Honorable Mention - The Long Walk
This movie could have made the top ten if it wasn't for the final season that annoyed me and tainted the movie. Great points of view on the world given throughout the movie and a very simple concept that was done in a great storytelling way.
10 - The Fantastic Four: First Steps
I feel as if ultimately this movie will end up being defined by how the characters are portrayed moving forward in the MCU. But that being said - I loved that this wasn't the third attempt at an origin story. I loved the cast. I am also very excited to see what's to come from them. This was Marvel feeling like Marvel again and hopefully that continues.
9 - The Unbreakable Boy
I usually have zero patience for the faith and religious type movies. I don't know if they are just being done better or if I'm in need of more hope as I get older and the world gets crazier but this movie grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go.
8 - Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Yes I absolutely wish these movies could come down closer to 2 hours than 3 but I have loved this franchise from day one and this "final" entry was no different. The action and stunts are always out of control and the growing "family" feelings with the returning characters are awesome.
7 - Thunderbolts
I know I said that Fantastic Four was Marvel feeling like Marvel again but this movie captured that even more after a couple years of them treading water pretty much. I loved everything about this - the cast, the connections and the adding of mental health stuff really humanized the heroes in a way that had not been done before.
6 - How To Train Your Dragon
The original is one of my favorite movies of all time and might honestly be my number one animated movie of all time. This live action remake was perfectly done. It was actually almost too perfectly done because they really didn't change or add anything. That would be the only knock I would make against it.
5 - Roofman
Never in a million years did I think this movie would end up on this list. This was very much the movie that I saw the trailer for before every movie and just needed the movie to come out so that I could stop seeing it. Yet the movie ended up feeling like one of the most genuine and down to earth movies I saw all year. Like it made you connect with the characters and very invested in their journeys.
4 - Lilo & Stitch
The second of two live action remakes on the list. Like the previous one - Lilo & Stitch is a massively important movie to me and they did an EXCELLENT job of turning it into live action along with some tweaks throughout that also worked incredibly which usually doesn't happen. All of the same emotions were conveyed and hit just as great.
3 - One Battle After Another
This is the movie that I think will be winning a ton of 2025 awards and rightfully so. It was great acting and really great storytelling with intersecting characters and stories at different times and over a long period of time. That is all very very impressive.
2 - Weapons
It's very rare that a scary or horror movie can hit me or stick with me like this one did. The marketing was awesome and I fully expected it to make the movie fail. But then the movie ended up being much more than the trailers weirdness. It had a ton of creepy as hell moments and the way of telling the story from multiple different angles and showing how they connect just before changing the point of view again was awesome. And any time that there is a movie that when the bad guy gets what is coming to them in a super violent and gross way that the audience is just out loud cheering and clapping - you have managed to fully engross your audience for sure.
1 - F1
I was stunned at how much I loved this movie. It was pretty much formula in every possible way but like it worked so well. This movie felt like a massive throwback to late 80s and early 90s movies that made me fall in love with going to the movies in the first place. Like you just locked in for two hours and enjoyed the ride.
