As the year winds to a close, we’re sharing lists of our favorite films we’ve seen (so far).
Author: Josh
Seattle Film Critics announce 10 best films of 2025 and nominees for annual awards
This afternoon, the Seattle Film Critics Society (which counts a few of us as members) announced nominations for the 2025 SFCS Awards. Dominating the nominations was Ryan Coogler’s Sinners with fourteen, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another with twelve, and Clint Bentley’s Pacific Northwest-set Train Dreams with eight.
Rian Johnson’s terrific Knives Out mysteries hit peak form with Wake Up Dead Man
The latest Knives Out finds onetime boxer turned small town priest wrapped up in a thorny and inexplicable murder of a controversial Monsignor. A warm embrace in a world of wolves, this third iteration in the ongoing Benoit Blanc series represents a major emotional leap for the franchise while demonstrating its dexterity to reshape itself to meet the the current mood.
Neither art or family come easy in Joachim Trier’s exquisite Sentimental Value
It’s been quite a year for films about fathers reckoning with the consequences of having prioritizing careers over family or making art as a balm for old wounds, none yet have come close to holding a candle to the carefully-crafted emotional effectiveness of Joachim Trier’s spectacular Sentimental Value.
Chloe Zhao ponders an undiscovered country in Hamnet
Notes from Saturday at Telluride where the festival saw the world premiere of Hamnet and North American premieres of Bugonia and Pillion.
In Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love Jennifer Lawrence is a writer past the verge of a nervous breakdown
With Die My Love, director Lynne Ramsay transports audiences into a dreamlike state of isolation, maternal turmoil, and creative frustration through the tremendous power of Jennifer Lawrence’s standout performance.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere excavates the Nebraska Origin Myth
Who was it that said :all unhappy rock stars are alike, no happy rock star has ever truly existed in the history of this earth?” Probably the same esteemed writer who famously pondered “War, what is it good for?”
Train Dreams is among the best of the Pacific Northwest
Opening with a spectacular shot of a massive tree falling in the woods (shot from the perspective of the tree) in the late 1800s and spanning decades into the twentieth century, Train Dreams was one of the major premieres to emerge from this year’s Sundance. Ahead of its theatrical release, it plays next week as a special presentation by the Seattle Film Critics Society.
Rose Byrne is a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It’s a facile comparison given the involvement of a Safdie brother on the production team, but If I Had Legs I’d Kick You very much has the feeling of Uncut Gems for motherhood
Luca Guadagnino wades into the mess of campus cancel culture with After the Hunt
It’s hard to know what to make of Luca Guadagnino’s new film, a puzzling muddle of a campus #MeToo drama.