10. Hamnet

For many, Hamnet is nothing more than an acting showcase for Jessie Buckley. Personally, I disagree with that sentiment. While Hamnet is a movie that takes its time getting going, the highs in this film are some of the highest of the year. We follow the tale of Agnes and William as they live lives isolated in a forest. William, or should I say, William Shakespeare, is a tortured artist, and his wife Agnes might be a witch of sorts. The story follows the perspective of Agnes as she raises her three children while William spends most of his time in London working on various plays. 

To be forward, Hamnet is a film about loss and features some of the most devastating scenes to come out in a movie this year. While much of the praise has been given to the two leads of the film, some of the child performances in Hamnet are arguably one of the strongest aspects of the film. There are a few sequences to show up in a film this year that moved me as much as the final stretch of the film. While I cannot say that I love every moment of Hamnet, the parts that need to move audiences work, which in this case is all I really need for the film to be considered a success in my eyes. 

9. Eddington

Ari Aster’s fourth feature film is one of the most divisive films of the year. It comes in a trend of modern films that examine the 2020s and its current social landscape as social media booms stronger than ever. Eddington is focused on the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic; this alone opens the film up for eye rolls from either political side. But Eddington is never interested in what you think, which might be the most frustrating part of the film for some viewers. 

My experience seeing Eddington back in July was one of the most fascinating viewing experiences of my lifetime. It was a Sunday afternoon and when I entered the theater, I was only expecting a handful of people to also be in attendance with me, but to my surprise, it was closer to 20 people (which feels like a lot for this type of movie). I could feel the energy in the room as audience members figured out if the film was frustrating or if they would be in on the joke. I could hear people in the audience whispering to their friends about whether or not the film worked or if it was funny. There were a handful of walkouts, but also people who seemed to be having the time of their lives. For me, Eddington is a fascinating look at one of the weirdest times in recent US history. I will never say that every piece of this neo-western works, but I sure do have a lot of fun picking it apart. 

8. Train Dreams

Train Dreams was a film that had a lot to live up to. It first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and opened to a lot of praise. From there, I continued to hear about Train Dreams and people’s love for the film. When the film finally dropped on Netflix a couple of months back, I was moved by the performances, the look of the film, its episodic nature, and the overall scale the story covers. 

Train Dreams follows the life and career of a logger, played by Joel Edgerton, from the early-mid 20th century. Which on the surface, might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but the film does a great job at presenting memorable characters that are easy to lose yourself in. The film features some of the most impressive cinematography from the year. There is a very digital look to Train Dreams that I would normally find a bit boring, but the film uses it in such a way that it elevates the beauty of nature and the world that the loggers work in. There is just a level of care and precision to the look and feel of Train Dreams that is absent from a lot of modern movies. All of this creates a deeply moving, yet tragic look at the working man in the 20th century. 

7. Bugonia

When I first saw Bugonia a few months ago, I felt positive it would not be in my top 10 for the year, despite how much fun I had watching it. Since that viewing, the latest from Yorgos Lanthimos has not left my mind. Bugonia is similar to Eddington in how it handles modern times, the internet and paranoia in modern culture. Except Bugonia is a film about a loner and his autistic cousin discovering that the CEO of a powerful company might be an alien. 

Bugonia features two very complicated performances from Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. The scenes are dialogue-heavy and ask a lot of their actors. Performances aside, Bugonia’s screenplay is the true achievement of the film. With a weaker screenplay, the question of whether or not Stone’s CEO character is an alien would be easy to answer early on in the film. This is not the case, with the screenplay keeping the question open in the air the whole time. There were multiple instances in which I went back and forth on whether Stone was the alien that Plemons claims her to be. Bugonia’s ending is one of the most divisive talking points of the whole film; it is deeply nihilistic, but it leaves a lot for the viewer to consider once it is all said and done, which is one of my favorite aspects of filmmaking. 

6. Marty Supreme

One of my favorite parts of being a movie fan in 2025 was watching the sort of breakup between directors Josh and Benny Safdie, who made two of my favorite films to come out of the 2010s, Good Time and Uncut Gems. The previous films from the brother duo are some of the most intense thrillers to come out in the past decade, which explore vile protagonists that you cannot help but keep your eyes on. This year, Benny Safdie made The Smashing Machine, a sports drama starring Dawyne Johnson that didn’t pack the punch it probably should have. On the other hand, Josh Safdie made Marty Supreme, a sports drama starring Timothée Chalamet that packed the punch I was hoping for. 

I love the way that Marty Supreme takes the basic premise of sports films and completely contorts it into one of the tensest films of the year. It is a story about a young athlete finding the greatness he knows that he has, but truth be told, he just really sucks at being a person. He is in a great deal of debt, has a baby on the way that he denies is his, screws over his friends, and just cannot seem to make ends meet. While the film takes place over the course of about a year, it feels like a one-crazy-night movie, which is one of the most impressive parts of the storytelling in Marty Supreme. 

5. Sorry, Baby

Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and caught momentum as one of the strongest directorial debuts in a while. Sorry, Baby takes on the task of not telling the story in a linear format, which can often be to a story’s detriment, but not here. There is a very personal and deeply emotional story at the center of Sorry, Baby. It hides all of these feelings behind a sense of humor that is both hilarious and devastating. 

Sorry, Baby is a film about finding yourself and accepting the way the world is during a period of life that can often come off as confusing, which is the part of the story that resonates with me the most. There are conversational scenes amongst friends that I cannot quite relate to at this point in my life, but feel that I likely will in the next 5-10 years. There is an awkwardness to the way that these old peers speak with each other and act like they still might have something in common. Victor’s writing style is simply a style that appeals to me. Victor is a new writer/director I hope to still be talking about in 20 years. 

4. Superman

I have a theory about James Gunn’s Superman. Two and a half years ago, I visited Warner Bros. Studio in Hollywood. I think that during my visit to the backlots of the studio, a strand of my hair or a swab of my saliva was found on a water bottle. Someone, maybe James Gunn, maybe an executive at Warner Brothers, got my DNA and, through that DNA, was able to craft a film that would appeal to me in a way few other films have. For starters, Superman is a movie that believes in the power of journalism, it’s a movie that celebrates punk rock (something I love), and finally, it evokes the same emotions that watching DC cartoons like Justice League: The Animated Series did when I was a child. I grew up in the 2010s, during the height of the Marvel reign, and as a fan of comic books, I do have a love for most of those movies, but I have always felt that Marvel was afraid to lean into the comic book aspects of superhero storytelling. That fear might be part of the success of the MCU, watered-down superhero storytelling that will appeal to all audiences, but Superman doesn’t want to be watered down. Gunn loves comic books and so do I. I am just overjoyed that we have a director who isn’t afraid to be a bit weird with some of the most popular IPs to ever exist. Does Superman have issues? Probably, but this is a movie that feels like it was crafted just for me. 

3. One Battle After Another

To put it simply, Paul Thomas Anderson is my favorite filmmaker, but I felt cautious about One Battle After Another. The more I heard about the film’s ambition and budget, the more worried I felt. What if One Battle After Another doesn’t feel like a PTA film? What if the film plays it safe because of the massive budget? What if the contemporary setting, something PTA has not explored since 2002, does not translate in 2025? I’m glad to say that I had no real reason to worry. 

That said, One Battle After Another didn’t entirely click for me on the first watch. I liked it, but didn’t love it, and certainly could not figure out why many were calling it the best of the decade and a “modern-American classic”. It was my second watch of One Battle that brought it all together. All the performances clicked, the complexity of the morally gray characters made sense, and the sincere ending worked in a way that did not make me roll my eyes. One Battle After Another feels important; it is a film that is not afraid to talk about modern issues in society, while also being set in modern society. A modern society that feels authentic to the real world, a concept that many filmmakers struggle to tackle in a rapidly growing digital age. 

2. Weapons

Weapons is another film that feels like it was made for me. My favorite type of horror isn’t necessarily a genre, but a setting, and that setting is the suburbs. You can call it relatability as someone who grew up and resides in the suburbs, but I have a lot of fond memories wondering about what is going on in the shady house at the end of the block and being scared of the basement. Weapons premise is like this, at 2:17 A.M. a classroom of 17 children disappear into the night, with the exception of one student. Weapons has an unconventional storytelling format. It feels like Magnolia or Pulp Fiction the way that the story jumps around from different character perspectives and points in the timeline. This makes for one of the most interesting puzzle films in many years. 

There is so much attention to detail in these characters. The way that they speak and present information to other characters says so much about the type of person they are. The characters are just as lost in this story as we are. It is a wonderful feeling to have no idea where the movie is going to go next. Once the mystery starts to unravel is when the horror parts of the story kick into high gear. At points, the horror is subtle and at other times it becomes more extreme. I saw Weapons twice in theaters, each time with a packed theater, creating one of the best movie-going experiences of the year as this twisted mystery plays out. 

1. Sentimental Value

As I put together this list of my personal favorite films I saw this year, I am finding that my top film is the only movie on that list where I am struggling to put into words why I love it. Sentimental Value is a film about two sisters and their strained relationship with their father, who is a European filmmaker loved by the critics. Renate Reinsve plays Nora, one of the daughters who is also a stage actress. Her father brings her a screenplay for a role he wants her to play in his upcoming film. She denies his offer and he replaces her with an American actress played by Elle Fanning. Sentimental Value is a relatively slow but thoughtful character study. 

I find that one of my favorite things about Sentimental Value is the way that we connect through filmmaking and storytelling. It in many ways is a movie about the process of making a movie and the personal cost that comes with making movies. Under the surface of this character drama is a larger discussion about the place that filmmaking holds in modern society and the way that films are made at this point. One of the smartest aspects of Sentimental Value is the way that the film is able to make you understand and feel for every character. To some capacity, every character here is written in a way that feels personal and relatable, which is likely the reason it connected with me the way that it did. 

The post My 10 Favorite Films of 2025 appeared first on Utah.Film.

10. Inherent Vice (2014)

Inherent Vice might come in last, but it is easily the funniest PTA has ever been. The film follows a private investigator in a hazy 70’s California. Adapted from a Thomas Pynchon novel of the same title, Inherent Vice can often come off as an incoherent story. As audience members, we just bounce back and forth between two plot lines, and characters come and go rather quickly. 

Inherent Vice looks incredible and features a great performance from Joaquin Phoenix, and also one of Josh Brolin’s most underrated performances. When it comes down to it, aside from a few comedic moments, there just is not a whole lot of reason to return to Inherent Vice. 

9. Hard Eight (1996)

Hard Eight is PTA’s directorial debut, and it is an impressive one, especially considering the filmmaker was in his mid-20s when it was filmed. It is a sign that someone has a lot of talent when they are able to land Samuel L. Jackson, Phillip Baker Hall, and Gwyneth Paltrow in their first film. 

Hard Eight is far from perfect, though. Homage is something that PTA has always had in his films, but this is one that feels the most like a copy-and-paste of his influences. Many of the tracking shots and overall look of the film feel directly ripped out of Scorsese films. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it is clear that PTA is still trying to find his footing as a director. Hard Eight is a film that feels laid back in what it has to say, again, not a bad thing, it just makes the film one of PTA’s lesser projects. 

8. The Master (2012)

The Master is probably the most mysterious film that PTA has made. The film follows a World War 2 veteran who finds himself at the center of a cult called The Cause. The film features two of the best performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. 

The film explores masculinity in a post-World War 2 landscape, as Phoenix and Hoffman go back and forth in a bizarre friendship. Hoffman plays the leader of the cult, a person who is full of lies and deceptions. Phoenix plays a veteran who needs to find a purpose in life. The Master works as a fascinating puzzle movie, where you learn a bit more about the characters and the world they live in with every revisit. 

7. Licorice Pizza 

Licorice Pizza is the most straightforward film in this ranking. The film looks at the early 70s through a nostalgic lens. We follow a few months in the life of Gary Valentine, a teenage businessman and hustler. The film takes an episodic approach to its storytelling as if it were small stories from the youth of PTA.

Licorice Pizza is a fun watch with a charming supporting cast, but truthfully, that is about all the film has going for it. There is nothing wrong with that; in fact, it is quite successful at being exactly what it sets out to be. For a lot of fans of PTA, a bit more is expected.

6. Magnolia (1999) 

Magnolia might not be the best film to come from PTA, but it is certainly a film that is taken for granted, because there is no way a major studio would ever take a risk with this type of movie in the year 2025. Magnolia has a large cast of characters all connected in some way, creating a narrative that feels like a web. Coming in at just over three hours long, Magnolia covers a lot of ground, and unfortunately, not all of it is engaging. 

The first hour of Magnolia is a bit clunky with its pacing, and its audiences may struggle to be invested in the different stories being set up, even if they all get the time to shine during the second half. Magnolia’s second hour is one long feeling of dread as all the characters suffer from their actions. The score during the second hour looms over the characters and creates a wonderful feeling of tension; it is easily one of the highlights of the movie. The third hour wraps up the story in a way that will divide audiences depending on how open they are to the weirdness of the story. 

PTA’s ambitions are always something worth respecting with any revisit of Magnolia, even if the movie does start to feel a bit too big for its own good. 

5. One Battle After Another

One Battle After Another is the most recent entry in the PTA filmography. OBAA is the most expensive film to come from PTA and follows the story of an ex-revolutionary trying to get his daughter back. This is the first film from PTA that takes place in contemporary times in over 20 years. The film does a great job at showing what the modern world looks like. It is a timely film; there are few films that feel as important as this one does to the current social landscape. 

Similar to There Will Be Blood, this most recent film feels like PTA working at a new register and mode of filmmaking he has yet to tap into. OBAA has some of the most interesting PTA characters to date. Hopefully, the film receives award recognition at the Academy Awards next year. 

4. Phantom Thread

Phantom Thread is probably the most underrated movie in the PTA filmography. The film takes place in 1950s Europe as a well-respected dressmaker struggles in his relationship. The movie tackles themes of love and the hardships of marriage. It is one of the best-looking and sounding films of the 2010s. 

In comparison to other films in the PTA catalogue, it is most like Punch Drunk Love. Both films follow a complicated and difficult man who meets a woman who causes the man to tailspin and reconsider who he is as a person. Both are twisted subversions of the romantic comedy drama, and both have an intriguing sense of mystery at their center. 

3. There Will Be Blood (2007) 

After making Punch Drunk Love, PTA took five years off from directing and came back with one of his most monumental films to date. There Will Be Blood, the story of a villainous oil tycoon, is a complete level up in the director’s ability to make a film. It is a film that feels different than any of his prior work. TWBB feels more mature in its characters, performances, and pacing. It handles its anger in a way that feels different than the likes of Magnolia and Boogie Nights. There is a more reserved nature to TWBB, but when it lets loose, the film starts moving at 100 MPH. 

There is an easy argument to be made that TWBB is the most impressive film in the PTA filmography, but when it comes down to it, TWBB is not always the most rewatchable film he has made. 

2. Punch Drunk Love (2002)

Punch Drunk Love comes at an interesting point in PTA’s career. It is right after the three-hour epic, Magnolia, and right before the movie that reinvigorates his career, There Will Be Blood. Compared to those two other films, Punch Drunk Love is a very simple movie about a socially awkward man who meets a woman and falls in love. It is the simplicity of the film that puts this in the number two spot of my ranking. It shows that PTA can make remarkable films, whether they are ensemble casts, an exploration of capitalism in America, or something as small as Adam Sandler collecting pudding cups from the store. 

This film is also a major moment for Sandler. This shows that the actor has a bit more range than just playing Billy Maddison. There is something more complicated with Sandler, and it is on full display in Punch Drunk Love. 

1. Boogie Nights (1997)

What is there to say about Boogie Nights that has not already been said? The movie is instantly iconic from the opening one-take shot that brings the audience through a nightclub, showing off most of the movie’s cast and introducing us to this morally skewed found family we will spend the next two and a half hours with. 

There is a lingering sense of dread and melancholy throughout all of Boogie Nights. That feeling feels masked during the first half of the film, but when the story progresses into the 1980s, it becomes overwhelming. It creates a powerful and very real look at how addiction and false hope can break down a community. 

Within the scope of PTA’s entire filmography, Boogie Nights might not feel as grand or lavish as something like There Will Be Blood or One Battle After Another, but there is an energy to the movie that makes Boogie Nights feel like something truly special. 

The post All 10 Paul Thomas Anderson Films Ranked appeared first on Utah.Film.