Best 2025 Movies Watched
Holy hell this year was a wild ride! Like, in 2024 I was kinda underwhelmed cuz even my top 12 didn't make me quite happy BUT 2025 doesn't quench me even with the top 15; so many good films.
Also looking at the upcoming releases, 2026 is gonna be even more exciting!
Let’s dive into it then.
Eddington
Unstable men are dangerous; both to the society, and as it goes, to themselves. Taking the environment and chaos of the covid epidemic and embedding this whole chaotic-story-in-itself into this was a good plan that paid off. Add some puritanical s*** to it? Hell yeah. Nevertheless, not enough chaos as per Ari Aster standards I'd say hehe.
After the Hunt
Unstable women are dangerous; antiquated love fuels the worst sort of vengeance. I loved the fact that this film used so much philosophical and heavy language. The film's about the repercussions of being a confidant. And It's terrifying and saddening, how we harm the people the most, the ones we love(d) the absolute most.
Blue Moon
This is the most boring film I've watched this year. Also the film I took the most screenshots of, of the dialogue, cuz the writing was so freaking good. Drunk with beauty.
Train Dreams
This is the film that made me feel the most this year. The loss. The perpetual unacceptance. The endless wait. The fading hope. The everlasting misery. The unending haunting.
The Life of Chuck
His parents died when he was a child. His grandmother was a person full of enthusiasm. His grandfather, an accountant. He imbibed his grandmother's zeal and danced. His grandfather, convinced him to do maths. So he took accountancy as profession. Dreams forsaken.
Years later. He was walking by the road. He heard the music. His body started moving. He amazed everyone around him. Life, came back to him. The memories, the absolute genius of a dancer he was in his childhood.
Bring the art back into your everyday living. “I will live my life until my life runs out," man I love this film so much.
Marty Supreme
Take that one win for yourself.
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This is the best expectations subversion film I've watched. It was good man the sequences, the interactions, the actions and reactions. The bad decisions, the life alterations. The consequences you face because of being an a****le. The grit was real but bro applied most of it in the wrong places. This is what happens when you've got a lot of energy but you don't read…philosophy. Yeah I'm gonna go with that haha.
Sorry, Baby
A film about grape. Explicitly deals with the aftermath, and how the victim goes through everything. At the end, the final monologue, when she's telling an innocent and loved child, that even though she'll have a wonderful childhood, she'll face a whole lot of negative things when she grows up, is both sad and surreal. The beautiful things in life are always overshadowed by something unhinged and dark.
Black Bag
This is a thrilling quasi-espionage quasi-marriage story. It's really captivating how everything moves forward, which is hard to find nowadays. What's surprising is among so many films which bring relationships down asunder, this film actually makes it work amid all the havoc and the unlikeliness of it being intact.
Frankenstein
Best visuals of the year? I believe so. Also had some of the best lines. The duality of Victor's father in loving his children, the fact that he treated his wife just as a tool and got rid of her when she wasn't needed anymore; Victor himself becoming a terrible father. Showing us that Victor's father was a monster, and that he had the monstrosity in his genes. Even though he wasn't that bad, he was corrupt enough. Shape of Water was on point but I've sorta had it with Del Toro’s obsession of female affection towards monsters cuz at the very least Elizabeth's curiosity towards The Creature was pretty much nonsensical. And The Creature’s tale, it was indeed magnificent. Even though I loved the foundation more.
Dreams
An illegal Mexican guy breaks up with an aristocratic American female. He makes a living for himself. The American spitefully gets him deported, ruining everything he has built. But, she still loves him dearly so she goes to Mexico to live with him. Eventually she tells him what she did. Enraged, he locks her in the apartment. Welp, at the end she gets out and he is beaten to a pulp. And now she doesn't feel anything for him and this doesn't affect her at all, but the Mexican, all his dreams, decimated.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The grief stricken family from Netayem’s death. The quarrels, the harsh words, the internal conflict in this film. This is what is slightly different from the previous two films. Apart from that a whole lot of stuff felt like rehashes from the previous ones. Too much bland action in this. The Spider sacrificial scene was probably the best one. Making Loak’s whole character confined to one particular angle…idk about that. Hope his character is broadened in the next one. Spider's development was better, which I half-expected. They really oversimplified the Eywa stuff and now it doesn't pique curiosity anymore. Nevertheless, it still is a majestic film.
One Battle After Another
The final car sequence, one of the most exhilarating, breathtaking, anxiety-inducing scenes I've ever seen. I would've appreciated the movie more if it had a bit more of a serious tone to it. That said, the humor was really good. The political themes touched is extremely pertinent in this era and the way they are dealt with is magnificent. In American contexts this film would've been #1 but Bangladeshe boisha pichhei rakhlam.
Lurker
This film was hard to watch. Really bad cinematography and stuff. But boy the story was crazy good. It's about social ladders, something taken too lightly. The loner guy messing up the cool guy, lurking like that.
The loneliness, the way sad eyes turn into dead eyes, again the loneliness. It's an underrated gem.
Bugonia
Very disturbing film, as Lanthimos films go. But the gruesomeness actually forces you to think about stuff. The Frankenstein monstrosity is cute and cuddly, the Bugonia monstrosity is f***** messed up. Spoiler: seshe sobai moira jay.
Wake Up Dead Man
I absolutely adore the fact that the theme is the church. Every year needs a vigorous film with overarching religious themes. Last year had Covenant, the year before had Are You There God? It's Me Margaret and this year this. The themes of kindness were so good. And the horror shades added much to the film.
Honorable Mention: Sinners
A fantastic vampire film with amazing musical themes. Good action, feelings of transcendence. I see why so many people chose this to be their #1. But for me the story falls short in that regard. It’s an increasingly enjoyable film tho. Both Stack and Smoke were heavily interesting in character. The unshakenness, the love. Best camera work this year? Perhaps so. Sammie not giving up the guitar at the end gave me goosebumps.
This year I'm not happy with the #1 though. I mean, last year Dune II was the absolute best no doubt, the year before Oppenheimer was the absolute best. Before that? I'd be content with TAR or Aftersun. But this year I don't have an absolute best. A whole lot of films in this list can compete for the first place and I'd allow it.
