Nathaniel's "Best" of 2025 (Part 2)

by Nathaniel R

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

Consider today's list of abundance a sequel to Tuesday's overflowing cup of film joy. We previously covered honorable mentions which featured films from Brazil, Argentina, France, Vietnam, the American indie scene and Hollywood. Today we move on to the cream of the crop. Herewith a baker's favourite dozen films of the year. I heartly recommend seeing each and every one of them.

My absolute favourites of the year proved to be largely contemporary pictures coincidentally set in the only two countries I happen to have ever lived in: the US and Norway. The latter country arguably had their best film year ever with not one but five multiple award-winning pictures (Sentimental Value, The Ugly Stepsister, Dreams, Sex, Love) in international release. That said, this best / favourite list cannot be so easily pinned down to two countries in the present day. The best movies of 2025 transcend time and place just like that phenomenal "I Lied to You" sequence in Sinners, to include turn of the century England (17th century to be precise), the Jim Crow era South (rural Mississippi in October of 1932 to be exact), and the corner of 42nd and Madison here in New York City... albeit in some alternate universe where it's both now and also the 1960s. Aside from those detours and contemporary peaks at life and lives in the US, UK, and Norway, this list runs through a bustling night market in Taiwan, and holds tight to a dream home in South Korea that is really far more than its owners can responsibly afford.  Let's go to the movies...

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Drag Race RuCap: "Snatch Game of Love: Island Edition"

Which one of the Snatch Game boys is your favorite? Don't be shy, share with the class.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: The narrative set forth by the Talent Show kerfuffle continues to unfold in this season’s Snatch Game. In some ways, it feels like Mama Ru is correcting the injustices she (or the broader production team) may have perceived in the Rate-a-Queen results, rewarding those who were thrown under the bus while punishing the conspirators behind Myki’s close brush with elimination. She’s like Eggers’ Northman, intoning to herself: “I will avenge you, Meeks! I will save you, Coco! I will kill you, Dions!” Then again, it’s not like the girls are making her job very difficult. The correct bottom two lip-synced for their life this week, and even if I might have picked a different victor, Ru’s champion is hardly scandalous. Anyway, did you know Athena Dion is Greek?

NICK TAYLOR: I do, though there’s a moment where she’s really pressed by the suggestion to play Greek. Diva, that is your brand!! You did this!! Along with course-correcting the talent show, Ru’s judging feels like a referendum against fictional and mythological characters popping up in Snatch Game. I have questions about the judging, but not complaints, and in retrospect part of my shock at this week’s elimination is from the edit not pushing the possibility as hard as they might have...

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Oscar Volley: High Quality / Low Suspense in "Best Director"

The Oscar Volleys continue with Ben Miller and Nathaniel R talking Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson will FINALLY win an Oscar... for ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

BEN: Welp Nathaniel, this felt like the most boring category of the whole Oscars a month ago. Luckily, there seems to be a bit of flux in this race. Paul Thomas Anderson seemed poised to run away with the statue, but Ryan Coogler can't stop butting in.

Before we get to that, I wanted to know your thoughts on this lineup as a whole. This certainly wouldn't be my personal lineup, but there aren't any Todd Phillips or Adam McKay mucking up the group.  How do you feel about this Best Director lineup?

NATHANIEL: What a lede to entice the readers, Ben. "Most Boring" Ha ha. But true. What I really want to know is WHY do you find it boring?

Please click all that apply...

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Best International Film: And Then There Were Two...

The Oscar Volleys continue. Today, ERIC BLUME and NATHANIEL R discuss the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film. 

NO OTHER CHOICE, Park Chan-wook | © NEON

ERIC:  Hi Nathaniel, I feel lucky getting you all to myself to discuss Best International Film.  I do think the slate is ultimately very strong overall, but before we get to our five nominees and an assessment on the race, can we take one last brief moment to mourn the EXCLUSION of a film in both of our Top 10 lists, Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice?  It's no easy feat to make a film that's both political and funny, and he really nailed his tiny little bullseye.

NATHANIEL:  Maybe it's a tiny bullseye but I bet if you zoom way in that bullseye is as intricate as the lines in a diamonds or as multi-colored and weirdly patterned as an iris. Which is to say that not only was it my favourite of the submissions but it's quite literally my #1 film of the year. (Why leave everyone in suspense since it takes me so long to post my awards). I really am just obsessed with it and Lee Byung Hun absolutely deserved a spot in the Best Actor lineup too. The Korean superstar is so confident in his gifts that he's able to be goofy and pathetic and sad without ever losing his Movie Star-ness. It's really a miracle performance if you ask me because he does all that while feeling utterly spontaneous in each scene. Anyway I could talk about this movie for days...

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2025 in Review: Nathaniel's "Best" List (Pt 1)

by Nathaniel R

Begonia, Marty Supreme, Nouvelle Vague, and Kill the Jockey were among the best films of the year

PART ONE. One of the greatest and worst things about the cinema is that it is a perpetually overflowing cup. Discourse about Hollywood always leans toward sky-is-falling “end of” cinema/moviegoing due to horrid socioeconomic and public behavioral reasons. Yet at the  same time we can never keep up so it’s a fact that artists all over the world are still making cinema like the artform will never go out of style. There is literally always more to see and more in any given year than can be seen by any person, on any size of a screen. (If you love catching up on older films this pleasure/problem is exponentially more true.)

In that spirit of “overflowing” here are some darlings and honorable mentions before we get to the Top Dozen tomorrow and at least one of the ways in which they surpassed reasonable expectations...

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