What Three Films Tell Us About 2025

I want to take advantage of the ramp-up to Oscar season — a wonderful time, during which my inner child will always be excited, no matter how pessimistic I’ve become over the years. I believe in being candid, so I’ll admit this serves a dual purpose: (1) allowing me to get to a few films from 2025 which I still have yet to review, and (2) allowing for time, since movies are usually released much later here in London than in the States, and several enticing films (Sirât, Resurrection, Sound of Falling, The Moment, The Secret Agent) haven’t even hit theaters. I still haven’t seen either the new Avatar or the perfectly meme-worthy 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple — it may surprise some readers to learn I want to see both films, and frankly expect to enjoy them. But I have just managed to catch, whether in theaters or available to stream, a few films from last year that I think deserve mentioning. And since I believe in being so candid, I’ll also admit I couldn’t find much of a method for weaving these reviews together. One is a great film, one is a very good one. One is quite bad, though it at least has the virtue of being a fascinating failure.