January 2026

In 2025 I was able to see 52 movies at the cinema, so an above average number.

Of those, two were old movies I was able to check out: Jaws, and Dogma. I’ve decided not to include them on the list, as Jaws is a classic – which was even better on the big screen – and Dogma is a personal favourite of mine, and both would just warp the 2025 rankings unfairly.

I also want to note Juror #2, which I saw on streaming rather than in the cinema so isn’t eligible to be ranked, but if it was about have been in the Top 10.

Overall I’d rank 2025 as a fairly average year in the cinema. The top of my list is dominated by Oscar contenders from 2024 I wasn’t able to see until January 2025, and there’s little I’ve seen this year I’m excited to watch come awards seen.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of very good movies; everything in the top 30 I certainly enjoyed! But to much of the list is just “ok”, and not enough of the list is stand out.

Anyway….

1. A Complete Unknown

Once again, it is the Oscar movies of the previous year which I didn’t see until January which top the list.

There is nothing I can fault about A Complete Unknown; it is a lovely movie which tells a story in an interesting way, filled with real characters, and excellent set piece moments.

Timothée Chalamet is superb, and the film presents Dylan’s music to its best advantage.

A joy to watch.

2. Conclave

Another Oscar nominated film from 2024 I didn’t see until 2025, this was an excellent character piece performed by an amazingly good cast, notably Fiennes and Tucci.

It is elevated by a strong sense of drama where the outcome of the film is a genuine mystery to the audience as the plot takes each of its turns, and is heightened by some wonderful direction ensuring the film looks sumptuous.

The bizarre and unnecessary coda means that it falls to second place.

3. September 5

This movie didn’t seem to get the attention it deserved, but was excellent. The plot revolves around the news sports team sent to Munich to cover the 1972 Olympics, only to find themselves reporting on a terrorist attack.

The film successfully makes these feel like real people thrust into an extraordinary situation, with plenty of tension and drama to keep me hooked.

Deserved a lot more.

4. Companion

Companion is a comedy-horror with an original premise, looking at the role of “companion” robots in a “near future” society, including their misuse.

The movie explores the morality of these companions without ever seeming heavy-handed, and has plenty of ideas to keep the plot moving steadily. A couple of the twists genuinely surprised me.

Great lead performances from Jack Quaid, Sophie Thatcher, and Lukas Gage.

Another which deserved more attention, although it was a minor box office success.

5. Weapons

A breakout success from 2025, earning $270m from a $38m budget, and deservedly so.

This movie brilliantly shifts between genuinely creepy moments of horror, and actual laugh out loud moments of humour.

The concept is different and interesting, with the pieces all falling into place neatly as the audience learns more.

Another strong cast playing things perfectly, especially Josh Brolin.

6. Wake Up Dead Man

The third of the Knives Out series from Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig, and in my view the best of the three.

It is simply a joy to watch.

Josh O’Connor is great, as are Josh Brolin (making his second appearance at the top of my list) and Glen Close.

Clever, funny, warm… just great.

7. Number 24

This Norwegian film looks at the resistance movement inside Norway, during their occupation by Germany in World War II.

In part a tense spy thriller, it doesn’t shy away from the complex morality of the decisions resistance members needed to make.

8. The Life of Chuck

I went into this movie not really knowing what to expect, and walked out having been deeply moved by the story, which at its core is an exploration of dying.

Tom Hiddleston underpins the film, but there are also some lovely performances from Mark Hamill and Jacob Tremblay.

For days after walking out of the cinema I was thinking about moments in this story, which is more than most movies can achieve.

9. Warfare

Although basically a simple Iraq War era war film, this is done so well that it deserves this high placing.

Strong ensemble cast, including Will Poulter and Kit Connor.

10. Quisling: The Final Days

The second Norwegian film in my top 10, and the second to deal with Norway’s experience in World War II, this time telling the story of Vidkum Quisling – the head of Norway’s pro-Nazi government during their occupation – from the liberation of Norway through to his trial and execution.

Gard Eidsvold is perfect as the lead, anchoring the whole movie, which explores effectively the moral ambiguities of occupation and collaboration.

11. The Housemaid

This was a really well-done film!

A strong psychological thriller, with plenty of twists, some obvious, some surprising. Amanda Seyfried is the stand out, but the cast is uniformly strong.

12. Superman

As someone who has not been a fan of Superman movies in the past, that this one was competing for the top 10 on my list is very impressive.

David Corenswet is wonderful as Superman (probably the best of the movie Supermen, for my money), bringing some humanity and some fun into a role all too often taken way to seriously.

Nicholas Hoult is also perfect as Luther.

But more than anything, this is just an enjoyable movie, lacking the dourness or seriousness – or, frankly, dullness – of a lot of entries into the superhero genre recently.

13. Caught Stealing

Although American, this feels like a classic British gangster film, with all the action and the fun you’d expect from that.

Austin Butler plays the lead, but it’s Matt Smith’s turn as the punk gangster which is the highlight of the film.

Plenty of car chases, shoot outs, and hilarious moments, especially the scenes with the Jewish gangster brothers.

14. Eternity

As well as an interesting conception of death, Eternity is at its heart the story of one woman having to make an impossible choice. The movie works in ensuring there’s always a sense of drama over which choice she’ll make, and also works because in the end doesn’t cheat.

The leading trio of Miles Teller, Callum Turner, and Elizaeth Olsen is as good as you’d expect.

I left the movie deeply sad, which shows it made a proper impact.

15. Fantastic Four

This was an enjoyable, fun, and colourful movie; I enjoyed watching it.

Had this come out ten years ago, it would have been a triumph. However, in 2025 it did feel like a lot of things we’ve seen before. It also required us to care about the family’s baby more than I did.

Very good, but not as fun as Superman.

16. Jurassic Work Rebirth

I love this franchise, and it did everything I wanted. Lots of cool dinosaurs, including some very different scenes with the attacks at sea.

Sometimes doing what it says on the tin is enough.

17. 28 Years Later

This movie worked really well. Scary, tense, horrible, touching, weird… and introducing enough elements over the course of the plot to keep things interesting, and with enough death to ensure I never assumed anyone was protected by plot armour.

Nice to see Edvin Ryding turn up, and Afie Williams is a strong enough young actor to carry the lead role at only 14.

Very interested to see what they do with part 2.

18. Wicked: For Good

I went in knowing that act 2 of the musical is by some measure the weaker act of the show, with – let’s face it – only one great song, so this was never going to be quite as good as the first movie.

Indeed, it also suffers because many of the plot contrivances which can be hand waved away in a stage musical don’t quite work in a movie.

Nevertheless, it looked gorgeous, is done well, and the music works.

19. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

I know a lot of people aren’t fans of this franchise, but I’m a sucker for it.

I just enjoyed sitting back and going along with the ride here!

20. Regretting You

I’m not someone who’s big on romance films, and it’s rare for me to have one make the Top 20, but I really enjoyed this one.

The premise is a strong one, and the cast – notably Dave Franco – sells it well. It’s also helped by the inclusion of raising star Mason Thames, who is proving to be a considerable talent for only 18.

21. Merrily We Roll Along

A filmed release of the award-winning Broadway musical, and the most successful production of a show not seen as one of Steven Sondheim’s best.

Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff both won Tony Awards for this show, and it’s very easy to see why.

The filming gets the balance right of allowing us to see the performances up close, without losing the feel on a live performance in front of an audience.

22. The Brutalist

There’s a lot about this film I respect, but not as much that I enjoyed.

An amazing piece of cinematography and spectacle, but not always quite as engaging as it could be. Impressive, but not quite Top 20 worthy for me.

23. Naked Gun

I’m not someone who grew up with the original films, but walked into this and laughed plenty. So, job done!

24. The Long Walk

An impressive adaptation of a Stephen King short story, this film gets a lot of credit from me for pulling no punches, and avoiding any cheats.

Whilst the premise is just a little to cheesy to be credible, the execution is tense and brutal.

25. Anaconda

This was a lot more fun than I expected! Plenty of laughs, great meta jokes, and a cool snake.

26. Jay Kelly

I enjoyed this movie far more than I expected, and pretty much only because of George Clooney’s performance as a charming and talented arsehole.

27. Spinal Tapp 2

Another movie where I went in, and just laughed. It’s not the most brilliant piece of cinema, but as a comedy and satire, it works really well.

28. Predator Badlands

This was a very good Predator film – a franchise I wouldn’t often say that about. It looked great, the main characters worked even if they’re not human, and I was never bored.

On the downside it was all very disposable; looking back there really aren’t any set pieces which stayed in the memory.

29. Nosferatu

It looks amazing!

And Nicholas Hoult’s performance is truly excellent, conveying proper terror.

Lots of good moments, but I think did the plot meandered a little too much. A little more focused, and this would have been a standout.

30. F1

The plot is obvious and unoriginal, but it looks great.

31. Mission Impossible Final Reckoning

The central movie here works very well, and is a strong action adventure, with plenty of action.

It is WAY overstuffed though, especially with nostalgia for previous movies.

32. Nuremberg

An ok movie, but I didn’t feel it ever really landed the material it had (especially when contrasted with the 2000 miniseries).

I’m not really a fan of Russell Crowe, and this was another “good not great” performance… has he had a truly great performance since Romper Stomper?

I also don’t think that making Rami Malek’s character so pivotal really worked, and his performance was a weak point of the film for me.

33. Mickey 7

A weird and interesting premise with a good lead performance from Robert Pattinson. But that’s it.

34. The History of Sound

I wanted to like this film a lot more, and the central performances from Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal are really good, and some of the settings really lovely.

However, it’s just very slow, and lacks a really strong central premise to connect it all.

35. Captain America: Brave New World

Another film that does its job really well, and 10-15 years ago would have been extraordinary, but in 2025 seems a bit run of the mill. Not at all bad, and in the moment a good popcorn movie. But, we’ve seen it all before.

Also not helped by the need to recast a key character with Harrison Ford.

36. I Know What you did Last Summer

A fan of the original, I enjoyed this well enough. Hits all the right notes, and doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. But, if you didn’t see it, you’ve not missed much.

37. Five Nights at Freddies 2

This was fine?

38. Tron: Ares

Wasn’t awful, but should have been better… so basically, another Tron film.

Evan Peters and Gillian Anderson do a great job, but Jared Leto is really not very good, and that’s a problem.

Looks good, and a great soundtrack, but never really rises to be much.

39. How to Train Your Dragon

I took my nieces, and they loved it. A perfectly fine kid’s movie. Mason Thames again strong as the lead.

40. Paddington in Peru

Another I took my nieces to, and as a kid’s movie it works. But all a bit twee for me.

41. Fight or Flight

As an action film this does a good job. But it’s incredibly shallow!

42. Thunderbolts*

I really felt like this was a movie of B-list characters. David Habour’s character is very one-note, and that note was already tired before this movie started. I’ve never been especially interested in the Winter Soldier, either.

A by the numbers superhero movie, which in the final act makes the “subtext” just “text”, meaning it lost interest.

43. Avatar: Fire and Ash

I will grant that this movie looks spectacular, especially the early scenes in the air.

However, after that it felt like a beat for beat remake of Avatar: The Way of Water, with more whales.

I just don’t care enough about these blue people to be invested for over three hours, and where The Way of Water at least moved to a new setting to keep up some interest, the interesting “Fire and Ash” setting was only in a couple of scenes, so we’re just going over the same territory.

By the end I was utterly bored, and kinda wishing they’d just kill that Spider kid and solve the problem.

44. Mr Burton

Just too twee and lacking charm, despite the strong cast.

45. Bonhoeffer

Lots of lecturing and a complete lack of subtlety, and historically a mess.

46. Bird

Whilst Barry Keoghan does well in the central role, this movie was trying too hard, was a little to esoteric, and never really landed for me.

47. Queer

You’d think a Luca Guadagnino film starting Daniel Craig would be great, but I have no idea what this film was trying to do, and was mostly bored.

48. Eddington

I can see what this film was trying to do, and what it clearly thought it was doing, but in the end was all a bit of a mess, and doesn’t really land any points well. At a full two-and-a-half hours in length, it certainly outstays its welcome.

49. One Battle After Another

Ok. I know a lot of people loved this, and I know it’s going to win all the awards.

But in the end, I wasn’t engaged by this film.

All the characters are horrible, and DiCaprio’s character especially gets no comeuppance as the lead baddie of the movie.

As a result, over three hours, I had no one to root for, and was unsatisfied by the lack of justice.

DiCaprio’s performance also didn’t work for me, and whilst Sean Penn has thrown himself into the role, I found some of his performance choices to be distracting.

I will concede that some of it looks great.