The New York Times movie critic Alissa Wilkinson ranked the top films of 2025. She joins CBS News 24/7 to review this year's list.

Film critic Alissa Wilkinson has ranked "One Battle After Another," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as the top film of 2025, followed by the Iranian film "It Was Just an Accident," the documentary "My Undesirable Friends Part One," "Marty Supreme" with Timothée Chalamet, and "The Testament of Ann Lee" starring Amanda Seyfried. Wilkinson's list also features several foreign, documentary, and independent films, emphasizing the popularity of original stories over reboots and remakes.

Despite a strong year for movies, Wilkinson notes ongoing challenges in the industry, including financial struggles, lingering effects from strikes and COVID-19, and concerns about the impact of AI. However, she highlights a positive trend: younger generations are increasingly attending movie theaters, even for classic films, signaling hope for the future of cinema.

Reviewing top movies of 2025 with film critic Alissa Wilkinson

I'm not sure which movies to see before award season don't worry, we've got you covered the New York Times movie critic Alyssa Wilkinson ranks one battle after another starting Leonardo DiCaprio as the top film of 2025 that's followed by Iranian movie it was just an accident and documentary my undesirable friends part one. Marty Supreme with Timothy Chalamet and the testament of and Lee starring Amanda Seyfried around out the top 5 several other films on the list include sinners and Paramount's predators. Paramount is the parent company of CBS News New York Times movie critic Alyssa Wilkinson joins me now in studio 57. So let's say it's good to see you it's fun to talk about movies with you let's first talk about one battle after another what did you love about this. I think that you know it kind of has something for everybody it's an action film, it's funny it's a drama, it's about parents and children and it's also about this general generational handoff of you know idealism from one generation to the next everybody fights their own battles, but it's really like children need to fight the next battle for their parents fascinating okay, we mentioned several foreign films documentaries independent movies those are all on your list. What does it say that maybe these were better than some of the ones that traditional studios were putting out I think that you know the studio films on our list are the ones that are original they have original stories and a lot of times I think what we see in studio films is a lot of reboots and remakes what people really love our original stories and that's often what ends up on top 10 list at the end of the year because they're the most exciting movies to go watch. Your co-author writes that while it was a good year for movies, it was a quote another horrible hair on fire year for the industry, it's elaborate I mean we can see in mergers and acquisitions we can see in how movie theaters are struggling people in the business are struggling of course to make a living they're still residual effects from the strikes from covid all of these things and I think that a lot of people are worried about the future of the business. I of course is posing a threat as well. But what we do know is that young people especially really actually like going to the movie theater and that's hopeful so if we can think about what the future of movie going looks like I think that there is hope on the horizon. It just really depends on people being willing to think outside the box and think about what could movie going mean and really look at what the great movies of the year teach us what are you hearing from the younger generations who are looking to make it sort of that appointment thing, I mean I remember waiting at you know the midnight showing and dressing up with my friends and you know it was it was a thing and now it just feels like you stream. Yeah, well, there's a real movement among younger people right from teenagers who maybe came of age during covid college students. They love going to movie theaters when I try to go to the movies in New York often I find that they're sold out and these are old movies that are sold out in fact we find that repertory theaters, the age range has gone from 55 and above to 19 to 25 we sometimes call that the letterboxd effect so we're just finding that people are really interested in seeing those old movies that they can't get on streaming services. So that's very exciting for people like me, but it's also very exciting for people who really care about cinema history and who are interested in seeing those movies that they can't see otherwise fascinating unless you're trying to buy a ticket and I'm willing to not get that ticket. So it's a thank you so much of course.

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