As the blockbuster summer season is just coming to an end at the cinema, I’m back to review my favourites (and not so favourite) from the middle of 2025.
So far, there’s been no standout feature (I might find it difficult to choose my top 10 of the year so far…) but the super-hero features are proving much better than in recent years. The return of The Fantastic Four and Superman (see below) bode well for a genre that has been stagnating. Likewise, monster flicks are proving to be challenging again (beyond usual jump scares and gratuitous gore) based on Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. The same can’t be said for the unfortunate resurrection of Jurassic World…
Below are my top 4 films from the year’s mid-point. If you missed my start of year review, please click here.
SINNERS: Coogler’s Period Vampire Movie Has Blues, Brawn, and Bite.
Director: Ryan Coogler / Screenplay: Ryan Coogler.
It’s difficult to find a new way to tell a genre story as old and hackneyed as the vampire movie, but Ryan Coogler’s Sinners takes a bold stab at it. Sinking its teeth into its period setting – the 1930’s Mississippi Delta – the director-writer’s latest work is a provocative, purposeful reinvention that leaves Robert Eggers’ recent Nosferatu remake in the dust.
In 1932, after a long night out, Sammie ‘Preacher Boy’ Moore (Miles Caton) enters his father’s church bloodied, scarred and holding the shattered remnants of his guitar. As the sun had set on the day before, the aspiring musician was given the opportunity to play his breakout gig at a new juke joint run by identical twins Elias “Smoke” and “Stack” Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan). Known for their juxtaposed temperaments and shared tumultuous pasts – war, crime, and broken hearts – they have big plans for their boisterous blues-and-booze venue. As their opening night starts to liven up, it draws a different kind of trouble– one with the devil on its back…
Initially, Sinners masquerades as a different genre altogether. Immersing the viewer in the richly recreated period details and heavy Delta blues score (another collaboration with composer Ludwig Göransson after the Black Panther movies), Coogler’s film could be mistaken for a tense thriller that drops us into the early twentieth-century American South. Caton, a R&B singer in his acting debut, captures believably a young man pulled between his family’s propriety and the wayward influences of the Moore twins. Jordan is also distinct enough in the dual performances (presented seamlessly onscreen) to maintain Smoke’s steadiness and Stack’s cocky nature. He looks as debonair in the flashy suits as any Peaky Blinder but offers hints at the war trauma underneath both brothers.
But it’s not only war trauma. Coogler also shows the conflict on American soil – the severe racial divides – to which the Blues has often represented reflection and salve. Intergenerational trauma and the celebration of survival, illuminated in the film’s most memorable sequence on the juke’s dance floor – where the music’s past, present, and future intermingle – percolates throughout.
And then, the abrupt leap into horror. It’s an admittedly awkward move while trying to retain the period’s problems, prejudices and particularities with this new vampirism and attendant mysticism (ironically, the vampires are equal opportunity ‘biters’ offering Faustian salvation and retribution to an embattled community). The slow, inevitable grind to a shoot-out-and-stakes showdown is tense. When it arrives, Sinners goes unsparingly into the gore, ending in a blood-soaked, fiery climax. The committed, condemned cast are great for their lived-in grit, especially Delroy Lindo as the no-nonsense pianist ‘Delta Slim’, whose wise cracks give needed comic relief.
Coogler ensures that Sinners teeters on the line between palpitating and poignant even though a vampire movie is going to have predictable beats and tropes. Unwieldy, unnecessary, schlocky at times? Sure. But with enough bite and brawn, Sinners proves even the most overdone monster movie can still draw fresh blood.
My Verdict // ★★★★☆
Where to Watch: Sinners can be watched on Apple TV and Amazon Prime now.
28 YEARS LATER: Boyle Brings the Uncanny Back from the Dead In Unconventional Threequel.
Director: Danny Boyle / Screenplay: Alex Garland.
23 years ago, Cillian Murphy stumbling through a deserted London became one of horror cinema’s indelible images. Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002) turned sprinting ‘zombies’ loose on a pandemic-stricken England, and in the decades since it has achieved cult status.
But returning to Boyle’s debut film today, you will also be struck by the uncanny aesthetics of its post-apocalyptic vision: a mass grave piled into the aisles of a church; a classic black city cab riding across damp countryside and abandoned motorways; the London skyline blurring into our protagonists’ brief moments of reprieve. The digital camerawork might provide a (now degraded and blurry) ‘ground zero’ vantage but Boyle proved that not only could he make our heart race with the unexpected jolts of gory action but also create visuals that haunt.
It is this uncanniness that the filmmaker raises again in his three-quel 28 Years Later (the cult classic spawned a middling sequel in 2007). Although this time the feeling is more deliberate and, perhaps, more uneven. Set (obviously) thirty years after the initial outbreak, Britain remains quarantined to the outside world. The virus has rendered those infected into mindless, ravaging ‘animals’ and a natural food-chain is emerging (Boyle and returning writer Alex Garland fleshing out their lore slightly). Young Spike (Alfie Williams) lives with his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and ailing mother (Jodie Comer) within a safe island enclave collective. Having reached the right age, he is about to head off for a rite-of-passage bloodletting on the mainland. Geared up and guided by his father, he endures his first encounters with the hungry infected. But when he finds a way to help his mother further inland, he decides to launch a mission of his own.
It’s an odd, tonally jarring movie: almost as if three separate genres have been stitched together. After its first third establishes a hardy rural community with the domestic problems of Spike’s home in an almost social-realist style, the second third is a standard survivalist thriller-adventure featuring a parent-child bonding arc not unlike HBO’s The Last of Us (2023). Williams (giving an admirable debut of fear and pluckiness) and Taylor-Johnson create believable friction in this uneasy relationship, while also escaping whole forests of gut-guzzling ‘zombies’ in intense, intimate action scenes. Boyle and Garland shift the film into the full-on ‘weird’ for its third act. 28 Years Later transforms into a surreal meditation on grief and death, featuring a bizarre temple of towering bones and an iodine-dyed Ralph Fiennes in a Kurtz-lite role.
Williams stays grounded across these genre jumps, sometimes traipsing around with a bleary-eyed Comer (a waste of her talents, frankly), but it doesn’t quite take the edge off the growing eccentricities along the way (one of which include a distracting ‘Alpha’-zombie with- ahem- 28 inches later). Yet, to its credit, 28 Years Later does linger with you, leaving a lasting impression of a bleak world reclaimed by ungovernable natural forces and tragic absurdism. And, considering Nia DaCosta’s follow-up early next year (set up at the end of this movie with sheer bizarreness), we won’t have to wait another three decades to get back to it.
My Verdict // ★★★★☆
Where to Watch: 28 Years Later can be watched on Apple TV and Amazon Prime now.
YOUNG HEARTS: An Endearing Exploration of Denial and Discovery.
Director: Anthony Schatteman / Screenplay: Anthony Schatteman.
Elias (Lou Goossens) is on the cusp of full adolescent life. He’s surrounded by friends, including his first girlfriend, and his family is getting recognition for his father’s cheesy new song. However, this apparent idyll is about to come apart when Alexander (Marius De Saegar) – a boy his own age- becomes his neighbour. By degrees, Elias finds himself conflicted. He is drawn to this boy next door but realises how much this will upset his settled life. What happens next is a journey of self-discovery which he finds difficult to cope with.
Anthony Schatteman’s debut feature is a predictable but extremely endearing depiction of coming-of-age while also coming-out. However, early scenes draw distracting comparisons with Lukas Dhonts’ Close (2022), which devastatingly depicted the trials and tribulations of male sensitivity on adolescence’s edge. Wistful scenes of bicycle rides across sun-dappled fields in the background are just too close to ignore.
Fortunately, Young Hearts’ overall tone becomes markedly different: it’s softer, gentler and happier, ultimately. Schatteman subtly catches that the difficulties of self-discovery can be due to a lack of exposure to ‘difference’, portrayed here in Elias’ home life. From his father’s vain crooner career (which, ironically, depicts love’s shallowest presentation) creating strained family relations to the lack of sexual diversity among friends and family, it’s strongly suggested Elias has been surrounded by a suburban world of heterosexual expectation. Schatteman tries to wedge in contrast carefully. He highlights not only the safety of Elias’ grandfather’s farm but also Alexander’s uncle’s cabaret club, where the young man is briefly both at ease and beguiled. The importance of these safe spaces and exposure to difference are underscored in a considered, organic way.
The experiences are rendered beautifully by a blessed cast. Goossens gives a wonderfully expressive performance, even when he’s not delivering dialogue. His back-and-forth struggles with joy, pain and growing relationship with De Saegar feel genuine and heartfelt. Emile de Roo and Dirk Van Dijck provide the quiet, embracing watchfulness and wisdom as Elias’ mother and grandfather (a truly sweet performance from the latter actor). Any humour comes from Geert Van Rampelberg’s self-obsessive father, whose one-track mind about his ‘latest viral single’ makes him an obvious figure of ridicule and contempt.
Young Hearts takes its place with a recent series of films that depict the burgeoning experience of love and sexuality that continues to defy demeaning, limiting conventions on queer cinema. As such, Schatteman’s first feature is so moving and uplifting that it leaves a warm glow in the chest.
My Verdict // ★★★★☆
Where to Watch: Young Hearts will be available to watch soon.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR – FIRST STEPS: Despite Franchise Fatigue, Marvel’s Latest Entry Finds Its Feet.
Director: Matt Shakman / Screenplay: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer.
Well, here we are again and for two reasons. First: the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) trundles on (into Phase…who’s counting anymore?) with yet another introduction of yet another heroic team (after Eternals, The Marvels and Thunderbolts* in the last five years). Second: this is the third outing of the blue-clad clan after the campy cringe from the mid-2000s and the dour slog of 2015’s unfortunate remake. So, how does this once-a-decade revival of The Fantastic Four fare against franchise fatigue and diminishing returns?
Pithily put – it’s fantastic. Matt Shakman’s movie is surprisingly ‘baggage-free’ for a Marvel outing (no need to watch three preceding movies and two Disney+ series to understand this entry), and First Steps is the most fun I’ve had with this franchise for quite a while. Keeping events and characters strictly to an alternate Earth, the eponymous heroes (Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are the first planet-saving celebrities. A close and clean-living team, their popularity has grown from that first fateful space expedition to all manner of earth-ending threats and scientific endeavours. But now they face two crises at the same time: a silver surfing alien (Julia Garner) heralding the arrival of cosmic, planet-consuming entity Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and a small bundle of joy that could change everything.
From Kasra Farahani’s striking retro-futuristic production design (so mid-century futurist it’s almost The Jetsons in live-action) to composer Michael Giacchino’s catchy orchestral score (riffing cheekily from Beethoven’s Fifth), First Steps is infectiously utopian and upbeat. The whizzing, optimistic energy propels you into an adventure set in a vibrantly established world where the heroes’ origins are quickly explained and we can get on with the story. While the repeated 60s multi-panelled montage sequences eventually become tedious – serving as shortcuts for the plot despite its near two-hour runtime- they still retain nostalgic charm. However, the breezy pace skips through the plot’s classic ‘trolley’ problem dilemma and climaxes with an underwhelming ‘Galac-zilla’ stomping across Manhattan. Dare I say it, but perhaps The Fantastic Four could have been a good candidate for one of those Disney+ shows…
I certainly would have liked to spend more time with the delightful new cast. There isn’t enough of the brotherly cajoling between Quinn and Moss-Bachrach but what we get brings the gentle, mocking humour familiar to this friendly rivalry. More serious is Pascal’s nerdy, slightly guilt-ridden, Reed and an authoritative performance from Kirby as Susan. There are many more scenes of family-focused bliss and strife that, I believe, was missing from those previous interpretations of the characters. It feels a little like a live-action version of The Incredibles (2004) – though, of course, it’s really Pixar who owed a debt to this source material. Despite its fizz, Shakman keeps the family’s drama grounded in quieter moments, and the film is much stronger for it.
Overall, the jokes land, and the emotional arcs of the four stand up. I’ve always had a soft spot for these heroes due to the 90s animated television series and, unlike the former adaptations, this brings back fond memories. Shakman’s movie is not a stumble, and not a cautious step – but the confident stride that The Fantastic Four has always deserved.
My Verdict // ★★★★☆
Where to Watch: The Fantastic Four – First Steps will be available to watch soon on Disney+.
And here are some notable mentions. Be prepared for some doozies..
Lilo & Stitch (Dir. Dean Fleischer Camp , Screenplay. Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, Mike Van Waes- based on the 2002 animated movie of the same name): Another year, another Disney live-action remake. This time it’s 2002’s beloved adventure Lilo & Stitch, featuring a toothy blue alien that crashes into the lives of a Hawaiian family barely holding itself together. While the glossy, off-putting computer-animated sequences and characters in space undermines the case for re-envisioning this movie (what’s the point when you have the lovingly animated 2D version?), the Earth-based drama that’s actually in live-action is better. Standout star Maia Keaoloha brings Lilo’s spiky and quirky sides to life and she jostles entertainingly with a fraught Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as her older sister Nani. Some alterations and character swaps in Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes’ screenplay work better than they did in the original, although the expansion of the ‘ohana’ mantra to the local neighbourhood undercuts the film’s jeopardy. This is a fun, feel-good, but ultimately unnecessary remake. My Verdict // ★★★☆☆
Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Dir. Christopher McQuarrie, Screenplay. Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jedrensen): Tom Cruise returns as the most important man who ever lived. Harbinger and saviour, the feats of the ever disavowed, ever rogue IMF agent Ethan Hunt puts the likes of Genghis Khan, J.Robert Oppenheimer, Mahatma Gandhi and Jesus Christ to shame. All those impossible missions have led to this: a showdown with an AI programme called ‘the Entity’ that is determined to destroy humanity with nuclear Armageddon. Hunt must prevent this from happening in the blink of an eye (literally, this is in the plot). A ‘final’ instalment so bad, so grandiose, so indulgent that it might just be great. The script from the franchise’s veteran writer-director Christopher McQuarrie alternates between expositions of the razor-edge, high-octane series of steps and sequences that Ethan must complete down to the last millisecond (a typical, if tedious, trope of this franchise, but on steroids here) and characters (sycophants old and new in Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, and Pom Klementieff) telling us how important Ethan is to the planet’s fate. And don’t worry – if you nod off, flashbacks to information given just ten minutes before will be provided. Cruise cruises through the impossibility, sometimes just in tight black trunks (for plot reasons or perhaps doing his bit for middle-aged male body positivity). In fairness, a climactic sequence where the lead actor-cum-daredevil-stuntman scrambles around on a biplane thousands of feet in the air is tense and bewildering for its tangible realness, even with Esai Morales’ hilarious ‘the-world-will-be-mine!’ villain bedevilling Ethan from the cockpit. Unless you’re a committed fan of this long-running series (and don’t worry about the film’s title, if Tom’s back holds out, rest assured he’ll return for more in a few years), this finale reckons mostly with the audience’s suspension of disbelief. My Verdict // ★★☆☆☆
Tornado (Dir. John Maclean, Screenplay. John Maclean): Set on the brutish Scottish Highlands in the late 1700s, a young Japanese woman (Kōki) is chased by a cruel band of cutthroats. Led by the nasty Sugarman (Tim Roth), she must face down her foes if she wants to survive – and keep the gold they are after. Jack Maclean’s blackly comic, bluntly violent drama pays homage to directors Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, and Kenji Misumi (director of 1972’s Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance). Consciously evoking the ‘Spaghetti Western’ genre and it’s spiritual Japanese samurai film sources, Maclean leans heavy on style over story with evocative silhouettes, dramatic close-ups, and characters whose vision stops at the frame’s edge. Kōki is terrific as the nameless protagonist (known only by her stage-name ‘Tornado’) as she sheds petulance, ambivalence and fear to become a laconic, katana-wielding killer. Roth is also entertaining as the ruthless gang leader, delivering a sociopath who sees himself as a social worker (‘You and I keep this land from going to the dogs’ he remarks to the gang member’s corpse he just dispatched). Much like A Fistful of Dollars (1964) (the plot of which Leone infamously stole from Kurosawa’s 1961 movie Yojimbo) led to a cult movie series, Tornado could be the beginning of a new on-screen legend. But, for its lack of substance, it could just be swept away on the wind. My Verdict // ★★★☆☆
Hot Milk (Dir. Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Screenplay. Rebecca Lenkiewicz – based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Deborah Levy): Set in the baking sun of Almería, Spain, daughter Sofia (Emma Mackey) and mother Rose (Fiona Shaw) have travelled to see a reputable physician to treat Rose’s deteriorating body. As the two struggle to live together – Sofia feeling constrained by her carer role – the daughter finds escape through a summer tryst with the enigmatic Ingrid (Vicky Krieps). As Sofia is soon caught between bitterness and yearning, it leads to a confrontation that reveals much about her mother’s troubled past and her present illness. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel is uncomfortable and dispiriting. Scenes of Sofia’s desperate life are cut sharply, structuring the film into a series of unresolved, jagged slices with an atmosphere that is so stifling, it can be unnerving. Both women are a hot mess: filled with confusion, resentment, self-delusion and despair. The highlights here are Mackey and Shaw’s brilliant performances that render the characters’ tortured psychologies sympathetic – especially Shaw with her evasive charm and suspect grief. However, Hot Milk jerks around too much and it can be difficult to understand – or care – where it’s going. Even the climactic boiling point, powered by the actors’ terrific performances, can’t rescue a film that ultimately sours. My Verdict // ★★★☆☆
Jurassic World – Rebirth (Dir. Gareth Edwards, Screenplay. David Koepp): I blame myself. After stating that after Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) I would refuse to see another one of these dino-disaster flicks, I nevertheless went to see Gareth Edwards’ franchise reboot. A few years on from Dominion, the dinosaurs are dying out (again) and mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) is hired by shady corporate interests to travel to one of the ‘Jurassic’ islands. Joined by bespectacled hunk Prof. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and her mercenary mate Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), they must locate three dinos – of sea, air, and land- to cure human heart disease. Early scenes have an unsubtle meta-subtext about dinosaurs becoming banal to the public (after five sequels with degrading quality are we surprised?) but Edwards’ uninspired direction and David Koepp’s mediocre screenplay do nothing to reignite any awe (not even replaying John Williams’ iconic theme works here). While not as genre free-wheeling as its predecessor, this latest movie is still the same dull, perplexing thriller that features even bigger CG monstrosities, loosely classified as ‘dinosaurs’. Despite the credit’s blood-lit logo after an ominous cold opening scene (an Alien-style containment kill caused- I kid you not- by a chocolate wrapper), Edwards and Koepp just deliver what has become the Jurassic Park/World movie blueprint: where unfortunate (or stupid) people attempt to escape a jungle island while trying to avoid becoming lunch. ‘Survival is a long shot’ Bailey’s character remarks in a forced spirited moment – well, not so in Jurassic World: Rebirth. You’ll be able to guess who survives and who gets munched quite quickly, though the threat remains in mild mode to get the 12A age-rating. The stereotypical characters are thankless roles for the cast, although the film makes sure you know Johansson and her band of ‘hardened’ mercenaries have heart. And, never leaving a Jurassic World trope to go extinct, the filmmakers insist that you really like the usual pointless, hapless family caught in the middle of it all – so much so, child actor Audrina Miranda adopts a cutesy (non-bitey) dino primed for merchandising. Fool me once… My Verdict // ★★☆☆☆
Superman (Dir. James Gunn, Screenplay. James Gunn): New DC Studios head honcho James Gunn delivers a very fun, super-sized, reimagining of one of cinema’s most iconic super-heroes. Relegating his origin story to an opening crawl, Superman (David Corenswet) is coping with his first major defeat. As his personal life, geopolitics and schemes of the megalomaniacal Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) start to stack up against him, Superman must confront this maelstrom to save his heroic reputation, relationship with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and, seemingly, the world. Gunn brings a vibrant vision in this new version that couldn’t be more at odds with the last reboot from Zack Synder: 2013’s grubby-looking, bombastic Man of Steel. But it threatens to become overstuffed by the increasing number of wacky tangents, crazed characters, and clunky political messaging (including an explicit response to Israel’s assault on Gaza). It’s also an uninspiring recycling of Gunn’s characteristic style for Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy (2014-2023) and The Suicide Squad (2021), where revolving 360 degree fight sequences are soundtracked to needle-drops and sentimental moments are undercut with bathetic humour. Yet, Superman remains just about coherent despite its unwieldy shifting tone from serious to sentimental to just silly. Admirably adorning the cape, Corenswet delivers the mumbling introversion of Clark and Superman’s forthright heroism, distinct enough from both Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill. He creates believable vulnerability and unexpected hubris in his performance. Brosnahan gets to be the probing, intrepid version of Lane that managed to evade Margot Kidder (post-Superman II) or Amy Adams (during the whole Synder-verse tenure) when they assumed the role. Meanwhile, Hoult brings the right balance of intensity and campiness for Superman’s classic bald nemesis (reimagined here as social media mogul and crude nativist but without funny wigs). Hell, even the super naughty CG mutt Krypto works. Superman is a swooping, soaring ride that is enjoyable for being high on heady optimism (rescoring John Williams’ original fanfare theme helps, of course). Nothing – not even a squirrel – was hurt in the making of this movie. My Verdict // ★★★☆☆
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