By Bob Grimm
In general, this wasn’t a great year to be on the planet. (Don’t get me started.) But it was actually a great year for cinema.
In November, I passed the 30-year mark for “professionally” (I use that word lightly) reviewing movies. I started reviewing for the N&R when I was 27 years old and have kept it up through thick and thin and goddam Avatar movies. I swear, if anything has gotten me close to hanging it up, it’s those bloody things.
I’d rank 2025 somewhere in the top half of those 30 years for overall quality—and it was a damn fine year for horror movies in particular.
So, here they are—the best (and worst) films of 2025.
The Best
1. One Battle After Another: Paul Thomas Anderson hasn’t made a bad movie yet, and while I won’t go so far as to say this one is his best (There Will Be Blood still holds that title), One Battle After Another is 2025’s best film. The movie is as crazy as it is cool, and another example of Anderson not wasting a single frame while telling a great story. It’s time to finally give this man an Oscar.
2. Companion: The year’s most underrated, underappreciated film is a consistently fun and twisting tale of a romance gone really, really, really bad—with a fantastic twist and a stellar performance from Sophie Thatcher.
3. Hamnet: This one is a nuclear bomb to the heart. Don’t go into it thinking you are going to have a good time just because it is pretty. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal will destroy you—in a good way. A tearjerker that seriously earns the tears. Beautiful.
4. Train Dreams: Reminiscent of Terrence Malick’s best films, Train Dreams, directed by Clint Bentley, is beautifully shot, perfectly acted by Joel Edgerton, and profound. This one is also heartbreaking. I basically did a double feature with this and Hamnet. I haven’t quite recovered yet.
5. Marty Supreme: Timothee Chalamet is great in this sprawling story involving ping-pong and well-placed Tears for Fears songs. From director Josh Safdie, it’s sort of like Uncut Gems meets the ping-pong part of Forrest Gump.
6. Bring Her Back: Somebody breaks their teeth chewing on a kitchen counter in this movie—which resulted in instant placement within my Top 10! Sally Hawkins goes batshit crazy in this, and it’s a wild, uncomfortable, appropriately creepy ride.
7. Weapons: As mention before, this was a great year for horror films. This one is a solid mystery to boot—and not enough people are talking about how great Josh Brolin is in it.
8. 28 Years Later: The original amped-up, running zombies have returned in this surprisingly beautiful monster movie from director Danny Boyle. The story will continue with another sequel in 2026.
9. Sentimental Value: This Norwegian film features a top-notch cast firing on all cylinders. One of the finest ensemble casts of 2025 includes Stellan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning.
10. Frankenstein: Guillermo del Toro finally makes his Frankenstein, and it’s worth the wait. Jacob Elordi does Boris Karloff proud as the monster.
Honorable Mentions
Also scoring “excellent” on the popcorn-rating scale: Eternity, Is This Thing On?, The Life of Chuck, Stiller and Meara: Nothing Is Lost, Pavements, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, Mr. Scorsese, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
All of these films scored “very good” on the ratings scale: Sinners, Bugonia, Dangerous Animals, Dead Man’s Wire, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, No Other Choice, Friendship, The Testament of Ann Lee, Superman, Die My Love, Predator: Badlands, Caught Stealing, The Long Walk, Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Ballad of Wallis Island, John Candy: I Like Me, The Perfect Neighbor, Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man
The Worst
1. Avatar: Fire and Ash: If you dare watch this, go ahead and close your eyes for a couple of minutes, and just listen to this movie without the visuals. It sounds like a campy drama written by sixth-graders attempting to wax poetic on the environment and gun control, being presented as a radio play for the Big County Talent Festival. (First prize: PIE!) The supposed grand visuals are just repetitive nonsense at this point. This franchise is of cinema’s all time biggest grifts. Shit, I’d rather watch Michael Bay’s Transformers movies.
2. Tron: Ares: Disney tries, again, to get us to care about Tron. I don’t care about Tron. You don’t care about Tron. Nobody cares about Tron.
3. Snow White: A poorly conceived mess. It’s awful, but I will not participate in the horrible drubbing Rachel Zegler took before and during its release. She’s the only good thing in this movie.
4. The Gorge: Miles Teller had a great year with Eternity. He also had this. Eternity is so good that we will let it cancel out this dreck. Nothing like a piece o’ shit straight-to-streaming movie to keep a man humble.
5. Wolf Man: After the success of a dialed-down approach for the 2020 The Invisible Man reboot, that film’s director, Leigh Whannel, goes back to the understated well for a new take on the werewolf. A failure on all fronts.
6. Jurassic World: Rebirth: More like Regurgitate. A master class in how to make dinosaurs boring, telling the same story over and over again.
7. Captain America: Brave New World: A master class in how to make Harrison Ford turning into a giant red Hulk boring.
8. You’re Cordially Invited: I miss good Will Ferrell comedies. He needs to make up with Adam McKay.
9. Thunderbolts*: Marvel was on life support after the release of this one and that new Captain America bullshit, but it now has a little life after Fantastic Four: First Steps saved the year. There was a post-release stunt-marketing ploy calling this “The New Avengers.” No … please, no.
10. Wicked: For Good: This one made it onto a lot of Best Of lists. We have a lot of critics smoking crack out there.
The Grimmy Awards
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
Best Actress: Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Mescal (Hamnet)
Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value)
Best Actor in a Bad Movie (tie): Daniel Day-Lewis (Anemone), Joaquin Phoenix (Eddington)
Best Actress in a Bad Movie (tie): Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good)
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