The top ten
April
One Battle After Another
The Shrouds
Nickel Boys
Frankenstein
The People’s Joker
The Mastermind
It Was Just An Accident
Eddington
The Ice Tower
Film of the Year
April
Dea Kulumbegashvili isn’t averse to tackling the status quo of her adopted country of Georgia. Her second directorial effort following 2020’s Beginning is a further attack on the patriarchal strictures that create a palpably hostile environment for women, this time focusing on a backroom abortionist (Ia Sukhitashvili) who garners unwanted attention when a routine prenatal birth ends in tragedy. Esoteric and stifling, defined by long, queasy takes and some astounding nature photography, April isn’t an easy watch by any means. But the craft is uncommonly impressive, marking Dea out as the most extraordinary new talent of her generation. Much as you may want to, it’s almost impossible to look away. Tough, uncompromising cinema. Read the full review here.
Available to rent/stream on BFI Player.
One Battle After Another
As America crumbled before our eyes under Trump 2, Paul Thomas Anderson gave us reason once more to fight for the movies and each other with his second shaggy Thomas Pynchon adaptation; a story of a wannabe revolutionary and a far-right military lifer both seeking solace and security in their respective conclaves. For all the romanticism of Anderson’s vision of community action and solidarity, the human story at the heart of One Battle After Another is that of a besotted – if befuddled – father. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob forever chases after the action here, ultimately coming to understand that his daughter (Chase Infiniti) is representative of a new generation taking on the baton. These are battles that have raged for decades, and while Anderson’s continued love of the ’70s American new wave remains self-evident, he’s also tapping the zeitgeist and looking to the future. Read the full review here.
Available to rent/stream on AppleTV, Sky. Coming to 4K/Blu-Ray in January.
The Shrouds
“How dark are you willing to go?”. It took its sweet time getting to us, but David Cronenberg’s self-reflexive latest was worth it. Evidencing a sense of humour that healthily eclipses any skepticism evoked by his choice of subject matter, the elder statesman of body horror excavates the cavities of his own grief following the deaths of his wife and his sister in recent years. Vincent Cassell is his onscreen avatar, obsessed with maintaining an earthly connection to his departed wife (Diane Kruger) by utilising new technologies, but not everyone is a fan. That might also be said for The Shrouds, which is more likely to charm the director’s existing fanbase than cultivate new devotees, but those with the right temperament will find much to enjoy. It also feels comparable to Lynch’s grand final statement Twin Peaks: The Return. Here’s hoping Cronenberg still has a few features ahead of him, at least. A late-period high. Read the full review here.
Available on 4K/Blu-ray from Vertigo Releasing.
Nickel Boys
Criminally under-represented in UK cinemas back in January, RaMell Ross’ first-person evocation of Colson Whitehead’s novel remains an emotionally gut-punching revelation. Both weighty and substantive in its reflection of the Black experience in the mid-20th century deep south, and light as air thanks to the incredible, floating cinematography of Jomo Fray. Nickel Boys is a film about looking and a film about being perceived. The audience is perceived and their involvement requested (maybe even demanded). The year’s most soulful picture. Read the full review here.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro let his personal affection for Mary Shelley’s seminal 1818 novel overcome him for this passion project, and the results bare themselves out. His version of Frankenstein is an unabashedly maximalist experience, generous in its romantic gothic expressions, oversized, slick, and broadly populist. He coaxes from Shelley’s text a tender portrayal of child abuse, teasing larger-than-life but still complex performances from both Oscar Isaac as the titular mad scientist and from Jacob Elordi as the soulful, sorrowful Creature, nurtured with cruelty and yearning for the one thing we all want; understanding. Read the full review here.
Available to stream on Netflix.
The People’s Joker
Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker actually debuted on the festival circuit way-back-when in 2022, but it officially reached UK shores earlier this year, so I’m enacting executive privilege and counting it among 2025’s best pictures. Compiled and constructed online with the collaboration of a wealth of animators, Drew – a former AdultSwim editor – uses the DC Comics universe as a jumping-off point for a colourful, darkly funny and totally rambunctious redrawing of her own gender journey, taking sideswipes at everything from billionaire tech culture to Big Pharma along the way. An utterly unique mix of self-described ‘anti-comedy’ stand-up, memoir and 21st century digital art collage that gets better with every watch. Read the full review here.
Available on region-free Blu-Ray from Altered Innocence.
The Mastermind
Kelly Reichardt’s most animated film since her firecracker ’90s debut River of Grass is a querulous work of two halves, luring audiences in with the promise of a Coens-esque comedy of errors as complacent family man James Mooney (a career-best Josh O’Connor) plots a low-effort art gallery heist, seemingly out of boredom. What comes out the other end, however, is a typically melancholy reflection of American malaise quite specifically surrounding the fallout of the ’60s and the political contentiousness of the Vietnam war. The Mastermind tracks a malcontent man as he piecemeal loses all definition, its (literal) punchline both comic and potently pitiful. Read the full review here.
Available to stream on MUBI.
It Was Just An Accident
Freed (temporarily) from the regime that incarcerated him, Iran’s preeminent cine-agitator returned with a Palme d’Or bagging comedic farce belying a darkly powerful emotive and political core. (Part of) the power of It Was Just An Accident is how it invites the audience to laugh and enjoy an otherwise harrowing story of uncertain revenge, as Azerbaijani mechanic Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) stresses over how to dispense with the man he’s pretty sure tortured him for three months. Gallows humour, wry indictments of everyday corruption and a standout supporting performance from Mariam Afshari (really a co-lead) more than justify the seemingly unanimous praise for this career high. Read the full review here.
In UK cinemas now, coming to MUBI to stream in 2026.
Eddington
Having tackled interiority with his indulgent Beau is Afraid, Ari Aster turned his eye outward to the America around him for this sprawling, satirical western set in the early months of COVID-19 lockdown. Joaquin Phoenix is the ineffectual sheriff of the titular town, who impulsively throws himself into the mayoral race with the incumbent Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), as Aster throws everything from the Epstein scandal to the murder of George Floyd into his zeitgiesty mix. Not every one of Aster’s darts hits their target, but every throw is a sight to behold. And, not for nothing, the filmmaker shows his ambitions as a director of taut, gripping action come the deadly showdown. Bolt on a deliberately risible epilogue and you’re all set. Don’t get too triggered, now. Read the full review here.
Available to rent on AppleTV, Sky, on 4K from A24 and on Blu-Ray in the UK from Universal Pictures.
The Ice Tower
The year’s most luxurious lucid dream. Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower takes Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Snow Queen’ and uses it to propel an Alpine teenage girl (Clara Pacini) down the rabbit hole of fixation when circumstances see her fall under the patronage of movie star diva Cristina (Marion Cotillard), who is playing the part of her favourite fairy tale figurehead in a new production. Icily paced, hushed from beginning to end and just as liable to keep you awake at night as it is to lull you to sleep while watching, this is treasurable cinema from some internal place. Being within it feels like the inside of a snow globe. Read the full review here.
In UK cinemas now, coming to BFI Player in 2026.
The best of the rest…
Die My Love
Sinners
The Brutalist
Black Bag
Good One
Cloud
Alpha
Good Boy
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Pillion
Sorry, Baby
The Naked Gun
Predator: Badlands
Bugonia
Dangerous Animals
The Last Showgirl
Late Shift
Grand Tour
Train Dreams
Bring Her Back
The Lost Highway Hotel 