Film Babble Blog's Top 10 Films Of 2025

For most of the last 12 months, I thought of 2025 as a very weird year for film. There were a lot of high-profile flops including one what’s being considered a front runner for the Best Picture Oscar, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, but also movies like the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and TRON sequels, and the SNOW WHITE and THE RUNNING MAN remakes, while flicks that looked like they might be soulless, cash-grabbing reboots like SUPERMAN, and THE NAKED GUN turned out to be decent crowd-pleasers.

But when it came to the last few months while catching up with many of the year’s releases, which were way less mainstream than those mentioned above, I started thinking of 2025 as a very good, and challenging year for film. There were great political thrillers, moving dramas whether personal or historical (or both), and three films that made my list that had characters named Agnes.

While there are still a number of films I haven’t seen (there always are; you can’t see everything), it’s time to post my personal Top 10 of the year, six of which are Best Picture nominees. So here goes the countdown:

10. NO OTHER CHOICE (Dir. Park Chan-wook)

Nominated for the Best International Film Oscar, this South Korean black comedy, which I've seen some online commentator liken to a mash-up of PARASITE and A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM is as compelling as it is wickedly amusing from start to finish. 

9. SORRY, BABY (Dir. Eva Victor)

Eva Victor’s impressive directorial debut, which she wrote and stars in, delivers a darkly quirky take on trauma. Victor as a New England graduate student Agnes, who is sexually assaulted by a professor, puts in a genuine, lived-in performance, and her scenes with her best friend Lydie (an also appealing Naomi Ackie) have an affecting warmth. It’s a shame Academy voters didn’t give SORRY, BABY some love.

8. IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (Dir. Jafar Panahi)

Made by an filmmaker who’s been imprisoned for creating what the Iranian government considered “propaganda against the regime,” this edgy thriller about a group of former political prisoners, who are caught up in the dilemma of thinking they’ve caught their torturer, but aren’t completely certain. Secretly shot in Iran, Jafar Panahi’s weighty materiual here is definitely worthy of both its Best International Film Oscar nom, as well as for Best Screenplay.

7. SINNERS (Dir. Ryan Coogler)

Receiving a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, Ryan Cooglar’s supernatural thriller SINNERS made for a better, more thoughtful, though equally twisted, take on the FROM DUSK TO DAWN scenario mixed with the CROSSROADS deal with the devil deal to great impact. As it was a big office hit with great critical acclaim, it’s due to take home quite a bit of gold on March 15. He has some stiff competition (DiCaprio, Chalamet) in the Best Acting category, but for his killer double turn as the Smokestack Twins, Michael B. Jordan could pull off an upset.

6. THE SECRET AGENT (Dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho)

This thoroughly engaging political thriller - yes, another political thriller - got four Academy Award noms last week, for both Best Picture, and Best International Feature Film then Best Actor for Wagner Moura, and in the new category of Best Casting. Set in 1977 during the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship, the film features Moura as a research scientist on the run from hitman as he attempts to flee the country with his son. 

5. HAMNET (Dir. Chloé Zhao)

The absolute antithesis of John Madden’s 1998 historical rom com SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (which won seven Oscars!), this emotionally-driven adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name is a haunting experience, especially in its heart-wrenching last third. Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley star as William and Agnes Shakespeare, with the film focusing on the birth of their children, and subsequent death of their son Hamnet at age 11. The channeling of this tragedy into art, as seen through Agnes’ reaction is stirringly transcendent, and I believe Buckley should be handed the Best Actress statue for her performance. HAMNET got eight Oscar noms (including Best Picture) so here's hoping that happens.

4. TIE: BLUE MOON / NOUVELLE VAGUE (Dir. Richard Linklater)

This may seem like a cheat, but I truly equally enjoyed Richard Linklater's two period piece offerings this last year, and am especially glad that Ethan Hawke got nominated for his terrific turn as famed lyricist/songwriter Lorenz Hart though I doubt he'll win. The Broadway BLUE MOON concerns Hart on the opening night of his former writing partner Richard Rodgers’ musical Oklahoma! in 1943, while NOUVELLE VAGUE is about the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic BREATHLESS in 1959. Both films are loving, and ultra charming tributes to innovative artists, and their eras, and both should not be missed.

3. SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Dir. Joachim Trier)

Joachim Trier’s touching drama about an acclaimed filmmaker portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård hoping to reconnect with his daughters, Nora (Renate Reinsve), and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) via a new film project that he wants Nora to star in. Elle Fanning, who got one of the film’s nine nominations, appears as an American actress who takes on the role when Nora refuses. Like HAMNET it explores handling tragic loss through artistic expression, but in a vastly different manner. Trier's work has artsy elements but handles them unpretentiously, and with an absorbing elegance. 

2. TRAIN DREAMS (Dir. Clint Bentley)

This is absolutely the best film I’ve ever seen about grief, which, I have to admit, I really didn’t understand until losing my father last April. In Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, Joel Edgerton plays Idaho logger and railroad worker Robert Grainier, who loses his wife (Felicity Jones), and child in a forest fire and has to navigate through a lonely existence. Evocatively ghosty, with unforgettable vivid imagery, TRAIN DREAMS definitely got to me, and here's hoping more folks seek it out on Netflix.

1. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

(Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

While it underperformed at the box office, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1oth feature is one of the most acclaimed movies of 2025, and I’m among the many who have praised it as I voted for it for Best Picture in the year-end poll for the North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA). Leonardo DiCaprio as a burned-out ex revolutionary heads the strong cast including Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, and a crusty AF Sean Penn as the scary Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in this twisted chaotic and comic action thriller that finds Anderson at the top of its game. With 13 noms, it's second in nominations to SINNERS, but I’m pulling for it to take home the big ones. With nearly a dozen noms but no wins, it really feels with this extraordinary piece of work like it’s finally PTA’s time.

Now, I’ll leave you with this hilarious commercial parody, featuring host Teyana Taylor, from last weekend's Saturday Night Live for a line of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER action figures new from Mattel:

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The New Springsteen Biopic: Flawed, Downbeat, But Still Delivers

 Now playing at a multiplex near everybody:

SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE
(Dir. Scott Cooper, 2025)

 

Like James Mangold’s A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, Scott Cooper’s new Bruce Springsteen drama is a specific biopic, centering on a crucial period instead of a full career overview. Based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book of the same name, the narrative concerns the making of the Boss’s classic 1982 album, Nebraska, which was a departure for the artist; a spare, haunting acoustic album that was in a different world from the radio hits, and arena anthems, which had previously dominated his discography.

 

Jeremy Allen White (Shameless, The Bear) fills Springsteen’s shoes admirably, giving an intensely troubled performance as a man who, as Bruce would say is “livin’ in his own skin, and can’t stand the company.” After coming off a huge stadium tour for his best-selling double album, The River, which yielded his first top 10 single “Hungry Heart,” the musician finds himself wanting to explore a different direction.

That involved recording some spare demos on a crude four-track cassette recorder in a rented house in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey, where he tells engineer Mike Batlan (Paul Hauser), “It doesn’t have to be perfect, I want it to feel like I’m in the room by myself.” Meanwhile, Springsteen’s stoical manager, Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong), fends off CBS Records exec Al Teller (David Krumholtz), who wants something more commercial as the singer-songwriter is on the verge of superstardom.

 

Interspersed throughout the movie are black and white flashbacks depicting Springsteen’s father Douglas (Stephen Graham), abusing him, and his mother, Adele (Gaby Hoffmann), which inform our protagonist’s writing as does a book of Flannery O’Conner’s work, and, more importantly, his coming across Terrence Mallick’s 1973 crime classic BADLANDS on TV. This inspired Nebraska’s title track, told in the voice of serial killer, Charles Starkweather, while the record’s other songs illustrated the desperate musings of a cast of guilt-ridden outsiders fighting interpersonal demons.

 

The biggest liberty that Cooper’s screenplay takes with Springsteen’s story is the addition of a fictitious girlfriend, Faye Romano, played by Odessa Young. As a Jersey Girl, who is a single mother working as a waitress in a diner named Frankie’s, Faye seems like should could’ve been a subject of one the Boss’s ‘70s songs, and Young puts in an affecting turn as the fan turned love interest on the side, but I’m not sure it was a necessary element in this scenario. Yet the couple’s scenes did get to me a bit emotionally (yeah, I teared up a few times) so I’m not complaining. Word is that the character is a composite based on a few women that the real Boss admits now that he ghosted at the time.

 

As a musical biopic largely dealing with depression over daddy issues, this lowkey, downbeat treatise is more like Bill Pohlad’s 2014 Brian Wilson biopic, LOVE AND MERCY, than it is like A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. Despite a few loud concert scenes, it’s mostly a downbeat, introspective affair, much like the album it centers on, with some of its best moments being about Springsteen’s friendship with Landau.

White’s immersion into the character isn’t as invested, and surprising as Timothy Chamalet’s turn as Dylan last year (or as Oscar-worthy), but he’s pretty damn convincing nevertheless as he consistently nails the nuances of the legendary musician, and his vocals on a bunch of the Boss’s very well known (and very well worn) iconic tunes.

 

While the soundtrack is mostly made of White’s vocals, Springsteen’s can be heard a number of times throughout the film, but, even as a big fan, there were times I wasn’t sure who I was hearing at times, which means for me, they really pulled off the conceit.

I bet other, more hardcore fans may be less impressed, but, while it has some over simplistic dialogue, a few predictable story beats, and some cringy clichés (though of the sort that are unavoidable in biopic formulas); DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE is overall a stirringly poignant portrait of an incredible (and incredibly sensitive) artist at the crossroads of fame, and finding oneself.

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SPINAL TAP II: Fairly Funny But No Instant Comedy Classic

SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES
(Dir. Rob Reiner, 2025)

Okay, let’s get this out of the way. I haven’t even looked at other reviews yet, but I know many of them are going to address whether or not this movie goes to 11. Of course, this refers to the famous scene in the 1984 comedy masterpiece, THIS IS SPINAL TAP, in which lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) explains that his amplifier’s volume knob goes one louder than most amps. So, I’ll say upfront that, no, the new sequel, SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES, doesn’t go to 11, but it’s a solid seven. 

 

Reprising his role as filmmaker Marty Di Bergi, Rob Reiner brings us up to date on the career of Spinal Tap in the 40 years since the original as Britain’s loudest band is lured out of retirement for one last concert, a contractual obligation to their deceased manager Ian Faith (played in the first film by Tony Hendra, who passed in 2021). While the band had performed some high-profile gigs – Wembley Stadium, Royal Albert Hall, and Glastonbury (these were real concerts) in the following decades, they had a falling out, and haven’t spoken in 15 years.

 

In the meantime, David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) composed instrumentals for podcasts and for telephone hold music; Nigel Tufnel runs a cheese and guitar shop with his girlfriend Moira (Nina Conti), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) curates a glue museum. There’s friction when the three re-unite for their show at New Orleans’ Lakefront Arena, which continues into their rehearsals that make up the bulk of the film.

 

That’s what there is of the plot, but is it funny? Well, yes, though I mildly chuckled more than laughed out loud. Most of the proceedings left me with a smirk as Reiner, who co-wrote with Guest, McKean, and Shearer reassemble many of the beats from the original, and catch us up with what happened to a number of their supporting players, including Fran Drescher as Bobbie Flekman, Paul Shaffer as Artie Fufkin, and June Chadwick as St. Hubbins’ ex-wife, Jeanine Pettibone.

As I’ve been a huge fan since seeing THIS IS SPINAL TAP on opening night at the Varsity Theater in Chapel Hill in 1984, I had fun seeing these people again, and had a warm, fuzzy feeling when lines landed, but also felt some cringe when things were more awkward than amusing.

One thread that didn’t exactly kill was the new character of concert promoter Simon Howler (Chris Addison), who is clinically unable to appreciate music. This premise doesn’t pay off, and the conclusion to the character’s screen-time is far from satisfying. Spinal Tap’s young new drummer, Didi Crockett (Valerie Franco) is affably spunky but also doesn’t fare as very funny, but they didn’t give her much to do except when it comes to the climatic concert sequence. 

Faring better are cameos, as a scene featuring Sir Paul McCartney joining Spinal Tap in the studio for a rendition of their faux ‘60s song, “Cups and Cakes.” St. Hubbins’ reaction afterward is hilarious as he feels the famous former Beatle has a “toxic personality.”  Elton John’s appearance isn’t as funny, but he brings it onstage for the big “Stonehenge” finale where they finally have the right size dimensions for the stage prop.

As a fairly funny film, SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES does continue the vibe of its predecessor, but it’s a little too loose and lazy to come anywhere close to the original’s comedy classic status. Mileage will vary on how big a fan of the fake band one is, as so much of the sequel relies on how well one knows what went down the first time.

I liked, but didn’t love what Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer did here, but it’s still better than I expected. It’s great that this and the NAKED GUN reboot (which honestly is much funnier), are showing that comedy can make a comeback to the movies, so here’s hoping that’s what will really continue.

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