Good Morning Folks! One of the things that I have been trying to do this year is keep better track of the movies that I end up watching. I remember it was a bit of a challenge when I pulled together my 2025 in review post to figure out what exactly I had seen in a calendar year. Even then I realized that I missed a few phenomenal films like Sinners that I would have definitely talked about. My friend “The Librarian” reminded me that Letterboxd is a thing that exists, and also that I apparently have had an account for a very long time. This should not shock me because I tend to sign up for things as soon as they enter my consciousness, and then often times not use them for several years. See also that I signed up for SpaceHey three years before making a single post on it or even configuring my profile. Anyways part of this is that I am also trying to watch more movies overall and start chipping away at the massive backlog of things that I want to watch. Long gone are the weekends when I would rent 20 movies from Video Giant… but that does not mean that I lack the desire to do this thing.
Queens of the Dead – 2025 – 3 Stars
I think we are going to go with a lowest ranking to highest ranking scenario, and as a result we are beginning with Queens of the Dead which I gave 3 stars. I was honestly fairly disappointed with this… I love Zombies, and I love interesting takes on Zombies. Queens of the Dead gave me neither really… it is effectively a combination of Birdcage and The Return of the Living Dead. The film is way more of an “in joke” about drag culture than it is a cohesive zombie film, and the movie quality feels like this was a student project filmed on phones, and not even in a found footage way that would make it interesting. I specifically relate this to Return of the Living Dead instead of Night of the Living Dead, because this is a film that is way more interested in setting up the next punchline than doing anything interesting with the actual zombies. It could have been a much better film, and in theory it makes attempts at social commentary…. but does so in a hamfisted nature like a student play that has to tell you what its point was at the very end. There were some fun moments, and some humorous punchlines… but cohesively it was a bit of a mess.
The Running Man – 2025 – 3.5 Stars
One of the things that the 80s gave us, was a lot of dystopian action films… in truth a shocking number. The 1987 Movie featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and has gone on to influence so many things from the direct one to one copy via the Smash TV Arcade Cabinet, or more subtle influences like the existence of The Purge and Hunger Games. The remake takes things in a different direction, and instead of prisoners attempting to regain their freedom… we have a man who is just trying to get enough cash so that he can pay for medical treatment for his child. It is not a bad film, but it is not a great film either and I gave it 3.5 Stars. It was a fun dystopian romp, and I think it is probably way better than a lot of the negative buzz surrounding it. If you’ve played Cyberpunk 2077… everything is very thematically on point, and given that we find ourselves in a deathmarch towards our own dystopia… there are moments that feel a bit too on the nose. It was worth a watch, but I can’t see returning to watch it a second time.
Predator: Badlands – 2025 – 4 Stars
Another film that I have seen a bunch of negative buzz around is Predator: Badlands. I love the Predator series, and was also a junkie for the various Dark Horse comics adaptations of this shared Aliens/Predator and potentially also Bladerunner universes. I think the big complaint that I have seen is the design of the Yautja from this film, but this seems fine to me especially given that Dek is speccifically described as a “malformed runt”. I am mostly on board with seeing more of this society fleshed out, and I really like the character of Thia. The thing that would have made this movie so much better for me personally is if they did the thing where they shifted from spoken Yautja with subtitles to both characters spending english, and there was a perfect moment to do this transition where Thia applies an “universal translator”. I don’t love spending an entire movie reading subtitles… and for this and this along I docked it a full star so only gave it 4 stars. I had a lot of fun with this movie and would absolutely watch another film with this grouping of characters.
Rental Family – 2025 – 5 Stars
Watch this film if you need a good cry. I am a sucker for Brendan Fraser in pretty much every role he has ever done, and I am so happy to see him back in the active rotation film wise. The premise of this film is so interesting to me, folks being rented to play a role in someone’s life… and the messy rammifications that come from that. Do you actually become that person for them? Does the role ever truly end? I feel for Fraser’s character when the lines start to blur significantly… in part because Fraser also needed people to play a role in his life. This hit me pretty hard because I am someone who has a pretty signficant adopted family, that augments my blood family… and all of them are so much more important to me than just digital folks I will never probably actually meet in the flesh. I have two people that I consider literal siblings… that I have never actually met. I think the whole blending of lines in this film probably hit me harder than it might a lot of people, and I cried… quite a bit at various points during the film. It was such a good cry however… and while I think this will be an emotional sucker punch to most people… I still think it is worth a watch.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – 2026 – 5 Stars
It is rare that you have a film that comes out and so completely gives the previous film a redemption arc. 28 Years Later was an incomplete film, and having watched The Bone Temple… I understand why. These are essentially two parts of the same film, given that Bone Temple takes place literally seconds after the conclusion of 28 Years Later. I would highly suggest watching them back to back and largely thinking of them as a single complete story. Bone Temple ties up the events of 28 Years Later neatly, but more important than that… ties up the loose bits of the entire series in a pretty little bow. There is a massive payoff at the end of this film for anyone who has been watching along as this series wound its way from days, to weeks, to years. I love zombies, but I have always found this particular rage zombies genre to be interesting… and this film does some deeply intersting things surrounding it. When taken collectively 28 Years Later with both parts is one of the better films I have seen in awhile.
So there you have the films that I watched since this weekend. Do you vehemently disagree with anything I said about these? Is there anything that I really have to watch? Drop me a line below.
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Good Morning Folks! This morning I am keeping it going with my year in review series as this time I talk about some of the movies that I watched. Normally speaking I would say that these are movies that both impressed me or disappointed me enough to have something to talk about. In this case… I mostly just enjoyed all of them for various reasons. With everything that was going on this year, I leaned way more heavily into YouTube, Books, and Serialized content than I did on movies. However I did buy a fancy new television and a nice soundbar setup, which caused a significant uptick for awhile in movie viewing. There are tons of things that I did not watch last year and will probably watch in the coming year. Normally speaking I would say these are things that I watched in a given calendar year, but I also think in this case everything in the list actually came out last year.
This morning I am also going to try something a little different. I did this the other day for a friend who was dyslexic, and I recorded an alternate track of narration for my blog post. I don’t think this is going to be something that I can reasonably do for EVERY post, but I thought it might be interesting to experiment with it. So essentially I am going to write this post in full, and then come back by and talk about things again, not necessarily following the written script…. so you will end up with two slightly different experiences. Hopefully it works and drop me a line if you participated in this experiment and enjoyed it.
Happy Gilmore 2
This is probably the biggest shock for me of the year is that one… a Happy Gilmore sequel was released, and two… that it was really freaking good. There is a lot of heart in this movie and it is well worth the watch even if you have not liked anything Adam Sandler has released in years. For me he peaked at The Wedding Singer, but this movie is charming as fuck especially for those of us who grew up during his heyday. The real take away of this movie though is how amazing Bad Bunny is in a comedic role. This man is delightful and has been charming in pretty much any situation I have seen him in, but he stole every single scene he was in as the busboy turned caddy. Seriously, you need to watch this for no reason other than just how funny he is as Oscar. I hope we see him in more comedic roles going forward.
Tron: Ares
If I had a disappointment of the year, it would probably be Tron: Ares. Everything about this movie seemed like it was primed to blow me the away. You have a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, you have these really cool red and black suits… and I obsessively loved Tron: Legacy and was pretty hungry for a sequel. This movie is not that. This movie is its own thing and clearly sort of exists as a side adventure in the world of Tron lore. It doesn’t really dabble much in the tale of Flynn and Tron, but instead sort of goes off into its own territory telling the tale of Sark. If treated with the appropriate perspective… I enjoyed the film a lot and look forward to what is supposedly the proper sequel to Tron: Legacy that is coming next. The film has some really fucking cool visuals though, and I think that was sort of its entire point. I am always deeply suspicious of Jared Leto, his literal cult leader status, and what it brings to the movies he is in… but for the most part it did not seem to adversely impact the end product.
Adulthood
Now we move on to very very dark comedy in the form of Adulthood. This is a tale of siblings, family, death, and inherited secrets. Josh Gad does an amazing job of playing the deadbeat manchild that never quite grew up, and is chasing a goal that he will never seem to reach. Kaya Scodelario does an excellent job at playing the sibling that was forced to be the adult for everyone in the household, and continues to be as things start to fall apart. There are a number of genuinely hilarious moments and Billie Lourd does an excellent job playing the effective villain of this tale… where everyone is already a wholly bad person. It is not necessarily an amazing movie, but it is a fun watch.
Takeout
This film is a bit rough around the edges, and is of all things a Tubi exclusive… which means it is on a free movie service. However what you end up getting is this really gritty horror/slasher/drama set around the folks who are working at a very low rent fast food restaurant in the middle of nowhere late at night. The character actors are pretty uneven in their delivery. For example N’kone Mametja does an excellent job in the lead role as Nova, and Daniel Janks puts up a great performance as a professor character. Even Darron Meyer does a pretty solid job and is an actor that I have liked in other things before. The characters of Harper and Susan the owner of the restaurant however are thoroughly unlikable in mostly annoying ways. I enjoyed it and it is worth a watch… and has a relatively decent plot twist… but other than that it largely is just a pretty stylized take on the slasher-in-one-location genre.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
I am not sure we will ever return to the heyday of Marvel, where we are getting multiple banger must see movie experiences every year. However I still think last year was a pretty decent year for Superhero films. I’ve always low key enjoyed the Fantastic Four, but never really felt like anyone managed to capture what I enjoyed about it. As a kid it was always about the Nasapunk futurism and interesting technologies… more than the actual superpowers that they had. This film gives us that feeling in spades as it takes us to an alternative version of history that is deeply compatible with the whole Walt Disney world of tomorrow vibe. It has been so long since we have seen anything close to optimistic futurism, and this movie delivered on that. Sure things went off the rails and that civilization was essentially taken to the brink of destruction, but it was delightful seeing it on screen and rendered beautifully.
Superman
Last year also delivered the best Superman film that we have seen since the 80s heyday of Christopher Reeves. If this is at all what we can expect from the James Gunn DC Universe, then I am all on board. We got the first rendition of Kryto the Superdog I believe in a live action film ever, and it was delightful. We also got a cameo for the Milly Alcock played Supergirl character coming to the screen this year. I am on board with all of this. Essentially the DCU had to start somewhere and I think this was a good place. The blue boyscout has always been one of the major pillars of DC comics, and now they just need to nail a good Batman film set in this shared universe… and they will own my soul. Gotham is my favorite setting and always will be, and the best version is the old Batman Animated Series. I have hope and quite honestly I think James Gunn gets where things need to go.
Bring Her Back
There are sometimes experiences that are so weird that you have to experience them for yourself. This movie is a fucking mess and do not watch if you are not prepared for gore and body horror. Sometimes resurrection goes wrong, and takes way more effort than it is worth. This is one of those situations. Holy shit is this movie fucked up, but in the best possible of ways. I can’t say it was phenomenal but it was really interesting. That is all I am really going to say here. Watch it if you like twisted things and have a reasonably strong stomach.
Weapons
If you want phenomenal genre defining masterpiece though… look no further than weapons. I’ve loved Zach Cregger since his days in White Kids you Know. The Gallon of PCP sketch is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and Zach plays the titular character with his Gallon jug of PCP. I had thoroughly missed his transition into horror auteur, but apparently there is something about making people laugh that works beautifully for also scaring the shit out of them. I also highly suggest going back and watching Barbarian, which is fucked up in so many ways but is an amazing viewing experience. Everything about Weapons was just perfect… and it is a film effectively told out of order through the point of view of a bunch of different characters… all looping through the same time. Once you have seen multiple perspectives you start to learn more details about what is happening before it all comes crashing down in the final act. Pure magic. I hope this sweeps all of the award shows.
K-Pop Demon Hunters
It is hard to deny that this was the year of the K-Pop Demon Hunters. They dominated everything and even the little Korean donut shop that I go to on Sundays… has specialty Rumi, Mira, and Zoey themed donuts. If you somehow made it through 2025 without watching this… stop what you are doing… go watch it… you will thank me later. It is overwhelmingly charming. I do not care at all about K-Pop or Boy/Girl Bands in general, but this show is infectuous and has so many great characters. I would die for Derpy the Tiger and Sussie the Crow. This movie is especially important for you to watch if you have kids, and more importantly if those children are little girls. They need to see this film. I would be shocked however if they are not already indoctrinated into this madness. While I hope Weapons does well, this is probably the film that took the hearts of the world by storm… especially because no one was really expecting much from it.
28 Years Later
I’ve been a fan of this series since the first film, and I still think it is one of the better zombie films that we have ever gotten. 28 Years Later is something that I was really looking forward to… and I can’t necessarily say I am disappointed in it… but it was not the film I was expecting. This is more a tale centered around a family than anything else, but it does happen to exist within the settings of a truly bizarre and interesting world that has grown up around a rage virus based zombie apocalypse. Nature is healing… in weird and interesting ways, and it is at least cool to see what a potential future for this world looks like. I thought Ralph Fiennes character of Doctor Ian Kelson pretty much stole the movie though, and I am very interesting to see where the next film which is a side-story centered around the Bone Temple takes us.
The Monkey
Another really great horror film and dark comedy this year is The Monkey. It is centered around a cursed object that ultimately leads to major catastrophe befalling the owners. Essentially each time the monkey drums… someone dies in a truly disturbing way. The narrative largely focuses on twin brothers… played by the same actor… who deliver WILDLY different performances… and the role they have been forced into as the caretaker of this malicious object. There are a lot of genuinely hilarious moments that center around death, so I have to admit this was a great film for me to watch while I was grieving… because sometimes it is important to be capable of laughing at loss. I am wired to love horror films… but not everyone is. Some of the deaths are pretty bloody and gruesome, so if you have a weak stomach this might not be your film. I enjoyed it thoroughly though, but also I am pretty freaking twisted at times.
Freaky Tales
Now we finally arrive at the film that is truly my movie of the year. Freaky Tales is an anthology of interlocking tales that center around Oakland California in the late 80s. The wildest part about this narrative is that some of it is based on real world events and people, and KQED has a good article/podcast episode talking about this. You have Rainbow Punks, Fascist Cops, a Hitman with a Heart of Gold, and an Astral Projecting Samurai Basketball player. What more could you want? Rap legend Too Short serves as the narrator for all of these tales, and while the totality is a bit rough around the edges at times, it is a really good experience to watch. I think more than anything the reason why this is my movie of the year is because it kind of came from out of nowhere, and has so much heart that I can’t help but love it.
Were there movies this year that you loved that I missed? Do you disagree on my takes on any of the films I did talk about? drop me a line below.
The post 2025 Year in Review: The Movies appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.
