The box office is making it rain this year! Hollywood keeps cranking out the hits this summer. Movies like Lilo & Stitch, Thunderbolts*, and Mission: Impossible are making respectable bank. But—and there’s always a but—2025’s headline-making achievements are arguably far more commercial successes than artistic ones. There’s more rinsing and repeating going on here than in a hair salon.
Only Ryan Coogler’s Sinners marks the runaway original blockbuster of 2025. The blood-sucking vampires from Warner Bros. Canada—an apt metaphor if there ever was one—have audiences gurgling with excitement thanks to the stylish swagger, soulful music, and sense of history with which Coogler rejuvenates a genre.
Despite the dearth of originality again in Hollywood this year, That Shelf endeavoured to highlight the best films of 2025 so far. Our contributors’ responses reflect a hunger for original works that stand out amid the sequel steam trays in the Hollywood buffet. The big-ticket movies, however, resemble that saucy chicken at the local all-you-can-eat that hasn’t been stirred in a few hours. Few writers heaped them onto their plates.
Clocking in the most responses among the best films of 2025 so far, somewhat unexpectedly, is Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag. It’s surprising in the sense that this feels like the kind of movie that fights for existence these days: a smart mid-budget studio film for an adult audience. Up next is the double trouble of Sinners and Twinless with four and three votes, respectively—the latter being James Sweeney’s Sundance Audience Award winner that’s still looking for a home in Canada.
Otherwise, every other major release these days marks a version of something we’ve already watched. And more often than not, the sense of déjà vu doesn’t help. Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning could only be a letdown after the high octane thrills of the series. (Did anyone really expect it to have that much expository dialogue?) Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon, while passable entertainment, hardly justify the necessity for more live action remakes of animated movies. (Do any of these films bring something new to the table?) And with an eye to summer, there’s not much to look forward to besides Jonathan Bailey’s legs (and acting chops!) in Jurassic World. (Hopefully they make it until the end!)
All writers were invited to submit their picks for the five best films of 2025 so far, encompassing both festival premieres and commercial releases. We also invited writers to pick the standout performance of the year, the movie that flopped the hardest, and the film they’re most looking forward to in the year ahead. There are some really great unique and inspired works—you just have to be willing to look for them. – Pat Mullen
The Best Films of 2025 so Far
Emma Badame
1. Aontas
A masterclass in all elements of filmmaking, this low-budget Irish-language thriller hits all the right notes and contains one of the year’s best performances from Carrie Crowley as lead, Mairéad. The film begins with its ending and works backward, filling in puzzle pieces of a heist gone wrong. Between sure-handed direction from Declan McMann, excellent camerawork from Damien Elliott and deft editing from Sorcha Nic Giolla Mhuire, Aontas never feels gimmicky in its delivery. It keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout and never quite goes where you expect it to. The result is one of the best films of 2025.
2. Sinners
Is there anything Ryan Coogler can’t do? He hits another home run with this Southern Gothic–a racially-charged horror tale of vampires and blues starring Michael B. Jordan. Vibes and social commentary are a hard combo to do well, and Sinners nails it.
3. Black Bag
Michael Fassbender hasn’t made many solid choices in the last few years, but he finds a smart one with this excellent, edge-of-your-seat spy thriller co-starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Steven Soderbergh (also in top form).
4. Racewalkers
It’s been a long time since I laughed this hard at a flat-out comedy. With a great script from directors (and stars) Phil Moniz and Kevin Claydon, it’s precisely the escapism audiences need in 2025.
5. Souleymane’s Story
This heart-wrenching look at a Guinean immigrant’s experience in Paris has won awards across the world since it debuted at Cannes 2024, including that year’s Jury and Performance Prize (for star Abou Sangaré). It’s a frustrating, painful story to sit through, but one that everyone comfortable in their day-to-day lives must experience.
Best performance: Carrie Crowley in Aontas.
The Flop: Materialists (I had such high expectations)
Most looking forward to: Tie between Hamnet (Buckley AND Mescal, yes, please!) and Wake Up, Dean Man (Bring on the Benoit Blanc!)
Colin Biggs
1. Sinners
An original story perfectly executed is what I hope for every summer movie season. We got it with Ryan Coogler’s Southern vampire thriller. Michael B. Jordan performs double duty as twins, Smoke and Stack, and makes both brothers singularly unique yet fully lived-in. The ensemble, the atmosphere, the brilliant staging, I loved all of it. If, over the next decade, Coogler’s original works release to Christopher Nolan-level hype, remember, it started with Sinners.
2. Bring Her Back
Sally Hawkins’ “Mom” moment in the pool (and the ambiguity of it) will haunt me for a long time.
3. Black Bag
Equal parts smart and sexy, Black Bag is the stylized espionage-as-metaphor-for-marriage film we’ve been missing from multiplexes.
4. Mickey 17
No film was going to live up the expectations set by Parasite, but this satire, while obvious, goes for the fences. It’s not Bong’s fault we live in a world beyond parodying.
5. His Father’s Son
Meelad Moaphi plates something simple and understated, but by investing the audience in the ensemble, the film feels richer for it.
Pat Mullen
1. Come See Me in the Good Light
There’s a moment late in Ryan White’s exceptional documentary where poet Megan Falley turns to her partner Andrea Gibson five minutes before showtime and says, “You’d better be lightning, babe.” When Gibson, an acclaimed spoken word artist, takes the stage moments later, that jolt of electricity hits its target. It’s impossible not to get goosebumps as Gibson reads their heartfelt poetry and Come See Me in the Good Light finds well-earned catharsis in its portrait of an artist doing whatever it takes to stay alive and share their voice with the world. The film is revelatory in its intimacy and especially refreshing for giving Falley equal weight in the story about Gibson’s terminal cancer diagnosis, providing a tender portrait of what it means to stand by someone in sickness and in health. Buoyed by infectious laughs and a heartfelt lust for life, this film will give you all the feels and then some. (Coming this fall.)
2. Twinless
James Sweeney’s sophomore film totally weirded out the twin in me in the most delightful way. Its darkly funny story about two men who meet at a twin bereavement gathering takes unexpected turns through heartfelt humour and cringe comedy to deliver an authentic take on soulmates, better halves, and what happens when we think we’ve finally found “the one.”
3. Black Bag
This smart espionage tale provides a thrilling spy game that keeps one guessing. And the interior decorating? 10/10, no notes.
4. Endless Cookie
Half-brothers Seth Scriver and Pete Scriver offer a zany ode to storytelling in this animated lark that leaves no crumbs.
5. Agatha’s Almanac
A 90-year-old Manitoba woman invites us into her backyard for gardening tips, aged wisdom, and lots of duct tape.
Honourable mentions: Aontas; Apocalypse in the Tropics; Coexistence, My Ass!; Enigma; Four Mothers; A Nice Indian Boy; The Perfect Neighbour; Shamed; Sinners
Best Performance: James Sweeney, Twinless. (Honourable mention: Bing, The Friend)
The Flop: Hurry Up Tomorrow (Dishonourable mention: Warner Bros. Canada’s PR department)
Most looking forward to: Hamnet. Chloé Zhao makes her big Nomadland follow-up (Eternals what now?) with another departure from her signature life-imitating-art oeuvre. Hamnet adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about Shakespeare’s son who died of bubonic plague and inspired the great tragedy through the heartache left in his wake. The book positions the story through the eyes of Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, in what could be a killer role for Jessie Buckley. Paul Mescal co-stars as Shakes himself, but there’s no word if Zhao casts real Elizabethan-era Brits to round out the cast—or a real flea to play the catalyst that sets the tragedy in motion. Also excited for: Spinal Tap II, After the Hunt, and A House of Dynamite.
Adam Schoales
1. Black Bag
2. Mission: Impossible Final Reckoning
3. Sinners
4. I Don’t Understand You
5. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Best Performance: Honestly, I think I need to give it to Rachel Zegler for Snow White. The movie is a mess, but she is carrying the entire weight on her shoulders and quite literally saves it from being utterly interminable. She’s a superstar.
The Flop: While I’m inclined to say Snow White, special mention has to go to M:I – Final Reckoning. Yes, I know, it’s my number two for the year, but that’s strictly because I enjoyed the hell out of it watching it on a big screen with a packed audience. There’s no denying the film is incredibly flawed, and considering the previous entries in the series, I cannot help but think of it as a “flop” (even if it is fun as hell). With that being said, Snow White is unquestionably a worse film.
Most looking forward to: Well, 28 Years Later is high up there, but it’s out now (I just haven’t yet seen it), and while I’m excited for The Naked Gun reboot (please be good…) and Michael (if it even actually comes out…) I think I gotta go with The Running Man – I love Edgar Wright’s work and I can’t wait to see what he does with the project. That, or Spinal Tap II (which can’t possibly end up living up to the original but damn it a man can dream!).
Courtney Small
1. BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions
An exhilarating and thought-provoking piece of cinema. Khalil Joseph’s BLKNWS is a documentary that blends Afro-futurism, history, popular memes, archival footage, scripted content, commentary on news/media, elements of science fiction, clips from classic and new cinema, philosophical and intellectual thoughts on everything from Black freedom to the creative process to style. Joseph manages to capture it all in a cohesive and digestible way that feels personal and accessible at the same time.
2. Sinners
An original work steeped in culture and history, Ryan Coogler has constructed an instant class that cinephiles and casual moviegoers will be discussing and dissecting for years to come.
3. Twinless
Featuring one of the year’s best screenplays, and great performances by writer/director James Sweeney and actor Dylan O’Brien, Twinless is one of the rare Sundance hits that lives up to the hype.
4. Black Bag
Easily one of the best spy films of the last decade. Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag reminds viewers that spies engaging in good conversation can be more captivating to watch than a spy performing jaw-dropping aerial stunts.
5. 40 Acres
Canadian genre cinema is having a moment and I’m here for it. 40 Acres is an entertaining thriller that also manages to give viewers some food for thought as well.
Honourable mentions: An American Pastoral, Predators, The Perfect Neighbour, Seeds, The Track, Agatha’s Almanac, Khartoum
Alex Southey
1. No Other Land
No Other Land is the most compelling documentary I have seen in a number of years. It’s not just the relevance of the subject matter, it’s the visceral, hyper personal nature of its approach and subject. Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra—along with his creative collective of Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor—captures the destruction of his village, Masafer Yatta, at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces and extremist settlers.
2. Louis Theroux: The Settlers
Louis Theroux returns to documentaries after a series of podcasts to follow up with some of the Israeli settlers with whom he spoke years earlier during his first trip to the region.
3. Paying for It
A sweet dramedy about sexual education, gratification, identity, and the Toronto arts culture.
4. Titan: The OceanGate Disaster
A look at the doomed submarine the news coverage that turned it into a worldwide sensation.
5. Sovereign
A radicalized sovereign citizen becomes increasingly at odds with his unresponsive son and government.
Best Performance: Nick Offerman as Jerry Kane in Sovereign.
The Flop: Snow White – It’s not Rachel Zegler’s fault, but the controversy surrounding this Disney update soured what was already a very flawed project.
Most looking forward to: 28 Years Later
Rachel West
1. Twinless
Premiering at Sundance, Twinless is a brilliant black comedy full of surprises. As dark as it is moving, director-writer-star James Sweeney is a revelation through the film’s exploration of grief, love, friendship, and obsession. I haven’t seen anything like it, and I can’t wait to see it again.
2. Come See Me in the Good Light
One box of Kleenex isn’t enough for this life-affirming and hopeful documentary about poet laureate of Colorado Andrea Gibson’s incurable cancer diagnosis.
3. Black Bag
Beautiful spies doing terrible things to each other will always be good.
4. Aontas
Memento meets Widows in this Irish-language thriller about three senior women who rob their town’s credit union. The twist: it’s told in reverse, beginning with the heist, and allowing the ‘why’ of the robbery to fall into place like a puzzle.
5. Mickey 17
Though not wholly successful, it’s refreshing to see Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo take some big swings in Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi black comedy.
Honourable mentions: Horror movies have been delivering this year with Companion, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Clown in a Cornfield, and Drop.
Best performance: James Sweeney in Twinless
The Flop: Kinda Pregnant
Most looking forward to: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey: Kogonada’s fantasy-tinged romance with Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Plus, the year’s other Colin Farrell movie, Ballad of a Small Player, directed by Conclave’s Edward Berger.
