Barack Obama Unveils 2025 Favorite Films: No Other Choice Makes the Cut With 10 More
Barack Obama has dropped his 2025 favorites on Instagram, and Park Chan-wook’s dark comedy skewering late-stage capitalism, No Other Choice, lands at No. 6 as he continues his annual tradition of sharing top films alongside other art.
Barack Obama did his annual year-end thing and dropped his favorite 2025 movies on Instagram. No surprise: it’s a serious, filmmaker-forward lineup. Paul Thomas Anderson takes the crown with his biggest hit ever, Park Chan-wook shows up with a bruising dark comedy about late-stage capitalism, and Ryan Coogler lands a spot with one of the year’s rare original smashes. If you track awards season, this list is basically a cheat sheet.
Obama’s 2025 movie picks
- One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson
- Sinners — Ryan Coogler
- It Was Just An Accident — Jafar Panahi
- Hamnet — Chloe Zhao
- Sentimental Value — Joachim Trier
- No Other Choice — Park Chan-wook
- The Secret Agent — Kleber Mendonca Filho
- Train Dreams — Clint Bentley
- Jay Kelly — Noah Baumbach
- Good Fortune — Aziz Ansari
- Orwell: 2+2=5 (Documentary) — Raoul Peck
PTA at the top (and why that tracks)
Obama put Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another at No. 1, and honestly, that makes sense. The movie’s been living in the awards conversation since it opened. Jonny Greenwood’s score has been singled out all season, the ensemble is stacked and doing the work, and the film has turned into PTA’s highest-grossing release to date. It’s the rare blend of craft, momentum, and crowd interest that the Academy usually notices.
The Park Chan-wook factor
Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice — a sharp, pitch-black comedy flaying late-stage capitalism — landed at No. 6 on Obama’s list. Park’s one of the greats who still hasn’t had the Oscars moment he deserves, and this one has the reception to change that. If One Battle After Another is the frontrunner, No Other Choice is the pressure on its heels.
A list built for awards season
Most of these titles are already buzzing heading into nominations, and it wouldn’t be shocking if the Academy’s winner lines up with Obama’s top pick. One Battle After Another has already shown up on Academy shortlists in five spots: Best Original Score, Casting, Sound Design, Cinematography, and Makeup and Hairstyling. That could expand when final nominations hit, and a sweep is very possible — including Best Picture, Best Director for PTA, and Best Adapted Screenplay. But between Park’s late-surge heat and the strength of this entire slate (Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is one of the year’s biggest original hits; Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet is exactly the kind of elegantly mounted drama voters like), it’s not going to be a cakewalk.
Where to watch
One Battle After Another hits HBO Max on December 19, so if you’re trying to get current before the nominations drop, you’re covered.
What were your favorites this year? Drop them — I’m curious where you land compared to Obama’s picks.