Mickey 17 (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
With the dull and hot days of summer, you may want to find your way into a nice, air-conditioned multiplex or your own living room’s fan to catch up on some good films before the deluge from fall festivals and possible Oscar baits.
Here are the top ten performances of the first eight months of the year and where to watch them (in theater or streaming):
Robert Pattinson
Mickey 17 (HBO Max)
After the initial disappointment of Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up as not being as perfect as his Oscar-winning Parasite, Mickey 17 turns out to be a fun sci-fi comedy with go-for-broke performances by Robert Pattinson as Mickeys 1-18 (especially, carefree, possibly bisexual 18). Yes, the voice was a choice, but the more I think of Pattinson’s performance, the more I believe he knows exactly what director Bong wanted.
The Wedding Banquet (c) Bleecker Street
Youn Yuh-jung
The Wedding Banquet (Paramount+)
Even with a wonderful diverse cast including Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Lily Gladstone and Joan Chen, it is Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung (for Minari) as the head of a Korean corporation who comes to America to visit her wayward grandson after he announces his intention to marry an American girl that gives this updated version of Ang Lee’s 1993 original its heart. Newly reconceived by original co-screenwriter James Schamus for director Andrew Ahn, this Wedding Banquet is a sweet and funny update for the new millennium.
Sorry, Baby (c) A24
Lucas Hedges
Sorry, Baby (in Cinemas)
Director and actor Eva Victor’s wonderful indie dramatic comedy Sorry, Baby is about the popular topic of trauma as their character Agnes’ story is told out of order but always touching on an event that changes Agnes’ life in small and big ways. And as great as Victor and Naomi Ackie are as best friends, it’s the honest performance by Lucas Hedges as Agnes’ neighbor, Gavin, that produces the funniest and most touching scene (in a bathroom) and gives the film’s perspective of what non-toxic masculinity looks like.
Tracey Ullman
The Actor (Hulu/Disney+)
Director Duke Johnson’s experimental drama The Actor is about a 1950s theater actor who loses his memory in an Ohio town he’s touring in, and like Guy Pierce’s character in Memento, André Holland’s Paul Cole doesn’t retain his short-term memory for long, so he needs to figure out why he feels compelled to be back in New York by Christmas. Every other character is played by a troupe of veteran British actors like Toby Jones and Simon McBurney, but it’s Tracey Ullman as Cole’s landlady, Cole’s agent and a random housewife who really stands out.
The Phoenician Scheme (c) Focus Features
Riz Ahmed
The Phoenician Scheme (Peacock)
There are always many cameos in any Wes Anderson films, and they fall either in the “blink and you miss it” category or “I wish they were in the movie more.” Riz Ahmed falls in the latter for The Phoenician Scheme, in which he plays Prince Farouk of titled Phoenicia, his first Anderson feature film appearance. Very close behind as the film’s MVP is Michael Cera, another Anderson newbie (surprisingly), who has a bigger part, but the minute Ahmed gets a basketball in his hands, the giggling never stops.
Warfare (c) A24
Charles Melton
Warfare (Rentable)
One of the oddest aspects of Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland’s Warfare, a film about a real-life American Navy SEALS team’s mission during the Iraqi War, is that the majority of actors on this team are British. But when a second team of SEALS are introduced, they are led by a lieutenant played by American Charles Melton, who makes such a strong impression from minute one. Melton, who was so good in last year’s May December, totally erases any remnants of his beginning as Reggie on TV’s Riverdale.
Black Bag (c) Focus Features
Cate Blanchett
Black Bag (Peacock)
One of director Steven Soderbergh’s more enjoyable recent films is his second project of the year, Black Bag, about a group of British government intelligence coworkers, one of whom is a traitor. Cate Blanchett, of course, is the most elegant and sophisticated of the suspects, and her Kathryn rides the fine line between being obviously innocent and just suspicious enough. This role epitomizes Blanchett as a fashion and style icon.
The Ballad of Wallis Island (c) Universal Pictures
Tim Key
The Ballad of Wallis Island (Peacock)
It’s hard to make a potentially creepy character like Charles Heath into a lovable one, but the actor Tim Key who plays him in the charming The Ballad of Wallis Island is also one of the screenwriters, so he knows what he’s doing. Charles is the odd and eccentric Wallis Island inhabitant who invites his favorite folk band to play a concert on the beach for him. He doesn’t seem to have any opinion filter or social interaction awareness, but when his backstory finally gets told, Key gives Charles a dignity that makes the film an unexpected weeper.
Thunderbolts* (c) Walt Disney Studios
Florence Pugh
Thunderbolts* (Disney TV+)
A lot has been made about this summer’s superhero movies (Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps) and how well cast they are, but the best acted hero of 2025 still has to go to Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, the latest Black Widow in the MCU, who seems to be going through an emotional crisis while fighting the bad guys. Her scene with the always good David Harbour on the streets of Manhattan is a highlight of the film.
The Friend (c) Focus Features
Bill Murray
The Friend (Rentable)
Not unlike his nuanced and touching role as editor Arthur Howitzer Jr. in Wes Anderson’s 2021 film The French Dispatch, Bill Murray plays another memorable character who is dead but being remembered by the living. In The Friend, Murray plays Walter, a writer who dies suddenly, whose grieving friend, played by Naomi Watts (also very good), is told by Walter’s widow that he wanted her to adopt his dog, Apollo. Murray and Watts have a great scene late in the movie, with Murray tapping into some acting chops missing in many of his late films.
Honorable Mentions:
Superman (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Apollo
The Friend (Rentable)
Krypto, the Superdog
Superman (in Cinemas)
Speaking of The Friend, man’s best friend is a major point in that film as well as many others in 2025. Whether played by a real dog (Bing plays the Great Dane, Apollo, in The Friend) or computer generated (Krypto the Superdog, in the latest Superman, is based on director James Gunn’s own rescue dog, Ozu, these dogs have made a big impression. Who’s a good dog? They are.
Bonus:
Kiss of the Spider Woman (c) Lionsgate
Jennifer Lopez
Kiss of the Spider Woman (in Cinemas on October 10)
I was able to see one of the most anticipated movies of the fall season early, and I can confirm that Jennifer Lopez has a good chance at getting her first Oscar nomination after barely missing out for Hustlers in 2019. After singing for the first time on the big screen in 2022’s Marry Me, JLo has now parlayed her status as a pop star singer in her first movie musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman, an adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was based on a novel and a 1985 film that won William Hurt an Oscar. She plays a gay icon female movie singer who comes to life on screen as an Argentinian prisoner narrates the film’s plot to another. Her energy and star power are infectious and stand out in Bill Condon’s latest film.
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