As the year winds to a close, we’re sharing lists of our favorite films we’ve seen (so far).
Seattle Film Critics announce 10 best films of 2025 and nominees for annual awards
This afternoon, the Seattle Film Critics Society (which counts a few of us as members) announced nominations for the 2025 SFCS Awards. Dominating the nominations was Ryan Coogler’s Sinners with fourteen, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another with twelve, and Clint Bentley’s Pacific Northwest-set Train Dreams with eight.
What would you do with Eternity?
It’s the eternal question (pardon the pun), but what happens when we die? Nothing? The best things? The most mundane things? Well, Eternity offers on a more romantic take with every day being your best day ever, but the rub is you have to choose what that means the moment you arrive in the afterlife and no take backs. For Larry Cutler, it’ll always be with Joan but she may have other plans.
The Thing With Feathers digs into the macabre of loss
A middle-aged man loses his wife unexpectedly and so quickly that it leaves a gaping hole in his chest that can’t be quelled. He’s nearly paralyzed by grief, but he has two young boys to care for. Instead of dealing with the emotional fallout, he bottles it up inside until it swallows him whole. The manifestation of his pain comes in the form of a crow, starting as a normal bird, but with time becomes twisted, grotesque and incessant.
Rian Johnson’s terrific Knives Out mysteries hit peak form with Wake Up Dead Man
The latest Knives Out finds onetime boxer turned small town priest wrapped up in a thorny and inexplicable murder of a controversial Monsignor. A warm embrace in a world of wolves, this third iteration in the ongoing Benoit Blanc series represents a major emotional leap for the franchise while demonstrating its dexterity to reshape itself to meet the the current mood.
Neither art or family come easy in Joachim Trier’s exquisite Sentimental Value
It’s been quite a year for films about fathers reckoning with the consequences of having prioritizing careers over family or making art as a balm for old wounds, none yet have come close to holding a candle to the carefully-crafted emotional effectiveness of Joachim Trier’s spectacular Sentimental Value.
Chloe Zhao ponders an undiscovered country in Hamnet
Notes from Saturday at Telluride where the festival saw the world premiere of Hamnet and North American premieres of Bugonia and Pillion.
Wicked: For Good magnificently concludes the saga, if it must
Wicked: For Good picks up where Wicked left off. Elphaba is fleeing the wrath of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), whom she angered by calling out his impotence, and she’s being chased by flying monkeys. She isn’t safe anywhere in Oz. Meanwhile, during her exile, the Wizard and Madame Morrible continue their malevolent schemes and promote Glinda as the “good” counterpart to the “bad” Elphaba. They literally brand her as “Glinda the Good,” plastering the slogan across banners throughout Oz.
Lonely? Need some more people at your birthday party? Have you tried renting Brendan Fraser?
Several years ago, I first learned about the Japanese phenomenon of “renting” family members. For anyone willing to pay several thousand yen, it’s possible to rent a surrogate to fill an emotional (and physical) vacancy: someone to attend birthday parties, go shopping, or even get slapped by the wife of an unfaithful husband. People are lonely, and these companies exist to fill that void.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t lays it on thick
If you haven’t seen the first two installments of the Now You See Me franchise, it’s better if you catch up on those before seeing number three. We find ourselves a few years in the future with a new team of three young bucks up to the same antics in the name of the original quintet. Not quite as fast-paced as the first film, but with just as many misdirected tricks up their sleeves in the name of the brotherhood of magic and the greater good.