It is far too early to determine the best movie of 2025. But there have been a handful of great movies in 2025 so far. For all of the focus on Hollywood blockbusters and the amazing breakthrough of Sinners over the last two weekends, 2025 has been a good year for original movies that don’t neatly fit into conventional genres.
Our selections for the best movies so far also include films that explore familiar themes of love, war, betrayal, grief, and what it means to be human in an often inhumane world. No one has all of the answers, but there is something cathartic about movies that explore deeper emotions.
Sinners is too good to be excluded from this list. And you may be surprised by some of our choices for the seven best movies of 2025 so far. Fortunately, most of them will be streaming within a few months, if they aren’t available already. You’ll be able to make your own informed choices after watching them.
7. Companion
It would do a disservice to Companion if we spoiled all of its twists. You need to know that it’s a thriller with a touch of sci-fi about a couple named Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid). After surviving an attempted sexual assault during a weekend retreat, Iris discovers that her relationship with Josh isn’t everything she believed it was.
Mistakes are made, and before long Josh and Iris find themselves at odds with each other. Now that Iris knows the truth, a breakup is the least of Josh’s worries. He created this situation and may have to pay the price for it.
Stream Companion on Max.
6. Warfare
Warfare is a difficult film to watch because it isn’t one of Hollywood’s sanitized battles. Alex Garland co-wrote and co-directed the film with Ray Mendoza, a former Navy SEAL who served in the Iraq War. The film dramatizes the Battle of Ramadi with an emphasis on historical accuracy.
The movie features a who’s who of rising stars, including Shogun‘s Cosmo Jarvis, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Noah Centineo, Kit Connor, and Michael Gandolfini. These familiar faces portray the SEALs who are pinned down in a desperate firefight with Iraqi insurgents as the odds are stacked against them. Warfare will likely be remembered during next year’s awards season, but one viewing may be enough for most movie lovers.
Warfare is now in theaters.
5. The Friend
The Friend may draw some comparisons with Lost in Translation because Bill Murray is featured in both. The two films revolve around an unusual friendship that Murray’s character has with a much younger woman. The key difference this time is that Walter (Murray) is dead, and his friend, Iris (Naomi Watts), is left to care for his gigantic Great Dane, Apollo.
This is Watts’ movie even though she shares a lot of screen time with the comically inclined canine. Iris is truly in mourning for Walter because of their strong connection, which plays out in flashbacks. The story is about Iris grieving for Walter while trying to find a place for Apollo in her heart and life. Consequently, the emotional stakes are heartfelt.
Buy or rent The Friend on digital services.
4. Bring Them Down
There are jokes about Bring Them Down that could probably write themselves, including the fact that one of the central conflicts in this Irish drama is over stolen sheep and livestock. Writer and director Christopher Andrews finds some dark humor in that, but he also uses non-linear storytelling to peel back the layers of the people on each side.
Michael O’Shea (Christopher Abbott) is an aggrieved rancher living with his broken-down and bitter father, Ray O’Shea (Colm Meaney). Michael has some lingering bitterness of his own, perhaps in part because his former lover, Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone), married his neighbor, Gary (Paul Ready), and had a son, Jack (Barry Keoghan). Jack’s decisions set Michael and Gary on a collision course that may end in violence. As the perspective shifts, the audience sees each character in a new light before the inevitable happens.
Stream Bring Them Down on Mubi.
3. Black Bag
Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller Black Bag begins with the revelation that there’s a traitor in MI6, and George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) has to figure out who it is. There are only five suspects, and all of them are in relationships with other MI6 operatives. Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela) is dating Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke), while James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page) is seeing Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris).
There are definitely secrets among those suspects, but the one that George keeps coming back to is the fifth suspect: his wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett). The more George looks into Kathryn’s activities, the more guilty she looks. Is George being conned into turning on his wife? Or has she been playing him from the start? You’ll have to watch the film for answers.
Stream Black Bag on Peacock starting May 2.
2. Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners probably could have been a great period drama without a whiff of the supernatural. However, the film’s use of vampires propelled Sinners into a runaway success story for Coogler and company. Michael B. Jordan acts opposite himself as twin brothers, Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore.
In 1932, the Moore brothers had enough of war, so they return to their hometown and open a juke joint. The brothers inadvertently attract the attention of vampires, and the children of the night won’t be denied when they come knocking at the door.
Sinners is now in theaters.
1. The Ballad of Wallis Island
The Oscars may not remember The Ballad of Wallis Island when it comes time to hand out the Best Picture but don’t be too shocked if it lands one or more Best Original Song nominations. This surprisingly moving story follows Charles (Tim Key), an eccentric lottery winner who decides that the thing he wants more than anything else is to reunite the folk duo Herb (Tom Basden) and Nell (Carey Mulligan).
Getting these two to perform together is a task unto itself, as they had a bad professional and personal breakup years before. Nell is also married to another man, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), and out of the music industry. Herb and Nell still have it within them to make beautiful music together, but Charles’ desire to see them reunite may cause unforeseen consequences.
The Battle of Wallis Island is now in theaters.
