Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2025
#2. Sinners

Before Ryan Coogler’s Sinners came out last spring, I read a review with the writer/director in which he called it his most personal film yet. That seemed odd given that it appeared to be a straight-up vampire genre movie.

He explained that his debut, 2013’s Fruitvale Station, was documenting the true story of a young man killed by a police officer, so it was ultimately that man’s story and not his own. Creed was an offshoot of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky. And the Black Panther films were part of the Marvel machine. This one came entirely from him.

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