Best of 2025

Russell Queen

19 Jan 2026 — 1 min read

Reflections in a Dead Diamond

A bit late, my list of top 10 films of the year with a few other random "awards."

Top 10 (no order)

Bugonia
The Secret Agent
One Battle After Another
No Other Choice
Reflection in a Dead Diamond
Marty Supreme
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
The Ice Tower
The Mastermind
Sirat

Best Actor: Rose Byrne
Best Auteur: Richard Linklater (he cooked twice!)
Best Casting: The Secret Agent, Nouvelle Vague, Marty Supreme
Guilty Pleasure: Song Sung Blue
Best Debut: Sorry, Baby
Best Needle Drops: The Secret Agent, Peter Hujar's Diary
Best Chemistry: Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, Roofman
Overrated: Nosferatu
Underrated: Eddington

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Sam Raimi has been a brand name since he burst (splattered?) onto the scene with the magnificent, micro-budgeted The Evil Dead in 1981. He executed the tried and true Hollywood career strategy, still very much valid today, of strutting your stuff in low-budget horror as an entree to bigger things.

TCM Look-Ahead (Feb. 13)

The dreaded 31 days of Oscar has begun on TCM, so lots of official classics that are either not great or don't need my recommendation. There are a few exceptions, below.... Tuesday, 02/17 06:30 a.m. PST The Desert Song. Dunes and Tunes! Utterly ridiculous musical

Pantheon Directors

Read Introduction These are the directors who have transcended their technical problems with a personal vision of the world. To speak any of their names is to evoke a self-contained world with its own laws and landscapes. They were also fortunate enough to find the proper conditions and collaborators for

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It's a huge week on TCM, including Pre-Code Lubitsch, Michael Schultz and Chuck Heston in a Safari jacket and Ford Galaxie! Friday, 02/06/26 08:30 p.m. PST Man in the Wilderness, directed by Richard C. Sarafian If, like me, you enjoy movies about survival against

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TCM Look-Ahead (Feb. 13)

Pantheon Directors

TCM Look-Ahead (Feb. 6)