The Top Ten Best Films of 2025

You know, I have to admit, 2025 has been a pretty great year for movies. Maybe I was just lucky and kept happening upon the cream of the crop but this year it’s honestly gonna be harder to pick the best movies than the worst ones. Little behind-the-scenes info here, as the year goes on, I keep a list of the films I’ve seen and make a “Best” and “Worst” shortlist going just to try and help me out at the end of the year. This year, the worst shortlist was 15 titles long, almost every title I didn’t like could be brought up in that list… the best list? 29 titles long, every single one a film I actually loved which was absolutely gleeful to watch. Half that list won’t even be printed because there’s just too many to go through and cutting it down to a top 10 has been hell… but I did it, but first we need to lay out the ground rules:

I didn’t get to see every film, despite my best efforts some slipped through the cracks. Some I avoided, and some only got released in Sydney when I just didn’t want to make the trip. I still managed to review over 82 films in 2025, which should be enough to provide a decent list.
Only films released in Australia in 2025 are going to be on this list. We’re talking mainstream releases that I could access either by VOD or my local cinema (there might be a few festival films thrown in). So if you see a film you think is from 2024, check and see when Australia got it, because that’s what I have to go with. Also, keep in mind some films that came out in 2025 in the states are slated for 2026 in Australia, so things like Song Sung Blue, Christy and Hamnet will all be eligible for next year’s lists.
Any video-on-demand movie is eligible for all lists. If they sent it out to be viewed by an audience, then they should be ready for critique.
Remember that “Best” and “Worst” really means “Film I liked the most” and “Film I disliked the most” because film is art and art is subjective, and all lists of this nature are merely using the titles that work best for the search engine and make you sound like some form of authority.
These are merely my opinions at the time I made the list and you are absolutely entitled to disagree with me for any reason; hell, I’ll probably disagree with me in a matter of months. Go nuts, make your own list in the comments or question my order or even what I had on the list. That’s fine. What’s not fine is just saying “Your list sucks” with no reason behind it. Critique is fine, but blind attacks with no justification aren’t. If you leave a comment that’s a critique, I will happily discuss it with you, but if it’s an insult… well, I’m the one with the delete button.

So let’s celebrate the 10 best films of this year. But first… the honourable mentions

Wake Up Dead Man: Rian Johnson does not miss when it comes to Knives Out movies and taking the Benoit Blanc series into a church was a great decision. I stand by saying this is my least favourite of the trilogy, but that’s just because the first two films were so insanely great that the bar is in the stratosphere. Netflix, fill the dump truck with cash and drive to Rian’s house. We need more!
The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Turns out that they can make a great Fantastic Four movie, this was possible the entire time and only took four freaking attempts over the span of several decades, but they got it, and boy was this one of the most fun theatrical experiences of the year.
The Toxic Avenger: Doing a remake of one of the most well-known low-budget underground horror movies is a wild idea in itself, but to do it with Peter Dinklage as the star is actual madness. For it to be as hilarious, twisted, bloody and insane as it was made me believe in miracles.
Mickey 17: Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up to Parasite doesn’t reach the highs of his Oscar-obliterating triumph, but it’s still insanely good. It’s also the annual reminder that Robert Pattinson is one of the best actors of his generation, and it’s still weird to say that about the sparkling guy from Twilight.
The Ugly Stepsister: Taking the story of Cinderella, focusing it on her stepsister and making one of the most pointed critiques of how far people go to achieve modern beauty standards is such a brilliant idea on its own that you are basically destined to make a good film as long as you remember to take the lens cap off the camera. The Ugly Stepsister is the kind of body horror that we deserve, genuinely unforgettable in how great it is

AND NOW, THE PROPER LIST!

10) Screamboat

…I know. I know, I’m putting the silly Mickey Mouse horror movie on the best list. I’m contributing to the issue. It’s me, Hi, I’m the problem, it’s me, but you don’t get it, Screamboat is a fucking masterclass in taking a dumb as shit idea and executing it perfectly. Is Screamboat a trashy silly slasher that takes a beloved piece of children’s iconography and violates it just for fun? Yes, and it’s the best version of that you could hope for.

If Blood and Honey 2 is proof that you can actually make these kids characters work in a horror setting, Screamboat proves that you can have fun doing it. Some of the most gloriously silly kills in cinema, a performance by David Howard Thornton that cements him as a horror icon who should just be thrown into any horror film that has space for him and the best use of the Staten Island Ferry in a film EVER, Screamboat delivers on the promise of Public Domain Horror by being stupid fun and playing with the new toys in glorious absurd fashion.

Yes, I’m being dead serious, LET ME HAVE THIS ONE!

9) Good Boy

Making a film is hard at the best of times, but it’s even harder when your lead actor could, at any second, run off to bark at the mailman or sniff its co-star’s butt. Good Boy would probably be the film on this list that was the hardest to make, but it doesn’t show it. A visual masterpiece that takes advantage of high-contrast colours to help bolster its spooky story, the film’s not-so-secret weapon is the good boy at the centre of the film, who has the most emotive face of any actor in film this year. For the film to be actually scary is a minor miracle, but it is because you really believe this dog is in danger and they sell every single emotion they’re asked to do. It’s such a clever idea that’s so well executed that it’s stunning that it even exists.

8) Weapons

The horror epic of the year, Weapons is one of those mysteries that continually surprises with every new revelation. Every character is so incredibly well defined, every single scare has you on the edge of your seat and every shot is just truly stunning. This was created by the same team that brought us Barbarian, and while Barbarian may be the better film, this is still remarkable in its quality. It’s also responsible for possibly the best villain performance of the year by Amy Madigan whose creation of Gladys is so instantly iconic that there’s already talk of her getting her own movie, and she’s a frontrunner in awards conversations for a goddamn reason.

7) Sinners

There were cultural phenomena this year, and then there was Sinners. Sinners was important, it was a moment, it was Ryan Coogler flexing after making several blockbusters just to remind people why he’s one of the best modern filmmakers in the industry. With a career-best performance by Michael B Jordan, some of the best original music ever put into a horror film and more unnerving scares than you can begin to count, Sinners earned its spot as a benchmark of what 2025 horror cinema could offer to people. You either loved this film or you didn’t go see it, there was no real in-between. If you see a best list that doesn’t include Sinners at some point, that list is invalid. The fact that it’s number 7 on the list is a testament to how good this year was for cinema.

..the fact it’s only 3 spots above Screamboat is a testament to the fact that I’m fucking stupid, but at least I admit it!

6) Thunderbolts

Marvel has been having one hell of a hard time ever since Endgame. Part of that was just the impact of the pandemic, that thing threw everybody for a loop, but it really threw off Marvel, which had to push back and adjust their plans for an overarching franchise that needed regular releases to keep in the public consciousness. Part of it was that their original plan to have this new era revolve around Kang the Conqueror blew up in their faces when the actor they hired kind of destroyed his career in front of everyone, and part of it was that they just kept making films no one wanted to see… Thunderbolts is one of the best things Marvel has ever made and the fact that it underperformed at the box office is a travesty.

Not only does this have one of the most fun casts in the Marvel Cinematic universe, but the main villain being the concept of depression is wonderfully used to help us dive into the heads of these characters. Its action scenes are incredible, the performances are perfect and it’s just one hell of a great time. If the MCU can keep making stuff at this level, they might just bounce back stronger than ever.

5) The Day The Earth Blew Up

You were never meant to see this movie. This film was going to become lost media, a fully completed Looney Tunes movie was almost a non-entity because Zaslav is a moron who hates cartoons. Instead, The Day The Earth Blew Up got a theatrical release (thanks Ketchup Entertainment) and became such a critical darling that it saved the almost deleted Coyote VS Acme.

The Day The Earth Blew Up is a truly hilarious slice of Daffy and Porky zaniness delivered in bright, beautiful colours that blends the fun of an over-the-top sci-fi action blockbuster with the “Throw everything at the wall to see what sticks” lunacy of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. It’s proof that these classic characters are still hilarious, can still work even in modern times without having to compromise anything… basically, this is the Anti-Space Jam 2 movie that we desperately needed and hopefully we get so many more of these (Netflix, if all goes according to plan, you’re about to own this company so don’t fuck this up!)

4) The Long Walk

Adapting Stephen King novels has to be one of the most thankless tasks in the industry. You’re either destined to make something truly great or truly awful and you have to deal with his inability to write an ending, plus so many films have been made based on his works that you will inevitably get lost in the shuffle… The Long Walk is not one of those films, The Long Walk is a brutal shocker that makes it clear how serious it is by taking the cute kid from Jojo Rabbit and shooting him in the fucking face before the 10-minute mark. It is unrelenting, the sound of soldiers counting down until they fire another shot will have you curling up in anticipation. A person dies because they couldn’t stop shitting and it’s devastating. The Long Walk never stops, it never lets up and until the final seconds it has you underneath its well-worn boot where you belong.

3) Final Destination: Bloodlines

Final Destination, as a franchise, has been dormant since 2011. It was never really a critical darling of a franchise, but it made money and horror fans enjoyed it. It eventually stopped being worth it for the company, so they stopped making them for 14 years… and then they came back with a vengeance and created the best film in the franchise. Taking the core concept of the franchise and basically answering an internet joke of “Well, if Death is coming after the survivors, what if one of them starts a family, huh?”, and the answer ends up being “Well fuck that family then”. Darkly hilarious, filled with some of the most glorious silly kills that the franchise has (which really says something about this franchise) and a truly beautiful send-off for Tony Todd. It’s been a recent trend for horror franchises to revive themselves and sometimes you get slop (one of which will be on the worst list), sometimes you get something great like Final Destination: Bloodlines.

2) Superman

Superman has always been a big blue Boy Scout, that’s his thing. He’s the kind of character who would stop on the way to preventing a crime just to help a cat out of a tree, a big, warm-hearted hero who just wants to do the right thing. James Gunn understands this element of the character better than most and has made one of the greatest Superman films ever made. Chock full of genuinely great performances and action scenes, every minute of the film just puts a big, stupid smile on the face of anyone enjoying it.

This film lets Superman just be a pure hero, no caveats, no explanation, no bullshit cynicism, just a super man trying to do good. Then there’s Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, a performance that might be the best version of the character that we’ve seen in ages, possibly ever. There’s a real sense of joy and hope in this film, it wants to inspire people to be the best that they can be and the fact of the matter is that we needed a Superman like this.

Also, Krypto is just the best boy, even if he is a dumb mutt.

1) Kpop Demon Hunters

This year was a great year for animated movies, so many genuinely amazing works of art… Kpop Demon Hunters was easily the best of them all, it’s not even a contest. On every possible metric, Kpop Demon Hunters is as close to a perfect movie as you could hope for. The incredible animation that blends about five different styles, the creative designs that have inspired a million cosplay artists and the music that has overtaken the Billboard charts are just some of the reasons that this film just dominated this year. It’s an absolute masterpiece, the kind of film that we don’t get to see that often but when it somehow gets released, it needs to be seen by everyone.

Kpop Demon Hunters not only showed how truly fantastic an animated movie can look but it undoubtedly created a whole bunch of new Kpop fans thanks to its insanely catchy soundtrack. Every single song is a banger, all wonderfully performed by an incredible set of singers who deserve all the accolades. It’s the kind of film you just want to see succeed, a unique and wonderfully well-made film that stands out in a particularly great year for cinema. In a time when it feels like the concept of diversity itself is being forcibly destroyed by fascist fuckwads, it’s just lovely to see a film like Kpop Demon Hunters being a big glorious hit.

And that was what I believe to be the best films of the year, tomorrow it’ll be time for the worst list!