Join the Gene Siskel Film Center as it reviews the best and biggest films from 2025––from arthouse favorite titles that graced the Siskel Film Center’s screens, to striking big budget action and horror movies that thrilled audiences across the country.
A reflection on this cinematic year that was, as selected by the staff of the Gene Siskel Film Center, Be Kind, Rewind invites readers and moviegoers to consider how these films reveal not just the movies of the year, but 2025 itself.
“Love, Brooklyn” 2025, Rachael Holder. In Holder’s confident and sexy debut feature, non-committal writer Roger (André Holland, “Moonlight”) finds himself entering middle age and caught between two women. With humor, charm and an electric chemistry between her leads, Holder captures the same dynamic energy of 1997’s “Love Jones” to paint an intimate portrait of modern romance.
Screening times: Friday, December 12, 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, December 13, 8:00 p.m.
“Highest 2 Lowest” 2025, Spike Lee. When a titan music mogul is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the fifth in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller “High and Low,” now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.
Screening times: Friday, December 12, 8:15 p.m.; Monday, December 15, 8:15 p.m.; Tuesday, December 16, 8:30 p.m. and Wednesday, December 17, 8:15 p.m.
“Sinners” 2025, Ryan Coogler. Coogler (“Black Panther” and “Creed”) presents a new vision of fear. Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. With Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller and Delroy Lindo.
Screening times: Friday, December 19, 8:15 p.m.; Monday December 22, 8:15 p.m.; Wednesday, December 24, 3:30 p.m. and Thursday, December 25, 6:00 p.m.
“One Battle After Another” 2025, Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson’s dynamic action thriller stands as one of this year’s most acclaimed films. Washed-up revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). When his evil nemesis (Sean Penn) resurfaces after 16 years and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her; father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past.
Screening times: Saturday, December 27, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, December 28, 5:00 p.m.; Wednesday, December 31, 2:30 p.m. and Thursday, January 1, 2:00 p.m.
The Gene Siskel Film Center is located at 164 N. State St. Visit siskelfilmcenter.org for tickets and more information.