2025 Favorite Things: Movies
My favorites are in bold. Note: Just because I watched something in 2025 does not mean it came out this year.
Movies:
| American Fiction | Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Leslie Uggams, Erika Alexander | Prime | Monk is an academic and decent author, but according to publishers, his manuscripts haven’t been “Black” enough. He crafts a book that he detests and believes it panders to the basest audience. It will solve his money problems if he plays along, gets a movie deal, and sells a million copies. The 4th wall breaks suddenly as Monk is working with the director to find the right ending of the story you’re watching. |
| An American Werewolf in London | David Naughton, Griffin Dunne | Prime | I figured it’s about time I watched this. Too bad I was given advice to look up John Landis and saw a scandal about a death on one of his sets. I’m sure this movie earned its “greatness” at the time it was made, but watching it now, it’s just about a couple dudes who want to get laid. |
| Beyond a Reasonable Doubt | Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Michael Douglas, Joel David Moore | Samsung TV | Remake of 1956 movie |
| Bird Box | Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich | Netflix | Definitely suspenseful. Everyone says the book is better. |
| Conclave | Stanley Tucci, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Carlos Diehz | Prime | The competition to be the next Pope is broken into factions of liberal and conservative. A mysterious cardinal who was sworn to duty by the Pope in secrecy shows up and adds even more tension. The scenes are generally long and quiet broken up by the voting and short bouts of loud arguments. The score of string instruments goes along with the pacing perfectly. |
| Deep Fear | Mãdãlina Ghenea, Macarena Gómez, Stany Coppet | Netflix | Maybe not the most interesting shark monster movie, but honestly, the special effects (on a regular TV) were better than most. |
| Disappearance at Clifton Hill | Tuppence Middleton | Netflix | I understand utilizing an unreliable narrator, but the plot & resolution still need to make sense, which this did not. It pretends to close one close but then reverses it. And it never addresses the older, first case after mentioning it. |
| Escape from New York | Kurt Russell | Prime | Never saw it before so figured I’d put it on while trying to relax. Those are some tight pants. |
| Frankenstein | Jason Eladori? Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth | Netflix | I know people make their entire PhDs on this, but 2 minutes in I had questions. If Viktor wants the Monster to have him, why the hell is he running away? WTF is his mother wearing in the 2nd scene? |
| Gladiator II | Pedro Pascal, Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Neilson | Prime | I guess it could’ve been worse. |
| Godzilla x Kong: a new empire | Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry | Netflix | This felt like there were two completely different movies and could have been much better. |
| Hellboy: The Crooked Man | Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph | Hulu | Did not finish, barely started – begins with spider monster and appeared to be continuing with it so I turned it off despite really wanting to watch it. |
| House on Haunted Hill (1959) | Vincent Price | YouTube | I forgot that I’d watched this before. Not bad to revisit it. |
| Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man | Josh O’Connor, Daniel Craig, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Thomas Haden Church | Netflix | Long. Definitely will need to rewatch. Much better than The Glass Onion (which is a low bar because that story wasn’t good, but cast was amazing). Like the others, huge star studded cast. Plenty of time to work on your own suspect list. |
| K-Pop Demon Hunters | Arden Cho, May Hong, Ji-Young Yoo, Ahn Hyo-seop, Lee Byung-Hun | Netflix | YA romantasy with extra catchy songs, amazing hair, and great outfits. Plus, blue tiger demon with a 3-eyed bird who wears a top hat all based on folklore. |
| Kraven the Hunter | Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe, Ariana DeBose | Netflix | Sony/Marvel movie; Since I barely remember the Kraven character and have no attachment to him, I had a clean slate watching this. |
| Last Seen Alive | Gerard Butler, Jaime Alexander | Netflix | Not bad; gives a HEA; no explanation I recall about why this real estate developer happens to also be an expert badass fighter with weapons training. |
| Late Night with the Devil | David Dastmalchian (written, directed, and edited by Colin and Cameron Cairnes) | Hulu | There were scenes where I had to hide my eyes during this one, but David Dastmalchian is a huge draw for me. I’ve loved him in the Marvel and DC movies. My friends have met him at cons and said, not only is he genuinely nice to meet, but he is a big geek too. This mockumentary of a late night talk show where a girl was a possessed was made uniquely to blend “accidentally rolling camera footage” with snippets of “found footage” of Satanic rituals held by successful people. |
| Laura | Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price | YouTube | How did that woman get every single person including her maid to fall in love with her at first sight? Good mystery though. |
| Madame Web | Dakota Johnson, Tahar Rahim, Adam Scott | Netflix | It was certainly better than other people made it sound! Enjoyed it a lot more than HQ & Birds of Prey. |
| Man on Fire | Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken | Hulu | It’s long and I started watching too late so DNF. |
| Nosferatu | Max Schreck | YouTube | I had to see how the original was before I look for the newest version. Didn’t realize how many there are. I know there’s a reason all the character names were changed for the filmmaker to try and avoid paying for the rights. Stoker’s widow sued in German court. I didn’t miss the brides or all of Lucy’s boyfriends especially since Lucy and Minna are mashed into one character, Ellen. Ellen does go to stay with friends. |
| Rebecca | Alfred Hitchcock (dir) | YouTube | Watched this to steady suspense and it fell flat until the last 30 minutes of the 2 hour YouTube edit I watched. |
| Runaway Jury | Gene Hackman, John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman | Netflix | Massively talented cast in this John Grisham based movie |
| Sleeping Dogs | Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Tommy Flanagan | Hulu | Confusing as hell; about piecing together memories of people on a drug to erase their PTSD while lead character Roy, is on another treatment for Alzheimer’s trying to remember. |
| The Amateur | Rami Malik | Hulu | Quite exciting Macguyver tactics used by a code breaker who is not fit for CIA field ops, but pushes himself to go after his wife’s killer. |
| The Equalizer | Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moritz | Netflix | I loved the artistic direction of Robert calculating the objects in an environment. |
| The Equalizer 2 | Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal | Netflix | As interesting as the first one with much more personal exploration into Robert McCall’s past. |
| The Equalizer 3 | Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning | Hulu | Robert McCall is in Italy for this installment. The small town against the mafia makes the battle against evil more intimate. |
| The Little Things | Denzel Washington, Rami Malek | Netflix | 2 cops from different agencies team up to find a serial killer. This is dark and may suck any sense of hope out of you. |
| The Mandela Effect | Charlie Hofheimer, Aleksa Palladino, Robin Lord Taylor | Prime | After a couple’s daughter dies, the father becomes obsessed with the Mandela Effect and questions reality. |
| The Marsh King’s Daughter | Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelson, Gil Birmingham – by Karen Dionne | Hulu | So intensely suspenseful, I had to turn it off halfway through (it didn’t help that I was having anxiety attacks all day anyway); I did finish it and think it’s great. Haven’t read the book. |
| The Oblong Box | Vincent Price, Christopher Lee | Prime | A revenge story; honestly, fell asleep. |
| The Raven | John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans | Prime | Like other writer characters helping cop characters, Poe has to help the police as a serial killer is copying Poe’s stories in real life. Poe’s last days before his body was found on a park bench, this movie fills in what those days could have been. |
| The Silence | Stanley Tucci, Kiernan Shipka, Miranda Otto | Netflix | Almost unwatchable. It’s like the Birds but with blind pterodactyls or minocks. Luring them with a tree chipper was fun though. Plot follows a family perfectly cut out for living in silence since they have a deaf daughter and all of them can ASL. The dog dies (off-screen). No idea if it’s better or worse than A Quiet Place. |
| The Thursday Murder Club | Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, Naomi Ackie, Tom Ellis | Netflix | A group of friends in a posh retirement home (a castle) meet to work on cold cases. Then a real murder case pops up when one of the owners of the estate is killed. Based on the Richard Osman book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. |
| The Woman in Cabin 10 | Keira Knightley | Netflix | I had read chapter 1 of the Ruth Ware novel and bought the audio book. But before I had a chance to get to it, the movie was already out. Decided to watch it one night. |
| Under Suspicion | Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Monica Bellucci, Thomas Jane | Netflix | A story that builds tension and doubt consistently and well-paced until the end when the real perp is caught. Then, Hackman’s character who is clearly guilty of having the same thoughts as the real perp, is left to go free as a beating down high-society man with the most beautiful wife on Puerto Rico played by Monica Belluci. |
| Venom: The Last Dance | Tom Hardy | Netflix | Having missed the others, I had no idea what I was in for. This was sympathetic and silly. |
| Wonder Woman: Bloodlines | Rosario Dawson, Jeffrey Donovan | YouTube | Full length animation; WB/DC always chooses top actors and art talent. |
| Wrath of Man | Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Harnett, Laz Alonso | Hulu | He gets shot many times with an uzi and still gets up to get revenge. It’s never clear what Patrick Hill’s background is only that it seems some agency allows him and his team kill their way to answers about who murdered Hill’s son. A fun watch with probably more bullets than Predator. |
Other 2025 Favorites
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.