How 2025's Best Movies Landed on the Right Ending

This was a fun one. For the Los Angeles Times, I spoke to the writers of five of this year's Oscar-nominated screenplays to learn how they decided on the ending of their movies. If you want to hear the stories behind Blue Moon, Bugonia, It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value and Train Dreams, click here. 

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: The 'Wicked' Finale, 'Train Dreams,' 'Sirat'

I am just now realizing that all three movies on this week's episode have trains in them. We lamented Wicked: For Good but praised Train Dreams and Sirat. Check out our conversation down below.

Cannes 2025: 'The Plague' Review

The Plague tells the story of an all-boys water polo club. A new teammate comes to town and quickly realizes there's one kid who's being picked on viciously, and he wants to make sure that doesn't happen to him. (Also, the ostracized kid may have a mysterious, contagious rash.) I reviewed this tale of peer pressure and toxic masculinity for Screen International.

Sundance 2025: Ranking the Best and Worst of the Festival

There's a temptation among film critics when they don't attend a particular festival to look askance at those who do, especially if those attendees rave about a lot of the movies there. The cynical assumption is that, amidst the prestige and excitement (and privilege) of being at a festival, these critics lose their ability to be discerning. Those feelings are only amplified when glowing reviews come out of Sundance, the theory being that, because of Utah's higher elevation, critics are susceptible to become more forgiving of mediocre movies than they would at sea level.

But a funny thing happened this year in Park City: Just about everyone I saw at the festival was similarly glum about the films they were watching on the ground, grousing that there were no big breakthroughs, no major discoveries, no instant classics. Actually, much of the talk at Sundance wasn't about the movies but, rather, where the festival was headed. And I don't mean philosophically; this was a more literal question, with Sundance moving to Salt Lake City, Boulder or Cincinnati in 2027. The festival's team made it clear that they didn't have any answers about that yet, so don't ask, but nonetheless that uncertainty also contributed to creating a feeling that something was ending, that the glory days were over. Add to that Trump's return to the White House and the fires in Los Angeles, and it was easy to see why many downbeat Park City attendees wrote off this year's edition as a disappointment.

For once, it was actually the people not at the festival who were more positive. Those who stayed home, using the festival's online platform to see certain films, were generally a lot happier with Sundance's 2025 installment. Partly, that was because they only watched movies we on the ground had already determined were good. But I also think not being at Sundance, which didn't feel as packed or lively as in previous years, helped keep one's focus on the films as opposed to the lack of electricity in Park City. 

As I put together my rankings of everything I saw at the festival, it became clear that this actually was a pretty great Sundance, especially in terms of documentaries. My top two films at this year's festival, The Perfect Neighbor and Predators, both of which screened in the U.S. Documentary Competition, feel like films we'll be talking about all year, their thematic connections so self-evident and fascinating that Film Comment ran a panel with their filmmakers (as well as the director of Zodiac Killer Project) to discuss them. Right behind were two features, Sorry, Baby and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, which took very different approaches to examine an imperiled woman trying to keep her head above water. I count 12 films I would classify as, at least, very good, and that's keeping in mind that there were several more movies I would have liked to have caught but just didn't have the time.

During Sundance, I met a veteran filmmaker who was screening a movie there. "So, what's the vibe of the festival this year?" she asked me. Gloomy, for lots of obvious reasons. But the films compensated if we just let ourselves be open to them.

Below are my rankings, with links leading to individual reviews:

28. Opus
27. By Design
26. Ricky
25. The Ugly Stepsister
24. Rabbit Trap
23. Kiss of the Spider Woman
22. The Legend of Ochi
21. Together
20. The Thing With Feathers
19. The Wedding Banquet
18. Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
17. Folktales
16. Magic Farm
15. Jimpa
14. Omaha
13. Rebuilding
12. Zodiac Killer Project
11. The Alabama Solution
10. Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
9. 2000 Meters to Andriivka
8. Train Dreams
7. Peter Hujar's Day
6. BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
5. Twinless
4. Sorry, Baby
3. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
2. Predators
1. The Perfect Neighbor 

See you all at the next festival. And thanks again to Devika Girish for having me on The Film Comment Podcast to discuss Twinless, By Design and Rabbit Trap.

Sundance 2025: 'Train Dreams' Review

Train Dreams aspires to be an old-fashioned American epic, telling the story of an everyman living in Idaho at the start of the 20th century. My review of one of Sundance's most-acclaimed films is up at Screen International.

'The Boys in the Boat' Review

It seems like a long time since George Clooney has made a great film as a director. The Boys in the Boat is his latest so-so effort. My review is up at Screen International.

Five Replacements for 'A Quiet Place Part II'

So, for Vulture, we're going to start doing a regular series called "The Replacements." The idea: Blockbuster season was supposed to begin this weekend, and big movies were set to arrive on a regular basis from here on out. Well, things have changed, so we'll be suggesting alternative flicks for that week's postponed event movie. First up: Our picks for films that scratch that itch if you were wanting to see A Quiet Place Part II. Hope you enjoy.

My Interview With Lucas Hedges

For Screen International, I chatted with the very talented, very young Lucas Hedges. We talked Boy Erased, Ben Is Back and learning how to deal with downtime. (He's as bad with it as I am.) Hope you enjoy.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Queen, Orson Welles and 'Freeway'

A lot to cover on this week's podcast. We differ on Bohemian Rhapsody, we dig into the Orson Welles double feature of They'll Love Me When I'm Dead and The Other Side of the Wind, and we rap a bit about Thunder Road. Then, I talk a little about Boy Erased, and we reevaluate 1996's Freeway. (Well, really, we just evaluate it: We never saw that Reese Witherspoon vehicle back in the day.)

SAG-AFTRA Foundation: My Conversation With Joel Edgerton and Garrard Conley

I haven't had a chance to moderate a SAG-AFTRA Q&A for a while, so I was pleased to speak with two people integral to Boy Erased: filmmaker/actor Joel Edgerton and author Garrard Conley, whose memoir the film is adapted from.

Ever since I saw Boy Erased at Toronto, I've been curious how much Edgerton was influenced by working with Jeff Nichols on Loving. The advantage of platforms like this is I get to ask him directly.

I really enjoyed our chat. The video is below.

Toronto 2018: 'Boy Erased' Review

Boy Erased suffers from an excess of good intentions. This story about a young man (Lucas Hedges) shipped off to a gay conversation therapy center has its heart in the right place. But I just don't think the film works. I explain why over at Screen International.

Some Thoughts on 'Red Sparrow'

For MEL, I dug into Red Sparrow, discussing why Jennifer Lawrence's press tour was way more fun than the actual movie she was promoting. Plus, I riffed on my Joel Edgerton problem, the cinematic trope of spy sex, and why the film should have just been called Whore School. Read it all here.

'It Comes at Night' Review

Trey Edward Shults, the writer-director of Krisha, returns with It Comes at Night, which I consider a far superior film. It stars Joel Edgerton and Carmen Ejogo as a married couple that has survived an unnamed global plague. Soon, they're visited by Christopher Abbott and Riley Keough, a married couple seeking shelter. Thus begins a very tense chamber drama that gets more unsettling as it goes along. Great stuff, as I explain in my Screen International review.