Music N' Other Drugs

There’s a moment in Ari Aster’s COVID-19 satire “Eddington” where Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) looks out at the cesspool his town has become and wonders aloud “How Did We Get Here?” Given how deeply my own personal and professional lives have descended into despair in 2025, I felt his bewilderment in my bones.

How did I get here?

One minute I was feeling as optimistic as a 37-year-old father of three could feel given the responsibility such things carry and the next I was left wondering how a relationship to which I had dedicated the last 14 years of my life could be reduced to a few good times. All I can picture is that scene in “Talk Radio” where Eric Bogosian screams “You Reap What You Sow” while Ellen Greene runs out of his studio crying, because maybe that’s exactly how I got here.

Maybe I took certain things for granted and God decided to humble me in painful yet necessary fashion. Maybe I put my faith in something that wasn’t really built for the long haul. Maybe I loved someone so much that I was willing to soldier through scenarios that would have undone lesser couples long ago.

I don’t know.

I do know that I’ve joked about changing the name of this site to Fear and Self-Loathing in Lockport on more than one occasion despite knowing how much I’ve invested into making this space what it is. I’ve also considered shutting it down entirely, but, as I’ve written before, something inside of me won’t allow for that to happen.

So, for better or worse, you’re stuck with me for another year as I try to figure out what my reality is going to be moving forward.

While I opened this piece with a line from one of 2025’s finest films, it’s actually a line from one of 2007’s finest films (look it up) that has defined the past 12 months for me:

Wendell: “It’s a mess, ain’t it Sheriff?”

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: “If it ain’t, it’ll do till the mess gets here.”

I used to approach this list as a way to wrap up the year with gusto, but now I’m using it as a tool on my path to reinvention. I didn’t just watch these films. I consumed them as a way to take my mind off the pride-swallowing siege that my life has become.

Is it still worth it?

I’m probably the only one who still believes that it is, but I haven’t spent the last 20 years as a writer worrying about how things are received and I’m not going to start now.

As I’ve done every year since 1997, I’ve chosen 10 films in no particular order followed by five honorable mentions.

Enjoy.

“Sinners” – Directed by Ryan Coogler

“Highest 2 Lowest” – Directed by Spike Lee

“The Long Walk” – Directed by Francis Lawrence

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” – Directed by Scott Cooper

“Jay Kelly” – Directed by Noah Baumbach

“Zootopia 2” – Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

“Eddington” – Directed by Ari Aster

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” – Directed by Mary Bronstein

“Marty Supreme” – Directed by Josh Safdie

“Is This Thing On?” – Directed by Bradley Cooper

Honorable Mentions – “Thunderbolts,” “Song Sung Blue,” “John Candy: I Like Me,” “Weapons,” and “Bring Her Back”

Cooper’s List

“Karate Kid Legends” – Directed by Jonathan Entwhistle

“Thunderbolts” – Directed by Jake Schreier

“A Minecraft Movie” – Directed by Jared Hess

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” – Directed by Scott Cooper

“The Fantastic 4: First Steps” – Directed by Matt Shakman

“Wicked: For Good” – Directed by Jon M. Chu

“John Candy: I Like Me” – Directed by Colin Hanks

“Ozzy: No Escape From Now” – Directed by Tania Alexander

“Zootopia 2” – Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

“Superman” – Directed by James Gunn

2024 – “The Substance,” “His Three Daughters,” “Anora,” “Babes,” “Inside Out 2,” “Small Things Like These,” “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal,” “Conclave,” “Hard Truths,” and “Challengers”

2023 – “Poor Things,” “The Killer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?,” “May December,” “Eileen,” “Maestro,” “A Thousand and One,” “Oppenheimer,” and “The Holdovers”

2022 – “Tár,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Woman King,” “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Turning Red,” “Emily the Criminal,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “The Fabelmans,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and “Nothing Compares”

2021 – “Mass,” “The Power of the Dog,” “The Beatles: Get Back,” “Passing,” “The Harder They Fall,” “King Richard,” “Summer of Soul,” “Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” “The Lost Daughter,” and “Cruella”

2020 – “Sound of Metal,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Small Axe,” “Palm Springs,” “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” “On the Rocks,” “His House,” “Mank,” and “Sylvie’s Love”

2019 – “Parasite,” “Marriage Story,” “Pain and Glory,” “The Irishman,” “Amazing Grace,” Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Us,” “Dolemite is My Name,” “Knives Out,” and “Blinded By the Light”

2018 – “If Beale Street Could Talk, “Sorry to Bother You,” “Widows,” “Blackkklansman,” “Private Life,” “The Hate U Give,” “Roma,” “A Star is Born,” “Game Night,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”

2017 – “Get Out,” “mother!,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Long Time Running,” “Okja,” “The Big Sick,” “Raw,” “Girls Trip,” “Mudbound,” and “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)”

2016 – “OJ: Made in America,” “Nocturnal Animals,” “Loving,” “Fences,” “Arrival,” “Sing Street,” “Zootopia,” “Don’t Breathe,” “Deadpool,” and “Eye in the Sky”

2015 – “Room,” “Love and Mercy,” “Creed,” “Amy,” “Beasts of No Nation,” “Inside Out,” “The End of the Tour,” “The Martian,” “Straight Outta Compton,” and “The Clouds of Sils Maria”

2014 – “Boyhood,” “Birdman,” “Foxcatcher,” “Nightcrawler,” “Life Itself,” “The Babadook,” “Ida,” “Interstellar,” “Under the Skin,” and “Bad Words”

2013 – “Gravity,” “12 Years a Slave,” “American Hustle,” “The Place Beyond the Pines,” “Blackfish,” “Spring Breakers,” “Prisoners,” “Captain Phillips,” “Side Effects,” and “This is the End”

2012 – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Master,” “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Flight,” “Life of Pi,” “Argo,” “Django Unchained,” “Take This Waltz,” and “The Grey”

2011 – “The Tree of Life,” “Drive,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “A Separation,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Trip,” “13 Assassins,” “Bridesmaids,” “Moneyball,” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

2010 – “Black Swan,” “Dogtooth,” “A Prophet,” “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” “Fish Tank,” “The Social Network,” “Toy Story 3,” “The Fighter,” “Catfish,” and “Somewhere”

2009 – “A Serious Man,” “Up in the Air,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Summer Hours,” “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” “District 9,” “An Education,” “The Messenger,” “Inglourious Basterds,” and “Antichrist”

2008 – “The Dark Knight,” “The Wrestler,” “Revolutionary Road,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “In Bruges,” “Rachel Getting Married,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Man on Wire,” and “Slumdog Millionaire”

2007 – “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “I’m Not There,” “There Will Be Blood,” “No Country For Old Men,” “Into the Wild,” “Zodiac,” “Eastern Promises,” “Knocked Up,” “Grindhouse,” and “The Bourne Ultimatum”

2006 – “The Departed,” “United 93,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Borat,” “Casino Royale,” “Blood Diamond,” “Half Nelson,” “The Descent,” “Hard Candy,” and “Flags of Our Fathers”

2005 – “Munich,” “A History of Violence,” “Capote,” “War of the Worlds,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Syriana,” “The Aristocrats,” “Grizzly Man,” “Cinderella Man,” and “Match Point”

2004 – “Sideways,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Aviator,” “Kinsey,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” “Ray,” “Collateral,” and “The Machinist”

2003 – “American Splendor,” “Mystic River,” “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” “Lost in Translation,” “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King,” “The Last Samurai,” “Monster,” “Oldboy,” and “Dogville”

2002 – “Minority Report,” “25th Hour,” “Gangs of New York,” “Road to Perdition,” “City of God,” “Adaptation,” “Signs,” “Unfaithful,” “About Schmidt,” and “One Hour Photo”

2001 – “Mulholland Drive,” “In the Bedroom,” “The Pledge,” “Shrek,” “Shallow Hal,” “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Ali,” “The Others,” “Training Day,” and “Ghost World”

2000 – “Almost Famous,” “High Fidelity,” “Traffic,” “Memento,” “Requiem For a Dream,” “American Psycho,” “Cast Away,” “You Can Count On Me,” “The Cell,” and “Amores Perros”

1999 – “Fight Club,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “Magnolia,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “The Insider,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “Summer of Sam,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and “The Sixth Sense”

1998 – “Saving Private Ryan,” “American History X,” “The Thin Red Line,” “The Truman Show,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Out of Sight,” “Pleasantville,” “Pi,” “He Got Game,” and “There’s Something About Mary”

1997 – “Boogie Nights,” “Jackie Brown,” “The Game,” “Titanic,” “The Ice Storm,” “L.A. Confidential,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Lost Highway,” “Cop Land,” and “Eve’s Bayou”