Joey Magidson
Well, believe it or not folks, we’re here. Welcome to the end of the year! With only a few days left in 2025, it’s time to start giving out some prizes. Today, we kick off the Sixth Annual Awards Radar Awards, also known as the Joey Awards (because, as mentioned each year when introducing the series, when you own a site, you get to name a prize after yourself). Throughout the week, we’ll be highlighting my favorites of the year. What makes a worthy winner for me? It’s simply a gut feeling, so don’t necessarily expect just Oscar contenders on these lists. Academy hopefuls are represented, to be sure, but it’s hardly just prestige titles. After all, it’s my tastes, which are decidedly eclectic.
For the first part of this awards series, we’re again going to start by tackling the best performances of the year. Who took home the first wave of the sixth installment of the Awards Radar Awards, acquiring the clearly coveted Joey Prizes? You’re about to find out right now. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen…
The Best Performance by an Actor in 2025 – Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Jeremy Allen White managed to inhabit Bruce Springsteen for me in a way that was transformative. Becoming The Boss at a pivotal moment in his life leads to White trafficking in some incredibly moving territory. Whether he’s singing or silent, he manages to bring Bruce to cinematic life in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. My rave review out of the Telluride Film Festival here includes this bit:
Jeremy Allen White becomes The Boss here in a way that’s beyond appearance. He’s capturing the feel of Bruce Springsteen, especially at his most human and vulnerable moments. There’s a natural quality to the performance that gets at the deeper truth of the man. White does his own singing and is spectacular there, finding the soul of Springsteen instead of simply imitating. It’s a stunning turn and the best work of his career so far. A nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards is more than deserved.
The Top Ten Performances by an Actor in 2025
10. Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Life of Chuck
9. George Clooney in Jay Kelly
8. Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another
7. Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams
6. Adam Sandler in Jay Kelly
5. Dylan O’Brien in Twinless
4. Michael B. Jordan in Sinners
3. Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme
2. Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon
1. Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Honorable Mentions
Billy Crudup in Jay Kelly
Mark Hamill in The Life of Chuck
Josh O’Connor in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Jesse Plemons in Bugonia
Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value
Special Citation
Indy the Dog in Good Boy
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The Best Performance by an Actress in 2025 – Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love
To say that Jennifer Lawrence is emotionally and physically naked in Die My Love is an understatement. She goes all in and all out to play a woman dealing with postpartum depression, with the results being often funny, though always absolutely devastating. It’s the type of performance you just don’t forget. My rave here praises here like so:
Jennifer Lawrence gives one of the absolute best performances of her career here, emotionally and physically laid bare. Watching Lawrence let loose is an acting treasure, to be sure. She finds the dark humor in her depression, though the devastating nature of it, as well as of postpartum, is never mocked. Her savage humor, her devastating breakdowns, and her stunning screen presence here stands tall alongside anything she’s ever done before.
The Top Ten Performances by an Actress in 2025
10. Zoey Deutch in Nouvelle Vague
9. Amy Madigan in Weapons
8. Jessie Buckley in Hamnet
7. Judy Greer in Eric Larue
6. Imogen Poots in The Chronology of Water
5. Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value
4. Emma Stone in Bugonia
3. Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue
2. June Squibb in Eleanor the Great
1. Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love
Honorable Mentions
Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Chase Infiniti in One Battle After Another
Wunmi Mosaku in Sinners
Florence Pugh in Thunderbolts*
Amanda Seyfried in The Testament of Ann Lee
Sydney Sweeney in Christy
Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow, where you’ll see my Top Ten films of 2025!
Well, it’s over. The pattern has finally been broken in Year Six. Jennifer Lawrence was ferocious and bold in Die My Love in what I’ve come to realize is my favorite feat of acting from her so far in her career. And Jeremy Allen White rises above the monotonous tone and narrative beats of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere to deliver a full embodiment of musical inspiration and depression far beyond just surface-level mimicry. They’re both great choices, and I can’t complain about either of them.
Flabbergasted to see Rose Byrne relegated to the Honorable Mentions, though. And I guess I’ll never quite understand what everyone else sees in Michael B. Jordan this year (and I say this as someone who thinks he should already possess an Oscar of his own!).
Ha, at last!
Rose Byrne actually was in my top ten, though I forgot to include someone initially (you might never guess whom), and needed to bump someone down. Ended up being, as much as anything, for there not being a review to click on, since I didn’t see the film/performance until screener season, unfortunately. Still, it speaks to the quality of the work that she’s number eleven and still blew me away.
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