One Battle After Another Wins In Atlanta


I’m getting the feeling this is going to be a boring awards season.  The Atlanta Film Critics Circle has announced its picks for the best of 2025 and One Battle After Another won …. again.  And that’s fine!  It’s just that, from a blogging point of view, I always prefer an unpredictable season to a predictable one.

Anyway, here are the winners in Atlanta!

BEST FILM: One Battle After Another

TOP 10 FILMS (ranked):

  1. One Battle After Another
  2. Sinners
  3. Weapons
  4. Hamnet
  5. Marty Supreme
  6. It Was Just an Accident
  7. No Other Choice
  8. Sentimental Value
  9. Train Dreams
  10. The Secret Agent

BEST LEAD ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

BEST LEAD ACTRESS: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Runner-up: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Madigan, Weapons
Runner-up: Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Sinners

BEST DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Ryan Coogler, Sinners

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Sinners
Runner-up: Weapons

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Hamnet

BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Perfect Neighbor
Runner-up: The Alabama Solution

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: It Was Just an Accident
Runner-up: No Other Choice

BEST ANIMATED FILM: KPop Demon Hunters
Runner-up: Arco

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Sinners

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Sinners
Runner-up: One Battle After Another

BEST STUNT WORK: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Runner-up: F1

BEST VOICE PERFORMANCE: Arden Cho, KPop Demon Hunters
Runner-up: Jason Bateman, Zootopia 2

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

BEST FIRST FEATURE: Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

The Gothams Honor One Battle After Another


Last night, Awards Season began with the Gotham Awards!  One Battle After Another, which I really don’t want to have to sit through but I guess now I have no choice, won Best Feature.  (Oddly enough, that was the only award that One Battle After Another won, suggesting that the award had more to do with the film’s politics than its quality.)  Far more interesting is the fact that Iranian dissident (who is facing prison if he even returns to his native country) Jafar Panahi won Best Director and Best Screenplay for It Was Just An Accident.  Will the Academy have the courage to also honor him?

The winners are listed in bold below.

Best Feature
Bugonia
East of Wall
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Lurker
One Battle After Another
Sorry, Baby
The Testament of Ann Lee
Train Dreams

Best Director
Mary Bronstein – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Jafar Panahi – It Was Just an Accident
Kelly Reichardt – The Mastermind
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Oliver Laxe – Sirât

Outstanding Lead Performance
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Lee Byung-hun – No Other Choice
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Sopé Dìrísù – My Father’s Shadow
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Jennifer Lawrence – Die My Love
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Josh O’Connor – The Mastermind
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Tessa Thompson – Hedda

Outstanding Supporting Performance
Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Indya Moore – Father Mother Sister Brother
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
Andrew Scott – Blue Moon
Alexander Skarsgård – Pillion
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It Was Just an Accident
The Secret Agent
Sorry, Baby
Sound of Falling

Best Adapted Screenplay
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Pillion
Preparation for the Next Life
Train Dreams

Best International Feature
It Was Just an Accident

No Other Choice
Nouvelle Vague
Resurrection
Sound of Falling

Best Documentary Feature
2000 Meters to Andriivka
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow
The Perfect Neighbor
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk

Breakthrough Director
Constance Tsang – Blue Sun Palace
Carson Lund – Eephus
Sarah Friedland – Familiar Touch
Akinola Davies Jr. – My Father’s Shadow
Harris Dickinson – Urchin

Breakthrough Performer
A$AP Rocky – Highest 2 Lowest
Sebiye Behtiyar – Preparation for the Next Life
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
Abou Sangaré – Souleymane’s Story
Tonatiuh – Kiss of the Spider Woman

One Battle After Another Leads The Gotham Nominations


For better or worse, Awards Season started today with the announcement of the Gotham nominations.  The Gothams are supposed to honor independent films, though the line between studio and independent is now so thin that it’s sometimes difficult to tell which is which.

In the past, the Gothams honored obscure films and also low-budget films that captured the public’s imagination.  This year, they gave the majority of their nominations to One Battle After Another, a big-budget film that starred a slew of Hollywood heavyweights.  Meanwhile, Sinners, a genuinely independent feature, received one nomination.

It’s debatable how much of a precursor the Gothams are.  They’re a critic-selected award and it’s always the guild awards that serve as the best precursors.  Still, it always helps to be mentioned somewhere.

Here are the 2025 Gotham nominations!

Best Feature
Bugonia
East of Wall
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Lurker
One Battle After Another
Sorry, Baby
The Testament of Ann Lee
Train Dreams

Best Director
Mary Bronstein – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Jafar Panahi – It Was Just an Accident
Kelly Reichardt – The Mastermind
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Oliver Laxe – Sirât

Outstanding Lead Performance
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Lee Byung-hun – No Other Choice
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Sopé Dìrísù – My Father’s Shadow
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Jennifer Lawrence – Die My Love
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Josh O’Connor – The Mastermind
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Tessa Thompson – Hedda

Outstanding Supporting Performance
Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Indya Moore – Father Mother Sister Brother
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
Andrew Scott – Blue Moon
Alexander Skarsgård – Pillion
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It Was Just an Accident
The Secret Agent
Sorry, Baby
Sound of Falling

Best Adapted Screenplay
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Pillion
Preparation for the Next Life
Train Dreams

Best International Feature
It Was Just an Accident
No Other Choice
Nouvelle Vague
Resurrection
Sound of Falling

Best Documentary Feature
2000 Meters to Andriivka
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow
The Perfect Neighbor
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk

Breakthrough Director
Constance Tsang – Blue Sun Palace
Carson Lund – Eephus
Sarah Friedland – Familiar Touch
Akinola Davies Jr. – My Father’s Shadow
Harris Dickinson – Urchin

Breakthrough Performer
A$AP Rocky – Highest 2 Lowest
Sebiye Behtiyar – Preparation for the Next Life
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
Abou Sangaré – Souleymane’s Story
Tonatiuh – Kiss of the Spider Woman