I’ve long held that a “great” movie and a “favorite” movie are not the same thing. What’s the difference? Put it this way — Nuremberg is a great movie, but I can damn well guarantee that nobody will ever tell their friends “It’s an amazing movie, go see it, you’ll love it!” about that particular film.

This is the list for my favorite films of 2025. They may not win any awards and they probably won’t be remembered as masterpieces, but damned if they weren’t fun to sit through.

Funniest Comedy

Good Fortune was a sweet little modern “Prince and the Pauper” riff that had the misfortune of being made (and crucially, cast) by an inexperienced director. The Roses and Is This Thing On? (two dramedies about collapsing marriages) each put all their points into the “humor” stat, and that wasn’t enough to compensate for the rest of the film around it. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues was a charming little epilogue, and nothing more substantial than that. (R.I.P. Rob Reiner)

This one comes down to three movies, all phenomenal spoofs. The Naked Gun (2025) met a stratospherically high bar in matching the screwball prowess and genius visual gags of the original trilogy. Unfortunately, as funny as the movie is, the underpinning plot was barely treated as an afterthought. Compare that to Fackham Hall, in which the plot, premise, and laugh-out-loud comedy all directly contribute to themes of class disparity and mocking the aristocracy.

But then we have The Day the Earth Blew Up, easily the best Looney Tunes media produced within my lifetime. Practically everything about this movie is diabolically clever, gut-bustingly funny, and superbly animated. I might further add that while Fackham Hall delivered a stellar parody of British costume drama, The Day the Earth Blew Up gave us a sci-fi Cold War-era B-movie riff about aliens trying to take over the world with zombies and chewing gum. Forgive me if I consider the Looney Tunes movie a greater accomplishment.

Oh, and it’s also a movie that succeeded with flying colors even after the studio did everything possible to sabotage it. Fuck David Zaslav and the golden parachute he’s getting from Netflix.

Best Action Movie (male-driven)

It’s rather telling that Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning became known for the big climactic biplane sequence and exactly nothing else. Just as well this franchise is over, it’s indisputably run its course. Likewise, Karate Kid: Legends spectacularly failed to put any more fuel in the franchise. It was hyped up as the big megafranchise crossover, even though it was effectively a sequel to the 2010 reboot and Ralph Macchio would’ve done just as much good on the cutting room floor.

By contrast, Predator: Badlands was a fresh shot in the arm, further proving how huge the universe of this franchise still potentially is. We even got an Alien crossover in there for good measure! And while that movie gave us CGI-driven sci-fi awesomeness, The Amateur delivered something more grounded, but no less fun in watching a protagonist outsmart the CIA and MacGyver all manner of deathtraps.

But if we’re talking action — explosive, adrenaline-fueled, heart-pounding, jaw-dropping action — there are two reigning champions of 2025. On the one hand is Sisu: Road to Revenge, which is all about the car chases and explosions and gory straightforward fun. On the other hand is Novocaine, a film that delivers a more inventive concept, plus romance and comedy that are both genuinely romantic and comical, all at the expense of watering down the action.

It’s a tough call, but I’m giving this one to Novocaine. Because you know I’m a sucker for any film that can effectively blend genres into something greater than the sum of its parts. And of course it had a far more creative gimmick that was used in clever ways to craft jokes and action set pieces like no other film could accomplish — that counts for a lot.

Best Action Movie (female-driven)

I was softer on Red Sonja (2025) than most, because at least it works ironically as a nostalgic throwback to the trash of the mid-aughts. And I’m generously lumping The Housemaid in with the action films, as it’s a female-driven revenge thriller fantasy that fits in with the general spirit of the other movies in this lane. And then of course we have M3GAN 2.0, a laughably overstuffed movie that tried to cram literally everything in because the filmmakers were apparently savvy enough to know they weren’t getting lucky enough for a third entry. It had some good moments nonetheless.

The clear winner here is Companion, a film that actually succeeded in blending action, suspense, comedy, and horror, along with razor-sharp feminist themes and statements about AI. The whole movie is surprisingly creative and gut-punchingly effective from start to finish. And yes, it’s entirely a coincidence that both of my top action picks are Jack Quaid movies — guy had a fantastic year.

Best Fantasy Adventure

Much as I respect Wicked: For Good, it thoroughly proved that the source material should’ve either been adapted into just the one movie or — better yet — left alone as a Broadway show. But of course nothing (not even the Avengers movies) can compete with the Avatar franchise for overblown spectacle. Though at least Avatar: Fire and Ash expanded on the themes and world-building of the franchise in new and interesting ways.

Sketch was a pleasant surprise, even if it kept writing checks the PG rating couldn’t cash. But at least that movie knew who its audience was, which is more than I can say for whatever the hell Dust Bunny was.

Then we’ve got The Legend of Ochi, an endearingly sweet little coming-of-age adventure with stellar puppets and effects. There’s really nothing wrong with the movie… except that it came across as an off-brand live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake mere months before we got an actual live-action HTTYD remake. Even worse for Ochi, the name-brand film somehow turned out well.

Nobody’s more shocked than I am to say this, but How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is a triumph. After fifteen fucking years, we finally got a live-action remake that delivered all the thrills and heart of the original classic, but in a fresh and exciting way that matched — or maybe even exceeded — the animated take. Sure, it’s obviously a glorified commercial for the theme parks, but this is still the best live-action remake I’ve ever seen, and one of the rare two or three to justify its own existence. Suck it, Disney!

Best Superhero Movie

Look, I was more forgiving than most toward Captain America: Brave New World, and I still think that movie doesn’t deserve all the hate that it gets. But no way was it anywhere near the best superhero film we got this year. Hell, The Toxic Avenger (2025) was more entertaining, more creative, and more coherent.

But of course this was the year of Superman (2025) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Some of the oldest and most iconic superheroes in pop culture history got their long-awaited cinematic overhauls with soaring, inspirational, empowering movies that were gleaming with polish and great fun to watch. These movies were built to bring superhero media into a whole new era, not just for their respective companies but for the entire genre as a whole.

So which one was the year’s best? That’s easy: Thunderbolts*.

No joke, it’s hard to remember the last time a movie on this scale did more with less. Nobody else in the world of cinema could’ve made such a darkly comical film that used the very concept of a superhero team-up to explore themes of loneliness, trauma, and other mental/emotional issues in addition to the greater macropolitical issues of a deeply cynical time. After this movie bombed, I don’t want to hear another word about “MCU fatigue” — everyone screaming at Marvel to do something different, and then when they do and it’s awesome, you don’t fucking show up!!!

Even as I watched this movie tank at the box office, I had hoped that this wouldn’t discourage anyone at Marvel Studios. Luckily for all of us, word came down pretty much immediately that director Jake Schreier had been tapped to bring the X-Men into the MCU. Based on the work he did with this dark, brooding, politically charged ensemble of misfit superheroes, I couldn’t be more excited.

Best Horror (standalone)

Bone Lake was an engaging movie, which made the big reveal all the more disappointing. By contrast, Bring Her Back was a slow burn that only really kicked into gear with the big reveal. And then we had Death of a Unicorn, which was uniformly a cloying and transparent — albeit enjoyably bloody — environmental fable.

I sincerely respect The Death of Snow White, most especially for its portrayals of Snow White, the Evil Queen, and the Prince Charming. It’s just a damn shame the production budget wasn’t enough to keep pace with the filmmakers’ ambitions. Compare that to Good Boy, another shoestring indie film that did a much better job delivering on a far more difficult and innovative concept.

I know Presence has its haters, but I personally loved it. I love the pacing, I love the reveals, and I love the suspense. The central premise is clever, the performances are solid, the characters are all nicely nuanced, and I have to respect a film that put so much effort into making the freaking camera such an expressive character. I honestly don’t get what people don’t like about this movie, it’s simply brilliant.

Best Horror (franchise)

The Toxic Avenger (2025) was far better than it had any right to be. I don’t know if anyone was expecting a freaking Toxic Avenger reboot to be anything worth watching or taking seriously, but kudos to the filmmakers. Ditto for Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025).

On a similar note, Black Phone 2 did a surprisingly good job of justifying its own existence. Nobody wanted or needed that sequel, yet it was somehow a legit picture that made the first entry that much better retroactively. 28 Years Later didn’t quite go that far, but that was never on the table with such a disjointed franchise as this one. It was nonetheless a significantly better movie than it had any right to be, not only justifying its own existence but a whole new trilogy in the process! Quite an accomplishment for a film that came out three decades after the first.

With all of that said, the clear winner here is Final Destination: Bloodlines. The opening massacre is creative and effective to the point of iconic. The only recurring franchise mainstay was written out with tremendous grace (R.I.P Tony Todd). The basic premise of a family trying to make it through together brings new and poignant themes to the franchise, delivered in a way that uses and subverts the franchise’s own established rules and tropes in wickedly clever ways.

This is easily and immediately the best entry in the franchise to date. I know that may not be saying much, but the best film entry in a franchise with six other movies across 25 years has to be worth a spot among the year’s best.

Best Wild Ride

Gentle readers, you probably haven’t even heard of this one. I can all but guarantee you still haven’t seen it. But if you know anything about me and my blog, you know there was only one clear choice for my favorite movie of 2025.

Tim Travers and the Time Travelers Paradox is a film that defies description. The comedy is uproariously hilarious from start to finish. The sci-fi is bursting with new and ingenious ideas. The themes are all searingly poignant. The violence is creatively bloody and great fun to watch, the effects are surprisingly polished, the lead actor is astounding in all his many dozens of roles… this movie is nothing less than miraculous. It is a genuine miracle that some no-name filmmaker out in Spokane took a few thousand dollars for a 16-day shoot and came out with this freaking movie.

Nobody could’ve thought that a project of this scale would be possible without the resources of Hollywood. But if Hollywood had made this movie, they would’ve ruined it. This is exactly the kind of masterpiece that could only be made in the world of indie cinema, and we’re all better off for it.

Onwards and upwards to 2026 — luckily, the year in cinema is off to a great start already.