Top Ten Films (and Worst) of 2025
- Alex First
- Dec 24, 2025
- 2 min read
1 The Brutalist – The trials, tribulations and brutality of a lauded Hungarian architect who emigrates to the USA after surviving the Holocaust.
Starring: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce
2 Emilia Perez – A striking musical drama about a brutal Mexican cartel leader who has a sex change operation.
Starring: Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofia Gascon
3 One Battle After Another – With political intrigue and emotional resonance, it looks at the rise and fall of revolutionaries in the USA.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro
4 Warfare – Intense and traumatising, the film is based upon an incident that occurred in Al Qaeda controlled territory in Iran in 2006.
Featuring: Will Poulter
5 September 5 – This is the story of the terrorist attack on the 1972 Olympics from the perspective of the US TV network that covered the Games.
Featuring: Peter Sarsgaard
6 The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Claustrophobic and unrelenting comes the tale of a lawyer caught up in the authoritarian regime in Iran.
7 I’m Still Here – A naturalistic drama about a family ensnared by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for more than 20 years.
8 Conclave – Jockeying for position are cardinals summoned to the Vatican to elect a new Pope.
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow
9 Small Things Like These – An atmospheric, heartfelt elegy about a hard-working coal and fuel merchant in Ireland who exposes systemic abuse.
Starring: Cillian Murphy
10 A Complete Unknown – Bob Dylan’s rise to prominence between 1961 and 1965 as captured by Timothée Chalamet in the lead role.
NT Live feature of the year
Inter Alia The title is drawn from a Latin word meaning “among other things”. It is a highly charged drama involving the son of a UK Crown Court judge.
Starring: Rosamund Pike
Dud of the Year
HIM A sports horror film that starts out with promise and quickly descends into the
catastrophic.
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