According to Letterboxd, I watched over 480 films in 2025, or an average of 40 films per month. I know—I don’t know how I did it either. In 2025, I also published two books—Theology and the Films of Christopher Nolan: Cinematic Transcendence and Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell (33 1/3)—secured publishing contracts for four more books, and have a few other book ideas and journal articles in the works. In a conversation with my spiritual director, I realized that, for me, writing is a spiritual discipline. I feel God’s presence when I am writing. The flow of words from my mind and heart to my fingertips are empowered by the Spirit of grace.
Beyond publishing, I gave an invited public lecture on Christopher Nolan’s cinema at Gonzaga University, and did an author event at Powell’s City of Books in Portland for my book on Sufjan Stevens. I also taught my first film studies course, “Film Theory and Criticism,” which was such a joy. Now in my fifth year as a professor at George Fox University, I am feeling more at home as both a Christian pastor-theologian and a film scholar-critic.
Ninety of those 480+ films were from 2025. There are some films from this year I haven’t seen yet that may have made my list: the latest Dardenne brothers’ Cannes award-winner, Young Mothers; Park Chan-Wook’s No Other Choice; Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme; Richard Linklater’s latest collaboration with Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon; Julia Loktev’s epic documentary, My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow; Bi Gan’s Resurrection; and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother. And there are critically acclaimed films that I enjoyed and appreciated, just not as much as the ones that appear on this list.
For my top 20 films of 2025, I’ve organized them in thematic pairings. I didn’t originally intend to do this, but the patterns emerged as the list finalized. On the surface, many of the matches’ parallels and connections may not seem apparent, but I believe they may materialize after further consideration and contemplation. Each year, I try to identify a theme from my top films. Previous themes include “dialogue,“ “a boundary-breaking quest for community,” “death, grief, isolation, and loss, and “maturing.” For 2025, the theme is “resilience and hope.” Many of these films are about characters struggling to come to terms with significant loss, trauma, and grief, yet they experience healing and find the strength to continue on. In the wake of overwhelming evils or tragedies that would understandably lead to despair, these are films that dare to face the darkness and shine a light of hope and grace. Many are bold, ambitious, and creative endeavors from cinematic artists who are pushing the boundaries of the form; whether they made me laugh or cry, filled me with righteous anger or with joy, all are films I found to be powerfully affective. I’ve included my short reflections/reviews from Letterboxd for each film. Here are my Top 20 Films of 2025.
Monogamy: It’s Great!
20. Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh). This might be the sexiest film ever made where there are zero sex scenes and everyone is fully dressed (often in layers!). There is nothing so hot as radical monogamy, nothing as cool as a sincere commitment to the truth.
19. Splitsville (Michael Angelo Covino). I, too, am a fan of monogamy and The Fray.
The Awkward Pains of Adulting
18. Friendship (Andrew DeYoung). (Spoiler Alert) I laughed until I cried at the toupee, the toad, and Jimp.
17. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier). Phenomenal performances all around. It’s wild to me that Stellan Skarsgård has never been nominated for an Academy Award.
Cinematic Documentations of Unjust Death
16. The Perfect Neighbor (Geeta Gandbhir). A real-life horror film. This, tragically, is America.
15. The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania). Truly gut-wrenching. I honestly don’t know how to process this, let alone rate it.
Mediocre Men in Self-Destructive Spirals
14. Urchin (Harris Dickinson). Whatever makes someone a great all-around filmmaker—acting, writing, directing—Harris Dickinson has it. And Frank Dillane gives one of the strongest, most committed performances of the year.
13. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt). Great score. The music, not the heist. This is mid-tier Reichardt for me, partly because it’s not set in Oregon, partly because O’Connor’s blankly inept JB didn’t hold my attention like other Reichardt protagonists. This film’s narrative functions like if Meek’s Cutoff was mainly about Meek, or Fargo centered on Jerry Lundegaard—the women in those films are the strongest characters in more ways than one (and I think that’s the point here too). But lesser Reichardt is still one of the best films of the year. That’s just how good she is. And the ending made me chuckle.
Fresh and Funny Blockbuster Reboots
12. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer). Hilarious. And under 90 minutes!
11. Superman (James Gunn). Maybe this is just my emotional capacity right now regarding the state of the world, but I teared up about a dozen times watching this. Weird, wild, and surprisingly humane, this is indeed Punk Rock.
Quirky Characters Who Believe Themselves to be God (Until They Realize They Aren’t)
10. Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han Jin Kuang). This was so beautiful and tender-hearted, a lovely film in every way. As a parent of three kids, with a wonderfully quirky youngest child, this touched me deeply. At the moment, I’d say this is the best animated film of the year.
9. The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson). The most overtly religious Wes Anderson film is also possibly the most violent Wes Anderson film.
Peer Pressure/Torture
8. It Was Just An Accident (Jafar Panahi). An all-timer of a final shot concludes this complex, harrowing look at the lingering trauma of injustice and the miraculousness of mercy.
7. The Plague (Charlie Polinger). Letterboxd has this categorized in the “horror” genre when it’s really just a frighteningly accurate depiction of being a middle school boy. Incredible sound design and cinematography, as well as very strong performances from all of the young actors. Films I thought of while watching this: The Fits, Let the Right One In, Paranoid Park, and Beau Travail.
Malickian Grief and Loss, or, The Way of Nature and the Way of Grace
6. Train Dreams (Clint Bentley). Yes, it’s Malick Lite. To me, it’s beautiful. Wish I had seen this in theaters, and I hope it’ll eventually be available beyond streaming. FYC: William H. Macy as Best Supporting Actor.
5. Hamnet (Chloé Zhao). Beautifully devastating. Memento mori. Jessie Buckley will deserve the Oscar she wins in March 2026.
Poignant Prophetic Critiques of Present-Day Politics
4. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson). This is a Christmas movie. And a Girl Dad movie. And, somehow, in the midst of all its heart-pounding thrills and political urgency, an unexpectedly hopeful movie. Breathe.
3. Wake Up Dead Man (Rian Johnson). “You’re right. It’s storytelling. This church, it’s not medieval—we’re in New York. It’s Neo-Gothic 19th century. Has more in common with Disneyland than with Notre Dame. And the rites and the rituals. The costumes, all of it. It’s storytelling. You’re right. I guess the question is, do these stories convince us of a lie? Or do they resonate with something deep inside us that’s profoundly true, that we can’t express any other way except storytelling?”
The above statement from Father Jud is as true of cinematic art as it is of religion. Wake Up Dead Man, like every fictional film, is a work of imagination and artistry, a blending of formalism and realism that can still speak of and point to truth, beauty, and goodness even when (sometimes especially when) in the realm of myth. The best stories awaken us, enliven us, move us deeply, and keep us coming back to them over and over again in order to encounter their mysteries with fresh eyes and open arms. Touché, padre.
Music as Ecstatic Spiritual Experience
2. The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvold). My God. This was pure cinematic ecstasy.
1. Sinners (Ryan Coogler). “The blues are true because they combine art and life, poetry and experience, the symbolic and the real. They are an artistic response to the chaos of life.” —James Cone, The Spirituals and the Blues. Ryan Coogler is currently the best working American filmmaker under the age of 40. It’d be great to see Coogler become the first Black filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Director.
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