I've seen 41 movies in theaters so far this year — here are the 5 best and 5 worst

Tom's Guide

13 hours ago

It's almost the halfway point of the year. And putting to one side my concerns about how worryingly fast 2025 is flying by, I'm using this opportunity to reflect on the year in cinema to date.
Naturally, that means it's time to pick out the best (and worst) movies of 2025 so far.
To be honest, I think it's been a pretty weak start to the year. There have been a lot more mid movies than ones that have truly captured my attention, and some of the low points have been pretty darn low. Thankfully, there has also been a handful of truly high-quality efforts.
I'm a cinema obsessive, and visit my local multiplex at least once a week (often more), and so far have caught 41 movies on the big screen, from the biggest blockbuster to less high-profile indie projects. And, like many movie buffs, I keep a running ranking of everything I see.
Below are the five movies that I've enjoyed most in 2025 so far, and the five that made me feel like a trip to the theatre really wasn't worth the effort.
'Ballerina' is a prime example that sometimes you need to give a movie time to settle into its groove before casting judgment. The first act is pretty shoddy, focusing on a routine backstory and some surprisingly uninspired action for the typically creative 'John Wick' franchise.
However, the second half, and especially the grand finale, is backs-to-the-wall insanity with some of the best fistfights and shoot-outs this action series has ever seen. The creative use of an overpowered flamethrower had me hooting with delight in my seat.
Unfortunately, the story never coalesces into anything all that interesting. Ana de Armas plays a trained assassin abandoning her creed to pursue revenge against those who killed her father; it's predictable stuff. But once the bullets start flying, or should that be the grenades start exploding (there's another brilliantly unique skirmish involving explosives), it's easy to forgive the story's shortcomings seem immaterial.
The surprising amount of Keanu Reeves is also a pleasant surprise. So while 'Ballerina' isn't quite 'Wick' quality, it's certainly no blight on the franchise.
As a huge horror fan, it takes quite a bit to spook me, but 'Hallow Road' really lodged itself in my psyche. I spent my late-night walk home from my local theatre constantly checking over my shoulder with the uneasy sense of being watched by someone, or something.
This psychological thriller starring Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys is largely minimalist, but does a heck of a lot with very little, and the sinister atmosphere builds until a spine-chilling ending with a genuinely haunting final moment.
The British movie centers on two parents (Pike and Rhys) contacted in the middle of the night by their distressed daughter, who's been involved in a traffic accident on a winding country road. Rushing to the scene, they attempt to reach her before anybody else, but the night becomes increasingly eerie as they get closer to their daughter's location.
Set almost entirely within a single car, 'Hallow Road' squeezes so much tension from its intriguing setup, you might need to watch with the lights on.
You probably guessed this one was coming. 'Sinners' is the breakout movie of 2025 to date, and I'm pretty confident it's a movie we're going to be talking about for a long time to come.
Perhaps my most controversial take is that I much prefer the scene-setting first half, when the teeth come out, and the movie flips from a character-driven drama into a high-stakes vampire flick, a little bit of the magic is lost. But even the second half is still rip-roaring fun.
Director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan are proving to be a bit of a Hollywood dream team, and the former is particularly captivating here in a dual lead role. Jordan plays twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown to start a juke joint, only for opening night to be spoiled somewhat by the arrival of creatures of the night.
In a horror-thriller like this, it would be easy for the blood-soaked action to take priority, but the fact that Coogler spends so much time getting viewers to understand and like its protagonists only makes the experience richer.
Streaming with purchase on Amazon or Apple
Steven Soderbergh's 'Black Bag' is a tightly-crafted spy thriller that runs a lean 95 minutes and doesn't waste a moment of your time.
Led by Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, it sees an accomplished intelligence officer forced to investigate his wife when she's suspected of being a double agent, testing his loyalty to his country and marriage in the process. It's got one of the year's best screenplays and crackles with drama and mystery.
Rather than a globe-trotting secret agent escapade, 'Black Bag' is more focused on letting you explore the headspace of its complex cast of characters, and right up until the end, you're never completely sure who's on whose side.
I should also shout out the stellar supporting cast, including Pierce Brosnan, Tom Burke, Regé-Jean Page and (frequent scene-stealer) Marisa Abela. Sadly, 'Black Bag' underwhelmed at the box office, so if you skipped this one in theatres, I strongly encourage you to circle back now that it's streaming.
Streaming on Peacock
Calling 'Warfare' intense feels like a gross understatement. This snapshot of modern conflict puts you right in the thick of the chaos as a group of soldiers attempts to survive a brutal siege.
Co-directed by 'Civil War' helmer Alex Garland (a movie I loved in 2024) and military veteran Ray Mendoza, 'Warfare' aims to be as authentic as possible and was written using real testimonies from those who served in the Iraq War. This gives the movie a realistic edge that makes it all the more impactful.
There are so many smart decisions here, not least of which is the phenomenal use of sound, but the decision to set the movie in real time is my favorite. A scene where the soldiers are told support is six minutes out had me literally counting the seconds in my head, and it felt torturous. I can only imagine how those seconds must have felt like an eternity for those on the ground.
Full of tension, visceral violence, and at times genuinely quite anxiety-inducing, 'Warfare' brings you into the frontline in a way that few movies have before it.
Streaming with purchase on Amazon or Apple
'Until Dawn' is an unwelcome throwback to the era of pretty awful video game adaptations. It's a flick that almost seems to hold its source material in contempt. It offers an original story with only a few quick nods to the 2015 video game of the same name that inspired it. I thought we were out of the woods with these sorts of subpar adaptations, but I guess not.
On a fundamental level, I like the concept of a time-loop horror that sees its protagonist killed each night, only to revive and have to start the grisly process over again, but 'Until Dawn' makes the killer mistake of not being frightening enough to spook viewers, while at the same time having very little fun with the twisty idea.
Throw in an unsatisfying ending, which cruelly teases the movie fans of the game actually wanted to watch, and you've got the recipe for a horror that's only scary because of what a missed opportunity it represents. If you're craving something Until Dawn, just play the far superior PlayStation game instead.
For a movie called 'Wolf Man,' it's pretty disappointing that we only briefly get to see the lead go full werewolf, and even when the beast takes over, the scares are lacking, and the transformation scene (which should be a skin-crawling highlight) is generally pretty weak. At least Julia Garner brings some emotion to the film, even if the lackluster material lets her down.
Considering Leigh Whannell's previous attempt at modernising a classic Universal monster movie, 2020's 'Invisible Man,' was such a triumph, perhaps 'Wolf Man' was just a victim of my increased expectations. Either way, I found the movie totally lacking in scares or much tension to speak of, and the werewolves' design, which was much criticized before release, really missed the mark.
The sequences where we get to see events from the perspective of the unfortunate soul afflicted with lycanism are novel, but these are a small saving grace on another extremely forgettable creature feature.
Hopefully, if Whannell gets to revive another classic horror from Universal, he finds his cinematic form again, because 'Wolf Man' wasn't it.
I don't hate 'A Minecraft Movie.' For starters, it includes a boppy new original song from one of my favorite artists, electronic pop maestro Dayglow, and I'll admit a few of the gags made me chuckle, but it's a sugar rush experience that eventually starts to grate on you. When pretty much every character in the main cast is presented as "the kooky one," it gets annoying fast. Also, the effects range from pretty solid to mid-2000s levels of obvious green screening.
Perhaps the reason this movie didn't resonate with me is that I've never been a Minecraft player. I've dabbled with the popular creative sandbox, but references like 'chicken jockey' went completely over my head.
Fans of the game seem to have a fondness for this flick, so perhaps it's just a case of 'old man yells at cloud,' but by the end, I was very much ready to leave the Minecraft world behind, and return to a reality where everything isn't made of blocks and I didn't have to listen to Jack Black and Jason Momoa's insipid banter any longer.
What I found most frustrating about 'Flight Risk' is that I quite like the core setup. The movie sees a U.S. marshal (Michelle Dockery) attempt to transport a government witness (Topher Grace) across Alaska via a small passenger plane. The wrinkle is that the pilot (Mark Wahlberg) isn't who he claims to be, and is working for a ruthless mob boss with orders to eliminate the informant and ensure he never arrives at his destination.
That's an idea perfect for a pulse-raising thriller; unfortunately, 'Flight Risk' completely stalls out.
I'll give some credit to Wahlberg for really committing to the role; he even shaved his head daily for the movie rather than wear a bald cap, but his performance goes way over the top into corny territory.
"Flight Risk" could have been pulpy fun, but instead it's so full of plot holes and characters making illogical decisions that it's more of an exercise in irritation than anything else. It doesn't help that the high-octane action at 30,00 feet is also pretty poorly shot.
I suspect American readers probably haven't heard of 'Marching Powder.' Consider that a blessing. This crude British comedy aims to be a sort of 'Football Factory' for the modern era, but is deeply dislikeable pretty much from the first moment.
Opening with a silly animated sequence stuffed with curse-filled attempts at comedy, things only get worse from here as we're introduced to protagonist Jack Jones (Danny Dyer), a loathsome anti-hero obsessed with fighting, alcohol and illicit substances. And seemingly proud of those vices.
What's most maddening is that pretty much the whole movie follows a repetitive cycle of Jack swearing to his long-suffering wife, Dani (Stephanie Leonidas), he'll change, quickly falling back into his old ways, only to her promise this time will be different.
This arc repeats a few times over, and then the movie unceremoniously ends. Frankly, I could probably get over this if the movie were at least funny, but it's most certainly not. 'Marching Powder' is just ugly.