Top 10: My favourite films of 2025
It’s the last day of 2025 (How?! Already?!) so you know what time it is! It’s time for the roundup of my favourite films.
It’s been a good year for movies and I saw more than 200 films that were released in the UK this year.
So without further ado, here are my picks:
I know a lot of people who consider Paul Thomas Anderson‘s latest to be a masterpiece or the film of the year. I wouldn’t go that far, but it does make the top 10. The highlights are the gripping car chase at the end, Chase Infiniti being a star, Leonardo DiCaprio being hilarious (that rooftop sequence is brilliant), and Benicio del Toro doing whatever the heck he’s doing as the too-cool-for-school sensei. It’s very good, but a bit overhyped at this point.
This is a quiet, slow-burning Dutch film where what’s left unsaid speaks volumes. It follows a tennis player at an elite academy who decides to keep quiet when her head coach is suspended pending an investigation over alleged misconduct. I was absolutely hooked by this indie, which has sadly flown under the radar.
Eva Victor‘s directorial debut has appeared on many ‘best-of’ lists and deservedly so. It’s a gorgeous film that manages to be both darkly funny and heartbreaking. The film spans several years and follows literature student-turned-professor Agnes as she tries to forge ahead with her life after being sexually assaulted. The friendship between Agnes and Naomi Ackie‘s Lydie is beautiful.
This has to be one of the feel-good films of the year. If you need a pick-me-up, look no further than this wonderful charmer. It stars Tim Key as a lottery winner who pays his favourite folk duo (which has long been broken up, professionally and personally) to come to his island to perform a private concert. Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan are on delightful form here.
KPop Demon Hunters
This animation dropped on Netflix with little fanfare back in June and soon became an absolute phenomenon, with the film and soundtrack being on regular rotation in family homes. I love the visuals, the character design, its sense of humour, but most importantly, the songs. This has a killer soundtrack and I cannot stop listening to Golden and This Is What It Sounds Like. This is the only film on my list that I’ve seen more than twice. Love it.
Train Dreams
Well, this film emotionally destroyed me. If I had to rate films on the amount of tears I shed, this would be number one. It’s slow and quiet and won’t be for everyone, but it tells a heartbreaking story that really creeps up on you and has you clutching for the tissues. Joel Edgerton would be my choice for the Best Actor Oscar because his performance as a logger dealing with unimaginable loss is just stunning.
I wasn’t sure if I Swear would be my cup of tea, but I adored it. Robert Aramayo rightfully won the British Independent Film Award (BIFA) for his extraordinary performance as Tourette’s Syndrome campaigner John Davidson. He is SO convincing. The film is sad in places, but it’s really funny too, and Maxine Peake is wonderful as John’s second mother figure. Everybody should see I Swear and have more awareness and compassion for those with Tourette’s.
Guillermo del Toro‘s take on Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic horror is a cinematic spectacle. It’s so beautiful to look at and I was just in awe of the epic scale, the practical filmmaking, the sets, the production design. I expect it to do big business in the technical categories this award season! This is easily Jacob Elordi‘s best work yet, and he would be my pick for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He manages to give his Monster so much emotional depth under all those layers of prosthetics.
This is easily my favourite of the Emma Stone-Yorgos Lanthimos collaborations. This time around, Stone plays a pharmaceutical CEO who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien sent to destroy Earth. I enjoyed all of it, but it really steps up a gear in the final act. It’s still weird, but it’s probably the most accessible and easily entertaining film from Lanthimos. I wish Jesse Plemons was getting more attention this awards season, because this is his best performance yet. He is chilling!
This will probably surprise a lot of people because this has not made many ‘best of’ lists, let alone the top. It’s the only film I’ve given a full five stars to this year. I’ve read a lot of the mixed-to-negative reviews and I don’t agree with most of the criticism (except Madame Morrible’s voice and Jonathan Bailey‘s final look). I am a sucker for musicals, so that works in its favour, but I also love the sheer scale of it, the stunning production and costume design, not to mention Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo‘s voices and performances. I want Grande to win the Oscar for her moving role, but I don’t think it’s going to happen! Most people love part one more than this, but I’m the other way around, and I think that’s because I couldn’t remember the second half of the stage show and could judge the film on its own merits, whereas I kept comparing the first half to the stage production. I gave it a rewatch the other day to confirm my choice, and I loved it just as much as the first time. I may have cried again too.
What have been your favourites this year?