JEFF YORK’S 10 BEST FILMS OF 2025

Posted December 30, 2025

2025 turned out to be a terrific year for film with plenty of epic Oscar contenders, some of the most acclaimed horror entries in many a moon, and a superhero reboot that was the talk of Twitter (X) for weeks. And all that came just from Warner Brothers! No wonder so many other media companies covet them.

To be specific, the movies I referred to were SINNERS, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, COMPANION, WEAPONS, and the new SUPERMAN. Many have been showing up on Top 10 Films lists this month and a couple of them made my picks too.

So, without any further ado, here are my choices for the 10 Best Films of 2025. Each is accompanied by a brief summation as well as my caricature illustration of each.

SINNERS (Warner Bros)

My pick for the very best of the year is SINNERS, an elevated horror film, but it’s so much more than just a frightener. It’s a fable about past lives, past sins, forgiveness, and racism all mixing together in the Jim Crow South of 1932. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, the movie is also a celebration of music, with an eclectic, bluesy score by Ludwig Goransson. Anchored by Michael B. Jordan playing twins with both bravado and nuance, the film was a ginormous hit with audiences and critics the world over and has stuck at number one for me all year long.

SORRY, BABY (A24)

My choice for the second best film of 2025 is as small as SINNERS is large. It’s SORRY BABY, the quirky, intimate character study of Agnes, a young, New England college professor who is sexually assaulted by a colleague and the aftermath of such a terrible event. The film ends up being a positive celebration of resilience, as the quietly strong Agnes finds many ways to have a good life, from her career to friends to a new boyfriend to adopting a cat. Eva Victor wrote, directed and starred in the film that feels like it could be from the titular 1970s and I mean that as the highest of compliments.

COMPANION (Warner Bros)

This is an exceptional sci-fi/horror film, written and directed by Drew Hancock, that no one saw in theaters due to a sub-par roll-out via its studio. The film has managed to find new life on VOD and is now figuring in awards competitions too. When I saw COMPANION in the theater last spring, I hadn’t seen an ad, trailer or poster for it, and the twists and turns in the movie surprised and delighted me. I won’t say anything else except that Sophie Thatcher gives a star performance that is truly among the year’s very best.

BUGONIA (Focus Features)

Emma Stone gives a stellar performance once again for superb filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. This is their fifth collaboration after THE FAVOURITE, BLEAT, POOR THINGS, and KINDS OF KINDNESS. Their latest black comedy, adapted expertly by Will Tracy from Jang Joon-Hwan’s international bestseller, skewers both corporate America and conspiracy-minded obsessives with a story that finds two doofus cousins kidnapping a vicious CEO they have chosen to blame for all our planet’s problems. The film is outrageous, nasty, and funny as hell. In fact, this movie made me laugh more than any other film I saw this year.

HAMNET (Focus Features)

This one made me cry the most. Especially the last 20 minutes. It’s about a young William Shakespeare and the family he has with the feisty and feeling Agnes. When one of their children unexpectedly dies, it sends both parents into a whirlwind of grief, rage, and quests regarding how to channel their suffocating pain. It’s superbly acted by the entire cast, with major plaudits for its two leads – Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. Directed with the deftest of touches by Chloe Zhao, and co-written with Maggie O’Farrell, HAMNET will move you to tears yet inspire you to make the most of every minute of your life as well.

NOUVELLE VAGUE (ARP Selection)

Director Richard Linklater directs a film about French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard as if he’s making a French New Wave film himself. It’s both homage and workplace comedy as Godard directs his cinematic vision in daring and even ridiculous ways to make a movie that feels fresh, spontaneous, and more immediate than most Hollywood productions. Indeed, his first film BREATHLESS was all those things and the script here by Holly Gent and Victor Palmo works as both biopic, quirky comedy, and compelling character study. Zoey Deutch shines particularly bright as American film star Jean Seberg who starred for Godard back in 1960 with his seminal debut.

MARTY SUPREME (A24)

Director Josh Safdie’s new film is an exceedingly clever fiction he wrote with Ronald Bronstein about Marty Mauser, a table tennis champ in the early 1950s. The film is a quirky character study and sports comedy, in addition to being a pungent commentary about American overreach and hucksterism that revved up during that period. Timothée Chalamet gives a career best performance as the relentless man-child who leaves broken hearts, dreams, and schemes in his bulldozing wake.

SENTIMENTAL VALUE (NEON)

This Norwegian entry for Best International Film should win that category at the Oscars this year, not to mention find itself nominated for Best Film, Director, Screenplay, and a slew of acting prizes. Director Joachim Trier and co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt wrote a subtle, sensitive screenplay about an estranged director coming back into the lives of his damaged daughters and how art can heal even the worst of human divisions. Trier gets strong performances from Stellan Skarsgard, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lileaas, and Elle Fanning, and uses his camera and editing just as powerfully. In a year of superb foreign films, this one stood out the most to me.

BLUE MOON (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS)

Director Richard Linklater’s second film this year also made my 10 best list and it’s about the worst night in Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart’s professional life. Why? Because his ex-partner, composer Richard Rodgers just premiered OKLAHOMA, his biggest musical success ever written with new partner, the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Hart drinks, kvetches, and desperately works all angles to get Rodgers back, and watching Ethan Hawke pull off all the nuances and anxieties of Hart is a master class in acting. The screenplay by Robert Kaplow is a smart, witty, and ultimately poignant study of the fragility of artists, and special kudos to Linklater for shooting this one to look so theatrical, almost like a filmed one-act stage play.

WICKED FOR GOOD (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

This fitting conclusion to last year’s mega-success WICKED was almost as wonderful, adding depth to the second act of the Broadway show adaptation and delivering more tears than the original experience ever did. Kudos to director John M. Chu for demonstrating such a sure hand and filmic sense in bringing the material to vivid life, and to screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox for expanding the story and deepening the characters so demonstrably. Cynthia Erivo and the entire cast are superb, but it’s Ariana Grande who steals the show as Glinda, the character with the truest arc here. She’s both hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure here and, in my opinion, deserves an Oscar for her efforts.

And because these films truly impressed me as well, here are my 10 Honorable Mentions:

TRAIN DREAMS, HEDDA, THE SECRET AGENT, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, THE LIFE OF CHUCK, NO OTHER CHOICE, MAKE ME FAMOUS, HOUSE OF ABRAHAM, FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, and GOOD BOY.

Here’s hoping that the new year will have just as many winners.

Jeff York

I am a writer, illustrator and original charter member of the Chicago Indie Critics. You can read my reviews on RottenTomatoes.com too. Thank you for following me here and I look forward to hearing from you.