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The highest scores on IGN\u2019s review scale<\/u> are 9 for \u201cAmazing\u201d and 10 for \u201cMasterpiece.\u201d This year, only sixteen films received the highest marks from IGN\u2019s roster of critics, and of those, only two films received a perfect score of 10. <\/p>\n
Horror movies were particularly well received by our reviewers, as were indie films, but the most obvious throughline with all of these picks is that they were films made by great directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Lee, Guillermo del Toro, Ryan Coogler, and Kelly Reichardt, just to name a few. Surprise! Great directors usually make great movies.<\/p>\n
Here are IGN\u2019s best reviewed movies of 2025, starting with all the 9s:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the Real Monsters\u201d<\/h2>\n From one of the most iconic creatures in cinematic history to blues-lovin\u2019 vampires and a new breed of the Infected, this was a big year for monster movies. And by monsters, we mean humans; there are no Xenomorphs or killer sharks to be found on this list.<\/p>\n
Guillermo del Toro finally realized his decades-long ambition to adapt Frankenstein, which IGN\u2019s Scott Collura called \u201ca crowning achievement for the beloved genre director and one of the most effective adaptations of the Mary Shelley story ever put to film.\u201d In his review<\/u>, Collura hails del Toro for going \u201cfor a tale of tragedy, romance, and redemption rather than a straight horror flick. Which isn\u2019t to say that there isn\u2019t plenty of gore or creepy moments, but that\u2019s the trimmings of this film, as blood-red as they are. No, del Toro\u2019s really interested in \u2013 to paraphrase the Creature \u2013 why violence so often feels inevitable. And what it takes to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oscar Isaac\u2019s Victor Frankenstein and Charles Dance as his nasty dad are the true monsters in the film, with the Creature being written by del Toro and, in a revelatory performance, played by Jacob Elordi as \u201ca sympathetic, sad-sack SOB who just wants a friend. That the actor also seems to be channeling the body work of GDT regular and creature-player extraordinaire Doug Jones only accentuates how different Elordi\u2019s Creature is from past incarnations.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nRyan Coogler also found the humanity in the monsters of his film Sinners, with Eric Goldman writing in his review<\/u>: \u201cThey\u2019re sufficiently creepy and bloodthirsty, but Coogler also leans hard into the idea that vampires, in many cases, are depicted as seductive, sexual creatures \u2013 and there\u2019s an allure to joining their undead ranks.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe vampires of Sinners share something of a hive mind. Amid all the racism and other senseless reasons humans turn on each other for \u2013 which Smoke, Stack, and their loved ones are especially familiar with given where they live \u2013 here is a society that moved beyond such petty hatred. If you\u2019re a vampire, you\u2019re accepted, regardless of your skin color. You only need to watch out if you\u2019re not one.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s Weapons, Zach Cregger\u2019s darkly funny horror-thriller that examines an entire community of people. \u201cThe mystery of a mass disappearance and its impact on a small town unfold in a fascinatingly layered way that gives every character a chance to shine; the wise decision to break their stories up into multiple, time-scrambling chapters creates multiple cliffhangers that set up a shattering finale,\u201d Tom Jorgensen wrote in his review<\/u>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\u201cFrom that primal starting point, Weapons unfurls itself in time-hopping chapters that afford the story a tremendous sense of scope in spite of its relatively diminutive setting. Each segment takes its time to dig into how the disappearances have affected the lives of those closest to the situation, and Cregger takes care to introduce the audience to the characters in quiet, personal moments of struggle. No one person\u2019s perspective feels more important than any other\u2019s; what\u2019s revealed by these various vantage points makes us constantly reassess our own view of Weapons’ bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the pond, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland revisited post-apocalyptic Britain in 28 Years Later. The movie introduced the Alpha, a subspecies of the Infected who procreate and run around buck naked and buck wild; they\u2019re returning for the upcoming sequel, 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple. \u201cThese crazy-ripped, nigh invincible hulks immediately ratchet up the tension any time they\u2019re on screen, with finishers that would make even Sub-Zero exclaim \u2018flawless victory\u2019 in satisfied wonder,\u201d Tom Jorgensen wrote in his review<\/u>. \u201cBut as is often the case in zombie fiction \u2013 here, let me just lean in and whisper real quick\u2026 maybe we\u2019re the real monsters<\/em>,\u201d<\/p>\nIn the film, generations of young Brits have had to grow up too quickly and have only ever known life with the Rage Virus. \u201cThe way Holy Island\u2019s citizens are lionizing Spike\u2019s ascension to the hunter role, good-natured though it is, has a haunting, violence-begets-violence quality to it, underlined by the montages of child soldiers and the war poetry of Rudyard Kipling peppered into the edit,\u201d according to Jorgensen.<\/p>\n
Elio: The Pixar Box Office Bomb We Loved<\/h2>\n <\/p>\nPixar Animation once had the Midas touch at the box office, but in the wake of flops like The Good Dinosaur and Lightyear, they\u2019re no longer a sure thing commercially. That\u2019s too bad, because we found their most recent film, Elio \u2013 about a boy who wants to venture into outer space to live with aliens \u2013 to be an audience-pleaser despite its dismal box office performance<\/u>.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith incisive humor, radiant, eye-catching animation, and peculiar alien characters, there\u2019s enough entertainment value in Elio to satisfy viewers who are the protagonist’s age or younger,\u201d Carlos Aguilar wrote in IGN\u2019s review<\/u>. \u201cBut it\u2019s the heartfelt insight about universal (literally and figuratively) sorrows and joys that make this one of the studio\u2019s most poignant projects to date \u2013 even if it leaves you wishing some of its imaginative concepts and creations would have received more screen time.\u201d<\/p>\nThis Is Bananas<\/h2>\n
One film has a pop star chimp, the other has an evil wind-up monkey toy, and both received a 9 from our critics.<\/p>\n
First up is the Robbie Williams biopic, Better Man, which depicts the British singer as a CGI chimp brought to life by Weta. \u201cThe bold risk of transforming Robbie Williams into an enjoyable CGI chimp pays off both emotionally and visually,\u201d Hanna Ines Flint wrote in IGN\u2019s review<\/u>. \u201cTurning his back catalogue into epic musical numbers with stunning choreography and heart-wrenching storytelling, Better Man comes out swinging and winning.\u201d (Editor\u2019s note: Better Man had a limited theatrical release in North America during the Christmas week of 2024 before it opened wide on Jan. 10, 2025; our review was posted on Jan. 8, 2025, so we have included the film among this year\u2019s releases.)<\/p>\n
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The Best Stephen King Movies of All Time<\/h3>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Osgood Perkins\u2019 horror film, The Monkey, which we hailed as \u201ca multifaceted rollercoaster of a midnight movie that elicits as many laughs as shocks or gross-out gags.\u201d IGN\u2019s Tom Jorgensen wrote in his review<\/u> that \u201cThe Monkey marches to the beat of its own bloodstained drum \u2013 and it\u2019s an irresistible rhythm to groove to. Osgood Perkins and cast balance the horror and comedy inherent in the movie\u2019s silly premise exceptionally well, and the surreal, absurd touches the Longlegs director adds to a world sketched out by Stephen King only help to set it apart from less imaginative, body-count-obsessed movies.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Return of the Indie Auteurs<\/h2>\n
Two of the biggest names in \u201990s and \u201900s indie cinema had new films out this year. Kelly Reichardt was back with The Mastermind, which our critic Chase Hutchinson noted in his review<\/u> features \u201ccareer-best work from Josh O\u2019Connor\u201d and cements Reichardt\u2019s place as \u201cone of the best filmmakers working today, cutting deeply into both character and country to make a great new American heist film.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nThat OG slacker, Richard Linklater, had not one but two new movies this year, Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon, the latter earning a spot on this list. In his Blue Moon review<\/u>, Siddhant Adlakha praised Linklater\u2019s film about \u201cthe final days of Broadway songwriting legend Lorenz Hart (a magnificently melancholy Ethan Hawke) on the opening night for one of his former creative partner\u2019s biggest hits. Jealousies and creative anxieties fly as Hart tries to maintain balance through friendly conversations, all while the specter of World War II hangs overhead, posing the question of what makes art, artists, and audiences tick during difficult times.\u201d<\/p>\nA Cut Above<\/h2>\n
Not one but two action movies about vengeful women with samurai swords have landed on our list of best reviewed movies of 2025\u2026 albeit one movie is actually a combination of two films released over 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
Although it screened at film festivals years ago, Quentin Tarantino waited until he could own the rights before seeking theatrical distribution for the four-and-a-half-hour-long Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe film is as vicious, fun, and sentimental as it\u2019s always been, and although you could technically rewatch Vol. 1 (2003) back-to-back with Vol. 2 (2004) for a similar experience, nothing rivals the delights of watching Tarantino\u2019s cross-cultural mash-up the way it was meant to be seen,\u201d Siddhant Adlakha explained in his review<\/u>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s perhaps the mash-up maverick\u2019s most overt work of cultural bastardization-slash-homage, a thin line he traipses with gusto by combining the sounds and styles of spaghetti Westerns, spy B movies, Japanese chanbara (or swordplay) and Chinese wuxia, all choreographed by Hong Kong stunt legend Yuen Woo-ping. However, the long-overdue release is also a more mournful tribute to bygone eras of cinema, simply by virtue of the passage of time: Many of its stars have since departed, including David Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Michael Madsen, and Michael Parks, as well as the film\u2019s editor, Sally Menke. Kill Bill should have always been this way, but it\u2019s better late than never.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarantino veteran Tim Roth, meanwhile, plays the villain in Slow West director John Maclean\u2019s period action film, Tornado. Hanna Ines Flint\u2019s review<\/u> said \u201cMaclean brilliantly captures the brutality and hardship of 18th-century Britain in a bleak but blistering coming-of-age tale loaded with nods to the samurai stories of Akira Kurosawa. Japanese actor K\u014dki is sharp and passionate in the lead role, Tim Roth impresses as a tired but ruthless crimelord, and Takehiro Hira and Jack Lowden are compelling in their supporting roles. With a blistering score and a darkly comic undercurrent, Tornado is a timeless revenge thriller filled with hurt and heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ranking the Movies of Quentin Tarantino<\/h3>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
A24\u2019s Big Year<\/h2>\n Indie distributor A24 released many notable films this year, many of which were well received but \u2013 IGN score-wise \u2013 fell short of meeting this article\u2019s threshold of a 9 or above. Among the A24 films that didn\u2019t make the cut were Civil War, Eternity, Eddington, Bring Her Back, Ne Zha II, Friendship, Opus, The Smashing Machine, and The Legend of Ochi.<\/p>\n
However, Josh Safdie\u2019s table tennis dramedy, Marty Supreme, featuring a stellar lead performance by Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, earned a 9 from IGN\u2019s Michael Calabro. In his review<\/u>, Calabro forecast that \u201cMarty Supreme and Uncut Gems will spawn many of their own Goodfellas\/Casino debates in the future. It doesn\u2019t matter what side you take; we\u2019re insanely lucky all these films exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nMeanwhile, Spike Lee was back in a big way with Highest 2 Lowest, his remake of an Akira Kurosawa classic that Siddhant Adlakha explained in his review<\/u> \u201cbegins as an austere class melodrama, but soon gives way to some of the most exciting, visceral images of Spike Lee\u2019s career. It filters the kidnapping conundrum of its source materials through a kaleidoscope of Black culture, anchored by the great Denzel Washington at his most Shakespearean. It\u2019s been nearly 20 years since the director and actor last collaborated, but neither man has lost a step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celine Song followed up her Oscar-nominated Past Lives with Materialists, a romantic drama about dating in middle age. In his review<\/u>, Adlakha wrote that Song \u201cuses the screen presences of lovelorn leads Dakota Johsnon, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal to play with rom-com expectations. The result is an unexpected love triangle of cynics, both rich and poor alike, caught in a world where dating can be a game of numbers, forcing them to harden themselves towards romance. But as the possibility of the real thing rears its head, Song presents it in deeply alluring hues without ever shying away from the realistic allure of even the most bitter alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
But our highest-rated A24 film of the year \u2013 Sorry, Baby \u2013 is also one of only two films we awarded a perfect score of 10.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nThe 10s: Our Top Two Films of the Year<\/h2>\n Films that earn a score of 10 are labeled by IGN as Masterpieces, which our review scale explainer<\/u> describes as \u201cclassics in the making.\u201d But what does that actually mean? IGN\u2019s Michael Calabro wrestled with that very question in his One Battle After Another review<\/u>:<\/p>\n
\u201cFrankly, when trying to come up with my final score for this movie, I\u2019ve spent an absurd amount of time trying to figure out the difference between a 9 out of 10 and a 10 out of 10. What does an abstract \u201cone better\u201d mean? Then it hit me: Who says our review scale is linear, with each number being equally spaced from the other? We\u2019re \u2018measuring\u2019 art with numbers, for Christ\u2019s sake; it\u2019s all a construction we\u2019ve collectively made up.\u201d<\/p>\n
In delivering his score, Calabro ultimately concluded that \u201cthe elements that separate an \u2018amazing’ film from a \u2018masterpiece\u2019 are minor. \u2026 There are so many little details, seemingly inconsequential touches \u2013 the filmmaker\u2019s style, if you will \u2013 that all add up bit by bit to turn this amazing movie into a masterpiece.\u201d But Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s politically charged and darkly funny saga of revolutionaries and fascists wasn\u2019t the only film to receive a perfect score from us in 2025. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\nEva Victor made a stunning directorial debut with Sorry, Baby. Carlos Aguilar called it a \u201cbittersweet, unassuming stunner,\u201d writing in IGN\u2019s review<\/u> that \u201cSorry, Baby pulls off astounding feats of storytelling. It\u2019s not only because it jumps across multiple time periods with powerful impact, but also because it addresses a challenging topic like the trauma of sexual assault with nuance, restraint, and even effective and consistent humor. Writer-director-star Eva Victor has made a movie that\u2019s at once approachable, incredibly perceptive, and subtly stirring.\u201d<\/p>\n
What are your picks for the best movies of 2025? Let us know in the comments below, vote in our poll, and be sure to <\/em>check out our various other best of awards for 2025 across film, TV, gaming, and comics<\/em>. We\u2019ll see you in 2026. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nRead Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The highest scores on IGN\u2019s review scale are 9 for \u201cAmazing\u201d and 10 for \u201cMasterpiece.\u201d This year, only sixteen films received the highest marks from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3345,725],"class_list":["post-22804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-movies","tag-reviewed","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}