Few popular movies compete with drama for long-term emotional impact. The likes of ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Dark Knight’ are rare. However, popcorn has its place in cinema. Feel-good-vibes drive ticket sales - an excitement short-lived is still a party.

Consequently, here’s a list of thrills from 2025 (with motivation to introduce you to half the fun movies you don’t know because they were the drug in another country).

1. Dead Talents Society (Taiwan China, hilarious horror)

Instant genre classic.

A shy and newly dead ghost (Gingle Wang) is at risk of being forgotten (which is more permanent than death). Her survival depends on getting good at haunting humans so that she becomes an urban legend for supernatural TV fans.

Originality is rare. Quirky, alternative movies are more a genre than individual. This is my #1 fun movie ‘cause it’s both. It combines horredy and friendship with Western talent searches and crazy Japanese game shows. It’s awesome that this is on Netflix without being dubbed - experience its full effect.

2. Sketch (USA, indie, child fantasy adventure)

The most positive imagination of 2025 uses a sketchbook of monsters coming to life as the handling and mishandling of grief.

‘Sketch’ is what would happen if ‘Flow’ and ‘Jumanji’ swam in the same pond. With a fraction of the budget, it achieves what ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ did. Although its surface always looks like a kid’s movie, the emotional underlay is more complicated. It’s a heart-full achievement from debut director Seth Worley.

I read about movies as much as a year in advance. I was unaware ‘Sketch’ was coming. Suddenly, and wonderfully, it was there! Unfortunately, hardly anyone noticed, and then it was gone! I can’t explain that, but I can write two paragraphs and hope another writer reads this and does the same - pass the love on!

3. Frankenstein (USA, historical fantasy)

I had no desire to revisit this classic story, or anything from ‘Dracula’ to ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’. However, I was compelled by the presence of Guillermo del Toro, the dark director of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and ‘The Devil’s Backbone’.

Visually impressive and stylishly costumed, with the moral that man is the monster well-taught. ‘Frankenstein’ is another Netflix highlight.

4. Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force (China action fantasy)

The second part of a trilogy that was shot back to back with a 10,000 crew and $400m budget. The third part will become its profit, but its ridiculously unfair that the series isn’t bigger, that Westerners don’t watch Asian movies like Asians watch theirs.

‘Creation of the Gods II’ is intense, packing more ideas than the typical fantasy, demanding more intelligence from its viewer. Culturally alien, thus crazily alive. The battle scenes are almost as big as the nobility of the heroes.

In case this is new to you, I include trailers for both installments.

5. Ne Zha 2 (China fantasy animation)

In February, I wrote that:

I’m not an animation fan but some are done so well they’re essential viewing. China’s ‘Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child’ (2019) jumped into my favourites, so I’m pleased that its sequel, ‘Nezha: Mo Tong Nao Hai (2025)’ is setting records.

‘Ne Zha 2’ is the simplified name for English audiences. It’s actual title has radically different translations so let’s go with ‘Nezhha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King’ i.e., this isn’t standard Disney fare, and the culture shock and crudeness makes it more loveable.

Will ‘Nezha 2’ become the biggest animation in history, and will its success have Western audiences boosting the sales of the first movie?”

Biggest movie of the year, $2.1bn ticket sales, and more than a bunch of merchandise sold. 95% of its take was local. Simply, Americans can’t handle cultural complexity.

Personally, I found the first part to have more heart, and this to be overlong, but that cannot stop it from being an animation masterpiece.

6. Predator: Badlands (USA, scifi)

Spoiler: The end fight sucked. Everything before was marvellous, from turning the predator into a misunderstood hero, to the peculiarity of talented Elle Fanning as the legless robot. The violence is glorious bonus.

The backstory makes this special, and is akin to ‘Frankenstein’ in that we should always be asking if we’re sufficiently good to define monsters.

So much for my general opinion on sequels. The last three Predators have been the best of the 8-part anthology. Credit to director Dan Trachtenberg (whose talent was evident in his debut, ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’). I’m gonna skip ‘Fubar’, but Dan tempts me to go back to 1987 and ask, “Schwarzenegger, how you doing?

7. The Lost Bus (USA, disaster biopic)

Having experienced the beauty and pain of the biggest fire in my country, my addiction (PTSD?) grabs every pain-struck movie and documentary. I thumb my nose at critics who found ‘Twister’ and ‘Deep Impact’ to be anything less than ‘soul-shaking’.

Director Paul Greengrass is notable for his down-toned, realistic take on true disaster (’22 July’, United 93’, ‘Bloody Sunday’, ‘Captain Phillips’). This time it’s different, more like his Jason Bourne movies. ‘The Lost Bus’ is a ride through hell. The special effects were as important as the human story because the bigger story is the fire itself.

Kudos to Matthew McConaughey for his best role since ‘Interstellar’ (2014).

8. The Forbidden City (Italy, kung-fu action)

The ‘La Città Proibita’ title is as Italian as pizza. On the other hand, Hawaiian pizza arrived via a Greek in Canada. Similarly, kung fu doesn’t need Bruce Lee nor Hong Kong. It just needs a spaghetti thief with a sense of direction. That villain is Gabriele Mainetti.

Long ago, Mainetti was briefly famous for ‘They Call me Jeeg Robot’ (which I’m guilty of not seeing). He deserves attention for his latest… but he isn’t getting that love. That doesn’t make ‘The Forbidden City’ any less stylish, funny or fabulous, just the most underrated punch and kick gem of 2025.

9. Relay (USA, spy tech thriller)

Hacker movies are hit or miss affairs, and far too often a ridiculous sideshow requiring fast typing and a vivid progress bar. ‘Relay’ is thankfully closer to either edition of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ than Sandra Bullock’s ‘The Net’.

The plot isn’t as original as a hacker yet a few twists and moody cinematography make it a reliable small-folk-vs-corporate thriller. It helps that the solid yet-to-be famous David Mackenzie (‘Hell or High Water’) is at the helm, with actors Riz Ahmed, Sam Worthington and Lily Cinderella James for company.

10. Cells at Work! (Japan, comedy fantasy)

Everyone should watch the first short movie I shared on this website, ‘The Brave Heart’. It’s a comical lesson in us needing to take care of our bodies (especially on New Year’s Eve).

‘Cells at Work’ takes that further as an anime series but jumps bigger as a feature movie with human actors. It’s another foreign winner for Netflix, and another oddity from East Asia (yay!).

There’s a healthy daughter and an unhealthy Dad, but this trailer is all you need to know that this is, in addition to our example, the best way to educate our youth.

11. Deep Cover (UK action comedy)

I’m older now, so I doubt I would laugh if it were my first viewing of boobs glowing in ‘Top Secret’ (1984). I’m also old enough to be wrong.

I had labelled ‘Deep Cover’ as fluff to be skipped. Thankfully, a family member was depressed, and thus I prescribed him a dose of fluff and my company (but it wasn’t me who made him laugh).

‘Bonnie’, ‘Roach’ and ‘The Squire’ are unsuccessful improv actors and inept individuals who comically and accidentally become good at undercover work for the police.

It works because of the ensemble cast, and it’s especially nice to see Orlando Bloom taking a breather from his recent macho roles.

12. The Long Walk (USA, dystopian thriller)

It’s the year of Stephen King! He began with ‘The Life of Chuck’ and ‘The Monkey’. Those were followed with the remake of ‘The Running Man’ and the extension of ‘It’ into ‘Welcome to Derry’. ‘The Long Walk’ is another victory lap.

The story began as King’s first novel but was published much later under a pseudonym. It’s a dystopian thriller/horror about inequality and repression, as represented by the lead characters participating in an annual walk for which one will get a prize and the rest death. It’s about discovering what’s important, and that isn’t, necessarily, life.

13. ‘Roofman’ & ‘Lilo & Stitch’ (USA biopic and animation)

Both chockablock family wholesomeness. I’ll leave you with the trailers rather than my words ‘cause I’ve only got 9 minutes left until I post at midnight on New Year’s in South Africa.

No, I haven’t seen the new ‘Avatar’. I’m not brave enough to watch it during the holidays amongst teens with cellphones.

Looking forward to pop movies in 2027, we’ll climb a tree to visit new worlds. I’ve waited so long for my favourite childhood book to reach the screen that ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ may win my heart longer than dopamine. I’m hoping it skips the customary razor edge that seeks to simultaneously reach the adults and kids market, and instead aim for the sole delight of the little ones (and the little ones we used to be).

The winners of MIMA 2025, the imaginary Magical International Music Awards, will be posted on April 1, 2026. Same as last year, so that more independent award winners reach streaming services (for folks like me who don’t have flights to Cannes). Deep foreign drama, Western indie, and horror to come.

Emotionally, I’m in need of nostalgia. Consequently, thereafter, 2026 will focus on master directors and a countdown of classics from the 1990s. It’ll be challenging weighing ‘Audition’ vs ‘Fight Club’, and ‘Once Were Warriors’ vs ‘Three Colours Blue’ etc.

Maybe I keep going, into the 1980s and glowing boobs, so that I finally decide if ‘Die Hard’, ‘Decalogue’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ or ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ is my favourite.

No matter the coming stock crash, let’s live another year!

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As with mass killing everywhere, the majority don’t share the blame. Similarly, the hatred of Muslims in Myanmar is driven by politics. The average person seeks to feed their family and dares to dream of a better future.

‘Midwives’ enters a village where there was peace between Buddhists and Muslims, yet Buddhists are now forced to alienate Muslims lest they risk being killed as supporters of the 'enemy'. In this terrible situation, a Buddhist midwife is training a Muslim in her trade.

The documentary isn't a narration nor a Hollywood spectacle. It's a slow observation of silent desperation, the poor plight of women living with fear. It also shows the complicated relationship between the two women, so human in its contradictions.

I recommend watching as a double-feature with 'A Thousand Fires' which was released the same year. That shows the life of an impoverished, illegal oil mining family struggling to survive in the same country.

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Sally Hawkins won a bunch of statues and is a household name in the UK, but few Americans would recognise her beyond Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’.

Jim Broadbent may have received an Academy Award and BAFTA for his supporting roles in, respectively, ‘Iris’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’, both in 2001, but he’ll probably be known by kids for his lesser roles in the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Paddington’ series.

Mat Kirby directed music videos for Muse, Keane, Adele, Jamiroquai, and Basement Jaxx before winning an Oscar for this short movie that brought him, Jim and Sally together.

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Jehane Noujaim is famous for the Egyptian revolution documentary, 'The Square', one of my favourites, I was happy to finally find her earliest work, 'Solar Mama', which she co-directs with Mona Eldaief (who went on to produce ‘The Vow’ docuseries, about the NXIVM cult). 'Solar Mama' invaluably offers insight into a world I knew nothing about.

An NGO chooses 27 uneducated women from remote parts of the world to attend a 6-month training course at the Barefoot College in rural India, where they learn how to solder a circuit board for solar lights.

The unlikely heroine is Rafea Anad, a Bedouin living on a hellish landscape in Jordan near the border with Syria. Her community of 300 is unemployed. She's had 9 children, lives in a tent, has no electricity. She’s second wife to a loser husband who lives with his first wife. Nevertheless, the chauvinistic culture means that he makes her main decisions. If it were a fiction movie, he would be labelled 'The Enemy'. In reality, he's as pathetic as he's an opposer.

It's an interesting scenario juxtaposed with the joy the women, who cannot speak in each other's language, find in each other and self-empowerment.

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There's darkness in difficult places. We're drawn to it. Happy movies rarely win critical applause. Russian depression, German war movies and Asian family struggles are more likely to accomplish that.

Below the USA, nothing's darker than Argentina's 'Embrace of the Serpent'. Mexico gave us director Guillermo del Toro who, early on, delivered the 'The Devil's Backbone' in his home language.

'Tigers Are Not Afraid' may not have the big budget, but reminds me of Del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth'. Fantasy is used as a tool by children to cope with living in violence. 'Tigers' teaches us about the horror of reality.

As extra encouragement, note that director Issa López wrote and directed the fourth season of ‘True Detective’.

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Not since a dying Freddie Mercury sang, "The show must go on," has that line had as much meaning as it does in the documentary 'Young at Heart.'

Young at Heart is the name for an annual musical featuring a cast whose average age is 80, and eldest is 92. These fans of reserved music (such as classical and opera) are voluntarily pushed out of their comfort zones to where they sing rock and punk from bands such as The Ramones and Johnny Cash.

The documentary follows their rehearsals for the new show, and their battles to come to grips with James Brown's 'I Got You (I Feel Good)' and Coldplay's 'Fix You'.

The greatest threat to their preparation is age and sickness (cancer, pneumonia etc.). They joke over how two members had being read their last rites. When another is asked if she saw a bright light when she almost died, she laughingly throws the comeback, "No, I refused to look."

There's a blood transfusion, an oxygen tank, hospitalization and death. None of that defeats the goal of living the best you can as much as you can. ‘Young at Heart’ is very much about life.

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Aaron Sorkin created two of my top 10 series, 'West Wing' and 'Newsroom'. They were word rich for the intelligent viewer. The long gap left by their departure has never been filled, but he delivered treats in 2020.

After 13 years, the cast of 'West Wing' returned for a one-hour special to encourage people to vote in the USA election. Their motivation never interested me, just that my friends' had returned.

The special was shot in a theatre. Despite occasional advertising interruptions from warmongers like Bill Clinton, I was hooked by 'President Martin Sheen' as he played chess with his wonderful staff.

The opening theme music made for watery eyes, underlining how important a soundtrack is, and the impact 'West Wing' had on me. It was more than fiction. It was fiction wanting to become the hope of reality.

That Sorkin released a biopic the same week almost made me believe in birthdays.

'The Trial of the Chicago 7' immediately introduced itself with rapid dialogue introducing the ensemble cast, soon-to-be charged activists against the Vietnam War. A lot of actors I didn't know, but all good, their characters well-developed.

Verbally rich throughout, gravity razored by humour. Loved it!

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As bonus, watch ‘The Answers’ one of favourite shorts.

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I ironically found Director Yôjirô Takita's highly rated 'When the Last Sword is Drawn' to be average. So, to my misfortune, I was many years late to see his better 'Departures'.

A failed cellist moves back to his small hometown where he reluctantly gets a job with a niche funeral business that publicly prepares the bodies of the dead for their departure.

Someone isn't a body, but the body is the image that represents them. Thus, I'd rather remember them healthy than as a face that's been run over by a truck tyre.

Considering that most people don't know how to let-go, the caring preparation of a corpse is practical when it’s part of an intimate and lengthy goodbye.

Though ‘Departures’ would have been stronger without occasional overacting, it's a decent movie that went on to win many awards.

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Despite his successes, his finest moment is simply being the voice for Ralph, a rabbit explain his job as a laboratory test subject for cosmetics.

BONUS: ‘I LOVE SARAH JANE’

‘Save Ralph’ director Spencer Susser made the effective short, 2010 zombie movie, ‘I Love Sarah Jane’, featuring then 17-year-old Mia Wasikowska (‘Stoker’, ‘Alice in Wonderland’).

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‘The Lost Bus’ is Director Paul Greengrass’ tenth hit this century. He’s most known for teaming up with Matt Damon for the excellent Jason Bourne movies. However, his biopics interest me more.

Greengrass exploded in 2002 with the ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ massacre of the Irish by the British. He aimed for the sky with ‘United 93’, and went to sea with ‘Captain Phillips’. ‘Utoya’, also known as ‘22 July’, was about the terrorist attack in Norway which killed 77.

‘The Lost Bus’ is a desperation drama, a survival story set during California’s 2018 Camp Fire which left 88 dead and caused over $16 billion damage. A bus driver (Matthew McConaughey) and a teacher (America Ferrara) had a bunch of kids to protect.

If you don’t know the story, then I’m not going to spoil it for you. Watch it!

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