This is the final set containing the five most recently released titles on my 25 favorite movies of the last 25 years list (presented in chronological order) that began in July.
This fifth installment contains mostly low-visibility releases from independent studios that concentrate on character development and the resiliency of the human (or sometimes animal) spirit.
‘Cabrini’ (2024)
The ninth and most impressive feature to date from Angel Studios, this biographical drama chronicling the life of Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini (Cristiana Dell’Anna) is epic in scope yet intimate in approach.
The follow-up to director Alejandro Monteverde’s equally uplifting “Sound of Freedom,” “Cabrini,” unlike its predecessor, received almost unanimous praise from both critics and audiences.
One point that the movie repeatedly makes clear is that Cabrini was a selfless humanitarian. She wasn’t a “social warrior” or firebrand. She wasn’t a religious zealot, and she wasn’t a politician. She was a devout Catholic, and her entire reason for being was saving and improving the lives of orphaned children.
Italian-born Cabrini became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1909. Almost four decades after her death in 1917, she became the first American to be canonized by Pope Pius XI. In 1950, the Vatican named her the patron saint of immigrants.
‘Flow’ (2024)
“Flow” is the second feature from Latvian visionary Gints Zalbalodis—the cowriter, cocomposer, coproducer, and director. It does things that no other animated feature has done since “Fantasia” and then some. It’s the perfect “show, don’t tell” movie.
There are no human characters included. The animals depicted are presented correctly in proportion and size. There is no catchy theme song. The animals don’t speak English or any other human language, and there is no narration.
‘Black Bag’ (2025)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp, “Black Bag” is a sleek and crackling spy thriller brimming with confident, understated style and precise, streamlined storytelling.
George (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) are married and both are employed by England’s National Cyber Security Centre. The movie opens with George receiving instructions from a superior to identify an inner agency mole selling intel to an enemy. There are five suspects, one of whom is Kathryn.
‘Train Dreams’ (2025)
Using the 2011 titular novella by Denis Johnson as a skeletal blueprint, director Clint Bentley’s hypnotic, visual tone poem is deceptively simple and emotionally overwhelming.
Set mostly in the Pacific Northwest in the early 20th century, Robert (Joel Edgerton) and Gladys (Felicity Jones) meet, fall in love, and have a child. As a logger, Robert is away from home for long stretches, which Gladys handles with resigned understanding.
The second half of the movie keeps the same spare tone, but with a distinctly different set of circumstances.
‘Hamnet’ (2025)
Based on the 2020 historical fiction novel of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell, director Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” hits a cinematic raw nerve. The first half focuses on the courtship and marriage of Agnes Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) and William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and the births of their three children.
The second portion portrays the family dealing with a devastating loss that initially appears insurmountable. Shakespeare historians will recognize that this event inspired “Hamlet,” his most recognized and performed work.
The movie’s crowning achievement comes in the final scenes, when Agnes and William rediscover what brought them together in the first place, allowing them to resume their lives. The movie has a limited theatrical release Nov. 26 with a wide theatrical release Dec. 5.
