At the start of 2025, I set a challenge for myself to watch 50 movies I hadn't seen before. I'd realized at the end of 2024 that I didn't watch a lot of movies, and most of them were ones I'd already seen, so I thought this would be a fun way to expand my horizons and experience some new things.

This is a list of all the movies, as well as what I wrote after watching. Some of them have one or two sentences, some of them have a paragraph, it all depends on what I felt like writing at the time. Also I included pictures to make the blog post not just a giant wall of text. 

There's a wide variety of quality and types of movies, and I think it was really fun to set time aside to reach that goal throughout the year!

THE MOVIES

Nosferatu: It was neat! Some parts felt slow and the random sparse jumpscares were a little bit annoying but I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact that Nosferatu bought a house so he could get some pussy and then he died

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: Absolute peak. I was a little worried a new Wallace and Gromit movie wouldn't be as good after all these years, but it was fantastic. I was also worried that bringing back Feathers McGraw was just going to be nostalgia bait, and then it was great!

Blazing Saddles: Yeah i thought it was okay! I think this might be my least favourite Mel Brooks film I’ve seen but it was fun.

The Raking (2017): Horrible movie about the Rake from creepypasta fame. I love that the Rake sounded like a Star Wars creature and how the goth girl considered overdosing on what were VERY clearly vitamin bottles and how bizarrely horny the whole movie was. There were POV shots from the Rake's perspective that had a filter on it. The Rake had Rake vision. Horrible. Lots of fun

The Rake (2018): Yeah I did a fucking Shitty Rake Movie Double Feature. This one was god awful boring. It felt like nothing happened despite a lot happening. The Rake has boobs in one scene which was only slightly less notable than the Rake abortion fetus. I swear neither of these movies know what the Rake is. Also I think this one was pro-life 

American Psycho: It was fun. It was unexpectedly funny at some parts. I love that Patrick Bateman just kept asking people what they thought of different music. 

Dog Man: Watched it cuz the animation looked really fun, but I think it was just too much of a kids movie for me. There's lots I could complain about but the target audience is people less than half my age so I'm not gonna be that guy 

The Wild Robot: Ohhh my god, way way better than I expected. There were way more moments that I almost cried than I anticipated. Also good lord is it pretty looking.

The Monkey: It was a lot of fun, though I get a little stressed by movies where people die in creatively gruesome random ways. Makes me hyperaware of how fragile my body is and how many pointy objects are all over the place 

Mickey 17: Really really good, really really fun. Felt to me like it was largely about how dehumanizing our current society and systems are. Really funny at times too. I will say though I felt they didn't explore the cloning thing enough, and also when the whole colony was full of the leader's supporters everything shouldn't have just been fixed by killing him 

Ghost in the Shell: Finally watched this movie!! Really cool! While it's a little more simple than I expected, it's so obvious why it's such an influential movie.

A Minecraft Movie: It was... fine I guess? It could have been a lot worse, and honestly I kinda fucked with everything being ugly hyperrealistic stuff cuz it reminded me of those early 2010s “Minecraft In Real Life” videos. There were a few lines at the end from the evil pig lady that made me a bit mad because it felt like it was ALMOST saying something about creativity and if they leaned into that more there could have been SOMETHING to the movie.

A Fistful of Dollars: It was good, though I don't know if old timey westerns are really my thing. It was nice to try something different though. I've heard the others in the trilogy are better, so maybe one day I'll check them out.

Sonic the Hedgehog OVA: Really cool and really good animation! The setting was sick as hell too.

The Electric State: I loved Simon Stålenhag's art a lot during my late teens and was pleasantly surprised to discover there was a movie based on it. Was much less pleasantly surprised to discover the movie was kinda shit. Very bog standard sci fi action movie. When I look at Simon Stålenhag's art I don't hear an upbeat orchestral rendition of Don't Stop Believin'. Apparently there was also a show a few years ago that has better reviews, so I might have to check that out.

Nothing But Trouble: I think Chevy Chase was actually in hell 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Heartbreaking and often nightmarish. Feels just absolutely doomed from the start. Really dug up my fears of forgetting important things. Also good lord between this and the Truman Show I really wish Jim Carrey got to have more dramatic roles.

Interstellar: Another already released movie I'd been meaning to watch for a while. I really enjoyed it, really tense and heartbreaking and has some spectacular outer space visuals. Wanna watch it again one day.

Sinners: This movie fucking rules. Ended up being totally different than I expected. That one music scene might be the coolest shit I've seen all year.

The Prestige: Damn! That was cool as hell, really wasn't sure what to expect with this one. Really captivating and really well done.

The Mask: It was... Fine? I actually expected it to be better. Out of all the movies I've seen this year purely cuz I know they're well known, this was probably by far the weakest. I dunno! Everyone else seems to love it, but I kinda wasn't a huge fan.

Father's Day (1997): An okay comedy movie starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams that I honestly expected to be better based on the cast? But it was alright, not the worst thing I've seen this year.

Krull: This movie kinda sucks and kinda fucks. Absolute delight.

The Abyss (Special Edition): phew that was a long one!! But it was really good. Not quite the direction I thought it would go, but god was it a tense and atmospheric movie.

Robocop: Banger of a movie. Serious but also silly at times, but not in a way that ruins the seriousness? Really impressive how well they balanced that 

Happy Gilmore: I wonder how much of this movie's budget was provided by Subway

Superman: A good live action superhero movie? In 2025? From DC? Its more likely than you think.

Poltergeist: I can't believe I hadn't seen this before! What an incredibly cool horror movie, and some absolutely spectacular practical effects on display. I first saw the scene with the clown as a kid in some youtube video and it scared the shit out of me, so there was a little bit of background dread just waiting for that moment every time the clown doll was on screen.

Happy Gilmore 2: whole reason i watched the first movie was cuz i was gonna do a miserable double feature but changed my mind. But i watched the second anyways a few days later. Where was the subway

Lost Highway: I saw the party scene with the mystery man YEARS ago, and going into this that was the only thing I knew about it. I thought it was a one off thing, so when this guy I was familiar with starts showing up again it was eerie as hell. I still don't entirely know what happened, but it's clear the events aren't exactly what happened, and I think Fred spasming with sparks flying at the end of the movie is probably him dying in the electric chair. 

Weapons: God damn what a fantastic horror film. Cool as hell and deeply confusing and unnerving. I'm very happy with what little answers we got and the fact that we didn't get more. The whole scenario feels like the plot of a nightmare I'd have. Also noticed a few references to parasites in the background... interesting... 

War of the Worlds (2025): Imagine a movie all about technology that has no idea how any technology works, an alien movie that seems to keep forgetting its an alien movie, an adaptation of a story that seemingly has no idea what the story is about. I really wish the bugs did backflips. 

The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot: Why in the god damn was this actually kind of good? What the fuck? Why was this good???? Why was this a good movie????? Why is a movie titled The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot the first thing I’ve seen that suggests the idea that killing Hitler accomplished nothing because his horrible ideas live on today and he had done too much damage by then?????

The Naked Gun: Didn't have high hopes going in, but it was actually really good! Definitely captured the kind of dumb comedy of the originals. It's been way too long since we've had comedies movies that are primarily comedy instead of primarily action or romance or something. The driving scene with the balloons and the bees was genuinely genius. The snowman scene was fantastic.

Mulholland Drive: Going into David Lynch movies without any clue what they're about might be one of my new favourite things. Movie full of slowly increasing dread, and the final half an hour was just so deeply uncomfortable. I feel like a lot was surprisingly self explanatory by the end but I wanna know what was up with that old couple. When the Cowboy walked across the hall in the background of the party scene I actually froze.

The Matrix: Neat! The technology in the real world was sick as hell. When Agent Smith got chopped in the throat I had to pause and find the edit where he just keeps getting chopped in the throat 

Pinocchio (2022): I'm surprised it took me so long to get around to watching this! It was such a delight, really good watch for a cozy autumn afternoon... 

The Bad Guys 2: Like the first, fucking awesome animation, and I felt like the story was better than the first. Just a good, solid, fun movie. Pretty good action scenes too! 

Casper: A Spirited Beginning: A movie I first learned about as a very little kid from the trailers on the VHS for the original live action Casper movie. I suddenly remembered the scary red skeleton train one night and decided to watch this movie just out of morbid curiosity. Casper's barely in it, and the ghost lore is very inconsistent. It's mostly about watching a kid get neglected by his abusive father while his overfamiliar teacher crosses boundaries and tries to slowly manipulate him into joining her political activism. She's actively taking advantage of the fact that the kid's father is barely around. There are no redeeming qualities to the father. Early in the movie the kid eats breakfast and its shown on screen for like 1 second before cutting and his breakfast is a fucking bowl of root beer with frosted flakes and a wholeass donut floating in it?! Later on the kid runs away and ends up locked in a closet overnight in abandoned house that has an explosive in it and his father doesn't even finish reading the kid's runaway note. In fact the father is the one who authorized the explosive in the first place. Michael McKean shoots a mouse with a gun. Harrowing.

Good Boy: Ohhhh my god what a cool fucking movie holy shit. Brilliant cinematography, and the most talented dog actor I've seen in my life. Tense, cool as fuck, and heartbreaking. 

No One Will Save You: Cool alien horror! I've been thinking a lot about how much potential there is in classic grey alien horror, because some of those alien abduction stories are genuinely pretty freaky. This really hits what I was looking for. I also watched this right after the first episode of Pluribus which ended up being a way more thematically fitting double feature than I expected?

This Is Spinal Tap: God no wonder people still love this movie. So many jokes kept catching me off guard. Absolutely ridiculous.

Five Nights At Freddy's 2: Yeah

Wake Up Dead Man: God damn, this might be my favourite Benoit Blanc movie. Another fantastic murder mystery, just a joy to watch. 

Home Alone 4: The beloved fourth entry to the Back To The Future franchise, a film in which every character seems to be lying about their identities. This is the second Five Nights At Freddy's movie I've seen this month. Kevin spoke in loud as fuck white noise at one point in the version I found. He almost decapitated Marv and he has snow powers.

Hell Comes To Frogtown: I went in expecting a shitty Mad Max ripoff with mutant frog people but I think I accidentally watched straight up softcore pornography in a discord call with friends

The Day The Earth Blew Up: It was fun! Lots of really good gags and animation. I'd really love it if 2D animated movies could make a comeback... 

And Justice For All: Never heard of this movie before but for some reason the very legal website I first tried watching The Day The Earth Blew Up on had this instead of the right movie, so I decided I's give it a go after the next day. Was a little worried after the very uncomfortable transphobia at the start but it ultimately ended up being a pretty good movie! I should watch more Al Pacino stuff... 

The Darjeeling Limited: Really fun and sweet. It was also nice seeing a slightly rougher version of Wes Anderson's style.

The Phoenician Scheme: Closed off the year with a Wes Anderson double feature! This one was a lot of fun too, and a good vibe to end the year.