After a couple of MORE than turbulent years, the only thing I really wanted when it came to 2025 was a bit of predictable, uneventful normalcy. With everything from globe stopping pandemics, family deaths and renovation work eating up 2020-2024, All I wanted of 2025 was to finish off a few home improvement projects, get a few videos out on youtube, but otherwise, I just wanted to slow down, not do anything too risky or cavalier, and to just…TRY to get a semblance of a normal life back in the room. I ached for the mundane, just…an 8-12 month window where the worst it got was maybe them forgetting my onions on my fast food order. 

And, in many ways 2025 DID deliver that, a fairly pedestrian 12 months with a few nice things thrown into the mix and only one or two more sucky elements tossed in to remind me that life is fragile, delicate and that at any moment we could all die in horrible and painfully ironic ways. Im honestly pretty happy with how the year shaped up more or less, and anything that DID irk me along the way, was either too small to really leave a lasting mark, or something of a ‘wild card’ situation that I was kind of already vaguely aware could happen, so I was pretty much ready to accept and take on that pain when it did hit. 

And once again, walking side by side with me along the way, I had my old friend Cinema telling me jokes, ghost stories and showing me fantastical worlds along the way. And; as has become a somewhat annual tradition at this point. Ive gone through my years viewings (322 films if you must know!) and whittled it down to a ‘top 10’ of the cream of the crop. As always; I should say that these are in no particular order, and they arnt year specific. These are simply 10 films that I saw for the first time this year and loved so much that I wanted to share them with all of you, in the hope that you find a new favourite, or just appreciate the craft at work in the same way I did. So! Put on your dancing trousers, because we’re about to boogie!

Everything, Everywhere All at Once:

The day after new years day was a pretty uneventful one, after partying till the wee hours the night before I was crusty, headachy, the room was drab and full of the fugg of booze, vape smoke, popped balloons and half eaten remnants of leftover buffet food. All I really wanted to do was crash out in my office and catch a movie that was engaging and unique enough to hold my interest but unserious enough that I could relax into it and not feel like the film was shaking me to make me pay attention. It was there that I landed on ‘Everything, Everywhere All at Once’.

I had been recommended this movie a couple of times throught he previous year, and I thought it had a fun enough ‘wibbly wobbly’ premise, so I decided to take a punt, and I was so glad that I did! An, at times mind boggling plot that beautifully crafts multiple layers of narrative storytelling into a parcel that brimming with enthusiasm and utterly unashamed to show it. 

At its core, this is a family drama, but the fantastical storytelling, intense visual effects, decent contrasting balance of comedy and pathos all congregate together into an absolute feast for the eyes. It absolutely zipped by, even at 2+ hours long and my afternoon got a LOT brighter from there! With fantastic performances, a killer score and a kind of sincerity I rarely see in modern, more mainstream movie releases. Its a film I wont watch often, but I absolutely wont forget, and will relish on a revisit. 

The AGFA Mixtape Release:

This one is a little bit of a cheat, as it isnt necessarily for a singular film, but rather a boxset of releases from the boutique label that just keeps on squeezing my wallet to dust, AGFA. Last year I listed their ‘Hey Folks! Its Intermission time’ set as one of my favourites of 2024, and this past year, they came out with hit after hit, but the crowning gem in my eye was the release of something i’d wished they’d done for YEARS. A comprehensive release of *most* of their AGFA Mixtapes to date. 

For those not in the know, AGFA are a charity specialising in film preservation and the celebration of cult, and US Regional film offerings, they cover near enough all genres from as early as the 20s and as late as the present day, releasing everything from long forgotten 1920s cult gems through to modern day underground hits, counterculture documentaries and everything in between! 

Their ‘mixtape’ line is one I particularly love, these, as the name would suggest, are a mixtape of random ‘off air’ tv recordings from mainline TV channels around the world and public access, random commercials, ‘youtube poop’ style remixes of older media and more! But up until 2025, only 4 of them and a christmas special had been widely available to the public via Vimeos ‘on demand’ platform, with the rest being available only as bookable ‘events’ with digital or print copies provided by AGFA at great cost. 

Well this year, AGFA took 5 of their numbered mixtapes PLUS two of their more ‘seasonal’ offerings and packaged them together in one release, which I pounced on the second I got my chance to! And I absolutely was not disappointed! The obvious gem in the crown for me is the ‘AGFA Special Christmas Special’ a release I’ve now turned into an annual tradition to try and watch every christmas AT LEAST once. Its the perfect blend of seasonal silliness, genuinely lovely counterculture artistry and frankly bizarre glimpses of christmases past. 

But thats really just the tip of the iceberg, while the first couple of AGFA mixtapes are (in my opinion) a little rough around the edges, from ‘Mixtape #3’ onwards things just go from strength to strength with the absurd and daft meeting the genuinely strange. But easily the highlight for this set (and the thing that made me list this as a ‘first time watch’ were the two TOTALLY previously unreleased mixtapes, the ‘Stairway to Stardom’ mixtape and the ‘Lost and found’ mixtape. 

The former, is a collection of clips from the public access show ‘Stairway to stardom’, think ‘Americas got talent’ but the budget is (roughly) $20 and the vetting process seemed to begin and end at ‘Can you get to the studio in the next 20 minutes, and will you bring beer?’ and you’ve landed on fried gold my friend, a relentless free fall into the world of people who think they Mariah Carey, but are actually Mariah from the gas station in town. 

The one two punch that made me love this set is then followed up by the ‘Lost and Found’ mixtape, which is essentially a very VERY early example of youtube poop in motion, a supercut extraviganza of strange online media and lost television footage, remixed and repulped into a perfectly timed selection of alternative comedy gold. 

If I was being honest? I think this whole set would likely be my favourite release of the year. And i’d wholeheartedly recommend it to ANYONE with even a passing interest in the ‘otherworldliness’ of the 20th and very early years of the 21st century. An absolute treat of a set thats seldom left the top of my bluray player since it came in. 

Louis Theroux: The Settlers:

The current genocide happening in Palestine is a scourge on humanity, and the fact that theres a not 0% likelihood that the people currently enabling it will never see ACTUAL justice just about boils my piss. Seemingly; it also annoyed britains calmest and loveliest man Louis Theroux, who returned this year with a new documentary revisiting Israel some decades after his last trip out there to try and get a better understanding of what is going on amongst the people of Israel at this time, and more importantly to try and see what actual real people are living through on both sides of the conflict as incursion and eviction of Palestinians ON THEIR OWN LAND continues and Israeli settlers move in, claiming the land to be theirs. 

This one isnt the easiest of watches, and there are times when Louis himself cant quite believe what he’s seeing or hearing. Im really not kidding when I say that Louis is probably one of documentary films calmest and affable people, and yet there are multiple points in this documentary where he loses composure, or flat out fears for his life. And that ISNT a Louis problem. Thats the bizarre situation a certain subsection of Israel find itself in in the 2020’s. Fear, manipulation and blatant racism runs rife as the documentarian braves being shot at, and even briefly ‘black vanned’. Its an unsettling picture of the middle east at this time. 

Unflinching in what its trying to show, by the end, even Louis doesnt seem to know how this situation improves. But if you’ve been following the ongoing conflict, as I have, you’ll absolutely not want to miss this one, as im certain it’ll be shown in history classes for years to come as probably the most honest and real look at this deepening crisis shown on mainstream television.

Def by Temptation:

One thats been on and off my shelf now for the better part of 20 years, ‘Def by Temptation’, in the UK at least, has one lasting reputation, and thats that it was typically grouped in with 3-5 other movies and released MULTIPLE times through the late 90s and early 2000s as part of ‘multipack’ sets bundled with DVD players to shift units. A treatment I feel was ultimately quite undeserved given those bundles usually contained the kind of movies I review on my channel while wincing. 

In the 2024 black friday sales, I nabbed Vinegar Syndromes release of this film as it was almost out of print and going for a good price. It had drifted on and off my shelf in it’s multipack form, and I figured if VS were giving it a legitimate release, maybe I’d been missing out on something. Turns out, I had. 

Positively OOZING early 90s kitsch, ‘Def by Temptation’ is a cautionary tale wrapped up as a quasi erotic horror film, featuring two friends on different life paths reconnecting and falling into a deadly game against a seductress who may have a LOT more going on than meets the eye.

A Rich and sumptuous piece of 90s cinema, this was made on a shoestring, but feels every bit as professional as a mid budget feature. The fact that the studio that distributed this made every effort to push the fact Samuel L. Jackson is in this film as the main selling point (he has 2 cameos in the whole thing totalling less than 5 minutes) is, in my opinion a tremendous disservice to the craft and work James Bond the 3rd put into this production, the fact this was pretty much his one and only feature (and acting) work, and that he didnt really do anything with his talent past this is frankly mind boggling to me. 

Gorgeously lit, well shot, and boasting a solid set of performances and a nicely bubbling plot that starts by gently guiding the viewer, before slowly fully enveloping them into this world, not to mention a killer soundtrack and some razor sharp editing. This is a seriously underrated horror, and one that definitely needs a lot more love and attention by the horror and film community at large. Definitely one for the horror fan looking for something a little more off the beat and path. 

Vegas in Space:

The tragedy of ‘Vegas in Space’  still to this day lingers in my mind whenever I think about it. An ultra campy, rough and ready pop art vision in sequins courtesy of Doris Fish and Phillip R. Ford, the deaths of two of this films key stars, financiers and producers mere months before the films completion is frankly devastating to hear. Especially considering how unique and fun the film ultimately is. 

I covered this one on my youtube channel towards the back end of 2025 after trying to get my hands on a copy for the better part of a decade, and it was a very rare moment of my preset expectations being not only met, but surpassed. 

Feeling like Joel Hodgeson and Tom Rubnitz collaborated on an all drag space opera, theres very VERY little I dislike about ‘Vegas in Space’. Its colourful, vivid, unflinchingly funny, catty, well paced, well shot, well directed with fun and funky set designs and performances that are both unrelenting and unflinching. The synthy soundtrack only really seals the deal further for me on this one. 

I appreciate this film wont be to everyone’s taste, but in a sea of ‘by the numbers’ productions where I can essentially watch them while doing other things and still fully understand whats happening without missing a beat, Vegas in space had me hooked from the moment the title sequence began, till the moment the last of the credits scrolled off the screen, and thats a very rare thing these days. 

Since my initial viewing, i’ve made it my mission to show this one to as many people as I possibly can, and given currently its availability consists mainly of a Troma DVD thats regularly in ‘clearance’ sales, in some cases i’ve even bought copies of the film for folks to watch when I personally haven’t been able to show them my copy. If you have any appreciation for the counterculture LGBTQ, whimsigoth and Daisy age movements of the mid 80s to early 90s. You’ll no doubt love ‘Vegas in Space’ and should seek it out as soon as possible. 

The Night Stalker:

I had NO idea what or who ‘Kolchak’ was before I was introduced to it by fellow youtuber Mack Lambert. Who kindly invited me to talk about the pilot TV movie ‘The Night Stalker’ on his channel (a video im still desperately trying to assemble but will hopefully be out sooner rather than later). I have to say, I was quite impressed honestly. 

The whole premise of ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’ is probably best described as a kind of proto ‘X-files’ meets ‘Columbo’. Carl Kolchak is an investigative reporter who specialises in ‘the unknown’ and particularly in cold or dead end cases where a supernatural or otherworldly presence may in fact be the cause of the incident. 

The Night Stalker was the first of two feature pilots for what would go onto become a 2 season tv series. And it introduces us to Kolchak, who he is and what he does, as he arrives in Las Vegas following up on a series of bizarre murders that have baffled police, but may in fact be caused by non other than a Vampiric entity. 

I wont say anything more than that as I feel that’ll spoil the movie. But this was absolutely one of my favourite murder mysteries that i’ve seen in a LONG time. Gorgeously shot, 70s TV does this film no justice compared to the crisp and vibrant HD scan of the original film elements I watched. Razor sharp editing, lovingly crafted lighting and sequence work, rock solid compositional work and a script that is the perfect blend of mild humour, genuine mystery and the kind of gut punches that make a guy wanna go take a long hard middle distance stare out of a window. 

I utterly fell in love with this world building, and found it quite upsetting that both this film and its follow up are in fact in ownership of a completely different studio to the TV series, AND that both the films and the TV series have had independent releases in the US only, that are now all LONG out of print and going for stupid money. Meaning theres a pretty good likelihood that my chance of nabbing all of these on physical media is about as good as me randomly finding £200 on the street. 

Definitely one i’d recommend for science fiction fans or people with a passion for proto noir cinema. I had a really good time with this unique piece of television history, and I hope you will too!

China O Brien:

With Vinegar syndrome releasing both of the ‘Chian O’Brien’ movies in a deluxe boxset in 4k in late 2024, I just had to check it out as my rothrock filmography has been frankly woeful. And while I could take or leave the sequel, the first entry in this series is everything I love about a good action martial arts movie and then some! 

It all ultimately comes down to Cynthia Rothrock as a personality, if she wasnt the star of this film, this would likely just be another middle of the road slightly goofy action movie. But Rothrocks charisma, charm and the downright fun action sequences in this one really kept me on board for the full duration. It was enjoyable enough that, purely off the back of this one, I went and grabbed a few more Rothrock films to spin this year. 

The 4k scan looks great, really bringing to life the rich neon colours and vibrant surrounding greenery of small town USA in the mid to late 80s. Theres some really nice deep cinematography in this one, which when combined with a punchy synthy score and a light and punch packing script, really sold me on this one. One best enjoyed late night with a few beers on standby, ideally with friends. If you havent seen China O’brien and your into action as a genre, you don’t want to sleep on this one. 

The Fog:

Towards the back end of the year, I tried to focus my attention on checking out a few more mainstream hits that may have passed me by, just to see if i’d slept on anything truely spectacular, and during Halloween 2025, I decided to check out John Carpenters ‘The Fog’…In many ways I was kind of kicking myself from the off as to why I hadnt done it sooner. I mean, its pretty much slap bang in my favourite era of Carpenters work, just after he’d released ‘Halloween’ and ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ just BEFORE he’d work on ‘Halloween 2’, ‘Escape from New York’ and ‘The Thing’. Its basically THE era most people know for Carpenters work, and yet ‘The Fog’ just never quite made it into my rotation. And I really wish it had a lot sooner!

A key thing about Carpenters direction and vision around this time is a seeming relentless urge to slow boil the plot, in lesser hands this could come across as boring, but Carpenter and Deborah hill do such a wonderful job of crafting unique and interesting characters and building a fully flesh and blood world for them to inhabit, that you become engrossed in the towns goings on…So much so that the actual horror element almost takes a back street to just…some absolutely astounding character pieces. 

Its just at the point where you begin to wonder if the horror element is even going to be all that intense with this piece, that it lands with the thud of a sledgehammer, and the whole film kicks into overdrive, taking these well crafted characters and thrusting them into a life or death situation where, because of all the careful setup, the audience IS genuinely invested in ensuring that as many of these people live as possible. 

That is only a small part of what makes this film so brilliant of course, the cine and direction are utterly delightful, the creative vision is precise almost to a surgical fault, and with a star studded cast including Carpenter regulars such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, Janet Leigh, Charles Cyphers, and Hal Holbrook. The only thing more stunning than the visuals are the performances throughout. A cozy ghost story of a movie, its perfect viewing around Halloween and the colder months of the year, and guaranteed to have you twitching your curtains if you live near the coast!

Miracle on 34th Street:

When it comes to Christmas movies, I have a serious problem, and thats the fact that, due to the nature of the season, I very rarely find the time to make it through a whole movie in one sitting during the holidays. I mentioned this in my recent review of ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’ but it can frequently be the case that I put a movie on, get 10-20 minutes in, and then get pulled away to either help set up Christmas decorations, to ferry family to holiday shopping or festive events, to visit family, to go buy christmas food, to wrap presents, to send out christmas cards. And it can quite literally be the case that i’ve seen a movie maybe once in its entirety, in 5-10 minute chunks across a 5 year window. 

‘Miracle on 34th Steet’ was very much one of those movies, a film uniquely placed in the painful spot of ‘famous enough that I feel I really should have seen it before now’, but not SO important in the holiday schedules that I felt the need to sit and watch this thing from start to finish annually. I can say i’ve seen pretty much all of the 90s remake in dribs and drabs over the years. I’d seen small bits of the 50s TV version over the last 20 years. But I can honestly say, barring maybe 1-2 minutes worth of clips. I’d never seen ANY of the original 1940s version. So! Armed with a rum infused hot chocolate and the missus, I decided to actually, consciously sit and watch the original to really get to the nub of why this film is so fondly remembered and revisited. And I totally get it. 

Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle here is positively radiating across the runtime, bringing a level of warmth and openness to Santa that I feel makes all other on screen appearances feel positively pale in comparison. The scripts super tight with a good, but gentle humour to it. It steadily builds up a good ‘festive feelgood’ pace until the final act when it fully unleashes unrelenting seasonal cheer on the audience. With goodwill and jokes that still more than hold up and feel relevant to this day. 

With a grand sense of cine and direction that feels revolutionary for 1947, there are moments of this film that to 2025 sensibilities may seem a bit…off colour, I think its fair to say. But these are mercifully few and far between and what we ultimately end up with is a film with a sincere and upbeat cast, a fun and lighthearted plot with some nice contrasting moments, and probably a less puritanical antidote to ‘Its a wonderful life’ a film that revels in the season and the meaning of Christmas, maybe a touch commercialised? Sure thing, but as Kris in the film protests, this season isnt about the toys, its about the people, and making sure everyone who can, is able to get what they need. This was a first time watch for me, but I could easily see it entering regular christmas movie rotation. 

Sonic the hedgehog 3:

I’ve been a fan of the ‘Sonic the hedgehog’ games since the first one reached UK shores, I’ve played pretty much every mainline title up to date, i’ve watched all the TV shows, read a decent chunk of the comics, kept track of the lore and even given part of my brains capacity over to the Chris Chan extended universe. I have a soft spot for the ‘Blue Blur’. 

And while I was MORE than apprehensive when they announced they were producing a ‘Sonic the hedgehog’ movie, to the point that I actually decided to give the first film a miss just, purely because it seemed set up on purpose to not really be made for me. I decided that, before 2025 rolled to a close, I’d finally give the 3 ‘Sonic’ movies a go. In part out of genuine curiosity, and in part because the latest entry ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ had gained quite a positive critical reception AND it was loosely based on one of my favourite Sonic games ‘Sonic Adventure 2’ 

And I honestly came away really quite impressed, this is quite the anomaly in the the film industry, a franchise that gets better with every sequel. I was already kind of surprised when the first film wasnt quite the dumpster fire I was expecting, but when I actually found myself more than enjoying the 2nd film, I was thrown for a loop, but then the THIRD film!? Well that was a whole other kettle of fish. 

I’ll be honest, its quite an investment to sink into getting to this entry, all the films are quite interconnected and they arnt exactly built for audiences to just ‘hop on or off’. You need to have seen the 2nd one to get the most out of the 3rd one, and you need to have seen the first one to get the most out of the sequels. So I don’t begrudge anyone giving this series a miss given how much time is needed to get up to speed on it. 

But I can say, I had a really good time with this one, while they toned down some of the darker moments from SA2, they did keep a LOT in that I thought would have been chucked, theres some really nice references to SA2 for things that didn make the cut as well. And as this series goes on, it feels like the film makers are having more and more confidence in bedding in references to the games and extended media universes, which helps create a more uniform vision. 

Keanue Reeves is Shadow the Hedgehog here, and I think he does a really solid job. Would I have preferred a slightly campier Shadow, more in line with his Gamecube and PS2 era persona? Absolutely. But even with those edges sanded down I would struggle to say I disliked the new approach. 

With striking visuals a fun and engaging script that isnt afraid to take a family movie to darker and deeper places, and some genuinely well written characters. ‘Sonic the hedgehog 3’ may have some low brow humour and a lack of clarity holding it back from truely being the best it can be. But I cant deny that as the credits rolled, I was raring to go on ‘Sonic 4’ (coming 2027) and I think that the franchise, and this film specifically, would MORE than make a big splash on any family movie night! Whether your a longtime fan of the games, or just morbidly curious like I was. I’d say this one was definitely worth your time!

And with that! We draw 2025 to a close! I don’t think theres anything here that would surprise regular viewers/readers. But I hope if nothing else that you take a chance on at least one of the films in this list, and if you do, please do let me know! I’d love to hear your thoughts! But for now! The wide open plain that is 2026 is ahead of us, and I’ve got some movies to spin!

Take Care!

– Dan