2025 Movie Year In Review and my Top 10 films!

Another year, another trip around the sun. Over a century ago, Einstein proposed the radical idea that time is relative and non-linear. The older I get, the more that rings true. At 47 years of age I feel like time careens forward at an ever increasing rate. How in Crom’s name is it possible that I have a baseball obsessed 11 year old son living in my house? I was just changing his diapers yesterday. How have I been with my wife for over 20 years? We just went out for our first date to watch the remake of The Fog last week. How have I been writing for House of Geekery for twelve years? I just wrote my first review on Elysium. As a great philosopher once quipped, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

That particular maxim entails taking time for your passions as well, whatever they may be. In case you haven’t noticed by the fact that I write film reviews in my spare time, my passion is cinema. I earnestly believe in the transformative power of film. Movies have the power to change and shape the destiny and trajectory of people’s lives. I’ve no doubt that someone saw Zootopia 2 this year and decided they wanted to be an animator some day, or watched Sinners and knew in their bones they had to learn the piano, or took in the John Candy doc and asked themselves how they could be a better person.

Like every other year, 2025 certainly brought with it its highs and lows. There was a Netflix animated feature that took the world by storm. We were blessed with a masterclass in directing from Paul Thomas Anderson. And the Man of Steel showed audiences that kindness is the real punk rock. Well it’s high time I gave my thoughts and experiences on the year that was from the world of movies.

A few key things to note before I dive in. My top ten list is a list of my favorites only. I stand by the opinion that all movie experiences are subjective and your mileage may vary. Consequently doing a “best of” list is a fool’s paradise because your definition of best will almost certainly be different than mine. The only criteria I had in composing my list was that the movie had to rate at least a 9 out of 10 on my scale and it had to be released in the United States in 2025. Also despite the fact that I did see 42 films released in 2025, I’ve been unable to watch them all. So apologies if you don’t see Bugonia, Hamnet, The Secret Agent, or others on this list. In fact if something is missing I encourage you to tell me in the comments! I’m always up for a new discovery.

So without further ado here are the good, the bad, and everything in between!

MOST SURPRISING FILM OF THE YEAR: KPop Demon Hunters

If you took the sum total of my knowledge of KPop music, turned it into water, and then poured it into a thimble, you’d still have half a thimble to spare. Having said that I know great animation and storytelling when I see it and KPop Demon Hunters had both in abundance. The little animated film that could (and a Netflix film at that) took the world by storm when it dropped in June. KPop Demon Hunters went from being a throw away animated streaming movie, to a pop culture phenomenon. In fact the film was so popular Netflix released it into theaters not once but twice. What can I say that hasn’t already been talked about ad nauseum? The artistry from Sony Animation is top notch, the vocal performances from Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo are stellar, “Takedown” and “Golden” are bangers, and directors Maggie Kang and Chris Applehans crafted a brilliant story about community, friendship, cultural pressures, and trauma that also happened to be wildly entertaining. What a fantastic film that no doubt will win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars this March.

MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF THE YEAR: Freaky Tales

You’ve heard the expression, “very much my jam”? Well Freaky Tales delivers multiple flavors. An anthology film that depicts California life in the 1980s (specifically Oakland) and celebrates everything from punk rock to the underground rap scene, to VHS tapes, to Warriors basketball, Anna Boden and Ryan (Captain Marvel) Fleck’s little film really surprised me. It’s a movie that feels ripped right from the decade it portrays, with movies like The Warriors, Creepshow, and even Michael Mann’s Thief heavy influences. Balanced out with a dynamite cast and a scintillating 80s soundtrack, my heart was full after watching Freaky Tales. It also sports one of the best cameos ever, with Tom Hanks as a video store owner. If you missed this one in theaters, check it out on VOD.

MOST DISAPPOINTING FILM OF THE YEAR: Mickey 17

Man I had such high hopes for this one. A science fiction flick based on a popular novel starring Robert Pattinson and directed by Bong Joon Ho? The fact that Toni Colette and Mark Ruffalo were in the film was just gravy. Mickey 17 seemed like a sure fire slam dunk at the box office, with audiences, and with critics. Unfortunately, it was tonally chaotic, ham-fisted in its socially commentary, overly long, inauthentic, and maybe worst of all – boring. Aside from some excellent visuals and a solid performance from Pattinson, everything else about Mickey 17 rings hollow. I expected a lot more from the director of Parasite but this was a huge swing and a miss for Bong Joon Ho.

MOST OVERHYPED FILM OF THE YEAR: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Now I won’t go so far as to use the juvenile and snide moniker of Fire and Ass to refer to director James Cameron’s latest trip to Pandora, because Avatar: Fire and Ash is by no means a bad film. The problem is that the story is one we’ve seen twice already. Cameron and crew are repeating the same story beats from the previous two movies with diminishing results. Earth-shattering visuals are simply no longer enough to hold my interest. Combine this with a runtime of over three hours and a high frame rate that gave me a headache and I’m questioning the need for a fourth Avatar film, let alone a fifth. This film takes no risks and Jack Champion delivers one of the worst performances in years as Spider. Cameron and company need to make something much more compelling if they want to keep me invested. Then again the movie’s made over $1 billion in just 18 days and has tremendous legs so what the Hell do I know?

BEST NON-2025 RELEASE I SAW IN 2025: The Long Good Friday

I’ve gone out of my way over the last 18 months to try to take in highly regarded films I’ve never seen. One day I randomly happened to see that Criterion had released a special edition of this movie and that same week a movie pundit and director I respect – Robert Meyer Burnett – talked about this movie. Bob Hoskins break out role? Check. A seedy British gangster mystery/thriller that clearly influenced Guy Ritchie? Check. An incredibly young, gorgeous, and talented Helen Mirren? Check, check, aaaaand check. Director John Mackenzie’s 1981 film is an absolute gem and Hoskins as Harold Shand is revelatory. It also contains one of the most haunting final sequences I’ve seen in quite some time. If you haven’t had a chance to check this one out, it’s streaming on HBO Max.

WORST FILM OF THE YEAR: The Minecraft Movie

Now listen, I know I am not the target demographic for this movie and the film damn near made a billion dollars at the box office. But good Lord is this movie bad. The special effects are sub-par, the story is virtually non-existent, it’s loud and invasive, and if I have to hear “Chicken Jockey!” and Jack Black singing one more time I’m going to throw myself into the nether. It was obvious from the get go that Jack Black and Jason Momoa were just playing themselves. Their performances screamed “I’m here for a paycheck!” And honestly Momoa is just too handsome and badass in real life to be believable as a washed up video game store owner. Not even Jared Hess, the man who brought us Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre could save this movie.

And now it’s time for my favorite movies of the year…

HONORABLE MENTION #1: Train Dreams

Director Clint Bentley’s film has haunted me in the best way possible since the day I saw it. Awe inspiring, melancholy, hopeful, and heartbreaking, it is a stunning meditation on what it means to be human. Joel Edgerton gives a career defining performance and Adolpho Veloso’s cinematography is just breathtaking. Combine that with a searing score from Bryce Dessner and you’ve got the recipe for one of the better “vibe” films in years. Train Dreams proves to be a Terrence Malick-esque wonder that celebrates the beauty of a meaningful if simple life.

HONORABLE MENTION #2: Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a fascinating example of how the movie industry has changed. It sports a top-notch cast, an Oscar worthy performance from Russell Crowe as Hermann Goring, some dynamic set and costume design, and a scintillating screenplay from writer/director James Vanderbilt. This is the kind of movie that if it came out 30 years ago would have been nominated for 10 Academy Awards and garnered all kinds of praise. Yet in 2025 it came and went with little fanfare. It’s mind boggling to me as I was locked in from frame one. They simply do not make these kind of courtroom, political thrillers anymore. As my podcast partner Luke is wont to say, “It’s amazing to me how many great films are essentially people in rooms talking.” It’s an apt, if oversimplified, description of Nuremberg. Russell Crowe hasn’t been this good since Cinderella Man and some of his scenes with Rami Malek crackled with energy. It also happens to be a very relevant movie for our times. Too bad this one slipped through the cracks with audiences.

HONORABLE MENTION #3: Sisu: Road to Revenge

Yeah I know, recency bias, blah, blah, blah – save it. This fucking movie is awesome. In 2023 Sisu came out of nowhere to be one of the most talked about, buzz worthy action films in decades. While I didn’t think a sequel was necessary, damn am I glad director Jalamari Helander and actor Jorma Tormilla decided to do it because, goddamn, this movie kicks ass. Not only a worthy successor but a movie equally as good as the original, Sisu: Road to Revenge is 89 minutes of total adrenaline. It’s pure popcorn fun and offers some of the most ridiculous but memorable action set pieces this side of a Michael Bay film. Tormilla is simply fantastic as Aatami Korpi. I can’t believe he’s kicking ass like this in his 60s. This film also happened to be more emotionally resonant than the first. Stephen Lang playing the bad guy was just icing on the cake.

And now it’s time for my top ten favorite films of the year my friends…

#10: The Running Man (9/10)

One of two Stephen King adaptations on this list, I was stunned that Edgar Wright’s The Running Man completely bombed at the box office. People complained that it was tonally dissonant, bore no resemblance to the original Arnold film, contained too much goofy humor – I just don’t get it. I feel like I saw a completely different movie. Glen Powell is perfectly cast as Ben Richards. Powell manages to make Richards a likeable asshole. The set pieces are fantastic, the social commentary is on point, Edgar Wright’s signature style is on full display, and I absolutely loved the needle drops and Chung-hoon Chung’s camerawork. As a huge fan of the original novel, I’m thankful we received a pretty faithful adaptation. Hell I even loved the changes they made to the ending. I had a gigantic grin on my face when the movie ended and I can’t wait to get the 4K in March.

#9: John Candy: I Like Me (9/10)

As many films as I take in every year, documentaries are probably my least favorite genre. It’s not that I’m inherently against them or actively avoid them, I just find other genres more compelling. Yet when I heard that Colin Hanks (Tom Hanks’s son) was making a documentary about one of my favorite comedians of all-time, I knew I had to watch it. And boy did it deliver. It was so refreshing to discover that John Candy was the man I always thought he was. Sweet, endearing, loyal, and humble, he was a man haunted and inextricably linked to being the “jovial fat man.” A perpetual people pleaser in an industry that typically eats them alive, Candy was nevertheless able to retain his humanity. Watching interviews with everyone from Bill Murray, to Steve Martin, to Catherine O’Hara, to Macaulay Culkin absolutely touched my heart. If you think I cried during this documentary, let me tell you your suspicions are correct.

#8: 28 Years Later (9/10)

With The Walking Dead and its multiple spinoffs inundating the television sphere for the last decade and a half, people forget that in the early 2000s the zombie genre was basically dead. That was until Danny Boyle and Alex Garland revitalized it with their seminal work 28 Days Later. I honestly never thought they’d reteam for a sequel and I had my doubts about how good it would be, but man was I glad to be wrong. Visceral, terrifying, haunting, and incredibly relevant, this proves that greatness can happen when you partner up the perfect director with the perfect screenwriter. There’s so much layer and nuance to 28 Years Later -everything from Brexit, to emotional trauma, to criticism of the monarchy – that you could spend hours unpacking it. Anthony Dod Mantle’s cinematography is some of the best of 2025, Ralph Fiennes is entrancing, and Alfie Williams delivers one of the best child actor performances ever committed to screen. Oh and the damn movie is scary as Hell. I can’t wait for The Bone Temple in a few weeks.

#7 Predator: Killer of Killers (9/10)

After Shane Black’s atrocious 2018 film The Predator, I thought the Predator franchise was dead in the water. Then Dan Trachtenberg came along with Prey in 2022 and reset the whole bloody paradigm. I was thrilled to discover that Trachtenberg was releasing not one but two Predator films in 2025, because after Prey, I knew the franchise was in good hands. While I liked Predator: Badlands, Predator: Killer of Killers is a far superior film. An anthology movie set across three separate times in Earth’s history (9th century Viking Scandinavia, 17th century feudal Japan, and the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII) this was a Predator movie fans had been dreaming about ever since the end of Predator 2. The animation courtesy of Unreal Engine was stunning and there were clearly stylistic influences from Arcane and Akira. It all culminates in a final act that had my jaw on the floor.

#6: One Battle After Another (Masterpiece)

The only masterpiece I saw in 2025, One Battle After Another may not be my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film, but I can easily say it’s his best. This is a movie that exemplifies a true master craftsman at the top of his game. It’s as if all previous PTA films were just whetstones he used to sharpen the blade that is One Battle After Another. Darkly funny and shot impeccably by Michael Bauman in VistaVision, One Battle After Another isn’t so much a movie as it is an experience. In this age of endless sequels and AI slop, I’m astounded that PTA’s movie even exists. The script is pristine, the score propulsive, and its excoriation of the far Right, while simultaneously doing the same thing to would be ultra-liberal revolutionaries is nothing short of astounding. I’ve never seen Leonardo DiCaprio this vulnerable, paranoid, or hilarious. The supporting cast is incredible with Chase Infinity a standout and I’ve never hated a Sean Penn character more in a movie. It’s the kind of film that when you’re done you say to yourself, “Now THAT’S a movie!”

#5: Marty Supreme (10/10)

Timothee Chalamet has quickly moved into the category of Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence in that no matter what movie Chalamet comes out with, he’s got my money. With Marty Supreme, Chalamet takes it to a whole other level. A truly masterful performance, I could not take my eyes off the screen. Josh Safdie’s sports biopic (and I use that term loosely) about ping pong of all things, makes for a compelling and riveting story. The pace is frenetic, the plot intriguing, the humor dark, and the performances stunning. Marty is a not a good guy. He’s a grifter, a conman, and a liar…and yet you root for him. He represents the person who will sacrifice everything and everyone around him to be the best in the world. Gwyneth Paltrow has never been better and I was wowed by newcomer Odessa A’zion. But at the end of the day you show up to watch Timmy cook and he delivers a sumptuous and delicious cinematic acting feast.

#4: The Long Walk (9/10)

The second Stephen King adaptation on my list, The Long Walk was one of my most anticipated films of 2025. A film that languished in development Hell for decades, I firmly believe that the movie gods were just waiting for director Francis Lawrence to come along. This movie was everything I hoped it would be. Harrowing, heartbreaking, funny, and a true celebration of friendship, next to The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, this may be the best Stephen King adaptation yet. It’s The Hunger Games meets Stand By Me and it’s clear that both Lawrence and screenwriter J.T. Molner were fans of the original text. There’s a beauty in the bleakness that you can’t help but appreciate. Relentlessly violent but not gratutiously so, you can’t help but invest in these characters…and grow to love them. Cooper Hoffman leads the way as the main character Ray but it it’s David Jonsson’s Pete that absolutely blew me away. In a just world, Jonsson would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Accolades or no, The Long Walk is a stark, brutal, and beautiful ode to friendship.

#3 Wake Up Dead Man (9/10)

The Benoit Blanc mysteries (I refuse to call them Knives Out mysteries) reminds me of the John Wick franchise in the that I can’t get enough of them. Every time director Rian Johnson comes out with a new film featuring the intrepid detective, I am seated. Not only are they impeccable mysteries (I’m astounded that anyone can craft something so complex but believable) but they have tremendous heart, a dynamic cast, and some of the most intentional, nuanced, and meticulous cinematography this side of Roger Deakins. With Wake Up Dead Man, Johnson delivers my favorite film yet in this series, led by a charismatic and pitch perfect performance by Josh O’Connor as Father Jud. As a former Catholic I really appreciated the conversation this movie had about faith, rationality, the cult of personality, hubris, grace, and what it truly means to be a Christian. The dialogue simply sparkles and Wake Up Dead Man has my favorite final shot of any movie of 2025.

#2: Superman (9/10)

We live in a very cynical, disingenuous world. It’s one where we are bombarded everyday with the newest rage bait article, political scandal, genocide, or cultural war issue designed to make us angry, depressed, and hopeless. It’s no wonder people often dismiss the character of Superman as some big blue boy scout who saves cats out of trees and has an “aw shucks” attitude. Yet director James Gunn’s authentic, colorful, earnest, and heartfelt depiction of the Man of Steel reminded us that “kindness is the real punk rock.” This edition of Superman is a breath of fresh air, a hopeful superhero film that was funny and maybe the most comicbooky comic book film of all time. David Corenswet makes for a perfect Clark Kent/Superman, Nicholas Hoult was born to play Lex Luthor, and Rachel Brosnahan owns the role of Lois Lane. Superman is weird, wild, and dare I say it-fun. If this is what James Gunn has in store for the new DCU, bring it on.

#1: Sinners (10/10)

When I walked out of Ryan Coogler’s breathtaking Delta Blues depression era vampire film Sinners in April, my immediate thought was that any subsequent film released in 2025 was going to have a hard time knocking it off of the #1 slot. Not surprisingly, no other film did. Like One Battle After Another, I’m just in awe that this movie exists. Authentically black, a profound celebration of the transformative power of music, and featuring a career defining performance from Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, there’s a reason this movie is at the top of multiple critics’ and fans’ “best of” lists. Because it deserves to be. The sumptuous score from Ludwig Goransson, the soul affirming cinematography from Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the flawless script from Ryan Coogler – Sinners proves to be a movie triumph where every single element of cinema is operating at peak levels. Newcomer Miles Caton delivers a stunning breakthrough performance as Sammy, Delroy Lindo chews the scenery as Delta Slim, and Hailee Steinfeld reminds us why she remains an excellent actor. And Jack O’Connell makes for a fantastic vampire villain. I could spend hours coming up with copious superlatives to describe Sinners and it still wouldn’t come close to adequately describing what an astounding film this is.

Well that’s a wrap on the 2025 cinema world! Here’s hoping for an even better slate of films in 2026!