How Sinners became the most culturally important film of 2025

Ryan Coogler’s critically acclaimed horror blockbuster had people talking all year, proving industry naysayers wrong and breaking various records

Le Carré with a cocktail, not a cuppa: the glamour and escapism of The Night Manager

The second series of the Tom Hiddleston-fronted drama is first le Carré adaptation not based on author’s own work

The Guide #222: From Celebrity Traitors to The Brutalist via Bad Bunny – our roundup of the culture that mattered in 2025

Not exhaustive, not definitive and unapologetically subjective: our annual tour of the best TV, music, films, podcasts, games and books of the last year

My cultural awakening: Love Actually taught me to leave my cheating partner

Emma Thompson’s quiet suffering in the hit Christmas movie helped me to realise that I didn’t need to stay with someone who had betrayed me

From Avatar to Amadeus: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

James Cameron’s Smurftacular franchise is back for an action-packed third outing, and musical geniuses butt heads in the new TV adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play

Timothée Chalamet puts alter-ego rumors to rest in remix with EsDeeKid

After speculation actor was actually underground MC, pair join on remix to EsDeeKid’s 4 Raws

Avengers: Doomsday trailer – as the hype builds, has Marvel got lost in the multiverse?

Marvel has put the first official trailer for the new Avengers meetup before random screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash. Recordings of it have leaked online – but many questions still remain

And the 2025 Braddies go to … Peter Bradshaw’s film picks of the year

Now the Guardian’s Top 50 countdowns, as voted for by the whole film team, have announced their No 1s, here are our chief critic’s personal choices – in no particular order

I watched Stand By Me with Rob Reiner. Both film and man changed my life

I had watched the coming-of-age weepie over and over growing up so it was an overwhelming experience to sit down with its creator and see it again. It was a magical day and he was just as warm-hearted as his movie

The 50 best movies of 2025 in the US

From astonishing docs and biopics to madcap adventures and emotional sucker punches – our critics pick the best from a spectacular year on the silver screen

Best movies of 2025 in the US: No 1 – One Battle After Another

Leonardo DiCaprio is a former revolutionary searching for his daughter in Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilaratingly audacious counterculture epic

Avatar: Fire and Ash review – witchy new sex interest can’t save this gigantically dull hunk of nonsense

The third Avatar chapter erupts with volcanic world-building and thunderous action yet remains a vast, dazzling spectacle in search of an emotional arc

Chase Infiniti: ‘My parents freaked out more than me when I said I was acting opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’

The breakout star of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another (the Guardian’s No 1 film of 2025) on learning karate, her love of car chases – and how she got her name

Best films of 2025 in the UK: No 1 – One Battle After Another