For the fifth anniversary of the Larry Prater Awards, we’re going to do things a little differently.

Maybe I’ve just seen Train Dreams and I’m feeling emo about my departed friend, but ideas and memories require to evolve if they want to survive. While year-end lists are common practice among critics, mine have always been on the thin side. I read, watch movies and listen to music in industrial quantities and I only reward the cream of the crop. If you guys want to have the short version of what to watch without spending hours scouring the site, I need to deliver here.

Also, by naming three finalist and one winner each year, I spoil my own surprise as you guys figure out in advance who has won by going over the original reviews. My enjoyment can modulate from the original score over the year, but the writing is usually on the wall. This year, I’m going to reveal my five runner ups and then dedicate an upcoming post to my Best Viewing and Best Read of the year. Because more recs and more mystery equals more fun, am I right?

One more thing: these are awards for the Best Viewing and Best Read of the 2025 and not best movie or best book of 2025. That means it doesn’t have to be from this year…but I decided that from now on, it’ll have to be from the last decade. So, for 2025, it’ll have to be from 2015 to 2025 to quality for the award. The reason is simple: I’ve rewatched classics in 2025 that kicked way too much ass. Notably Thief an Nosferatu the Vampyre. It’s not fair to measure any movie against these.

Now, without further ado: my five runner ups for the Larry Prater Award for Best Viewing of 2025. Click on the title to read the original review.

Conclave

It’s not a deep movie, but it’s a brutally entertaining one. An archaic power struggle cosplaying as prestige cinema, powered almost entirely by spiteful old white men who desperately want power while insisting they absolutely do not.

Friendship

If movies taught us that conflict clarifies morality, Friendship asks what happens when there’s no villain, just two men mistaking dominance for connection. It’s basically an emotional cage match in a cul-de-sac, and no one wins without losing something important.