Films of my life – The Best Films of 2025

January 1, 2026 Leave a comment

The nominated films for 2024 were mostly released in early 2025. Amongst them, there were 3 movies that were not your traditional Oscar fare but received multiple nominations, and are amongst my 25 highest rated movies for 2025; here is a link to the full list .

The three films were Nickel Boys – a harrowing tale of 2 young black boys in a correction institute in the 1950s Florida.

Then there was Emilia Perez which is a brilliant film, full of twists and surprises. Unfortunately, it’s reputation is tarnished because of comments made by its Trans-lead.

Finally there is the best of the three; Anora – a sort of gritty version of Pretty Woman, with a breakout performance from Mikey Madison. I loved it and it’s one of my favourite films of the year. you can read my review here

After the spring Oscar blitz, 2025 was an excellent year for horror movies, with Weapons the most original of the batch, and 28 Years Later the most welcome sequel. Then there was Sinners – a new take on the vampire story, and Guillermo Del Torro’s Frankenstein , possibly the best adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic.

I would say that Frankenstein is my favourite film of the year – visually sumptuous, with real pathos in the story.

Beyond these, here are a few more highlights;

  • If Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is truly the last movie of this franchise, then it went out on a spectacular high. The news that James Bond is to return is great news, but this franchise has raised the bar
  • There were 2 great biopics this year; A Complete Unknown about Bob Dylan and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Both were excellent, both focused on specific times in the careers’s of their subjects and both featured strong performances from their leads.
  • As we head to 2026, one film seems to be the favourite for awards; One Battle After Another starring Leonardo Di Caprio. It’s another winner from Paul Thomas Anderson. Very funny and very much a film for our times.

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Films of My Life – The Best Films of 2024

December 31, 2024 Leave a comment

2024 saw some reduction in film releases due to the writer’s and artists strikes of 2023. Just like in the pandemic years, this resulted in opportunities to re-visit old favourites, or maybe see them in the cinema for the first time.

I recorded 22 four or five star review movies, and my favourite movie of the year was one of those held back from 2023 because of the strike, But more on that in a moment. You can read the reviews for each of my favourite films here.

My Favourite movie of 2024 was Dune Part 2.

“A true desert epic, to rank with Lawrence of Arabia for scope and running time”

You can read my full review here

This completed Denis Villeneuve’s version of the Frank Herbert Book “Dune”, and it is truly a movie best seen in the cinema. I look forward to his adaptation of Dune Messiah when he eventually gets round to making it.

There were other “Big Screen” epics to enjoy. Amongst them were:

Godzilla Minus One – shows how to make a monster movie which has heart, a story and characters we care fore

Twisters – gets the award for remake/ reboot of the year. It was superb in 4DX

Alien: Romulus – a clever sequel that sits between Alien and Aliens. An exciting story, a new angle, and possibly the start of a new series.

2024 was an excellent year for horror movies. Hugh Grant was outstanding in the intriguing Heretic, with visceral scares and deep theological discussion on organised religion. Other scary movie highlights included

Salem’s Lot – a decent version of the book

A Quiet Place Day 1 – manages to maintain the high standard of the first 2 movies in the series with a brand new story thread

In terms of nominated movies, I have a new favourite Christmas movie to add to my list and that is The Holdovers. But 2024 had several outstanding movies that’s were looked at during Awards season, including

Poor Things – more outrageous, original stuff from Yorgos Lanthimos

All of Us Strangers – a very original “ghost” story. Or is it?

American Fiction – a wonderful satire of black literature

So, overall, 2024 was another bumper year. Here’s hoping that 2025 is just as good.

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