Movies & TV / Columns
The Top 30 Films of 2025 (#10 – 1)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Welcome, one and all, to the final part of my Movies Year in Review for 2025! I’m your host Jeremy Thomas, and today we’ll conclude our look at the best films of the past year. Keep in mind that this list is meant to be my personal opinion and not a definitive list. You’re free to disagree; you can even say my list is wrong but stating that an opinion is “wrong” is just silly.
Last week I kicked off my Top 30 Films of 2025 list with #30 through 21 and #20 through 11. As you can see, it was an incredibly year for cinema and we’re not done yet. The top 10 covers basically every genre under the sun, and I could keep introducing it all — but in truth, I’d rather just get to it. So let’s talk the best of the best!
Caveat: My criteria for a film qualifying for this list is simple: if a narrative film had its domestic release this past year, either theatrically or on VOD or a major streaming service, then it was eligible. The only other caveat is that I have tried but have not seen everything that was released in 2025, especially factoring in streaming services. The films that I missed that could have likely qualified based on reputation were Sentimental Value, Train Dreams, Sirât, and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. Other than that, I feel reasonably confident I saw just about every movie that would have likely made the list. For those curious, I saw a total of 192 films that were released in 2025 (down from last year’s 233), 161 of which were narrative films.
Just Missing The Cut
• One Of Them Days
• The Housemaid
• Baby Assassins Nice Days
• 40 Acres
• The Naked Gun
The First Twenty
30: One Of Them Days
29: Final Destination: Bloodlines
28: Beast Of War
27: 28 Years Later
26: The Life of Chuck
25: It Was Just An Accident
24: Bring Her Back
23: The Monkey
22: Predator: Killer of Killers
21: Influencers
20: Is This Thing On?
19: After the Hunt
18: Weapons
17: Predator: Badlands
16: Zootopia 2
15: Materialists
14: The G
13: The Ugly Stepsister
12: Thunderbolts*
11: The Long Walk
#10: Bugonia
Slipping its way into the top 10 is Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film. Lanthimos is an audacious filmmaker at the best of times; Poor Things became a massive success almost in spite of itself, and in many ways Kinds of Kindness felt like an attempt to push back on that success and deliver something deeply challenging to anyone who thought he may go more mainstream now that he’s had Oscar success. Bugonia leans back into mainstream territory, but it’s still distinctly a Lanthimos film. The thriller, based on the South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, centers on a troubled man named Teddy who, with his easily led cousin Don, kidnaps a pharmaceutical company CEO believing her to be an alien at the center of a vast conspiracy against mankind. A cat and mouse game follows as said CEO tries to figure out how to escape while Teddy and Don attempt to make her confess to their beliefs.
It’s a potent and confronting film, tackling very current themes of paranoia, conspiracy thinking, and the difficulty in finding the truth amidst all the noise that surrounds our lives. And yet, Lanthimos never fails to make the film entertaining. A big part of that comes from the trio of lead performers. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are veterans of Lanthimos’ films and they are fully game for the proceedings, going head-to-head in a mental and verbal battle that slowly reveals more and more of its hand as things progress. But in many ways, Aiden Debbs is the heart of the film. His performance as Don is a bit more passive, but it provides the required grounding against the two stronger personas.
The film leans into Lanthimos’ pessimistic views of mankind in clearer ways than some of his past efforts; it feels at times like humanity is on trial through the back-and-forth between Teddy and Michelle. And if you didn’t know where Lanthimos’s opinions on mankind lie, it becomes quite obvious toward the end. Bugonia is weird enough to be inspired but not so much as to lose its grounding, making for a gripping thriller that impressively delivers on its themes even in its more polarizing moments.
#9: Lurker
And here we go from one topical thriller to another. Whereas Bugonia examines some of mankind’s current failings on an expansive level, Lurker narrows in to explore matters on a much more personal scale. We live in a world where “parasocial” has become part of common parlance, due (in part, at least) to social media. While obsessed fans are nothing new, it does feel easier to develop fixation on figures we idolize when they’re just the click of a “Post” button away. They may never see you, but you see them and the illusion of closeness is a potent, dangerous drug.
That’s the world that Alex Russell’s film explores. This slick thriller, Russell’s feature debut as a writer-director, focuses on Matthew (a committed Théodore Pellerin) who is a retail clerk at a LA fashion boutique. What appears to be a chance encounter lands Matthew in the circle of rising pop star Oliver. Matthew quickly makes moves to ensure that he can stay close to Oliver in what becomes a character study that explores themes of fandom, obsession and fame itself.
Russell is on point behind the camera for every moment of this film, which starts off feeling like one thing but quickly goes deeper when it starts exploring what makes both Matthew and Oliver tick. Pellerin and Archie Madekwe deliver nuanced performances, and Russell’s confident approach means that the film doesn’t show its hand too early. Even when things ramp up in the final act as thrillers must, we never lose grasp on the characters. It’s a very vibey movie in the best ways, leading to an intense and uncomfortable conclusion that ranks among the best of the year.
#8: Companion
I was in all in on Companion since the moment I first saw the mysterious teaser trailer in theaters. Drew Hancock’s directorial debut didn’t take too long to show its hand; the first full trailer after that teaser revealed the big twist that Sophie Thatcher’s Iris was a companion robot to Jack Quaid’s character. But if knowing that twist turned you off to the film, look again. That’s only the opening reveal of this gleefully entertaining, bloody satire on relationships.
Thatcher had already become one of my favorite actresses working in genre films at this point thanks to her work in Yellowjackets and Heretic. Companion gives the actress her best role to date, and she crushes it. The entire film fails if we aren’t behind Iris, and Thatcher makes her the engaging, sympathetic center of this delightful little film. Hancock’s script makes her a resourceful character as she attempts to evade being recaptured by Quaid’s Josh once she realizes who and what she is, and she joins a hallowed pantheon of similar heroines like Westworld’s Dolores and Ex Machina’s Ava.
Hancock’s film is a brutal but often funny sci-fi horror thriller that hits hard on its themes. But it’s also incredibly digestible and fun, wrapped in a colorful retro-futuristic shell. Quaid delivers on the kind of “good guy” bad guy that he can do in his sleep at this point, putting his dorky charm to good use. And the supporting cast are a delight, highlighted by Lukas Gage and Harvey Guillén as a couple wrapped up in the whole mess. I love a “Good For Her” film, and Companion is the best such film of 2025 with ease.
#7: Frankenstein
Frankenstein feels like a film we’ve been waiting forever to see brought to life. It’s not like there aren’t ample other adaptations of Mary Shelley’s iconic story, but Guillermo Del Toro has been wanting to make his own take literally since he was a child. Del Toro has spoken at length in the past about how James Whale’s famed Universal Pictures adaptation made him want to want to become a filmmaker at the age of seven. He had been trying to get the film off the ground for years, and fortunately the final product doesn’t disappoint in the slightest; it’s worth nearly two decades of waiting.
Del Toro’s take is phenomenal at blending elements of previous adaptations into a story that feels very true to the original novel. His screenplay and direction instill the film with the gothic overtones that have sometimes been excised in order to create more straightforward horror versions. Oscar Isaac captures the charismatic and egocentric essence of Victor Frankenstein, while Jacob Elordi gives the Creature the soul and emotional depth that is a hallmark of the director’s “monsters” like Hellboy and The Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water. Add in Mia Goth elevating the oft-shortchanged role of Elizabeth and you have a great trio of lead performers.
Del Toro’s attention to detail is impressive here; Frankenstein is horrifying in the right parts but also a gorgeous film. It’s a tale of how obsession creates tragedy, breathed into life with beautiful cinematography and another top-tier score from Alexandre Desplat. I’ve always loved the Frankenstein story and adore both Whale’s version and Terrence Fisher’s Hammer adaptation, but Del Toro’s might be the best Frankenstein film made and that’s a high bar.
#6: Marty Supreme
Image Credit: A24
After years of impressive performances, 2025 is the year that Timothee Chalamet because undeniable as a top-tier actor to even most of his most fervent critics. Chalamet has proven himself year in and year out with his work in films like Call Me by Your Name, Lady Bird, Beautiful Boy, Dune, and Bones And All, then proved he can turn on the charm with 2023’s Wonka and A Complete Unknown. Marty Supreme is the film that brings it all together, with Josh Safdie building a framework in which Chalamet gets to do it all.
The actor plays the titular character (aka Marty Mauser), a would-be table tennis champion whose obsession with being recognized as the greatest sends him to extreme lengths. Very loosely based on the life of Marty Reisman, the film’s Marty is a hustler who takes huge risks and flirts with danger in his need to be the best. Safdie takes that preoccupation and builds a story of toxic ambition, punctuated by one wild scheme after another. It’s a thrilling portrait of a guy so in over his head and making it all up as he goes along that he doesn’t realize exactly how quickly he’s losing sight of everything around him.
It’s a wonderfully complex role, brought to life through Chalamet’s wide-eyed and dedicated portrayal. The actor sparks chemistry with every cast member, whether Odessa A’zion as his girlfriend Rachel, Gwyneth Paltrow as retired actress and opportunistic fling Kay, or Kevin O’Leary as Milton Rockwell, Kay’s husband who Marty tries to turn from adversary to ally. The production design on the film by Jack Fisk is impeccable, setting the stage for a wildly enjoyable dramedy that brings to mind last year’s excellent Challengers in the best ways.
#5: No Other Choice
I’ll be honest: I’m still bitter than Decision To Leave didn’t get the awards recognition it deserved. I’m normally fairly sanguine about such things; awards only mean so much and there are always too many deserving nominees that there is no shame in losing too. But mainstream awards seem to have something against Park Chan-wook, and enough is enough. While I’m equally salty about No Other Choice’s exclusion this year, I at least understand it. Wook’s latest film leans back into his genre stylings more explicitly for a comedic thriller, adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel The Axe, about a man who loses his job and, desperate to secure a new one, starts trying to bump off his competition.
It’s not hard to see the satirical value in that story, and Park doesn’t shy away from the themes about cutthroat capitalism. The script from Park, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Lee Ja-hye is razor sharp, leaning into the comedic value of this otherwise mild-mannered man who tries to find the literal killer inside him. That gives Lee Byung-hun plenty to work with in the lead role of Man-su and he’s incredibly game, showing pitch perfect comedic timing as Park stages his setpieces with a hilarious level of slapstick.
There’s a lot of fun to be had here, but it never lets that undercut the desperation in Lee’s performance nor the dark depths that he’s driven to. Son Ye-jin is wonderful as Man-su’s wife Mi-ri, wearing the weight of the story on her capable shoulders. It’s a comedy-thriller that manages to be cartoonish without losing sight of the story, making for the best satire of the year and another underrated Park Chan-wook triumph.
#4: One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson made his return to top form in 2025 with One Battle After Another. The writer-director had a relative miss in his last film, 2021’s Licorice Pizza, which despite strong performances and direction was missing something in its story. But you can always expect PTA to turn things around if he stumbles, and that’s what we get with this engrossing tale inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland.
Anderson was back on his game as a writer here, with a story about an ex-revolutionary who is forced back into his former life after a military officer comes after his daughter. The narrative hits the right balance of being incredibly topical while not being too on the nose, digging into its characters and giving the cast plenty to work with. And oh my, does the cast dig in. Leonardo DiCaprio is doing stellar work as said former revolutionary Bob Ferguson, but honestly the rest of the cast is better. Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor are forces of nature as two of the former French 75 group, Benicio Del Toro is a bedrock of stability, and Sean Penn gives his best performance in years.
It’s Chase Infiniti who blew me away though. As Willa, she holds her own with all these formidable stars in her big-screen debut. Her character is one you want to get behind and feel for, and when she’s in danger, the tension legitimately spikes because of how much she’s made us care. Anderson has crafted an energetic film with big ideas and thrilling setpieces; his direction in a highway chase scene is anxiety-inducing. It’s not easy to craft an almost three-hour film and have it stay engaging throughout, but there are very few dips in this one. It’s one of PTA’s most inspired films to date and, even if you factor in recency bias, lands one of my favorites of the director’s.
#3: Rental Family
Sometimes when an actor wins an Oscar, it’s considered a “lifetime achievement” situation where they are being awarded for their past work more than the role they have been nominated for. While he was undeniably great in it, I feel like Brendan Fraser’s win for The Whale was prophetic to award him for this performance. Rental Family came out of nowhere to hit me like a ton of bricks, tugging on all the heartstrings in the best way. Fraser delivers the finest work of his career as Phillip, an American actor in Japan who is struggling until he reluctantly takes on a position at a rental family service.
Japanese filmmaker Hikari is behind the camera for this drama, which she co-wrote with Stephen Blahut. The film, which is based on a real thing in Japan in which actors portray family or friends at social events, taps into the value of human connection in a very real way. Phillip’s jobs see him play father to a young girl and interviewer to an elderly man, along with a couple other smaller (but no less touching) jobs. Hikari’s direction makes the film emotional without being maudlin and leans hard on Fraser’s aura of decency to great effect.
It helps that the actor has easy chemistry with his stars, most notably Akira Emoto as the elderly Kikuo and Shannon Mahina Gorman as the young girl who thinks he’s her absent father. The rest of the supporting cast gets time to shine, particularly Mari Yamamoto as Aiko, an employee of the agency who is initially uncertain if Phillip can do the job and has her own issues with aspects of her work. Rental Family is a sensitive film, but it’s not naive and in a year of blockbuster action and horror successes, that helps it stand out as one of the best.
#2: KPop Demon Hunters
Image Credit: Netflix
If you had told me at the start of 2025 that one of the best films of the year would be a Sony Animation flick about demon hunters who are also K-pop stars, I’d have done what most people would have and laughed. And yet, here we are. Now, cards on the table: this is very much a Movie For Me. I enjoy K-pop, I love a good badass girl team, and in those respects this hits all my sweet spots.
But KPop Demon Hunters isn’t a great film just because of those things. Sure, they’re a big part of it; the music is fantastic, the action is great and the characters are perfectly formed. It’s all impeccably constructed and brought together by directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, with art direction that is an absolute visual feast. All that said, what really elevates this is how effectively it hits its themes. It tends to get old hat for animated kids’ films to talk about how you’re great the way you are, but KPop Demon Hunters takes it a step further in the way it handles the narrative. The perfect mix of story beats and musical numbers hits hard, to the point that I was fully emotional during several scenes including Rumi’s confrontation with her mother figure and the climax.
There isn’t a note out of place here. The voice performances are on point, the KPop idol narrative feels incredibly authentic and the demonic elements are cleverly done, right down to the patterns representing guilt and self-destructive behavior. And again, I cannot praise the songs enough, which have rightly become massive award-winning hits in their own right. It’s not easy to become a worldwide smash hit beyond all measure in the best of situations; when you pull that off after an initially quiet release on Netflix? There’s a good reason for that. I didn’t expect this to be the best animated film of 2025 thus far, and certainly not one of the top two films of the year. But here we are, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
#1: Sinners
I mean, you probably guessed it by now. In a year where we got so much good horror, it’s not particularly surprising that Sinners ended up ruling the overall cinematic roost. It’s Ryan Coogler’s best film to date, as the writer-director applies his independent sensibilities to this big-budget Southern gothic period vampire tale about twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan pulling double duty) returning home to the Mississippi Delta where they open a juke joint and run afoul of an expanding pack of the undead.
Coogler has a rare ability to wrap weighty themes in popcorn package, and that’s on full display here as he broaches topics of race, identity and power in some pretty complex ways. But the film also works just as well as a bloody 1930s-set tale of the supernatural. It’s entertaining from start to finish, punctuated by great performances across the board. Jordan does plenty of heavy lifting, Hailee Steinfeld brings depth (and va-va-voom) to her supporting role, and Wunmi Mosaku is the MVP as Annie, the magic-practicing estranged wife of one of Jordan’s characters. Add in stellar turns by Miles Caton in his film debut as the young musician Sammie and Jack O’Connell bringing nuance to the vampire antagonist Remmick, and you just have an all-round knockout cast.
Coogler frames some of the most rapturous scenes of the year – a musical number with supernatural implications is literally the best scene of 2025 – and some of the most ominous. The period production work is impeccable, Ludwig Göransson adds another breathtaking score to his resume, and the cinematography work by Autumn Durald Arkapaw is outstanding. There’s no getting around it: this is an instant vampire classic, an untouchable film and the best that 2025 provided us with on a cinematic level.
And that will do it for this! Have a good one and don’t forget to read the many other great columns, news articles and more here at 411mania.com! JT out.
