The Wallys: The Best in Film 2025

It’s that time of the year again!

And… if you can believe it, The Wallys are now in their 21st year. Oh, how they grow up so fast! Here’s a recap of the first 20 years of Best Picture winners, dating back to when I shared the first roster of award winners on the night of the Oscar telecast from my freshman college dorm room.

20 YEARS OF WALLY BEST PICTURE WINNERS

2005: Memories of Murder (South Korea, Bong Joon-ho)

2006: Children of Men (U.K., Alfonso Cuarón)

2007: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (U.S., Andrew Dominik)

2008: Wall·E (U.S., Andrew Stanton)

2009: A Serious Man (U.S., Joel & Ethan Coen)

2010: The Social Network (U.S., David Fincher)

2011: Biutiful (Spain, Alejandro González Iñárritu)

2012: A Separation (Iran, Asghar Farhadi)

2013: 12 Years a Slave (U.S., Steve McQueen)

2014: Selma (U.S., Ava Duvernay)

2015: Tangerine (U.S. Sean Baker)

2016: Moonlight (U.S., Barry Jenkins)

2017: Lady Bird (U.S., Greta Gerwig)

2018: Burning (South Korea, Lee Chang-dong)

2019: Parasite (South Korea, Bong Joon-ho)

2020: Lovers Rock (U.K., Steve McQueen)

2021: This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lesotho, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese)

2022: Everything Everywhere All at Once (U.S., Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)

2023: Poor Things (U.S., Yorgos Lanthimos)

2024: Perfect Days (Japan, Wim Wenders)

Without further ado, here’s my rundown of the best in film in 2025. As always, release dates are fungible. You’ll find several movies that qualified for Oscars last year and a few (I’m looking at you, No Other Choice, The Secret Agent, and Sirāt) that stumbled into theaters in 2026. Perhaps they'll make next year’s roster?

1. One Battle After Another (U.S., Paul Thomas Anderson)

2. Nickel Boys (U.S., RaMell Ross)

3. Sinners (U.S., Ryan Coogler)

4. The Mastermind (U.S., Kelly Reichardt)

5. It Was Just an Accident (Iran, Jafar Panahi)

6. Marty Supreme (U.S., Josh Safdie)

7. Sorry, Baby (U.S., Eva Victor)

8. Weapons (U.S., Zach Cregger)

9. Bugonia (U.S., Yorgos Lanthimos)

10. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Zambia, Rungano Nyoni)

11. Sentimental Value (Sweden, Joachim Trier)

12. Die My Love (U.S., Lynne Ramsay)

13. All We Imagine as Light (India, Payal Kapadia)

14. The Perfect Neighbor (U.S., Geeta Gandbhir)

15. 28 Years Later (U.K., Danny Boyle)

16. Dust Bunny (U.S., Bryan Fuller)

17. Wake Up Dead Man (U.S., Rian Johnson)

18. Cloud (Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

19. Materialists (U.S., Celine Song)

20. Lurker (U.S., Alex Russell)

BEST PICTURE

It Was Just an Accident

The Mastermind

Nickel Boys

One Battle After Another

Sinners

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Ryan Coogler (Sinners)

Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)

Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind)

RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)

HM: Zach Cregger (Weapons), Yorgos Lanthimos (Bugonia), Rungano Nyoni (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl), Lynne Ramsay (Die My Love), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)

Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)

Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)

Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love)

Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)

Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)

Emma Stone (Bugonia)

Tessa Thompson (Hedda)

HM: Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl), Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Julia Garner (Weapons), Josh O’Connor (The Mastermind), Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Glenn Close (Wake Up Dead Man)

Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)

Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)

Nina Hoss (Hedda)

Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)

Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)

Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)

Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)

HM: Michele Austin (Hard Truths), Gaby Hoffman (The Mastermind), Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value), Fernanda Montenegro (I’m Still Here), Andrew Scott (Blue Moon)

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

It Was Just an Accident

The Mastermind

Misericordia

The Sea

Sorry, Baby

BEST CASTING

Eephus

Marty Supreme

Nouvelle Vague

One Battle After Another

Sing Sing

BEST BODY OF WORK

Carrie Coon (actor, “The Gilded Age,” Lake George, and “The White Lotus”)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (writer/director, Chime and Cloud)

Richard Linklater (writer/director, Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague)

Josh O’Connor (actor, The History of Sound, The Mastermind, and Wake Up Dead Man)

Pedro Pascale (actor, Eddington, “The Last of Us,” and Materialists)

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

A$AP Rocky (Highest 2 Lowest)

Susan Chardy (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl)

Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)

Masaki Suda (Cloud)

SZA (One of Them Days)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Zach Cregger (Weapons)

Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)

Rungano Nyoni (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl)

Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind)

Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Rian Johnson (Wake Up Dead Man)

RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes (Nickel Boys)

Will Tracy (Bugonia)

Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay, and Alice Birch (Die My Love)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

KPop Demon Hunters

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story

Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus

No Other Land

The Perfect Neighbor

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

All We Imagine as Light

Cloud

It Was Just an Accident

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Sentimental Value

BEST OLD FILM I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME

After Life (1998, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

The Crowd (1928, King Vidor)

Love Letters (1983, Amy Holden Jones)

The Plot Against Harry (1971, Michael Roemer)

Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners)

Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another)

Ranabir Das (All We Imagine as Light)

Jomo Fray (Nickel Boys)

Anthony Dod Mantle (28 Years Later)

HM: Christopher Blauvelt (The Mastermind), James Friend (Ballad of a Small Player), Darius Khondji (Marty Supreme), Claire Mathon (Misericordia), Pat Scola (Lurker), Larkin Seiple (Weapons)

BEST EDITING

Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)

Rik Chaubet (Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat)

Andy Jurgensen (One Battle After Another)

Viridiana Lieberman (The Perfect Neighbor)

Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind)

HM: Kirk Baxter (A House of Dynamite), Nicholas Monsour (Nickel Boys), Joe Murphy (Weapons)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

28 Years Later

The Brutalist

Dust Bunny

Marty Supreme

Sinners

HM: Bugonia, Mickey 17, One Battle After Another

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Ruth E. Carter (Sinners)

Kate Forbes (The Brutalist)

Brittany Loar (Nickel Boys)

Lindsay Pugh (Hedda)

Amy Roth (The Mastermind)

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN

28 Years Later

Dust Bunny

Frankenstein

The Ugly Stepsister

Weapons

BEST STUNTS & CHOREOGRAPHY

28 Years Later

Eddington

The Life of Chuck

One Battle After Another

Sinners

BEST MUSIC SCORE

Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist)

Jerskin Fendrix (Bugonia)

Jonny Greenwood (One Battle After Another)

Rob Mazurek (The Mastermind)

Lia Ouyang Rusli (Sorry, Baby)

HM: Volker Bertelmann (A House of Dynamite), Ludwig Göransson (Sinners), Bobby Krlic and Daniel Pemberton (Eddington)

BEST SONG SCORE

Kenneth Blume and Andy Ross (Lurker)

Martin Caraux and Dhritiman Das (All We Imagine as Light)

Ian Eisendrath (KPop Demon Hunters)

Martin Hossbach (Sentimental Value)

Q Lazzarus (Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus)

BEST SONG

“Beautiful That Way” (The Last Showgirl)

“Golden” (KPop Demon Hunters)

“Travelin’” (Sinners)

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Caught by the Tides

Chime

A House of Dynamite

One Battle After Another

Sinners

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Die My Love

Dust Bunny

Mickey 17

Shin Godzilla

Sinners