Every movie on this list is widely available across North America, except for It Would Be Night in Caracas and Ghost School, two festival films which don't have releases yet so I'm hoping to get them a bit more awareness so they can get a release.
#1 One Battle After Another
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Today’s politics but in a purely entertaining, hilarious and exhilarating thrill ride. |
| There’s a line from one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s earlier movies, Revolutionary Road, that I love and was reminded of during this movie. “I can never remember, are you the young Wheelers on Revolutionary Road, or the young revolutionaries on Wheeler Road?” And for the sake of One Battle After Another, it is indeed the young revolutionaries. Revolutionaries who fought the man, committed crimes, had a baby and grew up. | 2025 Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson Screenplay by: Paul Thomas Anderson Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Infiniti Chase, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn | |
| See full review of One Battle After Another | ||
#2 The Life of Chuck
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The weird, wonderful and magical moments of life. |
| The Life of Chuck is told in three acts, in reverse. A movie about the magic of life and the art of living it. Act III, the beginning, is the end of the world. A dystopic view of the collapse of society. California is engulfed by an earthquake, the internet is down for good, and those are who are still going to work can’t get there because a massive sinkhole has opened up and swallowed a highway. | 2024 Directed by: Mike Flanagan Screenplay by: Mike Flanagan Based on the short story by Stephen King Starring: Tom Hiddleston | |
| See full review of The Life of Chuck | ||
#3 Blue Moon
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Lorenz Hart's creativity and failures in one perfectly written movie. |
| Poignant and funny, Blue Moon re-teams filmmaker Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke for a highlight of both of their illustrious careers. Set during just one night in March 1943, Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) is at a bar drinking his troubles away while right across the street is opening night of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! before all the dignitaries pour into the bar for the afterparty. And, oh boy, does Hart have a lot to say about that. | 2025 Directed by: Richard Linklater Screenplay by: Robert Kaplow Inspired by the letters of Lorenz Hart and Elizabeth Weiland Starring: Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott, Bobby Cannavale | |
| See full review of Blue Moon | ||
#4 A Nice Indian Boy
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A funny, joyous, clever spin on the clash-of-cultures rom-com. |
| Book-ended with two Indian weddings, A Nice Indian Boy is a funny, joyous, semi-clash of cultures rom-com. It’s only partially a clash of cultures, because much to the parents’ confusion and the audience’s amusement, Jay (Jonathan Groff) is essentially Indian. The actor of course is not, but the character is a white American and Indian. Jay was in foster care as a young child and then adopted and raised by two Indian-American parents. | 2024 Directed by: Roshan Sethi Screenplay by: Eric Randall, Madhuri Shekar Starring: Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff | |
| See full review of A Nice Indian Boy | ||
#5 It Would Be Night in Caracas
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A unique and powerful film about identity and the war in Venezuela. |
| The power of It Would Be Night in Caracas sneaks up on you. A story so important and universal, you very slowly get more and more enraptured until you’re left shaking marvelling at what you have just watched. It’s a story that affects approximately 8 million Venezuelans living in exile that the rest of the world might not realize the depths of the horror because it is not actually considered war, even though that is exactly what it is. | 2025 Directed by: Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugas Screenplay by: Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugas, and Karina Sainz Borgo Starring: Natalia Reyes, Edgar Ramirez | |
| See full review of It Would Be Night in Caracas | ||
#6 My Dead Friend Zoe
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A devastating comedy with humour, heart and a real issue behind it all. |
| My Dead Friend Zoe is a devastating comedy, meaning that it’s a comedy but does not shy away from the powerful themes of PTSD, depression, moving on, and aging parents with dementia. The type of movie that will have you laughing through most of it until the end when you realize all the tears rushing down your face. A beautiful portrait of one army vet trying to move on but all the forces in her life showing her how stuck in the past she is. | 2025 Directed by: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes Screenplay by: A.J Bermudez, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, Cherish Chen Starring: Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales | |
| See full review of My Dead Friend Zoe | ||
#7 Eternity
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A clever, inventive and funny version of a romantic comedy. |
| Who do you want to spend the rest of your life with? That’s a hard question for some, an easy question for others. But what if it wasn’t just for the rest of your life, but for eternity and you cannot change your mind? That’s part of the basic question posed by Eternity. A romantic comedy which changes the formula up by pitting a current husband vs a deceased husband in the afterlife. | 2025 Directed by: David Freyne Screenplay by: Pat Cunnane, David Freyne Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, Callum Turner, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, John Early | |
| See full review of Eternity | ||
#8 Highest 2 Lowest
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A story about bad vs good, and music in the streets of New York City. |
| Over the course of his filmmaking career, there are a few things about Spike Lee that are evident: he’s proud of his roots, and he loves New York sports teams, music and Denzel Washington. All of which are not just present in, but pivotal to, his newest film Highest 2 Lowest. This is a remake of the Japanese film High and Low, but it’s also distinctly a Spike Lee joint. He made it entirely his own with a relevant spin and it stands up as one of the best of his career. | 2025 Directed by: Spike Lee Screenplay by: Alan Fox, Based on: the novel by Ed Bains, film by Akira Kurasawa Starring: Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright | |
| See full review of Highest 2 Lowest | ||
#9 The Penguin Lessons
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A quietly powerful tale about facing fascism with a penguin by your side. |
| Set in 1976 in Argentina, The Penguin Lessons is indeed about a penguin, but quietly and also subtly, it’s also about living within a dictatorship. Tom (Steve Coogan) is an English teacher originally from Britain but in recent years has been working in South America. He arrives at St. George’s in Buenos Aires with armed guards pointing their guns at him, so it’s easy to see why they would be desperate for teachers. | 2024 Directed by: Peter Cattaneo Based on the book by Tom Michell Screenplay by: Jeff Pope Starring: Steve Coogan | |
| See full review of The Penguin Lessons | ||
#10 Disfluency
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A well-written look at trauma interrupting education. |
| The title Disfluency refers to speech interruptions which the lead character, Jane (Libe Barer) – a budding speech therapist, is learning about in school. It’s her final semester of university but instead of graduating, she’s on her way home. As cryptic flashbacks (which eventually become clearer) show us, nightmares inhibited her from attending class so she flunked out and her parents came to pick her up. | 2021 (2025) Directed by: Anna Baumgarten Screenplay by: Anna Baumgarten Starring: Libe Barer, Ariela Barer | |
| See full review of Disfluency | ||
#11 The Secret Agent
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Quietly powerful, dark, tragic and uncomfortably funny. |
| There’s a great meme going around with side by side screenshots of Leonardo DiCaprio from One Battle After Another and Wagner Moura from The Secret Agent both on a pay phone captioned, “I’m calling from the future. Fascism is still around.” Our protagonist from The Secret Agent will be disappointed to hear that, a man who was unable to stay on the sidelines when his country was engulfed in a dictatorship. | 2025 Directed by: Kleber Mendonça Filho Screenplay by: Kleber Mendonça Filho Starring: Wagner Moura | |
| See full review of The Secret Agent | ||
#12 Materialists
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A romantic comedy with a cynical edge. |
| There are two groups of audiences: those that think it’s a romantic comedy, and those adamant not to fall for the advertising because it’s not a romantic comedy. The latter group are wrong; perhaps they think it can’t be good if it’s a romantic comedy, but that’s also not true. Materialists is a romantic comedy but one that leans into the cynicism and reality of love, romance, dating and marriage. It’s about trying to find that medium between the idealists and the pragmatists. | 2025 Directed by: Celine Song Screenplay by: Celine Song Starring: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal | |
| See full review of Materialists | ||
#13 I Love You Forever
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A subversive romantic comedy with all of the trauma and some of the comedy. |
| Sometimes distributors and PR firms describe films in ways that don’t exactly fit. But that’s not the case with I Love You Forever. “A subversive romantic comedy gone wrong” about an emotionally abusive relationship - is so spot on it’s brilliant. I couldn’t write anything better so I am borrowing their phrase. This is a good movie, but in an incredibly painful way. For anybody who has been in such a relationship, heed a warning, because this is likely to be traumatic revisiting it. | 2025 Directed by: Cazzie David, Elisa Kalani Screenplay by: Cazzie David, Elisa Kalani Starring: Sofia Black-D'Elia, Ray Nicholson | |
| See full review of I Love You Forever | ||
#14 Relay
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A smart and engaging thriller. |
| A smart and engaging cat-and-mouse thriller, Relay should be at the top of everyone’s watch lists who are up for a suspenseful (but not scary) thriller. Led by an enigmatic Riz Ahmed and an intelligent, scared but determined Lily James, the performances and the city of New York are all that is needed to create the compelling atmosphere. The somewhat slow beginning is not a hindrance because there is so much for the audience to figure out. | 2024 Directed by: David Mackenzie Screenplay by: Justin Piasecki Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James | |
| See full review of Relay | ||
#15 Presence
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A story about a ghost and a family. |
| The camera moves slowly and then quickly through the house, smooth but unorthodox motions – as if it is a ghost. And that’s because it is a ghost. Presence tells the story of a family who have just moved into a new house, all from the point of view of a ghost, a presence, living in that house with them. But let’s get one thing clear: contrary to the marketing, this is not a horror movie; this is a family drama disguised as a ghost story. | 2024 Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Screenplay by: David Koepp Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan | |
| See full review of Presence | ||
#16 Ghost School
A wonderfully engaging story which pairs the supernatural belief with real-life corruption.
| 10-year-old Rabia (Nazualiya Arsalan) is getting ready for school and remarks that her uniform is too short. They don’t have money for a new one, so just rip out the bottom hem stitches and it will appear longer, her mother suggests. That works for Rabia, a very sweet, courteous and inquisitive young girl who loves school. When she arrives at school, it’s closed, an official is telling everyone that the teacher has fallen ill because the school is haunted so it has to shut down. | 2025 Directed by: Seemab Gul Screenplay by: Seemab Gul Starring: Nazualiya Arsalan | |
| See full review of Ghost School | ||
#17 The Luckiest Man in America
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A bizarre true story that is as compelling as it is unique. |
| The Luckiest Man in America is based on a true story that you’re likely not familiar with. There were no affecting consequences, it was just a day for big swings in opinions and personalities in front of the camera and behind the camera for the 1980s daytime game show Press Your Luck. Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser) is winning big money on the small-time game show, but nobody is sure if that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or a potentially fraudulent thing. | 2024 Directed by: Samir Oliveros Screenplay by: Maggie Briggs, Samir Oliveros Starring: Paul Walter Hauser, David Strathairn | |
| See full review of The Luckiest Man in America | ||
#18 Sweet Angel Baby
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Sexuality, morality and small-town politics. |
| Bundled up in big sweaters and tall boots, Eliza (Michaela Kurimsky) is arguably ready for the harsh Newfoundland winters. She’s also covering herself up to hide and get as far removed as possible from her other persona. In town, she’s a sweet, single, church-going, fundraising, unassuming young woman. But away from town – in the woods, or on a rocky shore, or in a deserted barn – she strips down in front of her camera and anonymously broadcasts to the rest of the world. | 2024 Directed by: Melanie Oates Screenplay by: Melanie Oates Starring: Michaela Kurimsky | |
| See full review of Sweet Angel Baby | ||
#19 Drop
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A suspenseful thriller with real characters delivering maturity and emotional depth. |
| Christopher Landon’s Drop is an entertaining thriller. A popcorn flick that touches down for some reflection on a heady topic. I was excited for this movie based on the premise alone, I was enjoying the suspense and intrigue for the first half and then after the film found a way to give both main characters emotional depth, I was in love with it. A stylish, simplistic thriller with real characters and an ending that will melt every heart. | 2025 Directed by: Christopher Landon Screenplay by: Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach Starring: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar | |
| See full review of Drop | ||
#20 Blue Eyed Girl
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Tender, warm-hearted and real. |
| A drama about life -- real life for real adults. Blue Eyed Girl is a sweet, tender, charming portrait of a 40-year-old woman hitting a mid-life crisis and re-examining her life when she has to go take care of her ailing father, stay with her two feuding and polar opposite sisters, all while reconnecting with a childhood flame and the one that got away. | 2025 Directed by: J. Mills Goodloe Screenplay by: Marisa Coughlin Starring: Marisa Coughlin, Eliza Coupe, Beau Bridges and Sam Trammell | |
| See full review of Blue Eyed Girl | ||