Kino Meditations

Half the year is gone, and with it an already impressive list of good films, from the latest instalment in the Mission Impossible franchise, to the slick spy romance Black Bag, to the stand-out of the year in Sinners. Superman is in theaters this weekend, and Fantastic Four follows in 2 weeks. Let’s look at some of the movies that hold most promise for the remainder of 2025, including blockbusters, festival films, and auteur cinema.

10. Eddington – Directed by Ari Aster in the follow-up to his weird epic Beau is Afraid, Eddington is a modern western set during the pandemic, starring the hardest-working man in Hollywood right now, Pedro Pascal, as well as Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler, among others. It debuted at Cannes to a polarizing reception, so expect this to ruffle a few feathers when it releases next week.

9. It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner, the film was made without official filming permission from the Iranian authorities. It tells the story of a stranded couple, Eghbal and his pregnant wife Shiva, who are rescued by a man named Vahid, who has previously tortured Eghbal. Distribution was acquired by Neon, as with many other films that debuted earlier at Cannes, and is expected to release sometime in the fall.

8. Marty Supreme – 2025 will see each of the Safdie brothers (Good Time (2017), Uncut Gems (2019)) direct a different film for the first time. While Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine also releases later this year, starring The Rock, Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme is the one I’m most excited about, with Timothée Chalamet in the lead as a young man in the pursuit of greatness, something I’m sure he can relate to.

7. Avatar: Fire and Ash – Many people doubted James Cameron and his ability to still drive people to the theaters, when in 2022 he directed the follow-up to Avatar, 13 years after it first came out. The third installment releases this December, with this being the middle chapter of a planned 5-movie story.

6. Wake Up Dead Man – Rian Johnson’s third outing in the Knives Out canon, with Daniel Craig returning as Benoit Blanc. The impressive cast boasts Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin and more. Personally, while Glass Onion was nowhere near the same level as Knives Out, I could watch 30 of these. It releases on Netflix in December.

5. The Ballad of a Small Player – While it remains without a set release date, Netflix is expected to release this in their streaming service later this year. Edward Berger’s latest directorial effort is written by Roland Joffé’s son Rowan Joffé,  and stars Colin Ferrel and Tilda Swinton as a high-stakes gambler and a con artist fleeing to Macau. I loved Conclave, and this is shot by the James Friend, who won the Oscar for Best Cinematography for All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), also directed by Berger, so I’d expect this to be one of the most beautiful films this year.

4. Frankenstein – Guillermo del Toro’s take on the classic Mary Shelley novel. Starring Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, and Jacob Elordi as the monster, the film will release in November on Netflix. While del Toro can be a little hit or miss for me personally, I’m still very excited for this one. Interestingly, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride is planned to come out next year, drawing inspiration from 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein.

3. Sentimental Value – Directed by Joachim Trier, who previously directed the wonderful Worst Person in the World (2021), the film tells the story of two sisters, played by Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, who have to contend with an American movie star in their midst (Elle Fanning) who has been cast in the director father’s latest film. A sensation at Cannes, the film won the Grand Prix. Expect this to come out at the end of the year.

2. No Other Choice – Directed by Park-Chan Wook, it follows a man seeking to eliminate his competition in order to secure a job, after dealing with rejection and unemployment for several years. The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave are two of my favorite films of all time, so I am very excited for this one. While there’s no set release date, it has been speculated that that it could debut at Venice Film Festival later this summer.

1. One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson’s next project sees him teaming up with a stack cast which includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall, to name a few. It supposedly is a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland. Notable for its budget, which is upwards of $140 million (no PTA film has ever grossed that much money before), the action comedy thriller releases in September.