The 2025 Jim Ridley Film Poll

Once again, we gathered a ragtag bunch of critics, filmmakers, icons, exhibitors, educators, distributors and assorted miscreants to talk film. We do this annually to commemorate the memory of late, great Scene film critic and editor-in-chief Jim Ridley, and also to get at what has lingered in the mind after the velvet crush of wave one of awards season.

The Top 25 of 2025

1. Sinners

2. One Battle After Another

3. Sorry, Baby

4. It Was Just an Accident (یک تصادف ساده)

5. 28 Years Later

6. Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi)

7. Eephus

8. Weapons

9. Marty Supreme

10. The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto)

11. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

12. Bugonia

13. Frankenstein

14. Blue Moon / No Other Choice (어쩔수가없다)

16. The Long Walk

17. The Testament of Ann Lee

18. Hamnet

19. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

20. Castration Movie Anthology

21. Train Dreams

22. Twinless

23. Bring Her Back

24. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You / Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Participants

Sean Abley, Jason Adams, Kevin Allen, Ken Arnold, Sean Atkins, Jess Bennett, Brooke Bernard, William Bibbiani, Billy Ray Brewton, Sean Burns, Logan Butts, BJ Colangelo, Harmony Colangelo, Georgia Coley, Micheal Compton, C.K. Cosner, Jacob Davison, Alonso Duralde, Steve Erickson, Dom Fisher, Dr. Gangrene, Zack Hall, Odie Henderson, Quinn Hills, Dave Irwin, Michael Jay, Bede Jermyn, Brennan Klein, Rob Kotecki, Benjamin Legg, John Lichman, Craig D. Lindsey, Brian Lonano, William Mahaffey, Super Marcey, Teddy Minton, Noel Murray, Brian Owens, Annie Parnell, Charlie Quinn, D. Patrick Rodgers, Witney Seibold, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Sam Smith, Graham Skipper, Scout Tafoya, Erin Thompson, Kyle Turner, Dave White, Lisa Ellen Williams, Cory Woodroof, Ron Wynn, Tony Youngblood

To start things off with a bang: What with AI, studio consolidation and cultural lack of interest, who still has some hope for the movies? 

Gen Z has hope for the future of the movies! My generation increased their theater attendance by 25 percent this past year. We attended movies more than any other age group, which gives me hope for the year and generations to come. While AI in art is scary, I do believe it is not sustainable. Many actors and filmmakers oppose the use of AI actors and condemn the use of artificial technology to enhance performances or special effects. While there will absolutely be studios and filmmakers who use AI, the same number if not more will be outspoken against its use. Studio consolidation is a bit more frightening, as it is not clear what exactly it will look like, other than shortening theatrical runs, which is a big setback. Erin Thompson

Against all odds, popular American films were better at responding to this moment than their counterparts in music in 2025. Will it be possible to produce a film like Sinners, with such a large budget, two years from now? Maybe that “cultural lack of interest” will lead to a new movement like the L.A. Rebellion or New Queer Cinema. If you’re never gonna get a shot at becoming the next Nolan or Tarantino, why compromise? Steve Erickson

I still have hope for the movies because I cling to the belief (as overly idealistic and naive as it may seem) that there remain people out there who care about the future and see providing audiences with inspiration and encouragement through cinematic storytelling as a means to aid their efforts to create a better world. Just as I’ve never confused music with the music business, I don’t mistake creativity and passion in storytelling with box office sales and marketing success. When they come together, great. But the folks who really want to say something meaningful through film, in whatever manner they define it, will continue in their quest regardless of the obstacles. How many of them exist, and whether their numbers increase or decrease, only time will tell. Ron Wynn

I don’t. I’m quite certain a day will come when people will stop making movies because audiences realized they can get the same entertainment value from watching TikToks for three hours. I just hope I’m dead by then. Craig D. Lindsey

It took five years, but they trimmed the AMC Nicole Kidman bumper down to five seconds. Anything is possible in 2026. John Lichman

I definitely think that we are in a state of evolution with the medium. People are watching less movies in cinemas, but it’s hard to deny that premium formats like 70 mm IMAX, Dolby and 4DX are still popular. Film festival screenings still sell out like crazy despite the ridiculous prices. I don’t think movies are going away — they just might be going more niche as more people opt to stay home due to high ticket prices, shorter theatrical windows and the Second Golden Age of Piracy making movies more accessible at home than ever. Ken Arnold

Novels still exist … right? Right?! Benjamin Legg

For every film I saw in my local multiplex with 10 or fewer disinterested people on their phones, or talking like they were on their couch, there was a nearly full house of attentive film lovers at the Belcourt ranging from a David Lynch retrospective to Die Hard to Bugonia and Wake Up Dead Man. As long as that communal experience continues to exist, I will have hope. Micheal Compton

'Weapons' Is a Haunted Hallway of Adult Themes

The latest work of horror from 'Barbarian' writer-director Zach Cregger is now playing at Regal and AMC locations

I’ll always have hope for the movies. It felt encouraging that studios like Warner Bros. produced and released original films like Sinners and Weapons and were successful. Theaters do their best to program contemporary, classic and underseen films. And I appreciate the studios making pushes for films to have special releases. Whether it’s IMAX 70 mm, or 35/70 mm releases, sing-along versions and so on, it’s an appreciated effort to get people to the movies. Brian Lonano

Movies will be fine. Unfortunately, the only kind of movies that will be made after the dust settles will be variations on the farting butt movie in Idiocracy. Odie Henderson

Inasmuch as I have any hope for anything (democracy, the planet, the human race), I think movies will persist. There is obviously a new order in place, and we are seeing how it’s still possible to game the funding systems. Ryan Coogler parlayed his blockbusters into an auteurist masterwork, and he even negotiated the rights for himself. David Zaslav couldn’t stop PTA from making a delirious epic of popcorn Marxism. Even a high-art curio like Sirāt was funded by Spain’s Telefonica group. Nature finds a way. Michael Sicinski

One of the great surprises for me this year has been the overwhelming popularity of repertory titles and the hunger of younger moviegoers to see classic films on the big screen with an audience. It’s been a particular joy of working at an arthouse theater to see these new audiences discover great films made by human beings, and that always gives me hope for the future of movies. Zack Hall

Movies will not go away, of course. But they are changing form. Something is struggling to be born, and we have to be its midwives. Studios are setting themselves on fire, and more money is going into more recycled blockbusters, so we have to go underground. We have to look on YouTube, on phones, on new, uncommon distribution models to find the treasures. Will AI make movies in the future? No, it will not. The only reason studios were talking about shifting to AI was because they were making money hand-over-fist with samey screenplays. Samey trends only last for so long. Witney Seibold

Personal story time. My niece turned 14 this year and discovered movies by discovering early-2000s Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. (I take great satisfaction that it was Steven Soderbergh’s best film that lit this fire 20-plus years later.) At first, she just wanted to meet Jason Bourne and Joe Black. During a summer “movie camp,” we checked off Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, and Love and Basketball. Then, after Jerry Maguire and a new Letterboxd account, it was, “What’s Magnolia?” Within a few weeks, she was ready for Fight Club and Se7en. A month after that, she requested The Godfather as her birthday screening. She blushed with glee when I helped her arrive at the inevitability that she loves “dad core,” from Shawshank to Sixth Sense, with a strong pull toward legal thrillers adapted from John Grisham and the like. After watching A Few Good Men on a plane, she asked me simply why movies are not this good anymore. Cue an Instagram spoof of me, the hipster uncle, explaining all about 35 mm film stock and grain, how Tom Cruise is the last true movie star, and how streaming killed the middle-tier, factory-issued adult studio drama. But no, I was honestly filled with a deep existential relief that I was even being asked this question, and given the opportunity to help gently guide a little cinephile on whatever specific path appealed to them. Not having any concept of Titanic, for example, and then The Departed being one’s first DiCaprio: fascinating! Which lead directly to them wanting to see One Battle After Another, on IMAX, as their first PTA? The kid legit dressed up as Bob Ferguson for Halloween. Movies are so powerful that it doesn’t matter if none of the other girls in eighth grade even know who Leo is, much less Bob Ferguson. You will find your people, I tell her. You will soon see Thelma and Louise. You will soon see When Harry Met Sally. You will soon meet the Belcourt’s Allison Inman. You will read Homer’s The Odyssey, because your favorite actor is starring in the new 70 mm remake next year. Needless to say, this whole thing — on top of the ballooning Letterboxd and A24 cultures that mark a rabid obsession for movies at the very least — has given me a lot of hope. This child, who used to groan at every movie I recommended (she still retches at the thought of having to watch E.T., but I prevail there eventually), has a three-hour attention span and doesn’t want her phone near her for that period of time. This even happening is still possible, so just know that. Sam Smith

I do, because the kids are all right. The revival houses and microcinemas are packed with people under 30. My 14-year-old niece can sniff out AI slop and despises it. And given the tepid turnout for fat, reliable IP tentpoles like the latest Captain America and the rabid love for KPop Demon Hunters, they’re ready for something new. I get the sense that the death of the medium is more the explicit goal of plutocrats eager to own every second of our attention than audience preferences. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but the fat cats will have to work harder to make their dream come true. Rob Kotecki

I’m trying to muster up some, don’t get me wrong. Gen Z’s attendance at theaters was up by 25 percent, which is promising, but their intent behind it could tell a different story: Do they have genuine enthusiasm for the medium, or is it all about producing quick, poorly thought-out reactionary takes on social media? I don’t have hope for multiplexes, because Netflix could very well destroy them by withholding Warner Bros. films post-acquisition, but impending federal litigation could keep their acquisition from ever happening. I have hope that movies and movie theaters in general will always exist, but I’m mourning what they used to be: a respected art form and extravagant events around which ordinary citizens plan their day. At this point, it’s the tech bro executives’ world — I just live in it. Kevin Allen

Without hope, what else is there? AI is exasperating — like mayonnaise on chicken sandwiches for some reason being a cultural default; no thank you. Studio consolidation feels like what happened to the music industry throughout the ’90s and Aughts. And it all comes down to why billionaires would rather cling to all their holdings and doom the planet (which they cannot escape from, and where their money and their genetic lineage will die) rather than actually helping people, for which they would be rewarded with respect and admiration that they had actually, and for the first time, earned. Here’s to at least another few years of film. Jason Shawhan

I feel like the vertical integrating and strip-mining of film — as industry or artistic endeavor, especially with regard to the allocation of resources to people — is appalling. But I’m weirdly optimistic. Although there are fewer options for films and filmmakers to have sort of normal platforms of distribution, I feel like that will incentivize filmmakers and artists to make new pathways to make and share their work outside of the traditional Hollywood (or even international arthouse) apparatus. I think there will be even more clarity of art and efficacy and its limitations, but that will encourage people to create work with their communities and allow those things to be exchanged with the audiences and viewers who care about those things. And I think that as we become more inundated with garbage images, as little attention span as people (myself included sometimes!) have, we will want to seek out other things that are more baseline satisfying and pleasurable, but also hopefully more enriching as well. I am a little hopeful, despite the darkness of the horizon. Kyle Turner

I don’t think we have anything to be worried about just yet. There are still Hollywood giants out there, both young and old, both behind the camera and in front, who are fighting the good fight and championing the content and presentation of the medium. Dave Irwin

I have plenty of hope for the movies. If the costume designer for Nia DaCosta’s Hedda can commission a bodice with enough structural support to cradle Nina Hoss’ pneumatic endowment, then surely the movies can still bear humanity’s weight as we trundle into more chaotic sociopolitical climates, more cultural development and more crash landings. Jess Bennett

I do! I think with all the madness happening at the studio level, it’s the indie’s time to shine. I believe we’re about to see an indie film renaissance akin to the early ’70s. Graham Skipper

I still have hope for the movies because, despite my better judgment, I still believe that the creative ingenuity of people will always win out in the end. Perhaps I’m being naive, but I just can’t allow myself to accept that people are OK with AI slop and a bunch of billionaire tech bros gleefully capitulating to a wannabe fascist dictator controlling the entertainment industry. BJ Colangelo

There’s always hope, for everything, but if a better future was certain we wouldn’t have to call it “hope.” Yes, the movies are under a serious, plausible, existential threat. AI is threatening our environment, our jobs and our cognitive reasoning. Studio consolidation leads, at best, to even fewer jobs and even fewer movies, which are approved by even fewer people, robbing countless artists of opportunities and robbing audiences of countless options in mainstream art. Where I bristle, however, is with the term “cultural lack of interest.” We’ve been pretty cocky in the motion picture industry for the past 125 years. We’ve been riding high on a wave of popularity that, even when it ebbs, always comes crashing back on our lucrative shores. The fact that fewer people are going to the movies is a problem, but movies are still a multibillion-dollar industry. It’s not going away. It’s going to condense, almost certainly, and it’s going to change, that I can guarantee. But it’s not going away any more than books went away when movies became a dominant artistic medium. Books are still an influential, popular, profitable medium. It’s just harder to make a living at it, which — to use a technical term — sucks. William Bibbiani

The theatrical experience will survive, but change is inevitable, and we need to adapt as best as we can. I’m also not worried about Netflix buying Warner Bros. just yet. It’s early, and we are at least a year or two away from seeing any change from a viewer perspective. Sean Atkins

Maybe I am an optimistic schmuck, but so many people are sick of what is being fed to them. It does feel like film people exist within a bubble that makes it hard to know what else is happening outside of it, but there is genuine success and enthusiasm for alternatives to the inevitable remakes and blockbusters we have had for 15 years now. Films like Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters (or even something like Heated Rivalry in the world of TV) vastly overdelivered on what was expected from them. Hindsight is 20/20, but if people think AI slop sucks (and it does) or uninspired, overly focus-grouped blockbusters from the same three studios are stale (and they are), they will find something better. They already are. Harmony Colangelo

I believe there is still hope for movies and particularly the theatrical cinematic experience. People need communal spaces, and they are being increasingly diminished. But this year, I went to screenings of Sinners and One Battle After Another in IMAX and they were completely sold out. The want is there. Like the line goes: If you build it, they will come! Jacob Davison

I do. I’ve been hearing for decades now about how movies and the moviegoing experience are dying or dead. Something always triggers an upswing, and I expect this will be no different. Is the landscape changing? Yes. Sometimes for the worse? Absolutely. But change could be a good thing, and I see us potentially going back to a more regional release structure and an analog mentality that could be good for cinephiles across the board. Billy Ray Brewton

Sure, I still have hope. As long as no one is still buying and selling real estate in the Metaverse at a profit. Teddy Minton

Timothée Chalamet sure does. This kid’s drive to be great and the sheer belief in himself and the films he stars in is on another level. Hollywood’s own Lisan al-Gaib — Leo’s handpicked successor — is almost single-handedly dragging the on-the-brink-of-death concept of Movie Stars into the modern film landscape. Logan Butts

I refuse to give into this redundant narrative that cinema is being destroyed by AI and that “lack of interest” is killing the industry. Legit concerns about studio consolidation aside, my faith in filmmaking and audience engagement has been consistently bolstered this year by the heated critical discussions surrounding films (wow — people really loved or hated Eddington, huh?) as well as some truly special screenings that demonstrate how film fosters community. Some favorite screenings of the year: Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie and The People’s Joker with Vera Drew in attendance at the Belcourt; Sweet Movie at Third Man via It’s Only a Movie; The Monkey with an almost sold-out crowd at Hollywood 27 (the best Regal around). Lisa Ellen Williams

I gotta, it’s too late to get into TikTok. I’m 36, but I feel a thousand, which I’m sure everyone else on this poll feels just as or more acutely. I don’t know, there’s still real art being made, and this was a great year for trash too. I even liked the Uwe Boll immigration movie, which is every bit as tasteless and insane as that sounds. Studio tentpole had the courtesy to wither and die, even if they still walk among us. There’s some kind of agreement now that people go to the things because they must, not because they want to. I was sat for Avatar. So I still believe in something. Scout Tafoya

I still have some stubborn hope! I’ve found it particularly heartening to see filmmakers lean into long, strange runtimes (One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Eddington) and practical effects like the puppets in Opus and The Legend of Ochi this year. I think that people are worn out by endlessly fracturing franchises, and they’re looking for something real. Annie Parnell

We’re definitely in a tumultuous moment, but I will always believe that every year is a great year for movies if you’re willing to look for them. Strangely enough, one of the most encouraging things I’ve experienced this year was a crowd that stayed totally silent during the Avengers: Doomsday teaser but compulsively applauded at Nolan’s Odyssey trailer shortly after. I think we’re seeing a growing audience hunger for singular visions from genuine visionaries on the big screen, especially in a time when endless “slop” scrolling on small screens is so pervasive. My hope is that as the hollow corporate/AI content grows more dominant, people will continue to grow more eager for cinematic experiences that feel genuinely inventive and human. And deep down, I really do believe that we still crave the collective effervescence of experiencing a story together with others in a place where we can give it our undivided attention! Georgia Coley

The theater has been dying for thousands of years. Movies keep dying, too. And they keep being reborn. It’s all cyclical. Studios consolidate, squeezing the lives and livelihoods out of artists and workers. Artists and workers band together and build something new. We’ve seen this happen many times, and every time seems like the end of the world. It’s not. AI cannot do what a human artist can do with any degree of competence or soul. Independent artists like Louise Weard will be out here no matter what, making films with heart and challenging new perspectives that push the medium forward. And for every Anaconda that makes me ask, “Is anyone going to the movies for this?” there are young go-getters like Timothée Chalamet perched atop a giant sphere in Las Vegas and veterans like Spike Lee still yelling “action” in Brooklyn, reminding us that movies deserve a scale and level of attention that our TVs and smartphones cannot provide. Quinn Hills

There will always be a market for personality-driven content, so there will always be room for artists like the Guillermo del Toros of the world, regardless of how much real estate AI will eventually take up. So in that sense, I have hope for at least some non-robot-generated entertainment in the future. That being said, we’ve already lost the AI war, so we’re going to have to figure out what our personal lines in the sand are when it comes to robot-generated content. Zero tolerance? Title sequences allowed only? Beauty passes on actors’ faces with their permission? Figure it out for yourself, or be ready to watch a lot less film and television in 2026 and beyond. Sean Abley

2025 saw consistently packed houses for Nashville’s independent film center the Belcourt. And not just for first-run films like One Battle After Another, Wake Up Dead Man and Friendship, but for repertory films too. (Quinn Hills’ staff pick of the 2019 French film Portrait of a Lady on Fire was nearly a sellout.) Folks — especially young people — are clamoring for communal experiences. My hope for movies has never been stronger. Tony Youngblood

My hope rests with the artists and the audience. As long as we have people who can tell great stories and people who want to listen to them, movies will have a place. We can mourn change, but the movies persist despite it. Who knows what all of this will look like in 25 to 50 years, but the movies will still be with us. They were here before we were, and they’ll be here after we’re gone. Great art has permanence, and I take a lot of solace in that. Cory Woodroof

I still have a ton of hope for the art form we all love. I believe studios adopting AI is a lazy overcorrection to a self-inflicted problem. I’ve stood firm for years on the notion that if going to your favorite theater was cheaper, they would make more money. People are willing to take a chance on a $10 movie that they normally wouldn’t see in addition to paying another $10 for IP they know they enjoy. With housing and medical costs constantly making it hard for people to stay afloat, it’s not a lack of interest, it’s a lack of funds. Dom Fisher

It’s pretty bleak right now. I don’t have a lot of hope for mainstream theaters, but I think as they continue to price people out, more and more people are going to turn to indie theaters for their cinema experience, so that gives me some hope. William Mahaffey

What musical moment has stuck with you this year? 

Best musical moment for me is easily the “I Lied to You” sequence from Sinners. The coalescing of different music with the imagery of past, present, and future combining made for an unforgettable spectacle that had the audience roaring. Jacob Davison

The drum-heavy dance sequence in The Life of Chuck. It has stuck with me since I saw the film at TIFF back in September 2024. Odie Henderson 

I’ve never seen anything quite like the time-jumping, genre-bending sequence in Sinners, compressing the history of American popular music and dance into just a few minutes. Ryan Coogler uses the scene to make an argument, showcasing how deeply Black culture has influenced popular culture. But he also aims to dazzle and to thrill, dropping something unforgettable and unexpected in the middle of what is, ostensibly, a horror movie. Absolutely amazing. Noel Murray

I’m sure I’ll be echoing others by saying that I find it hard not to jump immediately to the “I Lied to You” sequence in Sinners! Talk about a sequence that really felt like something we’d never seen or experienced on the big screen before, in all its cinematic and symphonic reverie. At the core, though, the transcendence of that scene is the way it represents a short-lived place of celebration, safety and belonging for a people who have long been ostracized and oppressed. Sinners is full of powerful and melancholic yearning for a world where that kind of belonging can last longer than sundown. Georgia Coley

As a kid, I wore out my VHS of Fantasia 2000, which features for its finale Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. In the animated short, the goddess of nature is stalked and nearly subdued by (what else?) a molten bird that scorches all of her beautiful creations. Just when we are led to believe that the goddess of nature has been burned alive, she rises from the ashes, symbolizing the power to change and grow, even in the aftermath of disaster. Hearing this suite so many times as a kid prepared me for Wes Anderson’s almost obsessive use of the same piece in The Phoenician Scheme. The arrangement of the Firebird Suite in Anderson’s film is surprisingly low, slithering, and as seductive as the greed that stalks Zsa-Zsa Korda, the film’s principal character. However, in keeping with the music’s theme of change, we watch Zsa-Zsa grow. Just when it would have been so easy (if destructive) for Zsa-Zsa to forsake his found family and stay headlong in his gambler’s pursuit to maintain power, status and sway — just when it would have been so easy for Zsa-Zsa to give in to the same greed that motivates so many of the world’s most influential people — he changes. He becomes a more sympathetic person and (of all things) an attentive father. Jess Bennett

My absolute favorite was the rap battle between Too $hort and Entice and Barbie from Danger Zone in Freaky Tales. That whole sequence took this old white boy right back to my middle school days in the late ’80s when I was listening to that very song on repeat and singing right along, imagining some of the lyrics as my own rebuttal for being disrespected as a shy, quiet, closeted kid from both my peers and authority figures. In the funniest (and the most genius) way — Spice Girls’ “2 Become 1” at the end of Together. In the most cinematic way — George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness” setting the tone at the start of Weapons. In the worst way — the entire ’80s New Wave soundtrack for Marty Supreme, which was completely pretentious and off-putting for both the era and the subject matter. Dave Irwin

Amanda Seyfried Gives 100 Percent in ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’

Mona Fastvold’s historical musical drama opens this week at the Belcourt

Lots of good choices make it hard to narrow to one, so I will cut it to three. The use of Tears for Fears in a specific moment of Marty Supreme was a chef’s kiss. The haunting rhythmic musical numbers in The Testament of Ann Lee are a thing of cinematic beauty. And if we are expanding it beyond films released in 2025, getting the chance to see Sign ‘O’ the Times in IMAX was almost as much of a religious experience as Ann Lee. Micheal Compton

The musical sequence in Sinners was one of the most thrilling moments in 2025 film. Sean Abley

Sinners, KPop Demon Hunters and The Testament of Ann Lee all have so many moments to consider that they pretty much own this category. The funniest of musical moments was the way Dust Bunny uses Sister Janet Mead’s version of “The Lord’s Prayer,” followed very closely by what M3gan 2.0 does with a certain Kate Bush classic. The sexiest musical moment was “Janaab e-Ali” from War 2. Much respect to Bread’s “Day by Day” in Hell of a Summer, Book of Love’s “Boy” in Companion, Jim McDonald’s “Hold Me Tight” in Peter Hujar’s Day, “Another Brick in the Wall Part 1” in Black Phone 2, “The Night” in Miroirs No. 3, “My Boo” in Friendship, and pretty much everything in New Wave. The Denzel/A$AP Rocky recording studio rap battle in Highest 2 Lowest and “Kali Shakti” in Maa are flawless numbers, and every time Zodiac 3000 from the evil band showed up in The Toxic Avenger was a moment of joy. I loved the trippy drones of Rabbit Trap, which feel like what it would be like to hang out at Chris and Cosey’s estate. Also, respect to insane musicals like Sirāt and Hurry Up Tomorrow, which see your good/bad binary and say “absolutely not.” Alien: Earth’s use of “Mountain Song” sent me back into a Jane’s Addiction revisit, which was a complicated experience, and lastly — shame on every one of you for ignoring Kiss of the Spider Woman. Jason Shawhan

I was impressed by the sustained religious ecstasy of the dancing and singing in The Testament of Ann Lee. The movie, overall, was a little one-note and didn’t seem to connect to history at large, but it did gently submerge the audience into the Shaker mindset. Witney Seibold

Well the correct answer is Sinners because the juke joint scene is one of the best of the year. Sorry for being obvious, but between that and HUNTR/X going to No. 1 on the charts with “Golden”? I feel like I could lift a car. Harmony Colangelo

Pavements made me relisten to Pavement (and give a loud cheer that Space Ghost appears within the first five minutes of the film). But Tron: Ares was the coolest music video, hands down. John Lichman

The entire score of Sinners reaffirmed the beauty and variety inherent in the blues when cleverly incorporated within a great story. Likewise with both editions of Wicked, despite some other flaws in it. Ron Wynn

I know most folks around here may think the John Prine/Iris DeMent song “In Spite of Ourselves” is overplayed, but I thought it played so perfectly in Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love. Brooke Bernard

The dance scene in Hedda where the singer jumps into “It’s Oh So Quiet” is when that terrific movie really clicks into place, driving it into exquisite jazzy ecstasy; also any of the New Wave needle-drops in Marty Supreme (“The Order of Death” by Public Image Ltd is the one I haven’t been able to stop listening to ever since); oh and any moment where Paul Mescal sings in The History of Sound should have any human person incorrigibly swooning ever after. Jason Adams

It has to be the juke joint scene in Sinners. Miles Caton’s soul-stirring voice was on full display as we witness the evolution and influence of Black music. It was beautiful. Dom Fisher

This year had a lot of great musical moments. My favorite one is “I Lied to You” from Sinners. It was a bold swing. I also loved the “Rocky Road to Dublin” scene from Sinners. Honorable mentions were the first murder attempt in No Other Choice. The song playing was “Red Dragonfly” by Cho Yong-pil in case anyone was wondering. And the use of Wagner’s Vorspiel in 28 Years Later when the Alpha chases Jamie and Spike at dawn on the causeway. Brian Lonano

The scene in Sinners where the party spins into African American music through time really sticks out to me. Even thinking about it now gives me goosebumps! Erin Thompson

‘Marty Supreme’ Is a Dizzying Showcase for Timothée Chalamet

Josh Safdie’s table-tennis-centric comedic thriller opens wide on Christmas 

It’s fresh on my mind so perhaps there’s some recency bias here, but I really enjoyed the Tears for Fears needle-drop in Marty Supreme. Sometimes a musical moment can be both utterly on-the-nose and exactly what a film needs. D. Patrick Rodgers

It’s really hard to choose between hearing the cathartic lyrics and sounds of “Everybody Wants to Rule The World” by Tears for Fears to the pyrrhic and karmic end of Marty Supreme, and being left in the dark as the organ in “Infinite End” by Maxime Denuc looped over and over with soul-shaking grandeur while processing the mind-melting grotesquerie that was The Ugly Stepsister. Kevin Allen

After two hours of Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, there is a final 10-minute scene in which newcomer Aiyana-Lee appears for the first time and steals the entire movie when she auditions her original song for Denzel Washington in his penthouse apartment. Wow! A star is born. Michael Jay

In what was an otherwise unremarkable movie, The Accountant 2 had a honky-tonk scene worthy of an oral history. Then there’s the obvious options — the year’s most go-for-broke scene, the absolutely breathtaking, history-spanning performance of “I Lied to You” in Sinners. And the Steely Dan needle-drop in One Battle, which brought me to tears. Logan Butts

It’s obligatory to mention THAT Sinners scene and THAT The Life of Chuck scene, but the frenetic scores to One Battle After Another and The Mastermind gave me life, not to mention the rocking needle-drops of Sister Midnight and The Secret Agent. Tony Youngblood

No going against the grain this year. KPop Demon Hunters pulled off the extraordinary task of making fictional groups’ songs sound like they could legitimately become the biggest hits on the planet. The Billboard charts show that they clearly accomplished this with “Golden,” but I also want to shout out Saja Boys’ “Soda Pop” for being a clear statement of intention that fits within the musical’s narrative (“we’re going to drink your souls”) while being a glorious bubblegum-pop track at the same time. Brennan Klein

Joachim Trier opening and closing Sentimental Value with two fingerpicked acoustic evocations: Terry Callier’s “Dancing Girl” and Labi Siffre’s “Cannock Chase.” There’s a lot of new meaning conjured by Callier’s lyrics (“the sources of light seemed so near, yet so far”) in the context of Trier’s dancing girl (Renate Reinsve’s Lola) as she is called to the stage of her life and history. Same with “Cannock Chase,” dropped perfectly at Trier’s final cathartic scene, where not only the lyrics fit in the most uncanny way, but so does the key, mood and frequency of the song itself. I’ve thought about it every since day since. Sam Smith

I’m very glad the prompt was “what musical moment has stuck with you,” as opposed to asking for a “favorite” or “the best,” because that means the answer is Gal Gadot, trying to sing, and presumably trying hard, in Disney’s god-awful, hypocritical live-action remake of Snow White. This is not one of those embarrassing performances that is destined to live on, beloved by our curators of camp, because it is entertaining in spite of itself. It’s just bad, an honest-to-goodness reminder that no matter how much money studios throw at a project, a bad idea is a bad idea, and even the thin veneer of baseline corporate competence can fall victim to a mappazzone of misguided “creative” decisions. William Bibbiani

For as many absolutely astonishing musical moments as Sinners has, I was most transfixed and pretty haunted by the “Rocky Road to Dublin” sequence. You learn everything about Remmick and his villainous plight in those few minutes of brain-warped vampire stomp-and-holler. The “I Lied to You” sequence is obviously the film’s best, but this one lingered with me. Cory Woodroof

The musical spirit-summoning one-shot from Sinners is the obvious scene. However, I’m still wowed by the big action centerpiece in Highest 2 Lowest that’s scored to a live Puerto Rican Day Parade performance by the late Eddie Palmieri. Craig D. Lindsey

In Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds, the world outside pressures the film’s transgender main character Circle (Lex Walton) to detransition, an experience many of us know too well. Aboard a New York City subway car, Circle strums on a guitar and sings “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” evoking the character’s own nature, an inner circle/family left behind, and the cycles that don’t want us to break them. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking moment. Quinn Hills

I did not like Eddington, but I thought its use of Bobbie Gentry’s “Courtyard” was great. The nihilist film guys were really liking ’60s folk songs this year — Lanthimos’ “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” needle-drop in Bugonia was also pretty unforgettable. Annie Parnell

The literal burning down of the house in Sinners. A musical odyssey through time and soul. Graham Skipper

Sirāt’s thudding desert rave. Zack Hall

The needle-drop of the 1956 country song by Leroy Van Dyke “The Auctioneer” in Pillion, which also appears in 1967’s What Am I Bid, written and directed by former Nashville Community Playhouse-era performer, Belcourt Cinema-era programmer, and Dinah East (1970) filmmaker Gene Nash. There’s a little Belcourt history in almost everything it seems! Teddy Minton

Anyone who doesn’t choose the Raphael Saadiq “I Lied to You” surreal montage from Sinners either didn’t see the film, or doesn’t understand transformative, once-in-a-generation filmmaking prowess. Next up would be the “Rocky Road to Dublin” number from the same film. Billy Ray Brewton

The juke joint scene in Sinners is the one that I’ll be thinking about for the rest of my life, but my year has been completely dominated by “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters. It’s an undeniable bop, but in a music landscape that allows something as boring and worship-band-coded as Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” to dominate the charts, a vibrant K-pop song becoming an undeniable force is something worth celebrating. BJ Colangelo

This was a year with so many musical moments! But Josh O’Connor turning that old-timey men’s saloon in Cambridge into The Rusty Anchor as he tickled those ivories and sang murder ballads with Paul Mescal in The History of Sound even managed to beat out the juke joint in Sinners for me. Benjamin Legg

That scene from Sinners, of course. Elsewhere, it was a remarkably good year for scores, thanks to Sirāt, The Smashing Machine, Tron: Ares, The Shrouds, 28 Years Later and their composers. Steve Erickson

Every clip of the performances featured in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery — The Untold Story felt far too brief. From Suzanne Vega to Emmylou Harris to Erykah Badu to Thao Nyugen and many more, each performance and interview is culturally significant and even revelatory, reminding viewers of the importance of exploring an array of genres, gathering together for live music, and establishing spaces to share and experience art. Do yourself a favor and listen to Tracy Chapman’s stunning album Where You Live, celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of Tracy Bonham’s The Burdens of Being Upright, and wrap it up with Sinéad O’Connor’s poignant song “Just Like U Said It Would B”: “I will walk in the garden / And feel religion within / I will learn how to run with the big boys / I will learn how to sink and to swim.” Lisa Ellen Williams

Not just *that* scene in SINNERS, but the whole movie’s belief in music’s unbridled power. Rob Kotecki

I didn’t like Bugonia, but i liked its needle drop of Green Day’s “Basket Case”; Ariana Grande’s “Happier Than Ever” in Wicked: For Good (bad movie) was an excellent display of her stardom and subtlety as an actor; the goofy opening of Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest with “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!” from Oklahoma!; the tinkling and melancholic rendition of the title song from Blue Moon at the bar; Cho Yong-pil’s “Red Dragonfly” blasting in No Other Choice; the final moments of Lurker with Archie Madekwe singing “Love and Obsession” while being shot with paintballs; and, I’ll say it, I thought the final needle-drop in One Battle After Another of Tom Petty’s “American Girl” was very charming! Flawed movie, but it won me over. Kyle Turner

Anything from The Testament of Ann Lee. What an experience. Sean Atkins

GREAT year for this question. The prog synth in Rabbit Trap is marvelous, the rap battle in Highest 2 Lowest, the score and the cellphone images in Dry Leaf painting complementary abstracts, the Wagner in 28 Years Later, Sinners soaring in the juke joint, the opening rave in Sirāt and the farewell song in Costa-Gavras’ Le Dernier Souffle. Really FELT some things this year. Scout Tafoya

What excited you or broke your heart about/at the movies this year? 

The Merrily We Roll Along filmed entertainment was a colossal disappointment for me this year. That problematic musical is a favorite of mine, and having screened some truly wonderful filmed stage musicals in the past, I had such high hopes. But the relentless use of extreme closeups, the removal of the live audience’s reactions, and just the general “I’m trying to make a film out of my filmed stage musical” approach by the director made this a big miss for me. On the positive side, The Long Walk, based on a book I’ve held in my heart since reading it as a 13-year-old when it was first released in 1979, was a profoundly moving experience for me. So much so, I spontaneously wrote an essay about the experience in the car on the way home for Fangoria. Sean Abley

The public reception for Sinners excited me. Its repeat success last spring was proof that people still wanna see original movies in theaters again. The media backlash for Sinners broke my heart. Even now, outlets are still acting like a non-IP film made by a Black guy, starring a multiracial cast, that grossed $368 million — in 2025! — isn’t a big fucking thing. Craig D. Lindsey

All the mergers are killing me. Century-old studios are mashing into each other like the Blob and dissolving the bones of the humans inside. This is not being done for the good of the industry, it’s not being done to make better movies, it’s not being done to help creative people get higher paychecks — it’s not being done for any reason other than to keep rich people rich. And it only spells doom for a once-thriving distribution model that, several decades ago, was providing mainstream audiences with a reasonable variety of art. Witney Seibold

The amount of films that got 35 mm and 70 mm releases this year made it an exciting year at the movies. Brian Lonano

The scene between Josh O’Connor and Bridget Everett in Wake Up Dead Man just completely destroyed me, but in a good way. This was something beautiful and transformative that reaches in and kicks your soul’s ass. And as for heartbreaking, Aidan Delbis is so good in Bugonia, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is talking about how he’s the heart and soul of humanity in that film. Jason Shawhan

We’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m thrilled to see so many women filmmakers in my top 10 (and so many others’ year end lists) this year. Brooke Bernard

I was most excited by the big-money heights. Getting big original studio films like Sinners, One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme and Weapons made me excited for a future when more films like it can follow and also prosper. 28 Years Later thrilled me in ways sequels just don’t these days, and The Phoenician Scheme made me so glad Wes Anderson met Steven Rales. Cory Woodroof

I saw Blue Moon at the Toronto film festival on my 55th birthday. I found the movie spellbinding, but I have to admit a big reason of why it haunted me was the feeling of turning older in a big city, far from my family, while taking in the story of a man who sees himself becoming obsolete. The movie itself was great. The long, lonely walk back to my hotel was one of my most memorable film-related experiences of 2025. I know that sounds sad or maudlin, but I think we go to the movies to feel things. Sometimes it’s good just to wallow in melancholy on a lovely fall night in Canada, after seeing something excellent. Noel Murray

For as awful as the theatrical experience has become post-quarantine with people who have apparently forgotten how to act like a sensible human being in public, it did warm my heart how often I saw young people at the movies, excitedly talking about what they’d just seen and making plans for the next one. Sure, I’d love it if they’d stop taking photos of title cards on the screen, but I am hoping it’s something they’ll grow out of. BJ Colangelo

As obnoxious as celebrity can be, Timothée Chalamet’s continuous rise in Hollywood gives my generation a cinematic star to follow. People want him to succeed, they want to see his movies, and he is very talented. Anything that brings people out to the movies is exciting to me! Erin Thompson

The creativity behind Sinners excited me for a variety of reasons. Ryan Coogler created a funky, blues-heavy and very Black version of From Dusk Till Dawn that got people talking. He could have just coasted by on Black Panther movies, but he did the Cassavetes thing and used his clout to barter for the complex story he wanted to tell. And it was a hit! Plus, he made a killer deal with Warner Bros. that brought out the racism in a lot of white entertainment writers. Did I mention that Sinners is bloody good fun AND has great music, acting and cinematography? Odie Henderson

The fact that Crave Canada and HBO’s Heated Rivalry was not an A24 blockbuster was both exciting (there are more hours to enjoy in the series) and heartbreaking (we need the kind of unified excitement it has received inside people’s homes inside movie theaters). Teddy Minton

The chase sequence in the desert in One Battle After Another was one of the most exhilarating, perfectly shot chases I can ever remember, while that end credit scene in Sinners was the perfect bow to a movie that was exciting from start to finish. What broke my heart was seeing James L. Brooks, who made one of the most astute satires of the television news media in Broadcast News, create something so toothless as Ella McCay. Michael Compton

World-Class Performances Elevate Chloé Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’

The Shakespeare biopic starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal opens this week at the Belcourt and AMC Thoroughbred 20

2025 was a year of movies breaking my heart and making me cry: Castration Movie Anthology, It Was Just an Accident, Twinless, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Hamnet, Wicked: For Good, to name just a few. I needed a good cry. I needed to feel something, and I needed to be reminded of what we can accomplish when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and lean on each other. Quinn Hills

The short documentary All the Empty Rooms completely destroyed me. It documents the empty bedrooms of children who lost their lives in school shootings. Starting here in Nashville, it’s truly heart-wrenching. It’s a must-see for those who rather offer “thoughts and prayers” than see actual change. Dom Fisher

I knew as it was happening that The Long Walk was my favorite film this year. I sobbed three times in the theater despite a man listlessly browsing Facebook Marketplace on his phone two rows in front of me. Scrolling through Meta-curated garbage while young men march to their deaths out of desperation is commentary so on-the-nose that it would be considered hack if it wasn’t real life, but it also doesn’t matter? It was embarrassing to witness, but it didn’t change how I was feeling about a movie that still turns me into a mess during subsequent rewatches. The feeling and investment mattered more than anything else in that moment, and that is the magic of movies. Harmony Colangelo

I don’t want to ruin it, but the end of Ben Leonberg’s heartbreakingly scary Good Boy — about a dog who sees a malevolent presence its owner can’t recognize — features one of the most beautifully tragic lines of dialogue I’ve ever heard. I cried my eyes out in the theater, and then hours later I was standing in line at a pharmacy and suddenly remembered it, and I cried my eyes out again, right in the middle of the skin-care aisle, and I probably made the people around me a little uncomfortable. If they asked me why I was crying — they didn’t, but if they did — all I would have been able to say was, “He’s a good boy.” William Bibbiani

I don’t think I’ll be alone in saying that hearing the news of Rob Reiner’s killing broke my heart. It’s hard to compare his decades of smart, funny, hopeful movies with anyone else’s filmography. Annie Parnell

I was deeply touched and invigorated by the honest and thoughtful portrayal of faith, in all its perversions and purities, in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. It often feels borderline impossible to engage religion on screen in a way that makes both believers and skeptics feel acknowledged and respected in the conversation, but somehow Rian Johnson pulled it off with sincerity and vulnerability. During the phone call prayer scene between Josh O’Connor and Bridget Everett, the theater went completely still, and I couldn’t help but weep. In the realm of pop iconography, I thought Superman’s suggestion that “kindness is punk rock” was exactly the resonant message that our culture needed to hear right now. In another era it might have felt saccharine, but today that kind of sincere openheartedness feels genuinely subversive. It’s gone under the radar, but I loved The Long Walk. The film may be gruesome, but there is a genuine devotion to friendship and goodwill toward your fellow man in this story that feels reminiscent of Stephen King’s most bighearted work, like Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption. It’s much needed at a time when, much like in the film, many people in power want to keep us divided and angry at each other rather than realizing we’re all on the same trek. And I still get choked up every time I think about experiencing the ending of Hamnet at the Belcourt; watching a film about the communal power of art in a dark room full of other strangers sniffling in unison was profound and connective. Georgia Coley

I realized Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani are major filmmakers. I was frightened by how much I identify with Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s characters. Steve Erickson

Weapons becoming a legit thing, both in the mainstream culture and amongst the aficionados. The fact that I could compare Aunt Gladyses on Halloween excited me about the vitality of cinema. Benjamin Legg

Things that broke my heart this year: 1. The complete failure of Kiss of the Spider Woman to register with anyone! 2. A total lack of recognition for Diane Lane’s superior awards-worthy performance in Anniversary. 3. Rob Reiner’s killing. Michael Jay

I have to go with the experience of seeing 28 Years Later in the cinema for the first time. All these years later, to see Danny Boyle essentially reinvent the zombie genre again was a sight to behold. It was also a terrific reminder of how he is one of the greatest visual filmmakers around. That film broke my heart, terrified me, gave me goosebumps, and ended with something so unexpectedly ludicrous that it had to be admired. Billy Ray Brewton

The Sphere in Las Vegas did both. I love the possibilities of the breathtaking new space, but I hate the AI trampling of The Wizard of Oz. Tony Youngblood

Lots of talk about movies meeting the moment, all the anxieties of the cultural and political landscape being sublimated or more overtly addressed in lots of new releases. I was more moved by depictions of people carrying on, the resilience and absurdity of characters confronted with the uncertainty of the current reality, be it It Was Just an Accident or the desire to create in spite of everything in Grand Theft Hamlet. I was moved by the ambivalence of Blue Moon and the desire to resurrect and maybe romanticize a time when freelancing still sucked but artists and thinkers were still pushing forward as in Peter Hujar’s Day. Kyle Turner

The skull in 28 Years Later. Sophie Fillières’ Ma Vie, Ma Gueule — “how many more showers before I die.” Godard’s last confession. Miss you, Bridget. Scout Tafoya

Seeing Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious at the festivals this year, and the audience reaction to the utter madness that was unfolding before them, gave me more joy than I can put into words. The art of being badass for the sake of badassery is alive, and the people love it. Ken Arnold

This felt like the first year when the lion’s share of movies started wrestling with the present moment in interesting ways. Far fewer tidy conclusions and campus monologues. More rooting around this madness with a sense of curiosity and humility. Nobody has the answers, but this feels like the movies are asking better questions of ourselves and our world. Also it felt like I laughed more at the movies than I have in years. The two may be related. Rob Kotecki

Heartbreaking at the movies: Jessie Buckley’s gut-wrenching final moments in Hamnet. There was really no other performance like it this year. Heartbreaking about the movies: Ted Sarandos calling the theatrical experience “outmoded,” Netflix acquiring Warner Bros., and basically all things related to the obscenely wealthy guys at the top dictating what we theater-going film lovers get to experience. D. Patrick Rodgers

I went to see a movie in early November, and when I sat through back-to-back trailers for Wicked 2, Mandalorian and Grogu and Avatar 3, it felt like mainstream cinema has really bottomed out — and this is coming from someone who loves blockbusters. William Mahaffey

Heartbreaking: David Lynch, the infuriating encapsulation of America in The Perfect Neighbor, somehow not really feeling Hamnet or Caught by the Tides, the amount of end-of-year movies released at the same time, the amount of P-words used in One Battle After Another. Exciting: Ochi, Sinners, Harry Lighton’s feature debut Pillion, Amanda Seyfried, After the Hunt being sorta discourse-proof, the IMAX submarine sequence in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Linklater nailing Nouvelle Vague, restorations of Angel’s Egg, Love and Pop, and four Obayashi films, the opening shot of Presence, the Action Distraction series and Vera Drew at the Belcourt, the last 40 minutes of Bi Gan’s Resurrection on a big screen with M83’s score cranked to 11. If you told me was humanity’s final film I’d be good with that. Sam Smith

Cackling at the acid piss in The Toxic Avenger in a rural Texas theater full of completely unexpecting normal people. Graham Skipper

More people in general raving and discussing original movies as opposed to superhero/blockbuster fare has been a welcome sight. Sean Atkins

Seeing The Naked Gun with a huge audience really brought me up. It just feels so good to see a comedy with a bunch of people and laugh our collective asses off. Jacob Davison

It was exciting to see MUCH MORE LGBTQ+ characters in cinema this year — not just as main characters but also supporting characters. More than that, all of them were treated like normal human beings, with equality and respect, and not just the stereotypical butt of a joke or something to be feared, reviled and othered. That depiction might sound mundane and simplistic, but it’s actually progress! Regarding a film that broke my heart this year, I think that award goes to The History of Sound. We all have had short-lived moments of pure joy and happiness throughout our lives. Many of us have romanticized those moments as the most significant — the best of the best — and have gone above and beyond, chasing them down in order to recapture that brief moment in time, never to let it slip through our fingers again. But why do we do that? Paul Mescal’s character Lionel says at one point, “It’s not nostalgia, and it’s not grief.” And interestingly enough, as humans, we know EXACTLY why we are motivated to recover it, but we can’t verbalize what IT ACTUALLY IS! We only know what it means to us and why we want it back. That is this film in a nutshell, and the melancholy of not being able to retrieve those moments will most definitely provoke an emotional response within you by the time the film has ended. Dave Irwin

I don’t feel heartbreak, but if I did, I would be heartbroken that I wasn’t old enough to attend the first Lilith Fair. Being all of 2 years old when the festival premiered, I would not have been able to understand how important it was for queer, feminist youths that such a festival even existed. Jess Bennett

What really hurt was seeing way, way, WAY too many fantastic independent films of all genres last at the multiplexes for the grand total of a single week before disappearing without ceremony. Splitsville, The Ugly Stepsister, Blue Moon, 100 Nights of Hero, Queens of the Dead, The Toxic Avenger and Bob Trevino Likes It came and went without a trace, despite being some of the better films of this year. I wish audiences had the curiosity to give the indies a chance! Kevin Allen

So many films I saw this year just felt like “Content.” It’s one thing to be mediocre on accident, but many of them felt designed to be streamed for a week and then completely forgotten. That said, the movies that actually felt like movies (looking at you One Battle, Bugonia, Sirāt, Marty Supreme) were all the sweeter. Zack Hall

I remain excited at the alternative visions and compelling stories that are still being done, though in too many cases they don’t get the same recognition and exposure as the commercial blockbusters. It is also encouraging to see that the enthusiasm for cookie-cutter superhero films seems to be waning. Not that there isn’t always room for a good film based on a comics character. But audiences are rightly demanding more than retread stories and umpteen sequels that pivot off already utilized storylines. Ron Wynn

I saw One Battle After Another in its fourth week of release, with about 12 other people in the theater. When the lights came up, we all silently nodded and smiled at each other. Like, good movies still happen. Michael Sicinski

How do you compartmentalize being an analytical/critical viewer from the ongoing insanity of the world around us right now?

I think the art we’re making reflects the time we live in, so the movies are just part of the insanity. (I don’t like the idea of movies as escape.) Analyzing the movies being loosed into the world is just a way to keep a handle on the horrors. And a reminder that some artists are thriving and surviving despite the terrors of American fascism. The movies are the open heart we must hold in our chests and the middle finger we keep constantly upraised to the world. Witney Seibold

The other day I caught myself overthinking the many financial and legal reasons why narrative films based on 15- to 20-year-old documentaries with the same title (The Smashing Machine, Song Sung Blue) are being permitted. Even in the case of Song Sung Blue, the original documentary director, Greg Kohs, put the film on YouTube in November 2025 to help capitalize on Hugh Jackman’s endless promotional tour with an ice cream tie-in. Rather than dig into the actual reasons behind this trend (corporate mergers, licenses lost, companies that have gone bankrupt, titles lost in mass acquisition now sitting on Tubi), I spent $7 and bought a game called Megabonk. It clears away all the pain and just asks me to bonk. Bonk, bonk, bonk. Whenever I find myself teetering on the edge of a Pepe Silvia-esque abyss, or thinking that Jim Carrey had a point in The Number 23, I go bonk. You should too. Life is hard. Just bonk. John Lichman

Look to history. Life and art go on, even when the world’s in turmoil. I highly recommend reading some of the movie reviews James Agee wrote in the World War II era. It’s a reminder that critics are reporters, leaving a record of what they saw going on around them, even at the movies. Noel Murray

Yikes! That’s a genuinely hard question to answer. Being a film lover has been ingrained in my DNA for nearly 50 years, so If I’m being honest, I don’t think I really know how to compartmentalize my own personal critiques from the social and political climate we are currently forced to endure. That’s probably why I didn’t enjoy a lot of this year’s critical darlings like Eddington and Marty Supreme. Cinema, as an art form, is very powerful and influential, and there have been many films released this past year that I am afraid are going to make people (especially young people) jump to the wrong conclusions on how to conduct their lives and their interpersonal relationships within. Dave Irwin

It’s difficult, for sure. But the escape to the movie theater is the only clear solution to ignore the slop I read/see from around the world on a daily basis. Sean Atkins

I think I’ll take the Amanda Lear approach. What ongoing insanity? Darling, I don’t know her. Sure, you say I ripped lines with her off of April Ashley’s lower back, but I simply don’t recall such a thing happening. Jess Bennett

In short, I don’t. Film has always been a gateway to perspective and the world we inhabit. I find that it continues to provide powerful insight and thought-provoking conversations for those of us who are openminded and interested in learning. That goes for popcorn flicks as well. Dom Fisher

This feels like a personal question about why I didn’t love One Battle After Another. Benjamin Legg

I keep going back to how cinema has persevered through all manner of disasters. Wars, depressions, tragedy. And through history, people needed an outlet through art. We can find hope, we can laugh together, scream together, feel the full course of the human condition. I keep going back to Joe Dante’s movie Matinee, which revolved around a B-horror monster movie playing during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s a great way of processing a world gone mad. Jacob Davison

I just tell myself that one day, the consequences of this period of anti-intellectualism on both sides of the aisle will eventually be felt, and the masses will once again come to cultured folk desperate for insight. Kevin Allen

Honestly I don’t think I can compartmentalize what’s going on in the world with what’s happening on screen. I believe that movies are in constant conversation with each other and the world around us. That’s why I think Sinners was such a big hit this year: It gave audiences hope and an idea of what moviegoing could be like if there were more original and diverse stories on screen. Erin Thompson

Sometimes I need to take a step back and focus on things outside of the film world. I probably watched fewer films this year than in any other year in a very long time. The key for me is balance and variety of activities to just stay sane and keep moving. Ken Arnold

I guess I figure it like this. Anything I am doing with my time aside from driving to Washington, D.C., and hunting down Stephen Miller (for an autograph, of course!) is an unconscionable waste of time, so watching movies is as good a pastime as any. Michael Sicinski

I’ve always seen film as an escape from everything in the outside world. So unless a film just tries to wedge an agenda in for sake of the agenda, it remains my time to get away from all the outside noise. Micheal Compton

I don’t think compartmentalization is the way. I think being aware of the material conditions that allow movies to be made and for us in our (generally relatively) privileged positions, to be able to watch them and engage with them. Nothing exists in a vacuum. It’s maybe harder to have the energy or desire to treat movies as vessels for change or anything, and I think that it would be nice if the energy or sense of galvanization that we claim to have when seeing something incendiary or politically minded went to action (something I still struggle with, for the record!). But visual culture and the rest of the social/cultural/political landscape are constantly in communication with one another, even and especially with what they skate over, erase or ignore. As much as the information overload has maybe kneecapped us in some ways, I think if viewers are making these connections between the bombings in Gaza, the displacement in Sudan, the regular GoFundMes for medical expenses, and whatever else we’re seeing on our phone or feeds and the commercial or artistic work we see at the movies (theater or home or elsewhere), I can only hope that that (however small the popular might be that’s doing this) will make for better-informed and more ambitious culture making. Kyle Turner

I don’t think you do. I think you just use the times you’re living through to inform everything. So I don’t compartmentalize — I just use it for fuel. Billy Ray Brewton

Films are the antidote. Reminding us that there are much bigger, greater, deeper currents out there, always flowing, preserving history, tying us together. Escape — no, elevate — into art. Sam Smith

One of the primary things I value in a movie is the ability to somehow synthesize the cultural conversations that are happening in the wider world through art — and express them in a way that brings words to what we’ve all been feeling but haven’t been able to articulate ourselves. In those moments, analyzing and thinking about movies helps me to feel, understand and ponder our reality and our moment in a way that simply reading the headlines never could! Georgia Coley

It’s very challenging and messy to try and integrate being both a thinking and feeling person, but I don’t try to compartmentalize. Life is freer around the doubts raised by paradox than the certainty that is presumed by control. So it’s become more important than ever to just try my best to protect my peace. I focus more on my own boundaries, inner/outer stability, resilience, acceptance and vulnerability than on the chaos and cruelty at work in the world. But all that does is make the people of the world’s bullshittery less consuming. Teddy Minton

What do you mean? Everything’s fine. EVERYTHING’S FINE!!!!!! Tony Youngblood

Is that how we’re supposed to watch movies now? What a dream! Zack Hall

By not allowing anything other than the quality of performances to be the determining factor in evaluating anything. The arts are still a source of inspiration and motivation, as well as solace and joy. They should also be encouragement for us to reject hatred and ignorance no matter where it comes from or who is behind it. Nothing is more infuriating than seeing the perversion of the Kennedy Center, an example of everything wrong and disgusting as well as dangerous in both arts and politics today. Ron Wynn

Admittedly, I’m not doing a very good job of it these days. It’s really hard to dedicate time and brain power to critiquing art when that energy is better suited to criticizing the government or the corporate billionaires hellbent on dismantling the industry for spare parts. It has, however, deepened my appreciation for films willing to make bold statements about the world around us. I started the year sobbing in the theater to Mickey 17 because I didn’t realize how badly I needed a film, especially one made by a non-American director, to essentially grab me and say, “You’re not crazy. The world really is broken up right now, but the evil will be defeated, and we will build a better society.” BJ Colangelo

You let the movies do it for you. We can’t change the world around us past what we’re able to do in our backyards, but the communal joy of seeing a movie and appreciating it as a collective reminds you that there is still a lot of good in the world. Loving movies and embracing the community of good folks that comes with loving them makes the world a little less insane. Cory Woodroof

I think these days I’m less drawn to movies in which the statement the director is trying to make stops at “everything sucks/the world around us is insane.” I just find them a little exhausting. Instead I’m finding it more engaging and critically interesting to see movies about the surreal places that ambient insanity takes people to, and how they find stability and embodiment in spite of that. Annie Parnell

It’s impossible (and irresponsible) to review movies without considering the cultural context around them, but you also can’t let that completely overtake your thoughts on a film. It’s a difficult but important tightrope to walk. Logan Butts

It’s become increasingly hard to do that. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been especially cynical about the upcoming release slate of films. But I still look to the movies to provide an escape from the nightmare world we’re currently living in, and if a story is well told, then I’m still able to disconnect from reality and enjoy it in most cases. William Mahaffey

I have to periodically remind myself “I like movies. I LOVE movies. Quit thinking about stuff for a couple hours and just have a good time.” Graham Skipper

I can’t turn off the outside world. It follows me into every movie theater. I see our world, myself and the people I love in every film I watch. Is it exhausting? It can be. But it’s also therapeutic. We need catharsis. And feeling things isn’t divorced from thinking things. Wicked: For Good made me feel and cry so much, but I also know that it’s far weaker narratively than its predecessor. The second part successfully made me emotional because I already cared about the characters, and it frustrated me because I knew it could be better. Among the chaos, that impulse propels me forward the most: loving people and our creations and longing for a world where we can become the best versions of ourselves. Quinn Hills

Film provides a lens for us to reflect on and process the world, and it provides me with deep comfort knowing that art is created to help us make sense of life and acquire tools for moving forward. I don’t feel a need to compartmentalize; instead, I immerse. Is that not a part of everyone’s viewing practices? Lisa Ellen Williams

I don’t. If anything, the insanity makes me appreciate movies more. It makes you appreciate the filmmakers past and present who’ve made cinematic art out of the crazy-ass shit that’s still going on today. They’ve been making movies about crazy muhfuckas like Orange Boy for generations. Craig D. Lindsey

I’ve always been mouthy and political when I’ve written about film, so I’ve never been all that good at compartmentalizing. But anti-anxiety meds have been a blessing on all manner of levels. Jason Shawhan

I don’t compartmentalize so much as I retreat, which means I’ve needed movies more than ever before in my life — except maybe that semester in college when I lived in an illegal apartment in Lechmere, Mass. Scout Tafoya

I don’t. It think it’s my responsibility not to. Art isn’t made in a cultural or political vacuum, and criticism isn’t either. Art an act of communication between two people, and what we choose to say to each other — at any time, but especially these times — matters, on a grander scale. We make art to process our circumstances, and we respond to art with those circumstances on our mind, consciously or otherwise. William Bibbiani

I can’t, so I don’t. The world has always been insane as far as I’m concerned. A few more levels of cray doesn’t change anything. I did feel, at times, that writing about film was frivolous considering what else is going on. But again, I’ve felt like that for decades. Odie Henderson

Not at all well. Steve Erickson

Oh I am just running headlong in. I was showing a friend Cabaret for the first time recently, and something I have been thinking about all year is that art alone cannot defeat fascism. You cannot make commentary, jokes or whatever that will make the insanity fix itself out of shame or guilt. This year has been a bleak one for me in the films I’ve been drawn to, new or old, but instead of escapism I have been so pissed that I can’t not do something about it. So depending on how you look at it, I’m either doing a really good or really bad job of compartmentalizing, I guess. Harmony Colangelo

Time for Bold Statements. 

I am optimistic that next year will be a better year for movies. Erin Thompson

Sinners was a mess of a movie. The midpoint musical sequence was as cringe-inducing as the ending montage in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon. Brooke Bernard

Despite all the negative things that can rightly be said about the current social and political situation, I remain convinced that ultimately good people will return to positions of authority, both in the arts world and in politics. In the meantime, those who are in positions to tell the stories that are needed, in whatever genre they feel comfortable, should continue to do so. Their work helps others feel like continuing to do whatever they can to make things better in their communities and nationwide. Ron Wynn

People need to stop going for high scores when it comes to movie watching. I am not convinced anyone logging as many as four, five, or six hundred films annually on Letterboxd really has the time to sit with or think about each of them in ways they deserve. At some point, turning them into star ratings and numbers just makes it all feel disposable. Harmony Colangelo

Popcorn should be free. Dom Fisher

Just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD! I’m looking at you, Ethan Coen, The Weeknd and everyone involved in the Five Nights at Freddy’s film franchise! We need more quiet, “under the radar” films like Sentimental Value, Sorry, Baby and The Life of Chuck to remind us that it’s just as important to watch movies in order to “feel” instead of simply being “entertained.” Dave Irwin

The old, bloated giants of Hollywood are expelling their final, prolonged, fetid breaths. They’re trying to eat gems and shit gold, but have poisoned themselves. Their shining armor is rusted, cutting into their skin. Each one is a masturbating Ozymandias, convinced they will rule forever when their reigns ended a few years ago. The land is now lawless, and everyone is a ruler. In such a landscape, outsiders can thrive. They will gather what they need from the dying kings, bundle it into a fascinating new vehicle, and take it on the road, reaching the people by sincerity rather than by decree. Queer artists, repressed artists, new artist will define the world moving forward. They will change the parameters of film, the medium itself will alter. This is something to be excited about. The bones of the giants will bleach in the sun. Witney Seibold

Wake Up Dead Man is even better than the original Knives Out, and may well be Rian Johnson’s most personal and profound film to date! Avatar: Fire and Ash is a little lost in the sauce, but that’s only because there is a lot of delicious sauce to get lost in! Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning was quite the letdown for me — and I hope they continue the series to eventually stick the landing! KPop Demon Hunters is Frozen for a new generation — but much better, funnier and even more creatively animated than Frozen! Roofman is probably the movie I’d be most likely to recommend to anyone on the street this year. Eddington and One Battle After Another make a hell of a double feature, if you can stomach the grim and cogent depictions of our age! Georgia Coley

I think Osgood Perkins’ movies are dreadful. Sorry! D. Patrick Rodgers

In about 10 years, we’ll look at AI in art the same way we did the high-frame-rate boom of the early 2010s. It won’t catch fire with audiences like some people want it to because of the uncanny valley. At least HFR had soul behind it; AI is just gimmicky slop from The Algorithm. At least for the arts, AI will take its rightful place alongside JibJab videos and custom celebrity birthday cards as content curio best suited for snail mail and misleading Facebook posts. Cory Woodroof

I know she is the frontrunner and overwhelming favorite for Best Actress, but I wouldn’t even consider Jessie Buckley’s performance in Hamnet top five in the category. This isn’t so much an indictment of her performance, which is very good, as it is more of a statement for how strong that category is this year. It’s perhaps one of the best years in recent memory. If you wanted to argue for Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, Reinate Reinsve in Sentimental Value, Eva Victor in Sorry, Baby, Amanda Seyfried in The Testament of Ann Lee, Emma Stone in Bugonia, or even Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love, I could certainly be persuaded. Micheal Compton

Marty Supreme is a terrible movie, and it’s embarrassing how many critics (primarily male) are dancing the Hucklebuck for it. It’s also embarrassing to see writers concoct some of the articles about Little Timmy being a big asshole on the press tour (“Oh, he’s just being Marty!”) or reporting that Chalamet didn’t use a stunt double for the scene where Shark Tank dude beats his bare ass with a paddle. Hey, guys! I didn’t use a stunt double for any of the ass whippings I got from my mother growing up. Where’s my MFin’ Variety profile? And my Oscar? Odie Henderson

The Dog from Good Boy (Indy) gave one of the best acting performances we saw this year. It’s hard for humans to sell scenes with just their expressions, but for a dog to carry an entire movie like that is actually insane. Ken Arnold

Park Chan-wook > Bong Joon Ho. Brian Lonano

This year was one of the best for movies since 2019. It felt like filmmakers finally pushed past the long delays and complications of the COVID era and the strike era and were able to get their creative juices flowing again. I did see a lot of duds and disappointments from artists I usually like, but even that was kind of a thrill. I can’t recall a year when there were so many new movies to see by the most accomplished directors, writers and stars of our era. I don’t know how 2026 can compare. It might take another year or two before all these wonderful people make something else. Noel Murray

I’m honestly not as hard on movies that use AI as others are; whatever helps get time-consuming but ultimately frivolous tasks done faster, like the renderings on easels that were on camera for all of two seconds at the end of The Brutalist, is a benefit to the production process. I understand everyone’s concerns about AI taking jobs in film and replacing movies altogether, but they ultimately won’t because the slop label and justified pushback from creatives together create a stigma around the technology that’s so big, it’ll never go away, further hindering its impact on artistic industries. Kevin Allen

As dark as things have become, I still believe cinema, art made by humans and the theatrical experience will be desired by the public. Jacob Davison

The unintended consequence of Netflix and Warner Bros. merging (?) will be when Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger begins to open across 2026 festivals. It will involve hemming and hawing because Cannes will bristle, but no one will deny Tom Cruise his exit from Mission: Impossible and return to “serious” films (even if this is a comedy). This forced co-dependence will bring streamers and festivals back together, even though they never left each other as they both love to spend obscene amounts of cash on one another while claiming to be nothing more than frenemies. It will force Netflix to accept the theatrical release standard, because Tom Cruise will finally unleash his weird energy, and it will give birth to a new theatrical/streaming mentality that will make people relax, politicians stop doing weird shit and inspire cities to promote tiny local theaters that will cater to all of us. Or it won’t, and then we are all fucked. John Lichman

The Oscars should institute Best Long Film categories alongside their Best Short Film categories, so movies that are two-and-a-half hours long or more can be sequestered in their own category. I just want to be able to catch up on the Best Picture noms in peace without dragging myself battered and bruised through a nonstop gauntlet of bladder-bursting movies like One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme and the like. Brennan Klein

This isn’t that bold, but we need theatrically released comedies now more than ever. There’s been a glut of trauma in our world that ends up reflected on our screens, but in 2025, the most healing experiences I had at the movies involved having good dumb fun chuckling with a bunch of strangers in the dark. Not to string-quartet it on the deck of the Titanic too much, but when our reality’s so dark, does the majority of our quality entertainment/escapism really need to be so miserable? Thanks The Naked Gun, Friendship and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie! Zack Hall

Netflix buys out J.K. Rowling after they complete their sale for Warner Brothers Sean Atkins

Media literacy is dead, replaced by rabid fandom, social and moral critique disguised as film criticism, and rejection of any film that doesn’t meet one’s philosophical bullseye. The recent(ish) discussions around The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Heated Rivalry, and the death of Brigitte Bardot are prime examples. Sean Abley

All of the sweeping decisions made by CEOs this year encouraging relationships with AI, backpedaling on DEI initiatives, and prioritizing the “second screen” experience is going to backfire in a very big way in the next few years, and I hope every last one of us decrying these decisions elects not to take the high road and screams “We fucking told you so” at the tops of our lungs. BJ Colangelo

I beg of you: Stop using AI. Yes, I know some of your employers encourage its use or even mandate it. But don’t take it home with you. We’ve reached Jurassic Park levels of danger and irresponsibility: Our scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should. Who wants us to use AI? Billionaires. And since when did we need to do what they say? If you need concept art, hire a concept artist. If you don’t have money, bake them pies. If you need to brainstorm names for a product, use your actual brain. If you want to make a movie but don’t know anyone to make it with you, go online or go outside and meet people! The billionaires win when we give up what makes us human. They want us to believe we need their tools to think and create. They want us to marvel at their Tyrannosaurus rex as it bites our heads off. It may be harder to wield the tools we’re naturally given, but we can make something real with them--something imperfect and beautiful that reaches another person and inspires them to think and feel and create. Quinn Hills

I’ve been amused and confused about all the concern over all the various “IP” and “properties” that would be affected by these big mergers; if we look deep down inside ourselves, are we really concerned about the fate of Barbie, Batman, and Harry Potter over the next 75 years? Don’t we want that type of filmmaking to die anyway? Don’t Harry Potter fans (on top of everything else they’re dealing with) not even want this new TV version? Don’t we want to stop milking things for more than they’re even worth? Don’t we want new IP anyway, if you must even call it that? A lot of American Psychosis for me can boiled down to not accepting that empires can fall. Let things die! Will movies be less relevant and popular than they were for the last century? Sure, but so what? So was classical music, backgammon, and plenty of things that are still cool to young people, that still inform the development of anyone who chooses to have curiosity about life, history, and humanity. Movies from around the world, movies made on smaller budgets in the states, and movies released by boutique distributors are the best movies made anyway, and they will always exist, in some form. Let the asshole oligarchs run the show and we’ll see how culturally relevant they are. Support independent theaters, for sure. But if the studio system is a supernova set to collapse in on itself, I’ll be thrilled to see what kind of movies emerge from the fire and ash. Sam Smith

We used to light movies! I’m always saying this. Someone hire some gaffers, best boys, and electricians; everything looks like garbage. Please for the love of god. Also Ari Aster should be put into restraints and not allowed to touch a camera again until he learns how to make decent compositions, never mind have something like interesting to say about the nuclear family, neurosis, or the state of America. He’s so annoying. Steven Soderbergh needs to stop doing tech demos and pretending they’re movies. All the stunts A24 and NEON do don’t interest me and sometimes I feel like undermine their movies. More proshots of theater (plays and musicals) should be released in theaters or on streaming (the West End production of Next to Normal, available from PBS, is one of the best things I saw all year). Jon M. Chu also, please stop, why are all your musicals unbearable to watch?? Keke Palmer should be in more movies. Put her in a musical! Kyle Turner

As a work of filmmaking, Marty Supreme was almost inarguably a well-constructed film — that is, if you’re into the signature freneticism of a Safdie movie. But it is not at all the kind of story we need in this cultural and political moment, which is to say it takes yet another uncritical view of a selfish, ego-driven man, failing up. It’s another aggrandizing celebration of the men we’re all still suffering on the daily and would like to dethrone already: the ones disproportionately running our states and country. Marty Supreme, in these times?! Get over yourself. Teddy Minton

American entertainment publications are, by and large, extremely late to the anime party, and need to dedicate more space and resources to covering the medium and its artistic and cultural significance. And film critics, in general, need to pay closer attention to animation as a whole, and to the formation of new cinematic trends and revolutions taking place outside of theaters and conventional streamers, but are still right under our very noses, on snobbily disregarded “populist” self-distributors like YouTube and TikTok. William Bibbiani

As a follow-up to the previous question, I think extremely online Politics Guys with no context of the history of film should be banned from reviewing movies, especially current ones. I don’t need YIMBYs or NIMBYs telling me that One Battle After Another is too radical/isn’t radical enough if they’ve never seen The Battle of Algiers. Logan Butts

I had expected more pansexual three-ways from the movies of the 2020s. Oh well, better luck next year. It is a shame that Zackary Drucker didn’t use “Queen Lear” as a subtitle for Enigma. Jess Bennett

Toronto is no longer a world-class film festival. It’s so fixated on Oscar campaign launches, it may as well be programmed by Sasha fucking Stone. Michael Sicinski

‘The Secret Agent’ and the Strong Jaws of Authoritarianism

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller opens this week at the Belcourt

A perna cabeluda (The Hairy Leg) from The Secret Agent would have been scarier were it not for the CGI. Benjamin Legg

Studios like A24 and Neon are making things harder for independent theaters with their bullshit requirements to book their films. My one-screen theater benefited greatly from booking their films for a long time, but once they all adopted rules that force you to play their films exclusively for two weeks, things changed, and now we don’t work with those companies anymore. I don’t think this is a particularly bold statement — it’s more like common sense — but no one really talks about it, and I think it’s a serious problem in the industry, and these companies need to be called out for it. William Mahaffey

2025 was trash. Everything’s expensive. Times are hard — I saw Jeff Bridges in a T-Mobile commercial with Druski, for Chrissakes! People would rather stay home than go to the movies, and I really understand that. If a trip to the grocery store can bankrupt you, you know frequent visits to the multiplexes are rare as hell. Streamers will continue to take over everything, literally turning us into the people from Wall-E. The AI movie is coming, and it’s gonna be garbage — but it’ll clear a billion anyway. I give the studios five years. Craig D. Lindsey

AI-generated content has no place in the movies. Annie Parnell

Quentin — we think you’re good to retire now. At first we were all like, “No, don’t!” Now I think we’ve had our fill. You made some great movies. Thanks for that. You’re also a holier-than-thou, self-righteous P.O.S. who needs to keep his toxicity to himself. K, thanks! Billy Ray Brewton

A horror film is going to win Best Picture at the Oscars this year. Graham Skipper

It was a hard year to be alive, but against all odds the movies did come to my rescue a few times. Scout Tafoya

This year’s controversy over an AI-generated actor prompted me to rewatch Andrew Niccol’s 2002 prophetic masterpiece S1m0n3! What seemed like an outrageous concept 23 years ago plays very differently in today’s world. Al Pacino plays a struggling filmmaker who finds success with an AI-generated actress that he makes everyone believe is a real person. Wherever you stand on A.I., do yourself a favor and watch this film. You’ll thank me. Michael Jay

The next great studio that will save the industry won’t be defined by their ability to make great movies. They’ll be defined by their ability to get audiences excited about those movies. I will continue to beat the drum that most of the medium’s woes can be tied back to the lost art of marketing. It’s not just a poster and a trailer, but an act of seduction. The people who built the business and those who restored the industry’s glory over the years understood this. Bring on the carnival barkers, and they are all carnival barkers. From Darryl Zanuck to Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca. From Hitchcock to Larry Cohen to Tom Cruise. Make movies feel cool and essential. They already are. Barring that, could the folks in charge at least tell us when their movie is opening? Thanks. Rob Kotecki