My Most Anticipated Films Of 2026

Hello again! Time once more to come together to anticipate what I hope will be another very good year for films, well, time for me to write down what I’m anticipating and for you to read it. There are many films to look forward to in the year 2026, with a couple of really huge films coming out near the end. I have listed the films in release date order here this time (Trying something new). I have linked to the IMDb pages for the films and added links to trailers if they are available. Also, please be aware that the release dates may not be completely accurate. I have taken a best guess using IMDB.

Marty Supreme [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Josh Safdie

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion & Fran Drescher

Release Date: 1st January

I’ve heard really good things about this film, and Timothée Chalamet is always bringing something interesting into his performances. The film follows Chalamet’s Marty Mauser, a 1950’s table tennis prodigy with ambitions fuelled by what seems to be a lot of narcissism.

Rental Family [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Hikari

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Shannon Mahina Gorman & Akira Emoto

Release Date: 8th January

This looks like a wonderful film; It’s the first project Brendan Fraser picked after winning his Academy Award, and follows his character Phillip Vanderploeg, an American actor living in Japan who is offered a gig playing family members to a variety of lonely people around Tokyo. So, a look at human connection with a lovely leading man.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Nia DaCosta

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams & Erin Kellyman

Release Date: 15th January

Last year’s 28 Years Later was a great film and almost made my Top 21 of the year. In this Nia DaCosta directed sequel, we will follow both Spike, who we left having just met a Jimmy Saville inspired gang of lunatics and Ralph Fiennes’ Doctor Kelson, who was the best thing in the last film.

The Rip [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Joe Carnahan

Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Catalina Sandino Moreno

Release Date: 16th January

Joe Carnahan is an interesting director; his early works could be seen as Tarantino wannabes, but a couple of years ago, he produced two films, Boss Level and Copshop, that I loved, so I’m looking forward to this film, with this good cast, that once again reunites Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

The Bride! [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Starring: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening

Release Date: 5th March

This is a retelling of the Bride of Frankenstein directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Jessie Buckley as the eponymous Bride and Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster. Set in the 1930’s, the trailer gives me serious Bonnie and Clyde vibes, styled in a mixture of German expressionist cinema and punk rock.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Gore Verbinski

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz & Juno Temple

Release Date: 12th March

I’m a huge Sam Rockwell fan; he is usually the best thing in any film he appears in and can deliver a wide variety of different performances. This film looks bonkers, and I can’t wait to see what he brings to it.

Project Hail Mary [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Ken Leung & Milana Vayntrub

Release Date: 19th March

This is based on a great book by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, which I really enjoyed when I read it and am looking forward to seeing what Phil Lord & Christopher Miller do with the material on the big screen. Ryan Gosling also has charm and humour enough to carry out the film alone when it is required.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Starring: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, & Elijah Wood

Release Date: 9th April

The first film was a fantastic horror comedy about a bride marrying into a wealthy family, who must play a game of Hide and Seek on her wedding night and is hunted to the death by her in-laws, to satisfy an ancient pact. The sequel seems to be the same, but with higher stakes. Samara Weaving returns as the bride.

Mortal Kombat II [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Simon McQuoid

Starring: Karl Urban, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Ludi Lin & Lewis Tan

Release Date: 1st May

Apart from the awesome fight scenes, the first film was pretty rubbish. It followed a new and pretty dull point of view character, and didn’t even have the tournament. The only reason I have any desire to see this film is to see Karl Urban portray my favourite Mortal Kombat character, Johnny Cage and bring his wry humour to the character.

Remarkably Bright Creatures [imdb]

Director: Olivia Newman

Starring: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Colm Meaney & Joan Chen

Release Date: 7th May

Based on another book that I love. I don’t want to spoil any of it.

The Sheep Detectives [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Kyle Balda

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Patrick Stewart

Release Date: 7th May

I read about this film being made a couple of years ago and found the premise fascinating. A group of sheep who are read mystery novels by their kindly shepherd (Jackman) each night, must solve the murder of the same said shepherd using the skills they have picked up from the books. A great cast both voice and live action.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Jon Favreau

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White & Jonny Coyne

Release Date: 21st May

I know this is very predictable, but I don’t care. I like the TV series.

Disclosure Day [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson & Wyatt Russell

Release Date: 11th June

Steven Spielberg returning to the Science Fiction First contact genre, that’s good enough for me.

Supergirl [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Craig Gillespie

Starring: Milly Alcock, Eve Ridley, Jason Momoa, & Matthias Schoenaerts

Release Date: 25th June

I am looking forward to this follow-up to last year’s Superman in the new DCU. Supergirl has recently been portrayed as a much more nuanced and tragic character than her golden age beginnings, and this was really obvious in the excellent 2021 comic book series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which this film is based on.

The Odyssey [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya & Charlize Theron

Release Date: 16th July

This film is probably the one I am most looking forward to this year. I love the Odyssey as a story and was surprised by the fact that there has never been an English-language film depicting the entire story. The closest being a 1997 TV miniseries. It’s Christopher Nolan, with his great eye for storytelling and visuals, as well as a stacked cast.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day [imdb]

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo & Sadie Sink

Release Date: 30th July

Another predictable film, what I’m most looking forward to is seeing how this film works after the events of the last one, where everyone has forgotten Peter Parker, and how it fits in after Season two of Daredevil: Born Again and Wilson Fisk’s mayorship of New York. Also, I am really intrigued by the mystery of who Sadie Sink is playing.

Clayface [imdb]

Director: James Watkins

Starring: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella & Eddie Marsan

Release Date: 10th September

When I heard that this was going to be the third film in the DCU, I was surprised. I mean, the DCU doesn’t even have a Batman yet. Batman does have the best rogue’s gallery in all of comics (in my opinion), and some with very tragic backstories, Clayface being one of them. This is supposed to be a body horror, so I am fascinated to see what it is.

Digger [imdb] [trailer]

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Starring: Tom Cruise, Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, & Jesse Plemons

Release Date: 1st October

It’s a black comedy from the brilliant director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, starring Tom Cruise, who, no matter what you think of him, is a great actor. With this summary posted, “The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything”, I’m intrigued.

Violent Night 2 [imdb]

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Starring: David Harbour, Kristen Bell, Daniela Melchior & Jared Harris

Release Date: 3rd December

A sequel to one of my favourite new Christmas films. The last one was a take on Die Hard/Die Hard 2 with a disillusioned Santa Claus (played by David Harbour) fighting off thieves/mercenaries in a mansion, to save a good little girl. I’m excited to see if they do the same thing again or go with a completely different take in the sequel.

Untitled Jumanji: The Next Level sequel [imdb]

Director: Jake Kasdan

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Kevin Hart & Nick Jonas

Release Date: 10th December

I love all the Jumanji films (I’m including Zathura: A Space Adventure in this statement); the original will always be my favourite (R.I.P Robin Williams), but the sequels have both been fun, charming and different enough for me to enjoy. I’m guessing this time, the characters of Dr Bravestone and Ruby Roundhouse will be in the real world.

Avengers: Doomsday [imdb] [trailers]

Director: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Patrick Stewart, Anthony Mackie & Vanessa Kirby

Release Date: 17th December

Yes, again, this is predictable, but I won’t apologise for it. Marvel is pretty much bringing everyone back for this, including the original X-Men (in proper comic book costumes, it seems) and putting them up against probably the greatest villain in Marvel Comic Doctor Victor von Doom.

Dune: Part Three [imdb]

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh & Rebecca Ferguson

Release Date: 17th December

I have a confession to make: I am not a huge fan of Dune, the novel, so have never read the sequel novel, Dune Messiah, that this film is based on. I did enjoy the first two Dune films by Denis Villeneuve, so am looking forward to seeing what happens to the characters next, before he moves onto James Bond.

My Top Twenty-One Films of 2025

Happy New Year to all of you! Once again, I have watched some films over the course of the year and decided to tell you about them via this blog post, listing my favourite films of the year and my least favourite one. This time (as is to be expected), from the year 2025, (one year I might surprise you and do a completely random year, so watch out). In the year 2025, I managed to watch 139 new releases (on multiple platforms), which is a lot, but less than the 165 I watched last year. A full list of all the new releases I watched is published at the bottom of this post, with a basic rating for each film. Again, as I tell you every year, some of the films listed here might have been released in 2024 elsewhere; However, here in Prague, I was only able to access them during the year 2025, so I beg your indulgence in that case.
 
How was my 2025 regarding films, you might be asking? I would say it was quite an OK year all in all, there were, to be fai,r a lot more films that I rated Good or Excellent (57%), than there were ones that I rated Bad or Awful (11%), however there were also quite a lot that I would just rate as Meh (32%). Again, please take all my recommendations with a pinch of salt, as I am just a normal guy writing a blog, and tastes do differ.
 
Also, please be aware that this post might contain unintentional spoilers

The Top Twenty-One

21) Fight or Flight
This is a bonkers action film, starring Josh Hartnett as a disgraced and washed-up US government agent named Lucas Reyes who is bumming around in Bangkok in exile, when he is offered the chance to come back in from the cold by his ex-partner and ex-lover Katherine Blunt (Katee Sackhoff), who is now the head of a government agency. All he must do is hunt down a wanted hacker called the Ghost, who is on a flight to San Francisco and bring them in alive. Unknown to Reyes and Blunt, there is a bounty on the Ghost’s head, and the flight is full of assassins all attempting to collect it. Over-the-top action and violence with a charming central performance by Hartnett.
 
20) KPop Demon Hunters.
This Netflix animated film was one of the surprise hits of the year. Following a K-pop girl group Huntrix (made up of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey), who are the latest in a long line of Demon Hunter teams that use their voices to maintain a magical barrier keeping the demon hordes at bay. The ruler of the demons, Gwa-Ma, sends five demons disguised as a K-pop boy band called the Saja Boys to undermine Hunterix’s efforts. Unknown to the other Huntrix members, Rumi (the lead singer) is half-demon herself and feels conflicted when dealing with the Saja Boys, especially when their lead singer, Jinu, is around. A fun animation style and some great earworms, I especially liked the song Sodapop.
 
19) Ballerina
This prequel film sees us returning to the berserker world of John Wick. Set between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick Chapter 4. We follow the story of Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who, as a child, witnessed her father’s murder at the hands of a cult (led by Gabriel Byrne’s The Chancellor). She is then brought into the Ruska Roma (the faction that trained John Wick) due to her father being one of them, and is trained to become a deadly assassin like half the people in that universe, apparently. Grown up, she comes across a clue to the cult and goes rogue after them in search of revenge. Full of great action set pieces (including an excellent flamethrower duel) as Eve goes after the cult on their home turf. We also get a cameo from the man himself.
 
18) Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
This is a beautifully animated French-Belgian film (based on the short novel The Character of Rain by Belgian author Amélie Nothomb). The film is from the point of view of the eponymous Amélie, who is born into a Belgian family living in Japan, but in a vegetative state and stays like that for the first two years of her life, during which time Amélie starts to believe herself to be a god, with everyone around her there to serve her. On her second birthday, she leaves her vegetative state and starts to interact with her family and the world in general. A unique story told in a beautiful and relaxing animation art style.
 
17) The Thing with Feathers
Another film based on a book (this time, Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter). Benedict Cumberbatch’s central performance in this film is the main reason this film made this list. Cumberbatch plays an unnamed father, grieving over the recent death of his wife, whilst also taking care of his two young sons. His grief and melancholy appear to him in the form of a giant crow-like creature (voiced by David Thewlis), taunting and demoralising him as he starts to lose control and unravel under the weight of his sadness and the extra responsibilities of being a single parent.  
 
16) Sisu: Road to Revenge
A fantastic sequel to the 2022 Finnish Spaghetti Western style action film SISU, this time we again follow Aatami Korpi AKA Koshchei (Jorma Tommila), the unkillable Finnish commando from the first film, as he goes home to his village in Karelia (an area that has been ceded to the Soviet Union) to brings his and his family’s possessions back to Finland. However, the Soviets are hungry for revenge on Korpi for his actions during the Winter War, where he became a legend. They decide to release Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang), the man who butchered Korpi’s family before the events of the first film, from prison in Siberia and send him after Korpi, with promises of a pardon if he takes out Koshchei, the monster he helped create. This film is again full of absurd action set pieces as the Soviets throw everything at Korpi.
 
15) Companion
Jack Quaid gave four pretty good performances this year. This is not his performance from this year that I liked best (that would be in Neighbourhood Watch), this was my favourite film with him in it, though. A black sci-fi comedy, this film sees Josh (Quaid) bringing his girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) to meet up with his friends at the house of one of his friends’ new rich boyfriends, Sergey (Rupert Friend). Sergey, being a rich asshole, attempts to assault Iris when they are alone, and she ends up killing him. We then find out that Iris is, in fact, a “Companion” Robot, and Josh has modified her to be more aggressive and disabled the programming that tells her to do no harm, as part of a plan to steal from Sergey’s safe along with his friends.
 
14) Predator: Badlands
One of the two Predator films released by Dan Trachtenberg this year. The first one, being the animated anthology Killer of Killers, which was also good, but this was something completely new to the franchise. In Predator: Badlands we follow Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) a young Yautja warrior who is considered to be the runt within his clan, he decides to head to a planet known as the “Death Planet” (a place where everything seem to have evolved to kill anything that comes near it) to hunt a Kalisk, an apex predator that the other Yautja are vary of. During the hunt, Dex comes across Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged synthetic from the Weyland-Yutani corporation (yes, from the Alien franchise), and they form a partnership as she leads him to find the Kalisk. All the while, other Weyland-Yutani synthetics hunt them down. This film adds significantly to the Predator lore, and as a nerd, I appreciate that.
 
13) Black Bag
A fantastically cool film with possibly the best-looking cast this year sees Michael Fassbender’s counterintelligence officer at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), George Woodhouse, tasked by his boss to investigate a leak within the agency. There are five possible suspects: George’s own wife and intelligence officer Kathryn (played by Cate Blanchett), fellow counterintelligence officer James (Regé-Jean Page), his psychiatrist girlfriend Zoe (Naomie Harris), satellite imagery specialist Clarissa (Marisa Abela) and her boyfriend and NCSC case officer Freddie (Tom Burke). What follows is a game of cat and mouse between a bunch of very competent, intelligent people who are all experts at keeping and/or retrieving secrets.
 
12) The Accountant 2
A long-awaited (well, long-awaited by me at least) sequel to the surprisingly good ‘The Accountant’ from 2016, sees Ben Affleck’s autistic Accountant/Mercenary Christian Wolff return, and get pulled into an investigation, looking into the death of Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), his old contact at the Treasury Department. He teams up with King’s protégé from the first film, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who is now deputy director of the Treasury Department herself. He also brings in his brother Braxton (played by Jon Bernthal), whom he has not seen since the events of the last film, and who harbours some resentments about that. The Christian-Braxton relationship is great and probably my favourite thing in the film; they are constantly butting heads while investigating the human trafficking ring that got Raymond killed.

 
11) The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson returns with another black comedy, as we follow Benicio del Toro’s Anatole "Zsa-Zsa" Korda, an arms dealer and industrialist in the 1950’s who after surviving another assassination attempt, decides to bring in his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a novice nun, to take over his business and help him get his ambitious Phoenician Scheme over the line. This film looks gorgeous as is to be expected, from a Wes Anderson film, the dialogue is mesmeric at points, and the cast is full of Wes Anderson regulars, and Michael Cera (someone I assumed had worked with Anderson before) giving sardonic, funny performances. If you enjoy Anderson’s previous works, you are going to like this too.
 
10) Weapons
Some of my friends might be annoyed that this was not higher on the list, but that can’t be helped; I’m not really a huge horror fan. This is the follow up film from the writer/director of 2022’s excellent horror film Barbarian, Zach Cregger, and deals with all but one of a third grade (children aged 8-9) class in a small-town school, waking up one day and disappearing into the night, and it deals with the aftermath that follows. Suspicion falls on Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), the teacher of the class, as the town turns on her when no answers are forthcoming. Especially the excellently named Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), the father of one of the missing children. This is a great horror film with a few moments of humour thrown in.
 
9) Train Dreams
This is a gorgeous and relaxing film. In it, we follow the life of Robert Grainer (Joel Edgerton), who is born in the 1880s, is orphaned at a young age and moves to Idaho. He later meets and marries Gladys and has a daughter, Kate. He spends a lot of his time away from home and family working on the railways. Most of the film is Edgerton in nature, telling stories of people he works with and important events that happen to him in his life. This, like my film of the year last year, Perfect Days, is a quiet film, with a wonderful soundscape. Edgerton plays Grainer as a quiet, dignified giant, and his performance is quietly captivating.
 
8) Superman
This is the Superman film I have been waiting for since Superman II. As good as Henry Cavill looked in the role, he was never truly able to portray Superman/Clark Kent as he is in the comics. That probably has a lot to do with how Zack Snyder sees superheroes in general, but the dark, brooding version of Superman in the DCEU never sat right with me, especially next to the equally dark and brooding Batman. The two are usually shown in contrast to each other in comics. So, I was happy to see James Gunn bring back a version of Superman I like. David Corenswet is the bright and hopeful Superman I love to see, straight from the comic (especially the version from All-Star Superman). Gunn also does a great job bringing a comic book world to the big screen, a world already filled with other superheroes and incorporated into the narrative. A great supporting cast brings these characters to life, including Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as my favourite interpretation of Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner and Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific.
 
7) Materialists
A fantastic look at modern dating and romance in New York City, from Celine Song, the director of the excellent Past Lives from 2023. This film follows Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a very successful Matchmaker who meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a rich financier, at the wedding of a former client. At the wedding is also Lucy’s ex-boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), an aspiring actor who is working the wedding as a waiter. Lucy still seems to have feelings for John, but Harry is more likely to provide the financial security Lucy craves. Though the premise seems a bit basic, there are some great scenes of people talking about what they are looking for in a partner, most of which are infuriatingly unachievable in one person. Great performances all round, especially from the main trio.
 
6) The Life of Chuck
One of four Stephen King adaptations this year (The Monkey, The Long Walk and The Running Man being the others), though I enjoyed the others to some degree, this was my favourite of them all. A strangely life-affirming film in distinct three acts, each one at a different point in the life of an accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz (played by Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay & Tom Hiddleston at different ages). I won’t go into any more details about it, apart from saying that Act Two: Buskers Forever was my favourite part.
 
5) Thunderbolts*
Of the three Marvel films released this year (Captain America: Brave New World and The Fantastic Four: First Steps being the other two), this was the one that probably confounded everyone. It was a film full of secondary characters from other Marvel films, with none of the more iconic characters from the MCU in it. However, what screenwriters Eric Pearson & Joanna Calo and director Jake Schreier gave us was a film that is both funny, earnest and refreshing, and what it lacks in huge action set pieces, it makes up for in dealing with issues of mental health, loneliness and imposter syndrome. The cast jells together well, with Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman as Yelena Belova and Robert “Bob” Reynolds, respectively, being the standouts (though David Harbour’s Red Guardian is also very good in it). A pleasant surprise from Marvel. I am looking forward to seeing what director Jake Schreier will bring to his X-Men film
 
4) One Battle After Another
This is a wonderful black comedy from Paul Thomas Anderson. Inspired by the book Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, we follow Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) a former member of a revolutionary group The French 75, whose past catches up to him, after a previous adversary Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), comes after the former members, looking for Bob’s daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) who might actually be Lockjaw’s daughter with Bob’s former lover. Bob has spent his time since leaving The French 75 mainly getting high and keeping off the grid, so he is not equipped to deal with the world as it is now, as he tries to get to his daughter and keep her safe. A great cast with Benicio del Toro’s Karatedo teacher Sergio being the standout.
 
3) Wake Up Dead Man
I love these films; I love a good mystery in general, and Rian Johnson is fantastic at constructing great mysteries. This one involves one of my favourite types of mystery, a locked-room mystery. This might also be my favourite of the Knives Out Mysteries. Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc, and this time he is assisting Police Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) in a small town upstate New York. Much to Scott’s chagrin, Blanc also enlists the help of Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), a young Catholic priest, who is the chief suspect in the murder of the charismatic and domineering senior priest at Duplenticy’s church, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Johnson has again put together a wonderful cast with Glenn Close, Thomas Haden Church, Daryl McCormack, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny & Kerry Washington making up the rest of the possible suspects. I also loved the setting of this one, set in and around an old late 19th-century church, and with religion playing a huge role throughout the story, it is probably the most atmospheric of the trilogy.
 
2) The Ballad of Wallis Island
This film seems to have all the tropes of a classic horror film. Down on his luck musician Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) is invited to a remote island off Wales to perform a concert for a private, selected audience. The island seems to only have five people living on it, and the audience is, in fact, just one person, the local weirdo Charles (Tim Key), who is a superfan of McGwyer and his former partner in a Folk Duo, Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). The creators of this (Tom Basden and Tim Key) could easily have gone a different route and it seriously could have been a Misery remake set on the Wicker Man island, however what it actually is, is a sweet and funny film, that deals with topics of loneliness, success, friendship and the power of music, as you learn to like all the characters. Based on a 2007 short film by Basden and Key called The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island.
 
1) Sinners
This is an atmospheric 1930s-set vampire film from Ryan Coogler and follows twin gangsters Smoke and Stack (both played by the superb Michael B Jordon) who return to Mississippi in order to start up a juke joint, using their ill-got gains from Chicago. They rope in their younger cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), who is a talented blues musician as well as a group of their old friends, including Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), a veteran bluesman who has been through a lot of shit, and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), Smoke’s Hoodoo practitioner wife. Unknown to everyone, Sammie is a griot (from West African mythology) whose music can transcend time and space; unfortunately, his performance on the opening night of the juke joint brings him to the attention of Remmick (Jack O'Connell), an ancient Irish vampire who wants to bring Sammie and his talents into his family. From then on, the people locked in the juke joint try to keep the people who have already been turned outside and stay alive until the morning. However, this is so much more than a vampire siege film. It deals with multiple mythologies, the history of the racist South, the cultural appropriation of Black music and generational trauma. Every performance is great, and the film looks gorgeous.
 
And my worst film of the year for 2025 is.........

A Minecraft Movie
I know that this film was very popular this year, especially at the box office, and there were three other films that I rated as awful, two of which that only exist due to some characters entering public domain (Popeye the Slayer Man & Steamboat), and I understand that I am not the audience for this film (never having played the game, or being a child with ADD), however this film was just super annoying to me, and was made even more annoying by the fact I went to the cinema and paid to watch this. The story was very basic, the effects were headache-inducing, and the acting was just ridiculously bad. Which is a shame, as there are actors in this whose other works I have enjoyed in the past. If you have not watched it already, I would give it a miss.
 
 
Complete list of Films I watched in 2025.

Ratings
Excellent = Must watch
Good = Should watch
Meh = Fine
Bad = Can be avoided
Awful = Avoid
 
28 Years Later  -  Excellent
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey  -  Good
A Complete Unknown  -  Good
A House Of Dynamite  -  Meh
A Minecraft Movie  -  Awful
A Real Pain  -  Good
A Working Man  -  Meh
Afterburn  -  Meh
Another Simple Favor  -  Good
Babygirl  -  Meh
Ballad Of A Small Player  -  Excellent
Ballerina   -  Excellent
Bank of Dave 2  -  Meh
Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League  -  Good
Being Eddie  -  Good
Black Bag  -  Excellent
Black Phone 2  -  Good
Bride Hard  -  Meh
Bugonia  -  Good
Captain America: Brave New World  -  Meh
Caught Stealing  -  Meh
Christmas Karma  -  Bad
Companion  -  Excellent
Dangerous Animals  -  Meh
Dead Of Winter  -  Good
Death Of A Unicorn  -  Meh
Deep Cover  -  Meh
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera  -  Meh
Die My Love  -  Good
Dracula A Love Story  -  Meh
Drop  -  Good
Eddington  -  Good
Eenie Meanie  -  Good
Elio  -  Good
Eternity   -  Good
Everything's Going to Be Great  -  Bad
F1 The Movie  -  Good
Fackham Hall  -  Meh
Fight or Flight  -  Excellent
Final Destination Bloodlines  -  Meh
Fountain Of Youth  -  Bad
Frankenstein  -  Good
G20  -  Bad
Get Away  -  Meh
Good Fortune  -  Good
Happy Gilmore 2  -  Good
Havoc  -  Good
Heads of State  -  Meh
Heart Eyes  -  Meh
Hedda  -  Good
Highest 2 Lowest  -  Good
How To Train Your Dragon  -  Meh
I Know What You Did Last Summer  -  Meh
In the Lost Lands  -  Bad
Islands  -  Meh
Jay Kelly  -  Good
John Candy, I Like Me  -  Good
Jurassic World Rebirth  -  Meh
Karate Kid: Legends  -  Good
KPop Demon Hunters  -  Good
Last Breath  -  Meh
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain  -  Excellent
Love Hurts  -  Meh
M3GAN 2.0  -  Good
Marching Powder  -  Awful
Mickey 17  -  Good
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning  -  Meh
Mountainhead  -  Good
Neighborhood Watch  -  Good
Nobody 2  -  Meh
Nosferatu  -  Excellent
Novocaine  -  Good
Now You See Me 3  -  Good
Nuremberg   -  Good
Old Guy  -  Bad
One Battle After Another  -  Excellent
Paddington in Peru  -  Good
Play Dirty  -  Meh
Popeye the Slayer Man  -  Awful
Predator Killer Of Killers  -  Good
Predator: Badlands  -  Excellent
Presence  -  Good
Prisoner of War  -  Meh
Queen Of The Ring  -  Good
Red Sonja  -  Meh
Roofman  -  Meh
Screamboat  -  Awful
September 5  -  Good
Sinners  -  Excellent
Sisu: Road to Revenge  -  Excellent
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues  -  Excellent
Splitsville  -  Meh
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere  -  Good
Star Trek: Section 31  -  Meh
Steve  -  Good
Superman  -  Excellent
The Accountant 2  -  Excellent
The Alto Knights  -  Meh
The Amateur  -  Good
The Bad Guys 2  -  Good
The Ballad Of Wallis Island  -  Excellent
The Brutalist  -  Good
The Electric State  -  Bad
The Fantastic Four: First Steps  -  Good
The Gorge  -  Meh
The Last Showgirl  -  Good
The Life Of Chuck  -  Excellent
The Long Walk  -  Good
The Lost Bus  -  Good
The Mastermind  -  Good
The Materialists  -  Excellent
The Monkey  -  Good
The Naked Gun  -  Good
The Old Guard 2  -  Bad
The Penguin Lessons  -  Meh
The Phoenician Scheme  -  Excellent
The Roses  -  Meh
The Running Man  -  Meh
The Smashing Machine  -  Meh
The Thing with Feathers  -  Excellent
The Thursday Murder Club  -  Meh
The Toxic Avenger  -  Bad
The Uninvited  -  Good
The Wedding Banquet  -  Good
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep  -  Meh
The Woman in the Yard  -  Good
Thunderbolts*  -  Excellent
Tinsel Town  -  Meh
Together  -  Good
Tornado  -  Good
Train Dreams  -  Excellent
Tron: Ares  -  Meh
Wake Up Dead Man  -  Excellent
Weapons  -  Excellent
William Tell  -  Meh
Wolf Man  -  Meh
Y2K  -  Bad
You're Cordially Invited  -  Bad
Zootopia 2  -  Good