TOP TEN MOVIES of 2025!

Some years are easier than others, but besides my top two, I had a tough time choosing what films to include on my Top Ten this year. I have a mix of inspirational stories and thrill rides, well-crafted genre films and movies that defy categorization. From the mundane to the totally weird - to represent my eclectic taste and to also highlight films that maybe need that extra spotlight. I love that no two people's lists are exactly alike, and hopefully this collection represents me in some way. Enjoy!

10. Grand Theft Hamlet

Directed By: Sam Crane & Pinny Grylls

The pandemic hit us all in different ways, but one positive thing that came out of that bizarre, dark time was the spike in digital technology to connect us. I remember virtual movie parties, Jackbox game sessions with friends over Zoom, and finally updating my video game consoles to play Animal Crossing and Mario Kart over the web. Grand Theft Hamlet is a completely unique documentary that perfectly captures that specific era in time, as a couple of out-of-work British actors during the pandemic attempted to recreate the entirety of Shakespeare's Hamlet within the confines of the game Grand Theft Auto Online, recruiting strangers from around the globe to their cause. It's a hilarious, poignant, unique story told entirely with in-game footage.

Best and Worst 2025 Movie Superlatives

We lost legends like David Lynch, Robert Redford and Rob Reiner. We endured the "chicken jockey" phenomenon. Sydney Sweeney successfully sold her own bathwater, but not so much her jeans (or her movies, for that matter). Hollywood had a rough year between wildfires and the existential threat of AI. KPOP Demon Hunters jumped from the Netflix dumping ground, to a theatrical success and the #1 Halloween costume this year. 2025 was a CRAZY year. So let's look back at what I consider some of the best (and worst) of what it had to offer with my annual movie superlatives list!

BEST ACTRESS - Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

All four of my main acting honorees this year each play mentally unwell characters - but Rose Byrne is the most relatable one. In the film, she plays a mom at the end of her rope; balancing caring for her daughter with a severe eating disorder, handling her intense patients as a therapist, and dealing with a large, gaping, dark hole that appears in the ceiling of her apartment. It's all adding up to drive her into madness. Much like The Babadook, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is a Kafka-esque psychological thriller that plays on the fears of motherhood, and Rose Byrne delivers an excellent performance, dragging us through her hell with her.

Best and Worst 2024 Movie Superlatives

Yank down those calendars, folks - 2025 is coming at us fast! But before the ball drops, heralding in the new year, along with January's fresh batch of Oscar contenders finally going wide, now's the perfect time to take a step back and reflect. 2024 was a strange year, which was appropriately mirrored in a lot of the movies that came out! From the ultra-violent Terrifier 3 being #1 at the box office, becoming the first unrated film to do so, to Dune Part II's suggestive popcorn bucket design - you truly could not predict where things were headed. We also said RIP to legends like Quincy Jones, Terri Garr, Tony Todd, Maggie Smith, Gena Rowlands, Shelley Duvall, Donald Sutherland, and Roger Corman, to name a few. 

When you step back, you realize, there's a lifetime in a year! So my pre-Top Ten annual tradition is to honor those films that stood out from the rest of the pack. The ones that seared themselves into my brain and wouldn't let go, whether it was because of an unbelievable performance, a goosebump-inducing music score, or cinematography that you'd want to frame on your wall. I hope you enjoy my personal batch of superlatives for 2024!

BEST ACTRESS - Demi Moore, The Substance

Demi Moore made a comeback in a BIG way this year with the body horror masterpiece The Substance. In a role that perhaps hits close to home as a former box office queen of movies like Ghost, she plays a fading celebrity, Elisabeth Sparkle, who turns to, let's say, extreme measures to preserve her youthful beauty. Unflinching, intense, and transformative (literally), her next-level performance bears it all. I will be pulling for her to get a well-deserved Oscar nomination - and in a perfect world, a WIN!

Predicting the 95th Academy Awards - Every Category!

The time has come - Oscar season! Where the "best" in movies come to duke it out to win a little statue of a naked gold man. While pitting wildly different artistic expressions against each other like a sporting event is inherently ridiculous, it's always fun to bet on the winners, and discover new movies based on the nominations! So if you want some predictions from a freak who has seen every nominated film, look no further!

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

TAR

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

I Predict: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Kung fu-multiverse-family dramedy-mind bender Everything Everywhere All at Once is the juggernaut to beat this year. While the BAFTA Award (the British equivalent to the Academy Awards) went to the German WWI epic All Quiet on the Western Front, Everything Everywhere took the top prize at the Critics' Choice Awards, the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild. With the most amount of nominations and precursor wins, I can't conceive of any other film taking it down!

Top Ten 2023 Oscar Snubs

They can't all be winners - but sometimes not getting a nomination can feel almost like a personal insult! Here are what I consider the biggest, most upsetting snubs at this year's Oscars.

10. The Northman snubbed in all categories, including Production Design

I don't know what happened, but Robert Eggers' excellent Viking epic The Northman came and went earlier this year, unable to drum up any support this awards season. This Shakespearean tale of revenge brought the brutal Nordic world of the late 800s to life with some amazingly-crafted sets and costumes, and I was hoping to see it at least sneak in MAYBE this one category. Unfortunately, this movie will have to find its audience some other way!

Best and Worst 2022 Superlatives

It's that time of year again, to unveil my superlatives for the year of 2022! It's been a wild year for film - from box office records being broken, to Will Smith's shocking Oscar moment, Warner Brothers cleaning house (even scrapping the nearly complete Batgirl), teenagers in suits seeing Minions en masse with the "Gentleminion" challenge, and Johnny Depp's trial keeping the tabloids reeling. This was an important year for film in many ways, but this is the time where I want to focus on the best movies had to offer! 14 categories awarding the best - and worst - superlatives of 2022; enjoy!

BEST ACTOR - Brendan Fraser, The Whale

The Whale was my #1 most anticipated movie of 2022, and a large part of that had to do with Brendan Fraser making a comeback. After some personal issues took him away from the spotlight for a number of years, Darren Aronofsky gave The Mummy star the role of a lifetime - earning him a well-deserved 6-minute tear-filled standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Playing a 400-pound, regret-filled gay father stuck inside his apartment, Fraser takes a role that could have been either simply misery porn or the cringe of the century and creates a truly transcendent performance unlike anything I've ever seen. While online reactions have been very divisive over the film, I personally found it to be one of the most moving portraits humanity I've ever seen.

Top Ten 2022 Oscar Snubs

Five nominees per category - they all can't be winners! Every year people don't make the cut, but that doesn't mean the snubs don't hurt! The following are what I personally consider the biggest, most annoying snubs of this year's Oscar race:

10. Kathryn Hunter Supporting Actress Snub for The Tragedy of Macbeth

In what might rank as THE best depiction of the witches from the classic Shakespeare play, for my money Kathryn Hunter was the standout performance in Joel Coen's reimagining of the endlessly revamped tragedy. I would argue that her genuinely terrifying performance, complete with contortions, was more memorable than ANY of the nominees in the Best Supporting Actress

Most Anticipated Movies of 2022

10. The Batman
Director: Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn/War of the Planet of the Apes)
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, Jeremy Irons, Jeffery Wright, Andy Serkis, Zoe Kravitz, John Turturro

Although we've been over-saturated with superhero movies and shows for the past 10+ years, I am still excited to see Robert Pattinson take on the Dark Knight. He more than proved himself with his manic performance in the Safdie Brothers' Good Time, and Ari Aster's twisted The Lighthouse, so I trust he'll deliver. I worry it might be too overstuffed with villains, but since Batman is my favorite superhero, I can't help but geek out at the prospect of Paul Dano as The Riddler, or Colin Farrell pulling off The Penguin. Plus, Matt Reeves has done a fantastic job bringing a unique vision to effects-heavy action films lately, so I'm hoping for the best!

Release Date: March 4, 2022

TOP TEN Movies of 2021!

2021 - such a weird year for movies! Theaters continued to struggle as HBO offered films on streaming the same day of release, but also, somehow Spider-Man managed to make a billion dollars. Celebrity deaths like Norm Macdonald and Michael K. Williams hit hard. The Golden Globes aren't being televised, and Oscar season is super short since last year they had an extended deadline for COVID. Crazy times! All that being said though, if you dug around for gems there were plenty of amazing movies to watch this year. 

So here it is, my official "Top Ten" movies of 2021!

10. Raya and the Last Dragon

Directed By: Don Hall & Carlos López Estrada

Written By: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Kiel Murray, Adele Lim, Paul Briggs, Dean Wellins, Qui Nguyen & John Ripa

Awkwardly released in March, when theaters were open but moviegoers were still unsure about returning, Raya and the Last Dragon was unfairly left behind before it could really find its audience. But this fantasy epic ranks among the Studio's best films with a stunningly realized world, along with fun, heartfelt characters. 

BEST and WORST 2021 Movie Superlatives!

The 2020s are shaping up to be the greatest decade ever! Right guys? .... Right? .... Ok, maybe they've sucked, but at least we can all escape our problems with movies! 2021 may have only been slightly less wonky of a movie year than 2020, as theaters slowly started to reopen as the months went on, but there was still awesome stuff that came out that deserves to be applauded. So before I get to my official top ten list of 2021, here are some highlighted categories from this year in film that were some of my favorites (and least favorites). Enjoy!

BEST ACTOR - Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Anthony Hopkins may have completely stole the thunder from the Oscars this year, ending the broadcast with a shocking win over Chadwick Boseman's final role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, but for anyone who actually watched The Father, no one can say it was unearned!

Perhaps the greatest role ever from one of the greatest actors of all time, Hopkins' portrayal of a man experiencing dementia perfectly (and horrifically) captures the feelings of confusion and time displacement that many of us have experienced with either parents or grandparents. It's also a particularly brave, self-reflective performance because Hopkins himself is an older man, and playing a role like this can probably hit close to home. The Father is a magnificent film, and it's Hopkin's performance that holds it all together. A well-deserved honoree of being the oldest Oscar-winning actor ever!

Predicting the 93rd Academy Awards (EVERY CATEGORY)

Despite 2020 being an absolute dumpster fire of a year, with movie theaters being open for maybe half the year, and the latter part at limited capacity, it wouldn't have seemed outside the realm of possibility to outright cancel the Oscars this year. But looking over the nominees, honestly, this is one of the strongest collection of films in a long time! Below, check out my predictions in each category, as well as my personal ranking of each film. I was able to watch every nominee this year, so by reading this blog, you just might win your virtual office Oscar pool!

BEST PICTURE
My Personal Ranking:

1. Minari

2. Sound of Metal

3. The Father

4. The Trial of the Chicago 7

5. Promising Young Woman

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Nomadland

8. Mank

I Predict: Nomadland

I think this is a two-way race. Minari and Nomadland seem like the frontrunners here, with Trial of the Chicago 7 just a little behind. Mank may have the most nominations but it's the least lovable - it's really only appealing to movie nerds. The rest are all fantastic films with wide appeal. Nomadland, the "unofficial" frontrunner this year, has been a beast this awards season, picking up Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes and at BAFTA (the British Academy Awards). 

Minari could follow the same trajectory as Moonlight for a win, though. It's the little A24 "movie that could", and it's a lot more of a crowd pleaser than Nomadland, which could give it an edge considering the Academy's preferential ballot where voters rank the movies (so not just #1 votes are counted). Plus in a year with anti-Asian hate on the rise, it could win, but I'm not getting my hopes up too much. I'd be overjoyed to be wrong!

10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2021

Despite the fact that movie theaters have been either closed or at minimum capacity for the majority of the year, IT'S OSCAR SEASON!! The Oscars are like my personal Superbowl, and nomination announcement day is always exciting. What made the cut? Who will go home a total loser? Getting an Oscar nomination cements one's movie cred in the history books forever, even during a weird COVID year, so a snub hurts extra hard! The following are what I consider to be the 10 biggest snubs of the 2021 Oscars:

10. The Invisible Man snubbed for Best Visual Effects, Best Actress, Best Sound

Horror movies getting respect at the Oscars is always the exception to the rule. Although Get Out, Silence of the Lambs, and The Exorcist show that sometimes a fright flick can cut through the sobering period pieces and family melodramas, it just wasn't The Invisible Man's year. Despite being a brilliant reinvention of the classic Universal Monster as a metaphor for hidden domestic abuse it earned no love this season. Elizabeth Moss delivers a fantastic performance essentially against "nothing" (I mean, it's an invisible man), the sound design was delicately calibrated for the perfect scares, and the visual effects were simple, but horrifying. I was hoping for it to sneak in there somewhere but oh well... at least this movie will definitely have a longer shelf life than most of the other nominees!

Top Ten Movies of 2020!

2020 has almost come to an end. It's been a crap-tastic year for sure, with COVID making a ruckus and all the political unrest and whatnot. But with all that quaran-time on my hands, I did manage to see a bunch of fantastic movies despite theaters being closed for the majority of the year. I whittled down my top ten of the year based on the following subjective criteria: how likely I'd be to recommend it, how strong of an emotional reaction it gave me, and how it well it captures that 'X' factor in the cultural zeitgeist right now. 

10. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

Directed By: Jason Woliner

Written By: Sacha Baron Cohen, et al.

I had to put Borat 2 on the list, because no other film this year made me laugh as much, or made so many headlines! Yes, the scene in which Maria Bakalova, playing Borat's daughter, interviews Rudy Guliani leading to an awkward hands-down-pants encounter in a hotel room, is one for the history books! But that alone isn't what makes this a "top ten" film - it also hilariously exposes the problems in our country in that special way only Sacha Baron Cohen can do. 

Cohen puts his life on the line for his comedy - like in the scene where he performs a "Wuhan Flu" song at a conservative rally and he almost literally gets attacked, or stays in character for days and days while living with a couple of old gents deep into QAnon conspiracy theories. Few comedians have that mix of societal insights and balls of steel as Cohen, and I'm so happy that he's able to constantly push the boundaries!

BEST and WORST 2020 Superlatives!

Welcome to my annual movie superlatives for 2020! Although I focus my reviewing skills more on my Letterboxd page nowadays than my blog, I have to at least compile my best-of lists at the end of the year! And what a crazy year it's been. Despite the fact that movie theaters were shut down for the majority of the year due to COVID, there were still a bunch of great movies released, mostly to streaming platforms, that deserve to be lauded.

But before I reveal my official top ten list of the year, I want to spotlight a number of movies that were the best of the best (or the worst) of 2020 in certain categories. Each category features a main winner, a runner-up, and five honorable mentions in order of best to next-best. I've also created a YouTube playlist for the music sections. So without further delay, here are my 2020 Movie Superlatives! 

BEST ACTOR - Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Riz Ahmed first came onto my radar in 2014 acting opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (my #2 movie that year), and he was also magnificent in the HBO miniseries The Night Of as an innocent college student sent to prison. His career is only going up, and Sound of Metal is his first major breakout leading role. 

Here he plays punk-metal drummer Ruben Stone, who is starting to lose his hearing. Thinking his music career and life is over, Ruben's girlfriend convinces the ex-heroin addict to check into a farmhouse rehab for the deaf community. Ahmed's performance is wonderfully complex as Ruben navigates his new, unwanted situation that transforms who he is. It's an incredibly emotional and physical performance, and not to mention he took six months of drum lessons to prepare for the role. Easily one of the best of the year - hopefully he earns his first Oscar nomination!

Predicting the 92nd Academy Awards!

Prediction time, baby! The Oscars this year came under fire for not having any female directors represented, and only one person of color among the twenty acting nominations, but there is one major way I think the Oscars will be shaken up in the Best Picture category... read on for my thoughts on that and the rest! Here are my official predictions for this year's Oscars!

BEST PICTURE
1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
Marriage Story
Parasite

I Predict: Parasite

If Parasite wins Best Picture, it will mark the first time a foreign film ever wins the big prize at the Oscars! This is sort of a long-shot pick, but its big win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards shows it has a lot of industry support. As opposed to the other front runners in this race, it doesn't seem to have as many controversies, and with the Academy's preferential voting system (where voters "rank" each movie rather than vote for their single favorite), I think it holds a shot.

The movies to watch out for, I'd say, are 1917, which won the Golden Globe for best drama, the BAFTA for Best Picture, and the Producers Guild Award, and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which won the Golden Globe for best "comedy" and the top prize at the Critics Choice Awards. I think any of these three films are in the running, but I just have that gut feeling about Parasite!

10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2020

It happens every year... there's only so many nominee slots to fill. Certain filmmakers and cast members are bound to be left disappointed. But this year felt particularly snubby. Here are what I consider the most surprising Oscar snubs of 2020!

10. Dolemite is My Name for Best Actor and Best Costume

Eddie Murphy made a wonderful comeback with Dolemite is My Name, about the blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore. His performance as the eccentric comedian-turned-cult figure brought him some awards buzz, but unfortunately wasn't enough to land on the nominee list. Same goes for costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who won the category last year for Black Panther.

Top 20 Most Anticipated Movies for 2020!

Sometimes the build-up is better than the end product, but here are the top 20 films allegedly coming out next year that I am most hyped about! 

20. Macbeth
Director: Joel Coen (Fargo, True Grit, Burn After Reading)
Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins

There have been a ridiculous amount of Macbeth adaptations over the years. Orson Welles has taken a shot at it, Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa took the play to feudal Japan with his Throne of Blood, and just five years ago Michael Fassbender starred in an adaptation. But despite this abundance of dramas featuring the famed King of Scotland, it's impossible not to get excited at the prospect of DENZEL himself playing the leading role, and Frances McDormand playing Lady Macbeth, following up on her Oscar-winning performance in Three Billboards. Joel Coen is a hit-or-miss director for me, but I'm looking forward to his take on this material, especially as an English teacher!

Release Date: TBA (currently in pre-production)

TOP TEN Movies of 2019!

Another year, another list! This year I didn't really keep up with my movie blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing about films this whole time! Due to time constraints, now I pretty much exclusively write reviews on my Letterboxd profile - so please feel free to follow me on there for my up-to-the-minute opinions.

Besides that, 2019 was a great year for movies! Making this list was difficult, and I tried to only pick movies that I have either seen more than once or have tried to convince others to see! I can't detect any overarching themes that apply to all the films, but one that sticks out this year are movies about outsiders. Many of these films reflect the dangers of our current polarized world.

10. Lords of Chaos
Jonas Åkerlund

For those not up to speed on their Norwegian Black Metal history, in the 80s, the band Mayhem quite lived up to their name. At only 17, their lead singer, Euronymous (Rory Culkin), used increasingly shocking publicity stunts to put their name on the map. However, when he started to cross the line - I'm talking breaking some serious laws - some bandmates left while others, like "Dead" (Jack Kilmer), reveled in their newfound notoriety and "evilness." Lords of Chaos does a fantastic job conveying the idea that adolescents will do anything to fit in or seem cool, but deep down they're just trying to cover up their individual insecurities. It's a disturbing film, but totally reflects our current age of disgruntled male youths.

2019: BEST and WORST Superlatives

2019 has been a wild year for movies! Box office records were routinely broken: Avengers Endgame dethroned Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time, Frozen II earned the highest opening weekend for an animated film, Joker became the biggest R-rated film of all time, and 7 films crossed the billion-dollar mark (5 of them from Disney). In an unprecedented merger, Disney also bought out out Fox Studios, bringing the industry ever-closer to a monopoly.

We also said "rest in peace" to a number of film legends. Some directors that left us include French new wave maverick Agnes Varda, Singin in the Rain director Stanley Donen, John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), and b-movie icon Larry Cohen. Actors that passed include singer/actress Doris Day, Rip Torn (Men in Black), Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), German actor Bruno Ganz (aka, the Downfall Hitler meme guy), horror icon Sid Haig (the saddest one for me!), character actor Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), and Chewbacca himself, Peter Mayhew.

But while there's a lot to mourn when it comes to cinema (as Martin Scorsese infamously pointed out in his controversial New York Times piece), there's also a lot to celebrate! This blog post is meant to illuminate aspects of films that really stood out to me this year, both the good and bad!

THE BEST

BEST ACTOR: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Todd Philips' Joker is one of the most controversial movies this year - whether it's concern over its ability to spark violence, or cinephiles complaining that it steals too much from Scorsese. But one thing I hope both fans and naysayers can agree on is that Joaquin Phoenix gives a fantastic performance. His fresh, realistic take on the clown prince of crime makes the character more honest and disturbing than ever before.

The pre-Joker Arthur Fleck is someone who feels a total lack of control over his own life - even that iconic Joker laugh is a painful, involuntary action for him. Fleck's transformation into the Joker feels inevitable - the uncaring world of Gotham allows his demented worldview to fester and grow. The lack of care for the mentally ill resulting in violence is something we still sadly see all the time in the news, and Phoenix brilliantly brings this lonely, tragic character to life.

Album Review: Slipknot's We Are Not Your Kind

I realize this has nothing to do with movies, and that no one asked for this, but because they're one of my favorite metal bands... I decided to write a review of the new Slipknot album: We Are Not Your Kind! I must say, I'm not a musician, just a fan. I don’t actually know much about the technical musicality of what goes into each track, nor do I actually know the true meaning behind the songs/lyrics, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to write my thoughts anyway!