Our year in cinema. Catch up on the ones that got away. Review your favourites. Check out the most critically-acclaimed films of 2025, and take a chance on one or two smaller films that didn’t get the hype but we’re convinced will stand the test of time.
3-Ticket Pack: $42
This year’s Best of series includes a couple of box office blockbusters, several films tipped for success at the Academy Awards, two quirky comedies from Canada, the big prize winners from Venice and Cannes, two debuts from women directors, and VIFF’s opening night film… It’s 12 months of moviegoing all wrapped up for the holidays.
Sinners
This year's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.
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One Battle After Another
PT Anderson's breathless satire is the best political action movie of the year, a defiantly anti-MAGA rallying cry featuring a six pack of crackerjack performances. They'll still be talking about this one 50 years from now.
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Endless Cookie
The less you know about Endless Cookie beforehand, the better you will be prepared. Seriously.
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Universal Language
This distinctly odd Canadian movie is a delightful deadpan comedy about the kindness of strangers, and as such a profound film about what constitutes home in a globalized age.
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Nouvelle Vague
Linklater's love letter to Paris, 1959, and the difficult birth of Jean-Luc Godard's first feature, Breathless, channels the auteur's blithe self confidence and an era of all-encompassing cinephilia. It's the next best thing to being there.
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There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
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Sorry, Baby
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Writer-director-star Eva Victor has made a funny, engaging, honest and ultimately upbeat American indie about living through trauma.
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