The 30 Best Movies of 2025

Documentary - dir. David Osit

Not to be confused with this year's entry in the long-running sci-fi/horror Predator franchise—though perhaps just as scary—the latest documentary from filmmaker David Osit (Mayor, Thank You for Playing) examines To Catch a Predator, the long-running segment on NBC's Dateline designed to trap child predators, interview them, and then turn them over to the police. Osit investigates the reasons behind its popularity, the tactics the show used, and the culture it fed off and spawned, and sits down to interview host Chris Hansen.

"Apart from anything else, Predators is a clinic in documentary ethics, but Osit's intellect doesn't mute his pain, sensitivity and outrage. It's a film for the heart and the head." —Scott Tobias, The Reveal

The film is streaming now on Paramount+.

Foreign/Thriller - dir. Mahdi Fleifel

A 2024 Cannes entry that finally received an American theatrical release in the summer of 2025, the second feature from Danish-Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel follows a pair of Palestinian cousins hoping to save money for a move to Germany while temporarily calling Athens, Greece home. But their dreams are waylaid when their funds are spent on heroin, forcing them to join a smuggling plot in a desperate attempt to raise money. Critics lauded the director's empathetic storytelling in a film that is clearly indebted to 1970s Hollywood dramas.

"To a Land Unknown is unquestionably topical. It's also rooted in a well-known movie tradition, films that are empathetic portraits of low-level urban criminals struggling for survival and dignity." —Liam Lacey, Original-Cin

The film is available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Horror/Drama/Thriller - dir. Ryan Coogler

Metacritic's Best Horror Film of 2025.

It's one of 2025's most unexpected box office hits, but it's certainly a deserving one—and is likely heading to a hefty haul of Oscar nominations despite its early release date. Writer-director Ryan Coogler's first film since 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finds him collaborating once again with Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther). The latter plays twin brothers in the 1930s Jim Crow South as they return to their hometown with big plans to make it rich, only to encounter an evil they've never seen. Shot with IMAX cameras by Autumn Durald Arkapaw and featuring stunning musical performances throughout, this original vampire horror story blends the history of blues and stories of musicians making deals with the devil to explore African American spiritual practices like Hoodoo and other Black traditions in Mississippi, where Coogler's family lived. Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O'Connell, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller, and Delroy Lindo also star.

"This is a one-of-a-kind experience that simply doesn't come around very often. Hyperbole or not, I'm willing to bet we'll be talking about 'Sinners' for a long time to come." —Jeremy Mathai, Slashfilm

The film is streaming now on HBO Max and is also available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Drama/Thriller - dir. Steven Soderbergh

The third collaboration between director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp, following 2022's Kimi and their recently released thriller Presence, is a stylish and efficient spy drama starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married intelligence agents George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean. When Kathryn is accused of leaking valuable secrets, George's search for the truth tests his loyalty to his wife and his country. The impressive supporting cast includes Pierce Brosnan, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, and Tom Burke.

"When it comes to sleek, stylish genre movies, Soderbergh remains a maestro at the top of his game." —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

The film is streaming now on Prime Video (where it is also available to rent or buy).

Drama/Rom-Com - dir. Harry Lighton

English director Harry Lighton's strong feature debut is adapted from the Adam Mars-Jones novel Box Hill. The darkly comedic, sex-positive odd-couple romance stars Harry Melling (you know him as Dudley Dursley from the Harry Potter films) as a timid, introverted gay man who still lives with his parents and spends his spare time singing in a barbershop quartet. But he begins an unlikely BDSM relationship (his first) with a biker (Alexander Skarsgård) he meets at a pub. Critics admire how Pillion deftly blends the explicit, the sweet, and the sad into a story that feels authentic and fresh and is further boosted by the performances of its leads.

"Lighton has made a truly provocative anti-romance that's funny, honest, strangely touching. It's an exceptional balance act that makes Pillion the unlikeliest crowd-pleaser." —Zhuo-Ning Su, The Film Stage

After a brief qualifying run last fall, the film returns to theaters on February 6.

Rom-Com - dir. Roshan Sethi

This early 2025 rom-com finds a gay Indian-American doctor (Karan Soni) bringing home his new fiancé to meet his parents for the first time. But Jay Kurundkar, the nice adopted Indian boy he plans to wed, is, well, white (and played by Jonathan Groff), and that causes some complications. Will the family eventually come together to plan the big wedding that everyone deserves? You bet, but with a lot of laughs along the way. Sunita Mani and Zarna Garg also star.

"It's a crowdpleaser that will plaster a smile on your face from beginning to end with a high chance of some tears. Just when it teeters on overly saccharine territory, its hilarious script and earnest performances dial it back." —Emma Kiely, Collider

The film is streaming now on Hulu and available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Rohan Kanawade

Writer-director Rohan Kanawade's debut feature won the Grand Jury Prize in 2025's Sundance World Cinema - Dramatic competition. Set in the countryside of western India and told in the Marathi language, the tender love story follows 30-something city dweller Anand back home for a 10-day mourning period for his father. While he is there, he reconnects with Balya (Suraaj Suman), a childhood friend who is now a local farmer. These unmarried men find solace in each other, and Kanawade captures it honestly.

"Cactus Pears is a subdued, sensitive study of bereavement and the quietly radical act of being queer in a rural, lower-class Indian community." —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily

The film is not currently available to stream.

Foreign/Documentary - dir. Albert Serra

Director Albert Serra's follow-up to his award-winning Pacifiction is an impressively objective documentary about one of bullfighting's stars, Peruvian Andrés Roca Rey. With the help of cinematographer Arthur Tort, Serra chronicles the controversial pastime, allowing the audience to experience its rituals, beauty, savagery, and absurdity. The film immerses viewers, and those with a low tolerance for cruelty to animals should beware.

"In its graceful intertwining of meditation and obscenity, Afternoons of Solitude gives an ancient, controversial tradition the chance to shock and awe without hype or favor. It's inhumane, it's human and it's a hell of a film." —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

The film is streaming now on MUBI and available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Drama - dir. Akinola Davies

Set in Nigeria on the day of its 1993 presidential election—an attempted return to democracy that would instead result in overturned results, mass protests, and a military coup —My Father's Shadow offers an intimate look at both family and politics as it follows two young brothers in Lagos as they reconnect with their estranged father after a chance meeting and gain a better understanding of his struggles. The feature film debut from British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr. first began to attract attention at last year's Cannes (where it won a special Camera d'Or prize) and has since gone on to collect additional honors including a pair of Gotham Awards.

"As the audience is taken in by this intimate and well-observed drama, the rug gets pulled from beneath them by revealing the violence and strife that was simmering underneath. It's a trick so devastating that it completely upends the movie, elevating it into a deeply humanist narrative." —Murtada Elfadl, Variety

After a brief qualifying run last fall, the film returns to theaters on February 6 before streaming on MUBI later this year.

Foreign/Comedy/Drama/Thriller - dir. Park Chan-wook

Is this 2025's Parasite? With this adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Ax, Korean director Park Chan-wook continues his streak of critically acclaimed features following The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave. And, like the work of Park's compatriot Bong Joon-ho, No Other Choice gleefully explores late-stage capitalism with a blend of dark comedy and violence. The satirical thriller centers on Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), a paper manufacturing specialist who gets fired after 25 years of service. To find another job and support his family—wife Miri (Son Yejin, who was also in Parasite), son Si-one (Kim Woo Seung), and daughter Ri-one (Choi So Yul)—Man-su decides he'll have to make a killing ... of the other applicants in his way. Somehow balancing homicide with humor and humanity, Park has created another thrilling entertainment. Will it follow Parasite's path to Oscar glory? All that we know so far is that Choice has been shortlisted in the Best International Feature category.

"With humour blacker than black bean noodles, the film is a masterful work of cinema which might well be Chan-wook's masterpiece. And given this is the man who directed The Handmaiden that's saying a lot." —John Bleasdale, Time Out

The film is now playing in limited release and will expand to additional screens throughout January.

Drama - dir. Angus MacLachlan

Angus MacLachlan's third feature, following Goodbye to All That and Abundant Acreage Available, stars David Strathairn as a father who feels a need to protect his daughter-in-law (Jane Levy) when he discovers his son (Will Pullen) is having an affair. This gentle, perceptive drama earned excellent reviews when it premiered at Sundance in 2023, and it finally made its way to theaters last summer. The strong ensemble cast includes Celia Weston, Anna Camp, and Dascha Polanco.

"This little miracle of a film features a strong ensemble cast, mordant Southern humor, and sharp insights into the perils and comforts of loving with your whole heart." —Marya E. Gates, The Playlist

The film is available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Joachim Trier

Joachim Trier's superb follow-up to The Worst Person in the World reunites him with that film's star, Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve, and his co-writer on all six of his features, Eskil Vogt. They are joined by Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for this story of a Norwegian stage actress (Reinsve) and her sister (Lilleaas) who reluctantly reconnect with their estranged father (Skarsgård), a famous film director trying to make a comeback. Fanning plays the American actress set to star in his new film, which he also plans to film at the family home. This bittersweet exploration of intergenerational trauma and art took home the Grand Prix (second place prize) at last year's Cannes Film Festival and has been shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar.

"Sentimental Value is yet another rich and humane look at existence from a filmmaker wise to the endless nuance of being a person in the world, for better or worst." —Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

The film is available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon (and may still be playing in one or more theaters in your location).

Foreign/Drama - dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili

Writer-director Dea Kulumbegashvili took home the Special Jury Prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival for this follow-up to her award-winning debut feature Beginning. Kulumbegashvili reunites with that film's lead actress, Ia Sukhitashvili, to tell the story of Nina, a highly respected OB-GYN who faces an investigation after she delivers a stillborn baby. As this inquiry threatens to expose other actions Nina must keep secret, Kulumbegashvili uses a restrained formal language to reveal intense human emotions.

"'April' could be accused of leaning too much into an austere, art-film obliqueness. But Kulumbegashvili's absolute control over the camera and the intensity of her calling make her film a grimly spellbinding and unforgettable experience." —Jake Coyle, AP

The film is not currently available to stream.

Documentary - dir. Mark Obenhaus and Laura Poitras

The newest documentary from Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Citizenfour) and Mark Obenhaus (Steep) chronicles the Pulitzer Prize-winning work of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who exposed government atrocities beginning with the My Lai massacre during Vietnam up through the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Weaving together Hersh's notes, archival footage and a new interview with the relentless reporter, Cover-Up screened to acclaim on the festival circuit in September prior to debuting on Netflix later in the year, and it has been shortlisted in the Academy Awards' Best Documentary Feature category.

"At a time like this, Cover-Up is a vital reminder that demanding a better world is possible, straight from the people who have done the critical work required to confront America's darkest forces." — Katarina Docalovich, A.V. Club

The film is streaming now on Netflix.

Foreign/Drama/Sci-Fi - dir. Bi Gan

Metacritic's Best Sci-Fi Film of 2025.

Seven years after Long Day's Journey Into Night stunned art-house audiences around the world, visionary Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan is back with his third feature, a time and genre jumping paean to film history. Told in five chapters and set in a future world where humanity has forsaken dreams in exchange for immortality, this odyssey through cinema follows a dreaming monster (Jackson Yee) through the 20th century and beyond with the help of incredible formal inventiveness (yes, there is a signature long take) and a score by M83. Also starring Shu Qi, Resurrection took home the Prix Spécial at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

"A tour-de-force of unbound creativity, its silky staging, enchanting performances, and playful inventiveness combining to make it one of the year's undisputed big-screen highlights." —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

The film is now playing in theaters.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Jia Zhang-ke

The latest from director Jia Zhang-ke (Ash Is Purest White, Mountains May Depart, A Touch of Sin) is an experimental career summation wrapped up in a fragile love story. Once again working with his wife and muse, Tao Zhao, Jia reshuffles footage from the films he has shot over the past 20-plus years and adds to it with new footage to tell the decades-spanning story of Qiaoqiao (Zhao) and Bin (Zhubin Li), resulting in a fresh perspective on the turbulent changes that have formed contemporary China.

"A tour de force that is at once an affecting portrait of a people in flux and a soulful, generous-hearted autobiographic testament from one of our greatest living filmmakers." —Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

The film is streaming now on The Criterion Channel and available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Drama - dir. Rungano Nyoni

Zambian filmmaker Rungano Nyoni shared (with Roberto Minervini) the Best Director prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for this follow-up to her debut feature I Am Not a Witch. Susan Chardy plays Shula, a woman returning to her hometown in Zambia, where she finds her uncle dead on a deserted street. As the family begins funeral preparations, Shula and her cousin bring up long buried secrets that the rest of the family wants to ignore.

"This is one of the year's best films, a heartbreaking stunner that's not easily shaken." —Odie Henderson, Boston Globe

The film is streaming now on HBO Max and is also available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Drama - dir. Sarah Friedland

Sarah Friedland won Best Director in the Horizon section of the 2024 Venice Film Festival and the Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Feature for this portrait of Ruth (Horizon Best Actress winner Kathleen Chalfant), an elderly woman transitioning to assisted living and dealing with new relationships along with an ever-shifting memory and sense of self. H. Jon Benjamin (Bob's Burgers, Archer) plays her son, who helps to make Ruth comfortable in her new surroundings along with the support of care workers Vanessa (Carolyn Michelle) and Brian (Andy McQueen).

"To miss it would be to overlook a rare and compassionate work of art, not to mention one of the most honest, heartfelt performances of this or any other year in motion picture history." —Rex Reed, Observer

The film is streaming now on MUBI and is also available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Documentary - dir. Mstyslav Chernov

Shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, 2000 Meters to Andriivka is Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov's sequel to his Academy Award-winning 2023 doc 20 Days in Mariupol. The focus here is again the ongoing war in Ukraine, with Chernov and fellow journalist Alex Babenko embedding with a Ukrainian platoon attempting to liberate the Russian-occupied village of Andriivka. They need to advance just 2 km to get there, but gaining even the tiniest bit of ground is a brutal ordeal. In addition to using drone shots, a large chunk of the film consists of footage taken by the soldiers' own helmet cams, and reviewers feel this unique first-person perspective hammers home how horrific the fight can be for its participants.

"A harrowing first-person view of a ceaseless nightmare, defined by both blistering immediacy and crushing sadness." —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

The film is streaming now at PBS and is also available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Drama - dir. Clint Bentley

One of the best-reviewed films to debut at last year's Sundance—and a major awards contender for Netflix—this adaptation of Denis Johnson's novella comes from Jockey writer-director Clint Bentley. The period drama takes a decades-long look at the life of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a day laborer building the railroads of the Pacific Northwest at the start of the 20th century. Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon and William H. Macy also star, while Will Patton narrates.

"A good film captures merely a life. A great film like Train Dreams encompasses an entire way of life. Bentley's modest, moving epic of the common man is a thing of rare beauty." —Marshall Shaffer, The Playlist

The film is streaming now on Netflix.

Drama/Sports - dir. Josh Safdie

After directing five increasingly great films together (most recently, 2019's Uncut Gems), the Safdie brothers opted for the solo approach in 2025. While Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine was a relative disappointment (especially at the box office), Josh's Marty Supreme became a surprising hit upon its Christmas release. It's also a likely Oscar contender after being named one of the top films of the year by the AFI, National Board of Review, and many critics. Co-written by Josh with his frequent collaborator Ronald Bronstein (Good Time), the 1950s-set dramedy follows Marty Mauser (an intense Timothée Chalamet, never better), a hustler and table-tennis prodigy very loosely based on champion ping-pong player Marty Reisman. The eclectic supporting cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Fran Drescher, Isaac Mizrahi, Penn Jillette, and Abel Ferrara.

"One of the year's few masterpieces." —Peter Debruge, Variety

The film is now playing in theaters.

Drama - dir. Eva Victor

Writer-director-star Eva Victor's debut feature follows Agnes (Victor), a graduate student turned literature professor, over five years. Moving backward and forward in time, Victor reveals the complexity of Agnes's attempt to recover from a traumatic incident. Agnes finds comfort and possibility in her best friend Lydia (Naomi Ackie), her friendly neighbor (Lucas Hedges), and a cat. Victor won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the first of what is turning out to be multiple awards for one of this year's best-reviewed indie films.

"This is a dynamic, delightful film and the introduction of an exciting, uncompromising new voice." —Chase Hutchinson, The Seattle Times

The film is streaming now on HBO Max and is also available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Mascha Schilinski

Shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar after tying for the third-place Jury Prize at last year's Cannes, German writer-director Mascha Schilinski's sophomore feature chronicles the lives of four young girls—Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka—as they grow up in the same farmhouse in northern Germany over four time periods that cover the century from before World War II to the present. These coming-of-age stories speak intimately to the complexity of being human—the trauma, the joy, and the sensuality.

"This highly experimental, deeply unsettling tale about the fates of women and their echoes down history plays like a psychosexual fever dream of epic scope. While it will confound and upset plenty, hardcore cinephiles can mark this down as their next film to obsess over. It's quite a feast." —Zhuo-Ning Su

After a brief qualifying run last fall, the film will return to theaters beginning January 16 before streaming on MUBI later in the year.

Documentary - dir. Brittany Shyne

Brittany Shyne took home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize (Documentary) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for her directorial debut about Black farmers in the southern United States. Shot in black and white, the documentary intimately explores the lives of three farmers, exposing their struggles, joys, and what it means to own the land they work. It's yet another film on this list that has been shortlisted for this year's Best Documentary Feature Oscar.

"It's an incredibly rewarding journey, a film indebted to the past that feels brilliantly alive." —Esther Zuckerman, IndieWire

After a brief qualifying run last fall, the film will return to theaters beginning January 16.

Documentary - dir. Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman

Another film on the Best Documentary Feature Oscar shortlist, The Alabama Solution finds acclaimed documentary filmmaker Andrew Jarecki (Capturing the Friedmans, The Jinx) teaming with first-time feature director Charlotte Kaufman for a searing examination of the systemic abuse of inmates inside an Alabama correctional facility (including, in one case, an inmate who was beaten to death by guards). The HBO film is the result of a five-year investigation that originated in a risky tipoff by the inmates themselves (as the filmmakers were visiting the prison to cover an unrelated story) and includes footage covertly shot on smuggled cellphone cameras by some of the prisoners. Critics call it a visceral and difficult watch—but also a vital one.

"The Alabama Solution is one of the most powerful exposés of the inhumanity of the American prison system I've ever seen." —Owen Gleiberman, Variety

The film is now streaming on HBO Max.

Foreign/Drama/Thriller - dir. Jafar Panahi

After winning Best Screenplay in 2018 for 3 Faces, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi returned to Cannes this year and took home the Palme d'Or, becoming the first filmmaker to win the top prize at all three major European festivals following the Venice Golden Lion in 2000 for The Circle and the Berlin Golden Bear for Taxi in 2015. Informed by his time in prison, Panahi's latest takes place over 24 hours as a mechanic attempts to confirm his suspicions that the man who has just entered his shop is, in fact, the same man that tortured him in prison. It's a tense, blackly comic thriller that will represent France (not Iran) in the Best International Feature competition at the Oscars (where it cracked the 15-film shortlist).

"Panahi welds scorching social critique to a masterful command of form: a devastating cry for justice, his latest also serves as a superb thriller. It is a towering achievement." —Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage

The film is available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Foreign/Drama/Thriller - dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho

Metacritic's Best International Film of 2025.

In 2019, Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho (Neighboring Sounds, Aquarius, Pictures of Ghosts) won the Jury Prize in Cannes for Bacurau. Last year he returned to that festival and was awarded Best Director (while his star, Wagner Moura, was named Best Actor) for a film that is a strong contender to make Brazil a repeat winner at the Oscars, following the success of I'm Still Here last year. (And it has already made the Best International Feature shortlist.) Set in 1977 Brazil, The Secret Agent is a political thriller as only Mendonça Filho can make, a blend of genres and tones, the personal and the political, starring Moura as a technology expert who flees São Paulo for Recife (Mendonça Filho's hometown) to reunite with his son and find refuge.

"It's a major achievement, and for my money, sure to be one of the best films of the year." —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

The film is now playing in theaters.

Documentary - dir. Kahlil Joseph

Initially withdrawn from 2025's Sundance Film Festival by the now-shuttered Participant Media but then reinstated after producer James Shani's acquisition, director Kahlil Joseph's film is an expansion of his 2019 art installation. Joseph explores Black history and identity through the fictional story of a journalist covering an Afro-futurist art biennale taking place on a cruise ship called The Nautica as it crosses the Atlantic. Using this framework, Joseph challenges the viewer with a potent mix of archival footage, music, personal memoir, and reflections from other major artists.

"By fashioning a kinetic work that pulls together references and sources from Black literature, music, politics, and meme culture, 'BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions' stands as a seismic intellectual awakening." —Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

The film is not currently available to stream.

Documentary - dir. Julia Loktev

Metacritic's Best Documentary of 2025.

The Gotham Award winner for Best Documentary Feature and also shortlisted for an Oscar, the latest documentary from Russian-born video artist Julia Loktev follows a handful of young Russian journalists who battle to keep their independence—and continue doing their jobs—as the Putin government begins cracking down on press freedoms at the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Clocking in at a whopping 324 minutes, My Undesirable Friends was divided into two separate films during its very limited theatrical screenings in the fall. And that doesn't even cover Part II, which is still being filmed. But the dedication, bravery, and surprising humor demonstrated by the film's subjects as they stand up to authoritarianism makes for an absolutely compelling and life-affirming watch at any length, say critics.

"I'm trying to avoid hyperbole, but I don't know how else to say this: It is perhaps the most essential investment of time you can make in a movie theater this year. And yet it is not just 'important' or consequential — it is brilliant, riveting, vital, devastating." —Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

The film is not currently available to stream.

Action/Drama/Thriller - dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Metacritic's Movie of the Year for 2025.
Metacritic's Best Narrative Film of 2025.
Metacritic's Best Drama of 2025.

If this film isn't the Oscar Best Picture frontrunner, no film is. Nearly four years on from Licorice Pizza, director Paul Thomas Anderson returned in 2025 with his biggest, most action-filled movie yet, with a budget reportedly nearing $175 million. Using the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland as a jumping off point, Anderson shifts the setting from the Reagan era to contemporary times to tell the kinetic story of Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), a washed-up revolutionary trying to protect his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) from Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), the man who captured her mother Perfidia (Teyana Taylor). Shot in IMAX with a supporting cast that includes Regina Hall, Wood Harris, Alana Haim, and a scene-stealing Benicio del Toro, Anderson's latest is somehow the best-reviewed film of an already incredible career. Even before the Oscar nominations are revealed it's already 2025's most-awarded film, topping the annual Sight and Sound critics poll and named the year's best feature by the National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Gotham Awards, and many more organizations.

"In years to come, when this appears on TV late at night, it'll be impossible to switch off. It's just one of those films. A stone-cold, instant classic." —Alex Godfrey, Empire

The film is streaming now on HBO Max and is also available to rent or buy from online storefronts including Amazon.

Looking for more good movies?
 View a list of every film released in 2025, ranked by Metascore >

More Best of 2025 Coverage ...

The 30 Best Movies of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring movies released in 2025 and tell you where you can watch them.

• best of 2025

The 20 Best PC Games of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring new PC games released in 2025.

• best of 2025

The 20 Best Nintendo Switch Games of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring new games released for Nintendo's two current consoles (Switch 2 and Switch) in 2025.

• best of 2025

The 20 Best PlayStation Games of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring new PS5 games released in 2025.

• best of 2025

The 20 Best Xbox Games of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring new Xbox games released in 2025.

• best of 2025

The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring new television shows released in 2025 (and tell you how to stream them).

• best of 2025

The 40 Best Albums of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the highest-scoring new albums released in 2025.

• best of 2025

The Worst TV Shows of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the lowest-scoring new television shows debuting in 2025.

• best of 2025

The Worst Video Games of 2025

Jason Dietz

Here are Metacritic's 10 lowest-scoring video games released in 2025.

• best of 2025

The Worst Movies of 2025

Jason Dietz

We rank the 15 lowest-scoring films released in 2025.

• best of 2025