My top movies and performances of 2025 (Part 2)

Back at it! You can read the first part of my year-end list here, in case you missed it.

What follows is more honorable mentions, my Top 5 movies of 2025, and my favorite acting performances of last year. And to get in on the ground floor, some way-too-early frontrunners for 2026 include Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and Hoppers. (Full Hoppers review likely forthcoming next week.)

Honorable Mention: The Secret Agent

Last time, I talked about how I wasn't as enamored with The Secret Agent as most seemed to be, but after revisiting it, I have to say that it really clicked for me. This is a movie, maybe more than any other this year, that really "unlocks" after a second viewing – especially once you fully understand the tone of the film, the zigs and zags, and that the movie isn't actually about the (loose) plot of the movie. I have to apologize to The Secret Agent. I wasn't familiar with your game.

No. 5: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

The Knives Out films are delightful, irresistible fun, and I'm thrilled that both Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig seem all in on giving us a new one every few years for the foreseeable future. A fun aspect of the third installment in the franchise is how the movie entirely belongs to Josh O'Connor, with Benoit Blanc largely along for the ride. (In fact, Blanc shows up so deep into this movie that I hope his increasing lateness to the party becomes a runner going forward.) Wake Up Dead Man got short shrift in awards season, largely due to Netflix being terrified to give most movies theatrical runs and FYC pushes, but I'll be revisiting this one often in the future.

No. 4: Marty Supreme

Timothée Chalamet is one of my absolute favorite living actors. He's done incredible work, and is clearly the finest actor of his generation. (Nicholas Hoult being the finest actor of the previous generation, of course.) The Safdies offered very different films in 2025 after their "split," and while I enjoyed both of them, there's simply no denying that Marty Supreme is something really special. (Entirely lifted Look Who's Talking credit sequence aside.) This movie is thrilling, hilarious, excruciating and inspiring at different turns, and while I am side-eyeing Safdie casting multiple billionaires in roles here, there wasn't anything else in 2025 quite like Marty Supreme. There isn't much like it, period.

No. 3: The Phoenician Scheme

My favorite filmmaker has done it again. Wes Anderson delivers yet another exquisite gem of craft, wordplay, manners, schemes and design, plunging us headlong into an alternate past in an alternate land, and pairs him with Benicio del Toro for only the second time (after The French Dispatch), who shines when delivering Anderson's dialogue. Between Asteroid City, The Phoenician Scheme and his (Academy Award-winning) Roald Dahl shorts, we're in the middle of a new Wes Anderson renaissance – even more impressive considering he never fell off in the first place.

No. 2: Sinners

Read all my thoughts of my No. 2 and No. 1 movies of the year right here!

No. 1: One Battle After Another

On any given day, it's possible that my No. 2 and my No. 1 of last year could flip spots, but for the time being, I'm officially putting PTA's opus down as my favorite movie of 2025. He's had many masterpieces before this one and will have many after, but it's hard to find any faults with this one.

Other Honorable Mentions

Some more films that are worthy of a shout-out and a watch (linked where I wrote about them):

• Train Dreams (just barely missed my Top 10 and I absolutely loved it, as did most who saw it)
• Jay Kelly (just barely missed my Top 10 and I absolutely loved it, unlike most people for reasons that I cannot fathom)
• The Naked Gun
• Sorry, Baby – what a performance and what a script
• Die My Love – a movie that most people will understandably hate
• Hamnet – great but relies entirely on Jessie Buckley (whom I love) and Jacobi Jupe, who might have delivered the best child acting performance of all time

My Favorite Supporting Actor Performances of 2025

1. Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
2. Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
3. Jacobi Jupe, Hamnet
4. William H. Macy, Train Dreams
5. Delroy Lindo, Sinners
6. Michael Cera, The Phoenician Scheme

My Favorite Supporting Actress Performances of 2025

1. Hailee Steinfeld, Sinners
2. Glenn Close, Wake Up Dead Man
3. Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
4. Mariam Afshari, It Was Just an Accident
5. Regina Hall, One Battle After Another

My Favorite Lead Actress Performances of 2025

1. Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
2. Susan Chardy, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
3. Jennifer Lawrence, Die My Love
4. Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby
5. Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
6. Kirsten Dunst, Roofman
7. Pamela Anderson, The Naked Gun
8. Son Yi-jin, No Other Choice

My Favorite Lead Actor Performances of 2025

1. Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
2. Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
3. Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
4. Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine
5. Jesse Plemons, Bugonia
6. Josh O'Connor, Wake Up Dead Man/The Mastermind
7. Benicio del Toro, The Phoenician Scheme
8. Lee Byung-hun, No Other Choice