Best Films of 2025

NOT having really focused on catching everything out there because — reasons — I did catch a few titles and of those these are the best.

- NOEL VERA

Superman (James Gunn)

Not Gunn at his best but at his most straightforward, as if trying to reform. Still his take on the Big Blue Boy Scout is refreshingly sweet-natured, an antidote tothe dark ‘n’ edgy superpowered bores that have lumbered out and put me to sleep in recent years. Plus, Nathan Fillion needs his own Guy Gardner movie and Krypto is such a good dog!

Mickey 17 (Bong Joon-ho)

The biggest slam against this film is that it isn’t Parasite; the best thing about this film is that it isn’t Parasite. Bong rarely if ever repeats himself, thank goodness, and here he turns out a startlingly large-budgeted production with wonderfully oddball virtues — not the least of which is Robert Pattinson’s most endearing performance ever (and, yes, I’ve sat through Twilight — over two hours of my life Pll never get back).

Quezon (Jerrold Tarog)

Yes, it’s not fair and balanced, and yes, it cuts a few (okay, a lot of) corners and bends a few (okay, a lot of) truths; to be fair, my biggest complaint about the film is that it doesn’t give in to its tendencies and turn into the full-fledged dance musical it keeps threatening to be. But Tarrog’s biopic is livelier than most, and a more flattering portrait of this beloved president as badass gadfly tweaking the nose of stuffed-shirt Westerners. Heroic? Not really, and thank goodness for that; heroes make me snore.

Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)