While highly-anticipated picks like Lilo & Stitch and The Minecraft Movie may not have been critical darlings, their massive global box office intakes have helped to sustain theaters long enough for smaller films to get the exhibition they need and deserve.
It’s typical that the most acclaimed films of a given year tend to debut in the second half when they are more primed to be in the awards consideration, but the first six months of 2025 have offered more than a few gems. Wes Anderson’s historical caper The Pheoncian Scheme is another heartfelt declaration of anti-fascism. Sorry, Baby was an impressively personal debut for writer/director Eva Victor, while Eddington was a disturbing assessment of the realities of 2020, and F1 proved that there’s room for summer blockbusters that have nothing to do with superheroes or dinosaurs.
Of course, there are still many eagerly-awaited films slated for the back half of the year. Jeremy Allen White’s role in Springsteen: Deliver Me From No Where follows a trend of breakout music biopics in recent years. Leonardo DiCaprio will return to the big screen with the black comedy, One Battle After Another. And Oscar winner Emma Stone will again team up with Yorgos Lanthimos for the science fiction satire, Bugnoia.
But as that excitement settles into the second stretch of forthcoming releases, we’re looking back on the five films that have stood out to us the most so far this year.
5. 28 Years Later
Danny Boyle reinvented the cinematic depiction of zombies back in 2002 with 28 Days Later, which replaced the morose undead creatures from Night of the Living Dead with aggressive, fast-moving hoards of rotten flesh. 28 Days Later’s depiction of abandoned cities, in which people avoided others out of fear of being infected, became a bit too prescient in the COVID-19 era. The new sequel, 28 Years Later, brings the franchise full circle as it examines the transgressions humanity made in order to survive.Set within an isolated community that has barred itself from outsiders, the film is a clear analogy of the xenophobic attitudes that led to Brexit, and delves into the legacy of occupation that has defined much of British history. Although it's a far more artful, emotional story about a splintering family than some horror buffs may have expected, 28 Years Later features cutting-edge digital camerawork (much of it was shot on an iPhone) to create truly terrifying visuals.
4. Sinners
In what has become the surprise sensation of the year, Sinners is an old-fashioned vampire thriller that delicately explores the history of displacement and its inherent ties to the American frontier.Michael B. Jordan is stunning in the dual role of two identical-twin World War I veterans who return to their hometown with the hopes of initiating a Black-owned business. If Smoke represents the uncompromising Blackness of a family man willing to be free by whatever means necessary, Stack is the embodiment of the assimilated man desperate to cling to fragments of his identity.
There is a righteous anger in the way that writer/director Ryan Coogler uses vampires as an analogy for historical evils, but Sinners is also an electrifying thrill ride and features some of the year’s most inventive use of IMAX photography. In particular, a buzz-worthy tracking shot that examines the interconnectivity of generations of Black music embodies the mix of populism and prestige that makes Sinners such a unique achievement.
3. Warfare
2025 has offered far too many reminders that Americans have failed to remember the ramifications of the Iraq War, and Warfare is an unsettling reminder of the futility of the conflict. Although writer/director Alex Garland attempted to explore the objectivity of media with last year’s alt-future thriller Civil War, Warfare is derived completely from the memories of the veteran Ray Mendoza, who co-directed the film with Garland.The end credit footage of Warfare details just how seriously Garland took the responsibility of being accurate. Any dramatic interpretation is bound to make creative choices, and there are certainly subtleties that hint at intentions with the film. Warfare begins with a group of “dude-bro” soldiers ogling the dancers in Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” video, and ends with an American tank emerging from the ashes of the devastated home of an innocent Iraqi family. The consequences of jingoism are evident, as Warfare is not prone to lionizing sacrifices made at the expense of others.
2. Black Bag
There are about a dozen different current streaming shows and Netflix originals that take place in the covert espionage, but Black Bag is a highly entertaining spy thriller that pries into the deep interior of relationships. George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) may be the smoothest, most efficient agent in the National Cyber Security Center, but he faces a crisis of confidence when his wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), is accused of being a double agent. It’s a classic whodunit where the spy craft is merely a backdrop, as Black Bag is more interested in the half-truths and purposeful ambiguities that are essential to a marriage.
Black Bag is surprisingly light on its feet for a film with so much technical jargon, and that's likely due to the charisma of its supporting cast; George is tasked with investigating other spy couples played by Tom Burke and Marisa Abela, as well as Naomie Harris and Regé-Jean Page. Screenwriter David Koepp may have given reason to doubt his legacy with his abysmal script for the disappointing sequel Jurassic World: Rebirth, but his delicate, playful writing for Black Bag is among the best work he’s ever done.
1. The Life of Chuck
Mike Flanagan has proven to be a maestro of horror with his critically acclaimed Netflix shows The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. However, his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck has much more in common with Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption than it does with The Shining or It. Told in reverse chronological order, The Life of Chuck examines the adolescence, adulthood and legacy of the accountant Chuck Kranz (Tom Hiddleston), who wrestles with eternity as he is surrounded by death.It may seem odd to say that a film that begins with an upsetting depiction of an apocalyptic event is “uplifting,” but the film takes joy in examining the ripple effects of time. The Life of Chuck looks at the extraordinary moments of inspiration, kindness and bravery that can constitute just one lifetime. Featuring a robust cast that includes everyone from Mark Hamill and Chiwetel Ejiofor to Karen Gillan and Nick Offerman, this is the rare adaptation that completely surpasses its source material.
