Hello, hello, friends!
The other day I chatted about my 2025 reads, but this being Movies Meet Their Match it's time for me to reveal all the movies I watched in 2025! It...was a lot more than I thought and took a couple days longer to put this post together than I originally imagined. For you, dear readers, this post is mostly movie poster eye candy, so have fun skimming through these!
There isn't really a uniting theme for any of these, but my family did start doing a "Sunday Movie Night" which is where many came from.
Want to see what I watched in previous years? Here's the link to my label "What I watched in."
Films that are underlined means I cried while watching them.
An asterisk (*) means I watched the film more than once this year
New-to-me Feature Films:
Jamaica Inn (1939)
The Rare Breed (1966)
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Glass Onion (2022)
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Total: 49
Documentaries:
Total: 1
Grand total: 50
...that's a lot more than I thought it was. 5 of those had Jimmy Stewart, so 10% is enough to ensure anyone that he's my favorite actor...
A breakdown of the different countries I watched foreign films from:
France: 1: Le Daim (English title: Dearskin) (2019)
Germany: 1: Meine teuflisch gute Freundin (English title: How to be Really Bad) (2018)
India: 1: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (English title: Life Will Never Come Again) (2011)
South Korea: 1: 20세기 소녀 (English title: 20th Century Girl) (2022)
The Phillipines: 1: Love is Color Blind (2021)
No Hispanic films this year, which is strange coming off of 20 of them last year.
Let's talk about movies from 2025. I only watched one (The Life List) and that wasn't until way the year was nearly over. I started Wake Up Dead Men but got very uncomfortable 15 minutes in. My family decided to quit watching it (the church vandalism scene was a little much) but I would be curious to hear from other people if things were resolved. I'm guessing they are, I just couldn't handle it at the time.
Another reason for my lack of 2025 movies is that not a lot of movies came out that I wanted to see? Here are a couple that I do hope to watch sometime: Frankenstein (2025) (a really good friend of mine adored this one and I was already hyped), Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025), and Zootopia 2 (2025). That's just for the U.S. releases, as I'd happily watch things from different countries, but these seem to be the ones marketed here all the time.
TV Shows and Series:
Shows with (currently) one season:
Extraordinary Attorney Woo: finished the last 3 episodes.
Geek Girl: rewatched season 1.
Jury Duty: watched 5/8 episodes.
The Queen's Gambit: watched the first episode
Shows with multiple seasons:
The Flash: finished season 2.
How I Met Your Mother: parts of season 1.
Leverage: finished seasons 3 and 4 and most of season 5 (just putting off watching the end because I don't want it to be over).
Merlin: rewatched parts of season 3 and 4.
Newhart: watched various episodes, mostly from season 3.
Nailed it! Mexico: watched some of season 1 and season 3.
Robin Hood (BBC version): rewatched most of season 1.
A Series of Unfortunate Events: rewatched part of season 1 and 2.
XO Kitty: watched the first 2 episodes of season 2.
Wednesday: watched season 2 and rewatched parts of season 1.
But enough of all of that. Here's the part where I go into more detail than just titles, the Top 10!
My 10 Favorite New-To-Me Movies of 2025:
1. Rope (1948): This movie has taken over my personality since I watched it last January. A stunning and chilling examination of living out what one casually says in conversation. The story is gripping, the pacing is on-point, and most of all, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY. The coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. I am slowly trying to show this movie to every single person I know. Totally my favorite Hitchcock so far, and, as one of my friends I watched this with said, Jimmy Stewart is "fiiiiiiiine" in this, so that's a bonus.
2. Meine teuflisch gute Freundin (English title: How to be Really Bad) (2018): This is one of THE most wholesome movies EVER, which is a hoot considering it is about the devil's daughter trying to corrupt a girl. But really, it's so cute and I would happily watch it over and over again and sing along to the last song. "Don't you wish..."
3. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (English title: Life Will Never Come Again) (2011): My first Bollywood movie! I had a blast and will definitely be watching a lot more. I don't have any others to compare this to, so who knows, maybe it's not the best, but I loved it, okay? It took place in Spain and I love Spain. It's a bromance and a road trip movie with extreme sports and questioning of one's life. I can see much of my sisters and I in the three main characters.
4. Rain Man (1988): People had been telling me to watch this for YEARS. I loved it even more than those people thought I would. I am not a fan of Tom Cruise's characters usually (sorry, not sorry, Maverick), and here he continued to play a similar type of character, but he's not the hero. Strangely enough, I learned to care for him. And Ray!!! I want to give Ray a hug. I've been quoting this non-stop ever since, especially "Wapner" and "We're counting cards."
5. Hairspray (2007): I'd see the "Live!" version a few years ago and didn't really care for it. This version, though, was a BLAST. I watched this with some theater pals and had such a good time. Link has one brain-cell. It's my favorite role of John Travolta so far. Seaweed's voice could melt butter. Then of course, Tracy is a DEAR. It's so much fun and I love the simultaneous celebration and critique of the 60s.
6. The Importance of Being Earnest (1952): I'd been wanting to experience Oscar Wilde's play for a long time and it did not let me down. So witty, so droll! My favorite lines were: "The dog cart is at the door." and "They're eating biscuits!" All in all SUCH a good time that I will overlook some weird British stuff. I want to read it and watch the 2002 version ASAP.
7. It Happened One Night (1934): Another that I'd been wanting to watch for a long time, so expectations were high. I don't know what it is that I love so much about this, but my best guess would be the dynamic between Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Both of their characters learn a lot from each other, laugh at each other, and just have a good time. It's also got a poignant Great Depression moment that may have made me teary.
8. The Great Race (1965): This is so ridiculous but also so much fun. Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Professor Fate is peak, complete with failed plans and dastardly "mwahaha"s. He steals the show with his facial expressions. I'm not really a fan of Tony Curtis's, but the running gag with his costumes was so subtle at first then so obvious and I loved it. Natalie Wood was super charming, too. So all in all, "Brandy! Throw more brandy!"
9. The Great Waldo Pepper (1975): My favorite Robert Redford so far, and I'd watched this a couple of weeks before his passing. It's filled with bravado but also desperation for greatness. A secondary story is being told by the way people tell stories. It's fascinating, tragic, and wonderful in its own way.
10. Call Northside 777 (1948): I had never even heard of this Jimmy Stewart movie, but it's based on a true story! It's about journalism finding justice where the law failed. It's about seeking the truth even if you think all of this is nonsense. Kasia Orzazewski who played Tillie Wiecek was an absolute DARLING and I want to wrap her up in a blanket to keep her away from the worries of the world.
Honorable mentions: Jamaica Inn (1939), Easy A (2010), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), and The Martian (2015).
Among my least favorite movies were The Proposal (2009) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) which is another piece of evidence in how I should not watch rom-coms. Will I ever learn?...stay tuned. February is coming up, so around Valentine's Day will be a test for me, but maybe I'll just watch fairy tales instead (check out Hamlette's upcoming blog party all about fairytales!)
As for my goals for movie-watching 2025:
- I watched enough on the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list to get over 100 in total! I watched 8, and they were: The Breakfast Club, Duck Soup, Guys and Dolls, It Happened One Night, North by Northwest, Rain Man, Raising Arizona, and Rope.
- I started out really strongly with being better at keeping track of TV shows by starting a journal specifically for them. I didn't keep to it always, but I think it's helped so far!
- I did not succeed so much in writing more blog posts, but part of that was enabled by my getting a Letterboxd account so I posted thoughts over there.
I don't really have anything specific in mind for goals for 2026 besides to write more reviews and be more active on this blog! I have a ton of posts in mind (one for The Great Waldo Pepper and possibly one for The Martian coming soon...) so I'm already rich in inspiration.
Alright, folks, that's it! How many of these movies have you seen? Do you have any favorites? Have you seen Rope? What were some of your favorite movies of 2025? HAVE YOU SEEN ROPE? (I should probably just write a post on it...)
Chloe the MovieCritic
