I’m reluctant to say that the best movies of the first half of 2025 reflect the world right now.
There are a lot of reasons why. It takes a while to make a movie, studios are more bound by financial concerns than creative ones — they want to make hits — and the world is changing at a pace so fast it would be impossible for movies to keep up.
Maybe.
There was “Mountainhead,” a quick-turnaround tech-bro savaging that “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong was able to get made in a hurry. But that’s the exception, not the rule.
Yet when I look at my list of the movies I thought were the best in 2025 — not quite the same thing as saying the ones I liked the most, but close — more than half of them are horror movies. And I could have included a couple more. And while you wouldn’t say they’re topical, they certainly capture chaos, uncertainty and fear. There’s a lot of that going around.
Oh, and if you think movies shouldn’t be political? They always have been. Maybe just don’t watch movies. Everyone else should watch these.
10. ‘F1 The Movie’
Brad Pitt goes the Tom Cruise “Maverick: Top Gun” route, only with Formula 1 racing and not fighter jets. The story is mostly predictable and not particularly inspired, but Pitt is outstanding as a down-on-his-luck driver seeking One More Chance. And the racing sequences, of which there are many, are insane. A genuine good time at the movies.
How to watch: In theaters.
Damson Idris as Joshua Pearce and Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes in Apple Original Films’ “F1 The Movie,” now in theaters and IMAX.
9. ‘Heart Eyes’
A throwback to cheesy horror films of the 1980s, which I’m always a sucker for, it’s basically a horror screwball comedy, a blending of genres that seems disastrous but absolutely works. Director Josh Rubin’s film has a simple premise: A serial killer, known as the Heart Eyes Killer, has struck on Valentine’s Day for two years. Now it’s Valentine’s Day again. Olivia Holt joins the list of noteworthy Final Girls. She’s scared, she fights back — and she’s funny. This is worth seeking out.
How to watch: Stream on Netflix.
The Heart Eyes Killer hunts and murders couples every Valentine’s Day in the rom-com slasher movie “Heart Eyes.”
8. ‘Thunderbolts*’
Just what the Marvel empire needed — a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, doesn’t require advanced study in recent Marvel mythology and has some heart and humor. Plus an intriguing streak of nihilism. Florence Pugh is the real superhero here — her character, Yelena Belova, leads a group basically made up of the superhero version of the Island of Misfit Toys. She’s great. And Void/Robert Reynolds, played by Lewis Pullman, is a genuinely interesting villain. Or hero. See? That’s why he’s interesting. And one of the reasons the movie is.
How to watch: Buy or rent on Prime Video.
John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) are part of the title group of misfit antiheroes in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*.”
7. ‘My Dead Friend Zoe’
A dark comedy about post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among veterans? That sounds tricky at best, but writer and director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes based the film on what he and others experienced as veterans. The result is a funny, haunting film about loss and the importance of letting the past go — if you can. Sonequa Martin-Green is brilliant as a woman struggling to adjust to life after serving in Afghanistan. The frequent appearance of her dead fellow soldier Zoe (Natalie Morales), always eager to offer questionable advice, doesn’t help. Funny, moving and important.
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How to watch: Buy or rent on Prime Video.
Ed Harris (from left), Natalie Morales and Sonequa Martin-Green star in “My Dead Friend Zoe,” by veteran turned filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes.
6. ‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’
The first time we see Shula (Susan Chardy) in Rungano Nyoni’s amazing film, she is driving a car dressed in what looks like a homemade version of the helmet-like hat and sunglasses and inflatable suit Missy Elliott wore in the video for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” She’s on the way home from a party when she sees her dead uncle on the side of the road. The movie gets stranger from there — and better. This is a movie like none you’ve ever seen, an uncompromising exploration of abuse and grief. Stunning.
How to watch: Stream on Max.
Susan Chardy stars as a Zambian woman who finds the dead body of her uncle in the road in the drama “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.”
5. ‘Bring Her Back’
Speaking of explorations of grief. … This is a completely different kind of take, scary and gory and heartbreaking. Sally Hawkins plays against type as a social worker mourning the death of her daughter. She takes in foster children, who discover another odd child already living with her. I don’t think I’ve ever come so close to throwing up in a film. That isn’t a criticism. (This is Danny and Michael Philippou’s follow-up to “Talk to Me.” They’re off to a great start.)
How to watch: Buy or rent on Prime Video.
A mother (Sally Hawkins) and her son (Jonah Wren Phillips) harbor a dark secret in the horror movie “Bring Her Back.”
4. ‘Companion’
Just another smart, dark and funny movie about a sexbot gone rouge. Seriously, I love movies like this — they know exactly what they are. Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) are on their way to a weekend in a cabin in the woods with friends. It’s a bit awkward, but then Iris shows up with a bloody knife. Writer and director Drew Hancock, in his feature debut, just plays with our minds from there on out, managing to comment on the limits of the technology and morality of AI.
How to watch: Stream on Max.
Iris (Sophie Thatcher) hides behind a tree while fleeing for her life in “Companion.”
3. ‘Black Bag’
Stephen Soderbergh’s latest film is an efficiency machine, with not a frame wasted. That goes for the work of the two main characters, husband and wife British intelligence agents played by Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. They adore each other, but there’s a mole and someone thinks it might be Blanchett. Fassbender investigates. “Methods won’t be questioned,” Pierce Brosnan, a boss nobody wants, decrees. This movie is a blast.
How to watch: Stream on Peacock.
Michael Fassbender plays a British intelligence officer on a mission to find a traitor – and it might be his wife (Cate Blanchett) – in the spy thriller “Black Bag.”
2. ‘28 Years Later’
OK, I was skeptical. How would director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland come up with even a serviceable follow-up to the genre-defining “28 Days Later?” With something completely unexpected. The Rage Virus is still raging in the British Isles, quarantined from the rest of the world all these years. Thus, an entire generation has never known life without the zombie-like creatures. Spike (Alfie Williams), a 12-year-old, is one of those people. He and his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) take a right-of-passage trip to the mainland, infested with the infected. Things go awry, you might say. The sequel to this one’s already set: “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.” Count me in.
How to watch: In theaters.
An infected in Columbia Pictures’ “28 Years Later.”
1. ‘Sinners’
An exploration of race and freedom and acceptance and the liberating effects of music, told through a Southern gothic vampire story. If that sounds like a lot, it is, and even more. Criminal twins Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan in a dual performance for the ages) want to open a juke joint in their home of Clarksdale, Mississippi. The music is so hot and soul-searing it attracts visitors who can’t enter the place without being invited. And they want to be invited. Just a jaw-dropper of a movie. Who knew Hailee Steinfeld had this kind of performance in her? It also includes the rare post-credit scene worth sticking around for. It’s a mind-blower. The best movie of the year (so far).
How to watch: Streaming on Max.
Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in “Sinners.”
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for The Watchlist newsletter with Bill Goodykoontz.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The best movies of 2025 so far have a common theme