I’ll admit, I started off 2025 not that excited about the movies. There were some TV shows I was really looking forward to, but outside of Wicked: For Good (which turned out to be a real stinker), I was skeptical about what the year would bring. I never thought I’d wind up seeing Sinners 15 times in a theater, or that I’d launch Black Girl Watching live events based on dissecting and recreating its themes; that I’d brunch with the filmmakers and tell them all how much life this movie gave me, or write the script for the cast to present the Director Award to Ryan Coogler at the Black Critics Choice Awards! Life comes at you fast. And the biggest lesson of all: never underestimate the power of cinema to shock, surprise and restore life. Though nothing came close to Sinners for me this year, here are my picks for the best 15 movies of 2025 alongside my favorite critiques.
One of Them Days
Straight out the gate, January brought us a Black girl buddy comedy unlike anything on screen since B.A.P.S. during the golden era of Black cinema. Keke Palmer and SZA star as two besties whose rent money gets stolen by a triflin’ man and they have 12 hours to make it back before eviction. I never wrote a formal review of the film because I got the chance to do consulting work with the marketing team on it and that would be unethical. But I love working on projects that align with my values—calling out gentrification, capitalism and all the other anti-Black systems that try to keep us down. Just like in real life, in the end, it’s community that helps us survive. If you need a genuine laugh and a bestie in your head that knows what you’re going through, this film is it.
Stream One of Them Days on Netflix.
Superman
I’m not a huge superhero person—superhero films tend to be copaganda and pro-imperialism, with many being made in cooperation with the U.S. military. This is not that! James Gunn’s Superman is anti-capitalist, anti-genocide, anti-US military punk rock that said Free Palestine with its visual language, and dropped a Netanyahu stand-in from a very high height. My kinda carrying on. 10/10. No notes.
Watch Superman on HBOMax and read my full review, “James Gunn’s Superman Said ‘Free Palestine!’” here:
The Woman in the Yard
Danielle Deadwyler deserves! In this psychological horror feature, Deadwyler stars as a widowed mother of two, battling grief and depression after her husband’s death when a haunting spirit infiltrates their home and terrorizes them. It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but A for effort. We need more films exploring Black women’s rage and mental health. And we need more Danielle Deadwyler. She was also in the movie 40 Acres this year, which was a bit too violent for my sensibilities, but did feature Black and Indigenous people teaming up against white colonizers, and that’s right up my alley.
Stream The Woman in the Yard on Peacock and 40 Acres on Hulu.
Songs from the Hole
This is the most heart-warming and urgent documentary of 2025. Part-visual album, part-abolitionist manifesto, Songs from the Hole tells the story of rapper JJ’88, his teenaged murder conviction and his lifelong fight for healing, accountability and forgiveness, as told through the songs he wrote while trapped in solitary confinement. I interviewed the film’s producer Richie Reseda, a brilliant abolitionist and filmmaker, for the next episode of the BGW podcast Another Possible World, so paid subscribers, be on the lookout for that soon! I’m telling you, the convo was life-changing for me, and I can’t wait for y’all to hear it.
Stream Songs from the Hole on Netflix.
Palestine 36
I’ve seen so many documentaries about Palestine at this point, but Palestine 36 is the first Palestinian narrative feature film I’ve seen and it is glorious and urgent. Set in 1936, a pivotal year in Palestinian history, this film tells the story of a nation and her people, resisting under British occupation and fighting back against the first Zionist infiltrators of their homes and homeland. This genocide, ethnic cleansing, and whitewashing of Palestine, Palestinians and history by the West is older than October 7. It’s older than 1948. And that’s why this film—and this year—are critical. Shot on film in nearby Jordan, Palestine 36 is gorgeous and devastating, showing Palestinian life and the birth of resistance in a way I hadn’t seen before. It’s a gift of a film and should be required viewing. As a result, the powers that be have made sure this film hasn’t found a distributor yet. But stay tuned to its production company Watermelon Pictures for more.
Eyes of Ghana
I almost left this one off the list because there is still no release date for this great film and I’m sure it will not be released until 2026 at this point. But I saw it in 2025, so I’m gonna rank it in 2025! Of course, I have my critiques, which I laid out after seeing it at TIFF in September, but Eyes of Ghana is a spectacular achievement and oral history of Ghana’s radical first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and his vision to capture African life and stories on film. Following Nkrumah’s 93-year-old personal cinematographer Chris Hesse as the titular Eyes, the film recounts Hesse’s life in his early twenties as the right-hand man to the hope of a decolonizing Africa. After the overthrow of Nkrumah, the footage that Hesse shot and so many films that Nkrumah had commissioned, were ordered to be destroyed. But many reels of film survived and Hesse is fighting to have them digitized and screened for all of us to understand that African cinema dates back farther than the whitewashed history would suggest. Hesse reminds us of the power of cinema and of telling our own stories, and I can’t wait for the world to see this film and be inspired.
Zootopia 2
In this animated sequel, bunny and fox team up again—this time as official partners on the Zootopia police force—to get to the bottom of the racist, genocidal founding of Zootopia. Yes, both Zootopias are copaganda. And yes, in both films, in order to solve crimes and bring justice, bunny and fox have to act AGAINST the demands of the police force and the state. What makes this a utopian child’s fantasy is that once bunny and fox solve the mystery, they are rewarded by the state that they had to defy the whole movie in order to solve the mystery in the first place.
Still, this film is what Wicked: For Good should’ve been: a powerful reclamation of history and territory for the animals and working in community to get it done. Though the themes of whitewashing history, cultural theft and genocide to build one’s utopia are apt and timely as we think about the founding of the U.S. and the Zionist state, I’m still not a fan of the neoliberal copaganda endings where one bad guy—or in this sequel, a family of bad guys—gets arrested. As usual, the rest of society easily embraces a change that the small group of bad guys were preventing, and now that they’re in prison, “justice” has been served. At no point do bunny and fox think: how come every time we want to do the right thing, we get punished by the state?!?! Maybe we should no longer be agents of the state!! Yet, I still think the movie is a great way to bring up hard issues with kids in a way they’ll understand and empathize with, after seeing the discrimination against predators in the first film and reptiles in the second, and the way society accepts without question the erasure of the genocidal foundations of most countries. At least use the film to help explain to your kids why they should never be cops.
Watch Zootopia 2 in theaters.
Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
This is my most-watched Knives Out film yet, simply because when I present options for friends and family of what to watch, they all keep choosing this movie! And it’s always a crowd-pleasing success. Josh O’Connor, I see your value now, you cutie. O’Connor puts his heart and soul into the role of Father Jud Duplenticy, a priest with a deadly past who has been accused of murder. Benoit Blanc is back to solve the case with his hilariously absurd, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Foghorn Leghorn accent, and Daniel Craig is still genius in the role—this time as an agnostic foil to Jud’s devout Catholicism. Craig and O’Connor have incredible chemistry and I think they should kiss. Glenn Close gets effortless laughs as rigid church secretary, Martha. And Kerry Washington rounds out a dynamite cast (save for Mila Kunis, who is stiff and out of place as the town sheriff investigating the murders). But it’s the questions that the characters wrestle with rather than any one performance that sat with me the longest. What is the purpose of faith? What anchors it? How do you contextualize it within the horrors “believers” have inflicted and currently inflict on the world?
Writer-Director Rian Johnson takes aim at right-wing, Christian nationalist cults and the personalities that rule them, deconstructing faith as a weapon, while presenting in Father Jud a true picture of what it means to love and serve people. Somebody, Somewhere creator and star Bridgett Everett has about 5 minutes in this movie but completely steals the show in a comical and heartfelt performance that justifies the entire existence of the movie. Father Jud’s choices make little sense without this brief and beautiful interaction; this is great character development, great writing. I tip my hat, Rian Johnson. I didn’t forget what you did to our Black jedi Finn in The Last Jedi though.
Stream Wake Up, Dead Man on Netflix.
Frankenstein
I owe Frankenstein a deep dive and, before the season’s up, I will deliver. Guillermo del Toro’s achingly beautiful ode to forgiveness and healing reveals the consequences of the generational curse that is patriarchy. Rooted deeply in Mary Shelly’s iconic source material, del Toro still makes the iconic Frankenstein story his own, shaping it as a continuation of the father-son stories he’s told of late—most recently in 2022’s Pinocchio. Del Toro doesn’t get enough credit for how amazing he is at adapting a story for the screen. His Frankenstein follows both the depraved Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, the Creature (Jacob Elordi in his best performance to date). Watching this film, I had the same feeling I have when I watch vampire lore: I should probably be vegan. I’ll save that thought for the deep-dive coming soon! In the meantime:
Stream Frankenstein on Netflix.
Oh, Hi!
I was gonna use this slot to talk about My Father’s Shadow, one of my favorites out of Nigeria and TIFF this year, but it’s another one no one can see right now because it doesn’t have U.S. distribution and likely won’t this year. Boo! So, here’s one of the most fun and funny movies I saw this year that you can watch right now. Oh, Hi! follows Iris and Issac on a romantic weekend getaway to High Falls in Upstate New York. Iris misreads the town welcome sign as “Oh, High,” where the title comes from, serving as foreshadowing that Iris and Isaac aren’t quite seeing things the same way. Iris believes, after four months worth of great dates with Issac, that this weekend will solidify them as a committed, monogamous couple. When she finds out that Isaac never saw them as “dating,” at all, let alone as on the way to being a monogamous couple, Iris, to put it mildly, loses it. This kicks off a dangerous and comical end to the weekend, eviscerating the “psycho girlfriend who’s just crazy for no reason” trope and the trope of the “nice guy” who is pleasant to women so he can get all the perks of a woman’s physical and emotional labor and investment, without having to commit or be accountable for his actions. This movie is for the ladies who are exhausted with unintentional men, and who quote early-Cardi B when dealing with them: “I am being nice to you! Have I stabbed you? No? Exactly!” There’s cry-laughing, BDSM, witchcraft, sisterhood and healing. My kinda carrying on.
Watch Oh, Hi! on Netflix.
Sorry, Baby
Eva Victor, you beautiful genius, you’ve done it! The writer-director and star of Sorry Baby pulls off a heartwarming story about friendship, grief and what it takes to survive, that’s both laugh-out-loud funny and a tear-jerker. It’s a slice-of-life indie dramedy that follows Agnes in the non-linear telling of her life as a student and then a professor at a liberal arts college. Naomie Ackie is delightful as Agnes’ best friend whose love and humor gets Agnes through a difficult period. Trigger warning for talk of r*pe and assault, but thankfully there is no depiction of any assault on screen. This is a survivor-centered story that reminds us of why we keep choosing life and hope. And Victor is a promising new filmmaker with much to say. We should listen.
Watch Sorry, Baby streaming on HBOMax.
Hamnet
No movie had me bawling this season as much as Hamnet. Okay, probably Sinners, but Hamnet is a close second. Chloe Zhao is all the way back in her bag as co-writer and director of this adaptation of the novel of the same name, fictionalizing the story of William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, their children, and their role in Shakespeare writing the play Hamlet. In the best lead actress performance of the year, Jessie Buckley is Agnes, the outcast town witch in the woods. Like her mother before her, Agnes is very connected to nature, making friends with animals and using herbal medicine to heal. But her gift of reading the soul of a person and seeing their future isn’t used as some manic pixie dream girl trope to help Shakespeare on his journey—she is the center of the story. We live with her as she navigates motherhood and grief alone, while her husband is off in London making a name and a fortune for himself. There are costs to ambition which we’re rarely made to reckon with because these stories are so often told from the stand point of history’s “great men,” not the women (and children) who sacrifice everything for them to be great. Young actor Jacobi Jupe is outstanding as their 10-year-old son in the titular role. Like Sinners, this film is about the power of art to heal and sustain life, and there won’t be a dry eye in the building when it’s over.
Watch Hamnet in theaters now.
Sentimental Value
There are (at least) three films this season that show the impact of an absentee, career-driven father on his wife and children, Hamnet, Jay Kelly and Sentimental Value. Though strangely a film-bro favorite, Jay Kelly is the worst because it centers the absentee, career-driven father. Like Hamnet, Sentimental Value does not. Starring Renate Reinsve as a burgeoning actress tortured by stage fright thanks to her filmmaker father’s early rejection of her, Sentimental Value is a film about going back to retrieve (or heal) what was lost, in order to move forward. It begins with sisters Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes burying their mother. Their father, (my favorite, Stellan Skarsgard) who left them and their mother to pursue filmmaking when the sisters were young, returns to reclaim ownership of their childhood home. Fallen off but ready for a comeback, he presents Nora with an opportunity to be the lead of his next film—a personal story that disgusts Nora and threatens to hit too close to home. This is an excavation of generational trauma on display, with healing at the center. You know I have a type!
Watch Sentimental Value in theaters.
Hedda
I’ve written about Hedda thrice now, including my breakdown of Nia DaCosta’s brilliant adaptation and how much more genius it is than the original play. It’s Tessa Thompson’s best performance and by far DaCosta’s best film and it’s going under the radar, but not on my watch!! It’s deliciously wicked, it’s decadent, and to quote my friend Dino Ramos, it’s “absolutely cunty.” Though there is a queer love triangle, this is not a love story, it’s a power struggle, and the evidence of what happens to a queer Black woman’s mind when she’s silenced, suppressed, and trapped in a box by racism, patriarchy and queerphobia. That anger is bound to go somewhere, and it’s bound to be everybody’s problem. This breakdown of Hedda was one of my favorites to write this year:
Stream Hedda on Prime Video and read the script here.
Sinners
What else could I say about Sinners that I haven’t already said in three essays and a syllabus, two live Club Juke events, in person to the filmmakers at brunch, and in a script I wrote for the cast to read to honor Ryan Coogler with the Director Award? Even with all that, I’m sure I haven’t told the half. It’s not only by far my favorite movie of the year, it is my favorite movie of all time. It is a technical masterpiece and a spiritual one. This movie reconnected me to myself, to my ancestry, and to my purpose as a film lover and a filmmaker. It’s a gift, and my love for it conjured so many opportunities to share it on a bigger stage than I ever imagined. I’m grateful. Read the incredible Sinners script here and watch the cast of Sinners read the script *I* wrote (!!!!) honoring Ryan Coolger with the Director Award at the Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema & TV below:
What are your top movies of the year? Let me know!
Stay watchin’,
Brooke
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