14 favorite movies of 2025, according to these critics

Find all of our "Best of 2025" lists here.

If you're searching for what to watch over a long, home-bound holiday weekend, these critics have a few ideas of where to start.

Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, and Mike Sargent, host of the Brown & Black podcast, as well as co-president of the Black Film Critics Circle, join Jeffrey Brown to share their favorite movies of the year.

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"Sinners"

"To me, movie of the year, in a few ways, is 'Sinners.'"

– Linda Holmes

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"Superman"

"This is truer to who I think Superman is than some of the other recent efforts."

– Linda Holmes

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"Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery"

"This is actually, I think, maybe the best of the three ['Knives Out' movies]. It's an interesting premise."

– Mike Sargent

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"Weapons"

"What this film reminds me, as a storyteller and a lover of stories, is: It's not just the story, it's how the story is told."

– Mike Sargent

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"Blue Moon"

"It's very much about art and people who make art."

– Linda Holmes

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"The Secret Agent"

"You almost feel like you're watching a documentary. It's very little artifice. Things are dirty. It seems very real. Every single actor, you completely believe them in their role."

– Mike Sargent

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"The Perfect Neighbor"

"It's a very upsetting film, I will say, out of the gate. It is about a white woman who lives near a Black woman and her kids and a lot of other people's kids. And this woman just became very agitated by the kids and was harassing them. And ultimately it ends in this tragic, violent end."

– Linda Holmes

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My Mom Jayne"

"I'm so skeptical when famous people make documentaries about their families, but [Mariska Hargitay] absolutely redeems the whole project. It's very honest, it's very fair to everybody."

– Linda Holmes

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"SLY LIVES! aka The Burden of Black Genius"

"This goes beyond just the usual musical doc. It explores the emotional, cultural burden placed on Black genius in America."

– Mike Sargent

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"Orwell: 2+2=5"

"What you see [George Orwell] talking about, what he was writing about, what he's saying is disturbingly prescient today."

– Mike Sargent

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"Zootopia 2"

"It's visually inventive and a lot of fun."

– Linda Holmes

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"The Choral"

"Some people absolutely are gonna find it a little bit corny, but I found it beautiful and and really moving."

– Linda Holmes

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"Arco"

"It's about a little boy who travels from the future into our future and meets a little girl, and their friendship. … And without saying much more, the animation is terrific."

– Mike Sargent

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"The Bad Guys 2"

"I think it sets the bar pretty high."

– Mike Sargent