Michael Mann’s Best Films Of 2025 List, Includes ‘Sinners,’ ‘The Secret Agent,’ ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Eddington’ & More

It being New Year’s Eve, we’re in the last throws of best-of lists before we’re in 2026, as we start to pivot to focus on new movies to come (check out The Playlist’s own list of anticipated films for the new year right here), and folks are sharing what they consider to be the cream-of-the-crop feature films that came out in 2025. On that note, IndieWire has posted a bunch of lists of favorite films from the past year from multiple directors, and one of those that jumps out to us is a batch of movies that Michael Mann enjoyed over the year.

Mann’s list of the best films of the past year includes the following titles, which is quite a solid lineup (alongside a round-up of links to our reviews of those films from throughout 2025, including from various film festival coverage): 

Kahili Joseph’s “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions”: In one of the year’s most auspicious feature debuts, celebrated artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph offers a galvanizing, shapeshifting exploration of Black history, identity, and possibility conceived as a cinematic experience that mirrors the sonic textures of an album.

Ari Aster’s “Eddington”: In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

READ MORE: The 150 Most Anticipated Films Of 2026

Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein”: Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet”: Hamnet tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another”: Washed-up revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti).  When his evil nemesis (Sean Penn) resurfaces after 16 years, and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent”: Amid the raucous revelry of Carnival week, a widower named Marcelo (Wagner Moura) arrives in 1977 in Recife, Brazil, a city as vibrant as it is violent. A technology researcher who suddenly finds himself an unwitting target in the heart of the dictatorship’s political maelstrom, Marcelo is a man on the run from mercenary killers, from ghosts of the past, and from the ruthless, mischievously militant spirit of Brazil in 1977. In the midst of these mounting threats, Marcelo, with the help of a mysterious woman named Elza and her compatriots in the country’s growing underground resistance, remains primarily focused on escaping Brazil with his young son. Master filmmaker Kleber Mendonca Filho teams up with renowned actor Wagner Moura – giving an extraordinary, career-defining performance – to craft a thrillingly unpredictable, playfully shape-shifting epic steeped in history even as it feels remarkably contemporary, paying affectionate tribute to the movies of Filho’s youth while unfolding against the backdrop of political turmoil and palpable danger.

Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners”: Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Oliver Laxe’s “Sirāt”: A father (Sergi López) and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They’re searching for Mar — daughter and sister — who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading, but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits.

Mascha Schilinski’s “Sound of Falling”: A remote German farm harbors generations of secrets. Four women, separated by decades but united by trauma, uncover the truth behind its weathered walls.

Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams”: A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.

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Recently, Mann talked about his feelings about the Netflix/WB deal and his own commitment to making features for a theatrical audience. All while he’s gearing up to make “Heat 2” his next movie at Amazon MGM Studios/United Artists, which will act as both a prequel and sequel to the landmark crime thriller from 1995 that has Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale reportedly in the mix for lead parts.