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I saw 108 movies in theaters in 2025 — here’s the 10 best (and 10 worst)

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Every year, I set myself a goal of seeing as many movies in theaters as possible. I love the big screen experience, even despite the increasingly poor behavior of cinema goers. In 2025, I managed to see 108 movies at my local multiplex, and while that’s not quite a personal best, I’m still pretty pleased with that total (and it’ll probably be higher by Jan. 1).

I like to think that watching over 100 movies in theaters gives me a good read on the best and worst movies of the year. In that triple-digit total, I saw every major blockbuster from “Superman” to “Lilo & Stitch,” alongside loads of smaller indie releases, and even a few foreign flicks. Of course, I also endured many critically mauled movies from “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” to the infamous “Snow White” remake (hot take: it’s certainly not good, but far from the worst movie I saw in cinemas in 2025).

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“Train Dreams” is a deeply soulful movie, racked with melancholia, but it also serves as a celebration of life and the beauty of the natural world around us. I’m very much a city person, but for a brief moment, it had me eager to live in a log cabin deep in the wilderness just because the cinematography is that stunning. It’s all anchored by Joel Edgerton’s best performance to date. And I truly love how it explores an era of rapid change for America. It starts in the late 1910s and chronicles its protagonist’s entire adult life until the early 1960s.

Based on the celebrated novella by Denis Johnson, Edgerton plays Robert Grainier, a logger in the Pacific Northwest, working on the Great Northern Railway. We see Grainier struggle to find his place in the world, but also derive inspiration from the people he meets along the road, his loving wife (Felicity Jones), and the stunning landscapes that surround him. Every meditative moment is impactful, but the spine-chilling ending is truly something powerful.

Watch “Train Dreams” on Netflix now

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It’s hard to innovate in the romantic comedy genre, and while “Eternity” definitely feels at least somewhat similar to TV’s “The Good Place,” it’s a charming little movie that manages to mine something original from a genre often dragged down by well-worn conventions. Of course, it helps when your cast is packed with likeable characters, played by charismatic actors like Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, Miles Teller and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Its world-building doesn’t hold up to real scrutiny, but putting this minor nitpick aside, it’s a delightful feel-good ride.

A sparkling fantasy rom-com, “Eternity” sees Joan (Olsen) peacefully pass away surrounded by family, only to awaken in the afterlife. Here she’s given a week to pick where she wants to spend eternity. But the bigger question is who to spend it with, the man she’s been married to for decades (Teller) or a lost love (Turner), who has been waiting years for a reunion. Gently comedic, with loads of clever sight gags to spot in the background, “Eternity” is breezy and quite brilliant.

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Changing gears quite significantly, there is nothing breezy about “The Long Walk.” This dark survival thriller is bleak all the way down, but I was unable to tear my eyes away for even a moment. Heck, I even went back for round two, because I just couldn’t get it out of my head.

Based on the Stephen King novel (which is a personal favorite of mine), it presents a dystopian competition that lacks the pageantry of, say, “The Hunger Games” but is no less brutal. However, underneath all the blood and bloody fluids (yes, the latter comes into play), its biggest strength is the brotherly bond that forms between its two main participants.

The concept is simple: “The Long Walk” is centered around the eponymous contest, which sees 50 young men set off walking; the last one standing will be declared the winner. However, elimination comes with a lethal price: stop walking (for any reason) or fall below the set speed, and walkers are executed on the spot. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson lead the cast, the latter somehow impressing me even more than he did in last year’s “Alien: Romulus”.

Watch “The Long Walk” on Amazon (buy/rent) now

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“Friendship” is the funniest movie I saw in 2025, and even months later, just thinking about my favorite lines sees me break out in a wide grin. Before watching, I was aware of star Tim Robinson, but only through social media clips. Turns out his unique style of deadpan, cringe humor is very much to my own personal comedic tastes. “Friendship” offers him a vehicle to truly go wild. Pairing him up with Paul Rudd is also a smart move. The duo make for a great double act, and this off-kilter comedy is absolutely stuffed with hilariously awkward gags.

The movie sees a socially awkward marketing executive, Craig (Robinson), become fast friends with his new neighbor, Austin (Rudd). But what starts as a sweet bond between adult men soon becomes something altogether more uncomfortable. Even the best comedies tend to be at least somewhat hit or miss, but in “Friendship,” I found a very funny film that had me laughing out loud at a near constant clip. Its brand of humor won’t be for everybody, but if you have a high tolerance for cringe, then you’re almost guaranteed to find it a total hoot.

Watch “Friendship” on HBO Max now

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Earlier this year, my partner remarked that I never seem to be spooked by horror movies. This isn’t a humble brag, I swear it’s relevant. Walking home from the cinema after watching “Hallow Road” in the pitch-black night, I felt genuinely uneasy. That’s an experience that no other scary movie in 2025 gave me. “Hallow Road” worked its way into my psyche and had me even considering sleeping with the lights on that night. It’s utterly bone-chilling.

Starring Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys, it’s a small-scale flick that sees two parents drive through the night to help their daughter after she’s involved in a car accident that has resulted in fatality. Despite being set almost entirely within the claustrophobic confines of a car, “Hallow Road” gets significant mileage from its limited components, and the disturbing ending really stays with you.

Much of its effectiveness is down to the phenomenal sound design, which will have you paranoid and hearing spooky voices you’re not even sure are really there. Frustratingly, as of writing, “Hallow Road” hasn’t been released in the U.S., but once it finally arrives stateside, I implore any horror-thriller fan to give this unsettling movie a watch.

Watch “Hallow Road” on Amazon U.K. (buy/rent) now

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“Sinners’” position as the movie of 2025 already feels secured. This vampire horror from director Ryan Coogler has been showered with praise since its release, and frankly, every ounce of adulation is well warranted. It’s a remarkable movie in nearly all aspects, from casting to direction; there’s not a frame out of place. But what really stands out to me is the incredibly strong scene-setting first act. How often do you watch a vampire movie where the bits before the creature(s) of the night appear are actually among the strongest parts?

Michael B. Jordan again joins forces with Coogler, this time in a dual role playing twins, who return from Chicago to open a juke joint in their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi. On opening night, a bloodthirsty monster (Jack O’Connell) appears at the door, and chaos erupts. “Sinners” is that rare fusion of Oscar-worthy filmmaking and crowd-pleasing entertainment. There’s a good reason it’s become a staple of basically every “best movies of 2025” list, and I’m certainly not one to break its remarkable streak. It’s just as good as you’ve heard.

Watch “Sinners” on HBO Max now

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Another near-permanent fixture in the “best of 2025” conversation, “One Battle After Another” is perhaps director Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus. Which is quite a statement considering his impressive filmography. Its credentials as a riveting action-thriller are second to none, but what stands out the most to me is the sharp comedy. Oh, and I also can’t forget to acknowledge its inventive streak. Anderson even manages to make a cinema staple like a third-act car chase feel completely original. Much like “Sinners,” it can be enjoyed merely as popcorn entertainment, but it also offers plenty of subtext to dig into.

Leonardo DiCaprio, one of Hollywood’s last remaining true movie stars, plays Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary, now in hiding with his young daughter (Chase Infiniti). However, he’s forced to pay for his past deeds when his daughter goes missing and an old adversary returns (Sean Penn). A masterclass in pulling together a remarkable ensemble, “One Battle After Another” also features Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall at the top of their game.

Watch “One Battle After Another” on HBO Max now

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Back in March, director Steven Soderbergh delivered a valuable lesson in economical storytelling. “Black Bag” might run a trim 90 minutes, but it packs in so many twists and turns in that runtime. I love movies with focused screenplays, and “Black Bag’s” is razor sharp. It also brings together an excellent ensemble cast and proves that spy thrillers can be palm-sweatingly intense even without big action set pieces.

Michael Fassbender plays a British counterintelligence officer in quite the thorny situation when he’s tasked with identifying a mole in his ranks. Things are particularly dicey because the suspects list includes his beloved wife (Cate Blanchett). There’s a somewhat murder-mystery quality to “Black Bag” as viewers are invited to play detective and attempt to figure out the turncoat themselves. Of course, in a movie of this nature, the big reveal needs to be satisfying, and “Black Bag” doesn’t fail this key test either. It’s not one you should overlook.

Watch “Black Bag” on Prime Video now

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“Warfare” claims to be one of the most authentic war movies ever made. I’ve never served, so I am not in a position to pass final judgment on this claim, but it certainly raised my anxiety levels enough to feel like I was standing shoulder to shoulder with its cast of military personnel. Set in real-time, a quite genius filmmaking decision, it’s co-directed by Alex Garland and veteran Ray Mendoza, and is drawn from the testimony of real soldiers.

After a brief, playful opening, “Warfare” descends into adrenaline-spiking chaos, as a group of U.S. soldiers hold up in a claustrophobic house during the Iraq War. Its incredible sound design puts you right in the heat of the moment, and one explosive moment had my ears ringing.

Not driven by a twisting narrative or fleshed-out characters, “Warfare” is all about a very human desire to survive, and how its characters (again, inspired by real military men) face unimaginable horror with a steely determination. I also loved the footage of the movie being shot that plays over the credits, which gives you a fascinating insight into just how close to reality Garland and Mendoza aimed to make “Warfare.”

Watch “Warfare” on HBO Max now

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I enjoyed director Zach Cregger’s debut “Barbarian,” but with “Weapons,” he’s truly solidified himself as the modern master of horror. This tight dark mystery has it all: an intriguing core premise, fantastic casting (Amy Madigan, the clear star), wonderful filmmaking, and an ending that goes big and pulls off a rather risky move in quite spectacular fashion.

It sells itself effortlessly just on the strength of its setup: In a small town, 17 young children from the same class simultaneously disappear into the night, and never come back. The parents are left reeling as they demand answers or somebody to hold responsible, and the local authorities are completely stumped. Talk about an idea that instantly hooks you.

Running two hours, it would have been easy for “Weapons” early momentum to ebb away, but that’s where its most brilliant element comes into play. The movie is presented in multiple chapters, each told from a different character’s POV. This keeps the story unfolding at a well-paced clip, with plot points set up in one section, satisfyingly paid off in another. It’s also darkly funny, highly suspenseful, and there are a few surreal moments to chew over.

“Weapons” is the movie I’ve not stopped thinking about in 2025.

Watch “Weapons” on HBO Max now

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The elevator pitch for “Fackham Hall” is that it does to period dramas like “Downton Abbey” what “The Naked Gun” does to police procedurals. But while “The Naked Gun” reboot was one of 2025’s biggest pleasant surprises, “Fackham Hall” is a largely irritating exercise in poor puns and annoyingly silly spoofing. I can’t place it lower on my worst list, because I’ll admit at least a few crude gags got me, but the ratio of misses to hits is high. Unless you find masturbation gags and jabs at how posh rich English people are the height of comedy, you won’t laugh much.

Most blaffingly, the cast is comprised largely of actors without a track record of comedic performances. The likes of Damian Lewis, Katherine Waterson and Thomasin McKenzie are talented actors I’ve enjoyed in other projects. However, they’re not the first names I’d expect to see in a farcical screwball comedy. But hey, at least Tom Felton pops up in a supporting role to prove to us all that he is capable of more than merely leaning on “Harry Potter” nostalgia.

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In a rather baffling turn of events, this movie take on PS4 exclusive “Until Dawn” was nominated for “Best Adaptation” at the recent Game Awards, and I cannot understand why. For starters, the game itself is essentially a playable movie, making the whole adaptation effort feel more than a little bit pointless, and without the interactive element, “Until Dawn’s” biggest strength (letting players make key decisions that impact the fate of its cast of slasher genre archetypes) is completely removed.

Adding insult to the mix, the flick tells an original story all its own, and then teases a more faithful adaptation of the game in the final few moments. So essentially, after sitting through 103 minutes of painfully generic teen horror, Until Dawn fans were given a glimpse of the movie they most likely would have preferred to watch instead. “Until Dawn” is an ill-conceived concept with shoddy execution, and far from worthy of any nominations at any awards ceremony.

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I struggled with Ethan Coen’s non-documentary first solo effort, “Drive-Away Dolls,” but it just narrowly escaped a place in my worst of 2024 list. The follow-up “Don’t Honey”, which is narratively unconnected but part of what Coen and co-writer Tricia Cooke called the “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” was far from an improvement. The individual parts aren’t bad. The cast is solid (Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans are a strong trio), and Coen, working alongside brother Joel, has helmed some of the best American comedies of the last few decades. Disappointingly, these promising parts don’t come together at all.

The movie centers on a private detective, Honey O’Donahue (Qualley), investigating a mysterious death tied to a cult-like church led by Reverend Drew Devlin (Evans). It sounds interesting enough on paper, but its unengaging characters feel largely disconnected from the mystery story, and the ending jumps off the deep end in a way that feels entirely unearned. Maybe Coen and Cooke will strike gold with their trilogy capper, but I’m far from optimistic at this point.

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Mike Whannell, the director of 2020’s phenomenal “The Invisible Man,” diving back into the Universal Monster treasure trove to craft another modern-day spin on a classic horror creation? Sign me up. Well, that was what I thought before actually watching “Wolf Man.” What we got was less of a toothy screamer and more of a total snoozer. I’ll cut to the chase: when you’re making a werewolf movie, there’s pretty much one element you need to nail, the full moon-fearing monster. Somehow, “Wolf Man” badly screws up this key part.

1981’s “An American Werewolf in London” delivered a grotesque transformation scene on a limited budget (and without the benefit of modern CGI) that still makes my skin crawl, whereas in “Wolf Man” the long build-up to see protagonist Blake (Christopher Abbot) transform into a fur-covered beast is categorically not worth enduring the plodding first act. The usually dependable Julia Garner (star of “Weapons”) seems entirely disinterested in proceedings, and I can’t say I blame her. I was equally bored as this forgettable horror rumbled on.

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“A Minecraft Movie” grossed almost $1 billion at the global box office, and based on my screening experience, kids (and big kids) who regularly play the Minecraft video game had a complete blast. People were clapping and cheering at every reference that flew straight over my head (I still have no idea what a “Chicken Jockey” actually is!). Maybe I’m just too much of an outsider, having only dabbled for a few hours in Minecraft over the years. However, the only thing this blockbuster gave me was a headache, and some sympathy for the theater employees having to clean up the screen afterwards, as there was popcorn everywhere.

This big-screen adaptation of the juggernaut sandbox game follows a predictable family-friendly formula. It sees a ragtag group of outcasts assemble to save a blocky Minecraft universe, but when every single character in the group is the comic relief, things become grating rather quickly. Jack Black and Jason Momoa competed to see who could get on my nerves the most, and the subplot involving Jennifer Coolidge falling in love with a Minecraft character (voiced by Matt Berry) just made me a little uncomfortable. It’s an uber successful movie, but it’s not for me.

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In the wake of “Megan 2.0’s” underwhelming reception, producer Jason Blum compared the titular character to Superman, which certainly shows a level of hubris that perhaps explains why this sloppy sequel was such a misfire. The first “Megan” is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, a silly slasher that has plenty of fun with the concept of a murderous robotic doll. The second, for some reason, opts to go for a sci-fi action approach, completely misunderstanding “Megan’s” appeal in the first place.

Megan’s supposed “upgrade” is anything but, and the convoluted plot, which involves covert government operations and androids built for international espionage, is ill-fitting and muddled. The utterly cringeworthy attempt to replicate the dance scene from the first movie, which went viral, is about the moment I was ready for this sequel to be over. Sadly, I had to endure plenty more painfully corny dialogue and terrible one-liners before “Megan 2.0” mercifully concluded.

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“Ella McCay” is one of the messiest movies I’ve seen in ages. It plays out like writer/director James L. Brooks had three or four ideas for a comedy-drama, and not wanting to waste any of them, attempted to cram them all in one movie. The result is a movie lacking focus, incorporating far too many plot points, and lacking any compelling characters to latch onto. Even the titular Ella is extremely milquetoast, and while Emma Mackey does her best with the material, there’s no acting talent in the world that can save a screenplay this all over the place.

“Ella McCay” tonally reminded me of a Disney Channel Original Movie, but it also includes a jealous husband — written with less subtlety than your typical Disney villain — who attempts to wreck Ella’s political career by leaking a sex scandal to the press. It’s a real clash of tone and narrative ideas. The less said about the subplot involving Ella’s brother, the better. Even the typically charming Jamie Lee Curtis is off her game in this one.

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“Flight Risk” checks a lot of boxes for the type of movies I typically enjoy. I love the thriller genre, and movie sets largely in a single location are a real favorite of mine. There’s every reason I should have enjoyed this Mel Gibson-directed flick. So, it speaks to just how rapidly it stalls out that I’m ranking it this low on my worst movies of 2025 list. If you’re looking for plot holes, illogical character decisions, and wasted potential, there’s plenty here. However, if you want genuinely engaging thrills, then “Flight Risk” will be as disappointing as airplane food.

The action-thriller sees a U.S. marshal (Michelle Dockery) transport a government witness (Topher Grace) across Alaska via a small passenger plane. The wrinkle is that the pilot (Mark Wahlberg) is actually working for a mob boss with plans to eliminate the informant mid-flight. That’s a great hook, but “Flight Risk” never soars, and Wahlberg’s overcommitted performance nose-dives into corny territory before the plane has even left the runway.

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The most terrifying thing about “The Strangers – Chapter 2” is that it’s only the second chapter of a trilogy. Last year’s “Chapter 1” was a pointless reboot of a cult horror favorite, but this sequel takes the awfulness to new heights by completely failing to grasp what made the original “The Strangers” such a chilling experience. By fleshing out the backstory of its trio of masked murderers, the disturbing, random nature of their spree is washed away. Instead, we’re left with a limp protagonist (Madeleine Petsch) and cookie-cutter, ineffective spooks.

Picking up where the last “Strangers” left off, Maya (Petsch) is once again stalked by three ruthless killers who want her dead for seemingly no reason other than they enjoy killing. Oh, and she also fends off a ferocious boar in a sequence that plays out like a dollar store spin on “The Revenant” and had my entire cinema screen laughing for all the wrong reasons. Considering all three movies were shot as one, so the next sequel is already in the can, I’m willing to bet right now that “The Strangers – Chapter 3” will be among the worst movies of 2026.

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When I shuffled out of my screening of “Marching Powder” back in February, I was pretty sure I’d just watched the worst movie I’d see in 2025. All these months later, and while several movies have disappointed, underwhelmed, or annoyed me, none came close to the true low point that is this painful British romantic comedy. It marketed itself as “a rom-com with kick”, but the only kick I got out of it was when the credits rolled, and I could walk out of my local cinema and do something else. And I’d have happily done pretty much anything else. It’s the sort of movie that makes a dentist appointment seem fun in comparison.

Danny Dyer (star of almost every single gambling advertisement on U.K. television) plays Jack Jones, one of cinema’s most unlikeable leads. And I’m OK with movies focused on flawed characters, but throughout “Marching Powder,” we see Jones constantly promise his long-suffering wife he’ll change, only to fall back into old habits, and never pay the price. He’s a loathsome protagonist, and faces no real consequences for his numerous foul actions. The movie is mean-spirited, full of crude gags and ugly nods to “lad culture.” While I remain steadfast in my desire to give every movie a chance, should these filmmakers ever inflict “Marching Powder 2” upon us, that is one new release I will definitely be avoiding.

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I saw 108 movies in theaters in 2025 — here’s the 10 best (and 10 worst)

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