[Hayden]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

sinners, weapons,
one battle after another—
wake up dead man,
is this thing on?

sorry, baby,
death does no exist,
I only rest in the storm,
havoc,
no other choice—

eternity,
it's never over,
it was just an accident—


Welcome!

Twas but a pingpong battle, all through the accident, and not a Frankenstein's creature was stirring, not even a... vampire? demon child? alien? something like that—

Anyhow, you know how this works—

SUBCATAGORIES:

5 Best Male Performances
&
5 Best Female Performances
+
5 Best Original Scores

Which you may submit up to 10 each, but the final lists will be the top 5.

The gist/ rules:

BEA composes a list of our 25 favourite films of 2025. You hear that? 25. That's a new idea. The list went chopchop. It's an experiment. We're giving it a shot. We'll see what happens. Shorter. Quality. Less quantity. Less tallying. Yes. More submissions? Maybe. Let's see what happens. If it doesn't work, we'll flip back to 50 next season.

All lists will be PMed to me or posted in this thread, maxing out at 25. The final list will be 25 films. I'll be accepting lists of any denotation up to 25. The size of your list determines its weight. Films must be longer than 40 minutes. Any film labelled 2025 on (1 or more of) IMDb, Letterboxd, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, or Wikipedia will be eligible. Documentaries are allowed. Miniseries (i.e. Adolescence) are not.

Lists will also be accepted in IMDb and Letterboxd format. Deadline May 31st.

Eligible releases—
The Life of Chuck

Ineligible releases—
When Life Gives You Tangerines
Adolescence
Stranger Things
Balloonerism
_________________
Doubles & Conch

[Hayden]

I don't usually jump the gun and post my list right away, but with so few '25 films still on my watchlist, I think I'm near set with the following—

1) Marty Supreme
2) Sentimental Value
3) The Phoenician Scheme
4) The Secret Agent
5) The Golden Spurtle
6) One Battle After Another
7) Sound of Falling
8) Resurrection
9) Magellan
10) It Was Just An Accident
11) Left-Handed Girl
12) Mickey 17
13) Sirat
14) Bugonia
15) No Other Choice
16) Souleymane's Story
17) Romeria
18) Frankenstein
19) Manas
20) The Last One For The Road
21) Universal Language
22) All That's Left of You
23) Die My Love
24) Nouvelle Vague
25) The Mysterious Gaze of The Flamingo

ACTOR—
1) Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)
2) Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
3) Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
4) Robert Pattinson (Mickey 17)
5) Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
6) Michael Cera (The Phoenician Scheme)
7) Sergi Lopez (Sirat)
8) Aidan Delbis (Bugonia)
9) Abou Sangare (Souleymane’s Story)
10) Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)

ACTRESS—
1) Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)
2) Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
3) Emma Stone (Bugonia)
4) Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
5) Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love)
6) Saja Kilani (The Voice of Hind Rajab)
7) Hanna Heckt (Sound of Falling)
8) Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague)
9) Mia Threapleton (The Phoenician Scheme)
10) Nina Ye (Left-Handed Girl)

SCORE—
1) Marty Supreme
2) Sirat
3) One Battle After Another
4) Sentimental Value
5) Train Dreams
6) Hamnet
7) The Phoenician Scheme
8) Frankenstein
9) Sinners
10) The Smashing Machine


I still have around a dozen films to watch from the year, and my actual list on LB is closer to 40 films, but I'm not sure how much movement there'll be— the major titles that I've yet to watch are Orphan, My Father's Shadow, Poeta, The Stranger, Rental Family, Cover-Up, Pillion, Materialists & Eagles of The Republic, and major titles that I might skip include KPOP Demon Hunters, Housemaid, F1 & The Amateur—

It was a remarkably compact year. Less places to dig than ever. Astounding compared to the world of music, which is the complete contrast. That ocean is only getting bigger. Being said, I'm looking forward to recommendations along the way, hope for another solid month or two of watchin', and I look forward to everything ahead—
_________________
Doubles & Conch

[Hayden]

Also, a quick reminder how ridiculously close our top 3 was last year—

The Substance — 271
I Saw The TV Glow — 271
Anora — 270

Not trying to guess anything or pressure anyone in any direction, course, etc etc, but I have a feeling this year we might have something that looks more like a 2-horse race—
_________________
Doubles & Conch

[Repo]

[Hayden]

[BozoTyrannus]

Still hoping to get around to a few more but here's where we currently stand:

1. The Voice of Hind Rajab
2. It Was Just an Accident
3. Little Amelie
4. Train Dreams
5. The Naked Gun
6. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
7. Black Red Yellow
8. Hamnet
9. Friendship <---- (2025 according to Metacritic)
10. Die, My Love
11. Ballad of Wallis Island
12. Blue Moon
13. Frankenstein
14. I, the Song
15. No Other Choice
16. Sirat
17. Freakier Friday
18. The Perfect Neighbor
19. Rental Family
20. Sentimental Value
21. Elio
22. Avatar: Fire and Ash
23. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
24. Sarah Squirm Live in the Flesh
25. The Phoenician Scheme

Runners-up in case some of these aren't eligible:
26. Kokuho
27. Mr. Nobody Against Putin
28. Thursday Murder Club
29. Viva Verdi
30. F1

SCORE
1. Hamnet
2. Train Dreams
3. Frankenstein
4. Sirat
5. One Battle After Another *
6. The Phoenician Scheme
7. Sinners *
8. Sentimental Value
9. Avatar: Fire and Ash
10. Rental Family

* didn't see the movies but listened to the scores

ACTOR
1. Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet)
2. Ebrahim Azizi (It Was Just an Accident)
3. Liam Neeson (The Naked Gun)
4. Motaz Malhees (The Voice of Hind Rajab)
5. Paul Mescal (Hamnet)
6. Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
7. Tim Robinson (Friendship)
8. Joel Egerton (Train Dreams)
9. Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
10. Benicio del Toro (Phoenician Scheme)

ACTRESS
1. Saja Kilani (The Voice of Hind Rajab)
2. Jennifer Lawrence (Die, My Love)
3. Emmylou Homs (Little Amelie)
4. Mia Goth (Frankenstein)
5. Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)
6. Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
7. Jamie Lee Curtis (Freakier Friday)
8. Pamela Anderson (The Naked Gun)
9. Mia Threapleton (The Phoenician Scheme)
10. Carey Mulligan (The Ballad of Wallis Island)
_________________
I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean

[Hayden]

Thanks Bozo, tallied— and everything's eligible—
(Listening to the scores but not watching the movie is fine for that category, course)

😎
_________________
Doubles & Conch

[Olli]

I've currently watched 50 films, of which I like these 25 the most.

1. Sinners
2. Frankenstein
3. Left-Handed Girl
4. One Battle After Another
5. Hamnet
6. Late Shift
7. No Other Choice
8. Sound of Falling
9. The Fantastic 4: First Steps
10. Lost in Starlight
11. Latin Blood – The Ballad of Ney Matogrosso
12. Companion
13. The Piano Accident
14. The Secret Agent
15. The Ugly Stepsister
16. The Voice of Hind Rajab
17. Marty Supreme
18. Train Dreams
19. The Mastermind
20. Sentimental Value
21. Magic Farm
22. Blue Moon
23. It Was Just an Accident
24. Die My Love
25. Weapons

[CA Dreamin]

Banner Take 2:

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I threw in a nod to F1, another 2025 movie that also did well with audiences, critics, and awards. Made the phone-holding images a little more prominent. Grabbed a new image for Sentimental Value. Changed the title image to more resemble the One Battle After Another poster (three lines instead of two). What do ya'll think?
_________________
on such a winter's day

[Repo]