2025’s Cinematic Highlights

As regular readers will know, I don’t rush into choosing my favourite films of any given year until a few months into the next one – partly because a film’s staying power is a key factor for me when picking my favourites, and partly because there are still some films left that I want to catch up on.  But that said, as we’re now entering Hollywood’s awards season, I do like to mark the occasion with a look back at the last year to hand out a few light-hearted prizes of my own!

So without further ado, here are some of my highlights from 2025’s movie releases.

Biggest Cultural Impact of 2025 - KPop Demon Hunters.  I think it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that this movie came out of nowhere.  It had no name recognition, no existing IP or franchise, no famous voice actors, no cinematic release, and it wasn’t even coming from a “major” animation studio like Disney or Pixar.  Yet through sheer word of mouth, the film went on to become the most-watched original title in Netflix history (and its sing-along cinematic release topped the US box office), while its soundtrack topped the music charts and won a Grammy (and both the film and the soundtrack have been Oscar nominated).  Not bad for an original movie with no meaningful pre-release publicity or promotion.  This film also was my Best Animated Movie of 2025.

Best Comic Book Movie of 2025 - Thunderbolts*.  It was a oretty good year for superhero movies – I loved how Superman got the new DCU off to such a great start, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps was a fun standalone MCU movie that had a fresh feel (although we all have to admit that Captain America: Brave New World was a bit of a disappointment).  But Thunderbolts* was, for me, the best of the bunch, with its entertaining ensemble cast, and a tone that balanced laugh-out-loud comedy with genuinely heartfelt and emotional moments.

Best Soundtrack of 2025 - Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters.  This is an impossibly close category this year, so I’ve gone for a tie between Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters.  Stylistically, they may be at opposite ends of the musical spectrum, but both had original songs which were laced with meaning, and which not only elevated the films they were in, but which were also great to listen to afterwards.  An honourable mention also has to go to F1: The Movie, which also had a fantastic (if slightly less iconic) soundtrack.

Best Original Film of 2025 - Weapons.  This was another hard-fought category, especially as Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters were both fantastic movies based on original concepts.  But Weapons was the kind of original movie where you don’t even really know what you’ve been watching until the final act, and it was truly unlike anything else I can ever remember seeing.  (For that reason, I’ve really excited to see what writer/director Zach Cregger is going to do with his Resident Evil film, due out later this year).

Best Score of 2025 – Tron: Ares.  Another close category, but although the scores in F1: The Movie, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps were all great, Nine Inch Nails’ score for Tron: Ares was one of the best things about that movie (regardless of what you think about the rest of the film!).

Biggest Disappointments of 2025 - The Old Guard 2.  I remember quite enjoying the first of these films when it came out in 2020, but this sequel was so disappointing, it squandered whatever goodwill I had in this series.  A runner up in this category was Wolf Man, and while it certainly wasn’t a bad film, it was a big disappointment for me simply because I had loved writer/director Leigh Whannell’s previous films so much (but this film just left me wanting to rewatch David Cronenberg’s 1986 classic The Fly...).

Best Musical of 2025 - Wicked: For Good.  I’m going to split hairs here by saying that Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters were not technically “muscials”, because the characters in those films were musicians performing songs, rather than “normal” people who burst into song.  But I’m splitting this hair mainly just because I loved Wicked: For Good (having not seen the stage muscial, I was completely taken by surprise by the second half of this story), and I wanted to give it an award!

Biggest Surprises of 2025 - Predator: Badlands.  There were (thankfully!) loads of films in 2025 which surprised me by how good they were: films like Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, The Naked Gun and Final Destination: Bloodlines were far better than I expected belated sequels and reboots to be, while The Housemaid came out of nowhere and took what sounded like a done-to-death premise and made it into something great.  But Predator: Badlands was my biggest surprise of the year, because it found a way to do something completely fresh and original in a franchise that’s been around for four decades, and that’s not easy!

Cinematic Experience of 2025 - Avatar: Fire and Ash.  Some people have always looked down their noses at the Avatar series, and even try to portray Avatar: Fire and Ash as a “failure” for “only” making around $1.4 billion at the global box office (at the time of writing).  But say what you will – seeing Avatar: Fire and Ash in 3D on the big screen was a transportational cinematic experience like no other.  For three hours I felt like I was truly on an alien world, and there aren’t many other films that can claim to provide that kind of immesive experience.  That said, an honourable mention has to go to Warfare, an immersive experience of a completely different kind.  This (largely overlooked) war film really put you in the shoes of the soldiers on the ground in the middle of a combat situation, and was an incredibly intense viewing experience.

Best Adaptation of 2025 - Frankenstein.  There were several films in 2025 that adapted books or other existing source material, but my favourite was Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel.  Not only was this film the realisation of the director’s lifelong dream, but it was also a fantastic adaptation of one of my all-time favourite novels, that was faithful without being slavishly so.

Most Unfairly Maligned Films of 2025 - The Electric State and M3GAN 2.0.  Okay, so neither of these are destined to become all-time classics, but they also didn’t deserve to be overlooked in the way they were.  The Electric State is an inventive, family-friendly sci-fi movie that also takes some brave narrative risks that you might not be expecting, while M3GAN 2.0 is a full-on action-comedy (much to the disappointment of horror fans), which may not quite meet the heights of the first film, but which nevertheless was a lot of fun.

Best Stunts of 2025 - Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.  I loved the slightly more melancholic tone of the latest (and final?) Mission: Impossible film, but however you feel about the tone or the plot, there’s no denying that the stunts in the final act were on a whole other level (the parachute stunt alone was insane!).  An honourable mention also has to go to F1: The Movie for the incredible work the filmmakers did in putting audiences right in the driver’s seat for this hugely enjoyable and exhilarating ride.

Best Adaptation of a Stephen King dystopian future novel from the later 70s/early 80s - The Long Walk and The Running Man.  I had to go for a tie here, because they were both great films in very different ways.   The Long Walk is an incredibly intense character study, but the film as a whole is so bleak in places that you have to be in the right frame of mind to watch it.  The adaptation of The Running Man, on the other hand, may not have the character depth of The Long Walk, but it still has plenty to say, and it does so in a far more entertaining way.  Perhaps a double bill, with The Running Man to pick you up after The Long Walk, is the best way to go?

Hidden Gems of 2025 – There were a few films that seemed to fly under the radar in 2025 which are well worth checking out: Mickey 17 was a delightfully eccentric and darkly comic sci-fi social satire, while Deep Cover was one of the most enjoyable out-and-out comedies of the year, and Eenie Meanie was a great low-key thriller than was “dumped” on Disney+ with no fanfare or promotion.

Guilty Pleasure of 2025 - Novocaine. It feels wrong to call this hyper-violent action-comedy a “guilty pleasure”, because it’s a really well-made film, with an unpredictable script, a great cast, and a really dark sense of humour.  But it is an acquired taste – the levels of gore and violence have (understandably) been too much for some!  An honourable mention also goes to Ballerina, the spin-off from John Wick that was never going to be as good as the main series, but which nevertheless managed to be better than I was expecting (what the film can say that it has a flamethrower duel, after all?!).

Best Breakthrough Performance of 2025 - Damson Idris for F1: The Movie.  Up until now, I only really knew Damson Idris from the (fairly forgettable) 2021 sci-fi action movie Outside the Wire, but in F1: The Movie, he made a huge impression with his layered performance, and he certainly held his own alongside the rest of the veteran, award-winning cast.  Honourable mentions also needs to go to Miles Caton for his performance in Sinners (which showcased both his musical and his acting abilities), and to David Corenswet for Superman (in which he instantly embodied that iconic role).

Villains of 2025 - Stephen Lang as Quaritch and Oona Chaplin as Varang in Avatar: Fire and Ash.  Not only did Quaritch and Varang make the ultimate power-couple of 2025, but they also stole every scene they were in!  An honourable mention also goes to Amy Madigan, but even now, I don’t want to say too much about her role in Weapons…

Person(s) of the Year 2025 - Michael B. Jordan, Robert Pattinson and Elle Fanning.  This year I have a three-way tie, because I want to recognise the fantastic multi-role performances that each of these actors gave, as identical twins in Sinners, as identical clones in Mickey 17, and as identical androids in Predator: Badlands.  All three gave thoroughly entertaining and differentiated performances, in a year which saw more dual-roles in major films than most.

Favourite Cinematic Moment of 2025 - Sinners.  There were plenty on great cinematic moments in 2025, but if I had to pick a single standout scene, it has to be the musical performance at the juke joint in Sinners that shows how great music can transcend space and time.  Melding Ryan Coogler’s epic oner with Ludwig Göransson’s score and Miles Caton’s electric vocal performance, this scene perfectly encapsulated the film’s themes about the power of creativity.

These movies aren’t necessarily all of my favourite films from 2025, but they are certainly some of the highlights!

Watch this space for my Top Ten of 2025 in a couple of months, but for now, you might want to check out some of the above highlights if you’ve not seen them already.