My Top Ten Recommendations from the Films I watched in 2025

I watched at least a little of over 300 films this past year. The oldest was from 1931, and the most recent was a 2024 release.

The 1950s were very much over-represented, as I watched nearly twice as many films from that decade than from any other. The 40’s were also well represented.

While I did watch a couple of not-English language films, the vast, vast majority of the films I watch are Hollywood productions. This is mostly a function of ease and habit.

A majority of the films I watched this year were films that I have already seen, as I am making an ongoing effort to watch through the family collection of physical media – however, many of the re-watches were of films I had not seen for a decade or more and often I didn’t remember very much at all about them.

Some I did remember quite well, but I kept a few films that I’ve previously recommended out of contention for this year’s top ten list, trying not to repeat myself.

My Top Ten Recommendations from the Films I watched in 2025

(in random order)

In Bruges (1998) –

I feel that I’ve recommended this movie multiple times to multiple people already, so I’ll try not to go on about it again. This is a darkly funny movie about two hired killers who are supposed to hide out in Belgium, one of them is enthusiastic about the paid vacation, one of them is not, and it all goes rather badly. It’s a Christmas film, albeit a violent and obscenity-laced Christmas film.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) –

If you haven’t seen this British horror-comedy about zombies, pubs, dead-end jobs, parents and friends yet, what are you waiting for?

Sunset Boulevard (1950) –

Sometimes films are considered classics for very good reason. This is an example. One night we needed a sure thing to stick on the screen, so I reached for our copy of this crime drama told from the perspective of the dead guy in the pool, which deals with the corrosive effects of lust for fame and money. Although I’ve seen this film easily half a dozen times now, re-watching still had me smiling out of pure enjoyment.

Ratatouille (2007) –

I’m happy to report that on returning to this animated film about a rat and an apprentice cook making magic together in a Parisian kitchen, I still find it very charming, and hope others do too.

The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) –

An imperfect (and long – take the intermission!) historical drama, the first half of this film is really good, with great looking sets and costumes and an unusual-for-Ancient-Roman-stories snowy location. Sadly the second half of the film is not as interesting, but if you’re into Ancient Rome stories on film or older costume dramas at all, you really should have a look at this.

True Lies (1994) –

A comedy-action film with Arnie and Jamie Lee Curtis, in which they blow up the Florida Keys. What more could you possibly want in a fun popcorn flick? Silly and peak ‘90s blockbusting here.

Die Hard (1988) –

Hey look, another “Christmas film” and another blockbuster! I hadn’t watched this spectacular action movie for quite awhile, and forgot an important factor in it’s success – not only is it exciting, it’s also very funny in places! If it starts out feeling a bit slow for you, give it some time, I found it improved as it went along.

‘G’ Men (1935) – For a ninety-year-old movie, this movie still slaps. A police versus gangsters story that makes good use of tommy guns and the old Hollywood legend Jimmy Cagney.

The China Syndrome (1979) –

They didn’t make it easy for us to see this movie. Several times we attempted to download this film and it mysteriously did not come through. This lead to a search for another way to find and watch this, and I ended up ordering a DVD copy – paying a bit more than we usually pay for dvds. I have seen this film before, but it had been so long I completely forgot several important details and plot points. This is a good thriller about an accident and cover-up at a nuclear power plant, although it does have some leaps in logic problems. I am mainly including it on my top ten recommends because it still seems to annoy pro-nuclear-plant people, and I am pro annoying pro-nuke people. Good luck finding a copy you can watch.

The Remains of the Day (1993) –

That this literary-adaption film, about, in part, a frustrated romance between servants in 1930s Britain, did such a good job as it did at holding my attention, allowed it to earn it’s way onto my top ten list despite not being my “type” of film at all. It even beat out several very solid film noirs to get on to this list. (The noirs are why I watch so many 1950s films.)

Honourable Mentions:
(Again, Randomly Organized)

The Towering Inferno (1974) is a disaster movie that almost made it on to my top ten. It’s fun nonsense packed with the Hollywood celebrities of it’s day.

The story it’s based on was written by a guy with some seriously questionable politics, but I will admit that I enjoyed The Naked Jungle (1954) and I enjoy the radio drama adaptions of this story too. The film is about an American guy with a plantation somewhere in the Amazon, who mail orders a bride and then fights off ants. That sounds a bit boring. But it’s not. For one thing, they are killer ants. And… the author is dead.

Whispering Smith (1948) Because I haven’t forgotten Alan Ladd. This is a fun little “family” western. Nothing too complicated. Good guys come out on top, and there’s a train.

As the most recently released film to make it on to my short list, I want to mention 2024’s Heretic. Ultimately I felt that this film’s ambitions exceeded it’s grasp, but particularly the first act makes a noble attempt at tackling spiritual and religious questions through the medium of a mostly-psychological horror-drama. (There is some gruesomeness and jump-scaring that creeps in and the second half gets more conventionally horror-y.) The acting is quite good, with Hugh Grant giving us an especially fun performance as possibly the devil, testing two young Mormon missionaries.

After watching this classic noir multiple times over the years, this year, The Third Man (1949) clicked with me. I finally understand why people like this movie so much. It is actually quite good. But it is also, it seems, very much a film where you need to cultivate your taste first. I distinctly remember being quite bored with this film, when I watched it when I was younger.

Peter van Eyck, the German-American actor, made entirely unplanned on my part appearances in a bunch of films I watched at the end of last and start of this film year. He was starting to feel like a friend with a habit of dropping in unexpectedly. His supporting role as a senior Stasi officer in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965) is one of his better-known, and that chilly spy adaption of a John le Carre novel is quite good.

Speaking of spies…

I watched a handful of James Bond films this year, and while none of them quite made it to my short list, none of them were bad, either.

Touchez Pas au Grisby (1954) aka “Don’t Touch the Loot” was my favourite of the few non-English-language films I watched over this past year. The story following a trying-to-be-retired-honest gangster who is drawn back into a life of crime when his friend gets into trouble is just as much about mood, fashion and setting as about the plot.

A Girl who Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) was my favourite of the films I watched to watch with my movie club this year. It’s a trippy story about a vampire and a James Dean-like young man she maybe? loves. This film is set in a fictional city in Iran and dialogue is in Farsi, however, it was actually filmed in California. Very moody, kinda arty, a spell-weaving film that is probably not for everyone.

(Further) Additional Notes and Mentions:.

This year I watched both 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

I gave each film 3.5 out of 5 stars. This is a western genre story about a small family rancher in financial distress who agrees to escort a stagecoach robber and murderer to the train which will take the prisoner to Yuma (Arizona) prison, on the face of it agreeing to the increasingly hazardous job for reward money, but really for personal pride and rightness reasons.

The second film does more; it’s about half an hour longer, has the advantage of fifty years of technological innovation, and it’s evident it had a significantly larger budget.

The original film does not have as many bang-bangs, it takes a bit longer for you to grow into the story and accept the characters, but it is also… and more so than the update… nice.

I know that there are fans who will argue strongly that one film is better than the other, but to me, while they’re both using the same source story, they’ve decided to do different things, and they both do their thing well. I couldn’t decide which of the two to recommend more (and recommending both seems extreme) but I did want to mention them here. So here.

I have a similar difficulty with watching both A Shot in the Dark (1964) and The Pink Panther (1963) in the past year.

I find these are both amusing films, with a bumbling police inspector trying to catch a suave jewel thief (a cat burglar to be precise.) Most fans prefer the second film, but I can’t say. I found that they both have slightly laggy stretches, and both have some jokes or gags that don’t really work for me, but both also do have parts that I found really funny. I think I prefer David Niven as the cat burglar in the first film over George Sanders in the second film, but that may be down to personal taste. And The Pink Panther’s opening credits is deservedly legendary. As I ultimately couldn’t really decide which I liked more, I’ll just recommend either or both.

I hope some of this might be of some help to you, and I always welcome recommendations – please let me know what films you’ve been enjoying or finding interesting lately, and if you’ve seen anything you think I in particular might be interested in, of course, tell me about it! Thanks.