World News for Students of English

02-01-2026 07:00

David Fear, a senior film critic at Rolling Stone, presents the five best films from 2025.

Fifth, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague explores the world of the French New Wave and serves as an exciting cinematic team-up for fans of film history. Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams follows at number four, and offers a beautifully crafted adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella that tells an epic story from the early twentieth century. Robert Grainier, a railroad worker, lives a quiet life until he marries and has a daughter. Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag takes the third spot. It is a spy drama where a top British intelligence agent must find a mole leaking classified software.

Number two is Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, which uses the novel by Maggie O’Farrell. The historical drama depicts the tragedy of William Shakespeare’s son and the emotional strength of his wife, Agnes. It illustrates how personal pain can lead to artistic healing and catharsis. The top film of 2025 is Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest work, One Battle After Another. It captures the complex feelings of living in modern America and suggests that the best way to handle a broken world is to focus on love.

Difficult words: team-up (an occasion when two or more people or characters work together to achieve something), novella (a short book), catharsis (releasing strong emotions through art).

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