2025 "On Your Left" Film Year-in-Review
It's that time again - celebrating a year's worth of movies! After a slight down year at the movies in 2024, Hollywood, and my theater habits, returned to normal. I saw twenty-five different movies in theaters, which has been about my average over the last decade or so. Just as important, there was better variety in the new releases and, overall, stronger quality, too. Last year I saw few Oscar-nominated movies, both by choice and availability, but that rebounded in 2025, and I saw a healthy cross-section of genres including, encouragingly, more comedies than I've seen in years. There weren't a whole lot of surprises, in that the movies I expected to be good (and/or critics said were good) turned out that way, mostly. But I did steer clear of movies that had low Rotten Tomatoes critic scores in 2025 more than usual, opting instead for well-reviewed movies even if they weren't the kind I usually see. I guess I was just risk-averse: I didn't want to sit through three bad movies for every one that was a pleasant surprise.
Hollywood is absolutely in the midst of transformation as it struggles to survive (particularly the theatrical business) in this streaming era. Studios have found that horror and animated/family movies offer the best bang for their buck, which is rather unfortunate (IMO). But 2025 showed that plenty of other strategies can also succeed, like with Sinners (I'm praying that Hollywood takes careful note of this). Without further ado, these were the highlights (and a few lowlights).
Here is the format of this post, same as in years past:
- Top 10 films of the year!
- Most underrated/overrated films
- Most surprising/disappointing films
- Worst film of the year
- List of other films I saw in theaters (with links to my reviews)
- Films I saw on streaming
Please check out my companion post
here, which is more like my Oscar-style awards. I hope you'll check out some of these movies for yourself!
Top 10 Films of 2025
10.
*TIE* The Naked Gun (directed by Akiva Schaffer; starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson) and
One of Them Days (directed by Lawrence Lamont; starring Keke Palmer and SZA)
Starting off with my usual "cheat" of a tie, The Naked Gun and One of Them Days presented the best pure comedy that 2025 had to offer. The Naked Gun is a remake of a classic parody from the 80s, and Neeson stepped quite ably into Nielsen's giant clown shoes. I appreciated that they kept the earnestly silly tone and style as similar to the original as possible. Obviously, there are plenty of modern references (EVs, crypto) and updated social milieu, but there's plenty of timeless slapstick, too. One of Them Days is an update, too, in a way: instead of featuring two white bros overcoming obstacles including their own foibles, it's two young Black women (Palmer is one of the best young comic actors). This movie is also quite silly, in a much different way, and also joyful and playful in spirit. It also manages to convey the culture and struggles of a distinct class, too, and those not familiar with it will learn a thing or two along while being riotously entertained.
The fifth and (probably?) last Mission movie I've reviewed on this blog went out with a bang in the most important ways, although also a bit of a whimper. A key ingredient of the franchise has been its clever labyrinths of loyalties and schemes; you never know exactly what will happen except that Cruise's Ethan will save the day. Unfortunately, Final Reckoning mostly jettisons the mystery, replacing it with quite a bit of Ethan-as-savior worship and the President deciding if and when to nuke the rest of the world. Oh, well: the much more important parts are its insane stunt sequences. One deep undersea where everything seems to go wrong; and another high in the sky with Ethan literally hanging off a biplane. They are breathtaking (esp. in the theater) and perfect capstones to Cruise's impressive Mission career.
This newest iteration of the Fantastic Four superhero team exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations, another triumph for Team Marvel. The 2005 and 2007 movies, starring Gruffudd and Alba, were OK at best; it seemed like about as generic of superhero fare as possible (I didn't even see the dreadfully-reviewed 2015 version). So I was lukewarm at best when I heard the MCU was rebooting these heroes, but like with Spider-Man, they succeeded in creating a fresh, high-quality take. Pascal and Kirby are typically superb casting as the leads, and the movie wisely focuses on these characters, rather than the obligatory plot (yes, yet another world-ending one, but I very much enjoyed the various methods to solve it-not just fighting!). Add in a rich, retro-futurist 60s vibe, and this was an overlooked blockbuster.
7.
Warfare (directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland; starring Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, et al)
One of those out-of-the-blue movies for me, Warfare is one of the best war movies I've ever seen. Co-directed by one of the veterans of an Iraq battle (2006) that this movie depicts, it is incredibly tense and seemingly extremely realistic. A platoon is attacked in an urban ambush, and survival is the key mission and focus. This is far from some Hollywood jingoistic affair: there are no waves of enemies getting mowed down heroically. Yes, the soldiers are very heroic and courageous (and also, understandably, terrified and prone to occasional mistakes) but we rarely even glimpse an enemy, let alone see one be shot. The sound of incoming enemy fire is constant and menacing, however. There's a bit of gore, but the real terror and lessons are understanding the chaos and danger. Superbly paced and shot.
6.
Materialists (directed by Celine Song; starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal)
Rom-coms are not usually my favorites, but this one has too many intriguing and enjoyable elements to resist. Its central idea is the conundrum of modern dating: there are so many ways to connect with each other, yet single people are often overwhelmed by this choice and set expectations too high. Johnson, playing a matchmaker, deftly handles hilarious scenes dealing with her clients' ridiculous demands or relationship situations. Evans and Pascal are, of course, a charming pair of suitors for her affection. While the matchmaking can get hyperbolized for comic effect, the love triangle, and thus the central personal drama, is very finely and genuinely drawn. All three are quite flawed people, even the seemingly perfect Pascal, but the movie focuses more on the importance of relationship dynamics and how two people just click - or not.
5.
Sinners (directed by Ryan Coogler; starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, et al)
I certainly enjoyed the wildly creative breakout hit from last year like everyone else, although I'm a bit in the middle in terms of excitement. Director Coogler, who is right up there with the best of his peers like Nolan and Villeneuve, does a great job of patiently building the 1930s South world, full of intriguing characters, its harshness yet with opportunities for the skilled and cunning. Jordan's twins are the ostensible leads, and they do anchor the action, but it's really the support around him, especially virtuoso cousin Sammie (Caton). I also liked how the supernatural is gradually eased in, then bursts into full, brilliant flower with the famed music scene. I felt let down by the ending, which was too generic monster horror stuff for my taste, but the first two-thirds alone are outstanding cinema.
The third (and final? I hope not!) Knives Out movie is perhaps the best one yet, and I was lucky enough to get to see it in the theater (rather than - boo! - at home on Netflix). If you've seen the first two, you'll be familiar with the overall structure to this murder mystery: a setting and its colorful characters are introduced, a horrible crime is committed, and Craig's eccentric but brilliant detective Blanc seemingly bumbles his way to a solution. The scenario this time is especially powerful, as it pits the power of faith against Blanc's unswerving (even cynical) reason and logic. As the best movies do, it has a lot to say about our world and society without preaching (pardon the pun) about it. The supporting cast is great yet again, and O'Connor's young priest is a brilliant standout. Despite its structural similarities, writer/ director Johnson keeps his franchise as fresh - and entertaining - as ever.
3.
Hamnet (directed by Chloe Zhao; starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal)
I can be a bit skeptical about movies that seem to be as directly aimed as awards bait as this one, but Hamnet is an engrossing, high-quality movie without feeling that weight (some might say pretension). It's a period piece that literally has Shakespeare as a main character, yet it doesn't feel like what that might imply. It helps that his wife, Agnes, is the main character and as played by Jessie Buckley, she is one of the most astonishing yet grounded figures I've seen in a movie in years. I loved the respect the movie shows for her pagan roots, a falconer whose true home is the forest. Shakespeare himself is mesmerized by this, too, though their courtship is refreshingly quite ordinary. Family life is portrayed so genuinely and touchingly, I didn't mind the resulting lack of plot as well as was affected all the more deeply by the tragedy that strikes. The play Hamlet itself concludes the film, an obvious choice yet also (and more importantly) the perfect one. Just a phenomenal movie, bypassing any and all of my doubts.
2.
Thunderbolts* (directed by Jake Schreier; starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, et al)
Is this the second best movie of the year? No, but it's my second favorite - and a damn good one, too. The Thunderbolts are kind of the cast-off version of the Avengers, or almost like DC's Suicide Squad, a team of villains; these guys are more anti-heroes. For Marvel nerds (like me), almost all the characters are familiar, though it all still makes enough sense for casual audiences. But for me, the interweaving of these characters, each with their own previous history of failures - and worse - was particularly potent and interesting. Pugh's Yelena (Black Widow's sister) is the leader of this group and movie and she does an excellent job as the emotional and moral core, one that is much more fraught and damaged than the Avengers'. Beyond her are many more characters, and at least a few plot threads from previous movies (or even TV shows), yet Thunderbolts* handles them as deftly as I've come to expect from Marvel. It also has great humor, particularly from Yelena's jolly father played by Harbour (think Captain Russia). Anyone can enjoy this movie, but for those who've been following Marvel, it harnesses a depth of plot, theme, and character work that is simply not possible in other movies.
1.
One Battle After Another (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson; starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, et al)
The best movie of the year had a little of just about everything in it: cultural/political relevance, great acting all around, pulse-pounding action, good humor, a satisfying ending, and more. As I've taken to calling it, "lightning in a bottle". Of the few I've seen, I've enjoyed the films of director Paul Thomas Anderson to varying degrees (There Will Be Blood: great; Licorice Pizza: mediocre), but he's clearly one of the most talented filmmakers today, so when I saw him teamed up with one of the best actors today, DiCaprio, this was a no-brainer. Still, even the most ideal setups can end in disappointment, and the trailer for this was... odd. This is an adaptation of a book I haven't read, so it's hard to know exactly how much credit of the story and so on is owed to PTA. Surely he, and the entire cast and crew, deserve tremendous accolades for a movie that contains so much yet feels perfectly fit together.
PTA wrote the screenplay well before Trump's return to the White House, so his vision of a dystopian American immigration system is chilling but sucks in the audience with tremendous force right from the beginning. The movie does a great job of showing and not telling you what to think about this world in which an oppressive authority exerts itself on otherwise ordinary life, a terror to its targets and those actively attempting to resist it. But that's really just the setting; there are powerful images and moments (of caged children, families hidden in secret upper floors), but the characters drive the action and story. DiCaprio's aptly named Bob starts off as a familiar Hollywood figure, the naive but passionate young revolutionary. But for most of the film, he is brilliantly inverted into a fizzled out, broken down man who cares much more about those closest to him now, rather than the big, abstract mission, but seems almost powerless to affect any outcome. The past (via Col. Lockjaw, his revolutionary nemesis, still hunting him down), present (via Sergio, the leader of the revolution's successor, a quiet survivor), and future (via Willa, his daughter, a fighter unsure of her true fight) are all mixed together. This plays out in riveting form - a sneaky nighttime escape as soldiers assault a "sanctuary" town; a literally up-and-down multi-part car chase, etc. And also through humor - Bob's attempts to remember the revolution's passwords, a ludicrous (though repugnant) white supremacist group, etc. Despite its strange mix of tones, characters, and themes, it's all perfectly blended into both entertainment of the highest possible caliber, as well as so much to consider in both our personal lives and the world beyond.
It just missed my top-10 of the year, but the new Captain America movie - and the first with Sam (Mackie) as the title hero. Its 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is ridiculously low, however, as is its box office haul ($200 million in the U.S.; might seem like a lot, but the previous CA movie made $408 million!). I chalk up the reviews, largely, to "superhero fatigue", something that's increased for the past few years. I think that's completely irrelevant information, at least to explicitly include in a review (of course, I'm a bit biased myself) - just judge the movie on its own merits!! Is the movie even better, as most Marvel movies are, if you've seen previous Marvel chapters? Absolutely! Let's just say I have "superhero fatigue fatigue". :-)
This is not a bad movie, but it's definitely my least favorite of the Oscar Best Picture nominees that I have seen. In some ways, it's a pretty well-made movie, with a great performance from Chalamet and a pacing that bounces nicely from mishap to mishap. My problem with it is that Marty just becomes more and more repugnant as the movie goes on, leaves more and more damage in his wake. There's certainly room for nasty characters in movies, even as the main character, but what made it all too much was Marty's victories - moral ones at that - in the ending. I've seen worse Best Picture nominees, but if this somehow wins the award, I'll be disgusted.
These two movies are tied for me because they're both action movies that easily could have coasted on their main premises into bland, bad movies - but they ended up being quite successful. Novocaine is the more original of the two, not part of any franchise or based on any book or other work. Quaid is a winning main character, an unlikely hero whose only advantage is that he can't feel pain. So it's an action comedy, one with a nice balance of silliness but not parody or roll-your-eyes. Ballerina is a spinoff from the hugely successful John Wick action franchise starring Keanu Reeves, and thus a bigger risk in some ways. Ana de Armas does an excellent job as the new action star, though, and the movie makes full use of the interesting world of Wick. Actually, the worst part of the movie is too much Reeves toward the end of the movie. Hopefully de Armas will get another chance to shine!
Most Disappointing Film of the Year: The Roses Like Marty Supreme, this was not a bad movie - in fact, this is quite a bit more enjoyable than Marty even though the subject is a couple falling apart with increasing venom and methods. The things is, this could/should have been one of the best movies of the year, considering its all-star cast. Colman and Cumberbatch are excellent overall actors who are also known for their sharp comedic edges; and McKinnon and Samberg, as supporting characters, are two of SNL's best exports in the last few decades. But the writing and directing just aren't on the same level as the acting. There's plenty to enjoy here, still, almost entirely thanks to the performances; I just wish it was even better.
These two action movies are essentially the inverse of the surprisingly-good Novocaine and Ballerina: lazily done and with a variety of poor creative choices that sunk them almost from the very start. I couldn't even remember what Fountain of Youth (Apple TV) was about when I started writing this. It's kind of a poor-man's National Treasure/Indiana Jones with the mediocre Kransinski starring and Portman and Gonzalez wasted for nothing. The Running Man, which I saw in the theater, features a similarly mediocre star, or at least poorly-cast one, in Powell, and it just strains way too hard to be Relevant; the last third of the movie is particularly sad. These aren't quite as bad as stinkers from previous years, but I still strongly recommend that you avoid them.
(other) Movies I Streamed in 2025:
- A House of Dynamite (B+): This thriller would have been really fun to watch in a movie theater (thanks, Netflix!! *heavy sarcasm*). The acting is strong, it feels realistic to how the decision-makers would likely talk and behave, and it has an interesting chronology. The writing is not quite as sharp as it needs to be and again, it would have been more exciting to see in a theater.
- Mountainhead (B+): A deadpan black comedy about our tech-bro overlords, this is often quite funny - especially a scene where three of them debate the merits and obstacles of murdering one of their friends in cold blood. The casting is quite good (Carell, Youssef, etc.) and thinly veiled impressions (Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc.). Somewhat of a throw-away, but very entertaining.
- Black Bag (B+): I don't remember this one too well, either, just another of the downfalls of streaming, but on jogging my memory with Wikipedia, this was a high-quality espionage thriller with a great cast. What holds it back from a better score is related to the fact that there's not a lot to distinguish it from other genre movies in my memory.
- Mickey 17 (B+): Oscar winning director Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) returned with this sci-fi oddity. Pattinson does a really nice job in the lead, and his various clones, which is crucial for a movie like this. Ruffalo's Trump-like leader of the abandoned space mission is pretty funny, too, but like BB above, there's just a limit to how much I can like genre movies like this anymore (especially when I see them on streaming instead of a theater).
- The Lost Bus (B/B+): Most of this movie is quite good in realistically portraying the harrowing 2018 wildfire that devastated parts of California. McConaughey and Ferrera are in the literal line of fire and create very empathetic characters for the terrors of the disaster. We get just enough of the bird's-eye view of the fire and efforts to fight it to give us context, but it's mostly about the struggle to survive. The ending is a bit underwhelming, but it's still quite well done overall.
- The Gorge (B): Another sci-fi action movie - I just can't quit them, it seems! Teller and Taylor-Joy's characters form a nice chemistry, and the premise of a mysterious DMZ is intriguing enough. Once the veil is pulled back, though, it reverts to fairly typical genre conventions, though. Put it at the upper end of the genre's mediocre tier.
- Heads of State (B): Not a great film, this is much better than it should be. Cena and Elba team up as the American and British leaders - and, apparently, action heroes - in a ridiculous premise that is played at face value, mostly, yet is still quite watchable and fun. It helps that Cena and Elba have a great rapport, there's just enough winking at the premise, and doesn't take itself too seriously.
- You're Cordially Invited (B-): Witherspoon and Ferrell, a bit of an acting odd couple, are pleasant leads for this comedy launched by the interesting premise of two weddings booked for the same venue on the same date. Not all the attempts at humor land, and it can get a little too confused in its tone - but it's also something a little different, and who can say no to Ferrell? (not me)
Other Movies I Saw in Theaters in 2025:
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