For those unfamiliar, there is a story in the book of Genesis (specifically in chapter 19) that talks about a man named Lot.
He is told by an angel of the Lord to take his family and leave Sodom and Gomorrah before they are destroyed, and not look back. As they are leaving, Lot’s (unnamed) wife looks back, and turns into a pillar of salt.
Where am I going with this? Well, 2025 was like any cinematic year in which there were some truly dreadful films. I’m not at all saying these (or any films) are so bad they are akin to a destruction of biblical proportions, but they are, at the very least, not at all worth revisiting as we leave 2025 behind (nor will they turn you into salt….at least they didn’t do so to me.)
And some films like Tron: Ares, A Minecraft Movie, and Hurry up Tomorrow got off easy (as did Regretting You, which I did not see).
Y’all need a pilot? Because here we go…
10.
Too much has happened in the non-professional life of Mel Gibson for me to get into, but this once Oscar-winning director has been brought down to ridiculous, simple material like Flight Risk. Mark Wahlberg may seem like he is having fun with his over-the-top accent (only surpassed by a beyond comical bald cap), but his hitman (who is sent out to kill a mob informant) can’t surpass some truly ludicrous writing. I can’t remember the last time I remember Topher Grace being the highlight of a movie.
9.
Okay, I know that this was meant to be a comedy. On paper, this also should have been something I would have thoroughly enjoyed: a film diving into the meta about a group of friends trying to reboot a cheesy, fun 90s creature feature. The thing is, when watching Anaconda, the audience around me was laughing, and I was not (well, okay, I laughed twice, and smiled a bit). The rest of the time, I kept thinking of Tropic Thunder and why that was far superior.
8.
With a little less than a year until its release, Marvel is hanging out to Avengers: Doomsday like an actual lifesaver. The last few years have been a C grade at best (granted, Thunderbolts was surprisingly good), and most of that is due to films like Captain America: Brave New World. While some things were not the fault of those behind the scenes (such as having to replace the late William Hurt), it still did not help that the resulting film, while more grounded than some of its predecessors, ended up making us in the audience grounded. Also, the CGI Red Hulk was really borderline laughable.
7.
Returning to reboots, Disney had two more entries into their library of arguably superfluous live-action remakes. I will still defend that Rachel Ziegler as Snow White honestly almost saved the film from the atrocious acting of Gal Gadot. I found much less to admire in the reboot of Lilo & Stitch than was already in the 2002 animated classic.
6.
Looking back at my Letterboxd, I realize now I did not say why specifically Jingle Bell Heist was as bad as I rated it. All I remember about it was that it starred Olivia Holt as someone trying to steal money from her employer, and a twist at the end saying it was her long-lost dad or something. Also, it was boring. Holt deserves better material.
5.
Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are two of the most talented and charming talents the silver screen has these days. That is why it befuddles me that the two have nearly zero chemistry together in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, a film that lacks any type of foundation. Truly, the only thing that would save this is if they were playing their counterparts from the DC (Penguin and Harley Quinn).
4.
I’m exhausted of mentioning how this franchise needs to stop. Even if Scarlett Johansson has mentioned she wanted to star in this series, it’s a shame she decided on Jurassic World: Rebirth. Even with a simple premise, the movie gives us nothing new outside of the fact that dinosaurs could now be intertwined with species or something. I stand by my original comment that “Stillbirth” would have been a more apt title.
3.
A sequel to a 2021 Netflix misfire, Ice Road: Vengeance is another film relying on the Liam Neeson Taken persona. Only two things about this unnecessarily unneeded film are that there is very little ice on the road, and that one scene where Neeson has to transfer his brother’s ashes from the urn to another plastic container in the airport restroom.
2.
If Joe Russo is reading this, I want to assure him I know he has talent as a filmmaker (as does his brother). The thing is, he needs to do so on films that are not The Electric State. I’ll give the cast a pass (there are too many to list), and I can at least somewhat admire trying something with a dystopian future in the 1990s. The movie is not just a big swing that misses: it is a big swing at a ball that was not even thrown. I knew only something truly historically bad could possibly pass this up as the year’s worst…
1.
The best thing that can be said about War of the Worlds is that it proves at least one person in Hollywood has a conscience. Whoever came up with the film’s tagline of “It’s worse than you think” was right on the money. I can’t say anything that could justify how monumental a failure this is, but that won’t stop me from trying. The fact that the lead star is Ice Cube (who I still like as a screen presence) says something. This was recorded in front of screens during the COVID lockdown. The aliens are defeated by an Amazon Delivery (this film was produced by Amazon). Okay, enough, I’m done. I may need to spend some time away from Amazon Prime for a bit.
Nothing else to say 