ONE MOVIE AFTER ANOTHER (TEN BEST FILMS OF 2025)

 

TEN BEST FILMS OF 2025

2025 was the year when superhero movies stuttered at the box office and Tom Cruise apparently said goodbye to his 'Mission Impossible' franchise.

It was the year when Daniel Day Lewis returned to screen acting after a retirement which he said was never meant to be a retirement.

'Anora,' 2024's film from indie filmmaker Sean Baker, about a stripper dusting up against a dodgy Russian oligarch family, took the Oscars by storm.

Jon M Chu's musical juggernaut 'Wicked' returned for a second bite at a box office dominated by 'Zootopia 2,' the live action remake of 'Lilo and Stitch,' 'A Minecraft Movie' and 'Jurassic World: Rebirth'.

However the world's top grossing film was actually a critically acclaimed animated movie sequel from China 'Ne Zha 2' which was powered by huge box office receipts in Asia and decent returns in the west.

As Netflix continued to flex its muscle with an array of films from established directors from the Russo brothers to Guillermo del Toro, it still managed to unnerve Hollywood by taking over Warners Bros.

But what were the best films to hit our cinema and television screens?

10. CHRISTY (Brendan Carty)

Take a look at the list of Honourable Mentions below.

As you can see, 2025 was a phenomenally strong year for cinema.

So for Brendan Canty's Cork coming of age tale to make the top ten is no mean feat.

The story of a teenager, played by Danny Power,  struggling to find a sense of purpose while in foster care and trying to find his way when he returns to live with his brother, it featured cameos by Chris Walley and Alison Oliver.

However it was the searing honestly of the performances by Power, Diarmuid Noyes as his brother Shane, Emma Willis as Shane's partner Stacey, Alison Oliver as a drug addict and Jamie Force as Robot that lingered the longest.

This was a slice of cine realism that thrived because of its absorbing plot and its cast's buckets full of charm.

9. A REAL PAIN (Jesse Eisenberg)

When he wasn't gelling with Kieran Culkin onscreen, Jesse Eisenberg delivered a delightful comedy drama about two American cousins reconnecting with their Jewish roots in Poland.

Eisenberg was wonderful as the straight man, guiding his cousin through the pain of losing their grandmother.

Culkin earned a deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar and other awards as a fragile cousin with a big personality struggling with depression.

Part travelogue, part family drama, Eisenberg's immensely human, well observed film must have been a Godsend to Polish tourism chiefs.

But it also featured a memorable rant from Culkin in which he berated Will Sharpe's tourist guide for trotting out facts with little regard for the sacredness of some of the sites they visited.

8. 28 YEARS LATER (Danny Boyle)

Twenty three years after he directed Cillian Murphy in the British indie zombie classic '28 Days Later,' Danny Boyle returned with a gripping and hugely imaginative adventure.

Using its zombie tale as a commentary on the state of contemporary Britain, his film followed Alfie Williams' 12 year old Spike on a dangerous journey alongside his Jodie Comer's terminally ill mother Isla after quitting the isolated human colony they lived in.

Williams and Comer made an electric partnership but Aaron-Taylor Johnson also cut a dash as Spike's errant father Jamie who in the first part of the film took him into hostile territory to train him how to kill zombies.

The film also featured cracking roles for Ralph Fiennes as an eccentric Colonel Kurtz style doctor and Jack O'Connell as some kind of Scottish ninja in Jimmy Savile garb.

Hugely unsettling and highly original, a sequel '28 Years Later: Bone Temple' is due to hit multiplexes really soon.

7. THE BRUTALIST (Brady Corbet)

Brady Corbet's three hour sprawling epic about a Hungarian Holocaust victim landed Adrien Brody a second Best Actor Oscar.

It wasn't really a surprise because it was a powerhouse performance in a sophisticated film that focused on the experience and contribution of immigrants to the United States at a time when Donald Trump and his allies have been trying to stem the flow.

Brody played an architect given a chance to show his worth by Guy Pearce's industrialist in a tale that pitted the Jewish experience against America's WASP heritage.

Impressively shot by Lol Crawley, few films matched the epic sweep and ambition of Corbet's movie which was like a fusion of Milos Forman's 'Ragtime,' Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon A Time In America' and Paul Thomas Anderson's 'There Will Be Blood'.

6. SEPTEMBER 5 (Tim Fehlbaum)

There have been many great films about journalism and Tim Fehlbaum's Munich Olympics tale joined their ranks.

Focusing on an ABC Sports crew who found themselves at the centre of one of the biggest news stories of 1972 - a Palestinian group storming of the Israeli athletes' compound - it tensely recreated what it must have like to be at the heart of a major current affairs event.

It was also a gripping account of how journalists sometimes take risks to get to the heart of a developing story.

Filmed in a Paul Greengrass cinema vérité style by Markus Foderer and brilliantly deploying actual footage from the time, the film featured terrific performances from Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin, John Magaro, Zinedine Soualem and Leonie Benesch.

In hindsight, it should have received a lot more love than it did during 2025's awards season.

5. I'M STILL HERE (Walter Salles)

Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva's 2015 memoir of the same name, Walter Salles' movie proved the Brazilian director was still operating at the peak of his powers.

Part political drama and part family drama, the tale of a Rio de Janeiro family whose left wing activist father disappeared under the military dictatorship felt like a Brazilian cousin to Alfonso Cuaron's 'Roma'.

It was also a stunning tribute to the courage and resilience of Paiva's mother Eunice and her determination to keep the family afloat while pursuing the truth.

Fernanda Torres deservedly landed a Best Actress nomination for her committed performance as Eunice as the film went on to capture the Best International Feature award.

Salles' movie was also a visual triumph, with Adrian Tejilo's clever use of film stock and Alfonso Goncalves equally intelligent editing massively contributing to its success 

4. NICKEL BOYS (Ra'Mell Ross)

Ra'Mell Ross made the leap from making documentaries to directing a narrative feature with this wonderful adaptation of Colson Whitehead's 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning book about young African American men trying to survive a brutal reform school.

Ross proved an inspired choice as the director, fashioning a film of a real beauty out of the grimmest of stories.

Told from the standpoint of two characters, the director and his cinematographer Jomo Fray shot the movie from a first person perspective in a style that fans of the Channel 4 sitcom 'Peep Show' would be familiar with and it was hugely effective.

Featuring jaw dropping performances by Ethan Herisse, Ethan Cole Sharp, Daveed Diggs Elwood, Brandon Wilson and Aunjanue Ellis Taylor, 'Nickel Boys' was a devastating story of racism resulting in wasted youth.

But it also announced Ross as an exciting director worth keeping a close eye on.

3. STEVE (Tim Mielants)

After their thrilling collaboration on 'Small Things Like These,' Cillian Murphy and Belgian director Tim Mielants teamed up again with this equally impressive Netflix movie about a struggling English reform school.

Murphy was once more a compelling presence as the head teacher trying to keep his fragile cohort of students in check while dealing with a documentary crew and the spectre of potential closure.

He was also terrifically supported by Tracey Ullman and Simbi Ajikawo as his colleagues, Jay Lycurgo, Joshua J Parker and Luke Ayers as students and Emily Watson as a psychiatrist.

Dazzlingly shot by Priyanga Burford, Mielants concocted a stirring story about male mental health and a struggling reform school.

The film also featured one of the funniest sequences onscreen this year in which Roger Allam's local MP' patience was tested during a patronising encounter with the students.

2. SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Joachim Trier)

Norwegian director Joachim Trier well and truly laid claim to Ingmar Bergman's crown with this absorbing Scandanavian drama about family and  how artists struggle to with the demands it places on them. 

Stellan Skarsgard was superb as Gustav, a celebrated film director who after the death of his ex-wife re-enters the lives of his two grown up daughters, Renate Reinsve's celebrated theatre actress, Nota and Inga Ibsdotter Lileass' mother of one, Agnes.

Gustav's decision to use the family home as a location for his first film in 15 years reopens old wounds, particularly for Reinsve in an emotionally raw movie that will strike a chord with many viewers.

With Elle Fanning on board as an American actress cast in Gustav's film within a film, Trier creatsd a gripping story that also focused on the march of time and acontained a great joke about Michael Haneke's 'The Piano Teacher'.

However it was the superb performances of Skarsgard, Lileass, Fanning and, especially, Reinsve that will live long in the memory in a movie that deserves to figure prominently during 2026's awards season.

1. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Taking Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel 'Vineland,' Anderson confirmed himself as arguably the best filmmaker of his generation with this refreshing tale of revolutionaries and the right wing zealots who tried to crush them.

Leonardo diCaprio was on top form as the film's middle aged, stoner anti-hero Pat Calhoun whose anti Establishment paramilitary past comes back to haunt him and his daughter, Chase Infiniti's Willa.

Pursued by Sean Penn's wonderfully named racist military chief Steven J Lockljaw, who believes Willa might be his daughter, Calhourn turns to Benicio del Toro's Sensei, Sergio St Carlos for help. in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross.

With Teyana Taylor in striking form as the reckless rebel leader and mother of Willa, Perfidia Beverly Hills, Anderson created a marvelous thrill ride of a movie with the help of cinematographer Michael Bauman and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood who delivered a quirky score.

First time viewers will not be sure what direction the narrative is heading in but that's part of the joy.

'One Battle After Another,' though is an anarchic delight. It's like a grown up Quentin Tarantino movie that actually has something to say about Donald Trump's America.

Honourable Mentions: NOSFERATU (Robert Eggers); THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND (James Griffiths); HARD TRUTHS (Mike Leigh); BLACK BAG (Steven Soderbergh); THE LAST SHOWGIRL (Gia Coppola); I SWEAR (Kirk Jones); THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (Wes Anderson); BLUE ROAD: THE EDNA O'BRIEN STORY (Sinead O'Shea); BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER (Edward Berger): TRAIN DREAMS (Clint Bentley): SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE (Scott Cooper); SAIPAN (Lisa Barros D'Sa & Glenn Leyburn): SINNERS (Ryan Coogler)