\n\tCheck out a full rundown below of the best and\/or biggest movies of 2025 now available to stream.<\/p>\n
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\t28 Years Later (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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![\"28](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Columbia Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tDanny Boyle and Alex Garland\u2019s \u201c28 Years Later\u201d was\u00a0named the fifth best movie of 2025<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Variety\u00a0film critic Peter Debruge: \u201cThe reason this movie rocked me \u2014 emotionally, I mean \u2014 is that Boyle et al clearly recognized they were telling a post-pandemic narrative for a society (ours) that had just endured a pandemic (COVID-19), building in an opportunity to grieve and process what we\u2019ve collectively been through via the cathartic Bone Temple sequence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tBlack Bag (Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Focus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tSteven Soderberg\u2019s excellent thriller \u201cBlack Bag<\/a>\u201d is a sturdy caper dealing in espionage thrills. The film stars Michael Fassbender as an insect-like spy, bugging out as he carefully probes his peers, including his wife (Cate Blanchett, perfect as the femme fatale), to discover a traitor among the ranks. The film was named one of\u00a0Variety\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0best movies of 2025<\/a>: \u201cSoderbergh\u2019s perfectly ingenious romantic thriller about two married British spies trying to outmaneuver each other is the year\u2019s most captivating bauble.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tBring Her Back (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cTalk to Me\u201d directors Danny and Michael Philippou reunited with A24 this summer for \u201cBring Her Back,<\/a>\u201d which\u00a0Variety\u00a0named\u00a0one of the best horror movies of 2025<\/a>: \u201cThe rare horror movie unnerving enough to disturb your sleep. Its creep factor begins with Sally Hawkins\u2019 impishly disturbing performance as a foster mother from hell, who takes a couple of orphaned siblings \u2014 17-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his legally blind sister, Piper (Sora Wong) \u2014 under her broken wing\u2026 the movie finds terrifying ways to get under your skin, pushing everything to the brink of transgression, using domestic trauma to create a symphonic projection of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, all sealed by Hawkins\u2019 gargoyle grin of evil.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tBugonia (Peacock)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Focus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tYorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone\u2019s latest collaboration \u201cBugonia<\/a>\u201d was named\u00a0the fourth best movie of 2025<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Variety\u00a0film critic Owen Gleiberman: \u201cLanthimos\u2019s wild and woolly kidnap drama is a violent, hate-fueled, thrillingly warped act of cinematic screw-tightening. It\u2019s also rooted in a humanity that sneaks up on you\u2026 For a while, it\u2019s like watching \u2018Misery\u2019 restaged as a riveting culture-war two-hander. But Stone and, especially, Plemons keep deepening their characters. (He does a piece of acting that\u2019s like tragedy on the high wire.) And the trick ending has a blow-you-away power that\u2019s worth a dozen doomsday dystopias.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tDangerous Animals (Shudder)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9IFC Films\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tJai Courtney is a shark-obsessed serial killer in Shudder\u2019s white-knuckle horror movie \u201cDangerous Animals,\u201d which earned rave reviews out of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Courtney plays a deranged Australian tour guide who steers you out to sea and lets you swim with the sharks. Then he feeds you to them.\u00a0From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review:<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWe have screenwriter Nick Lepard to thank for these vivid new nightmares, presented with such conviction by \u2018The Devil\u2019s Candy\u2019 director Sean Byrne that the efficient and highly effective thriller scarcely allows a calm moment in which to question how deranged its premise truly is.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tDie My Love (Mubi)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Mubi\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tJennifer Lawrence\u2019s \u201cDie My Love\u201d struggled at the box office this fall with $5 million domestically and $10 million worldwide, but more curious moviegoers are hopefully discovering the psychodrama on Mubi. Lawrence gives an acclaimed performance as a new mother who spirals into madness while dealing with postpartum and a husband (Robert Pattinson) who can\u2019t support her needs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tDrop (Peacock and Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Universal\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cChristopher Landon crafts a pulpy surveillance mystery that gives way to something giddy and exciting,\u201d reads\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of \u201cDrop<\/a>,\u201d the Blumhouse thriller starring Meghann Fahy as a widowed mother whose first date takes a nightmarish turn when she begins receiving threatening text messages. \u201cThe film\u2019s complicated setups are executed with a deft and capable hand. Although set in a fine dining establishment, it\u2019s a junk-food thriller fried to near-perfection, balancing the tensions of kidnapping, conspiracy and murder with those of a nerve-wracking first date. It\u2019s crisp and delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tEddington (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tAri Aster\u2019s \u201cEddington<\/a>\u201d stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler. The movie is set in a small New Mexico town come undone by politics, COVID and more. \u201cJust when you think you\u2019ve got \u2018Eddington\u2019 pinned down as a coherent and even conventional suspense tale, the movie wriggles out from under you and enters a terrain of stranger things,\u201d writes\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0chief film critic Owen Gleiberman in his\u00a0review<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tF1 (Apple TV)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tBrad Pitt\u2019s racing blockbuster \u201cF1\u201d is streaming on Apple TV<\/a> after grossing $631 million at the worldwide this summer to become the biggest box office hit of the actor\u2019s career (unadjusted for inflation). The movie, directed by \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d helmer Joseph Kosinski, follows Pitt\u2019s character as he emerges from retirement to coach a rookie driver (Damson Idris) and save a failing F1 team.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tFantastic Four: First Steps (Disney+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Walt Disney Co.\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cFantastic Four: First Steps<\/a>\u201d grossed $521 million in the theaters worldwide over the summer and got Marvel back on a more solid critical footing. Depicting the titular superhero family are Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards\/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm\/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm\/The Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm\/The Thing. Julia Garner also stars as The Silver Surfer alongside Ralph Ineson as Galactus and Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder\/Mole Man.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tFinal Destination Bloodlines (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cFinal Destination Bloodlines<\/a>\u201d brought the death-obsessed horror franchise roaring back to life on the big screen this summer with $285 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing entry yet. \u201cBloodlines\u201d follows college student Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), who begins to receive visions about an averted disaster from 1968. After being plagued by recurring nightmares, she begins to embark on a journey to track down who may be able to help her break the cycle and save her family from their deaths.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tFrankenstein (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tGuillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d is a passion project from the Oscar-winning filmmaker, who adapts Mary Shelley\u2019s iconic novel with Oscar Isaac as the eponymous mad scientist and Jacob Elordi as his misunderstood creature.\u00a0At TIFF, the film came in as the runner-up for the fest\u2019s coveted people\u2019s choice award \u2014 an accolade that\u2019s traditionally a key bellwether for the Oscar race. The supporting cast includes Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tFreakier Friday (Disney+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Walt Disney Co.\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tThe sequel to the 2003 comedy classic<\/a> once again stars Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as a daughter and mother who swap places, but this time the women find themselves swapping with the daughter and soon-to-be daughter in law of Lohan\u2019s character.\u00a0\u201cThe movie winds up being rather touching,\u201d wrote\u00a0Variety\u2018s film critic Owen Gleiberman in his\u00a0review<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s all about how Harper and Lily, in trying to break up their parents\u2019 engagement, discover that they really do want to be sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tFriendship (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tA24\u2019s black comedy \u201cFriendship<\/a>,\u201d starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, was a spring hit at the indie box office with $16 million domestically. Robinson plays a socially awkward husband whose infatuation with a charismatic new neighbor (Rudd) leads to unexpected consequences. Kate Mara and Jack Dylan Grazer also star. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review:<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWhile we may think, at first, that we\u2019re watching a comedy about a sad-sack geek who\u2019s drawn out of his shell, the film always makes sure that Craig, as inhabited by Robinson, is a notch weirder and more off-putting than we expect.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tLa Grazia (Mubi)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tToni Servillo was awarded the Volpi Cup for best actor at the Venice Film Festival this year for his performance as fictional Italian president Mariano De Santis in \u201cLa Grazia,\u201d the latest from \u201cThe Great Beauty\u201d Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino. Per the official synopsis: \u201cAs his term draws to a close, amid uneventful days, two final duties arise: deciding on two delicate petitions for a presidential pardon. True moral dilemmas, which become tangled, in ways that seem impossible to unravel, with his private life. Driven by doubt, he will have to decide. And, with a deep sense of responsibility, that is exactly what this remarkable Italian President will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tHedda (Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9MGM\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cCandyman\u201d and \u201cThe Marvels\u201d director\u00a0Nia DaCosta<\/a>\u00a0returns before next year\u2019s \u201c28 Years Later: The Bone Temple\u201d with a sizzling and seductive reimagining of Henrik Ibsen\u2019s \u201cHedda Gabler.\u201d Simply titled \u201cHedda,\u201d the film stars Tessa Thompson as the eponymous woman who navigates a house she does not want, a marriage she feels trapped in and an ex-lover who has reappeared in her life. Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock and Nina Hoss co-star.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tHighest 2 Lowest (Apple TV+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tSpike Lee and Denzel Washington\u2019s \u201cHighest 2 Lowest<\/a>\u201d marks their fifth on-screen collaboration. The film, a New York City-spin on Akira Kurosawa\u2019s kidnapping drama \u201cHigh and Low,\u201d world premiered to strong reviews at Cannes. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>: \u201cWashington plays a music mogul who faces a series of big moral choices in a film whose sensational third act more than justifies what might have seemed an unnecessary update.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe History of Sound (Mubi)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Focus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tDirected by Oliver Hermanus (\u201cLiving,\u201d \u201cMoffie\u201d) and starring Paul Mescal and Josh O\u2019Connor, \u201cThe History of Sound\u201d follows two young men, Lionel (Mescal) and David (O\u2019Connor), in the shadows of WWI who are determined to record the lives, voices and music of Americans. As they begin to log the events, the two fall in love. The film was penned by Ben Shattuck, adapted from his own award-winning short story. The movie also marks Mescal\u2019s first project as an executive producer.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tHow to Train Your Dragon (Peacock)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9DreamWorks\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tUniversal\u2019s live-action \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon<\/a>\u201d remake was a summer blockbuster with $634 million at the worldwide box office. A sequel is already in the works.\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0chief film critic Peter Debruge gave the film a\u00a0positive review<\/a>, saying that director Dean DeBlois\u2019 \u201cvision serves to bring the whole fantastical story one step closer to reality,\u201d as well as praising Mason Thames and Nico Parker\u2019s performances as Hiccup and Astrid.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tJay Kelly (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tGeorge Clooney riffs on his movie star persona by playing a world-famous actor who has an existential crisis as he travels overseas to accept a lifetime achievement award in the latest from Noah Baumbach. Adam Sandler plays the actor\u2019s manager, while Laura Dern stars as his publicist. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>: \u201cDirected by Noah Baumbach, from a script he co-wrote with the actor Emily Mortimer, \u2018Jay Kelly\u2019 is a fictional inside-the-movie-world portrait that\u2019s been made with a great deal of care and affection and entertaining dish; it\u2019s the definition of a movie that goes down easy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tJurassic World Rebirth (Peacock)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Universal\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tUniversal\u2019s \u201cJurassic\u201d franchise roared back to life on the big screen over the summer when the Scarlett Johansson-led \u201cJurassic World Rebirth<\/a>\u201d earned a mighty $867 million at the worldwide box office. Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey also star in the tentpole, which follows a dangerous mission to retrieve the DNA from three dinosaurs that could lead to a medical breakthrough.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tLeft-Handed Girl (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tShih-Ching Tsou\u2019s \u201cLeft-Handed Girl\u201d is Taiwan\u2019s official Oscar entry this year and was picked up by Netflix earlier this year. Co-written and edited by\u00a0\u201cAnora\u201d Oscar winner Sean Baker, the movie follows a single mother and her two daughters as they relocate to Taipei to open a night market stall.\u00a0The cast includes Janel Tsai, Nina Ye, Teng-Hui Huang and Shih-Yuan Ma.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\t\u2018Lilo & Stitch\u2019 (Disney+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Walt Disney Co.\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tDisney\u2019s live-action \u201cLilo & Stitch<\/a>\u201d is one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest movies of 2025 with $1 billion at the worldwide box office. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>: \u201cMaking a huge step up from \u2018Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,\u2019 director Dean Fleischer Camp delivers the same laughs and heart as the 2002 cartoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Lost Bus (Apple TV+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Apple TV\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tMatthew McConaughey teams up with Paul Greengrass for the well-reviewed thriller \u201cThe Lost Bus,<\/a>\u201d based on the book \u201cParadise: One Town\u2019s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire\u201d by Lizzie Johnson. The movie is based on the true story of a school bus driver (McConaughey) and a teacher (America Ferrera) during the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California\u2019s Butte County as they battle to bring 22 children to safety. The real-life event remains the deadliest wildfire in California history.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tLurker (Mubi)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tAlex Russell\u2019s Sundance sensation \u201cLurker\u201d was named\u00a0the seventh best movie of 2025<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Variety\u00a0film critic Owen Gleiberman: \u201cIn this sleek and unnerving parable of the pathology of celebrity, Th\u00e9odore Pellerin, as a hanger-on who will do anything to hang on, gives a performance that lays bare the reptilian underside of wide-eyed fan worship\u2026 \u2018Lurker\u2019 has been made with the craft of early vintage Polanski crossed with an up-to-the-minute awareness of what pop culture has come to mean when the famous and their fans are now chasing each other\u2019s tails.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Mastermind (Mubi)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tKelly Reichardt\u2019s \u201cThe Mastermind\u201d was named a\u00a0Variety\u00a0Critic\u2019s Pick<\/a>\u00a0out of the Cannes Film Festival: \u201cJosh O\u2019Connor comes unstuck as a family man whose under-planned theft from a local art museum goes inexorably, amusingly awry\u2026 Reichardt has never met a genre she couldn\u2019t meticulously deconstruct. But rarely has she done so with such offbeat wit and bluesy wisdom as with this anti-heist movie, a canny rejoinder to the glamorous high drama of the traditional robbery-gone-wrong plot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tMaterialists (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tA24 scored an indie box office hit with \u201cMaterialists<\/a>,\u201d Celine Song\u2019s romance movie that crossed the $100 million mark at the worldwide box office over the summer. Headlined by Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, the film centers on a New York City matchmaker caught in a love triangle between her deadbeat ex-flame and a millionaire new guy.\u00a0Variety\u00a0gave the film a positive\u00a0review<\/a>, writing: \u201cIt\u2019s a sharp and serious social romantic drama full of telling observations about the way we live now, and about how connected that is (or not) to the way we\u2019ve always lived. And there\u2019s a dark side to it. It\u2019s \u2018Sex and the City\u2019 filtered through a sobering reality check.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tMickey 17 (HBO Max and Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tBong Joon Ho and Robert Pattinson\u2019s \u201cMickey 17<\/a>\u201d becomes available on Prime Video at no extra cost to subscribers this month. Based on the 2022 novel \u201cMickey7\u201d<\/a> by Edward Ashton, \u201cMickey 17\u201d stars Robert Pattinson as an \u201cexpendable,\u201d a clone that is sent on fatal missions colonizing an ice planet and then \u201creprinted\u201d with most of his memories intact every time he dies. The supporting cast includes Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie and Toni Collette.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tA Minecraft Movie (HBO Max and Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cA Minecraft Movie<\/a>\u201d remains one of the biggest box office hits of 2025 with $940 million at the worldwide box office. The film\u2019s $162 million opening is the top start at the domestic box office this year. The movie stars Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen and Jennifer Coolidge. A sequel is already in development and will hit theaters in July 2027.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tMission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning (Paramount+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tTom Cruise\u2019s alleged last \u201cMission: Impossible\u201d movie, \u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning,\u201d is streaming on Paramount+<\/a> after grossing $598 million at the worldwide box office this summer. Starring Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg and more, \u201cThe Final Reckoning\u201d picks up in the wake of \u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 Dead Reckoning,\u201d as Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his globetrotting team of agents continue their mission to destroy the Entity, a mysterious and all-powerful AI, before it falls into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Naked Gun (Paramount+ and Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tLiam Neeson and Pamela Anderson\u2019s \u201cThe Naked Gun<\/a>\u201d brought old-school comedy back to movie theaters this summer to critical acclaim and $102 million at the worldwide box office. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>: \u201cThe film is an engaging goofball grab bag, well-stocked with vintage terrible puns, nicely detonated movie conventions (in the opening heist sequence, the villain\u2019s henchman steals a remote control marked with the words \u2018P.L.O.T. Device\u2019), and serviceable running gags (Drebin keeps getting handed oversize cups of take-out coffee).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tNe Zha II (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cNe Zha II<\/a>\u201d made box office history this year when it grossed $2.2 billion \u2014 making it the fifth highest-grossing movie in history and the biggest animated film of all time (unadjusted for inflation). A24 released an English-language version of the hit over the summer featuring the voices of Michelle Yeoh, Crystal Lee, Vincent Rodriguez III and Aleks Le. The synopsis reads: \u201cA rebellious young boy, Ne Zha, is feared by the gods and born to mortal parents with wild, uncontrolled powers. Now he\u2019s faced with an ancient force intent on destroying humanity, he must grow up to become the hero the world needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tNouvelle Vague (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tRichard Linklater\u2019s Cannes darling \u201cNouvelle Vague\u201d is a valentine to the making of Jean-Luc Godard\u2019s iconic 1959 \u201cBreathless\u201d and to the beginnings of the French new wave movement. Shot on 35mm film in black-and-white, the film stars Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Zoey Deutch as New Wave darling Jean Seberg. Linklater\u2019s movie depicts the young Godard as a film critic, as a friend to other New Wave filmmakers such as Francois Truffaut and Jacques Rivette and as a director whose relationships with Seberg and Belmondo gave birth to one of cinema\u2019s most iconic touchstones.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tRungano Nyoni earned rave reviews for \u201cOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl,\u201d which A24 released in theaters earlier this year. The official synopsis reads: \u201cOn an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family, in filmmaker Rungano Nyoni\u2019s surreal and vibrant reckoning with the lies we tell ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tOne Battle After Another (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cOne Battle After Another<\/a>\u201d was\u00a0named the best movie of 2025<\/a>\u00a0by Variety\u2019s film critic Owen Gleiberman: \u201cPaul Thomas Anderson\u2019s greatest film since \u2018Boogie Nights\u2019 is a dystopian adventure of hair-raising relevance and haunting desperation. It\u2019s at once a political thriller, a bravura chase movie, a world-turned-upside-down satire, a movingly fraught father-daughter love story \u2014 and, more than that, a movie that plants us in the paranoid cave of anxiety that is life in an autocratic society, in this case one that uncannily mirrors what\u2019s happening to our own Disunited States\u2026 no movie of recent years has taken the temperature of its time like \u2018One Battle After Another.\u2019 And this one does it brilliantly enough to stand the test of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tOne of Them Days (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9TriStar Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tKeke Palmer and SZA\u2019s infectious chemistry powered Sony\u2019s comedy \u201cOne of Them Days\u201d to a great $51 million at the worldwide box office earlier this year. The duo star as lifelong buddies whose friendship is tested over the course of a zany day where they are forced to come up with rent money or face eviction. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s review<\/a>: \u00a0\u201cThe movie is a likably bent portrait of a community whose residents revel in their energized dysfunction, which is never so cartoonish that it can\u2019t inspire an honest laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tNetflix picked up the acclaimed documentary \u201cThe Perfect Neighbor\u201d out of Sundance earlier this year in a deal worth nearly $5 million. The movie examines Florida\u2019s Stand Your Ground laws and gun regulations and uses police bodycam footage to tell the story of how a neighborhood dispute slowly escalated into a shocking act of violence. It follows a tragedy that captivated national attention, one in which a woman named Ajike \u201cAJ\u201d Shantrell Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz, after Lorincz kept complaining about children playing near her apartment.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Phoenician Scheme (Peacock and Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Focus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tWes Anderson\u2019s \u201cThe Phoenician Scheme<\/a>\u201d arrives on Prime Video at no extra cost to describers after streaming on Peacock earlier this year. Variety\u2019s review reads<\/a>: \u201cAnderson taps into a softer side of Benicio del Toro, who plays a tough negotiator trying to make amends with his estranged daughter in another intricately constructed oddity from the esoteric director.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tRoofman (Paramount+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tChanning Tatum and Kirsten Dunst deliver winning performances in Derek Cianfrance\u2019s true story drama \u201cRoofman<\/a>.\u201d The film centers on Jeffrey Manchester, a U.S. army veteran who resorted to robbing various McDonalds in order to overcome financial hardship. He eventually gets caught and sent to jail, only to break out and go into hiding at a Toys \u201dR\u201d Us.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Roses (Hulu)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Searchlight Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tBenedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman lead Jay Roach\u2019s reimagining<\/a> of the 1989 black comedy \u201cThe War of the Roses.\u201d The film follows Ivy (Colman) and Theo (Cumberbatch), a seemingly perfect California couple with successful careers, great kids and a loving marriage. But when Theo\u2019s career begins to nosedive as Ivy\u2019s ambitions take off, their ideal life crumbles and the couple\u2019s hidden resentments bubble to the surface.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tSinners (HBO Max and Prime Video)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tRyan Coogler\u2019s vampire sensation<\/a> was one of the biggest hits of 2025. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review: \u201cIt\u2019s a throat-ripping vampire movie. And a simmering, layered portrait of a small-town Mississippi Delta community in 1932\u2026 it\u2019s exhilarating to take a ride in a popcorn fantasy this heady, where the forces of evil add up to an oppressive destiny. Coogler has vowed that there will be no sequel, but the Marvel-style post-credits teaser leaves you wanting and imagining one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tSorry Baby (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tEva Victor\u2019s Sundance darling \u201cSorry Baby<\/a>\u201d was named by\u00a0Variety\u00a0as one of the best of 2025<\/a>: \u201cWriter-director Victor plays a promising young grad student named Agnes whose academic career is all but derailed when her thesis adviser crosses the line. The incident occurs off-camera but redefines how Agnes perceives the world \u2014 from the judgmental classmate who sees no big deal in sleeping with her professor to the supportive best friend (Naomi Ackie) who offers unconditional understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tSteve (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tCillian Murphy plays a troubled teacher in Netflix\u2019s \u201cSteve,\u201d which\u00a0Variety\u00a0praised as\u00a0the year\u2019s \u201cbest Netflix movie\u201d<\/a>\u00a0last month: \u201cReteaming with \u2018Small Things Like These\u2019 director Tim Mielants, the \u2018Oppenheimer\u2019 star plays a desperate reform school teacher opposite a rowdy ensemble of totally convincing young actors\u2026 A profoundly moving and superbly acted diamond in the rough, \u2018Steve\u2019 is better than anything the streamer has pushed for best picture to date. Netflix famously uses the fall festivals to launch its awards contenders, but the company is playing this one close to the vest.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tSuperman (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tJames Gunn successfully launched his new DC Universe this summer when \u201cSuperman<\/a>\u201d opened to favorable reviews and $616 million at the worldwide box office.\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review called<\/a>\u00a0the latest take on the Man of Steel an \u201cenergized reboot\u201d that\u2019s \u201cwinning enough to channel the spirit of the comics\u2026 David Corenswet\u2019s slightly puppyish Superman radiates a joy in what he\u2019s doing, but he\u2019s far from invincible. That lends the film emotional stakes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tTogether (Hulu)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tDave Franco and Alison Brie play a husband and wife whose move out of the city takes a horrific turn when their bodies start to literally mesh together in this Sundance horror sensation<\/a>. From\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>: \u201cMichael Shanks\u2019 movie is megaplex-ready, but it\u2019s an over-the-top horror film with something on its mind\u2026 this is more of an over-the-top roller-coaster acid-trip if-it-looks-weird-do-it freak-out of a movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tTrain Dreams (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cClint Bentley\u2019s moving adaptation of Denis Johnson\u2019s Pulitzer Prize finalist novella has steadily emerged as one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year \u2014 and a potential dark horse best picture contender, Variety\u2019s Clayton Davis recently wrote<\/a> about the Netflix original \u201cTrain Dreams.\u201d Set in the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest, the film stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a solitary railroad worker navigating profound personal loss as the American frontier expands around him.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Ugly Stepsister (Hulu)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cThe Ugly Stepsister\u201d freaked out the Sundance Film Festival at the start of the year and is now arriving on Hulu this month<\/a>. From director Emilie Blichfeldt comes a body-horror reimagining of the classic Cinderella story. \u201cThe Ugly Stepsister\u201d follows Elvira as she prepares to earn the prince\u2019s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes to become the belle of the ball. Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Naess and Ane Dahl Torp star.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tRian Johnson and Daniel Craig\u2019s third \u201cKnives Out\u201d mystery, the religious-themed \u201cWake Up Dead Man,\u201d stars Josh O\u2019Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack \u00a0and Thomas Haden Church.\u00a0Variety\u2019s\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of the threequel called it the sharpest \u201cKnives Out\u2019 movie yet, adding: \u201cIts trickiness works on a human scale, as writer-director Rian Johnson immerses us in murder logistics \u2014 and, in a playful way, the question of rationality vs. faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tWarfare (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tAlex Garland\u2019s real-time combat thriller \u201cWarfare<\/a>\u201d could not reach the box office heights of his last A24 outing, \u201cCivil War,\u201d but it\u2019s white-knuckle war movie well worth streaming. Featuring an ensemble cast that includes D\u2019Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton, the film is based on co-director Ray Mendoza\u2019s real experience during the Iraq War.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tWeapons (HBO Max)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\tZach Cregger\u2019s \u201cWeapons<\/a>\u201d was named\u00a0the eighth best movie of 2025<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Variety\u00a0film critic Owen Gleiberman: \u201cFor all the horror movies that come out each year, there\u2019s a box they tend to put themselves into, toying (cleverly or not) with shock cuts and ghost metaphysics and bloody genre tropes. But \u2018Weapons\u2019 came out of the box as a bold new breed of chiller. What made Zach Cregger\u2019s film the sleeper sensation of the year wasn\u2019t just that it seemed to erupt out of nowhere, but that it was such a tingly and enticing off-ramp drama, influenced less by the dictates of horror than by the puzzle-piece gamesmanship of \u2018Pulp Fiction.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\tThe Wedding Banquet (Paramount+)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n - \n