RESULTS: Readers' Best Films of 2025

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.

Over 600 lists were submitted for our annual readers’ poll, and I want to thank everyone who participated. This was a lot of fun to work on, and it’s great to see this site’s readers going against the grain with some of their picks.

Topping the list is Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” a film that has been sweeping awards, lists, and polls—so it’s no surprise the vote tally wasn’t even close. Throughout the polling, Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” which finished second, and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” (#3) were never truly in contention for the top spot. Rounding out the top five are Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” (#4) and Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” (#5).

Sure, the top three has been the critical consensus, but as you can see from the top 20 below, there were plenty of interesting picks that didn’t make as big an impact on critics’ top 10s and are completely absent from this year’s awards season, but were warnly recsived by our readers —especially “Die My Love” (#17) and “Roofman” (#18).

And what about Ari Aster’s “Eddington”? Maligned by many, yet with a passionate, cult-like following, it finished at #6, appearing in around 100 lists. Aster’s film was met with mixed reviews, but clearly struck a nerve with a sizable portion of our readership, emerging as one of the poll’s most passionately defended titles.

The same can be said about Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia” (#7), which hasn’t been as frequently cited on critics’ top 10 lists, but finished in seventh place on our readers’ poll. The hive for this Lanthimos’ latest is very real.

Obviously, some films have only been in theaters for a few weeks, so titles like “Sirat” (#11), “Resurrection” (#21), and “The Testament of Ann Lee” (#38) would likely have fared better had I waited a few more weeks to conduct the poll.

To close, this poll once again proves that while critics help shape the conversation, audiences ultimately define what resonates—to reinforce the canon and pushing back against it. That independence is what makes this annual poll worth returning to.

RESULTS

1) “One Battle After Another” (PTA) — 263 lists
2) “Marty Supreme” (Josh Safdie) — 220
3) “Sinners” (Ryan Coogler) — 204
4) “Weapons” (Zach Cregger) —197
5) “Sentimental Value” (Joachim Trier) — 192
6) “Eddington” (Ari Aster) — 145
7) “Bugonia” (Yorgos Lanthimos) — 139
8) “It Was Just An Accident” (Jafar Panahi) — 105
9) “The Secret Agent” (Kleber Mendonca Filho) — 95
10) “No Other Choice” (Park Chan-wook) — 84

11) “Sirat” (Oliver Laxe) — 80
12) “Train Dreams” (Clint Bentley) — 79
13) “28 Years Later” (Danny Boyle) — 73
14) “The Mastermind” (Kelly Reichardt) — 67
15) “Blue Moon” (Richard Linklater) — 65
16) “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You” (Mary Bronstein) — 60
17) “Die My Love” (Lynne Ramsay) — 60
18) “Roofman” (Derek Cianfrance) — 58
19) “Black Bag” (Steven Soderbergh) — 57
20) “Hamnet” (Chloe Zhao) — 57

21) “Resurrection” (Bi Gan) — 56
22) “F1” (Joseph Kosinski) — 56
23) “Frankenstein” (Guillermo del Toro) — 55
24) “The Phoenician Scheme” (Wes Anderson) — 55
25) “Nouvelle Vague” (Richard Linklater) — 51
26) “Wake Up Dead Man” (Rian Johnson) — 51
27) “Friendship” (Andrew DeYoung) — 48
28) “Sorry Baby” (Eva Victor) — 46
29) “Bring Her Back” (The Philippous) — 45
30) “Mickey 17” (Bong Joon ho) — 45

31) “Caught Stealing” (Darren Aronofsky) — 43
32) “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (James Cameron) — 42
33) “Warfare” (Alex Garland/Ray Mendoza) — 41
34) “Afternoons of Solitude” (Albert Serra) — 38
35) “The Ballad of Wallis Island” (James Griffiths) — 38
36) “Cloud” (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) — 37
37) “The Sound of Falling” (Mascha Schillinski) — 36
38) “The Testament of Ann Lee” (Mona Fastvold) — 35
39) “Peter Hujar's Day” (Ira Sachs) — 34
40) “The Shrouds” (David Cronenberg) 34