The Online Film Critics Society awards for 2025 are in the books. It was a 2-movie race between One Battle After Another and Sinners, with One Battle snapping up the most prestigious categories and Sinners wiping up nearly everything else. It was a terrible season for movies from within our weird movie coverage universe. Universal Language was snubbed completely, and Bugonia was only nominated for Best Actress and Adapted Screenplay, losing both times. Better luck next year, I guess.

As always, despite the occasional levity in my tone, I take my voting responsibility seriously. I do not put forward weird films at the expense of worthier mainstream candidates just because it’s “my thing.” Here is the list of this year’s winners, along with my choices and a touch of personal commentary. I did a decent job of catching movies this year, screening all of the Best Picture and Best Foreign Language candidates, and only skimping on Animation and Documentary categories.

BEST PICTURE

Winner: One Battle After Another

Also nominated (listed ranked in final order of votes): Sinners, Sentimental Value, It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent, Marty Supreme, Weapons, No Other Choice, Hamnet, Train Dreams

My vote: Bugonia (not nominated), One Battle After Another (of the nominees)

Comments: I was surprised and disappointed that Bugonia did not finish in the top 10 in the first round of voting (it did make the Academy Awards list). On the other hand, at least we didn’t embarrass ourselves by nominating F1! While not perfect, One Battle After Another was the best option of the slate that was nominated.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Winner: KPop Demon Hunters

Also nominated (in alphabetical order): Arco, Elio, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Zootopia 2

My vote: Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

Comments: This is one of the two sections I typically skimp on (the other being documentaries). Of the five nominees, I only saw Arco and the lightly surreal childhood bildungsroman Little Amélie. Amélie got a nomination from me for Best Picture, though, so I have trouble believing KPop Demon Hunters could possibly be better—even if it lives up to the amazing ridiculousness of its title.

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Also nominated (alphabetical order): Ryan Coogler, Sinners; Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident; Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme; Chloé Zhao, Hamnet

My vote: Matthew Rankin, Universal Language (not nominated); Anderson (of the nominees)

Comments: Although it was my second choice for Best Picture, Rankin’s Iranian-Canadian absurdist mashup was not nominated for a damn thing (not even foreign language film.) I’ll blame its awkward release date for that: it came to festivals in late 2025, then had its Academy qualifying run in January 2026, which means it was forgotten by the time the awards rolled around. (I recall more than one OFCS members asking about it in during the 2025 season, and being told it was ineligible for that year’s awards.) I also considered voting for Coogler to split the vote here since, although I enjoyed it, I thought One Battle fell short of obvious best move status (heck, it’s not better than Anderson’s 4th best film, in my mind). I thought the originality of Sinners deserved some recognition. As you will see, recognition for Sinners turned out not to be an issue.

BEST ACTOR

Winner: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Also nominated: Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme; Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another; Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon; Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

My vote: Timothée Chalamet

Comments: Chalamet captures the paradoxical charm of the narcissist in his portrayal of a ping-pong obsessed hustler who enters increasingly elaborate cons to raise funds to attend a tournament in Tokyo. Jordan’s performance(s) made my top 5, although I found neither of his roles as a pair of twins especially nuanced.

BEST ACTRESS

Winner: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Also nominated: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You; Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value; Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee; Emma Stone, Bugonia

My vote: Emma Stone

Comments: Okay, maybe you just can’t vote for Emma Stone every year, but as long as she keeps knocking roles out of the park, I’m going to keep riding her. In the winner’s defense, Buckley was the only good thing about Hamnet and was my second choice of the nominees. Full disclosure: I did not see If I Had Legs I’d Kick You or Hard Truths or The Testament of Ann Lee.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner: Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another

Also nominated: Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein; Delroy Lindo, Sinners; Sean Penn, One Battle After Another, Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

My vote: Sean Penn

Comments: Penn is lovably nasty as the hypocritical, fascist Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, who wants to join a white supremacist secret society for career reasons despite his personal weakness for black women. Del Toro was good (as always), but not even the best supporting actor in his own movie.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner: Amy Madigan, Weapons

Also nominated: Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value;
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value; Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners; Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

My vote: Amy Madigan

Comments: The voters got it right here, and critics in general are enamored with Madigan’s terrifying Aunt Gladys. Madigan also seems to be well-liked by her peers, and I’d be surprised if she didn’t cakewalk to the Academy Award. Trivia note: Madigan now holds the record for longest gap between Oscar nominations (she was nominated in 1985 for the largely forgotten Twice in a Lifetime).

BEST ENSEMBLE & CASTING

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Marty Supreme; One Battle After Another; Sentimental Value; Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

My vote: Sentimental Value

Comments: There were four main characters in Sentimental Value. All four of them were (rightfully) nominated by the OFCS for best acting awards. Just sayin’. This is a new category for us. Full disclosure: I did not see the latest Knives Out installment.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: It Was Just an Accident; Marty Supreme; Sentimental Value; Weapons

My vote: Universal Language (not nominated); Weapons (of the nominees)

Comments: Starting to see a trend here: after missing out on Best Picture and Director, Sinners is cleaning up everywhere else it was nominated. Sinners script has the virtue of an original premise, but Weapons is a masterclass in withholding information from the audience through the use of multiple perspectives.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Winner: One Battle After Another

Also nominated:  Bugonia; Hamnet; No Other Choice; Train Dreams

My vote: Bugonia

Comments: As good as Korea’s original Save the Green Planet! was, Bugonia improves on it in just about every way. The themes of corporate malfeasance and paranoia fit perfectly with today’s moment, and the verbal jousting between Emma Stone’s CEO and Jesse Plemons‘ grungy conspiracy theorists are delicious. Paul Thomas Anderson deserves some credit for making Thomas Pynchon‘s “Vineland” both comprehensible and approachable to modern audiences, but makes some concessions to Hollywood audience expectations. And where are the Thanatoids? (Just kidding).

BEST EDITING

Winner: One Battle After Another

Also nominated: F1; Marty Supreme; No Other Choice; Sinners

My vote: Warfare (not nominated); Marty Supreme (of the nominees)

Comments: I was a bit surprised Alex Garland‘s real-time firefight picture Warfare received no awards push whatsoever. If nothing else, the intensity of the ground-level combat shown here is capable of giving you PTSD; the editing race is the place to honor it. Marty Supreme does a great job of handling a complex, multi-threaded narrative and pumping the adrenaline almost nonstop. One Battle is a solid, if uninspiring, choice.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Frankenstein; Hamnet; One Battle After Another; Train Dreams

My vote: Reflection in a Dead Diamond (not nominated); Train Dreams (of the nominees)

Comments: If you’ve seen Reflection, I’ll wager you know why it got my vote. It seems that not enough of my colleagues bothered to watch it. On the other hand, the cinematography was the one outstanding component of the lugubrious Train Dreams. Sinners was solid throughout, and did have that one magnificent shot—I didn’t pick it, but it’s certainly deserving.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Frankenstein; Marty Supreme; One Battle After Another; Sirât

My vote: Sinners

Comments: Sinners is set in a juke joint and features upcoming blues singer Miles Caton and the legendary Buddy Guy in the cast. Easy choice for music.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN 

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Frankenstein; Hamnet; Marty Supreme; Wicked: For Good

My vote: Reflection in a Dead Diamond (not nominated); Sinners (of nominees)

Comments: My comments on cinematography apply equally to Dead Diamond‘s fate here; I can only assume too few of my colleagues saw it. Given the absence of the only outstanding contender in this category, this seemed a good place to dump some more recognition for Sinners (which, it turned out, didn’t need the help). I did seriously consider voting for the flowery kitsch of Wicked: For Good, however.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Frankenstein; Hamnet; Marty Supreme; Wicked: For Good

My vote: Reflection in a Dead Diamond (not nominated); Sinners (of the nominees)

Comments: Reflection in a Dead Diamond had ladies in skintight black catsuits and a spy in a haute couture evening gown made entirely of mirrors. Once again, I can only assume almost no one else saw it. But, sigh, Sinners was fine, again.

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Winner: Frankenstein

Also nominated: Sinners; The Ugly Stepsister; Weapons; Wicked: For Good

My vote: Weapons

Comments: I went with Weapons because Amy Madigan’s Bozo-the-Clown-meets-zombie-witch-from-hell look was a key part of the film’s terror. I suppose the rest of the voters weren’t as unimpressed as I was with the improbably-stitched monster in Frankenstein (which wasn’t even one of my five finalists for makeup). One final note: although I didn’t vote for it, it was good to see the sick Cinderella adaptation The Ugly Stepsister nominated here (as it was for the Makeup Oscar). I also voted for it in several other categories (Foreign Language Film, Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Visual Effects, Debut Feature, Production Design, Soundtrack, and Lea Myren for Best Actress)—none of which reached the critical mass for a nomination.

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Avatar: Fire and Ash; F1; One Battle After Another, Sirât

My vote: Sirât

Comments: Sirât, about a man seeking his missing daughter at a rave in the remote desert in Morocco, was a good-not-great movie, but the sound design was an integral to what worked in it. Sinners, of course, has a great score/soundtrack, but I feel like the specialized category of sound design—which is new to the OFCS Awards, and which I suspect requires more technical expertise to properly judge than most of us have—calls for something more.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Avatar: Fire and Ash, F1, Frankenstein, Superman

My vote: How to Train Your Dragon (not nominated), Superman (of the nominees)

Comments: We’re at the point, down ballot, where it seems everyone else is just voting straight Sinners party line. Full disclosure: I deliberately avoided seeing Avatar III. I saw F1, and that was enough punishment for one guy.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (DANCE & STUNT)

Winner: Sinners

Also nominated: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning; One Battle After Another; The Testament of Ann Lee; Wicked: For Good

My vote: Wicked: For Good

Comments: This is a new category for us, and it’s awkward having to weigh a dance scene against a car chase scene. Since I cannot think of an outstandingly choreographed action scene I saw this year, I defaulted to the only dance choice on the menu. In retrospect, I probably should have also voted for Sinners for the “blues time travel” sequence, but I confess I did not put a lot of thought into this one. Full disclosure: I did not see the latest Mission: Impossible or Testament of Ann Lee.

BEST DEBUT FEATURE

Winner: Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

Also nominated: Andrew DeYoung, Friendship; Carson Lund, Eephus; Charlie Polinger, The Plague; Kristen Stewart, The Chronology of Water

My vote: Seth Worley, Sketch (not nominated); Eephus (of the nominees)

Comments:  Sketch was an underappreciated and underseen children’s film about a girl who deals with her anger and sadness over the death of her mother by sketching monsters, which then come to life. Eephus was a minor but uniquely conceived story about a bunch of middle-aged amateurs playing their last game on a baseball diamond scheduled to be paved over the next day. I did not see winner Sorry Baby or The Chronology of Water, so my opinion here may count for little.

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Winner: Sentimental Value

Also nominated: It Was Just an Accident; No Other Choice; The Secret Agent; Sirât

My vote: Universal Language (not nominated), It Was Just an Accident (of the nominees)

Comments: I repeat my lament about everyone forgetting Universal Language was eligible. This was a highly competitive category this year, as four of these films were also contenders for Best Picture. I went with Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, the story of a former Iranian political prisoner who believes he has encountered the man who once tortured him, but can’t be 100% sure. No real argument as to the result here, however, as any of these (except Sirât) would have been a fine choice.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Winner: The Perfect Neighbor

Also nominated: 2000 Meters to Andriivka; The Alabama Solution; Cover-Up; Orwell: 2+2=5

My vote: 2000 Meters to Andriivka

Comments: The Perfect Neighbor, told almost entirely through police bodycam footage, is the story of a less-than-perfect neighbor, the ultimate “you kids get off my lawn!” grump, whose behavior eventually ends in homicide. 2000 Meters to Andriivka tells the ground-level story of the 2003 Ukrainian campaign to capture the titular town, shot on helmet-cams by embedded soldier/journalists. When the deadline rolled around I vacillated between them; Neighbor was the more emotionally affecting, but ultimately I cast my vote for Adriivka as the more historically significant document. I am certainly not disappointed with the choice of Neighbor, however, as they ended up almost in a coin flip for me. Full disclosure: I did not see The Alabama Solution or Orwell. Documentary is a difficult category because, with hundreds of them released each year, it’s usually hard to guess beforehand which will be nominated, leaving me to try to catch up on them in the short window after nominations are announced and before final votes are due.