From time to time, Cinemantic’s contributors will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. As we enter the Year of our Lord 2026, we look back at the year that was. One with large dry spells, worrying trends, looming mergers, euphoric highs, and a sense that maybe, just maybe, movies will make it out alright.

Here are our picks for the best movies of 2025. Each contributor had ten picks.

Graham’s List:

10. The Naked Gun/Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

The two best times I had at the theater this year. The Naked Gun successfully channeled the side-splitting comedy of the original trilogy; the last hour of the Final Reckoning was some of the best adrenaline-pumping cinema of the year. These are two great tributes to passionate franchise filmmaking. Reviews here and here.

9. The Phoenician Scheme

Director Wes Anderson — one of our great auteurs — spins a convoluted but poignant tale about Benicio del Toro’s patriarch learning how to become a father through a modern-day biblical story about the relationship between a father and a daughter. As always, Anderson’s ability to direct an ensemble cast is a joy to watch.

8. Black Bag/Presence

Another two-fer from the team of Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp. Presence is a perfectly structured screenplay that tells the story of a huanted house, but from the ghost’s perspective. In a lesser writer’s hands, the movie could be dismissed as a gimmick, but Presence plays its premise patiently, waiting until the very end to reveal an emotionally devastating twist that becomes obvious in hindsight. Black Bag is a similarly taut spy thriller that doesn’t waste a second and is a tribute to Soderbergh’s ability to make a simple dinner conversation cinematic.

7. Bugonia

Bugonia doesn’t quite stick the landing in the third act, but it’s still a compelling, heartbreaking, and revolting story about male loneliness and extremism. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons shine, but Aidan Delbis turns in one of the best performances of the year as the simpleton brother. This and an entry further down on this list make a great companion piece about our present moment.

6. Weapons

Director Zach Creggers’s follow-up to 2022’s Barbarian hit all the right notes for a summer horror break-out hit, and also defied a simplistic, didactic interpretation. It’s equal parts intriguing, scary, and funny, and its cathartic finale was one of the great moments of 2025.

5. Wake Up Dead Man

Wake Up Dead Man has all of the clockwork-like, clever precision that Rian Johnson’s mystery scripts are known for. But it also one of the single best sequences of the year — Josh O’Connor’s priest talking to a woman on the phone. It’s a surprisingly moving film about faith, and it smartly eschews much of the self-satisfied smugness of the previous entry in the series.

4. Marty Supreme

An absolutely electric two-and-a-half hours at the cinema, I am very grateful I saw Marty Supreme in time to include it on this list. It’s both a story about Jewish assimilation into American life after the Holocaust, and a story about post-war America needing to mature and take responsibility for the things it creates. Timothée Chalamet should be the frontrunner for Best Actor.

3. Eddington

Eddington feels of a piece with Bugonia in that it’s a movie about our current moment, or at least about the insanity of the past five years. The first half of the film is incisive, funny, and will bring back some painful memories of the COVID pandemic. The second half gets increasingly unhinged, and truly defies explanation like no other film this year.

2. Sinners

The breakout hit of the year, Sinners produced the single best sequence of the year: the long-take through the history of African American dance and music. It’s a film that takes literally the idea of as appropriation and forced assimilation. It’s scary, smart, and refreshingly sexy, and Ryan Coogler’s directorial chops are on display at every moment.

1. 28 Years Later

A nail-bitingly tense first half gave way to a beautiful, thoughtful, and quiet second half about death, mercy, and end-of-life care. 28 Years Later is the best film of this year because it’s a gorgeous work that is highly entertaining on a moment-to-moment basis that engages with contemporary concerns about disease and isolation, and also has something timeless to say about human mortality.

Tyler’s List:

10. Black Bag

More than once this year, I watched a movie where I thought, “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” Steven Soderbergh’s talky, dining room espionage thriller Black Bag is the pinnacle of that: an intimate, witty, genre flick with clockwork precision and terrific turns from Cate Blanchett and Tom Burke.

9. One Battle After Another

The heir apparent to the coveted Best Picture trophy, Paul Thomas Anderson’s ambitious leap to big-budget fare paid off. Sprawling in scope and intimate in character, it’s The Searchers if told from the perspective of the Comanche. While I have criticisms, the bravado of the craftsmanship and performances cannot be dismissed.

8. The Naked Gun

Like my counterpart, watching Akiva Schaffer’s Naked Gun was the best theater going experience I had this year. It’s so funny. The audience chuckled constantly, stretching into the ending credits. And what a thrill it was to join them in that. Its the best studio comedy in a long time—and proof that there is still a market for silly, irreverent films. If only studios were brave enough to make them.

7. Wake Up Dead Man

It’s not the most entertaining Benoit Blanc mystery, but this third caper is by far the best. Ditching the silly smarminess of COVID-era hypocrisy for a moving gothic-style meditation on the mystery of faith, writer-director Rian Johnson reminds us of what he’s capable of. Daniel Craig is ever delightful, but it’s Josh O’Connor who gives this film a heart and soul you won’t soon forget.

6. F1

This is a capital-M movie. Escapism at the highest level, a high-concept original film that’s short on story but so fucking cool to experience. The ending is inevitable but the verisimilitude of the film makes you grip the seat in anticipation nonetheless. Platitudes like this shouldn’t be surprising, considering it was directed and produced by the folks who gave us Top Gun: Maverick just a few years ago.

5. Eddington

Boy, this movie goes there. Fearless in its criticisms and its shockingly violent third act, writer-director Ari Aster has made the best American western since the Coen Brother’s True Grit. A bold statement on the American psyche during 2020, this slow burn is an provocative descent into a shared madness that we can’t look away from.

4. Hamnet

Good Will Shakespeare. Returning to her naturalistic roots that made her a known quantity, Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao explores the devastating origins of the Bard’s most famous play (I’ll give you three guesses which one it is). Anchoring the whole film is a towering performance from Jesse Buckley, whose grief is all-too-real and sits with you long after the lights come up.

3. Marty Supreme

Timothee Chalamet is the defining movie star of his generation. After commanding blockbusters and indie darlings for the last decade, the triumph of his role as Marty Mauser, a charismatic, shockingly vain, and blindly confident ping pong hustler in 1950s New York is so singular, so self-evident, that it cements his place as the next DiCaprio. Thrillingly episodic, writer-director-editor Josh Safdie keeps you on the edge of seat for the entire runtime — even if the conclusion is evident from the, “Wait, is that what I think it is?” opening credit sequence.

2. 28 Years Later

Trailers historically give the whole movie away. How refreshing it was to realize that the year’s best trailer only hinted at the first act of the year’s best horror film. Wildly inventive, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to the franchise that made them famous with flare to spare— imbuing the series with a sense of grace that was previously absent. Elegiac and mythical.

1. Sinners

Ryan Coogler’s gothic horror film is cinematic jolt of blockbuster adrenaline: fiery and sensual and funny and creepy and deeply entertaining. And while other films this year explore the damaged American mind, including Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another, none do so with as much originality and flare. It’s a bold declaration that film still matters, that it can still shape culture, and that it can still take our breath away. Original, phantasmagorically beautiful, and utterly singular.

Daniel’s List:

10. One of Them Days

Keke Palmer is one of our great entertainers, and I hope she gets a real breakout opportunity for even bigger successes. This was a fun buddy comedy with plenty of chemistry between Keke and SZA. Wish I’d seen it in a loud, rowdy theatre.

9. Train Dreams

A beautiful tale about the times changing and a man’s reflection on his life. Joel Edgerton gives a career-best performance as a man grappling with the loss of his wife/daughter and figuring out his place in the world. Love seeing William H. Macy even in a brief role.

8. Black Bag

I’m immediately going to be in on a taut, under-2-hour Steven Soderbergh thriller, especially one starring Cate Blanchett & Michael Fassbender. And it’s a wife-guy movie? Every time. I’d watch 10 of these a year.

7. Wake Up Dead Man

I hope Rian Johnson makes 20 Benoit Blanc movies. I love a big ensemble cast, and even though it wasn’t the strongest cast of the three installments, we did get a standout performance from Josh O’Connor. He’s poised to be a name we hear much more from – already celebrated roles in Challengers and The Crown, and he’s starring in Steven Spielberg’s summer sci-fi movie Disclosure Day next.

6. Mr. Scorsese

A five-part documentary on Martin Scorsese, that’s pretty much all you need to know. I loved getting an up close and personal look at one of the all-time great directors. Thank goodness he has continued to make movies well into his 80s. Every movie he makes is another gift to film lovers.

5. F1

Top Gun Maverick but with fast cars. Sign me up. The racing sequences were electric and you feel the adrenaline rush at each turn. While it could have been a little shorter, I’ll still revisit this one plenty of times. The “aging-guy-who-mentors-a-young-hotshot” genre is always going to deliver. A perfect summer blockbuster.

4. 28 Years Later

Had a much better time watching this movie than I was expecting to – horror generally is not my go-to genre at all. Ralph Fiennes appears in the final section and elevated an already elite movie even higher. The best of the franchise.

3. Marty Supreme

I saw this on January 1, but I’m including it on the year-end list anyway. It’s that good. A propulsive, frenetic tale of chasing greatness. Timothee Chalamet gives the performance of the year, and I hope he wins Best Actor in a couple of months. Chalamet’s drive channeled into the character of Marty Mauser to perfection. I can’t stop thinking about it, and the next time I watch it cannot come soon enough.

2. One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson is well overdue for an Oscar, and this likely will be the year of his coronation. The Oscar frontrunner in several categories, it’s PTA’s largest scale film to date, and I expect it to be well rewarded this season. There’s a lot of dialogue and takes surrounding the plot and Anderson’s handling of Teyana Taylor’s character Perfidia – I’d encourage you to watch the movie and come to your own conclusions.

1. Sinners

Wholly original, one of the best films of the year, if not decade. Will be thinking about the juke-joint history of music scene for a long time. I love the Ryan Coogler-Michael B. Jordan collaborations and am eager to see how they work together and continue their partnership. I hope we get another 20-30 years of their movies. I will also say, I don’t normally enjoy a mid-credits scene, but the one in Sinners was top tier.

From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. After the New York Times released its list of the 100 Best Films of the Century, we decided to discuss what our list would include. Each contributor had four picks. Vote below on which person you think drafted the best!

GRAHAM: With the first pick in the Cinemantics “Best Films of the 21st Century” draft, I’m going back to the beginning of the century: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It’s arguably the most influential movie of the last 25 years. It shaped the Hollywood blockbuster for decades and captured a mythic spirit in a post-9/11 world, a sweeping story of good and evil, brilliantly told. I know it’s not the “film bro” pick, but it’s big, populist, and I think it’s one of the best films of the century.

CALEB: I love that pick.

DANIEL: It’s a great pick.

TYLER: Graham and I have had this argument a hundred times — and we’ll have it a hundred more — but I still think the elegiac tone of Return of the King hits harder.

DANIEL: I’m going smaller scale with Get Out. It’s one of the few horror films to fully break through into the Oscar conversation - four nominations, one win for Original Screenplay. Jordan Peele is one of our most promising directors, and I think the film reveals something new every time I watch it. Also, Daniel Kaluuya is just phenomenal.

CALEB: My first pick is No Country for Old Men. I think it is the most iconic neo-Western of the 21st century, maybe Hell or High Water is a close second. As an adaptation, it’s incredibly faithful to Cormac McCarthy’s novel. People often label McCarthy as nihilistic, and that’s not wrong, but I think there’s a thin vein of hope running beneath the despair. That comes through in Tommy Lee Jones’s final monologue, the dream about his father carrying a torch and going out into the deep, dark, cold to light a fire for him somewhere out there. It mirrors The Road in that way. You’ve got the father and the son, and what holds them together is the concept of them carrying the fire of humanity. I think the Coens translated it to the screen with such mastery. I just love that movie.

TYLER: That hopeful undercurrent is true of a lot of the Coens’ work, even in Miller’s Crossing, True Grit, and Hail Caesar. There’s always something beneath the cynicism.

DANIEL: Alright Tyler, you’ve got two picks back to back.

TYLER: First up: La La Land. To quote the opening number, it’s “a technicolor world made of music and machine.” Damien Chazelle modernized the classic Hollywood musical while paying loving homage to its roots. Gosling and Stone could easily become an all-time great pairing like Astaire and Rogers, and the songs are immaculate. But it’s the emotional core — the human cost of chasing dreams, of what you lose in the pursuit — that really lands. That ending sequence still hits me like a freight train, no matter how many times I see it. It’s just a beautifully constructed film.

DANIEL: I knew that was coming. And it’s a worthy pick.

TYLER: And now, for chaos: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Hear me out… it might be the best comedy of the twenty-first century. Yes, other comedies could merit the title (Mean Girls, Anchorman, Tropic Thunder come to mind), but what makes this one stand out is its ability to skewer a well-established genre while also redefining how audiences interact with it. The metric of success? It’s now impossible to take any film in the music biopic genre seriously without thinking of this movie. Every beat in Rocketman, Elvis, and Bohemian Rhapsody — Walk Hard skewered them all first and, frankly, better. John C. Reilly gives a performance that is equally sincere and stupid, sings all the songs, and the jokes hold up nearly twenty years later. A total gem that deserves more love.

GRAHAM: A great parody needs to understand and respect what it’s skewering, and Walk Hard does exactly that. It really was the last gasp of the studio comedy era. Now everything’s either niche or buried on streaming. And it’s wild that Walk Hard flopped when it came out, but has grown such a loyal cult following since.

CALEB: I’d never seen it until Tyler showed it to me, and I became obsessed. Still quote it regularly: “Ma, I can’t smell anything.” “You gone smell-blind, son!”

DANIEL: Tyler might be its biggest evangelist.

CALEB: Yeah, it's so good. I love that movie. Okay, my next pick: Hereditary. I genuinely think it’s the best horror film of the century so far. It hit the way The Exorcist did in its time. Ask anyone what the scariest movie they’ve seen is, and most will say Hereditary. And I know that's the case for me, undoubtedly hands down the scariest movie I've ever watched. It is wild that it was Ari Aster’s debut. It’s not just terrifying; it has depth. The dollhouse imagery, the themes of fate and family, and the meticulous direction. It’s about people who lack agency, who are being manipulated by outside forces. It’s brilliant and deeply disturbing.

DANIEL: I’m going to be honest. It’s probably a no for me, dog. I haven't seen it, and I'm not sure I ever will.

GRAHAM: It pairs well with Get Out as part of that Prestige Horror wave. It also helped usher in the Blumhouse model, which features low-budget, high-return films that build buzz through social media and word-of-mouth, as seen with Long Legs last year. Hereditary became a phenomenon because it shocked people. And Aster really knows how to weaponize the frame. Those slow, creeping reveals are masterful.

DANIEL: Alright, time to shift gears from horror. My next pick is Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. The neon lights flickering on to “Out of Time.” It's just pure dopamine. Tarantino recreates late-‘60s Hollywood with such affection. And not to mention, the breadth of Hollywood from the cast. Stacked top to bottom with past stars (Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell, Al Pacino), current stars (Leo, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie) and the current slate of the next stars. Even those tiny roles — the Manson followers (shout out Dakota Fanning), the bit players — it just makes for a much richer Hollywood time capsule.

TYLER: Yeah, Mikey Madison, Austin Butler, Sydney Sweeney. It’s a time capsule of talent.

DANIEL: I think Inglourious Basterds might be more fun, but Once Upon a Time is his most mature film. It’s warm and nostalgic, but still delivers that classic Tarantino-violence right when it needs to. That ending is brutal, yes, but also deeply emotional. You realize this is a fairytale. Sharon Tate lives. Evil is punished. It’s wish-fulfillment through cinema, and it’s beautiful.

GRAHAM: It’s also part of this late-career Tarantino trilogy with Basterds and Django that rewrites history. These are movies that take real trauma and let us imagine another ending. Once Upon a Time is a hangout movie, a Hollywood elegy, and a revenge fantasy all in one.

TYLER: And that original music cue at the end when Sharon invites Rick in for a nightcap, it’s subtle but powerful. One of the rare times Tarantino doesn’t use a needle drop, and it works. Just a gentle reminder that this is fiction. In reality, she didn’t survive. But for a moment, the movies let her.

GRAHAM: Alright, I’m sticking to the post-9/11 theme with The Dark Knight. Alongside Fellowship, it’s one of the most influential blockbusters of the century. It changed superhero films, it redefined what audiences expected from “comic book” movies. And Heath Ledger’s Joker is arguably the most iconic performance of the last 25 years. The movie is just wall-to-wall memorable scenes.

TYLER: What The Dark Knight does brilliantly is what Donner’s Superman and Mangold’s Logan also understood: ground your superhero in a real-world genre. Donner gave us an American biblical epic, Mangold gave us a Western, and Nolan gave us a crime thriller, basically Heat with a cape. That’s why it works.

GRAHAM: It also tapped into deep cultural anxieties: surveillance, security, moral compromise. It’s a gripping action film and a reflection of the post-9/11 mindset. That’s why it holds up.

GRAHAM: For my next pick, I’m going with Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow crafts an incredibly tense, morally complex depiction of the hunt for Bin Laden. The final shot with Jessica Chastain alone on a plane, unsure of what comes next says so much. It’s a movie about obsession, about what we sacrifice in pursuit of vengeance. And despite what some critics say, I don’t think it endorses torture. I think it shows it, unflinchingly, and leaves you to wrestle with it. Easily the best War on Terror film we’ve had.

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CALEB: I’ve had it on my watchlist forever. I know I need to sit down and watch it finally. But yeah, that runtime, man. Two and a half hours is no joke when you’ve got kids.

DANIEL: I’ll stay in the 2000s with a Fincher pick, not The Social Network, though that’s in the conversation. I’m going with Zodiac. It’s slow-burn, procedural perfection. Creepy, obsessive, chilling. You’ve got Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo. It’s a serial killer movie, yes, but it’s also a movie about the need to solve the mystery, even when the answer never comes.

CALEB: Oh, great pick! Did Zodiac kick off some of our modern obsession with true crime in film and television? It was before the whole podcast boom. But that blend of real-world horror and narrative craftsmanship has aged really well.

TYLER: I can’t believe we’re this far in and haven’t picked an action movie.

CALEB: I’m glad you said that because my next pick is Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s pure cinematic adrenaline. It is a masterclass in action filmmaking with the practical effects, minimal dialogue, and the subtle but powerful use of CGI. George Miller basically reinvented his own franchise and reminded everyone what blockbuster filmmaking could be. It is an absolute acid trip! The sandstorm scene alone? Unreal. It’s one of those rare movies that genuinely feels like something you’ve never seen before, and that was my experience when I first saw it in the theater, besides maybe Blade Runner 2049.

GRAHAM: I think Fury Road set the standard. Everything else, even John Wick, is living in its shadow. Great pick.

DANIEL: When I am old and rich and own a movie theatre, it will be standard programming to have a showing of the 6-time Academy Award-winning Fury Road once a week.

TYLER: For my next one, I need a Spielberg. There are a lot of possible contenders — West Side Story, Minority Report, or more than likely Lincoln — but I’m going with The Fabelmans. Yes, it’s a $40 million therapy session. But it’s also the most insightful film we’ve had this century about the art form of cinema itself and how movies become a way to process the world. Spielberg, in his capacity as director and co-writer, shows us how a rickety 16mm camera helped him understand his family, his heritage, his pain, and his place in the world, in both good and bad ways. That shot with the camera reflected in the mirror during the divorce scene? Devastating. It’s not nostalgia, it’s reckoning.

DANIEL: That opening line — “Movies are dreams that you never forget” — that’s a line that has stuck with me. Tyler, we saw that one together, too, one of many!

TYLER: And that final sequence with David Lynch as John Ford? Pitch perfect. It’s a fairytale about the birth of a director and the first fifty years of Hollywood history, starting with Sammy watching Cecil B. DeMille and ending with that symbolic meeting between Ford and the next generation of filmmakers. Funny, strange, mythic.

TYLER: Alright, my last pick: Brokeback Mountain. I think it’s one of the most important romances of the century. It redefined the genre. Ang Lee takes the imagery of the American Western and uses it to tell a tragic love story, one that couldn’t exist openly. His restraint as a director mirrors the characters’ emotional repression. Lee is capable of incredible spectacle. Life of Pi proved that, but here he holds back, and it makes the heartbreak land even harder. Ledger, Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway they’re all exceptional. It’s heartbreaking, beautifully directed, and culturally significant. A real turning point.

GRAHAM: It really is. It’s one of those rare films that you can say mattered in the culture. And it’s aged incredibly well.

CALEB: For my final pick, there has to be at least one animated film on our list. Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. It came out in 2001, and it still stands as one of the most imaginative and emotionally rich animated films ever made. Miyazaki uses animation to explore adult themes through a child’s eyes — identity, loss, consumerism, environmental decay — all while crafting a dreamlike fantasy world. It’s bizarre, beautiful, and a delight. You can see his influence everywhere in Western animation and live-action films as well.

GRAHAM: Fantastic choice. And we definitely needed at least one animated film in the mix.

DANIEL: I still haven’t seen Spirited Away, but it’s been on my list forever. Is it too scary for kids?

CALEB: It's not intentionally scary, but it's just so weird and bizarre at times that kids might get scared. Some of his other films are more approachable, like Kiki’s Delivery Service. If you ever want to have your faith in humanity restored, that’s a wonderful film. Spirited Away is amazing too.

DANIEL: Okay, last pick. I’m going with Ocean’s Eleven. It might not be the most important movie of the century, but it’s definitely one of the most fun. The cast is pure charisma: Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle. The needle drops, the heist structure, the poker scene with early-2000s celebs — it’s a time capsule and a perfect vibe. Soderbergh followed up two Best Director nominations (and the win! in 2000) with this absolute banger.

GRAHAM: Great pick. It’s so satisfying to watch. Everyone in that movie is cool, charming, and impossibly good-looking. Just pure pleasure.

TYLER: When I went to Vegas last year, all I could think about was that soundtrack. That’s how ingrained Ocean’s Eleven is in my brain.

GRAHAM: Okay, last pick for me: The Florida Project. Directed by Sean Baker. It’s one of the most human, heartbreaking, and quietly powerful films I’ve ever seen. It tells the story of families living on the edge of society, just outside the gates of Disney World, and it does so with so much compassion and dignity. The performances — especially from the nonprofessional child actors — are incredible. Willem Dafoe is heartbreaking. That final sequence? Devastating and transcendent. It’s a small film that leaves a huge mark.

TYLER: That’s a curveball I did not see coming, but it’s a great pick. A perfect closer.

CALEB: I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard it’s incredible. Adding it to the list now.

From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. As we officially enter the Summer Movie Season, we hopped on a call to talk about our most anticipated flicks of the next three months.

TYLER: “You’ll believe a man can fly.” That is now the iconic tagline for the Richard Donner-directed 1978 classic Superman: The Movie. In the half century between audiences first staring at the silver screen, mouth agape, at the sight of Christopher Reeve’s graceful aerial acrobatics, movie audiences have grown even more cynical than at the peak of the seventies. Not only that, but superhero fare — the genre that Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman willed into existence with the help of John Williams’ orchestral flair — has become the industry's crown jewel.

That is what writer-director James Gunn is up against with my most anticipated film of the summer, Superman. Kryptonite isn’t the Man of Steel’s greatest weakness this summer; it’s spandex fatigue at the multiplex. And while the quality of the movie will be the final arbiter as to whether or not this Supes soars, most signs point to Gunn and company breaking through the public’s weariness. The key? Gunn’s understanding of what makes the nearly indestructible character so universally beloved: His humanity, deeply felt and wholly optimistic. In a world mired by turmoil and confusion, Superman has always been best as the ray of hope — the embodiment of truth and justice — whose greatest drama comes from that optimism cracking under the weight of the world. The tone of the promotional materials seems to hint that, at least partially, the filmmakers understand that. The militaristic trumpets synonymous with Williams’ original score accompany the trailer, signaling that this Superman will build on the best of the Donner-directed picture. It looks big, fun, and could be the tonic we need. Hopefully, we’ll be able to believe a man can fly again.

CALEB: When Jordan Peele fires his management team because they lost a bidding war for a horror script, you pay attention. That’s exactly what happened when his production company Monkeypaw missed out on Weapons, the new horror film from Barbarian (2022) director Zach Cregger. Peele wanted this one badly—and honestly, after watching the trailer, I get it. Wednesday began like any other day for the town of Maybrook, but it was also different. Every other class at the local high school had all their kids, but Mrs. Gandy's room was totally empty. Why? The night before, at 2:17 in the morning, every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs, and into the dark. They never came back.

The best horror films take something usual and make it unusual. I never knew that children running could be so unsettling. Watch the teaser, and go check out the trailer! Great teasers and trailers do not make great films, but it is hard not to be hopeful after feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

In a year stacked with sequels, franchises, and safe bets, Weapons feels like it could be something unique and terrifying. If anyone wonders where I am on August 7th when I take off running down our street in the middle of the night, you’ll find me at the theater.

DANIEL: Since we are posting this after the release of Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (my most anticipated movie of 2025), I’ll choose some other movies. To claim 2026, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is the most anticipated movie of my lifetime, and that’s not hyperbole. You’ll be seeing plenty of content from us on The Odyssey, don’t you worry!

Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest intrigues me. Denzel Washington/Spike Lee make magic together. This remake of a Kurosawa adaptation is updated to take place in the music industry. I cannot wait to see what Denzel brings to this role . I just wish it’d have a longer time in theaters before it’s at home on Apple TV+.

For Summer 2025, my other two lower tier picks are brought to you by the letter F: F1 and Freakier Friday. Yes, you read that right. This is purely a nostalgia pick, and to be clear — I don’t have high expectations for Freakier Friday. I’m just rooting for Lindsay Lohan’s comeback. As for F1 - I love a grizzled veteran mentors/competes with an up and coming talent flick (see: The Color of Money. Zoom zoom.)

GRAHAM: Tyler and Caleb already hit on my three most anticipated summer movies, and my most anticipated movie already came out (read my Final Reckoning review here!). I’ll take two August releases: The Naked Gun and Americana. I adore the original Naked Gun trilogy. The films’ deadpan, dry-as-a-bone sense of humor was only made possible by the comedic chops of Leslie Nielsen. It feels like a series that could never be replicated with another actor. So I was highly skeptical of a modern day remake.

And then the teaser trailer’s final gag made me involuntarily guffaw.

It may not be able to capture the spirit of the original, but the talent behind and in front of the camera, plus the fact that Liam Neeson does feel like the best spiritual successor to Leslie Nielsen, makes me very excited for this one.

In contrast, I know next to nothing about Americana, outside of its very intriguing premise and trailer. A Neo-Western with a sneakily good cast, what few reviews we do have of it rave about its direction by Tony Tost, who makes his feature film debut. Much like Caleb’s pick Weapons, an original crime thriller set in the American West has a ton of promise, and will likely get at least some public attention thanks to Sydney Sweeney playing its lead role. It doesn’t come out until the end of August, so we’ll know what movies are dominating the summer by then, but I’m optimistic that Americana can be the indie critical darling that picks up some steam around Labor Day.

Reader, what’s your most anticipated movie thus summer? Let us know in the comments below!

History has a funny way of repeating itself. Around this time last year, the gang published a Group Chat apologizing for the lack of content in the first quarter of 2024. Things just got too busy to keep up with the output we wanted! Well, folks, here we are again. Sorry ‘bout that. As it has been for many, the first three months or so of the year have been hectic, confusing, and just downright busy.

So, Daniel, Graham, Caleb, and Tyler hopped online for a call to update everyone on life, movies, and how we keep up with everything Hollywood-related.

FAVORITE FLICKS THIS YEAR (SO FAR)

Box office reporting alone shows that 2025, much like last year, is off to a dismal start. So, are there any hidden gems that the gang saw?

DANIEL: While it’s been a little challenging to get to a movie theatre lately, I haven’t seen much of any of the 2025 slate, but I’ll shout out Carry-On. A fun thriller set at LAX, starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman (who makes a stronger villain than you might think). Pulpy and perfect for a movie night in.

GRAHAM: Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag is the best time I've had at the movies in a while. Soderbergh has done some very underrated work in recent years (last year's Presence is the kind of movie that's way better than it had any business being). Black Bag is a perfectly crafted thriller aimed at adult audiences -- the kind of movie we just don't get enough of anymore. It's a twisty film that never feels too convoluted or obsessed with its own cleverness. It's also an ensemble cast where no one dominates the screen and each character plays their part perfectly. Soderbergh also gives it a stylish sense of lighting that helps the pivotal dining room scenes land. At a tight 90 minutes, I can't recommend this one highly enough.

CALEB: I have yet to watch a film from 2025. Does that mean there haven’t been any good movies this year? Maybe. Is cinema officially dead? Possibly. Is watching a movie for more than five minutes with two under two difficult, if not impossible? Most definitely, but more on that later. Despite only having the time and mental bandwidth for MasterChef, I plan to watch some 2025 films soon. I am looking forward to Sinners (check out Tyler’s review), and I can’t wait for 28 Years Later, which gave us not one but two of the best movie trailers I can recall in recent memory. Hope remains for 2025.

TYLER: Beauty is skin deep, or so argues Aaron Schimberg’s psychological dark comedy A Different Man. Another gemstone in A24's ever-impressive crown as the king of mid-budget movies, the movie tells the story of Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes an experimental procedure to change his face and, hopefully, win the heart of playwright Ingrid. However, even with his new face, his past insecurities are never far away.

It’s a strange little movie, I’ll grant you that in advance. But what demands this twisty, unhinged character study be seen is an incredible turn from Sebastian Stan (who won a Golden Globe for this performance and earned an Oscar nomination for his other 2024 role, The Apprentice). Shedding that stupid metallic arm and the increasingly lifeless CGI of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stan reveals himself to be one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood. Not far behind him is a beautifully emphatic Adam Pearson, who — in only his fifth feature film role — channels his neurofibromatosis into a beautiful, even joyous performance. Regardless of how strange it is, it’s by far the best thing I’ve seen this year.

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CHECK THE GATE

Folks, our content production has been, well, admittedly low recently—but there are lots of good reasons for that!

DANIEL: It’s been a busy start to 2025 for the Mitchell family - they welcomed their third child in January. Paternity leave was full of movies at all hours, time shared together, and settling in as a family of five. While the von Trapps will surely outpace us, “Edelweiss” is the bedtime song of choice for our youngest two. As the resident list completionist, Daniel’s almost done with the Best Picture winners - he has single digits left to view. Stay tuned for a decade ranking later this spring!

GRAHAM: I just finished moving apartments, which means that I had a lot of time to listen to podcasts (see below) but not enough to watch a ton of new movies. I have been making a point to get out of the apartment on weeknights to take advantage of the Alamo Drafthouse’s themed roster of older movies, and I recently loved getting to see Mulholland Drive on the big screen. Tyler and I have unofficially deemed next month the month of James Bond here on Cinemantics, so I won’t be quiet for long!

CALEB: Caleb and his wife, Emily, bought their first house late last year, and they were blessed with their second child in March. They had another beautiful baby girl and named her Cecilia. (Editors note: Andrew Tyler MacBoyer would have been the name if it was a boy out of respect for her beloved uncle). They quickly introduced her to the world of cinema soon after taking her home. Her favorite movies are My Neighbor Totoro and The Raid.

TYLER: Tyler was promoted to Director of Multimedia at his 9-5! Over the last six weeks, he has been developing a treatment for a feature film exploring the Free Speech Movement and its clash with J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI in 1964. He is also starting training for the DC Half Marathon in September and the Columbus Half in October.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

Where do we get all the news and updates on everything movies? We have a few recommendations for the best podcasts for reviews, news, and enjoyable (but not obnoxious) banter.

DANIEL: I’m a Ringer-diehard. If I had one movie podcast to listen to, it’d be “The Big Picture” by a mile. Current movie news, upcoming Oscar slates, interviews with current filmmakers, and banter and fun drafts from previous years - it’s got everything I want in a podcast. I also am partial to “The Rewatchables” that focuses on a classic-ish slate of action movies, rom-coms, and movies that you can’t turn off, whenever they’re on.

GRAHAM: My go-to movie podcast for contemporary reviews is The Bulwark's Across the Movie Aisle. The three hosts bring very different perspectives but never take themselves too seriously and seem to genuinely love discussing movies with each other. The episodes never overstay their welcome, and I always leave feeling like I've hit on every major perspective a critic can have of a movie. For reviews of past films, I came across The 250 because they reviewed all 13 movies in the Halloween franchise, and I've been loving their work ever since. The hosts, one Irish film critic and one Irish everyman, balance each other very well, with one (Darren Mooney) giving insightful and oftentimes esoteric explanations of the films they discuss, and the other providing a normie's view of the movie. They also actively push back against the "Cinema Sins-ification" of movie criticism. The backlog contains hundreds of episodes, which cover the IMDB's top 250 films and bottom 100, leading to their reviewing some truly horrendous films. With a diverse panel of rotating guests, the 250 kept me company during some recent time-consuming life events.

CALEB: CRITERION’s “Closet Picks” series on YouTube never fails to introduce me to new films. Send your favorite directors, actors, and composers into a room stocked with over one thousand films from around the world, and you are guaranteed to discover something new or old that you would probably never find otherwise. I have watched many movies, but “Closet Picks” made me realize that my knowledge and experience of film is a drop in the ocean of cinema. It is my go-to resource for movie recommendations and the bane of my ever-growing watchlist on Letterboxd.

TYLER: See Daniel and Graham’s takes above. Both offer something slightly different that, when paired together, are the only go-to podcasts I need.

From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. This month, we’re joined by Caleb’s sister, Rachel Hansen, to discuss films and the music that makes them.

FAVORITE SCORE

• TYLER: Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Before we see the grand vistas of the Arabian desert, before we encounter Omar Sharif, even before we are introduced to a legendary Peter O’Toole, we hear that score. That unrivaled score. Played over a simple title card that reads “Overture,” we are immediately transported. Maurice Jarre’s masterful orchestration walks hand in hand with O’Toole’s iconic performance, giving this oft-imitated (but never surpassed) epic its iconic soul.

• CALEB: The Magnificent Seven (1960) If there is a siren’s song for the American West, it is Elmer Bernstein’s score for The Magnificent Seven. It moves you; it calls you to adventure into the unknown. The score captures the danger and the great excitement of riding into the fray for justice, honor, and glory with friends at your side. It is a masterpiece.

• RACHEL: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Try imagining Episode III with none of its almost operatic music: Anakin marching into the Jedi temple to execute Order 66 would be a walk in the park; Obi-Wan and Anakin’s battle on Mustafar would be a series of grunts and groans. You’d never get chills when Obi-Wan delivers baby Luke to his aunt and uncle at the end. Promise, even the credits are better with music!

• GRAHAM: The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) Realistically, this entire list could just be devoted to Lord of the Rings. Composer Howard Shore created a stunning musical tapestry to accompany the films, using a wide range of leitmotifs to tell a story that immediately transports the viewer to another world. There are too many moments to name: The Lighting of the Beacons, the Last March of the Ents, Concerning Hobbits. But one that always sticks out is the discovery of the Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf in Moria, a grand, awe-inspiring theme that does not return in the films, but is a microcosm of the thought and care that Shore put into this masterpiece.

• DANIEL: National Treasure (2004) This is a score I’ve listened to hundreds of times over the years. One year, it was my top album on Spotify Wrapped, and it certainly helped me finish a number of college papers. A movie with treasure hunts, chase sequences, and the ultimate reveal of finding treasure are perfectly orchestrated in this Trevor Rabin score. He also composed the Remember the Titans score, so it’s very possible early 2000s Jerry Bruckheimer production soundtracks are my favorite genre of movie scores.

FAVORITE THEME

• TYLER: The Raiders March, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): Caleb called me a “son of a bitch” for calling dibs on this one. Anyone with a working ear knows why. Equal parts heroic and romantic, John Williams set out to craft a love letter to the Old Republic serials of the 30s and 40s. Instead, he created the greatest hero's theme of all time. Want proof? Try humming the first four notes and stopping.

• CALEB: Imperial March, The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Since Tyler stole the greatest hero’s theme of all time and triggered my villain arc, it is appropriate I choose the greatest villain’s theme of all time, another icon creation of John Williams. Even heathens who have never seen Star Wars are familiar with the awe-inspiring and terror-inducing sound of Darth Vader’s theme. It is universally known for good reason.

• RACHEL: The Shire Theme, The Lord of the Rings (2001-03): This iconic theme conjures the comfort of being home in a warm bed, the joy found in true friendship, and the knowing looks between companions who survived against all odds and came back forever changed. Whether intended or not, the theme copies its notes from a favorite hymn of mine, “This Is My Father’s World.” Think about that and tell me music does not influence the soul’s perception of everything!

• GRAHAM: Is there anything more uplifting than listening to John Williams’s Superman (1978) march? One of the most iconic character themes of all time, Williams captures the ethos of the character in a rousing symphony that starts slowly, builds in anticipation, and then soars. You’ll believe a man can fly just by listening to it.

• DANIEL: Now We Are Free - Gladiator (2000). Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard combined to craft a theme I’ll never forget. I just learned this song was sung by Gerrard in a made up language, so that’s some fun trivia to pass along. And since John Williams is well represented by my movie brethren, I feel it’s my duty to make sure Hans Zimmer gets his due. While Gladiator II couldn’t possibly live up to the highs of the 2000 epic, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t emotional when this timeless theme played in the sequel. Strength and honor.

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FAVORITE SONG

• TYLER: “Over the Rainbow,” The Wizard of Oz (1939): Executives at MGM called for this Judy Garland number to be cut, fearing the sepia Kansas sequence was running too long. We’re grateful those stiff suits were ignored. An Oscar and a century later, Garland’s haunting vocals still leave us dreaming under the song’s magical spell.

• CALEB: “Walk Hard,” Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2008): “Walk Hard” is a pitch-perfect parody and a genuinely creative marvel, blending Johnny Cash-style gravitas with absurd self-importance. Its overwrought lyrics and John C. Reilly’s earnest delivery skewer music biopic clichés. It is hilarious and undeniably catchy.

• RACHEL: “I Have Nothing,” The Bodyguard (1992): This song was Oscar nominated for Best Original Song and became one of Whitney Houston’s classic hits. I have nothing left to say.

• GRAHAM: “Gaston,” Beauty and the Beast (1991): “Gaston” is laugh-out-loud funny and perfectly encapsulates the brash, empty machismo of the Disney heavy. It’s chock-full of subtext when watching as an adult, but there are more than enough visual gags to entertain kids. I aspire to one day use antlers in all of my decorating.

• DANIEL: “Edelweiss” - The Sound of Music (1965): So good, it was used in the movie twice, both times to perfection. The reprise, during the Salzburg Festival - you know the scene - one of those magical movie moments that I’ve seen a hundred times and will watch at least a hundred more.

FAVORITE MOVIE MUSIC MOMENT

• TYLER: “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): The scene that has made grown men cry since 2003. Howard Shore’s heroic, almost heavenly trumpets pierce the veil of overwhelming darkness surrounding our heroes, Samwise and Frodo, revealing the power and, dare I say, the preciousness of fraternal love in its purest form. Here, the power of cinema reaches its crescendo.

• CALEB: “Tears in the Rain,” Blade Runner 2049 (2017): The homage to "Tears in Rain" is a haunting, melancholic echo of Vangelis’ original. As Agent K lies wounded in the falling snow, Hans Zimmer’s score swells with ghostly synths to reveal that cold, isolating melody, mirroring his quiet self-sacrifice. It’s a lament—for K’s fleeting existence and the dream of something more.

• RACHEL: “Stuff We Did,” Up (2009): The depth of emotion in animated movies comes in no small part from its music. What’s more heart-wrenching than an old man realizing the ordinary moments of life with his wife was his biggest adventure, not making it to Paradise Falls? Add a sad piano playing in the background, and you’ll sob every time.

• GRAHAM: The opening of John Carpenter’s masterful science fiction/horror hybrid The Thing (1982) remains the most mysteriously ominous film opening of all time. We hold on a wide Antarctic mountain range until a helicopter flies into frame, either in search or pursuit. But what heightens the tension is Ennio Moricone’s simple but horrifyingly tense two note pulsing repetition that portends that something– or someone – is not what they seem.

• DANIEL: “No Time for Caution” - the docking scene in Interstellar (2014). Organs were made for Hans Zimmer. I watched this movie for the first time at the SIX stories tall Great Lakes Science Center dome screen. I think I held my breath the entire scene. Just absolutely an unreal piece of filmmaking, with the perfect music to carry it home.

Curious to hear the music mentioned in today’s blog post? Good news: Daniel has got you covered. What is your favorite movie music? Let us know in the comments below!

From time to time, Cinemantic’s contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movie-related. Here, we break down our five favorite films from 2024 — including a few honorable mentions.

GRAHAM’S PICKS

Honorable mentions: Dune Part II, Challengers, Hit Man, Conclave, A Quiet Place: Day One

5. Longlegs

A standout in what was a great year for horror, Longlegs made full use of the limited screen time it gave its star (Nicolas Cage, who is somehow both unrecognizable under layers of makeup but also instantly iconic as the eponymous villain). Writer and director Oz Perkins crafts a brilliantly framed and unbearably tense film that fully uses every tool in Perkins’s toolkit. By the time the film reaches its outlandish third act, you’ve completely bought into the nihilistic world Perkins creates, which takes for granted that evil exists and is the natural state of being. Longlegs is destined to be a Halloween rewatch.

4. Furiosa

An unfortunate box office bomb, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga marked director George Miller’s long-awaited return to the Mad Max universe. Furiosa is not without its signature set-pieces, as its spectacular extended truck convoy set-pieces rival anything Miller has done in his career. But what makes Furiosa so great is that it sets itself apart from Fury Road by being a more patient film that spends an extraordinary amount of time establishing its titular character as a living legend. It’s the rare prequel that amplifies the film that comes after instead of undermining it. If it does end up being the final film in the Mad Max universe, Furiosa is a high note to end on.

3. The Substance

Queasy stomachs beware. The Substance is not for the faint of heart. But it’s still a pleasure to watch a film that’s as hyper-focused on a singular idea as this one is. The dueling central performances from Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are a joy to behold. Both channel their current career statuses (Moore the fading star, Qualley the rising one) to carry a film about popular culture’s objectification of women. It’s a film that will make you squirm and cringe at some moments, but will also make you laugh out loud at others (if you have a fear of needles, skip this one). Randy Quaid is a delight in his deliciously loathsome supportive role. As someone who is not particularly enchanted by body horror, I was surprised at how much I liked The Substance.

2. The Iron Claw

Yes, it technically came out in 2023, but I’m counting it this year just to sing its praises once again. The Iron Claw was one of the first films I saw this year and it has stayed with me. It features a couple of the best performances I’ve seen all year, and captures a slice of America all too often overlooked by mainstream Hollywood films. The film tells the gut-wrenching story of the Von Erich family and the tragedies that befell them, seemingly resulting from a family curse. The film isn’t afraid to be sincere, with one scene approaching the point of being maudlin. But it’s exactly that heart and sincerity that gets career-best performances out of everyone involved and makes The Iron Claw an emotional roller-coaster for the ages.

1. Anora

I turned to Cinemantics head honcho Tyler MacQueen after walking out of this movie and said that it would likely be my favorite film of the year. Sean Baker is one of the most intriguing directors working in Hollywood today, and Anora fits right in with his examinations of sex work and class. Anchored by a star-making turn from Mikey Madison, Anora is both a comedic romp and a devastating story about human connection, immigration, and wealth. The middle hour is my favorite portion of any film this year. Anora is rich with little character moments that stay with you, and while Madison dominates the screen, Baker is able to draw compelling performances out of all of his actors (Yura Borisov is a particular standout). I can’t wait to revisit the film and it will be fascinating to see how it plays around Oscar season.

TYLER’S PICKS

Honorable mentions: Twisters, Conclave, Sing Sing, RenFaire, Dune: Part Two

5. Godzilla Minus One

At its heart, Godzilla Minus One is Godzilla meets Jaws meets Dunkirk set in post-WWII-Japan. It just absolutely rocks. Spileberg’s influences are seen and felt throughout the entire picture. The monster moves in a terrifyingly inhuman way; its head is often just above the water’s surface in menacing pursuit like Bruce the Shark. But what impressed me even more than the Oscar-winning effects was its human characters. Archetypical, yes, but wonderfully lived in. We see and feel their trauma and their desire for a better life, and we believe in their fear of this monster from the sea.

4. Super/ Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Christopher Reeve forever holds a place in movie history for making us believe that man can fly. But as Super/ Man: The Christopher Reeve Story reminds us, his legacy will last longer than the celluloid that made him famous. In a non-linear story, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui beautifully jump forwards and backward in time, showing the stark dichotomy between life before and after Reeve’s tragic 1997 accident that left him paralyzed. The movies made him Superman, but it took an unspeakable tragedy to make him a super man. Even if you know Reeve’s story, the film still breaks your heart, lifts the spirit, and reminds us that, while man cannot fly, the mark of a true hero is how they get back up when they fall.

3. Challengers

Challengers is many things, but boring is not one of them. It’s sexy, darkly comic, and entertaining as hell. Featuring a trio of dynamite performances from Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, Writer Justin Kuritzkes and director Luca Guadagnino give each performer a chance to shine, knowing that the movie falters if they don’t get enough time to connect with the audience. Thankfully, none of the three dropped the ball. Behind the camera, the crackling and diabolical screenplay is elevated by Guadagnino’s noted (and erotic) exploration of the human body through dizzying camerawork and editing, coupled with a dynamite score from the duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

2. The Iron Claw

Let me be blunt: The Iron Claw is as devastating as a movie can be. Based on actual events, the movie tells the story of Fritz Von Erich's sons and their efforts in the 80s to achieve the success that their father groomed them for. Writer-director Sean Durkin brings out career-best work from Zac Efron, who, in a more just world, would have seen his name appear in lights on Oscar Sunday. Yes, the script does streamline some events and characters, but it does so with grace and compassion. In keeping the movie focused on the relationship between the four brothers and their manipulative and abusive father, Durkin sheds profound insights on brotherhood amid generational trauma and the price of fame.

1. Anora

I won’t apologize for this one, folks. Sean Baker’s Anora is my favorite movie of the year. An all-American tragi-comedy that is as funny as provocative. After dominating the independent world for the past decade, this writer-director has capitulated into the zeitgeist with the help of an unforgettable Mikey Madison performance. This is her “star is born” moment. There’s not a single moment she’s on screen in which she’s not fascinating—and she’s in almost every scene! One-third romantic comedy, one-third slapstick farce, and one-third class commentary, its minor flaws are outweighed by the totality of this electric, wickedly entertaining movie experience.

DANIEL’S PICKS

Honorable mentions: The number 2 — Inside Out 2, Juror #2, Dune part II, Gladiator II, Twisters (not a #2 but a sequel)

5. The Fall Guy

This movie should have been a smashing success. It has all the ingredients of a blockbuster, but it just didn’t land in theatres the way it deserved. One of the most fun times I had at the movies this year was this film about the movies and the stunt teams that deserve more recognition. STUNT. OSCAR. NOW.

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are a perfect duo – I’d love to see them share the screen again. Hopefully the decision makers decide to make more movies like The Fall Guy, because there’s surely an appetite for the crowd pleasing, summer blockbuster that relies on charm and movie stars.

4. The Wild Robot

I loved The Wild Robot so much – one of the most delightful films I’ve seen in a long time. I am an easy mark for a movie that pulls your heartstrings – the themes of parenthood and sacrifice really got me good. My wife’s in the late stages of the third trimester, so the emotions are right on the surface (more so than usual).

I’m also pro training montages (the only montage I like more is a newspaper/magazine production montage like in journalism movies). Add in some tremendous vocal performances from Lupita Nyongo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Nighy, Catherine O’Hara, and Ving Rhames – you’ve got a movie that’s great for all ages.

3. Conclave

I’m all for rewarding a long-time actor with an Oscar, and it’s even better when that performance deserves the award. Ralph Fiennes has been doing elite work in movies for decades, and I would love to see him recognized for Conclave.

While I wish the twist had been a little sooner in the movie (I’ll let you all watch it to see for yourself), I found the political and papal intrigue to be utterly fascinating. Combined with elite cinematography and blocking of scenes, it was a fully formed movie for adults. More of these please!

2. Anora

Your classic Cinderella story set to the backdrop of Brooklyn — the problem is the clock struck midnight. Honestly, I thought it was going to be more of the whirlwind romance than it turned out to be. I was surprised at the pacing and the overall plot a little, but it was certainly one of the best movies of the year.

Anora lived up to the hype – I found it charming, desperate, and endlessly watchable. Mikey Madison gave one of the performances of the year, and it’d be awesome to see her get recognized with a Best Actress statue. May not be the frontrunner (I think Demi Moore is in front as of now) but it was a gutsy, heartwrenching, explosive performance. Can’t wait to watch Anora again.

1. Challengers

It’s a shame that Challengers is not getting the awards love that it deserves. While the score is rightfully being recognized, the craftsmanship and performances surely should have also been considered. It doesn’t appear it will be receive a good number of Oscar nominations, though I suspect that is more an issue with the spring release date.

Zendaya is a star, and Mike Faist/Josh O’Connor were game for every twist and turn in the love triangle/toxic relationship. Tennis is high on the list of cinematic sports, and the ending scene was a standout for 2024.

Reader, what’s your favorite movie from the past year? Let us know in the comments below!

From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. This month, we’re joined by some of Cinemantics’ incredible contributors to share our favorite Holiday movies.

TALIA: Every year around Christmas, my family comes together from various locations across the country. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for certain: At some point, somehow, some way, we’ll end up watching Emmett Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977). Why we continue returning to this obscure Jim Henson TV-movie is hard to say for sure, but it initially had something to do with my dad liking it as a kid. From there, it’s taken on a life of its own, becoming, essentially, a family meme. It’s become tradition for my youngest brother to replay the opening 10 seconds of the movie until someone becomes legitimately angry, my dad to do a half-decent impression of half of the characters, my mom to cry when Ma Otter sings to baby Emmett, and my middle brother to sing “Brothersssss!” along with Emmett’s jug-band. Lest this sound more alienating than alluring, I should probably mention that the movie is actually good. It’s a heartwarming and hilarious musical tale about family, friendship, and the serendipity of giving. And if that still doesn’t do it for you, it’s narrated by Kermit the Frog.

DAMON: Workaholic father Howard Langston fails to secure a hot new superhero toy for his son before Christmas Day, and so must spend Christmas Eve scouring Minneapolis in search of the elusive Turbo Man doll. Arnold fights Santa. A reindeer gets drunk. Sinbad is there. Hilarity ensues. Surely by now you’ve clocked that I’m talking about Brian Levant’s Jingle All the Way (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rita Wilson, Phil Hartman, Jake Lloyd, and of course, Sinbad. As a superhero-obsessed 90s kid whose dad constantly chased down toys for me, I was instantly sold on JATW’s trailer, and 28 years and many viewings later, it remains my all-time favorite Christmas movie. The antics, comedy, cameos, and not-so-subtle adult jokes remain top-notch, oozing the 90s family movie charm you simply cannot get anymore. Now that I’m a father myself, Jingle All The Way’s lesson — that it’s better to be present than to give present — carries more weight than ever, but rest assured that I too would fight Santa, get a reindeer drunk, or crash a televised Christmas parade to get my son the superhero toy of the season if I had to. It’s Turbo Time!

KATIE: What is it about a Christmas story that makes it uniquely subject to repetition? Satoshi Kon’s lushly animated Tokyo Godfathers (2003) is one such story, itself a retelling of 1948’s 3 Godfathers, but with a bit of repackage. Our heroes are Gin, an aging alcoholic; transwoman Hana, and teenage runaway Miyuki. All of them are experiencing homelessness, for reasons we explore over the course of the film. On a cold Christmas Eve, they find a baby girl while picking through a garbage pile, and name her Kiyoko (literally translates to ‘Silent Night’). The three decide to find the baby’s mother and so begins the simple premise. The plot, though, is far from straightforward: it includes an assassination attempt, yakuza bosses, drag queens, a cat named Angel, and more than one chase sequence. The success of the film is its ability to transition from jokes and action into deep connections and heartbreak of the characters. Each of them have no trouble helping others, but all must be reminded of their own worth. Far and above the Christmas setting, it’s their ability to find goodness in the most unlikely places that makes it not only a worthy iteration but a true holiday classic.

J.D.: Miracle on 34th Street has always been one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. Very few films convey the “true meaning of Christmas” as charmingly as this tale of Kris Kringle, a bearded, white haired grandfatherly figure who believes he is the genuine Santa Claus. Miracle operates on two levels: children believe he’s the real St. Nicholas, while adults are charmed by his guileless, earnest manner. Thanks to an Oscar-winning performance by Edmund Gwenn, every major character at the start of Miracle undergoes a change in attitude toward Christmas by the end of the movie. Equally worthy of note are the Oscars Miracle deservedly won for Best Screenplay and Best Original Story—quite simply, it’s one of the funniest Christmas movies ever made. Maureen O’Hara is a comedic delight as she realizes her department store Santa believes he’s the genuine article. And the movie’s climactic trial features hilarious turns by Gene Lockhart as the judge, William Frawley as the political boss, and Jerome Cowan as the DA, all trying to avoid the consequences of telling the world there’s no Santa Clause and triggering a political and economic meltdown. Put this one on your Christmas list!

AMY: As Christmas movies go, I like the same ones everyone else likes. I love the composite nature of Love Actually. I love A Christmas Story because my dad used to read Jean Shepherd even before the movie. I love Elf because I just think it’s utterly delightful. All of it. But my favorite Christmas movie is one that most people don’t mention and a lot of people haven’t even seen. It’s The Family Stone (2005). I. Love. That. Movie. And I know a lot of people hate it. I even get it. The story is preposterous. Several characters are completely unlikable. It can’t decide if it’s a comedy or a drama. There’s cancer AND hijinks, which is pretty much everything you want in a Christmas movie. While an ensemble, the movie’s heart is Diane Keaton’s Sybil, who is battling a recurrence of breast cancer and while this looms heavy through the story, the cancer is really hovering in the background without taking over the movie. The story isn’t about Sybil Stone dying of cancer. It’s about Sybil Stone’s last Christmas BECAUSE she’s dying of cancer and her efforts to have this Christmas be a beautiful one despite her pending fate. And also despite the fact that her eldest son brings home a girl everyone hates and announces he intends to marry her.

And if I’m honest, that’s probably why I relate so personally to this movie.

I was the loathsome girl brought home by the oldest son in a big family and I endured more than one difficult Christmas. While Meredith, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is a challenge, I could see her struggling to dig herself out of a hole while simultaneously digging it faster. In her analysis of the film, “Most Tender Grief: The Family Stone,” author Sophie Corser sums up the dynamic of this film perfectly:

Maybe it’s because I have had one of these Christmases: a last Christmas, when someone is catastrophically ill. I understand deeply how The Family Stone’s peculiar, almost jarring combination of slapstick comedy, screwball plotting, family tragedy, and romance makes sense through grief: through a grief you’ve begun in advance, that will still not prepare you for the grief yet to come. You laugh too hard at weird things, then cry soon after. Stuff gets dropped, split, tripped over, mislaid. Decisions are made too quickly or agonized over. It can be impossible to say – or really know – what you feel.

And that is what I love most about this film. When someone says, “It gave me all the feels,” I know exactly what they mean. That is what The Family Stone does for me. And there’s no better time of year for all the feels than Christmas.

CAMERON: In the MacQueen household, we debate many things. But one thing we always agree on is what the best Christmas movie is: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). Apart from the genius of The Muppets, who fit so well within Charles Dickens’ legendary tale, it features a perfectly cast Michael Caine. Bringing out the best in some amazingly talented people, including songwriter Paul Williams, Muppets Christmas holds a special place in the heart of Muppet fans as the first film in the series made after the tragic deaths of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt. This movie proudly honors their legacy, bringing out the beauty of the timeless story, and infusing it with all the good things the Muppets provide the world: empathy, playfulness, and—most importantly—laughter and joy.

DANIEL: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) is a story of the human experience – with themes of sacrifice, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. Told through the eyes of George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart gives the everyman performance of a lifetime as he journeys to see the value in his own life. At its core, the movie emphasizes the theme of community and the powerful bonds that connect people. George Bailey's struggles and sacrifices in the small town of Bedford Falls make him universally relatable. Financial and legal problems combined with feelings of inadequacy lead George to wish he’d never been born. In an answer to prayer, George soon finds out how different life would be for those he loves had he never been born. Every year I watch this movie as close to Christmas Eve as I can. Without fail, the ending scene makes me overwhelmed with emotion. Full of gratitude, perspective, and all the holiday spirit, It’s a Wonderful Life will always hold a special place in my heart. This is an easy decision choice for me. “To my big brother, George – the richest man in town.”

GRAHAM: “Spoiled psychopathic brat hires hitman to kill Santa Claus” doesn’t exactly sound like a premise that lends itself to a serious meditation on old age and modernity. But for a film with such an absurd presence, 2020’s Fatman is one of the more surprisingly poignant stories you’ll watch around Christmas. Mel Gibson stars as a world-weary Kris Kringle, cynical at a world losing its appreciation for Christmas, who becomes caught in the crosshairs of a hitman (the incomparable Walton Goggins) charged with killing Santa Claus, all while Kris tries to navigate a U.S. military contract he’s forced into by economic struggles. Fatman is restrained and focused, a meditation on aging and the compromises one is forced into by a changing world. It’s not exactly the feel-good story of the season, but it ends on an uplifting enough note to warm the cockles of any cinephile’s heart.

CALEB: Die Hard (1988) is a Christmas movie. Yeah, I said it. While there are many wonderful, heart warming films to get you in the spirit of the season, there are some things that good ol’ Yuletide can’t solve, like terrorists interrupting your office’s festivities or the in-laws staying for a “just a few” extra days. We all could blow off a little steam during this hectic and stressful time of year, which is why Die Hard is my favorite Christmas-action film for the holidays. Still, tis’ the season that brings us together. We shouldn’t let an objective fact of cinema divide us. Besides, who wants to get cornered by the cookie table and debate the opinionated second cousin that uses words like “diegetic” and won’t stop talking about that one frame from Citizen Kane. Yippee-ki-yay, and merry Christmas!

TYLER: No other holiday movie has the iconography of A Christmas Story (1983). Just think about it: the bunny suit, the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle, the Leg Lamp, and any of these immortal words: “Fra-ge-lee. Must be Italian,” “I triple dog dare you,” and “You’ll shoot your eye out!” This Cleveland-shot, TBS staple is Norman Rockwell if covered in salt and vinegar, featuring all the classic Americana trappings but with a knowing, sardonic wink to the camera. In some ways, it’s the Seinfeld of Christmas movies. It’s about nothing and says nothing, permitting audiences to project whatever they want on the material. And that makes this movie — and “the gleaming glow of electric sex”— so universal.

Reader, what’s your favorite holiday movie? Let us know why in the comments below! And, from everyone at Cinemantics, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.

From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. This month, in honor of Spooky Season, we break down the movies that scared the bejesus outta us as kids.

CALEB: There are many moments in movies that scared me as a kid. The horrible yellow eyes and terrifying smile of Jim Carrey’s Grinch. The Wampa jumping into frame and attacking Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back. The wicked witch in Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Lots of things in movies are scary when you are a kid, but there was one film that freaked me out and disturbs me to this day.

I grew up watching Turner Classic Movies, old films that most people have never seen or heard of from the early age of Hollywood. My parents considered these old films to be safe for us kids, and that was generally true. You never had to worry about explicit adult themes and content because times were different back then. 

Violence was subdued and offscreen, sex was a passionate kiss between lovers, and coarse language was no more than the verbal jousting you might encounter in a Jane Austen novel. If and when these old films touched upon mature themes, it was often subtle and implied, but there is an exception to every rule.

Robert Osbourne introduced Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932) like any other film. It is about a beautiful trapeze artist, Cleopatra, who agrees to marry a dwarf, Hans, the leader of a carnival sideshow. When Han’s sideshow friends discover that Cleopatra intends to marry Hans only to murder him and claim his inheritance, they seek revenge. Cleopatra is captured by the “freaks” and later shown on display at the carnival as a deformed, human duck. It looks a bit ridiculous now, but it was truly terrifying as a kid!

TYLER: One night, my family drove a few miles down the road to Perrysville (population 726) to meet up with our friends, the Brown family. It was October, I think, and I was probably seven or eight years old at the time. Night had already fallen, and my parents told me we would have a movie night with the Browns’: Young Frankenstein (dir. Mel Brooks, 1974). They claimed it was a comedy. But I wasn’t laughing.

What I recognize now as the brilliance of that movie utterly terrified me as a child: the black-and-white cinematography, the practical sets, the haunting violin theme. Evoking so much of the mood of the classic Boris Karloff pictures is what sets it apart from many of the genre parodies. Brooks and Gene Wilder’s decision to place a comedy into that eerie, creative atmosphere threw me off my game. Shouldn’t a comedy be about light-hearted matters, like slipping on a banana peel, not resurrecting the dead?

My parents and the Browns’—Gary and Karen— were laughing up a storm. I sat there terrified and confused. What was so funny? The humor was over my head, and as I tried to go to bed at night, all I could think of was that haunting violin theme played against a full moon. In my dreams, Peter Boyle’s Monster emerged from the misty shadows. Not doing a tap dance, mind you, but menacingly. To this day, that violin theme scares the absolute bejesus outta me—even if I can now laugh at this:

GRAHAM: IMDB designates Jurassic Park (1993, dir. Spielberg) as fitting into the “Dinosaur Adventure,” “Jungle Adventure,” “Action,” “Adventure,” “Sci-Fi,” and “Thriller” genres. I would include “Horror” for a young me.

I’ll stand by that today — from its opening moments, Jurassic Park is a very frightening movie. It’s also a perfectly calibrated film that remains one of my most formative movies — and I think it’s because of the opening scene, which still produces a tightness in my chest every time I watch it.

Everything about it is perfectly taut. There are the silent gazes of the men in construction hats standing perfectly still in anticipation. There’s the slow zoom on Robert Peck’s Muldoon holding a look of fear and an appropriately intimidating gun. Then there’s the opening misdirection. The branches of the tree shake, signaling the early arrival of a show-stopping dinosaur for the hungry audience, but all that’s revealed is a crane holding a massive crate as Spielberg pulls out to reveal the location of the action on Isla Nublar. The tension and mystery slowly build as Spielberg gives us just glimpses of the raptor in the box — and he also lets the sound design do the work.

By the time the raptor lunges at the gate and frees itself, the tension — built in a span of maybe a dozen shots — is at a fever pitch. Spielberg never lets the viewer actually see the raptor grab the gatekeeper. But by focusing on the panic of Muldoon and the ineffectiveness of the security guards trying to “work her back,” Spielberg establishes the relentlessness and horror of the creature. And there’s not a drop of blood in the whole scene. Our imaginations — my young imagination — fill in the blanks.

Jurassic Park is the best example of how to do setup and payoff on a movie-wide scale. The T-Rex breakout scene occurs almost exactly halfway through the movie, and the second half of the film is spent paying off every bit of setup from the first. It’s a perfect summer blockbuster that I revisit at least once a year. And my heart will always start racing when I hear those opening notes of John Williams’s score.

DANIEL: Growing up, I certainly avoided scary movies. My parents told me that, as a child, the wolves in Beauty and the Beast made me terribly upset. No kidding – they have yellow eyes.

We will stick with the animal genre and move to the microgenre of --- Sad-things-happening-to-dogs. Homeward Bound (“Peter”) and Old Yeller are clear choices here and they have burned me good. However, my main choice is a lesser known 90s Disney movie called Summer of the Monkeys.

I do not remember the plot of it, but it starred Wilford Brimley and there was a boy with a dog. And monkeys that needed rescuing. I vaguely remember the dog getting hurt and I know I ran upstairs sobbing when I was a child, so I blocked that movie from my memory. I also have a clear avoidance of primates, so this movie must have done a number on me.

A quick Google search and the Summer of the Monkeys poster says, “Own Disney’s All-New Heartwarming Adventure.” Nice try, Disney – I know a pull quote when I see one. Let us move far outside of Disney movies to true horror movies now.

Our college dorm was home to many conversations, study sessions, and movie experiences. Regrettably, we watched Human Centipede in our shared communal area, I think on a weeknight. I will save you the synopsis, but it is a body horror movie with three people being sewn together. And it spawned sequels. That’s a no for me, dawg.

Normally I would not choose to see Paranormal Activity in a theatre, but FOMO won out. It ended up being one of the most memorable experiences in a movie theatre – friends holding each other, trying not to scream, screaming. The jump scares – the stuff of nightmares.

But those moments are cinema. Especially the ones that keep us up at night.

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Reader, what movies spooked you out as a kid? Let us know in the comments below!

From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movies. This month, we settle on what our dream drive-in double features would be.

TYLER: What makes an ideal drive-in double feature? Well, a few criteria spring to mind: They have to be (relatively) well-known pictures and they have to have some thematic thread that connects the two. But the movies also can't be too similar, or else the audience will get bored.

So, my double feature would be Jaws (1973, Spielberg) and Nope (2022, Peele).

Both are about the danger of spectacle told by two masters of genre and tension; one looks to the depths of the ocean and the other to the vastness of the night sky. One explores race and legacy in Hollywood, while the other is the template that all creature-based thrillers are copied.

Peele has even admitted that Nope is his attempt at a Spielbergian picture, even staging his finale at the Jupiter's Claim amusement park as a tribute to the blood-curdling finale of the first Summer Blockbuster.

Now, it's true that Jaws is much more straightforward and thrill-a-minute than the more contemplative and slow Nope, which makes it a natural contender to be the second half of the double feature. After all, it's better to go out with a bang. However, you can only appreciate Peele's sincere admiration for the Bard of the Sky if you watch his work, consider it, and then turn to Peele's response. It makes you appreciate both what has been made and what came before.

Plus, they're just really damn good summer movies.

CALEB: Since comparing Stagecoach and Mad Max: Fury Road a few months ago, the idea of companion films has intrigued me. My drive-in double feature is less dream and more nightmare: The Exorcist (1973, Friedkin), and The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016, Øvredal).

In each film, the characters encounter supernatural evil, and their responses are similar yet different. When put together as a program, the tension between faith and science is more apparent. Seeking natural causes as an explanation for supernatural phenomena leads to bewilderment and deadly consequences.

In the Exorcist, doctors cannot explain the disturbing changes that young Regan (Linda Blair) experiences due to demonic possession. Similarly, a coroner (Brian Cox) and his son in training (Emile Hirsch) become increasingly confused as they conduct the autopsy of a ‘Jane Doe’ murder victim.

These men of science torture the material world with their scalpels and needles to uncover the secrets it reveals. When their findings lead to irrational explanations, unsatisfying answers follow.

Unable to supply rational theories and remedies, the doctors in the Exorcist refer Regan to a psychiatrist to avoid admitting defeat. They conclude her problem is of the mind, not the body.

In the Autopsy of Jane Doe, the coroner and his son do not have that luxury. The body is all they have to investigate, the material that remains after some essential part of us departs. The coroner’s pride refuses to give up despite setbacks at every incision, and he rejects multiple opportunities to leave his bafflement behind and go home with his son.

Knowledge is not always a good, especially when faith and sacrifice are ultimately the only efficacious weapons against supernatural evils.

Only the sacrifice of a father can stave off the demonic forces that torment them in both films. Together they show that self-sacrifice works, but it comes at a cost. In the closing scene of the Autopsy of Jane Doe, we hear a preacher proclaim, “the word of God is powerful,” over the static of a car radio. The station suddenly changes to a choir of children singing, “Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In).”

It is very unsettling. It is also sobering because the characters in each film discover these things to be true, only too late.

GRAHAM: I recently sang the praises of Longlegs, one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in recent years. Longlegs wears its influences on its sleeve. The structure of the film, FBI agents pursuing a mysterious killer who conducts a series of seemingly unexplainable murders and leaves behind notes written in cypher, channels David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac. The FBI agent dynamic also feels drawn from The X-Files. 

But the film Longlegs reminded me most of is more recent: David Prior’s 2020 The Empty Man, a now-cult movie that was buried on video on demand during the pandemic after a rocky production.  

I didn’t see The Empty Man in theaters. Unfortunately, not a lot of people did. But it has gained a second life because of its surreal atmosphere, sense of cosmic dread, and Lovecraftian nihilism. 

Longlegs and The Empty Man open on a prologue whose significance to the story isn’t unveiled until significantly later in the film. Longlegs’s opening jolts from quiet dread to shock abruptly. The Empty Man, on the other hand, spins out a 25-minute story involving four friends on a backpacking trip that slowly builds its tension to a brutal conclusion. But both prologues effectively set the tone for the rest of their stories, with Longlegs introducing its uncannily human villain and The Empty Man establishing the mystery surrounding the film’s antagonistic entity. And both pay off later in their stories, drawing together the events of the whole film. 

Both films consistently place their protagonist in isolation, positioning them as overmatched against an unknowably larger supernatural force, giving both films a sense of mystery and dread as the viewer slowly understands that what the characters are witnessing isn’t quite explicable. And both films conclude with twists that reveal that the players closest to our protagonists are not what they seem.

What makes the two films an effective double feature is their suggestion that evil, otherworldly forces exist and are perpetually searching for vulnerable vessels (or tulpas) for entries into our world by targeting, or manipulating, human weakness. In Longlegs, the dolls; in The Empty Man, the titular Empty Man. They both get at an underlying sense that weakness may not just be negative in its own sake, but may actually be an opportunity for evil.

A double feature of Longlegs and The Empty Man wouldn’t leave anyone in a good mood when they leave. But they are two of the best horror films in recent years and suggest that horror is at its best when it’s unflinchingly dealing with the reality of evil in our world.

DANIEL: The hardest part of narrowing down a double feature is deciding on the genre. Blockbuster, comedy, action, superhero, thriller. Say it like Alex Trebek: “Genre”.

For two movies in one evening, both films should be around the 2-hour mark. That rules out most superhero and blockbuster movies, though an obvious choice for a drive-in experience. Sorry Top Gun: Maverick & Die Hard, you just missed the cut.

I have paired two of my favorite thrillers for the perfect drive-in double feature: Rear Window and Get Out. These films, from visionary filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock and Jordan Peele, delve into voyeurism, paranoia, and social commentary, offering plenty to chew on long after the credits roll.

In Rear Window, Hitchcock masterfully crafts a tale of suspense centered on Jeff (Jimmy Stewart), a photographer stuck in his apartment after an injury. With little else to do, Jeff begins watching his neighbors through his telephoto lens, turning casual curiosity into a dangerous obsession. As he peers deeper into their lives, Jeff becomes convinced that one of his neighbors has murdered his wife.

Despite the doubts of his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and his nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), Jeff cannot let go of the suspicion. The tension in the film builds beautifully as his voyeuristic tendencies lead him further into a web of intrigue, culminating in a gripping climax. Rear Window is celebrated not only for its suspense but also for its innovative single-set design and its thought-provoking exploration of the ethics of watching others.

Get Out takes a different but equally unsettling approach. Directed by Jordan Peele, this horror film tackles racism with a sharp, satirical edge – and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. What a great movie year 2017 was!!

In Get Out, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), is a Black man visiting his white girlfriend’s family for the weekend. What starts as an awkward, uncomfortable visit quickly spirals into a nightmare as Chris uncovers the Armitage family’s horrifying secret: they have been abducting Black people and using their bodies as vessels for the consciousness of wealthy, older white individuals. Get Out boldly confronts systemic racism and the veneer of liberal tolerance, using paranoia to heighten the horror and deliver a scathing critique of racial exploitation.

With each viewing of Rear Window and Get Out, I focus on different characters or scenes – the hallmark of a classic film! While Rear Window is more of a mystery/thriller, following it with the horror/thriller Get Out feels the right call to ratchet up the evening. Both films, though distinct in style and era, use the themes of voyeurism and paranoia to craft unforgettable stories, making them an ideal pairing for a thought-provoking night at the drive-in. Not only would they be tremendous to watch at a drive-in, but these are movies that will endure the test of time.

Sit back, relax, and see you at the movies.