The Skinny's Films of 2025: Our Writers' Top 10s

The secret’s out! The Skinny’s favourite film of the year is, erm, the same as everyone else’s: Paul Thomas Anderson’s propulsive One Battle After Another. But that was simply the consensus favourite, aggregated from ballots submitted by our excellent film writers. If you want the real juice, dig into those individual top tens where you’ll find a much wider spectrum of tastes. 

Twenty-four critics voted this year, and 103 films were championed in the individual top tens, with dozens more included in honourable mentions. Here you’ll find the wilder, weirder, less easy-to-love films that were advocated for by only a few of our critics. Films like Luca Guadagnino's provocative After the Hunt, Louise Weard’s epic DIY odyssey Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds and John Maclean’s Scottish samurai flick, Tornado. 

As ever, please do use these individual lists to seek out some of the films you might have missed, or simply scroll down to find the critics whose taste you're most on board with. Some of our writers have also put the boot in to the worst film they saw all year, and revealed their favourite rereleases of 2025. Dig in! [Jamie Dunn]

The Skinny's Films of 2025, 1-20

1. One Battle After Another (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Sinners (Dir. Ryan Coogler)
3. Die My Love (Dir. Lynne Ramsay) 
4. Sorry, Baby (Dir. Eva Victor)
5. Nickel Boys (Dir. RaMell Ross)
6. The Mastermind (Dir. Kelly Reichardt)
7. Sentimental Value (Dir. Joachim Trier)
8. Hard Truths (Dir. Mike Leigh)
9. The Brutalist (Dir. Brady Corbet)
10. It Was Just an Accident (Dir. Jafar Panahi)
11. On Falling (Dir. Laura Carreira)
12. Flow (Dir. Gints Zilbalodis)
13. Friendship (Dir. Andrew DeYoung)
14. Cloud (Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
15. Oslo Stories: Dreams (Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud)
16. The Naked Gun (Dir. Akiva Schaffer)
17. Pillion (Dir. Harry Lighton)
18. Black Bag (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
19. 28 Years Later (Dir. Danny Boyle)
20. Little Trouble Girls (Dir. Urška Djukić)

The Skinny's Film Writers' Individual Ballots

Flow

Nathaniel Ashley
1. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
2. A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg)
3. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
4. Superman (James Gunn)
5. The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths)
6. Nosferatu (Robert Eggers)
7. The Order (Justin Kurzel)
8. Better Man (Michael Gracey)
9. The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
10. Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)

Stinker of the year: The Thursday Murder Club (Chris Columbus)

Anahit Behrooz
1. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
2. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
3. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
4. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
5. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof)
6. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
7. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
8. Cover-Up (Mark Obenhaus, Laura Poitras)
9. Babygirl (Halina Reijn)
10. Oslo Stories Trilogy: Dreams (Dag Johan Haugerud)

Heather Bradshaw
1. Pillion (Harry Lighton)
2. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
3. On Falling (Laura Carreira)
4. Friendship (Andrew DeYoung)
5. Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot)
6. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
7. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
8. Sister Midnight (Karan Kandhari)
9. Babygirl (Halina Reijn)
10. The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn)

Honourable mentions: The Brutalist (Brady Corbet), The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths), Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (Michael Morris) – "they saved the franchise!!!"

Rerelease of the year: The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)

Stinker of the year: Christmas Karma (Gurinder Chadha)

Louis Cammell
1. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
2. Palestine 36 (Annemarie Jacir)
3. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
4. 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
5. Islands (Jan Ole Gerster)
6. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
7. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
8. Superman (James Gunn)
9. The Marching Band (Emmanuel Courcol)
10. Pillion (Harry Lighton)

Honourable mentions: Oslo Stories Trilogy: Dreams (Dag Johan Haugerud)

Rerelease of the year: Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1971)

Stinker of the year: The Long Walk (Francis Lawrence)

The Girl with the Needle

Eleanor Capaldi
1. The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn)
2. The Last Showgirl (Gia Coppola)
3. Holy Cow (Louise Courvoisier)
4. Little Trouble Girls (Urška Djukić)
5. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
6. Souleymane's Story (Boris Lojkine)
7. Brides (Nadia Fall)
8. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
9. Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story (Sinéad O'Shea)
10. Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)

Honourable mentions: Elio (Adrian Molina, Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian), On Falling (Laura Carreira), Lollipop (Daisy May-Hudson), Plainclothes (Carmen Emmi), Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)

Philip Concannon
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Measures for a Funeral (Sofia Bohdanowicz)
3. Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra)
4. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
5. Young Mothers (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
6. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
7. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
8. Roofman (Derek Cianfrance)
9. Oslo Stories: Dreams (Dag Johan Haugerud)
10. Highest 2 Lowest (Spike Lee)

Honourable mentions: Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhang-ke), Direct Action (Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell), Henry Johnson (David Mamet), The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof), Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan)

Rereleases of the Year: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1976), The House of Mirth (Terence Davies, 2000), Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1961)

Stinker of the year: The Alto Knights (Barry Levinson)

It Was Just an Accident

Joe Creely
1. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
2. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
3. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
4. Kontinental ’25 (Radu Jude)
5. The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
6. Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
7. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
8. On Falling (Laura Carreira)
9. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
10. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)

Honourable mentions: Friendship (Andrew DeYoung), Motel Destino (Karim Aïnouz), Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke), would be number one on my list if it had received any sort of proper release.

Rereleases of the year: Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937), Khaleja (Trivikram Srinivas, 2010), Cal (Pat O'Connor, 1984)

Stinker of the year: The Long Walk (Francis Lawrence)

Rory Doherty
1. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
2. Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
3. Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh)
4. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
6. Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan)
7. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
8. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
9. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer)
10. Viet and Nam (Trương Minh Quý)

Honourable mentions: 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle), By the Stream (Hong Sang-soo), Flow (Gints Zilbalodis), Hard Truths (Mike Leigh), Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)

Rereleases of the year: Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1986), Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005), Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005)

Stinkers of the year: A Working Man (David Ayer), War of the Worlds (Rich Lee)

The Shrouds

Katie Driscoll
1. The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
2. The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn)
3. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
5. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
6. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
7. Friendship (Andrew DeYoung)
8. Alpha (Julia Ducournau)
9. After the Hunt (Luca Guadagnino)
10. Warfare (Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland)

Jamie Dunn
1. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
2. Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
3. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
4. Weapons (Zach Cregger)
5. Super Happy Forever (Kohei Igarashi)
6. Oslo Stories: Dreams (Dag Johan Haugerud)
7. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
8. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
9. Pillion (Harry Lighton)
10. On Falling (Laura Carreira)

Honourable mentions: The Colors Within (Naoko Yamada), The Brutalist (Brady Corbet), Final Destination: Bloodlines (Adam B. Stein, Zach Lipovsky), Urchin (Harris Dickinson), Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh)

Rereleases of the year: Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1999), The House of Mirth (Terence Davies, 2000), Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1976)

Stinker of the year: Materialists (Greta Lee)

Lucy Fitzgerald
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. I Swear (Kirk Jones)
3. Friendship (Andrew DeYoung)
4. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
5. One of Them Days (Lawrence Lamont)
6. Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh)
7. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
8. Warfare (Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland)
9. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer)
10. Maria (Pablo Larraín)

Honourable mentions: The Long Walk (Francis Lawrence), Oh, Hi! (Sophie Brooks), The Map That Leads to You (Lasse Hallström)

Stinker of the Year: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Kogonada)

Patrick Gamble
1. Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra)
2. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
3. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
4. I’m Still Here (Walter Salles)
5. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
6. On Falling (Laura Carreira)
7. Direct Action (Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell)
8. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
9. Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
10. Bury Us in a Lone Desert (Nguyen Le Hoang Phuc)

Honourable mentions: Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhang-ke), The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof), The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths), Weapons (Zach Cregger), Bring Her Back (Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou)

Rerelease of the year: Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1961)

Stinker of the year: Another Simple Favour (Paul Feig)

The Ceremony

Rhys Handley
1. The Ceremony (Jack King)
2. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
3. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
4. On Falling (Laura Carreira)
5. Lollipop (Daisy-May Hudson)
6. To a Land Unknown (Mahdi Fleifel)
7. Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik)
8. The Encampments (Michael T Workman, Kei Pritsker)
9. Good One (India Donaldson)
10. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)

Honourable mentions: Happyend (Neo Sora), Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh)

Rerelease of the year: In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000) + In The Mood For Love 2001 short film

Stinker of the year: Presence (Steven Soderbergh)

Tony Inglis
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhang-ke)
3. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
4. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
5. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie)
6. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
7. April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)
8. The Colors Within (Naoko Yamada)
9. Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
10. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)

Honourable mentions: Chime (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), It's Not Me (Leos Carax), Pavements (Alex Ross Perry), Friendship (Andrew DeYoung), 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)

Stinkers of the year: Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos), Babygirl (Halina Reijn), Materialists (Greta Lee)

Ross McIndoe
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh)
3. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
4. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
5. Mistress Dispeller (Elizabeth Lo)
6. Islands (Jan Ole Gerster)
7. Predators (David Osit)
8. Eephus (Carson Lund)
9. 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
10. Mountainhead (Jesse Armstrong)

Honourable mentions: Zodiac Killer Project (Charlie Shackleton), Presence (Steven Soderbergh), Sinners (Ryan Coogler), The Threesome (Chad Hartigan), Hamnet (Chloé Zhao)

Rereleases of the year: Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1986), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Ron Howard, 2000) – I know the latter hasn't actually happened yet, but still, I must insist.

Stinker of the year: Hallow Road (Babak Anvari)

Iana Murray
1. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
2. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
3. Cover-Up (Mark Obenhaus, Laura Poitras)
4. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. Happyend (Neo Sora)
6. Little Trouble Girls (Urška Djukić)
7. Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
8. Left-Handed Girl (Tsou Shih-Ching)
9. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
10. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)

Honourable mentions: Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho), Materialists (Greta Lee), Urchin (Harris Dickinson), Pillion (Harry Lighton), The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)

Stinker of the year: Until Dawn (David F. Sandberg)

The Return

Ben Nicholson
1. The Return (Uberto Pasolini)
2. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
3. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. The Orchards (Basateen al-Razi)
5. Tornado (John Maclean)
6. Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot)
7. Steve (Tim Mielants)
8. Little Trouble Girls (Urška Djukić)
9. Souleymane's Story (Boris Lojkine)
10. Presence (Steven Soderbergh)

Honourable mentions: Santosh (Sandhya Suri), Pepe (Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias), Good Boy (Ben Leonberg), Bury Us in a Lone Desert (Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc), Index (Radu Muntean)

Rerelease of the year: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 2000), The Quatermass Xperiment (Val Guest, 1955), Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror (F. W. Murnau, 1922)

Stinker of the year: The Fountain of Youth (Guy Ritchie)

Carmen Paddock
1. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
2. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
4. Hedda (Nia DaCosta)
5. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
6. Friendship (Andrew DeYoung)
7. Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (Sepideh Farsi)
8. The End (Joshua Oppenheimer)
9. Urchin (Harris Dickinson)
10. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer)

Honourables mentions: Final Destination: Bloodlines (Adam B. Stein, Zach Lipovsky), Sinners (Ryan Coogler), Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)

Rereleases of the year: The House of Mirth (Terence Davies, 2000), the entire Too Much! Melodrama on Screen season

Stinker of the year: Weapons (Zach Cregger)

Ellie Robertson
1. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof)
2. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
3. On Falling (Laura Carreira)
4. The Encampments (Michael T Workman, Kei Pritsker)
5. The People's Joker (Vera Drew)
6. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
7. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
8. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
9. The Golden Spurtle (Constantine Costi)
10. Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds (Louise Weard)

Honourable mentions: Babygirl (Halina Reijn), Boys Go to Jupiter (Julian Glander), Motel Destino (Karim Aïnouz), The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson), Bring Her Back (Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou)

Rafa Sales Ross
1. I'm Still Here (Walter Salles)
2. A Want in Her (Myrid Carten)
3. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
4. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
5. Plainclothes (Carmen Emmi)
6. April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)
7. La Cocina (Alonso Ruizpalacios)
8. Pepe (Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias)
9. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
10. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)

Honourable mentions: The Shrouds (David Cronenberg), The Perfect Neighbour (Geeta Gandbhir), Eight Postcards from Utopia (Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Radu Jude), On Falling (Laura Carreira), Red Path (Lotfi Achour)

Stinker of the year: Emmanuelle (Audrey Diwan)

Bugonia

Stefania Sarrubba
1. Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
2. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
3. Bring Her Back (Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou)
4. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
5. The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
6. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
7. April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)
8. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
9. Presence (Steven Soderbergh)
10. Happyend (Neo Sora)

Honourable mentions: The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths), Freakier Friday (Nisha Ganatra), Good Boy (Ben Leonberg), The Shrouds (David Cronenberg), Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson)

Rerelease of the year: Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005)

Stinker of the year: Anemone (Ronan Day-Lewis)

Peter Simpson
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
3. On Falling (Laura Carreira)
4. Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
5. Pavements (Alex Ross Perry)
6. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
7. Oslo Stories: Dreams (Dag Johan Haugerud)
8. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof)
9. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
10. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)

Honourable mentions: Flow (Gints Zilbalodis), Happyend (Neo Sora), The Golden Spurtle (Constantine Costi)

Stinker of the year: Alpha (Julia Ducournau)

Josh Slater-Williams
1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Super Happy Forever (Kohei Igarashi)
3. The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
4. Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
5. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
6. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
7. The Colors Within (Naoko Yamada)
8. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
9. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer)
10. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)

Honourable mentions: Happyend (Neo Sora), Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross), Final Destination: Bloodlines (Adam B. Stein, Zach Lipovsky), Good One (India Donaldson), Papa (Philip Yung Chi-Kwong)

Rerelease of the year: Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001), Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1999), The Curse of Frankenstein (Terence Fisher, 1957)

Stinker of the year: Hot Milk (Rebecca Lenkiewicz)