Actor Naomi Watts poses for a portrait with her Great Dane co-star Bing, to promote the film "The Friend" on Monday, March 24, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

My favorite film of 2025, “The Friend,” had a brief run in theaters and is now streaming. Based on the 2018 bestseller by Sigrid Nunez, this comedy-drama is about a writer (played by Naomi Watts) mourning the death of her best friend and mentor (Bill Murray), who gifts her his Great Dane. What transpires isn’t a cutesy dog movie or a slapstick comedy. Instead, this funny, deeply moving work explores how we deal with grief and the strange but undeniable connection we make with our “pets.”

Keeper

It was an extraordinary year for horror films with “Companion,” “The Monkey” and “Frankenstein” just missing the top 10, but no film frightened me more than Osgood Perkins’ deranged love story. Mostly a two-hander about a weekend getaway gone horribly wrong, it’s powered by great performances, a richly layered screenplay and moments that are truly terrifying. You’ve been warned.

The Secret Agent

Writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s one-of-a-kind wonder is a genre-fluid trip through 1977 Brazil. Led by the scorchingly charismatic Wagner Moura, who will become a star after this, mark my words, Filho’s film is impossible to get ahead of and has a surprise in nearly every scene. Best experienced with no pre-release info or spoilers of any kind, this was one of the few films of 2025 that I can’t wait to see again.

Black Bag

Steven Soderbergh’s tricky spy thriller exited theaters quickly, but the film’s wit and collection of great performances and memorable scenes haven’t left me. David Koepp’s clever screenplay deconstructs the cloak-and-dagger genre and, coming after “Presence,” marks the second great collaboration he made with Soderbergh. That opening scene at the dinner table is one for the time capsule. Pierce Brosnan is deliciously nasty here.

The Testament of Ann Lee

Amanda Seyfried’s “The Housemaid” became a sleeper hit, but her other film in the fall of 2025 was even wilder and a much harder sell.

Mona Fastvold’s musical about the creation and growth of the Shaker movement during the 18th century is one of the craziest films ever released by a major studio. Only Ken Russell has ever made movies this insane. If you can get past the first act, you’ll be rewarded with an engrossing and totally bonkers experience.

Anemone

What if Daniel Day-Lewis came out of retirement, made a new movie and no one went? That’s exactly what happened, as this piercing, wild and unpredictable drama showcases the actor at his understated best and was skillfully co-written and directed by his son, Ronan. Like “Keeper,” it’s a two-person drama that feels like an updated “Waiting for Godot” then goes into even more truly unexpected places.

F1: The Movie

The plot is basically a rehash of “Days of Thunder” (1990), but Joseph Kosinski’s thrilling summer ride also explores how legends have difficulty walking away from their legacies.

After “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) and now this, Kosinski is clearly the next Tony Scott — I kid you not, his next is “Miami Vice.” Everyone who saw this in theaters and says they didn’t speed on the drive home is lying.

Wolf Man

Most audiences, even horror fans, missed this early gem. Complaints about the make-up and dark tone were ridiculous. Leigh Whannell’s contemporary take on werewolves is a devastating family drama comparable to David Cronenberg’s “The Fly” (1986). Further praise is unnecessary.

Sinners

Halfway through Ryan Coogler’s brilliantly constructed horror film and before the vampires have really started causing trouble, we get a foot stomping sequence that depicts the history of dance and the legacy of African Americans. The scene could have derailed the entire thing. Instead, a moment that initially feels out of left field emerges as one of the year’s most extraordinary, risky sequences in a movie that’s full of them.

Dog Man

My favorite CGI-animated comedy for kids captures the spirit and hilarity of Dav Pilkey’s popular books and, surprisingly, has much to say about surviving hard childhoods and struggling with parenthood.

There were some good family films this year, but the others lacked the heart, ambition and consistent laughs of this one. No sequel, please — this one is perfect.

Barry Wurst II is the founder of the Hawaii Film Critics Society and teaches film classes at University of Hawai’i Maui College.