Have There Been Any Good Movies in 2025? | Group Chat

Plus, the Cinemantics Group Shares Some Life Updates

History has a funny way of repeating itself. Around this time last year, the gang published a Group Chat apologizing for the lack of content in the first quarter of 2024. Things just got too busy to keep up with the output we wanted! Well, folks, here we are again. Sorry ‘bout that. As it has been for many, the first three months or so of the year have been hectic, confusing, and just downright busy.

So, Daniel, Graham, Caleb, and Tyler hopped online for a call to update everyone on life, movies, and how we keep up with everything Hollywood-related.

FAVORITE FLICKS THIS YEAR (SO FAR)

Box office reporting alone shows that 2025, much like last year, is off to a dismal start. So, are there any hidden gems that the gang saw?

DANIEL: While it’s been a little challenging to get to a movie theatre lately, I haven’t seen much of any of the 2025 slate, but I’ll shout out Carry-On. A fun thriller set at LAX, starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman (who makes a stronger villain than you might think). Pulpy and perfect for a movie night in.

GRAHAM: Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag is the best time I've had at the movies in a while. Soderbergh has done some very underrated work in recent years (last year's Presence is the kind of movie that's way better than it had any business being). Black Bag is a perfectly crafted thriller aimed at adult audiences -- the kind of movie we just don't get enough of anymore. It's a twisty film that never feels too convoluted or obsessed with its own cleverness. It's also an ensemble cast where no one dominates the screen and each character plays their part perfectly. Soderbergh also gives it a stylish sense of lighting that helps the pivotal dining room scenes land. At a tight 90 minutes, I can't recommend this one highly enough.

CALEB: I have yet to watch a film from 2025. Does that mean there haven’t been any good movies this year? Maybe. Is cinema officially dead? Possibly. Is watching a movie for more than five minutes with two under two difficult, if not impossible? Most definitely, but more on that later. Despite only having the time and mental bandwidth for MasterChef, I plan to watch some 2025 films soon. I am looking forward to Sinners (check out Tyler’s review), and I can’t wait for 28 Years Later, which gave us not one but two of the best movie trailers I can recall in recent memory. Hope remains for 2025.

TYLER: Beauty is skin deep, or so argues Aaron Schimberg’s psychological dark comedy A Different Man. Another gemstone in A24's ever-impressive crown as the king of mid-budget movies, the movie tells the story of Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes an experimental procedure to change his face and, hopefully, win the heart of playwright Ingrid. However, even with his new face, his past insecurities are never far away.

It’s a strange little movie, I’ll grant you that in advance. But what demands this twisty, unhinged character study be seen is an incredible turn from Sebastian Stan (who won a Golden Globe for this performance and earned an Oscar nomination for his other 2024 role, The Apprentice). Shedding that stupid metallic arm and the increasingly lifeless CGI of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stan reveals himself to be one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood. Not far behind him is a beautifully emphatic Adam Pearson, who — in only his fifth feature film role — channels his neurofibromatosis into a beautiful, even joyous performance. Regardless of how strange it is, it’s by far the best thing I’ve seen this year.

CHECK THE GATE

Folks, our content production has been, well, admittedly low recently—but there are lots of good reasons for that!

DANIEL: It’s been a busy start to 2025 for the Mitchell family - they welcomed their third child in January. Paternity leave was full of movies at all hours, time shared together, and settling in as a family of five. While the von Trapps will surely outpace us, “Edelweiss” is the bedtime song of choice for our youngest two. As the resident list completionist, Daniel’s almost done with the Best Picture winners - he has single digits left to view. Stay tuned for a decade ranking later this spring!

GRAHAM: I just finished moving apartments, which means that I had a lot of time to listen to podcasts (see below) but not enough to watch a ton of new movies. I have been making a point to get out of the apartment on weeknights to take advantage of the Alamo Drafthouse’s themed roster of older movies, and I recently loved getting to see Mulholland Drive on the big screen. Tyler and I have unofficially deemed next month the month of James Bond here on Cinemantics, so I won’t be quiet for long!

CALEB: Caleb and his wife, Emily, bought their first house late last year, and they were blessed with their second child in March. They had another beautiful baby girl and named her Cecilia. (Editors note: Andrew Tyler MacBoyer would have been the name if it was a boy out of respect for her beloved uncle). They quickly introduced her to the world of cinema soon after taking her home. Her favorite movies are My Neighbor Totoro and The Raid.

TYLER: Tyler was promoted to Director of Multimedia at his 9-5! Over the last six weeks, he has been developing a treatment for a feature film exploring the Free Speech Movement and its clash with J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI in 1964. He is also starting training for the DC Half Marathon in September and the Columbus Half in October.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

Where do we get all the news and updates on everything movies? We have a few recommendations for the best podcasts for reviews, news, and enjoyable (but not obnoxious) banter.

DANIEL: I’m a Ringer-diehard. If I had one movie podcast to listen to, it’d be “The Big Picture” by a mile. Current movie news, upcoming Oscar slates, interviews with current filmmakers, and banter and fun drafts from previous years - it’s got everything I want in a podcast. I also am partial to “The Rewatchables” that focuses on a classic-ish slate of action movies, rom-coms, and movies that you can’t turn off, whenever they’re on.

GRAHAM: My go-to movie podcast for contemporary reviews is The Bulwark's Across the Movie Aisle. The three hosts bring very different perspectives but never take themselves too seriously and seem to genuinely love discussing movies with each other. The episodes never overstay their welcome, and I always leave feeling like I've hit on every major perspective a critic can have of a movie. For reviews of past films, I came across The 250 because they reviewed all 13 movies in the Halloween franchise, and I've been loving their work ever since. The hosts, one Irish film critic and one Irish everyman, balance each other very well, with one (Darren Mooney) giving insightful and oftentimes esoteric explanations of the films they discuss, and the other providing a normie's view of the movie. They also actively push back against the "Cinema Sins-ification" of movie criticism. The backlog contains hundreds of episodes, which cover the IMDB's top 250 films and bottom 100, leading to their reviewing some truly horrendous films. With a diverse panel of rotating guests, the 250 kept me company during some recent time-consuming life events.

CALEB: CRITERION’s “Closet Picks” series on YouTube never fails to introduce me to new films. Send your favorite directors, actors, and composers into a room stocked with over one thousand films from around the world, and you are guaranteed to discover something new or old that you would probably never find otherwise. I have watched many movies, but “Closet Picks” made me realize that my knowledge and experience of film is a drop in the ocean of cinema. It is my go-to resource for movie recommendations and the bane of my ever-growing watchlist on Letterboxd.

TYLER: See Daniel and Graham’s takes above. Both offer something slightly different that, when paired together, are the only go-to podcasts I need.