It's that time of year again where we look back on the year that's been and well since we have a little tradition over here. That being every single year I go through what were my personal best and worst films of the year and well this year there is a lot of strong competition for the best film of the year if you've been following the various versions of this post you'll know what the rules are but just to make it clear the rules are that the film has to have had a UK release date of 2025 and I have to have seen the film so enjoy.
WORST
5) Wolf Man 2025
For some odd reason Hollywood really liked to give us a bunch of bad horror remakes and sequels that's when they weren't giving us a bunch of bad horror films that are based off of popular characters. With this film being a good example of just how bland alot of the modern horror remakes are as to be blunt this films has nothing to do with the original film outside of the name and that's really it as the film is more focused on giving us a father and daughter drama then it is in giving us a well done werewolf film as there are large portions of the film where nothing happens which is something that would be fine if the makers of the film bothered to make it's characters good or even interesting for that matter but they didn't do that which is something tat does leave us with a bland a boring film that did have some good horror pedigree behind it and even then that goodwill wasn't enough to make the film good as the film failed at doing alot of the most basic things done well and while the film does try to do something new and different by focusing the film around a father and a daughter that's not what you want to see in a Wolf Man movie rather you want to see some good werewolf action something that can't be possible due to the fact that alot of the film is set at night with alot of the film being at best very hard to see which might be a good thing given just how boring that this film looks as this is a film that looks very visually dull to look at with the acting being slightly bit better then what it would it really should have been as by all rights this films acting should have been really bad and yet you can tell that this films actors are doing there best to turn in a good performance.
While this film might be bland and boring to look at the film does have some good looking werewolf effects. With the werewolf action in the films third act being not that bad either with this being due to the fact that the film does spend alot of time in building up tension and in making you feel for the person that's turning into a were wolf but none of that matters if the films characters are lackluster which is something that's sadly the case here as while the films does do a good job of building up tension the film should have gone the extra mile and made itself still entertaining to watch as then we the audience would have a reason to keep on watching the film in the first place and yet as things stand it would be understandable if people did check out of this film before the third act as the rest of the film is just that dull and boring to watch and with this film being a remake of a classic Universal monster one which granted isn't as well known as alot of the others Universal themselves should have put more effort into giving us a better remake and while getting the writer and director of The Invisible Man 2020 to fill those same roles for this film was a step in he right direction asking him to do the same thing with this film that he did with that film was never going to work as you can find different ways to tell the story of The Invisible Man as along as you keep the concept in it you can't really do that with this film as the core concept of the original film really is a key part of what made the original work so well in the first place and therefor this film really needed to be treated differently then what The Invisible Man 2020 was.
4)Star Trek: Section 31
For some strange reason even tho the casts of the last three Star Trek movies have been trying for years to get a fourth film made. Paramount instead chose to make a film spin off of a Star Trek that not alot of Star Trek fans actually like and while basing a film off of what is more then likely the most popular character to come from Star Trek: Discovery what doesn't make sense is to make a movie from that show when you have a perfectly good set of actors who have already starred in three Star Trek movies to begin with all of whom are begging Paramount Pictures to pick a script for the fourth film and get that fourth film made in the first place which they very easily could have done as they have alot of scripts for that fourth movie being worked on and yet they instead chose to make a made for TV movie based off of a show that caused alot of division amongst the Star Trek fanbase which makes no sense it would make sense if Star Trek: Discovery was popular enough to warrant a movie being made about but it was never that popular in the first place with it only just scrapping by and only just getting renewed alot of the time and while it's not needed to watch that show to understand this movie you should at least have a basic knowledge of the Emperor Philippa Georgiou character which even then really isn't all that needed to watch this film and to understand what's exactly going on in this film either.
To be frank this film felt like it was put together in five minuets as it's just this cheap and lazy looking of a film. With this film not really having that much working for it outside of the fact that it stars Michelle Yeoh and that's really it as there's really nothing about this film that makes it stand out and yet Paramount have spent YEARS trying to make a Star Trek 4 on the big screen whereas here it felt like that just said yes to the first script that they got and to this films credit it did start out life as a TV show and perhaps that's where it should have stayed as in a feature film format the film is all other the pace and a mess and yet if the film did stay as a show then it would have had the chance to further develop it's characters and it's story instead of just leaving them effectively as blank pieces of paper that are about as interesting as a blank of wood with it being made crystal clear that the people that are in charge of Star Trek have no interest in making shows that people actually like and are instead just throwing a bunch of ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks when if they listened to the fans they would tell them right away what it is they want to see in a new Star Trek film and TV show but that would actually mean showing respect to the fans and that's something that sadly modern Hollywood has forgotten as there more focused on blaming the fans for not going to see there bad movies and not watching there bad TV shows and yet the few times that Hollywood does listen we get gold like for example the redesign of Sonic in the 2020 film and now Hollywood is scared to ask the fans what they want for no good reason whatsoever.
3) I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025 AND Smurfs
That's right we actually have two films in the number three slot for the worst film of the year as there both equally bad in different ways. As while Smurfs put more thought and effort into letting you know that Rihanna was in the movie then in actually promoting the movie but had a decent plot for a little kids film I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025 whilst it did put more thought and effort into it's marketing took was already a blatant knock off of the Scream franchise and made a knock off of Scream 2022 except this film spat on the legacy of the last two theatrically released movies by turning one of the heroes into one the villains in a twist no one wanted all for no good reason whatsoever and while yes there are some good things to be found in both films like for example the animation in Smurfs was pretty decent and the kills in I Know What You Did Last Summer were pretty cool just because you have cool kills and good looking animation doesn't mean that you have a good film as you still need to have the basic things done well for the film to be good and that's sadly where both films fail and fail hard with both of this films even being really forgettable as well so much so that i'm willing to bet that alot of reading this post straight up forgot that both of these films came out this year and I can say that because I was one of them as that's how little of an impact that both of these films left on there audiences as there nothing more then generis trash that's not even trying to be something other then generic trash and when the makers of both of these films make is crystal clear to us the audience that there not even going to try and make a good film then they shouldn't be surprised when there film gets terrible reviews and flops at the box office.
While there are alot of good thing to be found in both of these films there are sadly alot more negative things to be found in both of these films as well. Like for example the acting in both films whilst you can tell that the actors in both of those films are indeed trying there all just not right for there respective characters with even Rihanna continuing the tradition of singers that can't act being in a movie in a leading role with the thing that let Smurfs down the most was it's poor attempt at marketing as there was next to nothing interms of marketing done for that movie and while that wouldn't have stopped the film from being a bad film it would have helped to get a few more eyes on the film and thus earn a little bit more at the box office and yet there was nothing for it and therefor people didn't go to see it and while the I Know What You Did Last Summer movies have always been bad movies they've also been films that you can find some level of enjoyment out of and yet here in this film there was none of that as the twist ruins not only this film but also the other two theatrically released movies as well as they spit on the legacy of those films and yet if the makers of that film really wanted to be like Scream 2022 and have something be done to one of the legacy characters then why not just straight up copy it and have either Ray or Julie be killed off by the new killer as then your at least embracing the fact that your Scream knock off movie and are not afraid of that fact and heck even by doing that your not disrespecting what's came before it nor it's legacy characters and are then also telling us the audience that now any of the main cast of characters can now get killed off with Smurfs all the makers of that film needed to was include some funny jokes and actually market the film and that's it.
2) Snow White 2025
This film commits the biggest sin that alot of these live action Disney remakes seem to commit and that's by having the exact same plot as the original film say what you will about both The Jungle Book and 2016 and Alice In Wonderland 2010 but they at the very least had different plots to the original films or added enough things to there own plot that it makes them feel new and different again where as here nothing new is added to the plot of the film to make this films version of the plot interesting or even worth watchin for that matter with the films plot elements playing out the exact same way and in the exact same order which does make this film rather pointless not only to watch but also to make as well as why would you want to watch a lesser version of a story when you can just watch the better version of that exact same story as everything about this films plot is just the exact same as the plot of the original film which is something that does make you wonder why we the audience should pay to see this film when we can either load up Disney+ or put in our DVD or Blu-Ray of the original film and get the same plot only done because it was made by people that actually wanted to make a good film as it was clear from months before this film even came out that this film was going to be trainwreck and while the film is still as bad as you'd think that it was going to be alot of that isn't down to the films actors it's down to the films writers , directors and producers as they had the power from day one to make changes to the films script and demand that it be better but chose not to and yet none of them got the hate for this film bombing rather it was Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot who don't get me wrong are bad in this film but there not the ones that should have been getting the hate for this film being as bad as it was in the first place.
While alot of the other films in this post have at least some qualities in them that make them worth watching. This film on the other hand has nothing that makes it worth watching as everything that's good about the film are things that could also be found in the 1937 original film with this film just being lazy and uncreative and yet Disney not only threw alot of money at this film so much so that the film was rumored o cost anyway around $300 million dollars but they also threw a boat load of marketing at it as well which is still a good thing but when your film costs alot of money to make and you have CGI that is enough to give people nightmares then it makes you wonder where all the money went to in this film as you don't get to see any of it on screen say what you will about the films that are number one or the ones that are joint third in this post but you at least see where the money went in those films here you don't see it as the film isn't pretty to look at Rachel Zegler despite her having a really good singing voice in her own right just look at the remake of West Side Story as proof of that is auto toned to the high heavens in this film with the film not being helped by all of the production troubles that plagued the film be they Peter Dinklage getting so upset that he himself wasn't cast in the movie that he got several actors all of whom are little people fired from the movie as he convinced Disney to instead remove the dwarfs as characters only for the for the fans to get upset about what Disney was doing and demand that they put back in only now there CGI as the film was pretty much done at this point to anything that Rachel Zegler has said online all of these things and more combine to make a film that is not going to be remembered anytime soon.
10 The Works Of Writer Harry Boxley
Really it was hard picking just one film to be the worst film of the year as alot of the really bad films that I saw this year whilst they were bad you could at least see the effort that went into making them. Where as with the films that are written by writer Harry Boxley you really can't. As out of the countless films that he's released this year alone i've managed to see and review EIGHT of them with his films ranging from Piglet , Hook , Fairest Of Them All , Wickedness and Mouseboat Massacre among many others and they are all really painfully bad and yet he has the gall to call himself an award winning writer and yet his turning in bad script after bad script it would be one thing if one of his films was bad as then you could argue that he was just having an off day and that he tried to make the story work but he just couldn't do it which would be fair enough plenty of people who have wrote good movies have also written the odd bad one as well but when a huge amount of the films that he wrote this year are bad and predictable movies then the problem clearly isn't the story of the film it's the person writing the script and heck his films are so bad that I now straight away know that i'm in for a bad movie the second that I see his name appear in the films credits or on the films IMDB page as he's just that bad of a writer with his films being so bad that it was hard to pick just one to be the worst film of the year so by default because there all equally bad and yet he's got at least four movie due out next year two of which are as of this writing being filmed and a further two are in post production so it does look like that we will be seeing more of him on next years list as well.
Alot of the film that Harry Boxley wrote this year all have one thing in common that being that they all based off of beloved characters. Heck even Wickedness has a poster design and colour scheme that is designed to confuse people into buying that movie when they what they really wanted to buy was either Wicked or Wicked: For Good and yet he still gets to make these movies all of which are really bad and while granted on some of them you can tell that they trying there best to work with the small budget that these films do typically have with even Wickedness having some small amount of VFX in it but there all just bland scripts so much so that to call them generic horror movies would be a n insult to generic horror movies as then you can at least tell that there's some effort to make those films good and yet here there there's none of that in any of these films with it feeling like that he had about five minuets per film to write a script and so he just wrote the first thing that came to his mind and turned in what should have been his first draft of the script as it's final draft as there no way that he can turn in this level of a bad scripts and still be called an award winning writer now granted he might get called that when he has more then five minuets to turn in a script but when you have several films released in the same year all of which make it look like that your a really bad writer then you really do need to reconsider having that be the first thing that comes up on your Google bio as it just makes you look like a completely lazy person who doesn't know how to turn in a decent film script.
Best
5) Weapons
Just to be clear the entire best of lost was so hard to put together as really any film including this one could have right fully taken the top spot and as such some very tough choices had to be made so you won't be seeing Avatar: Fire And Ash in this post. With this films plot being just so good as it was actually something new , different and original which means that we the audience have no idea just where this films plot is even going because it's something that we really havn't seen done before now with the plot of this film being one that is perhaps the best plot for a newly released film this year regardless of it's a horror film or not because it is something that does keep you invested all throughout with it's slow burn approach which yes granted could be seen as being grating for some but here it does serve a purpose as it adds to the plot of the film by making us wonder just what is going to happen next and because of that we as an audience do get more of a chance to become invested in the films plot as simple as it is but in saying that tho the plot of this film could also be viewed as being unfocused as for alot of the time we don't really get to find out all that much about the kidnappings but at the same time tho it could be argued that that makes this films plot all the more scarier as now we have to use our imagination which could make thing all the more scarier then what they actually are as by all accounts this films plot should have been really bad and yet for one reason or another the makers of this film managed to pull it all together and make a film that is not only wholly original in concept but also one that does prove that people in Hollywood still do know how to make not only good films original films but also original films in general.
This film along with Good Boy and one more film that WILL be showing up in this post made it perfectly clear that this was a shockingly good year for horror films. As while yes we we did get alot of bad horror films as well those where very few and far between with the year instead giving us films like Weapons and Good Boy which have wholly original plots and ideas to them and guess what they both turned out to be really good as the makers of those films knew that they had to create something good in order for their film to land they way that they did with this film being a really good example of that as while it burrowed elements from other films like the idea of telling the film in chapters it also made those ideas feel fresh and new by ending each of them on a cliffhanger much like you would end a chapter in a book an while yes granted this film could be seen as being boring at times as not alot does happen to advance the films admittedly thin plot the film is more bothered in creating tension and keeping us in a tense place so that when something that's genuinely creepy does infact happen we feel it alot more and while the makers of this film could have spent more time on giving us memorable characters it really didn't have to do that as the reason we stayed watching this film wasn't for the characters it was for the mystery and while the mystery of why these kids ran away in the first place isn't built up all that well as it's really only in the films final chapter when we get anything surrounding the films mystery the film does do a good enough job of making us want to know more about what's actually happening with the film even having plenty of really good an unique kills to it as well all of which do work well in the film.
4) Superman AND The Fantastic Four: First Steps
This was also a fairly solid year for comic book movies with Marvel proving that the MCU isn't quite dead yet and Warner Bros launching it's DCU as well. With both The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman being really good films as they both managed to capture the tone and the spirit of what it was that made those characters so well be loved in the first place and while weather or not these films were that good depends on who you ask as the MCU lovers will say that First Steps is good and that Superman is a bad movie and some of the DCU fans will say it's the opposite that's true with the few remaining Zack Snyder fans hating on both movies the ones things for sure they both managed to prove that if you stick with what made the characters work so well in the comics then people will still love them in the movie as this is the best Superman movie that we've had for years now and this is the best Fantastic Four film ever and while yes granted both films do have alot of flaws to them no one is ever going to deney that but both films also have plenty of things going for them as well be it the CGI , the acting or the action there's plenty of things to like in both of these films but with this being said tho there are things that don't work in both films like for example the plot in Superman is a little bit on the weak side not so much that it becomes hard to tell just what the main plot of the film is even meant to be in the first place but it's enough for you to notice and with the fantastic four the films plot moves to fast for us us the audience to rally take any of it in so much so that by the time we have caught up with he film the film is good as well almost over.
While there are plenty of bad things to be found in both of this films both films are a case of there's more good to be found in both of them then bad. As you can tell right away that First Steps is going almost out of it's way t make sure that you know that this is a different universe to the mainline MCU something which is going to appease alot of people given he fact that in recent years the MCU has been sinking faster then the Titanic with this film fully embracing it's more sixties looking aesthetic as we get to see the characters both talk and act like people that are from that time period all whilst still being a film that's vert much in the MCU. With Superman we get to see the closest thing to what alot of people think Superman should be like and act like as for years now we've seen Superman be this depressing person and that's just now who Superman is as he's the kind of the character that does always look for the best in everyone and will always try to do the right thing no matter what the cost is and that's something that Zack Snyder didn't give us rather he instead chose to give us a Superman that's much like Batman and while being this depressing kind of character works for Batman as that's who he is it's not something that works for Superman and James Gunn did understand this and while that might make alot of the Zack Snyder fans unhappy it's also something that's true as if you want prove read alot of the classic Superman comics and then watch the classic Christopher Reeve Superman movie before watching this as this version of the character is pretty much how the Christopher Reeve version of Superman was.
3) Sinners
In Hollywood it's a very rare thing to find a film that is wholly original any more as alot of modern hollywood films are either remakes , sequels or prequels. As such it was something of a shock when this film came along and was not only an original film but was also a hit film to boot so much so it forced Hollywood into burying this film as it was getting so many rave reviews from critics and was making alot of money at the box office with it being very easy to see why as this is a film that is just so good to watch and while it's not hard to see that this film is a fully original idea as it does take some inspiration from From Dusk Till Dawn the film itself has enough original elements in it that it makes you wonder why Hollywood aren't producing more original films and why the people that are doing these fully original films are getting there films buried by the major studios so much so that you have to look really hard be it on DVD and Blu-Ray or on streaming websites to find fully original pieces of film as there just that hard to find and yet this film proved that original films can be hit films if you have the right creative making it but they won't do that as that will force Hollywood to be creative and to try new things and that's something that they are scared of doing as they'd rather just give us what we know we like and want then give us something that we don't know we like and want and while it's hard to say if this film is the best horror film of the year as both Good Boy and Weapons are also very strong contenders for that title what can be said is that this is a film that got alot of and deserved all of the praise that it got for being just that damn good of a film in the first place.
This film is one that is damned new perfect with it only really really being held back by a few things and that's it. With those being he fact that the film does take a good while to get going which is something that wouldn't be a bad thing where it not for the fact that the leading up to that the film has the characters do nothing that's all that important to the plot of the film and while this is done to set up the characters and the world that they live in there could have been a way to do that whilst still adding things to the plot of the film like for example we could have seen the Twins run into the people who would get turned into vampires early on in the film just to set up the fact that there could be some tension there between the two groups of people something which there would be anyway due to the time that this film does take place in in the first place with another thing being the fact that the film does spoil the twist of the film in it's trailers when this sis something that would have been best kept hidden from us the audience much like what Marvel sometimes does with there trailers as that is something that would have made the fact that is actually a vampire movie be all the more surprising as we the audience would have had the time to get to know and maybe even like these characters in the first place and now we have to see them take on creatures that aren't the easiest to defeat in the first place and while the film is still a really good film in it's film heck it's the best horror film to come out this year which is really saying something it's those little things that would have made it a great film to watch and also one that would have made it even more popular then what it already is in the first place.
2) Wicked: For Good
While it is shocking to see this film placed above Sinners what did it even tho there both really good films in their own right. Was the fact that this film had more of a lead up with it's story and the fact that it was telling one long story over the course of two films meant that the overall plot could have more room to breathe and yet whilst this film isn't an original film at all due to the fact that it's both a sequel film and as is based off of both a book and broadway stage production it is still a really good film in it's own right and granted it's not as good as the first film was as that film was like catching lightening in a bottle this is one that does really need to be seen on the big screen whereas with Sinners that's more of a film where you can watch it on your TV screen and still get the same expirence whereas with this film you need to see it on the biggest screen possible just so that you can belt out all of the films songs and just enjoy the film with other Wicked fans and while yes this films songs aren't as good as the first films songs were as those songs where more fun the songs in this film feel more moody in a way as there not trying to make you laugh like a song like "Popular" is for example rather there trying to tell you that the characters that you know and love from the first film are in a deeply serious situation that is quite literally life or death for them with the songs reflecting that change and growth with the characters therefor it would have felt out of place for there to be a more comedic song in this film when this is film that really doesn't demand it and while the fans took there love for this film over board with them confusing the continuity for these films with that of The Wizard Of Oz something which does show off how obsessive that these Wicked fans can be that doesn't change the fact that this film is one that is still a really good film in it's own right.
With this films plot being just as fun and as enjoyable as the plot for part one was with this films plot being alot more darker in tone when compared to that of the first film which is something that really does make alot of sense as the characters are now no longer teenagers with the fact that this films plot being more darker also serving as a good way of showing just how epic that this films plot is for the characters and while the plot of this film isn't that strong in the first place that's more due to the fact that the plot was cut into two and therefor of course the plot will come across as being weaker as while there is a natural cut off point for both films it does also make both films plots feel all the more weaker as a result of that but in saying that tho this is a story that really could only have been told in two parts as to do it any differently would risk doing more harm to the plot then good with this films plot being one that could possibly make alot of fans of both the stage adaptation and part one really happy as it does give you all of the things that you'd expect from this film from a plot point of view as both this film and its plot give you everything that you'd want to see in a film that's the second part of a two part film as it does tie up all of the characters plot arcs from the first film in ways that feel natural and true to there characters with the only thing that was keeping this film off of the number one spot being the fact that the songs in this film feel like they were written in a few minuets as they don't add all that much to the plot of the film aren't as well written as the songs from the first film were where as with the songs in the first film it felt like that more time and effort was put into them and that is something that really did show in the final product.
1) F1 / Frankenstein
When I tell you that it was hard to pick just what I thought that the best film of this year I really do mean it with there not even being that much in for both of these films. As both of them are damn near perfect films that do not only try to do something new and original with there characters be it by telling the same story story from two different points of view of view as was the case with Frankenstein or in the case of F1 it quite literally puts you in the drivers seat of an F1 car in a bunch of really tense scenes that work really well with both films being so good despite the fact that one of them is a made for streaming film that very easily could have been a film for a major studio and F1 kind of flew under the rader and really hasn't been talked about since it first came out this is despite the fact that it is a really good film in it's own right with both films having plots that are engaging and that make you want to know more about there characters and in the case of F1 makes you want to be an F1 driver as it does go into great detail about that world and what it takes to make as a driver for F1 and while it could be argued that that film is a bit on the long side as it's almost three hours long it does make up or that by giving us some well done driving scenes that was actually filmed during F1 races and with Frankenstein we get all of the typical flair and love that you expect from a film by Guillermo Del Toro with it being made clear as day that he does have a passion not just for the book that Frankenstein is based off of but also for The Monster himself and while that love for the character could be seen as being a bit typical for him as he does usually show alot of love for monsters it is something that does work for that film as in both the book and the film you are meant to care for The Monster.
The fact that it was hard to chose just what this years best film of the year was is always meant to be a good thing. As it does mean that we had alot of really good films come out in the past year from the likes of Avatar: Fire And Ash to Thunderbolts and even some of the films that did make this list with the two chosen as being join first only being chosen because of the fact that they were a good example of just what it is that Hollywood can do when there really pushed as both films used more practical effects then CGI and both films show that Hollywood does know how to still be creative something that they've seem to have forgotten about and yet when they do give us a film that's filled with creativity and is actually good we get films like F1 and Frankenstein with that being something that always needs to be praised and why Frankenstein wasn't released by a major studio is something that no one well ever know as that is a film that could have made a ton of money for whichever studio chose to release it as it has alot of really bankable names in it and yet for some odd reason it got a very limited two week release before going straight to Netflix where it still got alot of really positive reviews from people that saw it and with F1 that film was a huge risk because of the fact that the sport of F1 isn't as well as say football is for example and therefor there was always the chance that people might not buy into a film surrounding it and yet not only did they go and see it they went and they told over people to go and see it as that's just how good that that film was with it being made clear as day that the makers of both of those films really knew what they were doing and set out to make a film that would not only please them but would also be really good in their own rights as well as that's just how good that both of those films are in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very post that I used in this very review being the really great IMP Awards . Com really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very post with alot of them being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on IMP Awards . Com are also all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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