List compiled by Eddie on 19/12/2025
There’s no denying that the world of cinema is changing, for better and worse.
With many proclaiming the doom and gloom of the industry, it’s sad that they forget, despite challenging times at the box office for many, 2025 still provided much in the way of highlights.
Recently quizzed on the topic, renowned director Paul Thomas Anderson, the man responsible for one of the year’s most incredible features spoke with consideration about the year that was.
*Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t losing sleep over people calling 2025 a weak year for movies. He’s heard the doom talk, the “sky is falling” chatter, the hand-wringing about originality. He’s not buying any of it. While chatting to Le Monde about his comedy-thriller One Battle After Another, he pushed back with a list of titles that would make even the grumpiest cinephile rethink things.
“The whole industry is constantly complaining. The sky is always falling,” he said before rattling off highlights: Eddington, Weapons, Bugonia, two new Richard Linklater films, Sentimental Value, and Marty Supreme. Anderson’s point is simple. Look around. Daring films are still being made, and audiences are finding them.*
Full article – https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/paul-thomas-anderson-defends-2025-movies-favourites-best-films/
I for one found much to enjoy from the 2025 slate of releases and with the year rapidly drawing to a close, I reflect back on the very best and worst of the year that’s been.
Happy watching and see you at the movies!
Disclaimer – Please note many films on this list may have been released elsewhere prior to 2025 and many 2025 films have yet to screen based off Australian release dates.
10 Best Films of 2025
10. 28 Years Later
Arriving almost 20 years on from the last series entry 28 Weeks Later in 2007, Danny Boyle returned with another wild zombie outing in the form of this third entry. Planned to be the starting point of a 3 film arc, it’s a flawed film, but the many swings Boyle and his team take manage to land some epic moments and unique ideas that make me very excited for next months sequel.
9. Frankenstein
A labour of love for beloved director Guillermo Del Toro, Frankenstein finds the Oscar winning director back on form with one of the best high-profile original releases we’ve seen from Netflix yet. Unearthing a great performance from Australian ex-pat Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein is a feast for the eyes and senses and a horror epic that should stand the test of time.
8. The Long Walk
Adapting a Stephen King novel many thought to be unadaptable, director Francis Lawrence surprised many with his fantastic cinematic take on The Long Walk. A unique and unforgiving experience, Lawrence manages to capture King’s bleak take on a dystopian reality while also gifting us one of the years finest ensemble collectives, from some of the industry’s biggest rising stars.
7. Sinners
A wonderfully playful and original horror outing from esteemed filmmaker Ryan Coogler, that managed to break all kinds of unexpected box office records, Sinners is an incredibly fun and creative cinematic experience that is likely to be a major awards player over the coming months.
6. Warfare
One of the most confronting and visceral war films you’re ever likely to see, Warfare is a white-knuckle experience of the highest order that created one of 2025’s most intense and memorable cinema watching offerings at the same time. At times hard to watch, this based on a true story film is a film viewers shouldn’t sleep on.
5. Sing Sing
A touching and soulful experience from the most unlikely of places, Sing Sing is a deservedly praised dramatic offering that will affect even the most stone-hearted of viewers. With an awards worthy turn from Colman Domingo anchoring proceedings, Greg Kwedar’s career making directional outing is top-quality stuff.
4. The Life of Chuck
Sadly failing to take off after a significant Audience Choice Award win at the Toronto International Film Festival, Mike Flanagan’s latest feature offering is a fantastical exploration of life, death and what makes us us. Enhancing one of Stephen King’s short stories, Flanagan proved once more that he’s one of the industry’s most versatile and important voices.
3. Weapons
A horror thriller that isn’t afraid to morph into fully formed dark comedy and Pulp Fiction like character exploration, Weapons proves to us that writer/director Zach Cregger wasn’t fluking it with his notable debut Barbarian from a few years ago. Unpredictable, wild, scary and as gory as they come, Weapons is a fever dream of a feature that was deservedly one of the years breakout critical and financial successes.
2. Train Dreams
While unassuming in nature and design, the Netflix released Train Dreams is a powerful and potent character study that will not soon be forgotten. Featuring a career best performance from its leading man Joel Edgerton, this quiet exploration of early 20th century logger Robert Grainier builds to an emotional climax that showcases the power of the cinematic medium. Beautiful for both the eyes and soul, Train Dreams is a special film one hopes gets the attention it deserves come Oscar time.
1. One Battle After Another
A brave, boisterous and bonkers independent blockbuster that walks to the beat of its own drum, One Battle After Another finds lauded director Paul Thomas Anderson operating at the peak of his powers with his most ambitious film yet. A technical marvel that features an array of standout scenes, performances and deliveries, Battle may not be for everyone, but this is cinema at its most undeniable and creative, culminating in an end product that deserves any of the plaudits it’s likely to receive.
10 Worst Films of 2025
10. The Conjuring: Last Rites
A huge box-office success, The Last Rites (supposedly and hopefully the last Warren focussed Conjuring movie released) is a new low for a series that once provided so much for horror fans. At days end coming down to being a film about a haunted mirror, the only scary thing about this cash grab is how horrible it is.
9. Eden
A stacked cast, Oscar winning director and a true-life tale that for all intents and purposes suggests great things to come of it, Ron Howard’s Eden had it all but failed in all areas. Coming and going with little fanfare, it’s unlikely that anyone will recall Eden in years to come, a sad state of affairs considering just what might have been.
8. Wolf Man
After working magic with The Invisible Man, many were hopeful that Australian director Leigh Whannel was going to find success once more with his newest horror outing but Wolf Man found the filmmaker completely at sea. Very quickly descending into a boorish and amateurish affair, here’s hoping that this was a rare misstep for Whannel.
7. The Electric State
With The Avengers overseers Anthony and Joe Russo behind the helm and a loaded cast in front of the camera, many had hoped that Netflix’s high profile and big budgeted sci-fi adventure could be one of the hits of the year but since its release in March its like the world has already forgotten the missed opportunity that was The Electric State. Wasting a fantastic set-up, its a crime that the Russo’s film did so little with so much that was at its disposal.
6. Fountain of Youth
Guy Ritchie was given $180 plus million of Apple’s money to make his Indiana Jones/National Treasure like Fountain of Youth, a fact that can only lead one to call this end product a giant waste of funds. Bland to look at, uninvolving as an adventure and full of trite tropes and storytelling, Youth is a diabolical mess that should be avoided at all costs.
5. Hurry Up Tomorrow
A vanity project for musical superstar The Weeknd, Hurry Up Tomorrow is the prime example of why people’s rampant egos should never be allowed an avenue such as this. While impressing in ways visually, most things about Tomorrow are The Room level of bad, creating a bad film that needs to be seen to be believed.
4. In the Lost Lands
Paul W.S Anderson’s latest crime against cinema featuring his muse/wife Milla Jovovich, In the Lost Lands has small makings of a fantasy actioner that could be entertaining but as a finished product this somehow expensive undertaking is no better than a high school level project. With wooden dialogue, skill-less direction and wooden acting, Lands is another clunker from a filmmaker who would do well to entertain early retirement.
3. Snow White
There’s little that needs to be said about the box-office disaster that is the critically panned live-action reimagining of Snow White. A bizarre undertaking that seemed doomed from the start, there’s no redeeming features to this unwanted spectacle that will go down as one of the great failures of the Disney brand.
2. Flight Risk
We all know that despite the man, Mel Gibson can direct a great film, that’s certainly not the case with Flight Risk. Gibson’s Mark Wahlberg starring thriller is a new career low for the one time Hollywood heavyweight, with this Razzie worthy feature notable only for how downright terrible it is in almost every department possible.
1. War of the Worlds
I’m convinced that Amazon’s Ice Cube starring remake/reimagining of H.G Well’s classic War of the Worlds tale is one big joke on the entire world. There is no perceivable way that anyone involved in the conception of this idea could’ve ever have thought what they were working on was a good idea. Becoming somewhat of an internet sensation when it hit streaming service Amazon Prime, there’s a reason Worlds became a viral hit for all the wrong reasons and for anyone brave enough to endure it, Worlds may just provide the best worst movie viewing experience you will have in the forseeable future.
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Having long been responsible for some of the modern eras most memorable and original outings, Paul Thomas Anderson has delivered what could be his most daring feat yet in the form of One Battle After Another. If Anderson doesn’t win an Oscar for this effort, after missing out previously with the likes of Magnolia and There Will be Blood, it’s sadly unlikely he ever will.
Best Actor
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
In a dual performance as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, Jordan excelled in creating two very different characters in the same film. Oozing class and charisma as well as a never say die attitude, it’s hard to think of a more memorable lead performance from the 2025 calendar year.
Best Actress
Amy Madigan – Weapons
In amongst all the gold that was too be found and mined from Weapons, the ingredient that stands out most is the instantly iconic turn Field of Dreams and Uncle Buck star Amy Madigan as the mysterious and frightfully scary Aunt Gladys. It will be interesting to see if major award ceremonies and voters see the magic in Madigan’s turn like many casual viewers have over the past few months.
Worst Director
Mel Gibson – Flight Risk
An Academy Award winning director responsible for Braveheart, Hacksaw Ridge and Apocalypto, there’s a certain level of expectation one would expect from Mel Gibson when he jumps behind the camera making Flight Risk a shocking experience in all the wrong ways. Devoid of any level of acceptable craftsmanship or imagination, Flight Risk is a new career low for the struggling Gibson, who one can only hope climbs out of this creative funk he finds himself in.
Worst Actor
Ice Cube – War of the Worlds
I’d go as far to say that Ice Cube’s lead performance in the incredibly terrible War of the Worlds is one of the most notably bad Hollywood lead turns in the history of cinema. Mostly resigned to shocking looks and words of surprise and terror, witnessing Cube sitting in front of a computer screen as the world burns is a curious type of punishment that also becomes highly entertaining as we watch an actor lose all credibility before our eyes.
Worst Actress
Rachel Zegler – Snow White
There’s little that can be said about Rachel Zegler’s turn as Snow White that hasn’t already been said. An instant meme of a performance, Zegler may have been doomed before she started by an odd casting decision but her lack of enthusiasm here in the epic Disney flop is hard to understand, making one wonder if the young actress will ever be able to fully recover from this potential career killer.
3 Underrated Films
3. Inside
This Guy Pearce starring Australian prison drama may follow a few familiar prison drama paths but Charles Williams gritty feature also has enough fresh elements to make it stand out from the pack. One of the more impressive Australian films of the last few years, this little seen gem is well worth seeking out.
2. The Assessment
Strangely lost amongst the early 2025 releases despite starring Oscar winner Alicia Vikander and the always good Elisabeth Olsen, The Assessment may ask a lot from viewers and has some storytelling/narrative flaws but Fleur Fortune’s thinking man sci-fi is still an intriguing and emotive watch.
1. The Life of Chuck
Sadly coming and going with little hope of being duly rewarded at the end of the year, The Life of Chuck is a unique and often beautiful ode to life and our place in the universe that proves author Stephen King still has many written tales to turn into great films. There’s hope that Chuck can become a regarded classic in the years to come much like some other King adaptations like The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist.
3 Overrated Films
3. Mickey 17
I get the feeling that after taking over the world with his smash hit Parasite, director Bong Joon Ho could’ve released almost anything and critics would’ve given him a pass mark. A messy film that forgoes a great start to fall further and further away from what a good film does, Mickey 17 is a box-office dud that was given too much grace.
2. Companion
A fun film no doubt and one that brings some nice new ideas to an otherwise well-worn sub-genre, Companion’s failure to launch on release in a financial sense seemed to arm internet fandom to declare it some type of modern-day masterpiece. There’s a reason why Companion never found its large audience and why few are talking about it now, making much of the outcry around its greatness null and void.
1. One of Them Days
In a climate that is crying out for the return of the big screen comedy, One of Them Days managed to climb its way to make over $50 million dollars the U.S box office, no small feat and with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 94% its clear many were championing this buddy comedy to succeed. While mildly entertaining however, it’s sad to think this is what’s now regarded as a runway comedic hit.
Australian Film of the Year
Bring Her Back
Responsible for some of the year’s most unnerving and unforgettable horror moments (I will never eat a cantaloupe again), Danny and Michael Philippou’s follow up to their smash hit horror debut Talk to Me may not have reached the same highs but there was a lot to love about their sophomore film that proved they were no one hit wonders.
Biggest Disapointment
The Smashing Machine
This big-budgeted A24 backed mixed martial arts drama was supposed to be a title contender. In his first solo outing after splitting from partnering with his brother Josh, director Benny Safdie’s team-up with Dwayne Johnson was a real fizzler despite all signs pointing towards greatness. It’s not terrible but you can’t help but escape the feeling The Smashing Machine should have been so much more.
Biggest Surprise
Train Dreams
The little film that could, even the most optimistic of film pundits wouldn’t have predicted the final outcome of Train Dreams, a simple story of a softly spoken logger that somehow managed to be an emotional gut punch exploring life in both big and small ways. How Train Dreams plays out in awards season will be an intriguing watch and see.
Best Poster
Worst Poster
Best Trailer
Worst Trailer
Top 3 Scenes of 2025 (SPOILERS)
3. 28 Years Later – “Chase on the Causeway”
A stunningly designed segment that culminates with some smart editing, eye-popping visuals and a thunderous score from Young Fathers, there’s some noteworthy scenes found within Danny Boyle’s high profile new addition to the 28 series but none top father Jamie and his son Spike’s daring escape from a dangerous Alpha zombie across an evolving causeway.
2. Train Dreams – “Robert Takes Flight”
After spending 100 or so minutes in the life of Joel Edgerton’s bearded logger Robert Grainier, all that has transpired before us and through his life comes forth in a few minutes of pure emotional power as Grainier takes flight in a joy ride up in the skies causing him and in turn us the viewers to look back on a life he finally feels a connection to as his eyes are opened to a life a well-lived.
1. Weapons – “Run Aunt Gladys Run!”
In the later stages of Weapons you really don’t know whether to laugh, hide or be shocked but there’s no denying that director Zach Cregger provides us with one of the wildest and out there finales this side of There Will be Blood, Enemy or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As the devilishly evil Aunt Gladys realises just what little Alex has done, getting to watch her try her best to escape a collection of mind-altered and bloodthirsty children is a sight viewers will not soon forget.
What were your favourite or least favourite films of 2025? Let me know the comments below!
This article concludes activity on the blog for 2025. Have a great holiday season and see you at the movies in 2026.
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 