We begin with a list of the year’s greatest masterpieces. These are the awards contenders, the ones that were made to be studied in film school. The films that push the boundaries of what cinema can accomplish. And of all possible categories, we begin with…

Best Stephen King Adaptation

Even by the standards of pop culture’s most adapted living author, this was a banner cinematic year for Stephen King adaptations. A record four film adaptations and two television adaptions in 2025. And that’s not even counting the two films — Abraham’s Boys and Black Phone 2 — from Joe Hill, son of King.

We got The Monkey, so morbidly deranged that it’s tough to know how seriously the film should be taken. I know The Life of Chuck has its fans, but it never really congeals into anything worthy of the filmmakers’ ambition or the cast’s collective talent. The Running Man (2025) starts off great, but keeps on losing steam until it ends in a garbage fire.

The clear winner here is The Long Walk, a brutal and harrowing anti-capitalist war allegory that slowly morphs into a pitch-black meditation on greater themes of life and death. The performances are all heart-wrenching, the violence is horrific, and the script is a beautiful adaptation. This movie instantly hit the upper echelon of Stephen King adaptations, which is saying a lot.

Best Female-Driven Trauma Film

Yeah, it’s rather depressing that we got enough of these to warrant their own category. And with such a variety to choose from!

My Dead Friend Zoe was a character drama about the myriad systemic ways in which we fail to help veterans with PTSD. Die My Love was a psychological drama about postpartum depression and aging. Sorry, Baby was a mumblecore black comedy about life as a sexual assault survivor. Drop was a suspense thriller about domestic abuse.

These are all wonderful films. But if you cherry-picked the best parts from each of them and slammed them all together into one movie, you’d get something like Bob Trevino Likes It. Here we’ve got a film that explores trauma and human connection in authentic and poignant ways that are nonetheless empowering and uplifting. Throw in career-best performances from a marvelous cast — most especially exec producers Barbie Ferreira and John Leguizamo — and you’ve got a film that will move any audience to laughter and tears in equal measure.

Greatest Thriller

Folks, we’ve got so very many great choices here, all of which are worthy of recognition among the year’s best.

Again, Drop was a superbly-crafted modern potboiler that made ingenious use of its setting and domestic abuse themes. Highest 2 Lowest was a prime slice of Spike Lee cinema. Black Bag utilized the covert intelligence profession like no other film I’ve seen. Americana was a crime thriller/black comedy riff worthy of the Coen Brothers at their finest.

And then there’s Relay. Fucking Relay. Inspired casting, a razor-sharp script, unique and compelling themes, this one is a goddamn gem. It’s outright criminal that this movie isn’t getting more year-end recognition.

…And I so badly wish I could make it my choice for top thriller. But I’m sorry, Wake Up Dead Man is simply too damned good. I don’t even care that it’s the latest in a series, it’s so self-contained, so wickedly intelligent in its examination of religion and mob mentality, so compelling and immaculately plotted, the film stands on its own perfectly well.

Best Heavy Drama

I sincerely wish I loved Frankenstein (2025) more than I did. Alas, it’s difficult when a select few actors are eating the scenery and everyone else is getting eaten by the scenery. Likewise, I was honestly kind of disappointed that No Other Choice couldn’t quite nail the darkly comical tone they were going for. And for all its strong points, Hedda is so convoluted by design that the mere act of watching it is almost more trouble than it’s worth.

Nuremberg is a strong candidate, a hard-hitting and painstakingly crafted examination of how and whether we’re truly capable of learning and adjusting in the face of true evil. Even so, that movie didn’t really push any cinematic boundaries or do anything innovative — not like that car chase in the climax of One Battle After Another.

It’s been a long, long time since I last saw a film in excess of 160 minutes that kept me so thoroughly riveted through every second. Even with that excessive runtime, the filmmakers effectively crammed in enough plot for a season of television. Everything about that movie fires on all cylinders. It’s Paul Thomas Anderson’s best work in at least ten years, and everyone in the cast is likewise operating in peak form. It’s a tremendous accomplishment.

Best Light Drama

Song Sung Blue and The Wedding Banquet (2025) were both sweet little movies, but nothing I feel compelled to revisit anytime soon. Materialists was held aloft pretty much exclusively by the talent and charisma of the lead actors, without much of anything else to offer. I freaking loved The Phoenician Scheme — if it wasn’t for that godawful climax, it would’ve scored a much better chance of taking the win.

This one comes down to two delightful choices: Rental Family and Twinless. Both are sweet and wonderful movies about lead characters forced to grapple with their own dishonesty. Both films are beautifully shot and superbly scripted, with marvelous performances from the top down. Both films deal with themes of death, grief, and human connection in poignant and humorous ways.

It’s a tough call, but I’m giving this one to Twinless. Of course it gets bonus points for the charming and authentic depiction of my hometown. But more importantly, it’s a movie that dives headlong into themes of mental illness and LGBTQ+ sexuality, openly acknowledging that the lead character is a psychologically broken shitheel (played by the film’s own writer/director, no less), and yet it still somehow works just as well as an empowering feel-good story. Oh, and of course we can’t forget that genius first act plot twist.

Twinless is the film that got away with taking bigger and bolder chances. That makes it the greater accomplishment.

Greatest Animated Film

The Bad Guys 2 and Zootopia 2 were both serviceable, by the standard of sequels to movies that didn’t need sequels. Elsewhere, The Day the Earth Blew Up and Elio were both outright phenomenal, especially by the standard of movies that got outright sandbagged by their respective studios.

But I’m sorry, this was the year of K-Pop Demon Hunters. Yes, it quickly became oversaturated in the pop culture zeitgeist. Yes, the soundtrack is already overplayed to death. Even so, I have a hard time begrudging anyone for making the film so popular when it really is that damned good. The animation, the characters, the voice acting, the music, the themes… literally everything about this movie somehow works better than it has any right to on paper. And when all these elements dovetail together so the themes and the music support each other, the results are outright transcendent.

I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it, but K-Pop Demon Hunters really is a legit masterpiece.

Greatest Mindfuck

I know it’s by design, but that didn’t make The Surfer any less miserable to sit through. I could say the same for Mickey 17, the film in which Bong Joon Ho finally went a bridge too far. Weapons fared considerably better, but mostly by virtue of its innovative plotting and engaging performances. The relevant themes are much more coherent upon a second watch with closer inspection, but I’m still not a fan of the sharp tonal switch that comes with the big reveal of what’s really going on.

So instead, I’m giving this one to Love Me. Why? Because it’s a film about sentient AI examining deep themes about connection, the human condition, and the value of mortal life, and the film plays out over the entire lifespan of Planet Earth itself. The film was practically made to win this category.

Greatest Masterpiece

This one’s no contest: Sinners. You already know I’m a fan of movies that blend multiple genres into something greater than the sum of all parts, and there was no movie this year that did it better than Sinners. I need hardly add that Ryan Coogler’s producing deal for this movie was groundbreaking in a way that could potentially change the very business of making movies.

Even without getting into copyright issues and revenue sharing, Michael B. Jordan’s performance alone is a marvel of effects work and acting talent. That one-shot musical montage alone is a groundbreaking and spellbinding work of world-class cinematic genius. Every character is nuanced in surprising ways, the themes are all thought-provoking… literally every single aspect of this movie is innovative as it is epic. This has to be the defining cinematic masterpiece of 2025.

Stay tuned for the Disappointments list, coming up!