Welcome to another year! In November of this year I began writing for my local community paper, VISTAS. Some of the reviews posted on this blog have appeared in some form in that paper. This list has grown slightly since the December 15th deadline for the paper. I also turned my top 10 into a top 15. There are still lots of films from 2025 that I have not seen yet.
Letterboxd tells me I have watched 249 films this year, 110 of which are from 2025. This is a list of the best 41 films I saw for 2025. I give you my top 15 films in order and the rest are in no particular order. 2025 seems to be the year of the documentary. I don't recall a year with so many great documentaries; 9 on my list *, 2 of which landed in the top ten. I once again give you my guilty pleasures and my honourable mentions followed by the worst and most disappointing films of 2025.
These are the best 15 films of 2025
1. Eddington
2. Weapons
5. Pee-wee as Himself * doc
6. Train Dreams
7. Bugonia
8. Christy
9. The Perfect Neighbor * doc
10. Sorry, Baby
11. Warfare
12. The G 🍁(released in the US this year, so it's going on here)
13. Tornado
14. The Baltimorons
15. Caught Stealing
And here is everything else (in no order) that made the blog for 2025 - all worthy of your time.
16. This is the Tom Green Documentary 🍁* doc
17. Becoming Led Zeppelin * doc
18. Last Breath
19. Bring Her Back
20. Friendship
21. Final Destination: Bloodlines
22. Secret Mall Apartment * doc
24. The Assessment
25. M3GAN 2.0
27. The Ballad of Wallis Island
28. Sketch
29. Together
30. It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley * doc
31. Materialists
33. The Long Walk
35. Chain Reactions * doc
36. Stolen: Heist of the Century * doc
37. After the Hunt
38. The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo * doc
40. Reflection in a Dead Diamond
41. Keeper
Great Films of 2024 I only watched in 2025
1. Cunk on Life
2. Nickel Boys
4. Babes
7. Samia
8. The G 🍁- released in the US this year, so I'm also giving it a proper shout out on this year's release
Other great films I watched this year from previous years
4. The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
8. Gimme Shelter * doc
9. Disturbia
10. Hopscotch
12. Wild Goat Surf 🍁
13. Gomorrah
Guilty Pleasures/Honourable Mentions of 2024/2025
Dramas
1. Queer - If you are a fan of William Burroughs and his brand of junky, gun toting, drunken, macho homosexuality, and you dug the "2001 Space Odyssey" ending then you will enjoy this film as I did but it won't, I suspect, be enjoyed by most people who enjoy Marvel movies.
2. Good One - Dad, daughter, and Dad's buddy go camping. Quiet indy film with nice moments of sincerity, sadness, love, and homour. And a splash of dark drama.
3. The Brutalist - For a 3.5 hour film, it flew by. However a wrong turn at(in) the end caused it to just miss a full entry here on the Marquee - Adrien Brody is still currently given his Oscar acceptance speech.
4. The Alto Knights - Most reviewers hated it. Is it the "Godfather," is it "Goodfellas?" No, but it's pretty darn good. Worth your time.
5. The Life of Chuck - Chuck's dancing puts the blast in "Glioblastoma" in a charming film about the magic of life despite its utter insignificance.
6. Sacramento - A lite beer version of Sideways about friendship and men of the brink of fatherhood. It's the best thing Michael Cera has done since Juno.
7. Shook 🍁- Immigrant story about a young Indian man trying to navigate love, family, and trying to become a published writer all while living in Scarborough.
8. The Lost Bus - Watching Matthew McConaughey driving a school bus with Ugly Betty and a group of young kids through what looks like hell in this disaster procedural was all right, all right, all right.
9. The Roof Man - I love heist movies! This is a good one. Go get caught up in it (see what I did there).
10. Die My Love - Jennifer Lawrence gives a career best performance as a woman going through postpartum depression (Mother Interrupted) because new parenting is hard but sometimes rewarding, which is kind of like watching this film.
11. It Was Just an Accident - This Iranian film about revenge and forgiveness is part thriller, part comedy but not enough of either and hence only landed in the honourable mention section.
12. Sentimental Value - Narcissistic film maker father tries to build a relationship with his daughter in their old family house.
13. Jay Kelly - George Clooney plays a fictional version of George Clooney in what felt like an extended episode of The Studio. It's the best thing Adam Sandler has done since Uncut Gems.
14. Hamnet - Living in 1590 is hard. It's hard to be William Shakespeare. It's hard to be a woman. And everything is sad. Sad and hard, hard and sad. Enjoy!
15. Song Sung Blue - True story of a Neil Diamond tribute band - Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are great.
Rom/Com
1. Your Monster - Imagine your childhood monster (who lives in your closet and under your bed) helps you to get over your ex in something that feels like Woody Allen meets David Lynch.
Horrors
1. The Damned - A cross between John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Robert Eggers' "The Witch" - it's pretty damn good (see what I did there).
2. The Monkey - Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins) directs this little bad-ass banana. Turn the key and watch it drum up a bloody good time.
3. MadS - Terrible title, great one-take zombie thriller. Moves along at a cocaine pace and doesn't overstay its welcome. Streaming on Shudder.
Thrillers
1. The Wasp - A woman asks an old high school friend to help kill her husband. This one has some sting to it.
2. Companion - In the plethora of movies about bots and sex-bots gone bad, this one has some surprising programming which elevates it slightly beyond a robotic script.
3. Lake George - A criminal is asked to do a hit on a mobster's girlfriend. The performances of Shea Whigham and Carrie Coon are so good they elevate the material far above what it is.
4. Black Bag - David Fincher's "The Killer" meets "Knives Out" in a kind of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" stylish and fun spy whodunnit.
5. Drop - Like Fincher's "Panic Room" or Soderbergh's "Kimi" this is another tight little thriller that you shouldn't let drop off without paying it some well deserved attention.
6. 40 Acres 🍁- Dystopian action thriller set on a farm. Harvest this one for some fun.
7. The Housemaid - A B-thriller with Gone-Girl overtones and for what it is, it's fun enough, like dating the crazy hot girl who shows up wearing the French Maid outfit to your work office party.
Documentaries
1. Never Look Away - Documentary on Margaret Moth, photojournalist for CNN who was an adrenaline junkie, life junkie, and the world was enriched by her intimate and graphic war footage.
2. I Like Me 🍁- It's hard not to like a doc about a man that was universally loved. This is the story of John Candy. I may have cried.
3. ZEF - The Story of Die Antwoord - This documentary on a South African Rap duo is arty as all get out and it might be slightly superficial, but the artistry of this band is off the charts. It's ZEF!
4. Predators - A fascinating documentary of the good, bad, and ugly of NBC's "To Catch a Predator" series and juggling justice with empathy.
Sci-Fi
1. Tron: Ares - With an ultra cool pounding soundtrack, the neon red world of Tron was rendered into an existence that was far more entertaining than I imagined it would be.
Biggest Disappointments of 2025
1. Mickey 17 - You will want to clone yourself so that person can go watch the movie while you do something important, like take a nap.
2. Sinners - With all the great reviews you would think this is a masterpiece instead of a lengthy run-of-the-mill, dull, vampire movie.
3. The Shrouds 🍁- David Cronenberg's take on death, sex, and grief is a dull mess.
4. The Accountant 2 - I LOVED the first one. After doing a deep forensic audit, I have concluded it's a piece of shit.
5. The Phoenician Scheme - A plane crash of all things pastel coloured Anderson and you will definitely want to look away.
6. 28 Years Later - Meanders around like a zombie, without purpose, direction, or logic.
7. Superman - If you watched the trailer, that's all you need. Just another dumb super hero movie. DC too, with the exception of Batman, is going on the banned list. This is not why I go to the movies and if this makes me a snob, then I'm a snob.
8 Relay - It was going to make the blog, and then the last 15% happened. A twist that even M. Night Shyamalan would roll his eyes at. It truly ruined the film. I loved the rest of it so much and then that. Ugh.
9. Highest 2 Lowest - Spike Lee's remake of Akria Kurosawa's High and Low. This is for sure Spike Lee's lowest. This is an example of why a soundtrack is so important and how it can ruin a movie.
10. Black Phone 2 - Just hang up.
