by Abb Jones
The Reelness

2025 was a good year for good movies – a whopping eight films got the typically elusive A+ grade, although, to be fair, two of them (#4 and #8) were released in January as part of the 2025 award season. That said, here are The Reelness’ 10 Best Movies of 2025. Click on the titles for our full review.

#10: Sentimental Value: A

When their Norwegian filmmaker father decides to make a film about his life, it sends his estranged daughters into an emotional tailspin, dredging up feelings about generational trauma, nepotism, depression and suicide. Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning star in filmmaker Joachim Trier’s very meta movie about moviemaking.

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#9: Warfare: A (Best War Drama)

U.S. Marines fighting the 2006 Battle of Hamadi in the Iraq War must think fast on their feet when they come under attack by an overwhelming number of local insurgents. Will Poulter leads an ensemble cast in this highly immersive and startlingly realistic look at that war’s deadliest battle. Based on a true story, it is not for the squeamish.

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#8: Better Man: A+ (Best Biopic)

The highs and lows of British pop superstar Robbie Williams are chronicled in this unconventional musical fantasy biopic starring Williams as he once  saw himself… as a slightly less evolved, self-loathing, crowd-pleasing monkey. Musically entertaining and staggeringly honest, this portrayal of the pitfalls of getting everything you want in life is capped with a deeply emotional ending about forgiveness.

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#7: Anniversary: A+

The lives of a successful, politically progressive family in metro Washington D.C. are completely upended within just five years as America plunges full speed into authoritarianism. Diane Lane, Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton), Dylan O’Brien and Kyle Chandler star in this gripping, dystopian political thriller that distributor Lionsgate buried with little to no marketing, presumably to appease the fascist Trump administration. Talk about irony.

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#6: Train Dreams: A+

The life and death of a logger and railroad worker born in 1889 in the Pacific Northwest is chronicled in this epic historical drama starring Joel Edgerton and Oscar nominees Felicity Jones (The Brutalist, The Theory of Everything) and Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin). Edgerton gives a career-defining performance that hauntingly captures the epicness of the human experience.

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#5: F1: The Movie: A+ (Best Sports/Action)

30 years after a crash knocked him out of Formula One race car driving, a nomadic, the once up-and-coming racer known for his strategic driving skills gets a final shot at redemption when a friend recruits him to drive for his struggling team. Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon (two movies in the 10 Best list!) star in this motorsport action/drama.

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#4. I’m Still Here: A+ (Best International Film)

Another of the January 2025 releases, this Oscar winner for Best International Film is about the family of Brazilian opposition Congressman Rubens Paiva, whose idyllic life implodes when the military dictatorship seizes the family patriarch from his home in 1970 Rio de Janeiro, reminiscent of the ICE raids currently happening in the United States.

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#3: The History of Sound: A+ (Best LGBTQ+ Drama)

Two men who share a love of American folk music begin a clandestine, romantic relationship while at the New England Conservatory in 1917 Boston, reuniting after World War I and using newly-created technology to record an archive of folk songs from across the backwoods of rural Maine. Paul Mescal and Josh Connor star in this lyrical LGBTQ+ love story, that perfectly captures the look, feel and repression of the time period.

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#2: Sinners: A+ (Best Horror)

Identical twin brothers return to the Mississippi Delta from Chicago in 1932 to open up a juke joint near their rural hometown, only to discover that two horrors, one of racist and one of supernatural origins, await them on opening night. Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton star in this period horror/action thriller.

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#1: Wicked: For Good: A+

Glinda and Elphaba must navigate a fracture in their friendship when the evil Wizard and his sidekick try to pit Glinda against the now-fugitive justice seeker who is trying to save Oz’s terrorized animal population. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star in this second part of the 2024 film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical inspired by The Wizard of Oz

Honorable Mentions: A Little Prayer (Best Indie), 2000 Meters from Andriivka (Best Documentary), The Life of Chuck, The World Will Tremble, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Sovereign, Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful, (Best Feature Length Music Video), Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, and My Dead Friend Zoe.

Make sure to check out our other list, The 10 Worst Movies of 2025.