As is customary at this time of year, we have decided to do our own “Half-term” report as Mark Kermode would put it and have asked our amazing writing team to come up with their Top 10 Films of 2025 so far (UK releases dates, bar our one US-based writer’s own Top 10) and see what films have made the cut at the half-way point of the year.

Some of the usual suspects have appeared – namley The Brutalist, Sinners, A Complete Unknown and other big awards-season players from earlier in the year – but there are also some films that you might not have heard of or got around to watching just yet (Lollipop, Urchin, On Falling, Revelations), so we hope by highlighting them/recommending them you might seek them out! “Top 10 Films of 2025” below!

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Here are our writers’ Top 10 Films of 2025 (and some Top 5’s):

Scott J. Davis:

1. A Complete Unknown
2. Sinners
3. We Live In Time
4. Lollipop
5. Companion
6. A Real Pain
7. On Falling
8. The Phoenician Scheme
9. Warfare
10. The Brutalist

Clotilde Chinnici:

1. The Brutalist
2. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (win the film in our competition!)
3. I’m Still Here
4. Mickey 17
5. Sinners
6. The Nature of Invisible Things
7. Late Shift
8. Maria
9. Hard Truths
10. Flow

Robert Ewing:

1. Revelations
2. The Brutalist
3. Baby Assassins: Nice Days
4. Ghost Killer
5. Ne Zha 2
6. Black Bag
7. Yadang: The Snitch
8. Broken Rage
9. Mickey 17
10. A Samurai in Time

Freda Cooper:

1. The Brutalist
2. Nickel Boys
3. A Real Pain
4. Memoir Of A Snail
5. A Complete Unknown
6. September 5
7. Flow
8. Hard Truths
9. Sinners
10. The Last Showgirl

Erin Mussett: 

1. Nickel Boys
2. Sinners
3. I’m Still Here
4. A Real Pain
5. Elio
6. The Brutalist
7. Mickey 17
8. We Live in Time
9. Bring Them Down
10. Thunderbolts

Aaron Gillingham:

1. Sinners
2. Thunderbolts
3. A Real Pain
4. Deaf President Now
5. Warfare
6. The Gorge
7. Final Destination: Bloodlines
8. Mickey 17
9. The Monkey
10. Deep Cover

Lexi Lane (US-based writer):

1. Friendship
2. Black Bag
3. Sinners
4. Materialists
5. On Swift Horses
6. Matt & Mara
7. The Accountant 2
8. One of Them Days
9. Thunderbolts
10. The Life of Chuck

Josh Barton: 

1. Sinners
2. Nosferatu
3. A Real Pain
4. Nickel Boys
5. Predator: Killer of Killers
6. We Live in Time
7. The Brutalist
8. Thunderbolts*
9. Ballerina
10. Final Destination: Bloodlines

Aaron Jenkins:

1. Sinners
2. Thunderbolts
3. Predator: Killer of Killers
4. Final Destination: Bloodlines
5. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Ballerina
8. The Gorge
9. The Accountant 2
10. Warfare

Sean Wilson: 

1. A Real Pain
2. Flow
3. Nosferatu
4. Sinners
5. Black Bag
6. The Ballad of Wallis Island
7. The Girl with a Needle
8. Hard Truths
9. Warfare
10. The Monkey

Jannat Suleman:

1. My Father’s Shadow
2. Sinners
3. On Falling
4. Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here)
5. Saturday Night
6. Un Simple Accident (It Was Just An Accident)
7. Hard Truths
8. Urchin
9. Sentimental Value
10. The Glassworker

Tatiana Chrysslor:

1. We Live in Time
2. You’re Cordially Invited
3. Thunderbolts*
4. Our Little Secret
5. The Fall Guy
6. Dangerous Animals
7. Companion
8. Sinners
9. The Last Swim
10. Karate Kid: Legends

Ellis Lamai:

1. Nickel Boys
2. Nosferatu
3. Sinners
4. Hard Truths
5. Mickey 17
6. Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning
7. A Complete Unknown
8. Black Bag
9. I’m Still Here
10. Pavements

Nick Bartlett:

1. Nosferatu
2. Cloud
3. Brief History Of A Family
4. Sinners
5. Black Bag (win the film in our competition here!)
6. Flow
7. A Real Pain
8. Presence
9. Tornado
10. The Surfer

Victoria Luxford:

1. Sinners
2. The Brutalist
3. Mickey 17
4. Flow
5. Memoir Of A Snail
6. The Phoenician Scheme
7. A Complete Unknown
8. Babygirl
9. Warfare
10. Thunderbolts*

Liam Williams: 

1. Sinners
2. Saturday Night
3. Nickel Boys
4. Mickey 17
5. The Phoenician Scheme
6. Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning
7. A Real Pain
8. A Complete Unknown
9. Thunderbolts*
10. We Live in Time

Emlyn Roberts-Harry:

1. Black Bag
2. Flow
3. Sinners
4. The Brutalist
5. Nosferatu
6. Novocaine (win the film in our competition here!)
7. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
8. Mickey 17
9. Freaky Tales
10. Companion

Cara McWilliam-Richardson:

1. A Real Pain
2. The Brutalist
3. Companion
4. I’m Still Here
5. Warfare
6. Sinners
7. Flow
8. Presence
9. Nickel Boys
10. Bring Them Down

Lily Hitchen:
1. A Real Pain
2. The Ballad of Wallis Island
3. The Phoenician Scheme
4. Mountainhead
5. Four Mothers (win the film in our competition here!)

Phebe Williams: 

1. The Ballad of Wallis Island
2. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
3. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
4. Lilo & Stitch
5. Thunderbolts

Paul Devine:
1. September 5
2. I’m Still Here
3. Dangerous Animals
4. Companion
5. Final Destination: Bloodlines
6. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
7. Warfare
8. Mickey 17
9. A Complete Unknown
10. The Phoenician Scheme

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