螺旋压榨机对比其他压榨机的劣势有哪些 The Best Netflix Movies of 2025

Picture Credits: Netflix

While the 2025 Netflix Year may be dominated by legacy studio acquisition deals, popular tv series final seasons, & hearing “Golden” everywhere you go, their film studio continued their legacy of churning out award season contenders with critically acclaimed directors, big budget blowouts with massive stars, & returning franchises hoping to meet fans’ expectations.

124 Fictional Films – give or take – from around the globe were released from the streamer this year, so maybe (most likely) your forite film is not on this list. Several documentaries were some of the best films Netflix produced this year (The Perfect Neighbor, Cover-Up, to name a few), but they will not be included on this list as this is a fiction-only compilation. Also, to rip the band-aid off, KPop Demon Hunters is not on this list despite my undying love for “Golden”, “Soda Pop”, & many of the absolute bangers on that soundtrack. Be sure to tell me what you wanted to be here and why I’m wrong in the comments.

While you can check out all my weekly reviews here, let’s look at my list of the 5 Best Netflix Original Films of 2025.

Honorable mentions for 2025 include Steve, Nouvelle Vague, and Good News.

Read NextHow Cinematographer Steve Yedlin Shot Netflix’s Darkest Benoit Blanc Mystery ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’

5A House of Dynamite

Director: Kathryn Bigelow Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Gabriel Basso, Tracy Letts Rated: R

Picture Credit: Netflix

Let the controversy begin!

Despite being nominated for the top film prize out of Venice International Film Festival, Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller has been met with polarizing results from critics and audiences alike. Maligned by some for its structure, its more reserved political stance, & its inconclusive ending, A House of Dynamite may be left off many top lists at the end of the year and may be shut out of awards season almost altogether, but that doesn’t diminish the intensity & production quality of this well-crafted story full of detail, intellect, & strong messaging. This may not be the most decorated film of the year, it’s definitely one of the most important.

Written by former NBC News President and award-winning screenwriter Noah Oppenheim (Jackie, Zero Day), the story focuses on the U.S. government’s response to one of our worst fears as a nation: a single nuclear missile launched by an unidentified enemy. From its first identification at an Alaskan anti-ballistic missile site to the ultimate decision from a sitting U.S. President, viewers get a real-time department-by-department assessment & strategic breakdown of a country on the verge of disaster.

While today’s political climate, filled with divisive viewpoints & larger-than-life figures, may differ from the one depicted in Bigelow’s government reality, A House of Dynamite strips away most of the rhetoric to reveal something far worse: vulnerability in the face of total annihilation. Delivering a thorough, exceptionally detailed nightmare of a thriller, Bigelow & Oppenheim turn a procedural exercise into a riveting, panic-filled doomsday scenario that exposes our post-Cold War arms build-up & defense structure as nothing more than a coin flip tossed up by fallible bureaucrats who could never imagine this moment would happen. A ticking clock scenario with no Jack Bauer to se the day; just a hope and a prayer as we try to “hit a bullet with a bullet”.

Punctuated by handheld, documentary style cinematography from Bigelow’s Hurt Locker DP Barry Ackroyd, the film brings you face-to-petrified face with every decision, every failure, & every quiet realization that their world may be forever changed. The look and tone feel akin to Paul Greengrass’ political thrillers like United 93 and 22 July or journalism projects like Spotlight or The Newsroom; zooming in close when the emotions rise and staying back to observe the despair from afar, a buffet for such expressive actors with incredible range like Elba, Ferguson, & Jared Harris.

A House of Dynamite may not explode, but the fuse is lit; Bigelow gives an unflinching anxiety attack that asks more about how we got here than why it happened. You’ll be calling your loved ones by Act II.

4Train Dreams

Director: Clint Bentley Cast: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H. Macy, Kerry Condon Rated: PG-13

Picture Credit: Netflix

Acquired out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Train Dreams might be Netflix’s smallest contender for the biggest awards during this campaign season. With nominations coming from Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, Film Independent Spirits, & the Gothams, the film seems destined to he its tickets punched for Oscar Sunday.

Adapted from the beloved Denis Johnson novella by the Oscar nominated duo of writer/director Clint Bentley & co-writer Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing), Train Dreams is a beautifully haunting ode to the end of frontier life through the eyes of a man struggling with the isolation, loneliness, & remorse that the totality of his life’s decisions and rapid societal industrialization he rendered him.

Set in the Idaho panhandle during the turn of the 20th century, the story follows Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a logger & railroad worker by trade, who lives a quiet life of isolation, treling to large timber jobs all over the Pacific Northwest.

In his early 30s, he meets and marries Gladys (Rogue One’s Felicity Jones), an unabashed, straightforward, yet delightful woman who relishes in Robert’s quiet charm. They he a child together, but he’s often pulled away on months-long projects many miles away multiple times a year, sacrificing time with his family and pulling him down into loneliness once more. Even when he tries to connect with workers on the job, many of them fall victim to the circumstances of their dangerous job or their life and times catching up with them. Feeling cursed as life takes away the things he holds dear one by one over his many decades, Robert is forced to find the beauty in what remains, survive his guilt, and engage with a rapidly changing world barreling towards industrialization.

In a perfect casting choice as Robert, Joel Edgerton sells everything on his sullen, expressive, feature-laden face; the longing, the sadness, the listlessness, & the self-condemnation of a survivor withering in a new dawn. A man who comes alive in the presence of his newly formed family only to lee them over and over to provide for their livelihood, leing for a dangerous job that doesn’t fulfill him or give him the bonds or purpose he desperately seeks when he’s on his own. Was all that time away worth it for anyone involved? Was destroying nature corrupting his soul? Was he cursed for allowing his fellow workers to conduct racist acts of violence? The film is a culmination of Robert’s endurance of the punishing change in society as he never quite thrives for the advancement of others.

The pacing and beautiful cinematography make every bit of the 100-minute runtime count. Breathtaking views of the expansive forestry of the Pacific Northwest capture the beauty as well as the remoteness & solitude. It’s a film that thrives on atmosphere & contemplation as much as its real life fears and actions. The story also features such positive female characters in a time period that didn’t value them as much as they should. Felicity Jones as Robert’s wife Gladys & Kerry Condon (F1, The Banshees of Inisherin) as the fellow grief stricken widow Claire are given space to show their skill, vision, & ambition without giving in to societal pressure, despair, or a need for protection.

Train Dreams is one of the strongest Netflix films of the year; a methodical, haunting, & poetic examination of life, love, & grief at the end of frontier life into the 20th century.

3Frankenstein

Directed by Guillermo del Toro Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christophe Waltz, Mia Goth Rated: R

One of Netflix’s most frequent creative collaborators, Guillermo del Toro has already brought home an Oscar for the studio with his Best Animated Feature win in 2022 for his take on Pinocchio; But his latest take on a classic story, this year’s reimaging of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, may garner him the most nominations he’s had since his Best Picture winning film The Shape of Water several years ago.

From his time as an odd, hypochondriac child in Guadalajara, del Toro always had a soft spot and kinship with monstrous creatures or what he calls “the patron saints of imperfection”. No matter the hideous design or the ungodly creative methods, del Toro can always see the beauty & light within them, deserving of love & understanding like the rest of us.

In a way, del Toro has been making a version of a “Frankenstein” style story with several, if not all, of his films; which is why I had many cynical questions heading into this new project: “Don’t we all he a version of this story that we grew up on and already appreciate?” “What would make this one so special?” “Won’t this seem like a retread for his filmography?”

But, much like seeing GDT’s award-winning version of Pinocchio, you soon realize that del Toro’s passion for the source material, the core tenets of humanity’s response to those that are different or challenging, and his relationship to obsession & creation make him the best person to translate this material for modern audiences.

With James Whale’s 1931 Universal Monster classic giving us the iconic figures and Kenneth Branagh’s faithful yet flawed version following closest to the novel, Guillermo del Toro ge us what we didn’t know we needed: a definitive cinematic take on the classic story that combines the contemplations on what makes us human with del Toro’s unique brand of spirituality, romance, compassion, & ethics.

For a man with a Frankenstein room in his home, you would think he would be more reluctant to alter the work that he holds so dear. However, his script deviates quite a bit including inventing new characters (such as Christophe Waltz’s Harlander), changing the role of old characters (such as Mia Goth’s Elizabeth who is the fiancé of Victor’s brother and daughter of Hollander), & streamlining motivations that make for a more direct and relatable tale of legacy, obsession, paternal relationships, immortality, morality, and, ultimately, forgiveness in the face of cruelty. Some may say this removes a layer of subtext and goes too hard on the nose, but, for me, I believe it to be more a benefit to pace & narrative consistency that makes the film more engaging.

While the script alterations are a positive, the best features of Frankenstein lie in its casting & production design.

Guillermo del Toro has an eye for eyes and expressive faces that evoke a feeling all their own, like a silent-film-era star. Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water, Selma Blair in Hellboy, Ivana Baquero in Pan’s Labyrinth; a buffet of eccentric features that give heartbreak, pain, & innocence before they read a line. In Oscar Isaac, he saw “brilliance, madness, seduction, (and) pain”. In Elordi, “an innocence, an openness, and a purity”. And of course, Mia Goth is cast out of a gothic romance catalog for her tortured beauty; a combination of sadness & longing mixed with her porcelain doll features.

As for the production design, GDT spares no expense when he wants to render a vision he’s had in his sketchbooks for decades. The exceptional detail on the set design of the laboratory/castle & ship captain’s quarters is meticulously well-crafted & painstakingly thought out. The mania of the stormy night of the creature’s birth & the castle’s later destruction are buoyed by the foundation of the layout.

Mary Shelley’s novel has a youthful rage at a world she doesn’t understand or want to understand, a world that silos people into their proper place and casts aside anything that challenges their societal norms. No one understands that more than del Toro and, while his script does not go beat for beat with Shelley’s work, he has created a vision of her feelings for modern audiences. Every bit of his admiration and obsessions filter through her lens, creating something beautiful in a time of oppression & fear. While it may be on the nose, del Toro is the only person who could he done this familiar story justice in our modern age.

2Left-Handed Girl

Directed by Shih-Ching Tsou Cast: Janel Tsai, Shih-Yuan Ma, Nina Ye Rated: R

From its grand prize nomination during Critics’ Week at Cannes over the summer to its most recent nods at Critics Choice & the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature, Shih-Ching Tsou’s personal Taiwanese tale Left-Handed Girl has been well celebrated in 2025 and for good reason.

Shot entirely on iPhone, Left-Handed Girl gives an intimate & immersive perspective of a vibrant city, a slowly evolving culture, and a family struggling to balance between them. The story follows a single mother Shu-Fen and her two daughters, I-Jing & I-Ann, as they attempt to restart their lives as they relocate to Taipei and open a noodle stall at the buzzing night market. Returning to the city after several years in the countryside, the family strives to adapt to the challenges of their new environment and stay unified. But when their traditional grandfather forbids the youngest of Shu-Fen’s children to use her dominant left hand, or as he deems it “the devil’s hand”, generations of family secrets start to unrel.

The film is a love letter to Tsou’s former home, but also a shot across the bow to the environment that raised her. Researched, cultivated, & crafted with care, Tsou takes her experience in working with Sean Baker, telling stories about small communities and integrating their everyday lives into the fabric of their screenplays, & weing it into the reflections of her youth to make something wholly her own; creating characters that are not only a reflection of her own battles, but those that still persist today after decades away. All of the wrong-footed stigmas against unwed women, all of the harm caused by outdated thinking, all of the patriarchal traditions that lee women who operate without them behind – this story rejects them all in a beautifully intimate portrait of survival.

Tsou is a true artist working at an almost documentary level of cultural accuracy and detail. Left-Handed Girl feels lived-in and shot intimately because this seems to be the only way she and co-writer Sean Baker believe to do it right; right to the artist, their subjects, and their worlds.

1Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Directed by Rian Johnson Cast: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin Rated: PG-13

Picture Credit: Netflix

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won 2nd place for the People’s Choice Award, and most recently being named one of the best films of the year by the National Board of Review, Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out franchise installment Wake Up Dead Man proves once again that its curious and thoughtful creator continues to make undeniably entertaining & consistent whodunnits with casts of stars lining up to work with him.

Inspired by the works of John Dickson Carr, Edgar Allan Poe, & of course Agatha Christie, the story focuses on a locked-door mystery of biblical proportion: at an Upstate New York parish, an intensely conservative and volatile religious figure, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), and a young, passionate priest overcoming a violent past, Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), sent to assist him becoming increasingly more at odds as it becomes clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly inconceivable murder occurs, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Black Swan’s Mila Kunis) to join forces with Benoit Blanc to unrel a mystery that defies all logic.

With some tinges of gothic horror and a fire & brimstone level performance by Brolin at the center of the story, Wake Up Dead Man has the veneer of a darker, more intense meditation on the current state of cult like figures raking our culture over the coals to weed out the weak in for of the true believers, but, in practice, the film falls into Johnson’s comfortable register, a family drama filled with corrupt figures angling for more wealth and power; only this time, the change in tone and tenor follow the lead of Benoit Blanc himself. Johnson gives Craig his meatiest version of the excitable, charismatic detective yet, attempting to capture a bit of Brolin’s thunder with a more theatrical & more comedic execution than we’ve seen in the past. Pulling back the curtain on process and dancing in the details, Craig’s version of Blanc in this film seems to delight in the tragedy while he lets the motley crew hang themselves one by one. This “cheshire cat” creation may just be my forite version of Blanc to date.

As with every Knives Out film, the cast is impressively deep, well beyond Craig as ringmaster, with an unreal list of stars ranging from those on the precipice of stardom like Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Mastermind) to the dominating veteran presence of a Josh Brolin (Weapons, Dune, Thanos!) or Glenn Close (we’ll get you that Oscar you deserve real soon!). While O’Connor & Close he been mentioned as possible Awards season hopefuls in their respective acting categories, Josh Brolin OWNS this movie for incredibly long stretches, holding court as the matriarch, the asshole, the chaos agent, and the false prophet all in one. His scenes with Josh O’Connor in the early stages of their relationship set the tone for the level of big laughs and playfulness that we were in store for despite the sincere examination of what faith looks like in the modern age on full display.

Named for a U2 song that asks if there’s “an order in all this disorder”, my forite Netflix film of the year delivers a sermon of faith, fanaticism, & fun that guides its audience away from the dark with more humor & hijinks than past films of the franchise. Let us pray that Johnson isn’t done with these films just yet.