Emily Maskell
Five personal favourite films of2025
Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)
Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
On Falling (Laura Carreira)
Cinematographer of theyear
Darius Khondji (Mickey 17)
Below theline
Léo Silly-Pélissier (Animation director, Flow)
Old guard
Stellan Skarsgård
New school
Chase Infiniti
It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it
Bridget Jones: Mad About theBoy
Great picture… Ihated it!
KPop Demon Hunters
Physical media release of2025
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Criterion Collection)
A wish for the cinema of2026…
For women directors behind fantastic debuts to get backing for their second films!
Josh Slater-Williams
Five personal favourite films of2025
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Super Happy Forever (Kohei Igarashi)
The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Cinematographer of theyear
Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another)
Below theline
Lloyd and Rose Buck (Hawk trainers for His for Hawk)
Old guard
Delroy Lindo
New school
Lily Collias (Good One, Roofman)
Best non-fiction
The Encampments
It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it
I don’t really subscribe to this notion, but… Final Destination: Bloodlines?
Great picture… Ihated it!
Anemone is pretty good for the first 25minutes or so. Afterthat…
Physical media release of2025
Takashi Ishii: 4Tales of Nami (Third Window Films)
A wish for the cinema of2026…
No more studio mergers. Hell, break up some of the existing mergers.
Willow Maclay
Five personal favourite films of2025
Eephus (Carson Lund)
The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
Castration Movie Anthology II: The Best of Both Worlds (Louise Weard)
If IHad Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein)
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Cinematography
Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners)
Below theline
Ruth ECarter (Costume designer, Sinners)
Old guard
Sissy Spacek and NickNolte
New school
Alexandria Walton and IvyWolk
Best non-fiction
Mutineer (Scout Tafoya)
It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it
Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
Great picture… Ihated it!
Weapons (Zach Cregger)
Physical media release of2025
A New Leaf 4K (OCN)
A wish for the cinema of2026…
A total rejection of generative AI.
Tom Huddleston
Five personal favourite films of2025
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
Sirat (Oliver Laxe)
It Was Just An Accident (Jafar Panahi)
Cinematographer of theyear
Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners)
Below theline
Paul Katte and Nick Nicolaou (Special makeup effects designers, Bring Her Back), that shit was fucking gnarly.
Old guard
Benicio del Toro – just adorable inOBAA.
New school
Harry Melling, inevitably.
Best non-fiction
The Voice of HindRajab
It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it
I reject the premise of the category, but Iguess Wake Up Dead Man?
Great picture… Ihated it!
The Phoenician Scheme
Physical media release of2025
The Conversation StudioCanal boxset.
A wish for the cinema of2026…
One decent tentpole blockbuster, for the love ofGod.
Esmé Holden
Five personal favourite films of2025
Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
Youth (Homecoming) (WangBing)
Cent mille milliards (Virgil Vernier)
Cinematographer of theyear
Nothing from this year comes close to Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985), which got abeautiful new 4K restoration and re-release this year, and so technically counts.
Below theline
Every Union organiser, especially those fighting the slop wave ofAI.
Old guard
Ralph Fiennes (28 Years Later)
New school
Despite nepo-baby credentials, Mia Threapleton proves she’s the genuine article in The Phoenician Scheme.
Best non-fiction
Being John Smith (John Smith), amediation on the avant-garde directors boring name and the imminence of death; very true of the British psyche in its constant self-deprecation and introverted disappointment atlife.
It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it
Baby Invasion (Harmony Korine) embraces the slop world we live in, mostly for the worse, but Icouldn’t look away. Like anight lost to Instagram Reels; addictively bleak and pointless.
Great picture… Ihated it!
One Battle After Another, for as accomplished and thrilling as it often is, PTA pushes up against the limits of his own ideas and comes out looking comfortably self-defeating and alittle petite bourgeois.
A wish for the cinema of2026…
If movies can look just alittle more beautiful next year, and then that trend continues every year, then in afew decades we might be able to get back to the standard we used to beat.
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