DUBAI: Here are the first half of our top picks from this year’s feature films.

‘Sinners’

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Canton

Director: RyanCoogler

This vampire horror set in the Southern US during the racial segregation of the Jim Crow laws was 2025’s surprise smash hit — chiming with critics and audiences alike to become the highest-grossing original film of the last 15 years. That’s testament to both Jordan’s excellence in dual roles as Elijah and Elias Smoke — twin brothers returning to their hometown and trying to outrun their criminal past — andCoogler’ssingular filmmaking talent. The Smokes set up their own juke joint, at which their talented blues-musician cousin Sammie is the resident star. Then the joint becomes the target of undead evil forces. “Sinners” is brash, bold, and a lot of fun.

‘Marty Supreme’

Starring:TimothéeChalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, OdessaA’zion

Director: JoshSafdie

Chalamettakes some big swings — literally and figuratively — as aspiring table tennis champ Marty Mauser in this comedy drama set in 1950s New York and loosely based on the life of Marty Reisman. They pay off, though, anchoringSafdie’sscrewball absurdism to an utterly believable, though mostly unlikeable, character; a twitchy, self-pitying narcissist always looking for the next hustle. Paltrow’s return to the big screen as retired movie star Kay Stone is equally compelling — her composed, wry stylishness a vital balance to Marty’s desperate neediness.

‘Ocean with David Attenborough’

Starring:David Attenborough

Directors:TobyNowlan, KeithScholey, ColinButfield

In perhaps the year’s most vital movie, the99-year-old English biologist and broadcaster presents a gorgeously shot, immersive film that examines the damage doneout of sight, deep inEarth’s oceans,by the thousands of super-sized fishing trawlers operating around our planet constantly. With his trademark authority and passion, Attenborough lays out just what is at riskif this destruction continues. But he also offersa little hope: research has shown thatthe oceanscan recover. “As nature documentaries go, it’s hard to imagine‘Ocean’being bettered,” our reviewer wrote.

‘Flow’

Director:GintsZilbalodis

Writers/producers:GintsZilbalodis,MatissKaza

This dialogue-free Latvian animation is an extraordinary labor of love and an engaging mix of stunning beauty and thought-provoking message. Itfollowsa black cat struggling to survive alongside a small group of other animals in a post-apocalyptic world in which water levels are rising dramatically.The beautifully rendered landscapes andthe attention to small details in the animals’ movements, noises and behaviormake this a work of art. It’s a slow-burn, almost meditative at points. but with moments of great peril and small heroics.

‘Train Dreams’

Starring: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr.

Director: Clint Bentley

Bentley’s beautifully shot, mournful drama — based on Denis Johnson’s novella — follows the 80-year-long life of loggerRobert Grainier (Edgerton), a taciturn, tough outdoors man whose softer side is revealed in his love for his wife. Dialogue is sparse, but Edgerton is excellent asa man with a placid surface over hidden depths. “When Grainier suffers unimaginable loss, Edgerton plays out the grief, regrets, despair, and the depression empathetically and utterly convincingly, without any grandstanding,” our reviewer wrote. “Not much happens (on screen), but there’s a lot going on.”