5 of the Year's Best Movies Were Wildly Misunderstood |
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Some movies just deserve better. As the year draws to a close, there will be many rundowns of the best films of 2025, and plenty of those titles will be destined for further consideration at the Oscars, while others are already bonafide financial hits. But it's also worth reconsidering some movies that were worthy of more attention than they got. These are the underdogs, the lesser-seen, often overlooked, and perhaps misjudged projects that I wish had connected more deeply with the audience. Maybe they still can. With that in mind, here are a few that moved me to tears, made me laugh, made me think, and frequently accomplished all of the above. Disagree? So be it. Check these out with an open mind. — Anthony Breznican, contributing writer |
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There's no way this movie was ever going to be judged fairly. Still, this is a somber and elegant Western about a young boy (Patrick Scott McDermott) who is sentenced to hang for an accidental shooting, while an aging outlaw (Alec Baldwin) becomes the only person willing to insist that injustice cannot be remedied with more of the same. Western tales, like science fiction, can be helpful allegories for things that are too fraught for open discussion in the present day. In this case, it's the notion that society breaks down when decent people are afraid that speaking up about what they know is true and right will make them outcasts. Then, only those who are already cast out will guide the conversation. There's something else hovering over this movie that's impossible to ignore, and is largely responsible for people staying away from it. You undoubtedly know the true-life tragedy already: a careless armorer mixed a real bullet in with the props and then loaded it into a gun that was handed to Baldwin. The assistant director who gave him the weapon bypassed a thorough safety check. When the gun fired during rehearsal, the bullet struck and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and then lodged next to the spine of writer-director Joel Souza. The two people who made these lethal mistakes have been sentenced by the courts for their wrongdoing and negligence. But the work of countless others, including Hutchins herself, deserves to be considered separately from this horrific occurrence. Hutchins poured her soul into the imagery of Rust, and the shots she composed are majestic and haunting. From the windswept desert vistas, to the shadowy, claustrophobic interiors, Rust immerses you in the Old West world where the law has only a passing relationship with what's right. Her work was completed by cinematographer Bianca Cline, who along with Souza tried to preserve every frame possible from the work she had completed. (Not only that, but viewers can feel good knowing that Hutchins' widowed husband struck a deal with the producers that allow him and their own young son to benefit financially from the film's returns.) Breathtaking, heartbreaking and thrilling, Rust is a hard-bitten but graceful take on life in a lawless time. An old man with nothing but misery in his past tries to save an innocent who might have a better future. Rust is about mercy and justice. It deserves some itself. |
Come on, people, how could you sleep on something this funny and charming? We say we want original, grown-up stories. We say we want something that will make us laugh. Then we don't turn out for it. Hopefully, Roofman finds its audience among home viewers. Channing Tatum plays the title character, a serial thief known for cracking open the tops of fast food joints and making off with the cash inside. The cops catch him, because this is a dumb way to make a living, and he goes to prison for a long time. The story really gets going when he Shawshanks his way out of there and goes fugitive. Since he can't actually live anywhere as a wanted man, he holes up (literally) in the crawlspaces of a Toys 'R Us, living off candy and selling toys and games secondhand to make money. What he doesn't anticipate is falling in love with Kirsten Dunst's sympathetic minimum wage worker. Making all this madness even better: this is based on a true story, and the weirdest parts of it really did happen. It's hard to know what went wrong here. Reviews were strong for Roofman, but moviegoers just didn't turn out. Now it's on streaming, where people might be willing to take a chance and be won over. Writer-director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) tells this bizarre story with tremendous heart, and it has some of the biggest laugh-out-loud moments I've experienced in a movie this year. Peter Dinklage as an uptight store manager who accidentally runs into this Phantom of the Toy Store while Tatum's character is stark naked and bathing in the men's bathroom is a scene you have to see to believe. This is especially fun for parents. Roofman got his name from his top-down style crimes, but it's also about a guy who is determined to provide for his kids and family—so determined that he goes about it all the wrong way. He's a genius in some ways, too clever for his own good, and you have to wonder what the real man could have accomplished had he applied his observational skills and problem solving to legitimate work. That's what makes this story endearing, despite his ridiculous crimes. He tried to do his best, but he could not. |
Traditions help maintain order. They give us a foundation and guidance. But now and then you have to know when to tell the past to back off. This Taiwanese family drama takes its title from a little girl (Nina Ye) whose older relatives are dismayed because she is a southpaw. Following arcane Chinese superstition, her grandfather calls it her "devil hand," and says anything she uses it for will be in service of wickedness. As a result, she starts using it to steal from the late night marketplace in Taipei where her family runs a noodle stand. Left-Handed Girl isn't a kids film, although Ye is adorable, and she has a Disney-esque expressive meerkat as a pet. It's about growing up without growing apart. Director, producer, and writer Shih-Ching Tsou tells a deeply personal story about a put-upon widowed mother (Janel Tsai) who is fighting wars on two fronts—one with her aging, conservative-minded mother (Xin-Yan Chao) and another with her aimless, wild-at-heart teenage daughter (the extraordinary Shih-Yuan Ma.) What's right or wrong from one generation to the next changes and evolves, and those who ignore this are just as out of touch as someone who would tell a kid that she can't be left-handed. But in the end, we have to own our actions. Legends of evil hands only go so far. Tsou is a frequent collaborator of Oscar-winning Anora filmmaker Sean Baker, who joins her on this film as an editor, co-producer and co-writer. Together they give Left-Handed Girl the visceral, clever pace of their previous team-ups Red Rocket and Tangerine. The movie has a stellar 99 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and only debuted on Netflix a month ago, but it deserves even more hype. If your settings start playing it with the off-putting English-dubbed dialogue, turn that off and roll with the subtitles for the original, authentic performances. |
This movie is like all those frustrating stories about modern dating, fused with the creepiest, arcane folktale you can imagine. Critics blistered Keeper, and it came and went from the box office with barely a whisper. I don't know what movie the haters were watching. I found it mesmerizing, and the ending almost forces the words "Oh no …" out of your mouth. Directed by Oz Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey) and written by Nick Lepard, Keeper follows Liz (Tatiana Maslany), a 30-something perpetually single woman who goes on a trip to the woods with her boyfriend Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland.) He's a catch. He's a doctor of some kind, financially stable enough to own this stylish cabin, and soft-spoken and respectful. He's got a simmering intensity, but that's part of the appeal. She's more of an emotional rollercoaster, but you get the sense that she's waiting for the too-good-to-be-true part of him to emerge, because she's seen that happen before. But could he be the real deal? Is she the problem? Bizarre things begin to manifest around the cabin, but he seems to be aloof or unaware of them. Maybe it's a sign of a breakdown in her. Or maybe it's something sinister in him. Cleverly, these are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves when relationships actually do begin to fracture: Is it me? Or the other person? Keeper may have provoked some of its backlash by refusing to fully explain the seemingly supernatural occurrences around the woods. I thought that ambiguity enhances the mystery, and it seems pretty clear by the end what's happening in general. But some of the imagery is deeply unnerving because it's so baffling. Sometimes you'll be looking at something and wonder what exactly you're seeing. It's nightmare fuel, but that's what made Keeper wonderful. |
This film asks the audience to solve its puzzle. What exactly is going on here? It starts as an apocalyptic thriller, becomes a song-and-dance musical number, then ends as a haunted coming-of-age story. All the pieces are there, and they're not hard to put together if you go with it. Director and screenwriter Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) masterfully guides this surreal story through its various phases for what amounts to an abstract portrait of a life, reduced down to three acts. It would be a shame to give away what's really happening. It's much better for the movie to open itself up as you watch. Those who grow impatient and expect to pull apart its layers like a flower that hasn't yet bloomed are going to find themselves with only fragments, however. It's based on a Stephen King novella, but it's not terrifying. Instead, it's an elegy for a man named Chuck (played by Tom Hiddleston), whose existence has special meaning in the universe. He and a red-headed stranger (Annalise Basso) share a dance sequence that is pure joy, underscored by the percussion of a street busker (Taylor Gordon, a.k.a. The Pocket Queen) who knows she's watching something magical play out. Real magic, everyday magic. That's what this story is about. Fleeting time. Making the most of it while it's here. The movie reminds us that when presented with an opportunity, there is unspeakable value in saying yes. But all too often, we let things pass out of fear or inconvenience. As in the final act of this film, there is a room in all of us where we can see the end coming, but we ignore it out of necessity. It might paralyze us if we think about it too much, but it is a reminder that tomorrow is not promised. Now is all we really have. It's been months since I've seen The Life of Chuck, and the memory of certain scenes still chokes me up. There's still time, however. Go find this one, and the others too. |
It sure seemed like a lot of readers watched Stranger Things season 5, part 2 this weekend. The latest batch of episodes deepened the world of the Netflix sci-fi series and set up the final battle between the Hawkins kiddos and the big bad Vecna. I honestly have no idea how co-creators Matt and Russ Duffer plan to wrap up the story in the series finale on New Years Eve, but the brothers gave us a taste of what they're planning in an interview you can read here.
Let me know if you think they've pulled it off so far by writing to me at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com.
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Matt and Ross Duffer (above) reveal that they've, "known what the final scene [of Stranger Things] was for a while." / Photo by: Chantal Anderson |
The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk |
If you need some help putting the pieces together following Stranger Things's latest episode drop, Brady Langmann broke down every new bit to the story in a helpful rundown here. To commemorate what would have been Paul Newman's 100th birthday, his daughter Clea shared her favorite snapshots and stories with Esquire. When Clea was asked what she wants people to remember about her father, she said simply: "That he was a really, really good man." Read the full story here.
Fallout's Aaron Moten talked to Eric Francisco about season 2 of the Prime Video series, where his character will enter one of the original video game's most famous locations: New Vegas. "I thought season 1 to be really kind of like a great overture, and the second season felt like our first piece of music," Moten says. Read the interview here.
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Aaron Moten doesn't see Fallout ending anytime soon. "It's a video game that people pour three hundred hours into it," he tells Esquire. "We're 16 hours into that experience, if you will. There's still so much more to mine." / Photo by: Ryan James Caruthers |
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The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week |
Winner: Dick Van Dyke The actor, comedian, and Tony Award winner turned 100 years old this month. Happy Birthday! "Death doesn't really frighten me," he told Good Morning America this week, adding: "Although I'd like a lot more life!" Loser: The Pig from Marty Supreme One of the best moments in the new Timothée Chalamet movie is when he avoids an embarrassing photo opportunity of having to kiss a pig by rallying the crowd to watch another match with his rival table tennis opponent. Bad news for the pig, though—he missed his big chance to smooch Timothée on screen. Winner: The Odyssey Trailer With all the talk recently about the death of movie theaters as we know it, it's nice to see how excited everyone is to watch what will probably be a three-hour film in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Plus, the new trailer has us genuinely hyped for the Oppenheimer director's fantasy epic. Loser: The Number of Characters Who Are Still Alive in Stranger Things I would never ask the Duffer Brothers to kill off a character just for drama's sake, but I'm incredibly surprised that everyone is still alive as we head toward the end of the series. I mean, not a single character bit the dust? I was certain that we saw the last of Jonathan Byers for a second, or even Steve! If anyone dies, we'll have to wait for the finale to find out. Winner: Dunesday
Avengers: Doomsday officially hits theaters on December 18, 2026, meaning that the next Marvel superhero team-up film will premiere that same day as Dune: Part Three. Will we have another "Barbenheimer" situation on our hands? Is "Dunesday" upon us?
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