Best New Movies, a list by Linas Purinis

5.8

/1230/

46

/11/

100

/1/

2.8

/1299/

48

/31/

78

/20/

66

/8/

2.5

A successful black businessman, haunted by his crumbling marriage and identity crisis, is drawn into a psychological game of cat and mouse with a mysterious white woman he encounters on a New York subway.

63

IMDb 56

6.1

/1809/

61

/91/

62

/10/

2.9

/18624/

85

/84/

46

/189/

61

/16/

3.0

After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don't just rise—they hunt. The military insists they are harmless and slow-moving, offering hope to grieving families. But when Ava enters a quarantine zone searching for her missing husband, she uncovers the horrifying truth: the undead are growing more violent, more relentless, and more dangerous with every passing hour.

61

6.8

/4577/

71

/502/

68

/47/

3.1

/6954/

Popcorn

40

/60/

Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.

63

6.2

/80/

90

/1/

3.3

/909/

1.5

When AJ loses his favorite dog park, he must fight, fish, scrap, scrape, and sap to get it back.

72

6.9

/826/

70

/79/

72

/5/

3.2

/3914/

91

/11/

63

/5/

3.0

From his Saturday Night Live beginnings to a string of classic comedies, Chevy Chase has always had huge comedic range. He is also a complex and contradictory human being. Featuring revealing interviews with those closest to him, this documentary digs into the talent, flaws, and humanity that shaped an icon.

61

5.3

/4327/

63

/643/

67

/140/

2.3

/24738/

71

/14/

68

/136/

61

/5/

age 8+

Plankton's tangled love story with his sentient computer wife goes sideways when she takes a stand — and decides to destroy the world without him.

64

5.4

/468/

62

/39/

58

/15/

3.0

/676/

75

/12/

68

/58/

3.0

age 15+

A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.

69

6.9

/3755/

75

/320/

68

/32/

3.3

/9226/

62

/7/

3.0

age 15+

From teen comedian to Hollywood legend, Eddie Murphy revisits his extraordinary showbiz ride with raw honesty and humor.

66

6.0

/1716/

63

/146/

65

/64/

2.9

/5036/

88

/34/

81

/26/

2.0

age 8+

A wolf and mountain lion team up when a meteor unleashes a virus turning zoo animals into zombies. They join forces with other survivors to rescue the zoo and stop the deranged mutant leader from spreading the virus.

64

6.2

/1292/

67

/194/

68

/32/

2.9

/1268/

85

/13/

77

/35/

48

/4/

2.0

Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.

62

6.4

/1371/

68

/49/

61

/7/

3.0

/6486/

63

/76/

59

/21/

2.5

age 13+

As World War I rages on, Dr. Henry Guthrie takes over a British choral society that's lost most of its men to the army. The community soon discovers that the best response to the chaos of war is to make beautiful music together.

66

64

6.4

/4321/

72

/520/

66

/36/

3.2

/7979/

Facing a world gone sideways, comedy icon Dave Chappelle delivers bold truths and potent punchlines in this no-holds-barred special.

70

IMDb 20

7.6

/5194/

76

/157/

73

/33/

3.4

/34742/

78

/174/

97

/1554/

61

/45/

1.5

age 13+

Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it's never too late to find love and follow your dreams.

70

6.7

/2676/

67

/40/

68

/69/

3.2

/27745/

82

/100/

40

/27/

76

/30/

4.0

age 14+

Three stories concerning the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents), and each other: a reclusive father visited by his grown children in the US, sisters visiting their novelist mother in Dublin, and adult twins called back to their Paris apartment to address a family tragedy.

77

IMDb 90

7.2

/944/

58

/21/

75

/4/

3.7

/15098/

100

/85/

62

/96/

79

/20/

4.0

age 15+

A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.

63

IMDb 32

6.7

/7094/

68

/293/

66

/79/

3.3

/24340/

67

/87/

71

/108/

54

/27/

2.0

age 15+

Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.

61

6.8

/1145/

71

/62/

61

/13/

3.4

/4105/

49

/6/

2.0

age 16+

In 1975, as America faced social and political upheaval, filmmakers turned chaos into art.

68

60

5.7

/2408/

60

/259/

57

/40/

3.4

/21637/

100

/24/

A group of recent grads head out on a late night drive for grub, hoping to enjoy one final hangout before their paths diverge. Instead, they accidentally turn onto a never-ending, two-lane hellscape surrounded by untold horrors and cosmic forces beyond their understanding. Cramped together inside a Jeep Cherokee and with the miles stretching infinitely ahead, they face a choice: embrace their new existence or fight to escape it.

71

IMDb 59

7.5

/2984/

76

/23/

81

/16/

3.2

/5568/

55

/6/

3.0

age 6+

From the songs of his mother’s heart to the whispers of a faithful God, David’s story begins in quiet devotion. When the giant Goliath rises to terrorize a nation, a young shepherd armed with only a sling, a few stones, and unshakable faith steps forward. Pursued by power and driven by purpose, his journey tests the limits of loyalty, love, and courage—culminating in a battle not just for a crown, but for the soul of a kingdom.

77

IMDb 86

7.1

/1198/

66

/24/

75

/2/

3.5

/18816/

86

/139/

89

/27/

73

/37/

3.5

age 16+

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess confronts the sacrifices she made for their family—forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

64

7.0

/93419/

73

/6399/

77

/38/

3.0

/146280/

67

/61/

76

/567/

52

/10/

1.5

age 10+

Siblings Kate and Teddy try to prove Santa Claus is real, but when they accidentally cause his sleigh to crash, they have to save Christmas.

76

7.5

/1781/

77

/122/

71

/17/

3.8

/11818/

86

/19/

3.0

For the past six decades, Seymour Hersh has been at the front lines of political journalism in the U.S. This engaging documentary, released at a crucial moment for the freedom of the press, tells the wide-ranging story of this breakthrough reporter.

66

IMDb 78

5.8

/4122/

62

/250/

66

/56/

2.5

/55394/

65

/17/

4.0

age 7+

Desperate to be a big guy, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following The Flying Dutchman – a mysterious swashbuckling ghost pirate – on a seafaring adventure that takes him to the deepest depths of the deep sea, where no Sponge has gone before.

70

IMDb 1

7.0

/22197/

72

/771/

71

/283/

3.1

/347404/

72

/184/

92

/1441/

65

/35/

2.5

age 17+

Trying to escape her past, Millie Calloway accepts a job as a live-in housemaid for the wealthy Nina and Andrew Winchester. But what begins as a dream job quickly unravels into something far more dangerous—a sexy, seductive game of secrets, scandal, and power.

68

6.4

/292/

70

/16/

62

/5/

3.5

/800/

3.0

age 14+

In the city that never sleeps, five families hustle each winter to turn sidewalks into holiday outposts.

63

60

5.7

/3653/

68

/926/

71

/103/

2.6

/1595/

60

/15/

70

/78/

age 15+

When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.

88

85

8.5

/7717/

85

/280/

79

/47/

4.2

/33775/

100

/29/

99

/120/

Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in life.

60

5.3

/121/

45

/4/

20

/1/

3.3

/795/

94

/18/

70

/6/

3.0

In a coastal Florida town threatened by an impending hurricane, locals prepare for a mandatory evacuation. As the last tourists depart and residents board up their homes, a few wanderers choose to remain.

71

IMDb 2

7.4

/98246/

75

/3660/

73

/1269/

3.6

/920061/

66

/338/

90

/3967/

61

/59/

2.5

age 13+

In the wake of the devastating war against the RDA and the loss of their eldest son, Jake Sully and Neytiri face a new threat on Pandora: the Ash People, a violent and power-hungry Na'vi tribe led by the ruthless Varang. Jake's family must fight for their survival and the future of Pandora in a conflict that pushes them to their emotional and physical limits.

60

6.0

/11893/

65

/873/

61

/188/

2.4

/48173/

72

/18/

65

/93/

50

/4/

age 13+

A driven American exec heads to Paris determined to acquire a champagne brand by Christmas — and accidentally falls for the heir to the bubbly empire.

70

5.9

/3294/

62

/190/

64

/36/

3.1

/9341/

96

/45/

71

/21/

75

/7/

3.0

age 16+

In the picturesque landscapes of Southern France, a young woman's chilling fascination with murder and identity theft sends her life into a whirlwind of chaos.

61

6.4

/2863/

64

/96/

58

/29/

3.0

/19836/

78

/95/

77

/78/

53

/16/

1.5

age 16+

After witnessing his parents’ brutal murder on Christmas Eve, Billy transforms into a Killer Santa, delivering a yearly spree of calculated, chilling violence. This year, his blood-soaked mission collides with love, as a young woman challenges him to confront his darkness.

73

7.0

/1856/

72

/65/

65

/15/

3.3

/9149/

84

/102/

82

/49/

73

/15/

3.0

age 14+

Ten-year-old Aurora asks her hitman neighbor to kill the monster she believes ate her entire family. To protect her, he'll need to battle an onslaught of assassins while accepting the fact that some monsters are real.

77

63

6.7

/1278/

76

/232/

77

/30/

3.1

/2071/

83

/12/

98

/417/

age 10+

Sarah Rector, an African-American girl born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in the early 1900s, believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted, and her faith is proven right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to her family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation's first female African-American millionaires—at eleven years old.

64

5.3

/942/

55

/104/

57

/17/

2.8

/4042/

84

/43/

70

/4/

3.0

Pulled in by a series of strange and unexplainable video clips, a brother and sister team up to investigate the events captured in the footage, only to discover a shocking secret that’s overtaking their small-town Texas community.

83

8.2

/480/

66

/20/

82

/5/

4.0

/10821/

95

/59/

95

/216/

78

/11/

3.5

age 13+

Franklin Shepard is a talented Broadway composer who abandons his theater career and all his friends in New York in order to produce films in Los Angeles. The story begins at the height of his Hollywood fame and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank’s life that shaped the man he is today. A live recording of the 2024 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's musical, filmed at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

65

IMDb 67

6.4

/4680/

68

/455/

72

/46/

3.1

/15181/

76

/50/

76

/76/

54

/11/

2.0

age 15+

A new porter embarks on an unlikely relationship with the youngest daughter of a prominent English family. Simultaneously, rivalries are spilling over in the Davenport family, led by the Lord and Lady as they also weather the epic failure of the wedding of their eldest daughter to her caddish cousin.

72

7.3

/245/

60

/1/

70

/1/

3.5

/2067/

90

/41/

72

/8/

3.0

In a race against time, an ailing woman discovers her teenage son's violent obsessions and must go to great lengths to protect him, and possibly others, in this portrait of a Chinese American family. Inspired by true events.

77

6.5

/763/

74

/13/

69

/14/

3.4

/10667/

91

/53/

78

/21/

4.0

Growing up in an environment torn apart by violence and alcohol, a young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer.

76

7.3

/777/

76

/33/

79

/11/

3.4

/1601/

3.5

age 15+

A two-year investigation uncovers a scandal behind the making of one of the most recognized photographs of the 20th century. Five decades of secrets are unraveled in the search for justice for a man known only as "the stringer."

86

IMDb 3

8.2

/26029/

80

/479/

80

/87/

4.3

/738799/

94

/281/

83

/1164/

89

/58/

4.0

age 15+

In 1950s New York, table tennis player Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to Hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

80

6.8

/151/

55

/5/

70

/1/

3.8

/1815/

100

/20/

92

/9/

4.0

Adapted from Kahlil Joseph’s renowned video art installation, BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is a distinctive cinematic experience that mirrors the sonic textures of a record album, weaving fiction and history in an immersive journey where the fictionalized figures of W. E. B Du Bois and Marcus Garvey join artists, musicians, Joseph’s family, and even Twitter chats, in a vision for black consciousness.

75

IMDb 22

7.0

/28082/

71

/1696/

71

/274/

3.8

/338932/

77

/184/

90

/214/

58

/36/

3.5

age 13+

In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.

81

IMDb 4

7.4

/167665/

75

/8232/

72

/1613/

3.8

/1518388/

92

/318/

93

/256/

80

/59/

3.5

age 13+

When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.

63

8.2

/73/

20

/1/

3.8

/807/

3.0

Inspired by an unconventional teacher, a group of teenagers in upstate New York in the early 1990s make a student film and uncover a vast conspiracy that is poisoning their community. Thirty years later, they revisit their film and confront the legacy of this transformative experience.

74

7.1

/121/

68

/6/

3.6

/600/

84

/6/

3.0

LIFE AFTER is a gripping investigative documentary that exposes the tangled web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying. Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport uncovers shocking abuses of power while amplifying the voices of the disability community fighting for justice and dignity in an unfolding matter of life and death. In 1983, a disabled Californian woman named Elizabeth Bouvia sought the “right to die,” igniting a national debate about autonomy and the value of disabled lives. After years of courtroom battles, Bouvia vanished from public view. Sundance-winner Davenport embarks on a personal investigation to find out what really happened to Bouvia and reveal why her story is disturbingly relevant today.

65

61

6.8

/3779/

72

/547/

76

/31/

3.2

/4003/

45

/5/

Director Dan Farah got 34 senior members of the U.S. Government, military, and intelligence community to come on camera. He says they reveal an 80 year cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life and a secret war amongst major nations to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin. The film explores the profound impact the situation has on the future of humanity, while providing a look behind-the-scenes with those at the forefront of the bi-partisan disclosure effort.

83

IMDb 11

7.6

/54655/

78

/2598/

76

/985/

3.8

/786561/

90

/210/

96

/2196/

73

/39/