these original blues artists conjure up the musical genres that they will create throughout decades in the future. His nods to the past are just as powerful.

He's created an entire world in the film that's just as powerful as the world he created for Wakanda, but the consequences here are more deeply rooted in sex, blood, lust and power.

SINNERS is the best film of 2025 so far, whipsawing you through drama and horror to an A+. See it on the biggest screen you can find, it was born to be seen in IMAX.

Stay tuned for a long and powerful mid-credits sequence and past all the credits for a softer but perfect coda.

What a great year it was.

On to 2026 we go. See you at the movies!