Our picks for the 2025 movies you should watch this holiday season

Summary

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Consider This from NPR

Episode: Our Picks for the 2025 Movies You Should Watch This Holiday Season

Original Air Date: December 30, 2025
Host: Mary Louise Kelly
Guest: Bob Mondello (NPR film critic)

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Episode Overview

In this festive year-end episode, NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly and film critic Bob Mondello guide listeners through the must-see movies of 2025. With Hollywood studios struggling to bring audiences back after the pandemic, this curated list cuts through the box office numbers to spotlight films defined by artistry, passion, and resonance — whether you’re heading to the theater or streaming from your couch.

“Whether you are headed to the theater this winter break or binge watching at home, there’s plenty to choose from and we’re here to help. Our Bob Mondello has rounded up his top movies of the year.”
— Mary Louise Kelly (02:31)

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hollywood’s 2025 Recovery—Box Office and Beyond

• Hollywood anticipated a comeback in 2025, hoping to reach nearly $9 billion at the box office, but will fall just short (01:25).
  • Adam Aron (AMC CEO): “Movie theaters are booming...the movie industry is finally back.” (01:16)
  • Sequels and reboots like “Anaconda,” “Superman,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Lilo & Stitch,” and “Wicked” shaped the year, driving attendance while ticket prices climbed (02:09–02:29).
• Still, Bob Mondello cautions that “money and attendance aren’t necessarily indications of quality” (02:31).

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2. Bob Mondello’s 2025 Top 10(ish) Movies

“When filmmakers are passionate, movies can make audiences vibrate with grief, with excitement, with rage. And that happened a lot this year.”
— Bob Mondello (04:47)

Key Films and Highlights (with timestamps):

Socially-Charged Thrillers and Dramas

• Sinners (Ryan Coogler) [05:01]
  • A “stomping, shiver-inducing barn burner” weaving power, prejudice, and the aftermath of slavery into a supernatural thriller.
  • Quote: “Keep dancing with the devil. One day he’s gonna follow you home.” (05:21)
• One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) [05:34]
  • Mixes political resistance, thriller tropes, and vibrant setpieces. Features stoner revolutionaries against right-wing authoritarians.

Provocative Foreign Films

• The Secret Agent (Brazil) [06:15]
  • A 1970s thriller about scientific resistance to dictatorship, brimming with wild surrealism.
• It Was Just An Accident (Jafar Panahi, Iran) [06:29]
  • Uses dark humor to portray a man haunted by the memory of a sadistic prison guard; reflects Panahi’s own experience behind bars.

Literary Adaptations

• Hamnet (Chloé Zhao) [07:16]
  • Adaptation delving into Shakespeare’s grief for his lost son; hailed for “directorial fervor and lush visuals.”
  • Quote: “If recent years have brought a more staggering cinematic catharsis than the last 10 minutes of Hamnet, I have not experienced it.” (07:37)
• Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro) [07:48]
  • An intense, operatic take on the classic, with Jacob Elordi’s soulful performance at the core.

Comedies and Family Drama

• Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie) [08:06]
  • Adrenaline-fueled comedy following a scheming 1950s ping-pong hustler (Timothée Chalamet).
• Sentimental Value (Norway) [08:27]
  • A nuanced family drama about an actress confronting her filmmaker father’s neglect during a career-defining opportunity.

International Perspectives on Conflict

• Voice of Hindra Job (Middle East) [09:11]
  • Set entirely in a West Bank emergency call center, using real audio from Gaza.
  • Quote: “Those on screen are actors. But Hind’s voice...is real, recorded on January 29, 2024 while she was trapped in the car.” (09:15)

American Epic

• Train Dreams [09:40]
  • Follows a lumberjack’s family through eras of heartbreak and landscape, “the monumental landscape, nearly a character in itself.”
  • Quote: “All is it...Every bit of it.” (10:03)

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3. Honorable Mentions—“A Whole Second 10” (10:04–12:22)

• A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow): A “eerily authentic nuclear thriller” about imminent disaster (10:17).
• Sirat: Drama of raves and unrest in North Africa.
• Blue Moon: Explores heartbreak in the shadow of creative rivalry.
• No Other Choice (Korean film): Social satire about joblessness.
• Begonia: Bizarre corporate kidnapping comedy.
• Family Portraits:
  • Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (Jim Jarmusch): Understated family tension.
  • Is This Thing On? (Bradley Cooper): Will Arnett’s stand-up artist processes his divorce on stage.

    “I was unhappy in our marriage. I wasn’t unhappy with our marriage. Man, I wish I had a punchline.” (11:41)

Breakthrough Documentaries

• Grand Theft Hamlet: Shakespeare performed inside a video game (11:48).
• Architecton: Dazzling, experimental visuals.
• Come See Me in the Good Life: Rousing doc about queer artists facing cancer.
  • Quote: “Why don’t we just root for me being alive? And if I’m not, I will not feel bad about not being there.” (12:14)

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4. Reflections and Closing Thoughts

Bob Mondello concludes the list with optimism about cinematic creativity, regardless of box office numbers:

“That is a whole second 10 passion projects, every one enough to make any film lover confident despite box office woes as we head into 2026.”
— Bob Mondello (12:22)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mary Louise Kelly (02:31):
  “Whether you are headed to the theater this winter break or binge watching at home, there’s plenty to choose from and we’re here to help our Bob Mondello has rounded up his top movies of the year.”
• Bob Mondello (04:47):
  “When filmmakers are passionate, movies can make audiences vibrate with grief, with excitement, with rage.”
• Bob Mondello (07:37) on Hamnet:
  “If recent years have brought a more staggering cinematic catharsis than the last 10 minutes of Hamnet, I have not experienced it.”
• Actor/Character Voices (10:27):
  “You’re talking about hitting a bullet with a bullet. So it’s a coin toss. That’s what $50 billion buys us.”

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Important Timestamps for Segments

• 1:05: Hollywood’s expected rebound and box office numbers
• 2:09: Notable blockbusters, sequels, and reboots of 2025
• 4:29: Shift from box office analysis to quality of filmmaking
• 5:01 – 9:55: Bob Mondello’s detailed Top 10 films of 2025
• 10:04 – 12:22: Extended list of “second 10” notable films and documentaries
• 12:22: Closing summary and outlook on cinema

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Final Takeaway

Despite challenges in regaining pre-pandemic theater audiences, 2025 proved to be a year of creative passion and bold storytelling. Bob Mondello’s picks—ranging from high-octane thrillers and heartfelt dramas to innovative documentaries—showcase the enduring artistry of filmmakers, making this a banner year for movie lovers willing to look beyond mere ticket sales.

For more in-depth coverage, listen to the full episode and explore NPR’s other end-of-year cultural roundups.

Transcript

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Hi, it's Mary Louise Kelly. There are only two more days left in 2025 or another way to look at it, two more days to stand up for public media before the end of the year. This last week of the year is a critical fundraising period for npr, and your donation today will help us plan for public radio's first full year without federal funding. I want to say thank you very much if you are already an NPR supporter or if you've already made your year end gift. Now that includes listeners like Stu in Oregon who says public broadcasting is the local library of the airwaves. It is a safe place for everyone to learn, to share and to grow. Thank you, Stuart. I love that beautiful analogy. So please join Stuart, Join me. Join the community of public radio supporters today by signing up for npr. NPR unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes and more from across NPR's podcasts. Plus, you get to feel good about supporting public media while you listen. Join us at Pluss.

[Bob Mondello]

Now.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Today's show. Hollywood hoped 2025 would be its comeback year.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Movie theaters are booming. I think finally after five years roaming around in the wilderness after Covid, I think the movie industry is finally back.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

That is AMC CEO Adam Aaron talking with CNBC. A few months ago, the industry expected to make 9 billion doll have been the best year since before the pandemic. With just a day left, though, it looks like North American revenues will fall a few million short of that goal. Here's Comscore's Paul de Garabedian on cnbc.

[Industry Expert/Analyst]

So in a very tumultuous year at.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

The box office, tumultuous to the very end. Big movies released in the last week or so are pulling in big crowds.

[Industry Expert/Analyst]

We're looking at a really strong holiday period with Avatar, with the Housemaid, with the movie David, we had Marty supreme go into wide release. Song Tsung Blue opened. And Anaconda.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Speaking of Anaconda, reboots and sequels had a big year.

[Podcast Promoter]

Hey, buddy, eyes up here.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Films like Superman and Wicked for good.

[Actor/Character Voices]

This is the work of the Wicked.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Witch, how to Train youn Dragon.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Maybe they're not as bad as we think they are.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

And Lilo and Stitch, ancient cobra Bubbles.

[Actor/Character Voices]

We have a blue dog to catch.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

But as individual ticket prices get more expensive, just holding steady overall means fewer moviegoers in cinema seats. And as our movie critic notes, money and attendance aren't necessarily indications of quality. Consider this. Whether you are headed to the theater this winter break or binge watching at home, there's plenty to choose from and we're here to help our Bob Mondello has rounded up his top movies of the year. From npr, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

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[Mary Louise Kelly]

It's considered this from npr. Hollywood had another quiet year at the movies. Box office income just hasn't bounced back to pre pandemic highs. But ticket sales are not always a sign of quality. As proof, we offer critic Bob Mondello's 10 best list. Well, 10ish.

[Bob Mondello]

This list positively overflows when filmmakers are cranking out blockbusters. Tinseltown can seem like any other business, customer satisfaction measured in popcorn sales and audience smiles. But when filmmakers are passionate, movies can make audiences vibrate with grief, with excitement, with rage. And that happened a lot this year. Ryan Coogler unleashed a blue spectacle for the ages in Sinners. This ain't no house party, a stomping, shiver inducing barn burner of a thriller that conjured all of this music's ancestors and descendants, along with some sharp fanged demons.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Keep dancing with the devil. One day he's gonna follow you home.

[Bob Mondello]

Sinners tells a story about power, prejudice and the aftermath of slavery, a tale of saving not just one person's soul, but a community's.

[Actor/Character Voices]

We gonna kill every last one of you.

[Bob Mondello]

And Sinners wasn't alone in combining feverish social commentary with entertainment. In one battle after another, director Paul Thomas Anderson uses thriller conventions to make a story of political resistance literally explosive.

[Actor/Character Voices]

What I'm doing here, creating a closed circuit so you don't accidentally detonate your charge.

[Bob Mondello]

Anderson does lots of hugely entertaining things. He's even come up with a new kind of car Chase in the service of pitting stoner revolutionaries against authoritarian creeps who despise anyone who's not white, male and reactionary justice.

[Industry Expert/Analyst]

To the vigilante group known as the French 75, we are here to award Stephen Lockjaw with the Medal of Honor.

[Bob Mondello]

One battle after another is so of this moment it almost leaps off the screen. A pair of provocative foreign films did that in their own countries. The Secret Agent is about a 1970s Brazilian man hiding from that country's dictatorship. He's been targeted by the authorities for championing science over ideology. Parallels are being drawn to our own time, but in this wildly eccentric thriller, he's not just dodging hitmen, but all manner of weirdness, including a hairy disembodied leg. Like the Secret Agent. Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident uses humor to brighten a story of resistance. This one's about an Iranian guy who gets all squirrely when he hears the squeak of a prosthetic knee coming his way. Reminds him of prison and a sadistic one legged guard. The filmmaker was himself imprisoned in Iran and it's remarkable how generous of spirit he is in It Was Just An Accident. That's four bests. The next two are riffs on literary classics.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Tell me a story.

[Bob Mondello]

What story would you like?

[Actor/Character Voices]

Something that moves you.

[Bob Mondello]

Hamnet. Chloe Zhao's adaptation of a speculative novel about Shakespeare. Shakespeare looks at the death of the Bard's young son.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Mama, my boy.

[Bob Mondello]

And with directorial fervor and lush visuals, turns a portrait of a family tragedy into a heart stopping meditation on the transformative power of art.

[Actor/Character Voices]

To die, to sleep, perchance to dream.

[Bob Mondello]

If recent years have brought a more staggering cinematic catharsis than the last 10 minutes of Hamnet, I have not experienced it. Guillermo del Toro also tackles a classic narrative.

[Actor/Character Voices]

What manner of creature is this?

[Bob Mondello]

In a swoony, almost operatic Frankenstein?

[Actor/Character Voices]

What manner of devil made him by.

[Bob Mondello]

Giving Jacob Elardi something besides anger to play? Del Toro makes this Frankenstein a uniquely soulful creature feature. A self made monster is the subject of Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Everything in my life's falling apart, but I'm gonna figure it out.

[Bob Mondello]

An adrenaline fueled screwball comedy about a 1950s hustler who dreams of world domination. In table tennis, Timothee Chalamet plays a guy based on a real ping pong champ, scamming and cheating his way through this repulsive, sometimes harrowing thrill ride.

[Actor/Character Voices]

What do you plan to do if.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

This dream of yours doesn't work out?

[Actor/Character Voices]

That doesn't even endure my consciousness.

[Bob Mondello]

While Marty's supremely watchable. Imagine for a sec that it's your dad who's this kind of self absorbed. That's the situation in Sentimental Value, a wrenching Norwegian drama about an actress who turns down what could be the part of a lifetime when it's offered by her neglectful filmmaking father.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Why didn't you want to do the role? I can't work with him. We can't really talk.

[Bob Mondello]

Sentimental Value has a twisty plot that keeps you guessing to the final moments of the final scene. That's eight bests. An international film set in the Middle east also keeps you riveted, though the action is deliberately kept off screen. The voice of Hindra Job embeds audiences in a West bank emergency call center where Red Crescent operators are feeling desperately calls for help from Gaza.

[Actor/Character Voices]

They are shooting at a car with a little gear inside. Can you imagine that? So do something.

[Bob Mondello]

The film's power stems from a simple fact. Those on screen are actors. But Hind's voice, the voice of Hindrab is real, recorded on January 29, 2024 while she was trapped in the car. The American epic that rounds out my top 10 gets its power from a Terrence Malick like kind of cinematic poetry. Train Dreams is set in an era of steam locomotives and Western expansion.

[Actor/Character Voices]

It was all going by so fast.

[Bob Mondello]

The American Dream is experienced by Lumberjack and his family in the Pacific Northwest. Joy, heartbreak, natural disasters spanning decades. The monumental landscape, nearly a character in itself.

[Industry Expert/Analyst]

Beautiful, ain't it?

[Mary Louise Kelly]

What is.

[Bob Mondello]

All is it.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Every bit of it.

[Bob Mondello]

That is 10 films. But I still have time left and there were plenty of other passionate filmmakers, so I'll just keep going. No film this year was more alarming than Kathryn Bigelow's eerily authentic nuclear thriller, A House of Dynamite.

[Industry Expert/Analyst]

Approximately three minutes ago we detected an ICBM over the Pacific. Current flight trajectory is consistent with impact somewhere in the continental United States.

[Bob Mondello]

So shoot it down. Right?

[Actor/Character Voices]

You're talking about hitting a bullet with a bullet. So it's a coin toss. That's what $50 billion buys us.

[Bob Mondello]

Catastrophe is also the subject of Sirat, a breathtaking story of raves, rage and despair in North Africa. And while catastrophe may be a strong word for what lyricist Lorenz Hart is feeling in Blue Moon, how else could he see the loss of his partner Richard Rogers on opening night of Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma?

[Actor/Character Voices]

We write together for a quarter a century. In the first show he writes with someone else is gonna be the biggest hit he ever had. Am I bitter?

[Bob Mondello]

Larry? Yes, it was boom time for business world satires, what with no other choice about a downsized Korean worker's desperate job search and begonia with its big pharma exec kidnapped by guys convinced she's an alien.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Where is my hair? Your hair has been destroyed to prevent you from contacting your ship. What ship? Your mothership.

[Bob Mondello]

Family dynamics get the side eye from an understated Jim Jarmish comedy called Father, Mother, Sister, Brother.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Always been my favorite son.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Well, your only son as far as we know.

[Bob Mondello]

And also from Bradley Cooper's Is this Thing On? Starring Will Arnett as a guy who processes his divorce on a stand up stage.

[Actor/Character Voices]

I was unhappy in our marriage. I wasn't unhappy with our marriage. Man, I wish I had a punchline.

[Bob Mondello]

Meanwhile, documentarians were all but reinventing documentary form in 2025. From actors doing Shakespeare inside a video game in Grand Theft Hamlet.

[Actor/Character Voices]

Okay, don't shoot us, please, with a.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Tism over in the mind and suffer.

[Bob Mondello]

The stinger to the dazzling sensory overload of cascading dancing building materials in architecton to the upbeat, rousing way two queer artists approached a stage four cancer diagnosis in Come See Me in the Good Life.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Why don't we just root for me being alive? And if I'm not, I will not feel bad about not being there.

[Bob Mondello]

That is a whole second 10 passion projects, every one enough to make any film lover confident despite box office woes as we head into 2026. I'm Bob Mondello.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

This episode was produced by Chloe Weiner, Mark Rivers and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Claire Lombardo and Sarah Handel with audio engineering from Ted Mebane. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. It's Consider this from npr. I'm Mary Louise Kelly on Wait Wait.

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