The Best 2025 Movies the Oscars Ignored

“28 Years Later”

“28 Years Later” was always an interesting proposition — Danny Boyle and Alex Garland returning to their iconic zombie film for the first time in decades for a new trilogy with the promise of more Cillian Murphy on the way. Yet I never could’ve predicted exactly what their return would look like.

“28 Years Later” is, simply put, one of the most emotional films of 2025. This coming-of-age story follows a young boy (played wonderfully by Alfie Williams) learning about life and death as he journeys from an isolated community to an infected mainland on a quest to heal his mother and become a man. It’s thoughtful and moving with one of the most memorable finales of 2025 (“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” meanwhile, is already in the running for the best finales of 2026).

Anything starring Josh O’Connor

Perhaps no other actor had as good a 2025 as Josh O’Connor, who starred in four films back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

There’s “Rebuilding,” where O’Connor turns in a nuanced performance as a father and cowboy who’s relocated to a FEMA camp after losing his ranch to wildfires. There’s “The Mastermind,” where he teams with Kelly Reichardt and delivers another of the year’s best endings. There’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” where he becomes the best Benoit Blanc sidekick and deserves Oscar recognition for a phone call scene alone. There’s “The History of Sound,” where … OK, I didn’t see this one yet, but a friend said it was good.

O’Connor continues to be one of our finest young actors, with a hall-of-fame year that shows he isn’t slowing down any time soon. What’s next — a Spielberg movie?

“Die My Love”

Lynne Ramsay returned to feature filmmaking for the first time since 2017 with “Die My Love,” an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel of the same name (well, almost. That one’s called “Die, My Love”). The film follows Jennifer Lawrence as a mother suffering from postpartum depression as she and her partner (Robert Pattinson) adapt to their first child in rural Montana.

Lawrence initially seemed like a strong case for Best Actress, but this (admittedly intense and strange) film couldn’t mobilize enough viewers for that to ever materialize. As a massive fan, I found that to be a shame. Lawrence is excellent, capably navigating both the humor and tragedy of Ramsay’s latest outing.

“Eddington”

Speaking of controversial movies, Ari Aster’s “Eddington” became divisive immediately upon release, with its in-your-face politics (sometimes accused of falling too much into both-sidesism) rubbing many viewers the wrong way. I won’t call “Eddington” a perfect film, but it’s one of the most interesting and interrogative films I’ve seen about our current, horrible, maddening reality.

“Eddington” is a film about reality, and the fact that we no longer have one. Endless scrolling, posting and misinformation shattered our ability to live in the same world years ago. COVID, data centers, false flags and police killings combine in a movie that’s just as noisy as the time I spend doomscrolling first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. The internet is melting our brains, and the world will never be the same — making “Eddington,” unfortunately, the movie for our moment.

“Friendship”

I’d like to live in the world where “Friendship” somehow walked away with a Best Original Screenplay nomination. Andrew DeYoung’s feature debut about a man (Tim Robinson) attempting to rekindle a friendship with his new neighbor (Paul Rudd) after a bit of a social faux pas is unbelievably funny and unendingly strange. Nothing made me laugh harder last year than a party toast given in this film by Conner O’Malley, except maybe 10 other moments in this wonderful movie.

“Lurker”

When I listed the strongest directorial debuts of 2025, I foolishly forgot to include Alex Russell’s “Lurker,” which was one of the very best. An exceptional Théodore Pellerin leads this film, about a man who infiltrates the life and social circle of a music influencer. It’s funny, it’s tense and it’s incredibly perceptive of Gen Z’s relationship to its stars, an ever-blurring line between “influencer” and influenced.

“My Father’s Shadow”

Akinola Davies Jr.’s feature debut, “My Father’s Shadow,” is one of 2025’s most beautiful and thoughtful films. An intensely personal story co-written by Akinola and his brother Wale, the film follows two young boys as they journey Lagos with their father amid the 1993 Nigerian election crisis. Best International Feature was a crowded lineup this year, but “My Father’s Shadow” would’ve been a worthy inclusion.

“One of Them Days”

One of the best theatrical experiences of 2025 came early in the year with “One of Them Days,” a feature debut directed by Lawrence Lamont and written by Syreeta Singleton. In her first film role, SZA delivers a strong leading performance opposite Keke Palmer, every bit as charismatic and energetic a screen presence as we know her to be.

SZA and Palmer’s chemistry is exceptional, and we should frankly be demanding more. Thankfully, another “One of Them Days” is in the works, but we can do better. Give us a “One of Them Days” TV show. Give us “Dreux and Alyssa Meet Frankenstein.” Let them be “Men in Black” agents. Any opportunity to get this team back together is one we should be jumping at.

Perhaps the closest film on this list to actually getting an Oscar nomination, I had hoped that “No Other Choice” would be represented in Best International Feature, if not Best Adapted Screenplay as well. In a perfect world, the nominations wouldn’t have stopped there: Best Actor (Lee Byung-hun), Best Editing (Kim Sang-bum, Kim Ho-bin), Best Cinematography (Kim Woo-hyung), Best Director (Park Chan-wook) and Best Picture would all be deserving nods for this incredible comedy about a paper employee who starts killing his competition in the hunt for a new job.

Park Chan-wook nails the comedy in his latest feature while also delivering a technically precise and sometimes breathtaking piece of filmmaking. Several sequences have echoed in my head since I first saw “No Other Choice” months ago, and I’m sure they’ll stick around for months more. This was one of 2025’s best, and I’m disappointed that it couldn’t cross the finish line.

“Sorry, Baby”

Another film that I really thought had a shot at getting nominated, “Sorry, Baby” was one of my favorite movies of the year from the moment I saw it at Sundance. Eva Victor’s directorial debut is a sharply written, often funny, sometimes devastating film that announces a strong new voice in front of and behind the camera. This film deserved to be among the Best Original Screenplay nominees, and it would probably make my Best Picture lineup beyond that.

“Superman”

Just because I’m an awards guy doesn’t mean I can’t be a superhero guy too. I must admit a bit of bias (as if any of this is unbiased) in this entry. Superman is my favorite fictional character, I’m a reporter from Kansas, my dog is named Kal-El — I’m a mark!

But even I was blown away by how wonderful a depiction of one of pop culture’s most iconic characters James Gunn delivered in 2025’s “Superman.” This is an earnest, hopeful, exciting film that steers into what makes this character interesting at its core. Few movies in 2025 left me with as big a smile and as many tears as this one.

“The Testament of Ann Lee”

“The Testament of Ann Lee” suffered in part from being a late entry in the awards race, only getting acquired by Searchlight in late September and a release date in early October. It’s a shame that this film couldn’t gain more traction considering Amanda Seyfried delivered one of the year’s best performances.

Seyfried stars as the titular Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker movement in Mona Fastvold’s historical musical epic. The actress is entirely in her body in this film, delivering a masterful physical performance with a deep well of emotion. Few misses hurt as much as this one on nomination morning.