Films of 2025

The year has changed so time for the best films of the previous year list. According to Letterboxd I watched 132 films in 2025. Deducting my last 2024 film which I watched on New Years last year and the many older films I watched for the first time or rewatched (esp in October) and adding the eight 2025 films I’ve watched in the last three days I think I likely saw around 70-80 films in 2025 (plus the last few days) that were 2025 films. I have seen basically everything that is up for major awards to date that came out in 2025- either for normal release or at the Sydney Film Festival. As always it is worth noting some big award contenders will be 2026 releases in Australia (I already have my tickets for what are early screenings of Hamnet and No Other Choice next week- both aren’t actually out until the middle of the month).

So here we go:

5. One Battle After Another

Pat Calhoun (Leonardo Di Caprio) and his partner Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) are members of the French 75, a militant left wing group. When attacking a military base that is stopping people at the US/Mexico border, Perfidia dominates Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) and he becomes obsessed with her and they start a slightly twisted relationship. Perfidia gets pregnant and she is not really interested in the baby. Colonel Lockjaw captures her and she names names of member of the group. She then escapes, leaving her baby with Pat. Skip forward around 16 years, Pat now goes by Bob Ferguson and he is raising Charlene (Chase Infiniti), now going by Wilia, as his daughter. Colonel Lockjaw is now trying to get in good with a white supremacist group and he is both still obsessed with Perfidia and also worried about the group discovering his relationship with her including that Wilia might be his daughter. Lockjaw figures out where Bob and Wilia are, and he starts to come for them.

I think for a lot of people will have this as their film of the year, and I think it will be a head to head between it and Hamnet for most major awards. I didn’t jump to see it as I think the trailer made it look like something it isn’t. It is very quirky and very funny, and I don’t think the trailer sells that well. The three hour run time also turned me off- I do love some Paul Thomas Anderson films but the length of his films at times turns me off. After hearing the buzz and people saying it was funny, I figured that the trailer might have undersold it and that the length might not be a deal breaker. The films above this resonated with me more but this is an exceptionally well made film with great performances and a very smart and funny script. Definitely say just give it a go and don’t let the trailer sway you.

Where to see it- Max or I think still in some cinemas

4. Sentimental Value

Nora Borg (Renate Reinsve) is an actress for a theatre company in Oslo. She is suffering from some anxiety, and she and her sister, Agnes (Inga Idsdotter Lilieaas), are dealing with the death of their mother. Their father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgard), arrives for the funeral of his ex wife much to Nora’s annoyance. Gustav is a film writer/director who used both of his daughters as child actors in his films. As adults, both women have complex relationships with their father- Agnes working an historian and researcher for her father, and Nora does not speak to him much and knows that he has shown up and left during some of her plays (he claims to hate theatre). Gustav has written a script for Nora to star in and he offers her the role but she immediately turns it down. Gustav heads to a film festival in France that is doing a retrospective of his films and meets actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), an American actress, who he casts in the role he wrote for Nora. Nora and Agnes are also struggling with the fact that the house they grew up in (even after their father left) belongs to their father and he is planning to use it to film his new film and then may sell it now their mother has passed away.

A few years ago, I loved Joachim Trier’s last film, The Worst Person in the World , which was anchored by an exceptional performances by Renate Reinsve- had I written a top five in 2021, it would have featured. With the same combo of lead actress and director, this film had high expectations from me and it met them. The four lead performances are outstanding especially Reinsve, and it is not shocking that they are up for awards. The mediation of the borders between artistic expression and emotional processing is front and centre as not only is there the blurrying of Gustav’s relationship with Rachel as him idealising his relationship with Nora, but also the fact his film is inspired by real family tragedies. There is also the interesting way in which the living spaces take on the personalities as the film starts and at times returns to narration about the house in which most of the film takes place, and the house is very much the fifth lead character. I particularly found the character of Agnes fascinating (though Reinsve’s is the best performance, Idsdotter Lilieaas’s is nearly as good) as the straight person to a family of creatives and the burdens she has to take on due to that. 

Where to see it- currently in cinemas

3. Sinners

In the Jim Crow south, the young black son of a preacher, Sammie (Miles Caton), is recruited by his cousins, Smoke and Stack (both Michael B Jordan) to help them set up a juke joint for the local black community. Smoke and Stack are WWI veterans who have spent years working various mobsters in Chicago and have returned to the South as Chicago is now unsafe for them and they have money for their juke joint. Sammie is a talented musician and the twins are keen for him to play for them. During the day, Smoke and Stack travel the town recruiting local harmonica player Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), bouncer Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller), cook and hoodoo practitioner and Smoke’s entangled wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), and shop owners Grace and Bo Chow (Li Jun Li and Yao) to help with the opening night. Stack also runs into his ex-girlfriend, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), who is often mistaken for white and lives as such even though she is partly black and therefore no more at home in the Jim Crow South than the other characters, and Sammie meets Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a singer he becomes infatuated with. When night arrives, the juke joint is buzzing with Delta Slim and Pearline both taking the stage. Then Sammie takes the stage and his performance pierces the veil of reality, and other performers are drawn from the past and the future into his song. Also drawn by his song though are the forces of evil and Remmick (Jack O’Connell) an Irish vampire and two locals (who are former KKK members) who he has turned show up at the juke joint and offer to pay with money and a song to enter the juke.

Vampires, Ryan Coogler, two Michael B Jordans… so much yes. Aside from superhero films, this was my anticipated film of 2025 and it definitely delivered. I don’t even know where to start with the things I loved here. As I love beautiful cinematography, I will start there. I never got to an iMax screening of the film even though I wanted to, but you want tell the effort that was put into how this film looked. It is a beautiful film Even just the scenes at the train station or in the town it looks meticulously constructed. Moving on the performances, Michael B Jordan is exceptional and you really feel like the twins are two people not one actor wearing different hats. Then the supporting performances also brilliant especially Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, Jack O’Connell (very keen for him in 28 Years Later: Bone Temple in a few weeks), and Hailee Steinfeld (I have mainly seen her in teen roles or Marvel roles, and I think Mary was an excellent turn from her). And you have noticed I left off the second lead (aside from Michael B Jordan times two) and that is because of what a revelation as both an actor and singer Miles Caton is. This is Miles Caton’s first major role and he holds his own with a perfect level of naivety against Jordan and Lindo which is a feat. Now the concept, I loved the idea of music connecting through times and to the supernatural (if Coogler wanted to make further films with this idea underlying it with different supernatural creatures I would be there for it), and also the way that Coogler creates complex villains to touch on the complexities of race and colonialism- from Killmonger’s experience as a black man in America in Black Panther, to Namor as a person from another group of colonised people who is pitted against the inhibits of Wakanda in Wakanda Forever, to Remmick’s Irish identity here and that experience of being a colonised and persecuted group. And now to the logical final point, the music… damn the music. The intersection of the blues of the Black characters and the folk of Remmick with the beautiful score from Ludwig Goransson just sublime. As much as I love me some “Golden”, I think sadly for K-Pop Demon Hunters all the music and song related awards of the upcoming award season are going to Sinners and the beautiful song, “I Lied to You”. 

Where to watch- Max

2. Sorry, Baby

Agnes (Eva Victor) is an English literature academic at a small New England college. She lives in a remote cottage and is clearly trying to isolate herself from society. She is visited by her friend and former housemate Lydie (Naomi Ackie), and they have others who did their doctoral study around for dinner. One of them mentions that Agnes has just got a full time professorship and occupies the office of their former adviser on campus. Lydie’s reaction shows that there is something less than ideal about this set up. Circle back to a few years earlier, Agnes and Lydie are doctoral students. Their adviser is clearly showing favouritism to particular grad students, and Lydie jokes that he appears to be attracted to Agnes. When Agnes goes to their adviser’s house to get notes on her thesis, he rapes her. She returns home and tells Lydie who comforts her, and takes her to the doctor the next morning when they also discover that the adviser has quit his job and left the college, and when Agnes tells the college about what happens they tell her that they cannot do anything about it as he no longer works there. The film then cuts between the next few years of Agnes’s life as she deals with the aftermath of the rape and the way society isn’t built to support the survivors of rape.

It may shock you based on the above that this film is actually a comedy.That said it is very black comedy. As someone who works at a University, it has been interesting to watch over the last few years as in tge aftermath of MeToo, Universities have attempted to deal with the fact that they are the sites of a substantial amount of sexual assault. This film doesn’t steer clear of the horrors of the actual rape or the long term mental health impacts of it. It is the feat of a brilliant script by first director, Eva Victor (that is right the same person is the writer, director, and star here), that finds empathy and dark humour in pain. This script is in my opinion the strongest of 2025 and Victor who is tasked with carrying most of the film delivers it perfectly. The film will break your heart but also make you laugh to remedy that pain.

Where to watch- rentable on Amazon Prime and Apple TV

1. The Last Showgirl

Shelly (Pamela Anderson) is a showgirl at a club on the Vegas strip. She is in her late 50s and has worked there since her teens. She acts as a mother figure to the younger girls in the show (Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song), and her closest relationships are with the stage manager at the show (Dave Bautista) and a former dancer from the show who is now a cocktail waitress (Jamie Lee Curtis). Eddie, the stage manager, tells the showgirls that the club will be closing their show and replacing it with a circus performance as people don’t see old style showgirl shows anymore. The younger dancers start auditioning for more risqué shows at other clubs but that is not an option for Shelly and also Shelly doesn’t want to perform in anything she thinks is too raunchy. With no funds for retirement and no good prospects for further employment, Shelly reaches out to her college student daughter, Hannah (Billy Lourd), from whom she is estranged to a degree due to the fact Shelly worked through Hannah’s childhood, often forgets details about Hannah and her life, and has never told Hannah who her father is. Hannah sees one of Shelly’s shows and tells her that she finds the show vulgar and hates that her mother wasted her life on this instead of raising her daughter or getting a normal job. Shelly is shaken by Hannah’s comments and when the younger dancers refuse to help her get ready the next night leading to her missing her cue and tearing her costume, she breaks down in tears.

A classic case of film that was a 2024 film in most of the world but was a late February 2025 release in Australia. This film… it was beautiful and I adored it. I couldn’t even put my finger on why but with its reflection on aging, and the valuing of women’s bodies, it just stayed with me all year and even though most people would say the four films I listed above are better films, I just couldn’t get past the impact of this one. It looks beautiful and the performances across the board are great, but that said this film belongs to Pamela Anderson. It isn’t just that as a woman who was treated as men in the 90s as an idealised sexualised version of womanhood she is perfect casting as Shelly, it is more than that. The performance is fragile, it is tender, and shows the world that it has for decades undervalued Anderson’s skill as an actor- it is in short a revelation. I think I felt every emotion as I watched this and it just a deeply understatedly beautiful film.

Where to watch it- Stan

There you have it my top five for 2025. The number 1 will be controversial take in some people’s opinions  but I stand by it.

Honourable mentions- Conclave, Mickey 17, The Mastermind, The Life of Chuck,  It was just an accident, Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps, If I had Legs I’d Kick You, and Bugonia 

Best “fun” films- the two superhero films mentioned in my honourable mentions- I watched both of them twice this year (also watch Sinners and Conclave twice- though the latter mainly as the Pope died). Also because I love all films in this series, Wake Up Dead Man.

Best Australian film- I only watched a small number (three I think) and most of them were horror, I will say Together

Best individual scene in a film- the final chase scene in Weapons- never heard an audience laugh so hard. Honourable mention to the dance scene in Life of Chuck

Best documentary- Dahomey with an honourable mention to Mistress Dispeller

Best new to me but not new film- Perfect Blue (only film I gave five stars on Letterboxd this year). Honourable mentions of Pearl and Diabolique

A shoutout for the best performances of the year:

- Ralph Fiennes in Conclave

- Sophie Thatcher in Companion 

- Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown

- Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here

- Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl

- Micheal B Jordan, Miles Caton, and Delroy Lindo in Sinners

- Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon

- Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later (outstanding child actor work)

- David Corenswet in Superman

- Jacob Elordi in  Frankenstein

- Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value

- Adam Sandler in Jay Kelly

- Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams

- Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons in Bugonia

- Eva Victor in Sorry, Baby

- Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You (I know Jessie Buckley is meant to be amazing in Hamnet but honestly it will be bonkers if Byrne doesn’t get HEAPS of awards for this performance) 

That said actor having the best year for the second year in a row, Josh O’Connor with The Mastermind, Wake Up Dead Man and The History of Sound. The run this actor is having is next level and it just keeps going. I didn’t love The History of Sound as a whole but his performance was great (if it had stayed with two closeted men collecting folk music in the mid 20th century, I think others would have had bigger pacing issues than they did but I would have been super happy as it is the bit that worked best for me), and then him The Mastermind and Wake Up Dead Man just excellence.

And time for the worst film of the year which was actually quite a difficult decision this year. I had to weigh up which was worse a film that was on the merits of film deeply bad or a film that made me immensely angry despite having some artistic merit. Lucky for The Minecraft Movie (gosh that sucked), I couldn’t get past my anger and that meant the worst of the film was in my opinion, After the Hunt. Now this film had so much talent involved and Julia Roberts’s performance was solid, but it is so irresponsible to be borderline dangerous in my opinion and in the current climate just left me nauseated with rage. Interesting to see a through line between my second best film and my worst as both are about sexual assault on a University campus. This film borderline says that privilege justifies being assaulted (that the character who may have been assaulted was somewhat “asking for it” due to her privilege), that DEI practices are ruining academia (yes the victim is a black queer woman), that victim blaming is fine, and that people can justify statutory rape. Having worked for two decades in tertiary education, I could not be angrier. Academia is still run by white straight men and there are cases at every university of academics abusing their power over students especially young women, and anything that suggests otherwise is abhorrent to me. I know filmmakers and actors feel the need to make something that doesn’t anger the current US administration from time to time, but it is dangerous to put these ideas out there and I hope the people involved in this film (who as I say I normally like the work of) don’t repeat this. Also the script was supposedly on the Black List (the list of most liked but yet to be produce screenplays in Hollywood) and I have to say how as the above not withstanding, it isn’t a good script.

Now as an added thing, at speed my TV shows of 2025:

- Best new show- The Pitt with honourable mentions to Pluribus, It: Welcome to Derry, and Celebrity Traitors: UK (not sure that counts as new as it is a new version of an existing show)

- Best continuing show- Andor (DAMN season 2 was great) with honourable mentions to Severance and Gen V

- Things leaving our screens too soon- Mythic Quest (I didn’t love the cliffhanger that they then had to edit out but still I loved the show) and JLP as host of Australian Survivor

And that is it for Clare’s bests of 2025….