Holiday catch-up: The 20 best films of 2025... and where to watch them
I'm Still Here, Steve, and One Battle After Another feature among the film highlights of 2025.
(rental platforms)
Co Donegal filmmaker Myrid Carten has emerged as a documentarian to watch with this impressive and very personal account of family and addiction. Carten looks at her own family story - including her mother, Nuala, a funny and loving woman whose life has been impacted by addiction and mental illness.
(to rent on Apple TV, Amazon Video)
Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying movie is a true original with a memorable central performance from Michael B Jordan at its core.
He plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to their homeplace to find new dangers loom. Think monster thriller set to a wild soundtrack in 1930s America’s Deep South and you’re about halfway there.
(Disney+, rental platforms)
Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin deliver great turns in this layered, funny and moving drama, which Eisenberg also wrote and directed. They play mismatched cousins on a trip to Poland in a film that explores identity, family and heritage, winning a supporting actor Oscar for Culkin.
(to rent on IFI@Home, Sky Store)
This Brazilian drama was one of this year’s box-offices successes in Irish cinemas. A powerful tale based on real events, it centres on Eunice Paiva (the Oscar-nominated Fernanda Torres) as her politician husband, Rubens, comes under the scrutiny of an emerging military dictatorship in 1970s Rio de Janeiro. Walter Salles ( ) directs.
(Prime Video)
Top documentary maker Asif Kapadia (Senna, Diego Maradona) strikes gold again with this meticulously detailed portrait of the Liverpool and Celtic star. Narrated with colour and candour by Dalglish himself, it recalls an enormous time in the history of the beautiful game. There is real darkness, too, as Liverpool faces two of the most shocking disasters in the club’s history.
(Netflix)
Cillian Murphy continues an excellent run of form as a schoolteacher managing a crisis at the reform school where he works — all the while trying to suppress his own implosion. There’s a chaotic and unconventional energy to the film, directed by Tim Mielants ( ) and a reimagining of Max Porter’s hit novel, .
(Disney+)
At the tender age of 99, Attenborough gives us one of finest and most-impassioned films. Featuring some of the most groundbreaking, detailed and at times shocking footage of our oceans and sea beds, it nevertheless offers hope in the healing power of nature.
(to rent on Shudder)
The growth in fine Irish-language filmmaking is bringing horror into the mix. (meaning roots) delves into our own history of things that go bump in the night as well as historical trauma. Aislinn Clarke does a fine job of weaving a complex and unnerving tale that engages audiences while keeping them guessing.
(In cinemas, Sky Store and Apple TV)
Set in an America that’s become a fascist police state, Leo Di Caprio is favourite to win Best Actor at next spring’s Oscars for his role in this delightfully oddball film from Paul Thomas Anderson ( ). He’s a former revolutionary and paranoid stoner who likes to survive in his own world - until a former nemesis comes back into his life.
(Netflix)
Ross Whitaker’s witty documentary recalls a scheme so outrageous and audacious, it might just work. As lottery fever gripped Ireland in the 1990s, a syndicate tried to beat the game by playing every possible number combination — all 1.9 million of them. At the centre of it all was charismatic Corkman Stefan Klincewicz, who recalls their efforts in detail.
(Disney+ and rental platforms)
Timothée Chalamet delivers one of his finest screen performances in James Mangold’s biopic, which refuses to bow to the usual conventions of the genre. Focused on the period when the young Bob Dylan opted to go electric to the consternation of some, the film explores the chasm between individual creativity and the expectations that come with fame.
(Apple TV, Sky and Now)
Steven Soderbergh gives audiences a new perspective by bringing us a movie from the point of view of the ghost, in which we are its eyes and we see what the spirit is seeing. But there are many surprises at play in a clever ghost story with some shocking reveals.
(to rent on Apple TV, Sky Store)
Irish filmmaker Sinéad O’ Shea’s fine documentary celebrates O’Brien’s work and life and highlights how she rebelled against the status quo from the release of in 1960s Ireland.
It features narration from Jessie Buckley and moving contributions from O’Brien herself in the months before her death.
(to rent on Apple TV, Sky and Now)
Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is perfect just as she is in this strongest film in the hugely popular series. Approaching middle age and shattered by grief, Bridget dips a toe back into the dating game in this tender, moving and funny film.
(Apple TV and MUBI)
A powerful and sometimes surprisingly humorous tale of life after trauma, Eva Victor’s film is an impressive directorial debut. Agnes is a smart 20-something student enjoying life. But she’s struggling with the impact of a traumatic incident, and Victor’s nuanced, wise film explores the aftermath.
(Netflix)
Joel Edgerton is sublime in , adapted from Denis Johnson’s novella. He’s Robert Grainer, a man living through a huge period of change in early 20th century America, as the forests make way for the railroads.
(to rent on Apple TV, MUBI)
This art-house animated movie — which has strong storytelling power — was the deserved winner of Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars.
Told without dialogue, it centres on the escapades of a brave, and very cute, cat as it tries to survive a dramatic flood that threatens its home.
(Disney+, Apple TV)
The latest Disney classic to get the live-action treatment is one of the best such films in recent years. Set in Hawaii, it centres on the offbeat friendship between a naughty alien and lonely local girl. The onscreen creation of Stitch is visually lively and convincing, while as his human best pal, newcomer Maia Kealoha is charming in the leading role.
(Disney+, Apple TV)
A space-obsessed boy goes on an outer-space adventure in the latest from animation giants Pixar. Inspired by the real-life Voyager which sent messages from the world into outer space, he starts sending messages of his own — putting him on the radar of a group of aliens. Playful, relatable and imaginative, it also features a cute young alien sidekick named Glordon.
(Netflix)
The geniuses at Aardman have been working their magic again with two of the Bristol animation studio’s most-loved characters. A smart gnome that appears to develop a mind of his own threatens entertaining chaos in the film, which also heralds the return of the dastardly Feathers McGraw.
