Every year, I try to fight it. I swear I won’t rank films like sports teams. I tell myself art shouldn’t be competitive. And every year, cinema laughs in my face, drops ten absolute bangers, and dares me not to obsess.
2025 was a monster year for movies. Not because everything was “fun” or “easy,” but because filmmakers swung big. Studios gambled. Directors trusted audiences. And genre storytelling finally stopped apologizing for being smart, weird, emotional, or ambitious. These films didn’t just entertain. They argued. They risked. They meant something.
So here it is. Not a consensus list. Not an algorithm. Just one geek, watching everything, taking notes, rewinding scenes, and loving movies the way they deserve to be loved.
Reel 360 News’ Top Films of 2025
15. Hamnet
Tender, literary, and quietly devastating, Hamnet transforms grief into something tactile and humane. The film leans into restraint rather than melodrama, letting performances and atmosphere do the heavy lifting. It’s the kind of adaptation that respects its source while fully embracing the language of cinema.
14. Eddington
Ari Aster’s most controlled and political film yet, Eddington simmers with dread rather than exploding into it. Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal anchor a story obsessed with power, paranoia, and the lies communities tell themselves to survive. Uncomfortable by design and sharper with each rewatch.
13. KPop Demon Hunters
A wild card that absolutely earns its spot. Visually inventive, unapologetically fun, and smarter than it needs to be, KPop Demon Hunters blends pop spectacle with genre mythology in a way that feels genuinely fresh. Proof that animation continues to be the most fearless playground in filmmaking.
12. Nouvelle Vague
Richard Linklater’s love letter to cinema history is playful, cerebral, and deeply affectionate. Rather than nostalgia, Nouvelle Vague feels like a conversation across time, reminding us how rebellion, youth, and filmmaking are eternally intertwined.
11. The Long Walk
Bleak, relentless, and emotionally punishing in the best way, The Long Walk refuses comfort. Its stripped-down approach and physical performances turn endurance into horror. This one lingers like a bruise.
10. Mickey 17
Bong Joon Ho once again weaponizes genre to dissect systems of exploitation. Robert Pattinson delivers layered, darkly comic work that grounds the film’s sci-fi absurdity in existential dread. Funny, disturbing, and unmistakably Bong.
9. Marty Supreme
Josh Safdie channels chaos into character, and Timothée Chalamet meets him blow for blow. Chalamet’s performance is electric, neurotic, and strangely vulnerable, capturing ambition as both fuel and poison. A pressure cooker of a film that never lets up.
8. Train Dreams
Quietly monumental, Train Dreams uses landscape as emotional language. Clint Bentley allows stillness to speak, crafting a film about isolation, time, and memory that feels both intimate and epic. One of the year’s most soulful achievements.
7. Wicked: For Good
Beyond the performances and music, this film earns its place through extraordinary production design. Every environment reinforces theme and character, grounding fantasy in consequence. Jon M. Chu delivers spectacle with emotional follow-through.
6. The Ugly Stepsister
A ferocious feminist fairy tale that uses body horror as emotional truth. Emilie Blichfeldt announces herself as a fearless new voice, turning familiar mythology inside out and leaving something raw and unforgettable behind.
5. Bugonia
Emma Stone gives one of the year’s boldest performances, fully synced with director Yorgos Lanthimos’ razor-sharp absurdism. Bugonia skewers paranoia and power while never losing its emotional center. Strange, hilarious, and deeply unsettling. Not as good as The Favourite or Poor Things, but still belongs in the top 10.
4. Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro’s obsession project was worth the wait. The production design alone is staggering, but it’s the empathy that elevates the film. A monster story that understands pain, responsibility, and creation with aching sincerity. I love this film.
3. One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson delivers one of his most mature works, trusting audiences to live in ambiguity. The ensemble performances are devastatingly human, and the film’s quiet confidence makes it feel timeless rather than timely. This is a breakout performance for Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti.
2. Sinners
Ryan Coogler swings hard and lands something furious and intimate. Sinners blends history, genre, and moral reckoning into a film that feels alive and dangerous. It burns with purpose and refuses easy answers. Michael B. Jordan will receive Oscar and SAG nominations for his performances of Stack and Smoke.
1. Superman
James Gunn didn’t just reboot a character. He restored sincerity. Superman makes hope feel radical again, presenting heroism as empathy, choice, and restraint. In a year overwhelmed by cynicism, this film dared to believe, and invited audiences to believe. David Corenswet has lifted the DCU back up again… just like Superman.
Honorable mentions go to Avatar: Fire and Ash, Jay Kelly, Is This Thing On, F1, Fantastic Four, Room, Warfare, Weapons, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Thunderbolts*, Hedda, and Together.
And there you have it, the films that made 2025 unforgettable. Whether they shocked, inspired, or simply entertained, these movies reminded us why cinema holds a special place in our hearts. Here’s to the stories that moved us this year and to the ones waiting for us in 2026!
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
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