David Davidson
1. Nirvanna: The Band – the Show – the Movie (Matt Johnson)
2. Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze)
3. Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron)
4. Marysville, Tenth Line (Andrew Stanley)
5. 100 Sunset (Kunsang Kyirong)
6. Palestine 36 (Annemarie Jacir)
7. The Fence (Claire Denis)
8. Eephus (Carson Lund)
9. Miroirs No. 3 (Christian Petzold)
10. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
Honourable mentions: Luc Moullet retrospective at TIFF, Fortescue (Rebeccah Love) theatrical run at the Carlon Cinema, Cherub (Devin Shears), Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (Quentin Tarantino), Junkie Run (Kire Paputts), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho), Northened (Una Di Gallo), The Chair Company (Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin), Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie), Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater).
Candice Davidson
- Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron)
- Heated Rivalry (Jacob Tierney)
- Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (Quentin Tarantino)
- Wicked: For Good (Jon M. Chu)
- Weapons (Zach Cregger)
- Jurassic World Rebirth (Gareth Edwards)
- Elio (Adrian Molina, Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian)
- It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
- Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
- Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)
Nicolas Rioult
- The Strangers - Chapter 2 (Renny Harlin)
- The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
- A Perfect unknown (James Mangold)
- Red Sonja (MJ Bassett)
- Materialists (Celine Song)
- Hot Milk (Rebecca Lenkiewicz)
- Final Destination 6 (Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein)
- Le Rendez-vous de l’été (Valentine Cadic)
- In the lost lands (Paul W.S. Anderson)
- Prima la vita (Francesca Comencini)
- Ni Dieux ni Maitres (Eric Cherrière)
- Le 5e plan de La Jetée (Dominique Cabrera)
- Eephus (Carson Lund)
- Hurry up tomorrow (Trey Edward Shults)
- Papamobile (Sylvain Estibal)
- Woman in the Yard (Jaume Collet-Serra)
Two sex scenes: Together (Michael Shanks) and O Riso e a Faca (Pedro Pinho).
Gilles Lyon-Caen
- Aimer perdre (Lenny et Harpo Guit)
- Reflets dans un diamant mort (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)
- Black Dog (Guan Hu)
- One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
- Château rouge (Hélène Milano)
- Mektoub my love : Canto due (Abdellatif Kechiche)
- La Pampa (Antoine Chevrollier)
- Substitution Bring her back (Danny et Michael Philippou)
- Que ma volonté soit faite (Julia Kowalski)
- Sirāt (Oliver Laxe)
- Des preuves d’amour (Alice Douard)
- La petite dernière (Hafsia Herzi)
- Yes (Nadav Lapid)
- A real pain (Jesse Eisenberg
- Les feux sauvages (Jia Zhangke)
Paolo Kagaoan
- Severance: Woe’s Hollow (Ben Stiller)
- The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben-Hania)
- Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
- Abbott Elementary: Audit (Jaime Eliezer Karas)
- Put Your Soul In Your Hand And Walk (Sepideh Farsi)
- Canada’s Drag Race: Reading Battles are Back Back Back Again (Shelagh O’Brien)
- One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
- Drag Race All Stars: Eight Ball (Nick Murray)
- The Alabama Solution (Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman)
- Train Dreams (Clint Bentley)
- Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
- My Mom Jayne (Mariska Hargitay)
Throwback of the Year: No Other Land (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Yuval Abraham)
Will Sloan
Ten Great Moviegoing Experiences in the City of Toronto in the Year 2025:
February 5, Innis College: I’m always happy to see Herschell Gordon Lewis’s The Wizard of Gore in any context, but I was ecstatic to see it followed by a Q&A with the Wizard himself, Ray Sager, who it turns out lives in Toronto and has worked for years in the Canadian film industry (host/moderator Burak Batu Tunçel found him on linkedin).
March 23, Paradise Theatre: Local premiere of one of my 2025 faves, Eephus, hosted by Bleeding Edge and with filmmakers Carson Lund and Nate Fisher in attendance.
April 8, Fox Theatre: Am I allowed to include my own screening series, Important Cinema Club Masterpiece Classics? Watching the Ramsay Brothers’ Bollywood horror classic Veerana (1988) in a theatre was like being assaulted by fun for two-and-a-half hours.
May 10, TIFF Lightbox: Bicycle Thieves (1948). Hadn’t seen this one in a while. Turns out it’s good! This screening was followed by a Q&A with beloved Killer of Sheep director Charles Burnett, who, when asked why he selected this film, said that he once had his own bicycle stolen.
August 4, The Revue: Charles Pinion’s DIY splatter-punk classic Twisted Issues (2025), hosted by Josh and Jamie of Sleazoids Podcast, and with Pinion himself in attendance. Experience enhanced by the fact that Mr. Pinion stayed in my guest room during his visit.
September 3, The Royal: Matt Farley and Charlie Roxburgh’s Evil Puddle (2025), presented by Peter Kuplowsky as part of his annual pre-TIFF “Midnight Dankness” event. Always great to see a Farley/Roxburgh film with a crowd and share that collective feeling of “Wait... do I actually care about these characters?” Also nice to hear laughter and applause when Farley (the other filmmaker who has stayed in my guest room) once again said his real phone number.
September 6, Roy Thomson Hall: TIFF screening of the 50th anniversary restoration of the quintessential Bollywood film, Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay (1975), with Mr. Sippy in attendance, and with a 90% Indian diasporic audience who cheered famous moments and chanted iconic lines.
September 12, Paradise Theatre: Am I allowed to include my own Toronto book launch? Thanks to Weird Alice and Drag Me To The Movies for putting on such a great screening of Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda with me.
October 2, Innis Town Hall: Six films by Canadian experimental-film pioneer Arthur Lipsett. When watching a midcentury experimental film, I always want to hear the whir of a 16mm projector. This was also the launch for beloved local avant-garde scholar Stephen Broomer’s essential Lipsett book Secret Museums.
November 23, TIFF Lightbox: The whole Luc Moullet retrospective was wonderful (not least the screening of Les Sieges de l’Alcazar that I got to introduce), but let’s highlight the showing of little-seen Parpaillon introduced by beloved Toronto Film Review editor David Davidson.
Marcus Pinn
1. Timestalker (Alice Lowe)
2. Train Dreams (Clint Bentley)
3. The smashing machine (Benny Safdie)
4. Nevermore: The Raven Effect (Geordie Day)
5. Lurker (Alex Russell)
6. Where to land (Hal Hartley)
7. Vulcanizadora (Joel Potrykus)
8. Rats! (Maxwell Nalevansky, Carl Fry)
9. Slugs (Connor O’Malley)
10. Eddington (Ari Aster)
Honorable Mention: Sinners (Ryan Coogler), Sisu Road To Revenge (Jalmari Helander), The Accountant 2 (Gavin O’Connor), Friendship (Andrew Deyoung), Thunderbolts (Jake Schreier).
Daniel Tripp
- Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
- Predator: Badlands (Dan Trachtenberg)
- Possum (Matthew Holness)
Michael Sooriyakumaran
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. FELT (Blake Williams)
3. Cairo Streets (Abdellah Taïa)
4. CONFERENCE (Björn Kämmerer)
5. Copper (Nicolás Pereda)
6. Nouvelle vague (Richard Linklater)
7. Ella McCay (James L. Brooks)
Ryan Krahn
1. Magellan (Lav Diaz)
2. Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari)
3. Sirāt (Oliver Laxe)
4. Duse (Pietro Marcello)
5. Everything Seemed Possible (Ramón Rivera Moret)
6. The Ice Tower (Lucile Hadžihalilović)
7. Miroirs No. 3 (Christian Petzold)
8. Fiume o Morte! (Igor Bezinović)
9. Bouchra (Orlan Barki, Meriem Bennani)
10. Book of Eternalisms 39 (Ken Jacobs)
Neil Bahadur
1. Magellan (Lav Diaz)
2. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsey)
3. Gangsterism (Isiah Medina)
4. Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron)
5. Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra)
6. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
7. Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari)
8. Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
9. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie)
10. The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie)
*2024 fest films that got distribution in 2025 and would be at the top of this list: Caught By The Tides by Jia Zhangke (#1 in 2024), The Shrouds by David Cronenberg (#3 in 2024).
