Were These the 20 Best Movies of 2025?

If you love movie rankings, prestige cinema, or simply arguing with strangers online about which films actually deserve awards, Rolling Stone handed you a fresh piece of ammo.

The magazine released its official list of the 20 best movies of the year, and it’s full of buzzy titles, festival darlings, and at least one film your coworker has been begging you to watch for six months. Movie fans have already started debating the picks, which makes this a perfect moment for anyone googling phrases like best movies 2025, top films of the year, or Rolling Stone list.

Topping the collection is “One Battle After Another”, a film whose title alone feels like a summary of adulthood. Right behind it is “Hamnet”, the Shakespeare-adjacent drama that has been quietly dominating film conversations all season. Also landing in the upper tier are the spy thriller “Black Bag”, the historical drama “Train Dreams”, and the stylish French standout “Nouvelle Vogue”.

What makes Rolling Stone’s list fun is how wide the tonal range is. You get intense dramas like “No Other Choice”, charming indies such as “Sorry, Baby”, and the chaotic delight “Marty Supreme”, which somehow clawed its way into the Top 10. The mid-section includes emotionally charged picks like “Sentimental Value” and the art-house favorite “Peter Hujar’s Day”.

“Eddington” brings the tensions of the pandemic to a violent end, while “Orwell: 2+2=5” offers us a look at the career of “1984” author George Orwell. There are also films with big cultural buzz like “Universal Language”, “Best Wishes for All”, and the intriguingly titled “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”, which absolutely sounds like something that played to ten-minute standing ovations at Cannes.

The list rounds out with a mix of genre films and heavy hitters: “The Phoenician Scheme”, “Caught by the Tides”, a fresh take on “Frankenstein”, and horror thriller “Weapons”. Even though they sit in the 11 through 20 slots, these movies have all had serious word-of-mouth energy this year.

Lists like this tend to reflect broader trends: more literary adaptations, more international filmmaking in the spotlight, and a whole lot of stories anchored in personal identity and political urgency.

Whether or not your favorites made the cut, Rolling Stone’s lineup shows how varied and experimental modern filmmaking has become. And hey, if you needed a new watchlist, here are 20 solid excuses to ignore your responsibilities for an entire weekend.

My main question is: Where is “Sinners” on this list?

Rolling Stone’s Top 50 One-Hit Wonders of the 2000s

“Rolling Stone” dropped a nostalgia-packed list ranking the 50 greatest one-hit wonders from the 2000s, and it’s a musical time capsule for anyone who lived through the iPod era.

Leading the pack is Wheatus’ angsty pop-rock anthem “Teenage Dirtbag,” which continues to ride a wave of renewed popularity thanks to TikTok and Y2K revival trends.

Coming in second is Lil Mama’s Lip Gloss“, a track that turned a cosmetic product into a full-blown cultural moment, complete with an iconic beat and middle-school dance battles. Willa Ford’s I Wanna Be Bad” grabs the third spot—because who didn’t want to be a little bad in 2001?

The rest of the Top 10 includes a who’s who of early-2000s radio dominance: J-Kwon’s party anthem “Tipsy” (#4), Hoobastank’s melodramatic “The Reason” (#5), and Khia’s raunchy “My Neck, My Back (Lick It)” (#6), a song that’s somehow both infamous and immortal.

Crazy Town’s “Butterfly” (#7) and Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)” (#8) round out the hits you couldn’t escape in malls and teen movie soundtracks. Meanwhile, Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Ooh, Uh Ooh)” (#9) and The Click Five’s sugary “Just the Girl” (#10) cement the era’s love for infectious hooks.

Other familiar names in the Top 25 include:

  • Truth Hurts feat. Rakim – “Addictive” (#11)
  • Baha Men – “Who Let the Dogs Out?” (#12)
  • American Hi-Fi – “Flavor of the Weak” (#13)
  • Tweet feat. Missy Elliott – “Oops (Oh My)” (#14)
  • La Roux – “Bulletproof” (#15)
  • Nina Sky feat. Jabba – “Move Ya Body” (#16)
  • D4L – “Laffy Taffy” (#17)
  • Eden’s Crush – “Get Over Yourself” (#18)
  • Nine Days – “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” (#19)
  • The Darkness – “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” (#20)
  • MIMS – “This Is Why I’m Hot” (#21)
  • Lil Romeo – “My Baby” (#22)
  • Kevin Lyttle feat. Spragga Benz – “Turn Me On” (#23)
  • The Calling – “Wherever You Will Go” (#24)
  • Das Racist – “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” (#25)

At the very end of the list at #50? Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” a ballad so emotionally specific, it became a staple of “you’re going home” montages on “American Idol.”

The list is a reminder that a single hit can etch an artist into pop culture history—even if their follow-up albums didn’t quite make it out of the bargain bin. For the full countdown and commentary, head to RollingStone.com.

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