The films of 2025 - 25 of the best

How could that be 12 months? A year just went by faster than ever, but these films will stand the test of time. Have you seen them all? Steve Laura Delaney says: Based on Max Porter's best-selling 2023 novella Shy , Netflix's classroom drama Steve is a darkly funny and unflinchingly honest portrayal of young men trapped in a broken system. Written by Porter himself, the lean 90-minute feature, set over a single night in the mid-'90s, offers an intimate snapshot of adolescents at a last-chance reform school facing closure. Abandoned by society, the classmates lean on headmaster Steve (Cillian Murphy) as their last line of defence. But the war he's fighting is much closer to home. Director Tim Mielants, who previously collaborated with Murphy on , deftly draws the viewer deep into his characters' emotional worlds through intimate camerawork, slow zooms, and minimal lighting, amplifying the sense of abandonment and intense unease. Murphy's role as a producer through his company, Big Things Films, underscores his evident passion for the project, and he delivers a gold-star turn with a deeply introspective portrayal of a man whose faith in the system he serves has been shattered. His young co-star Jay Lycurgo also commands the screen as the aforementioned Shy - raw, restrained, and truly unforgettable. Small Things Like These Marty Supreme Sarah McIntyre says: Bracingly intense, immensely stressful, and relentlessly propulsive - ping-pong drama Marty Supreme is less of a traditional sports movie than a captivating character study wrapped up in a chaotic caper. Filmmaker Josh Safdie, known for the nerve-shredding crime thrillers and Good Time , which he co-directed with his brother Benny, directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with his longtime collaborator Ronald Bronstein. Uncut Gems Marty Supreme has a similarly back-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-floor pace as his previous works, complete with the trademark Safdie brand of verisimilitude - achieved with a combination of cinematographer Darius Khondji's stunning 35mm film work, production designer Jack Fisk's gorgeously recreated 1950s sets, and the ingeniously cast ensemble of actors. Timothée Chalamet is Marty Mauser, a born hustler and preternaturally gifted ping-pong player, loosely based on real-life American table tennis champion Marty Reisman. Chalamet, famously "in pursuit of greatness", is in full swing here, and he puts in a relentlessly focused, impressively indefatigable performance. Marty Supreme lands its shots with precision, and in the end is a nerve-jangling triumph. A Real Pain John Byrne says: Jesse Eisenberg has done the world a favour with this movie. At a time when empathy seems to be diminishing across the globe, he's delivered a touching, intelligent, funny, and achingly sad tale of love, loss, and grief. As well as writing, directing, and co-producing A Real Pain , Eisenberg also stars alongside the Oscar-winning Kieran Culkin. They play cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), who head from New York to Poland to visit a concentration camp and the birthplace of their recently deceased grandmother. The two cousins are chalk and cheese. While David is a classic New York neurotic...

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