Hey everyone,
Here’s the 2025 PFCS Best of 2025 voted on by the body of our critics group. One Battle After Another led the pack this year in our weighted voting, with a career best performance from Sean Penn. I’ll have my own Top 10 List later this month, but there’s some solid films and performances here, check them out and look for more reviews from us this coming year on CultClassicsAZ.com
– Victor Moreno
—
“One Battle After Another” dominates Phoenix Film Critics Society 2025 Awards
Paul Thomas Anderson’s wild political action tale “One Battle After Another,” took Best
Picture honors as well as seven other wins in Phoenix Film Critic’s Society’s 2025
awards. The film also took awards for Best Director, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio),
Supporting Actor (Sean Penn) and Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor), Adapted
Screenplay and Editing. Chase Infiniti was awarded Best Breakthrough Performance for
her work in the film.
“One battle that film certainly won was for the hearts of minds of the PFCS
membership,” said PFCS President Gayle Bass. “Between audacious filmmaking and
unforgettable acting, ‘One Battle’ stood out even among this year’s very good crop of films.”
Second in the award count came “Sinners,” with six. Ryan Coogler’s musical vampire
epic was awarded Best Ensemble Acting, Best Original Screenplay, Best
Cinematography and Best Costume Design. “Sinners” also swept the musical awards:
Best Original Score and Best Original Song (“I Lied to You”).
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress and Jacobi Jupe won Best Performance by a Youth,
both for “Hamnet.” Geeta Gandbhir’s “The Perfect Neighbor” was honored for Best
Documentary; Park Chan-wook’s South Korean thriller “No Other Choice” won for Best
Foreign Language Film. “Zootopia 2” took the award for Best Animated Film. Guillermo
del Toro’s new version of “Frankenstein” won for Production Design, while the
upcoming “Avatar: Fire and Ash” won for Best Visual Effects.
Every year PFCS honors a film they feel didn’t get the audiences it deserved with the
“Overlooked Film of the Year”; award. This year it went to the Stephen King adaptation
“The Life of Chuck.”
A complete list of winners is provided below.
The Phoenix Film Critics Society presents an entire slate of awards each year. Only
critic members of the Society may vote. To qualify for the 2021 awards, films had to be
screened for members by Friday, December 12, 2025. The films must open prior to the
end of the year to be eligible for awards consideration.
The Phoenix Film Critics Society is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, self-funded, independent
organization consisting of professional film critics and film journalists in Arizona.
For more information, visit: https://www.phoenixfilmcriticssociety.org
Follow the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards on Facebook @Phoenix Film Critics
Society and Twitter @PhxFilmCritics
PFCS TOP TEN – 2025
(alphabetical order)
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another (WINNER: Best Picture)
Sinners
Song Sung Blue
Sorry, Baby
The Life of Chuck
The Long Walk
Train Dreams
BEST PICTURE
One Battle After Another
BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING
Sinners
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sinners
BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTED FROM OTHER MATERIAL
One Battle After Another
THE OVERLOOKED FILM OF THE YEAR
The Life of Chuck
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Zootopia 2
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
No Other Choice
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Perfect Neighbor
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
I Lied to You – Sinners
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Sinners
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sinners
BEST FILM EDITING
One Battle After Another
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Frankenstein
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Sinners
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUTH
Jacobi Jupe – Hamnet