Bottom Row: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Sony Pictures Releasing); Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures); Anaconda (Sony Pictures Releasing).
Being a cinephile means that you’re never done trying to catch up. Therefore, I sometimes write these bite-sized review collections of films from recent years that I didn’t get to see at the time but have since seen. Today, I want to share my thoughts on six films from 2025. It is a varied collection of films. There are films here that I really loved, but also films that I have complicated relationships with. It’s a mixed bag of films, a potpourri of movies, or as we say in Denmark, “en blandet landhandel.” Perhaps some of these really worked for you, in which case, don’t be shy. Please comment below with your own thoughts on some of these films. If you follow me on Letterboxd, do know that these bite-sized reviews have previously been posted on my Letterboxd profile (either partially or entirely). Should you wish to get a sneak peek at what films I see, I advise you to follow me on that social media platform.
Oh, Hi! | Film | Directed by Sophie Brooks | Release Year: 2025 | Recommended?: Yes.
“We’ll always have O High.”
“What?”
Does this feel like a comedy skit blown up to feature length? In a way, sure. Did it still work for me? Also yes. It feels like writer-director Sophie Brooks chucked Gerald’s Game and Misery into a blender, casually picked out the horror elements, and served the final concoction as a somewhat dark and kooky rom-com (that still has a warm and charming opening). It is a combination that really works because both Logan Lerman and, especially, Molly Gordon are so good here. Gordon turns in a winning performance as the film’s central panicked captor desperate for reciprocation.
In the film, her character ‘Iris’ has a crazy overreaction when a person she thought was in a serious relationship with her was dishonest about their commitment to each other. Thus the film also works as a commentary on modern relationships, how different types of people approach commitment, and at what level of honesty they’re willing to communicate about long-term fidelity. It doesn’t hit you over the head with it, and it isn’t necessarily something that you need to engage with to enjoy the film, as it is more than merely serviceable as just a kooky rom-com, but it’s there to pick up and engage with. It’s not perfectly drawn, and the characters do sometimes fall into caricature territory, but I thought it worked just enough. The fact that it also flies by and doesn’t outstay its welcome (and has some chuckle-worthy developments and supporting turns) also helped to make this a really good experience for me.
How to Train Your Dragon | Film | Directed by Dean DeBlois | Release Year: 2025 | Recommended?: It depends.
Multiple things can be true at the same time. This absolutely is a pointless live-action remake that, in moments, feels near-shot-for-shot (I won’t pretend to know the original animated film like the back of my hand, which is why I need to emphasize that it *feels* that way). The remake also doesn’t justify its own existence. And yet, all things considered, I still had a pretty good time with it.
I am a pretty big fan of the animated films, so I have to say I was really skeptical about this remake, and, when I saw it, I kept on switching between disliking it and liking it. But there’s a moment in the second act when it won me over a little bit, and it mostly kept me there until the very end. The music is still great, the dragons look fantastic, and it hits all the right notes. Is it just copying what came before? Yes, it mostly is. So, I can’t fully recommend it, and I dislike the live-action remake trend. Not only do these remakes feel like pointless and shameless cash grabs, but they risk diluting the magic of the original films. Plus, by making these, you risk having these lesser remakes take the place of the beautifully animated originals in the culture, which I don’t think is right.
I enjoyed watching new and returning cast members, and this also feels like the kind of film that could catapult its new young leads into relative stardom, including Mason Thames, who I enjoyed in this, even though I don’t think he gives off the same energy as Jay Baruchel (or looks enough like the way the character was animated).
Caught Stealing | Film | Directed by Darren Aronofsky | Release Year: 2025 | Recommended?: Yes.
The Austin Butler-led Caught Stealing is Darren Aronofsky’s most conventionally entertaining and accessible film, and despite it not being the most original or inventive thing in the world, it is a really good time. Butler does movie star-adjacent work here that makes you really believe he can grow into the conventional movie star mold he feels suited for. It’s also got a big supporting cast with plenty of scene-stealers, from the effortlessly enchanting Zoe Kravitz and Matt Smith’s really fun take on a displaced 90s Brit Punker to Griffin Dunne and Bad Bunny.
It looks good, has gripping crime thriller developments, and is surprisingly trigger-happy and unafraid of offing characters, even some that viewers will get emotionally attached to. I really dug the chase where Aronofsky and his crew had Butler run and slide like a baseball player frantically running through supermarkets and kitchens. I could see myself looking back on this fondly, perhaps especially because it’s got such a fantastic cast all doing good work, while one of Hollywood’s biggest aspiring movie stars gets to play the disheveled, in-over-his-head, and self-destructive centerpiece.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey | Film | Directed by Kogonada | Release Year: 2025 | Recommended?: No.
Frankly, this kind of film is usually very much my kind of thing, but while I love the concept and the actors, it didn’t fully work for me. I see the vision even if it doesn’t fully work given the direction, writing, miscasting, and lack of chemistry. It feels offbeat in a way that makes the whole thing feel too artificial at times.
It aims for an About Time-type quirky sci-fi therapeutic rom-com feel with an emotional gooey center, though here it’s about parental relationships being key to making your romantic life work or even allowing yourself to be open. I will say that, even though this film, ultimately, didn’t succeed, the big high school musical scenes worked extremely well on me. That’s where it really shone.
Is This Thing On? | Film | Directed by Bradley Cooper | Release Year: 2025 | Recommended?: It depends.
This is a relatively unremarkable midlife crisis movie. Will Arnett is pretty good in it, and Bradley Cooper turned in a goofy (complimentary) supporting performance in his own movie. Other than that, there’s not much to write home about. It’s not particularly funny despite the stand-up angle being a pretty significant part of the narrative, and there’s nothing particularly revelatory about it either.
You’d think Cooper would have more to say given he chose such a well-trod idea (midlife crisis divorce and rediscovery) for his third film (especially given how his first two features launched him into relative stardom as a multi-hyphenate actor-turned-filmmaker), but there’s surprisingly little here to grab onto that’s new. That doesn’t mean it’s bad (it isn’t); it’s just lacking the je ne sais quoi needed to elevate well-trod drama stories.
Anaconda | Film | Directed by Tom Gormican | Release Year: 2025 | Recommended?: It depends.
I remember when this film was first announced. I was super excited to see it. You have to understand that I grew up watching the original Anaconda film that this film is a meta-reboot of. It felt like a perfect fit to have Tom Gormican take on this project. This was the case because his Nicolas Cage action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent did such a good job of taking a Hollywood-adjacent premise to silly heights. It, ultimately, didn’t quite live up to his previous film, but it wasn’t a complete misfire.
It’s definitely a mixed bag and quite messy, but I nonetheless really enjoyed the setup here. I think the first thirty-to-forty minutes have a lot of moviemaking charm. But when it then zagged and tried to become this action comedy flick, it started to lose me. Yet even though it has messy and underwhelming plot developments, it never feels like a chore, precisely because of its reasonable runtime. Paul Rudd and Jack Black are relatively fun to watch here, and I mostly enjoyed the supporting cast as well. So yeah, it isn’t as good as it should’ve been, but I enjoyed parts of it a fair bit.
– Reviews written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
