Top 10 Best Movies of 2025

By Jacob Barlow-Jones

​Greetings all, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! It’s been a long time coming, and it’s finally time for me to reveal my Top 10 Best Movies of 2025! This was kind of a crazy year for me, especially in the back half. Among other things, I worked more than I ever have, took a hit in my overall movie watching (making this the lowest-count movie year I’ve had since 2015), got another cat, got engaged, and less than a month later, got married (hence the last name change). While all of that took a lot of time, I still managed to see enough films during both the calendar year and the extended awards season window of January up to now that I feel confident I can present a Top 10 without worrying if I’ve seen enough to even list a decent Top 50. And now, I get to present them all to you. So, without further ado, here are my selections for the Top 10 Best Movies of 2025!

​10. Eephus
 
Easily the smallest movie on this list (but by no means less worthy of inclusion), Eephus is an indie comedy that sees two recreational baseball teams in a small New England town come together one last time to play their final game before the field is plowed over and a school is built on top of the grounds. One wouldn’t think that such a small film – seemingly about nothing, the way many great hangout movies are – could leave such an enormous impact on the viewer, but somehow director Carson Lund makes you feel connected to the sense of loss each player feels as something they knew and relied on comes to an end. As the film progresses, the viewer feels that they know these people – you’ve met them at the grocery store, or at church, or through a job – and Lund’s brilliant, lived-in approach to their characterizations gives particular weight to the film’s closing moments, which leave a quiet but bittersweet impact that’s sure to last long after its credits close.

​9. Train Dreams
 
I remember watching Clint Bentley’s previous film, Jockey, and thinking that he was on the path to being an indie director I’d return to again and again over the years; flash forward to Sing Sing – which Bentley returned to scribe with his writing partner Greg Kwedar, who directed the film – and I was bowled over by the soulfulness of its script and the empathy of its direction. With the duo’s return in adapting Denis Johnson’s novella Train Dreams, Bentley again returned to the director’s chair, and boy, did he bring his homework with him. Train Dreams is far bigger than Jockey ever was, but it retains the same soulfulness of Bentley and Kwedar’s previous works turned up to eleven. I don’t know a single person who’s watched this film and not been at least a little bit emotionally moved, or who can’t appreciate its incredible ending sequence. Beautifully shot by Adolpho Veloso with a look that is incredibly difficult to achieve using digital photography, the film is anchored by what might well be Joel Edgerton’s best on-screen performance to date (and William H. Macy’s best work in years) as he quietly seeps his way into your heart as only his kind of lonely railroad man can. Some have taken issue with the adaptation of the Edgerton character as it strays a bit from the novella’s text, but one wouldn’t know if it was any less impactful to see Edgerton’s quiet power radiate through the eyes.

​8. My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow
 
Inevitably, at least one documentary tends to make it into the running for my top ten, but only in the past two years have there been any that felt big enough – whether in scope or in their ideas – to actually crack the field; last year was the ideas doc. This year, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, with a whopping runtime of five hours and twenty-two minutes, more than makes up for the scope spot as we witness in real time Putin’s crackdown on independent Russian journalists leading up to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The branding of journalists as “foreign agents,” the government requiring they include the branding in news bumpers, the drift towards state control of all media in Russia; it’s all here, and it feels especially prescient to witness given how long ago all of it was filmed and how vital all of that filming feels to the state of our country right now. Julia Loktev takes you on what feels like a slow but spiraling journey deep into the pit of what authoritarianism looks like for those on the ground, and if one can muster the patience or the time to commit to watching it in full, the film must be considered an essential document. I am eagerly awaiting Part II – Exile, despite my dread at the necessity of its existence. 

​7. It Was Just an Accident
 
Filmed entirely in secret due to the Iranian government’s banning of writer/director Jafar Panahi from making films in the country, It Was Just an Accident feels like witnessing a miracle come together before one’s very eyes. True, all movies are miracles, and each one made represents the journey of thousands of efforts, but this one in particular is a revelation when considering the efforts Panahi had to make to not get caught (he currently faces a one-year prison sentence upon his return to Iran just for making the damn thing). Beyond that, however, It Was Just an Accident is a damn good movie with an excellent script and an ensemble of performances all worthy of their own awards, especially Miriam Afshari’s supporting turn. I’m reticent to say too much regarding the film’s plot, as even the setup to the film – which I went into blind – does not go as expected, but suffice it to say, if you’re curious about whether this year’s Palme d’Or winner was as or more worthy of a Best Picture nomination than F1 (which I liked!), go rent it on digital and let the results speak for themselves.

​6. Sorry, Baby
 
Unfortunately, there are more than a few excellent films released every year which simply can’t crack the Academy’s five-film nominations pool, and this year’s biggest victim of that limited space is Eva Victor’s incredible directorial debut, Sorry, Baby, which they also wrote and starred in. Victor’s script is among the great debuts of any year, navigating its subject matter with nuance, grace, and a precision so sharp that the tightrope walk it does would spell certain death in less talented hands. Equally impressive is their performance in the film, which sees them sharing poignant scenes with John Caroll Lynch and Lucas Hedges as they navigate what life looks like for them following a traumatic event closely tied to academic structures of power. The film examines not just what those power structures look like, but the insidious cracks they can often hide for those brave enough to be vulnerable or who dare to open their hearts within university walls. That’s a tough subject to do well, and Victor does it so brilliantly I can’t imagine anyone else having held the pen. Plus, it does sport the only movie poster of 2025 in which a woman holds up a tiny little kitten, so y’know, the little things also count.

​5. Sinners
 
Freshly-minted the most Oscar-nominated film of all time, you won’t find a more talked-about or defining film of 2025 than Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Premiering to rave reception and then kicking ass at the box office, it’s easy to see why the film was such a massive success for Coogler and Warner Bros. Yes, every level of craftsmanship in the film is top-of-the-line, from the costumes to the sound design to the cinematography and editing, to yet another best-of-the-year score from composer Ludwig Göransson, but underneath all of that is a profound belief and reliance on the idea of cultural individuality. The film’s Jim Crow-era Mississippi setting, multi-national character chart, blues-based musical sequences having the ability to summon spirits, and its main villains being literal cultural vampires who were themselves victims of English colonization don’t simply demonstrate the idea that evil permeates across cultural boundaries; they reinforce it. Add in what is perhaps Ryan Coogler’s best script to date, as well as reference points to a wealth of history across a multitude of cultures and disciplines, and you have yourself a film that only gets deeper the more it’s studied, and more entertaining with each passing watch. Keeping the expanding aspect ratios for both the digital and physical release? That’s icing on a fantastic-tasting cake.

​4. Marty Supreme
 
It took all the way until Christmas Eve before I got a chance to see which Safdie brother has the sauce, but hot damn, Josh’s films are gonna be easy to get lost in. Starring a never-better Timothée Chalamet as a New York hustler who wants nothing more than to be the best ping-pong player in the world (or at least to be considered that), the film tracks his endless ambition and drive to succeed at the cost of all else with the same chaotic Safdie energy that made Uncut Gems feel like a heart attack on celluloid, but adds in a showstopping central performance from Chalamet and fills in his world with a wealth of talent. The Safdies have always been good at filling in the margins of their films with the most perfectly cast performers imaginable, even if they’ve never acted before, and it’s like a magic trick watching it all come together. Odessa A’zion, Gwenyth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator, Abel Ferrera, and even Kevin O’Leary all turn in brilliant work, and those are just the billed names on the poster. (Special credit also must go to the film’s music supervisor Gabe Hilfer; the needle-drops in this thing are note-perfect.) But what sets Marty Supreme apart – besides Daniel Lopatin’s egregiously snubbed original score – truly is the Chalamet performance as we watch Marty make all the worst decisions yet still find ourselves rooting for him to succeed. That’s the power of a great lead performance, and if he loses Best Actor this year, anyone near me should be prepared for a world record crash-out.

​3. One Battle After Another
 
Back in January of last year, I had Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another on my list of most anticipated films, and I’m delighted to say that not only did it meet all my expectations of what a PTA film starring Leonardo DiCaprio would look like, it exceeded them and then some. What PTA does here is incredible, from demonstrating what modern revolution looks like to anchoring the whole film on a sincere story about a father who will stop at nothing to find his daughter, even if he is kind of an idiot about it (Leo does fantastic work here). There are extended sequences in this film that rank with not only some of the best work PTA has ever done, but some of the best film work ever done, period: the liberation of the migrant detention center, the way Sean Penn acts super gross towards Perfidia, the invasion of Baktan cross leading to the protest leading to the rooftop escape which leads to capture and then another escape, the way Sean Penn walks, looking so stupid while thinking he looks so macho, the white nationalist Christmas Adventurer’s club, the road chase sequence, the way Sean Penn’s pathetic yearning for club inclusion gets him nowhere, the film’s ending handing off a hopeful message to the next generation that “we failed, but maybe you will not,” the way Sean Penn’s best performance in at least a decade is also the year’s most terrifying villain by how closely he resembles an ICE officer. There’s a lot to appreciate here. And to top it all off, the film gave us a Golden Globe winning Teyana Taylor performance and the film debut of Chase Infiniti without ever wasting either one or feeling a hair over two hours despite being closer to three. What more could one want?

​2. Resurrection
 
My final watch in the calendar year of 2025 also happened to be one of the year’s absolute best. I had kept hearing about Bi Gan’s latest film through online chatter and had even seen the most stunning stills from the film as more critics and pundits were given a chance to see it; I simply couldn’t wait until late this month for the film to come to my home state of Kentucky. So the second I learned it would be showing in Cincinnati, I bought a ticket and booked the day to go and see it, and I am not exaggerating when I see you haven’t seen this film the way you should unless it’s on the biggest screen available to you (but you need to make the journey). On purely a craft level, Resurrection is what movies have been building to since their inception; not one element of technical work in this film was imperfect. The cinematography, the sound, the score, the production design, everything was note-perfect down to the last detail. Told across five chapters which all tie together with the same idea – where an ostracized creature has become an outlaw for having dreams, and is slowly dying as he shows them to someone, one by one – the film is an astounding experience to behold, an extraordinary monument to dreams fully formed in its presentation that feels like watching Rome be built. I have no doubt that years down the line, this will be considered one of the great works of Chinese cinema, and as far as what I might consider the best movie of the year? This is it. And yet, there was another that got deeper under my skin, even if I didn’t know just how deeply until well after having seen it…

1. Sentimental Value 
​
To witness something that understands you at your core, but especially understands your own shortcomings in ways you can’t explain or vocalize even if you wouldn’t sound certifiably insane by trying is a rare thing in any storytelling medium, but film seems to get there for me more often than most. If you’ve ever struggled to express yourself or your feelings except for through the art you consume, participate in, or advocate for, this film is for you. If you’ve ever struggled to connect with a parent, or wondered why you found yourself unable to hold onto an emotional connection without some form of drama attached to it, this is for you. If you have a sibling you owe everything to who’s distanced themselves from the family for their own mental stability and safety, this film is for you. If you find yourself consumed by your work because you don’t know how else to move through life without a deep emotional pain following you all the while, this film is for you. If you find yourself still hurt by past transgressions despite trying with everything in you not to be, this film is for you. If you’ve ever known that a dream you held onto for so long, that you wanted so badly, wasn’t right, and you knew you had to give it up for things to be right, this film is for you. And if you can only find catharsis for some of your deepest hurts through the art of storytelling and the power it holds, especially through movies, this film is for you.
 
This film was for me.

And those are my picks for the Top 10 Best Movies of 2025! What movies did you like best this year? Anything I need to catch up to? Let me know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
 
- The Friendly Film Fan

​Honorable Mentions:

• The Alabama Solution
• ​All That's Left of You
• Bugonia
• F1
• Folktales
• Hamnet
• If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
• The Mastermind
• No Other Choice
• The Perfect Neighbor
• The Plague
• The Secret Agent
• Seeds
• Superman
• The Tale of Silyan