Yes, I'm mad late with this one writing this almost halfway into 2025. Last year in film disgusted me so much, I honestly don't know if there will be much positive in this post. Seriously, I can't name 5 movies released last year worth watching. Of course I was quite busy, last fall in particular was extra stressful as I was taking courses and trying to get a paper publication out at the same time so I didn't have time to really dig into the indie circuit. I was hoping to put this off for a bit while I took some time to watch the Oscar bait, but I think I'll just cover that in "2025 in film" since I just straight up do not have time to sit through several 3 hour movies. Without further ado, here are the 2025 films I watched and my thoughts on them.
My second-favorite movie of the year. At some point in these endemic franchises the story loops around to the beginning to meta-commentate on the journey thus far, and Kung Fu Panda 4 is that story for this franchise. With pretty much the entirety of the all-star cast missing, the story focuses on Po and his new side-kick Zhen as they try to stop a shapeshifter from stealing the abilities of Kung Fu masters, including previously encountered villains with Po's fathers saving him along the way. It's a feel-good children's movie out of one of my favorite franchises from childhood, I mean there was very little that they could do wrong with this movie. Awkwafina (see 2023 in Film) voiced Zhen, but her voice wasn't nearly as awful and grating and honestly it kind of worked so I'm glad to witness this little redemption arc. Jack Black reprises his role as literally himself, and James Hong does a bang-up job yet again as the ever-flustered Mr. Ping. The line that solidified this movie as my second-favorite film of the year was Mr. Ping's towards the climax:
"Change doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Why do you think I always change the menu at the restaurant? Because if things stay the same forever, sooner or later they would lose their flavor."
Historically, I have had a hard time dealing with change (who hasn't?) I know things can't stay the same forever, but hearing Mr. Ping, Po's sage father and anchor, really did it for me. I don't know, I guess it really struck a chord.
A couple years older from the original film, Riley is now a teen with 4 new emotions - anxiety, ennui, embarrasment, and envy. She goes to hockey camp and has a panic attack or two, Joy ultimately learns that both good and bad memories make us who we are, and Anxiety learns to chill. I don't know, not really my thing but then again I really did not like the first movie either.
THE summer blockbuster of the year, this sequel of the 1996 film had me planning on buying a Dodge Ram, bolting augers to it, and going storm chasing. Seriously, this movie was great if not a little bit silly. Making the YouTube "content" "creator" the good guy made me roll my eyes, but I guess the movie makes a small case for why the most useless job in the entire world might not be totally useless. My wife and I spent an hour after the movie debating the wisdom of chilling in a theater during a tornado and not, I don't know, a local grocery store's walk-in freezer (like we did back in Iowa) or someone's basement? We later looked this up and saw that Oklahoma homes notoriously do not have basements despite being right smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, an interesting decision. Daisy Edgar-Jones continues her British invasion into American media, and Glen Powell looks like the next Brad Pitt - I've never seen him in a movie before this but I'm sure he's on his way up after Twisters' performance at the box office. All in all, this movie was my favorite of the year.
One of the more polarizing films of the year, the message and impact of this movie was permanently marred by the feud between the co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. An adaptation of the novel by popular "BookTok" author Colleen Hoover, this movie was destined to be enjoyed by 20-something women and the men they drag to the theater. Yes, this was me. Centered around Lively's character Lily, a flower salesman who can somehow make a living selling flowers in downtown Boston, she meets her future husband, Ryle, who conveniently introduces himself as having anger issues by throwing a chair (not at her) in frustration. The story progresses in the normal generic pukey romance obviously written by only women until being jarringly thrown off course by Ryle turning out to be abusive. Fleeing the situation, she gives birth to their kid and breaks the cycle of abuse by leaving Ryle, hence the title. I really don't know how to approach this movie. It wasn't the worst movie I saw in 2024, but it was just so plain forgettable. I appreciated the movie having the absolute cojones to portray an abuser as a human with a past and a future and not an irredeemable monster in $CURRENT_YEAR-1; after a steady diet of Law and Order: SVU and other media portraying abusers as inhuman monsters it was certainly something different, but it had no chance of achieving any sort of appreciation in the world we live in. I predict this movie, along with Blake Lively, will be thoroughly forgotten in the coming years.
This movie first entered my radar 2 years ago when I came across an article that stated Francis Ford Coppola, one of the greatest directors of all time, was coming out of retirement to release a movie for the first time in almost 15 years. This movie spent a vast majority of its history in development hell with initial concepts dating back to the 70s. "Ok," I thought. "He's had almost a half-century to perfect this idea, this will be the next Citizen Kane." Boy, was I wrong. Like dead wrong. Like this is his life work, his magnum opus, (very likely) his swan song, and he VERY obviously has the actors ad-libbing most of their lines. The script, if it exists, reads like it was written by 10 different people failing to coalesce into any form of coherent plot. The highlights of this film for me were the highlights everyone else took from it - the quotes "Go back to the cl-u-u-u-b" and "Do you think one year of medical school entitles you to plow through the riches of my Emersonian mind?"; I've been trying to work the latter into normal conversation to little success. The movie is trying to project the fall of the Roman Republic onto modern day America; the "patricians" of the Roman Republic are the politicians that have ceased to care about the rampant decadence in their empire. It tells of how a scientist-engineer goes on his own Nietzschean quest to impose his (perfect) vision of the future on the masses and the corrupt politicians. How one can botch ancient Roman political intrigue, one of the more interesting facets of Roman history, this badly is beyond me. It truly is a shame because I think America needs a stark reminder of how fascism arises in today's political climate - this movie could have been great AND timely. Of course, I would be more wary of a reddit-mod "scientist" who thinks he can fix everything by invoking eminent domain and borderline breaking the law than your standard run-of-the-mill corrupt politician but this movie engages in the scientist-worship characteristic of so many productions nowadays which I absolutely hate. This movie will also fade into obscurity UNLESS the stoner community can turn it into a cult classic.
I first heard of this film the way every normal person did - when it won Best Picture at the Oscars. After watching the Oscars, my wife went on a valiant crusade to watch all the Oscar winners, I did not care enough as none really hooked me besides the Brutalist. This film was my wife's favorite out of the ones she watched. If I could describe this movie in one word, it would be "horny". Yes, this is one of the horniest movies I've seen in a while which is disappointing - cut out the sex and nudity and you have a heart wrenching tale of a Russian oligarch's son who offers a stripper her own Cinderella story, them facing a world that utterly disapproves of their relationship and running away until the son ultimately gives in. I was rooting for them until the end and was crushed when the worthless son gave up on the relationship, I felt so incredibly bad for Anora and incensed at the family who refused to give her a single chance. In parallel, you have the absolutely hilarious tale of the oligarch family trying to force a divorce throughout the entire film via a couple of inept enforcers and the family drama that happens as a result. This film stars Mikey Madison who I was introduced to in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as the crazy hippie that got burned alive by Chekov's Flamethrower in a scene that had the entire theater in hysterical laughter, along with a bunch of Russian actors I will never hear from again since we are not allowed to like Russian things right now. In my opinion, the Armenian actors who played the enforcers stole the show, they were my absolute favorite part of the film. The movie would have been so much better if it ended about 2 minutes earlier. If anyone but Sean Baker, the horniest film director since Paul Verhoeven, directed this film, this would be my favorite film of the year. Alas, I have to confine it to my third-favorite movie of the year.
Every theater kids dream, I am so glad I wasn't in high school when this released lest I be tormented by every single theater kid trying to hit Cynthia Erivo's high notes. Serving as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, it tells the origin story of the wicked witch of the west, Elphaba, and how Oz is literally Donald Trump. The songs were catchy but the movie just wasn't for me, way too long and bloated. I will say though Jeff Goldblum as Oz was a perfect casting choice, his mannerisms lend themselves well to the role. I will say Emilia Perez winning best musical over this film is an absolute travesty though.
Set a bit after the first film, Moana and Maui reunite to raise the sunken island of Motufetu for Moana's tribe's survival and Maui settling a score with Nalo, the storm god that sunk the island in the first place. That's literally all I remember of this movie, it was honestly quite forgettable.
A thriller shilled by Netflix? Of course it'll be bad, right? Actually, it wasn't that bad. I am a sucker for airport/airplane thrillers though so I am a little biased. A TSA agent is blackmailed into letting a criminal get onto a plane with dangerous biological weapon on Christmas Eve before ultimately saving the day. Jason Bateman plays an excellent villain, the only thing I'd seen him in before this was Arrested Development where he played a complete opposite of his character in this movie. Honestly though, there's just nothing notable about this film, I predict this one will also be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Overall 2024 was pretty disappointing in movies. I acknowledge I missed a lot of releases so maybe I'm overly pessimistic but the only movie I wanted to see before making this review was The Brutalist, I'm still holding out hope to see it soon. I've also heard Deadpool & Wolverine was quite good but I just have no desire to see more Marvel movies. Another notable film was Dune 2, but I haven't seen the first movie yet and honestly don't know if I'll ever bother. Hopefully 2025 has more original, non-sequel, standalone films or at least decent Oscar bait.