A 2025 Film Retrospective: All Hail Lesbians and Sad Bois

I may be a month late, or several if you’re still reading this since the last time I posted, but here we are — I’m still here.

The year 2025 had been transformative for me personally. I found a therapist I really like, I’ve been tackling my weight with more focus, and I’ve been stretching myself outside of my comfort zone. I’ve posted many updates of these life choices on various social media, but I have neglected one of my passions: film.

Overall, I did okay watching movies last year. A lot slipped through the cracks because I was focused on other parts of my life but I did get to see 49 movies that released last year (6 more than the previous year — yay!) and I’d like to go over a couple bad, some underrated, and then my favorite of the year if that’s okay.

The Bad

Let’s get this out of the way.

There wasn’t any truly bad movies that I hated last year. Certainly disappointments like Honey, Don’t! Which is a lesser The Big Lebowski in my eyes. Then there was Jurassic World: Rebirth. Oof. I had hope since director Gareth Edwards does good VFX, especially when it comes to monsters and scale, but man did this entry feel like a soulless cash grab. The most mind-boggling part of the movie is it made a ton of money. That means people genuinely liked it and with how great the blockbuster summer we had last year was I’m certainly side eyeing the general public’s taste now.

But the movie that deserves the crown for the worst of last year, for me, has to belong to The Amateur. This should have been a solid B-flick, easy home run with the elderly crowd, spy on a mission to avenge his wife with secrets she had been hiding from him, etc. And yet, it was so boring. My theatre was half full with elderly couples, the target audience mind you, and they were falling asleep. The wife near me said to her husband, “Are you sleeping, Benny?!” Honestly, I was on the verge of sleep too. The better movie about married spies uncovering secret lives of each other you should have seen this year was Black Bag which was a hoot and the shot of adrenaline The Amateur desperately needed.

The Underrated

While I haven’t seen as many films as most people last year, I do feel there’s a chunk of underrated gems that not many others are mentioning that I would like to give brief kudos toward.

In the Lost Lands: Based on a George R.R. Martin short story, and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, this fantasy tale is full of weird. Witches, werewolves, and a crazy cult city energized this fantastical western. It’s not great. I’ll admit that, but it’s what I’d like to see from the fantasy genre more often. Smaller, more ambitious stories with questionable cheapness. It brought me back to the good days of pre-Syfy channel.

Stitch Head: This animated film is way too cute. A Frankenstein-like scientist is obsessed with creating new monsters while leaving behind the creations who have just been given life. A little boy, Stitch Head, wants to escape from this monotony so a devious circus takes him in and profits off his existence while he experiences the world. This is the type of movie I would have ate up as a kid, and I’m happy to see they’re still making stuff like this. Fairly entertaining for adults with great messages for kids.

Predators: Do you remember the show To Catch a Predator? This documentary looks at that show and brings up questions that we may have taken for granted. While going over its inception and popularity, it also questions the ethics of a media outlet targeting predators and how that show has influenced culture today. There are no easy answers. Was Chris Hansen doing the right thing? Where is the line between doing the right thing and profiting off it? How has this iconic show influenced the next generation of predator catching via YouTube? It’s a tough subject matter to sift through but I thought this documentary by David Osit approaches the subject matter with unexpected emotional maturity.

The Penguin Lessons: A professor rises up against fascism with the help of a penguin.

Drop: This almost made my top 10! It was so close. From the director of Happy Death Day, Christopher Landon has crafted a ditty of a thriller that incorporates modern technology in a useful manner. Taking place almost all in one location, a woman has to try to find who is blackmailing her to kill her date or else men are going to kill her kid back at home. Short, creative, and to the point.

Red Sonja: I loved this so much I forgot to add it to my Letterboxd list of movies I saw last year. Again, some of the same points I had for In the Lost Lands falls here — cheap fantasy with big ambitions. Loved it. I don’t care if the mythical creatures are not photorealistic. I just want some good fantasy in my life! And with Red Sonja that includes a buff woman! Matilda Lutz does a good job as Sonja starting off with her spiritually free side and slowly turning into the warrior badass queen that she is. Some of my favorite tropes are included like warriors bonding in a fighting game, pledging to follow her on her quest, etc. They do have the skimpy outfit she’s known for, but they have a fun way of having her cake and eating it too with an updated version she’s meant to wear throughout the film. A high recommend from me.

Now, let’s dive into my top ten of 2025. A list that dare I say may be a little unhinged at times.

My Top 10:

M3GAN 2.0

I don’t care that it changed genres. I love Megan. I had so much fun. I thought it was clever to upgrade her body to match the actress growing over time. Her sassiness stayed, thank god, and she got to have some really cool outfits! And listen, I’m way too easy when it comes to a Metropolis reference. I don’t care if everyone else hated it. I’ll defend you, Megan 2.0!

Predator: Killer of Killers

This animated anthology was so much fun. Dan Trachtenberg proved the predator franchise still has juice to ooze with his previous hit, Prey, but this felt like a flex with three main dishes being jammed down your gullet. This anthology covers the Predator visiting Vikings, Ninjas, and WWII pilots until they all come together to battle the super jacked predators. I loved the animation style and how each piece, while different, felt very much connected and emotional to the human stories.

Frankenstein

Listen, I love Guillermo Del Toro. It was going to be hard for this not to end up in my top 10 of the year. The production design? Fabulous. Frankenstein’s castle having a death hole in the middle of it? Fabulous. Jacob Elordi being hot. Fab. Oscar Isaac being hot. Melt me. The gory fake bodies being oddly satisfying to watch. This is one of my favorite GDT movies in a while and the biggest surprise for me was how much emphasis this story was on Victor and not the monster. With how much GDT loves monsters I found it fascinating how much this story is about Victor being human.

Rental Family

Human connection. God, I crave that so much I’m such a sucker for it in films. It doesn’t get easier by having Brendan Fraser, a man I will willingly cry in front of, as the lead emotional connection as he navigates an odd Japanese business that we don’t have in the west, where he is paid to be an actor in other people’s lives. From posing for a marriage to a lesbian, or pretending to be a reporter for a woman’s dying father, to being a dad so a little girl can get into school. This man has touched so many lives and watches the emotional journey that we all suppress as humans until you have to let it all out at some point.

Hamnet

Dude, I had no idea Shakespeare was part of this movie. As embarrassing as it is to admit when they revealed his name late into the movie I treated it like an MCU cameo. I nearly gasped in my seat. Beautiful film that’s made to make you cry. Rooting for Jessie Buckley at the Oscars. She puts so much emotion behind her character, as a character and a mom, that it was hard to tear my eyes from the screen.

It Was Just an Accident

Jafar Panahi has been on my radar for a couple years thanks to a film podcast that likes to champion international cinema that we may have missed. His story is a fascinating one as a director that was sentenced and banned from making films in his country of Iran based on his social issues. And yet he continues to make ‘illegal’ films even when he was under house arrest. It Was Just an Accident may be my favorite film from him. It starts off with a mechanic recognizing the sound of another man’s fake leg who randomly popped into his work one night. This brought back memories of when the mechanic was tortured, and so he follows the man home and kidnaps him… but he’s not entirely sure he’s the torturer. So the mechanic starts rounding up more people who were tortured by this guy and what was a serious tone slowly shifts into an odd comedy of a group of people who have never met coming together because of their tragic pasts to determine who this man’s identity is. I don’t think I pitched this well, nor have the world to compel others to see it, but it’s a must watch with a lot on its mind.

K-pop Demon Hunters

You had me at the first song. This movie had me gripped to my seat and my soundbar was blasting, getting the most workout it’s had in years trying to give these banger songs justice! Gaaaaah! I don’t even want to type this anymore and just put it on again (T.T) These girls give me life. I love all their personalities and I will cry for their hardships. Derpy cat is my hero. Wait, I haven’t talked about what this movie is. Okay. Hold onto your butts. A trio of girls fight demons while they are pop stars. Their singing separates the demon world from the human world. But then the demons come up with a brilliant strategy to weaken that barrier. A. DEMON. BOY. BAND. It’s so good, y’all.

Superman

There was a lot of hype for Superman and for me they nailed it. Comic book movies finally feel like comic books again, and this time we’re eating all the cheese. This cast is so good, but David Corenswet as Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane are top tier. They make the movie with their relationship. And Superman standing for good. For good? God his speech after being beaten down all movie was so uplifting. Not to mention the silver age characters scattered throughout this universe. My baby boy Guy Gardner having justice on screen!

Lesbian Space Princess

This was so close to being my number 1 film of the year. I cannot praise this movie high enough. This adult animated film is about a princess, who is a lesbian from Clitopolis in Gayspace, who has to save her ex from the Straight White Maliens trying to power their ‘chick magnet.’ There’s a lot of obvious commentary about modern gender politics, but ultimately what got me were the characters. Especially Saira, the titular lesbian space princess, who is one of the most relatable characters I’ve met in years. I don’t know what it is about seeing myself in lesbians lately, but I was crying throughout this film telling my therapist how I related to her so much. Anyways, this film is a delight that all must watch. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll listen to the soundtrack that one of the characters makes throughout the film on repeat.

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Finally, my favorite movie of the year. I’m a sucker for sad boys angry at the world but really they’re angry at themselves type narrative. A rich man on an island hires a folk duet that split up years ago. One has moved on (her) while the other has not (him). This dry comedy is a delight in exploring the art of accepting the future. We get so caught up in our own little worlds sometimes we can’t find the humor in life, or take a step forward because of something in our past, so it takes a kind man to set us right. God, I’m so tired I don’t even know if this makes any sense.

Anywho, that’s my retrospective of last year. Hopefully you’ve seen some great movies. Let me know if I missed anything or if you disagree. I will not have civil agreement in my comment section today!