1) Project Hail Mary
 Ryan Gosling stars as a failed scientist, occupying time as a high school teacher. He is asked to go on an interstellar mission in which he is forced to work with an alien who is, surprisingly, refreshingly benign. This is the most inspirational, optimistic, and uplifting film of the year, and you can always score points with me by depicting a loser teacher turned world savior. It benefits greatly from the talents of TV veteran writer and director Drew Godard, who handles special effects well, and composed a clever, involving, and humanistic script (adapted from a novel).

Director: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
 

2) The Mastermind
A small-time loser is bored and fed up with not meeting his goals, so he assembles a small-time crew to pull off petty robbery in this excellent example of slow cinema. He and his associates do everything wrong, and while the audience laughs at their incredible incompetence, we all root for them not to get caught. This savagely funny film is a return to form for minimalist director Kelly Reichardt, who creates marvelous films with little money and few stars, and it’s her best cinematic work since at least First Cow (2019).

Director- Kelly Reichardt
 

3) The Furious
This marvelously entertaining action film follows a handyman looking for his missing daughter and a reporter looking for his missing wife as they team up against an army of depraved human traffickers. It all climaxes in a terrific 15-minute action sequence involving 5 men, a breathtaking example of visual poetry. If this film does not get your pump running, you must be a corpse. This is easily the best straight-action film in any language I have seen in years. This Chinese/Korean co-production was shot in Bangkok and features dialogue in Thai, Tagalog, Mandarin, with English subtitles.

Director-Kenji Tanigaki
 

4) Kontinental 25
A government agent who makes her money evicting indigent people makes herself feel better by giving to progressive social causes. But when a poor man she evicts from a house that will be developed into a luxury hotel called the Kontinental commits suicide, she has a kind of breakdown and goes on a philosophic journey. This visually dazzling film, shot on an iPhone in 10 days in Transylvania, features many striking scenes of unusual European architecture and looks better than most expensive, big-budget films. This wickedly funny absurdist comedy by Radu Jude effectively satirizes gentrification and capitalism and it almost matches his last film, Don’t Expect too Much from the End of the World. In Romanian, Hungarian, and German with English subtitles.

Director- Radu Jude
 

5) Pillion
Terrific queer rom-com about a shy, withdrawn man named Colin who meets a cool leather-clad dominant male named Ray who initiates him in an S and M lifestyle. A conflict arises when the couple has a disastrous dinner with Colin’s Parents. Colin’s mom wants him to end the relationship because she thinks he's being degraded. But is Ray using him or freeing him? This is so well done and convincingly acted that it might even please people who have no interest in the lifestyle. New English filmmaker. Harry Lighton has made the best directorial debut of this year, and he is helped by the effortless performances of the two leads (Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling) who play characters that are complementary but in almost every way opposite.

Director: Harry Lighton
 

6) It’s Never Over Jeff Buckley
Engrossing rock doc about a gifted songwriter with a huge cult following who drowned after making just one studio album, which many consider a masterpiece. The film’s interviews with people like Chris Cornell and Jeff’s ex-wife give rare insights into his quirky habits and great influence. After I saw this, I actually felt as if I had gotten to know him better.

Director: Amy Berg
 

7) Obsession
A man who is infatuated with his female friend uses magic to make a wish, and he wishes that she loves him more than anyone. Of course, this all goes wrong, and we eventually find out that her real self is sublimated, and by the time he tries to change everything back, it may be too late. This does not stray too far from the basic monkey’s paw and devil’s bargain type formula story pattern, but the character interactions and details are very nuanced. Plus, Inde Navarette gives a mesmerizing, career-making performance that anchors and sells the whole thing. Made by a 26-year-old who only made TikTok videos, but he makes horror feature film direction seem effortless.

Director: Curry Baker
 

8) The Voice of Hind Rijab
During the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a five-year-old Muslim girl is pinned under a car in Gaza, and she calls on government agents for help. For most of this film, they keep in contact with her and try to find her to rescue her, but it’s almost impossible because she’s in the middle of war terrain. The film incorporates recordings of the real girl speaking to potential rescuers and pleading for help, so we hear Hind Rijab's real voice. This is the second Tunisian film to get an Oscar nomination, and it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, as well as a 2025 Golden Globe nomination for Best International Film. In Palestinian Arabic dialect with English subtitles.

Director: Kaother Ben Hania
 

9) I Love Boosters
A group of rebellious young females steals clothes from high-end clothing stores so they can sell them for reasonable prices to the poor. Demi Moore is great as an arrogant clothing designer who stole one of the girls’ designs and, in the climax, they disrupt her big fashion event. Controversial rapper Boots Reilly’s anti-capitalist satire is gaudy, messy, and it does not always work, but it is endlessly visually inventive and contains enough good ideas for five films. This surreal sci-fi comedy is reminiscent of Everything Everywhere all at Once, although it’s not quite as consistently engaging.

Director: Boots Riley
 

10) Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
In this off the wall sci fi comedy, a curmudgeonly man from the future who looks like a hobo (a delightful Sam Rockwell) comes to the present to assemble a crew that will prevent AI from taking over the human race in the future. Although it falters in the end, this is one of the few films to deal honestly and creatively with the pitfalls of encroaching technology. In one of the best scenes, a man breaks up with his girlfriend so he can spend more time playing video games. In another, after he gets called “boomer; and “dinosaur” by his students, a group of crazed students that are hypnotized by their cell phones attack a teacher for being anti-tech.

Director: Gore Verbinski