As 2025 comes to a close, I’m taking a look at some of my favourite films released this year and why they’ve left a long-lasting impression.

I wish I could proudly say I’ve managed to watch every single film released this year and could therefore have perhaps a more well-rounded view of this year in film, but unfortunately my viewing has been stunted because a. I live in a country with limited access to English language films and non-English films with English subtitles, b. I work full time doing a non-film-related job, and c. I’m sadly not made of money. So, without a ton of access, time or money, I’ve done my best to curate my top ten (in alphabetical order) films I most enjoyed this year.

Avatar
Director: James Cameron
Why it made the top ten: Honestly, I’m just as surprised as you (maybe) are. If you’d have told me at the beginning of the year that I would end up fully on-board with the Avatar series, I’d have laughed in your face and maybe kicked you in the shin for being such a silly billy. I thought that everyone was going nuts ourely for the action and visuals, but I was wrong – it’s Cameron’s incredible storytelling and ability to weave the story in and out of immersive action that has made Fire and Ash a strong cinematic experience.
Read the full review here.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Director: Michael Morris
Why it made the top ten: Bridget girl, what’re you doing here!? Well, as someone who essentially grew up watching Bridget Jones, it was nice to see her story come to an end(?) in a satisfying way. She’s grown with the times and not turned her nose up at more modern notions or ended up frozen in time; she has been written to journey along with the rest of us, making her more relatable than ever. Watching this film, or the series as a whole, is like getting a warm hug from an old friend.
Read the full review here.

Bugonia
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Why it made the top ten: Frankly, any film by Lanthimos is likely to end up in my end-of-year top ten. The man can do no wrong in my eyes when it comes to filmmaking. Everything about Bugonia is memorable, from the performances and dialogue to the sets and music. Of course none of it would perhaps have been possible without Save the Green Planet!, the terrific South Korean film that Bugonia was based on, but Lanthimos’s own imagination and symbolic touch makes it its own weird alien of a picture.
Read the full review here.

Final Destination: Bloodlines
Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Why it made the top ten: I had fairly low expectations for this film, considering the declining overall quality of the Final Destination franchise in recent years, but my god if I wasn’t proven wrong. The best thing they did with this film is put its tongue firmly within its cheek and garble, ‘we know what this is, as do you, so let’s enjoy it.’ The deaths were darkly comedic, the framing and structure of the film was fresh, and overall, it’s just a fun movie. It makes binging the entire franchise worth it just to get to Bloodlines.
Read the full review here.

Frankenstein
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Why it made the top ten: del Toro’s career as a filmmaker had always been leading to this film, and he did not disappoint audiences, or, perhaps more importantly, he did not disappoint himself. It’s a gorgeous adaptation of Mary Shelley’s incredible novel, and with del Toro’s own signature gothic mark on it, it was always going to be a visual masterpiece. With tremendous performances, exceptional costuming and set designs scored by a wonderful soundtrack, the film comes together as del Toro’s own beautiful creation.
Read the full review here.

One Battle After Another
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Why it made the top ten: I’m not PTA’s number one fan (though I did thoroughly enjoy Punch-Drunk Love), but One Battle After Another had me absolutely hooked from beginning to end. It’s an incredible adventure through time and across country, with Leonardo DiCaprio leading the way in a fantastic performance that is both comical and dramatic. It is culturally relevant while being entertaining, and it feels like being on a thoroughly enjoyable rollercoaster.
Read the full review here.

The Plague
Director: Charlie Polinger
Why it made the top ten: This one came out of nowhere and slapped me dead in my figurative teenage face. Though it focuses on teenage boys and has quite a ‘Lord of the Flies’ nature to it, there’s still plenty to relate to for women and girls in its themes of being shunned and bullied by peers. Stylistically it has fantastic soundscapes and a sound design that makes getting in the pool seem more frightening than getting in the ocean with Jaws. The performances from the boys are excellent and really get your emotions going, too.
Read the Tiny Tapes review here.

Sinners
Director: Ryan Coogler
Why it made the top ten: One of the most genre-bending films of the year, Sinners could be described as Peaky-Blinders-meets-From-Dusk-Till-Dawn-via-Stephen-King-and-the-Jim-Crow-era, creating something unique from the wonderfully creative mind of Ryan Coogler. Michael B. Jordan confuses audiences who are not familiar with him in the best way by playing twins, and Jack O’Connell plays a very sinister antagonist, with the true horror of it all being both the themes of racism and segregation.
Read the full review here.

Superman
Director: James Gunn
Why it made the top ten: ‘In James Gunn we trust’ was what many of us declared when it was announced that Gunn was going to helm a new Superman film, and truly our faith was rewarded with this gem of a film that came at just the right time. Cynics (i.e. ‘Snyderbros’) say this is ‘not Superman’, this is a ‘weak’ version, but it’s easy to tell that they are not true Superman fans; the rest of us understand the bones of this film and the character, and it was just the tonic we needed for a year that threw the world, particularly the U.S., through the ringer.
Read the full review here.

Train Dreams
Director: Clint Bentley
Why it made the top ten: The simplicity of this film is deftly juxtaposed with how packed with meaning it is, and it has some of the most stunning cinematography in recent memory. Wonderfully written with incredible performances, it is a stark reminder that nature often has a way of fighting back and a meaningful snippet in the destruction of North America and the creation of the United States, not shying away from the sins of colonisers against both nature and fellow humans. And this, my friends, is cinema at its finest.
Read the Tiny Tapes review here.