Ann's "2025 in films" and Stan's "2025 in films" -- their yearly look at film.
2025 in films
Ann and Stan here. Time of our annual look at film. We got many things wrong this year. ROOFMAN with Channing Tatum? Not a box office hit. Still a strong film -- very strong. AFTER THE HUNT? Not a bad movie (but it didn't make the top ten even with Julia Robert's brilliant performance) and not a TV movie which apparently alienated the few who saw it who needed everything predictable and on the nose to enjoy the film. Robert Kennedy Junior not necessarily the kiss of death to a film career -- provided you really had no lines in the movie and no one who saw realized you played the mother in a coma. If you were Alicia Silverstone and had no lines, you might be able to sale on through.
If you were Zachary Levi? We were right there -- his 'big' film for the year made it to number . . . 106. Which means our prediction was true there and we'll continue to hold to our expectation that he'll end up on ONLY FANS demonstrating how big of a butt plug his anus will swallow and, for an additional 25 bucks, he'll shoot the video wearing an ass-less version of the SHAZAM costume.
Also, we're not the only ones getting things wrong about movies. Richard Linklater is one of the least talented directors of all time. This year, his film failures included BLUE MOON starring professional disappointment Ethan Hawke who had his professional high in 1994 and could win an award for Actor Delivering The Same Performance In One Movie After Another. BLUE MOON had us visiting GOOGLE AI to ask if any Richard Linklater films had featured gay characters?
LGBTQ+ characters in his films, most notably in his 2025 film Blue Moon, and has discussed the intentional gay subtext in other works like Everybody Wants Some!!.
- Blue Moon (2025): This biographical film centers on the life of famed lyricist Lorenz Hart, who was a gay man. Ethan Hawke stars as Hart, portraying his emotional struggles and his identity as a gay artist in a less accepting era.
- Everybody Wants Some!! (2016): Linklater intentionally included "subtle homoerotic elements" and a "male gaze" that includes men in this film about college baseball players in 1980. He has mentioned that the "not inadvertent" subtext was inspired by his friend and mentor, a film critic who would view every movie through a gay lens. The film has been noted for its "unself-consciously homoerotic" scenes and characters.
- Dazed and Confused (1993): Linklater has also mentioned an "accidental" homoerotic undercurrent in this earlier film, which he only realized after a script supervisor pointed out the guys' obsession with other boys' butts and the use of paddles.
- Bernie(2011): Based on a true story, this film stars Jack Black as Bernie Tiede, a flamboyant and well-loved community member in East Texas. The movie depicts him as a closeted gay man whose repressed emotions and life in a conservative town are central to the narrative surrounding his eventual crime.
We asked about gay character. GOOGLE AI gave us Bernie in the film BERNIE. Interesting. When the film came out in 2012, Chris Azzopardi (DALLAS VOICE) interviewed Jack Black who played Bernie in the film:
Is Bernie Jack Black’s first gay role? As a small-town Texan teddy bear who goes off the deep end, it might be. But because the real-life man he’s playing isn’t out, we may never truly know.
Bernie is an offbeat black comedy based on a true story of a flamboyant people-pleaser who befriends the local she-devil, and then turns on her. As the titular mortician who is, as one townie calls him, “light in the loafers,” Black — known for fun-loving roles in School of Rock and Tropic Thunder, and a hilarious kidnapping cameo in last year’s The Muppets — is totally non-Black, playing Bernie Tiede with understated finesse, an effeminate lisp and an endearing touch.
We got Black on the phone for an exclusive chat about his maybe-gay turn, what he has in common with Bernie and how LGBT rights is a “no-brainer” issue for him.
[. . .]
What’s your take on Bernie’s sexuality? It’s implied in the film that he’s gay.
You know, I met him and I talked to him and that is a question I probably should’ve asked. But I didn’t want to. It just felt personal, like none of my business. I don’t want to ask someone their [sexual orientation]; that’s for him to say. I mean, I’ve got my feelings — obviously I felt like I was playing him accurately — but he never came out himself, so I wouldn’t be bringing him out if he didn’t want to come out. It’s such a big part of who he is, and the character of Bernie, I feel like he’s got a secret he’s been living with his whole life. In a small town in east Texas, you’re not gonna come out and be all open. That speaks to the secrets that we carry.
So Linklater's gay character in films was . . . Bernie who might have been gay, might not have been. And Jack Black didn't even care enough to ask the real life Bernie if he were gay. Jack Black says he didn't play a gay man he played a man who had a secret -- whatever that is.
GOOGLE AI, asked about characters, wants to instead talk about alleged subtext in other films. And it wants to lie about Lorenz Hart in this year's BLUE MOON. They are right that Lorenz Hart was gay (see Kat's "Richard Linklater") but they're wrong that he's gay in BLUE MOON. That's just one of the many 'creative' moments (lies) Linklater put up on screen. He's never had a gay character in his films -- he had a maybe-gay one -- and he's turning Lorenz Hart into a straight man. How is this not something that was seriously addressed in 2025?
At any rate, we got a few things right so we don't have to hang our heads in shame like we're the racist Sydney Sweeney whose bombs were so bad (ECHO VALLEY and CHRISTY) that liars in the industry are pretending she's finally got a big hit with Amanda Seyfried's THE HOUSEMAID when, in fact, big hits don't come in 38th for the year domestically.
Remember that word -- domestically -- because you won't understand the whoring industry trades without that word.
So here they are, our picks for the top ten films of 2025.
10) KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN
If there was an award for worst release campaign, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN would be battling AFTER THE HUNT for the statue. The film never stood a chance and it bombed big with only 2 million dollars in domestic ticket sales. That said, it's a wonderful film and Jennifer Lopez is amazing. Maybe next time try not presenting a big budget musical on the independent film circuit and focus instead on selling tickets?
9) SONG SUNG BLUE
Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman sell a nice story with strong singing and genuine charisma. We sadly do not see chemistry on the big screen very often these days despite being able to see it on HBO weekly with HEATED RIVALRY. This film is independent, quirky and wild. Most of all, a joy to watch.
8) BLACK BAG
No offense to the many talented actors in this film -- including Cate Blanchett, Pierrce Brosnan, Michael Fassbender and Naomie Harris -- but for this film, only one name mattered: Steven Soderbergh. A master filmmaker whose directing credits include SEX, LIES & VIDEOTAPE, ERIN BROKAVICH, MAGIC MIKE, OCEAN'S 11, OUT OF SIGHT, SIDE EFFECTS, TRAFFIC, LOGAN LUCKY, BEHIND THE CANDLELABRA, THE CHRISTOPHERS, THE UNDERNEATH, THE LIMEY, FULL FRONTAL . . . He is one of the finest directors still working today and proves it again with the tight thriller BLACK BAG.
7) BUGONIA
This is the film that Alicia Silverstone's in but you don't notice her and she might as well have been a crash test dummy. But it's a great film. Emma Stone continues to choose challenging films. In this one, two weirdos kidnap her -- one believing she's an alien from another galaxy. They play cat-and-mouse with one another as the stakes get higher and higher and as it becomes clear that there's no easy ending coming, the stakes have gotten two high.
6) HOLLAND
BUGONIA has some startling visuals. But HOLLAND is truly amazing with not just a unique look but a unique universe. Mimi Cave has directed a wonderful film that, like the events onscreen, are rarely what they seem. A career high performance from Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman just kicks the film even higher.
5) HAMNET
When we saw this one, it was reluctantly. We thought this would be like a class assignment and worried our reaction would get us detention. But ChloƩ Zhao isn't attempting to put us all too sleep with this inspired and fictional tale of William Shakespeare, she's trying to bring the period and the maybes to life and she succeeds so well the film's more like a snow day and nothing like a snore day.
4) SINNERS
Don't say were elitists. This film, the first of three top ten movies for the year at the US box office, was a surprise from start to finish and gives Ryan Coogler a real shot at being nominated for best director at the 2026 Academy Awards. If that's not reason enough to watch it, this is also the best horror film of the year.
3) WICKED: FOR GOOD
Another hit film in the US top ten box office for the year. This film is a testament to foresight. Marc Platt believed in the project when it was a book being turned into a stage musical. He believed it in as a film vehicle that two films would cover. It'll end up either the sixth or fifth biggest grossing films for the year (as of Tuesday, it's the fifth but ZOOTOPIA 2 is nipping at its heels). It has a first-rate cast -- Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Jeff Goldblum and Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh -- it's one of two films on our list with Michelle Yeoh. Jon M. Chu's directing is perfection. It's a strong and worthy follow up.
2) NE ZHA 2
We should make this number one because it wraps up a few points we're making. But number two isn't a bad spot to be at. All of the ten movies we picked are worthy. We could actually add on five more. This is the only animated film that's on our list, by the way. Michelle Yeoh? She's a voice in the US version of the film. We noted we were not elitists and this film proves. It's the biggest film of 2025. What's that? You didn't hear about it? The trades aren't writing about it? No, they're not. That's what we meant when we said "domestic" above. This film is the number one film of 2025 for the whole world. It is China's first ever film to cross the two-billion in ticket sales mark. And the trades aren't telling you that and don't want to tell you that. We've noted the sad and sorry state of US films since the pandemic. This one proves our point. The number one film in the world this year isn't an American film. And that trend may continue if Hollywood continues attempting to turn Glen Powell, Sydney Sweeney and other actors America just doesn't care for into stars. We've seen them. We're done. Thank you, next? Congratulations to Jiaozi for such a great job directing NE ZHA 2.
1) AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH
James Cameron's latest classic. And the industry trades cover it how? Oh, that's right, attacking its box office each week. They did that for the first five weeks of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. It was as though they were trying to destroy the film at the box office. They're doing the same thing with the new film. But in 12 days of release in 2025, it made it into the top ten biggest moneymaker films of 2025. That's not a flop. It's a masterpiece. Cameron's created a world and we believe it because he's done such a great job. Excellent performances by Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Edie Falco, Stephen Lang and CCH Pounder. But especially Signourney Weaver and we'd like to take a moment to point out that in 1979 she starred in the film classic ALIEN and she followed that up with film classics like GHOSTBUSTERS, ALIENS, GORILLAS IN THE MIST, WORKING GIRL, GHOSTBUSTERS II, ALIENS 3, DAVE, DEATH IN THE MAIDEN, JEFFREY, THE ICE STORM, ALIEN RESSURRECTION, GALAXY QUEST, HEARTBREAKERS, INFAMOUS, BABY MAMA, WALL*E, AVATAR, YOU AGAIN, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS, CHAPPIE . . . That only takes us to 2015. Look at that filmography and grasp that Weaver does not get the appreciation she's earned. She's had an amazing career and excelled in every genre. We absolutely should celebrate James Cameron's mighty accomplishments with this film but we should also applaud Weaver.
Be sure to read Ava and C.I.'s "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December."
Going out with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"
