Halfway Mark Pt 2: Fav Performances of 2025 (thus far)...
Monday, July 14, 2025 at 10:00PM by Nathaniel R
Florence Pugh as "Yelena" in THUNDERBOLTS*
Favorite does not always equal "Best" but it's close enough for list-mania purposes! To close out the celebration of the best of approximate first half of the cinematic year (to be precise films that opened between January 1 and July 11 in the US), a shout-out to scene stealers, charismatic leads, and foundational supporting players. There's even a couple of day players in the mix here who made their tiny parts feel essential in one way or another. Herewith a non-definitive list of 25 performances that did it for this moviegoer from the first six months of screenings in 2025. (The numbers: I screened 41 new films in that time span and the 25 stand-outs ended up coming from 19 of those).
I hope you'll share some of your favourite recent star turns in the comments. These twenty-five performances, presented in two parts (otherwise it would take way too long to post), are in alpha order because this exercize is like comparing apples to oranges before sizing them up against mushrooms and succotash and dividing them by airplanes and railroads if you catch my nonsensical impossible drift. Ready? Let's go...
Adam Lundgren in THE UGLY STEPSISTER
Adam Lundgren as "Dr. Esthétique" in The Ugly Stepsister
The Nordic cast of this impressive debut from female director Emilia Blichfeldt are well-keyed into the tone of this body-horror inflected Cinderella riff. But marvel at how quickly and perfectly this Swedish actor distlls the film's gleefully sadistic vibe in his very brief moments as a primitive cosmetic surgeon. [Streaming on AMC+/Shudder]
Andrea Bræin Hovig in LOVE (SEX, DREAMS)
Andrea Bræin Hovig as "Mariane" in Love (Sex, Dreams)
In our increasingly tribal and angry world, it's a special thrill to watch an actor so beautifully captures the deeply human process of opening up your mind and heart to new ways of thinking about connectivity. This urologist whose let her life shrink is suddenly forging new or strengthening old relationships with neighbors, co-workers, sexual partners, and longtime friends. [In Limited Theatrical Release]
Anne-Marie Ottersen as "doctor" in Sex (Dreams, Love)
Ottersen is a charismatic delight in her single scene as an opinionated tangent-loving doctor who shares an entire short-within-the-feature anecdote about two architects in love and a regrettable tattoo. [In Limited Theatrical Release]
Brad Pitt in F1: The Movie
Brad Pitt as "Sonny Hayes" in F1 The Movie
He wears his mega-watt starpower so casually that some might mistake it for coasting on charisma but don't be fooled. He's giving backstory, arc, and casual dazzle. There's a reason there are so few Movie Stars of this magnitude. Proof that Brad Pitt can carry any film: At the media screening I attended the theater's air conditioning broke on a ridiculously hot day here in NYC before the movie even started. Somehow I made it through the entire (ridiculous) running time of 155 minutes on just a paper fan and Brad Pitt's face blown up to giant proportions on the IMAX screen. [In Theaters]
Dakota Johnson in MATERIALISTS
Dakota Johnson as "Lucy" in Materialists
Johnson continues to hold the camera superbly and in a way, mysteriously. Even when Lucy tells us bluntly what she's all about as if her character is set in stone and seriously damaged her interiority agrees to disagree; Lucy then remains shimmeringly elusive, a living evolving person rather than a "character" that an actor has pinned down.
Delroy Lindo as "Delta Slim" AND Jack O'Connell as "Remmick" in Sinners
It feels strange to type this as someone who thinks Michael B Jordan is undervalued (despite his fame) and should already have two Oscar nominations (Creed, Black Panther) but I was much more drawn to the supporting cast in Sinners. Lindo, of course, always has screen magnetism to spare, so his excellence is unsurprising. On the other hand it was very gratifying to see O'Connell on fire again. For whatever reason he hadn't lived up to that initial electric promise from a decade back (Starred Up, '71, Unbroken) until this river dancing golden voiced Irish vampire role came around. I can't wait to see how he follows this up.
Florence Pugh as "Yelena" in Thunderbolts*
It was almost amusing to see reviews for this picture in which people seemed startled that Pugh was still a super exciting actor to watch, even within the confines of a wet blanket role (depression is so hard to play in an interesting way) and the superhero genre. People shouldn't have been surprised given the previous eight years of her career.
Harish Patel as "Archit" AND Karan Soni as "Naveen" in A Nice Indian Boy
If you take only two things away from these lengthy 'best of the year thus far' let it be that 1) Norwegian cinema is having an incredible year (Sex, Love, Dreams, Ugly Stepsister, and the forthcoming Sentimental Value) and 2) -- the subject of this paragraph -- you absolutely must see this underappreciated gem of a gay romantic dramedy. While Jonathan Groff is forever endearing and wonderful (as usual) playing a disarmingly sincere white photographer with a unique connection to the South Asian community, his character is the catalyst rather than the lead. The father (Patel) and son (Soni) at the heart of the film do much of the film's tearjerking work and Patel and Soni are both hugely moving as two very different men and unfortunately but understandably distant father and son. Those twin shots of both of them (at different times in the movie) staring at photographs taken by Groff's character, is such a great touch from director Roshan Sethi.
Jack Quaid in NOVOCAINE
Jack Quaid as "Nate" in Novocaine
Quaid has been so busy of late that we have to wonder if he's peaking or if his current roles are just the beginning of what he has to show us. While it feels grossly unfair to compare him to either of his parents -- what a double whammy legacy he has to live up! -- it's also unavoidable (at least for Gen Xers) since he looks exactly like what would happen if you fused his parents in a lab. He's 33 now which is just one year older than Meg Ryan was when she birthed him (the year prior to her biggest box office success: Sleepless in Seattle) and just a year older than Dennis Quaid was when his own devilish grin first took him from a breakout supporting player in The Right Stuff straight into a full decade of leading roles. If their son's career follows the same timeline his great comic timing here as a mild mannered banker turned reluctant action-hero will later be seen as the breakout role for his peak leading man run.
Jan Gunner Røise in SEX
Jan Gunner Røise as "chimney sweeper" in Sex (Dreams Love)
One particular cinematic joy, for those of us who find the craft of acting both technically fascinating and spiritually miraculous, is having an actor sweep the rug out from under you. At first I though Røise was underplaying his role as a married chimney sweeper, as he casually tells his boss/friend that he had sex with a man the night before in the film's very first scene. But with each subsequent conversation, the performance deepens becoming more pained, beautiful, maddening, and three-dimensional, until it reconfigures that initial nonchalance into something far more revealing about how this man processes and doesn't process his life choices and how he views his own marriage.
We wrap up tomorrow with the final dozen featuring a sexbot, a super-villain and two Oscar winners performing grand-theft of their movies from the margins.
Reader Comments (3)
I don't know if Tyler Perry's Straw is a movie or a tv-movie but Taraji P. Henson is fenomenal.
It's like Sinners was the only horror film anyone saw or heard about this year,hype hype hype.
Meghann Fahy is my Best Actress so far she holds the screen for the films running time with ease goes through tons of emotion has a full arc and no-one says a word because it wasn't hyped to the high heavens and she's not Michael B Jordan.
Just saw Sinners and got zero from it.
Karan Soni, Florence Pugh and Jack Quaid would probably make a top 10 for me so far this year. So great picks!
That said, I don't agree with Brad Pitt at all. Honestly think he's sleepwalking in the role. Though perhaps I'm conflating it with thinking the movie overexerts the whole Brad Pitt of it all. To me, it just felt like too much effort on everyone's part trying to sell Brad Pitt as a Movie Star (which he is of course but just didn't feel natural to me in this instance).