Back in Theatres: Movies I watched in 2025

 

I needed escape in 2025, and the movies delivered. The vast majority of the films I watched in 2025 were shorts, so don't be alarmed by that huge number on the left; only 538 of the 3,363 were feature-length films (one hour or longer). 

Here are some of my favourite feature-length films of the year. 

For the first time since December 2019, I went back to theatres this year. I chose times designed to reduce exposure to COVID-19, and I'm happy to say the strategy worked; neither Sylvia nor I fell ill. 

Anyone who knows me can't be surprised that James Gunn's Superman was the film that brought me back to the theatre experience. I simply couldn't miss seeing the latest iteration of my favourite fictional character on the big screen. Sylvia, sport that she is, came along with me, and while I'm sure she didn't enjoy it as much as I did, she did like the film, which I think of as a return to form after Zack Snyder's bleak, colourless, cynical interpretation in Man of Steel and its follow-up films. 

The Fantastic Four are my favourite Marvel characters (alongside Spider-Man), so nor could I resist seeing their first official MCU film, Fantastic Four: First Steps. I thought it was a lovely throwback to the spirit of the original comics from the 1960s, with rich characterization for all four leads, amazing production design, and a self-contained, thrilling adventure harkening back to some of the best of the Lee/Kirby comic run. Sylvia skipped this one, and I don't blame her; I don't think she would have gotten much out of it. 

Finally, I won tickets from Letterboxd to see The Long Walk, which adapts one of Stephen King's earliest and most chilling novels. Sylvia came along with me, and we were both impressed by the film's stark production, creating a dystopian near-future (or perhaps recent alternate past) of a fallen United States and the fascist measures it takes to entertain and distract its citizens. Mark Hamill is incredible in this as the tyrant who organizes the titular long walk, but it's the young men competing in the event who really steal the show. The film is raw, disconcerting, unforgiving, and doesn't leave the audience with any means of escaping its bleak, hopeless message. 

My favourite film of the year, though, has to be Yorgos Lanthimos' latest surreal masterpiece, Bugonia. Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone are utterly captivating in this tale of desperate paranoia, and that's all I'll say for fear of spoiling the film's tremendous impact. It really is worth seeing. 

With that, here are some screenshots from my year in film as compiled by Letterboxd: 

At this rate, it's going to take me a long time to finish my watchlist...

See you at the movies! 

A Fantastic Foe in the Palm of His Hand

 

Stretching Abilities

If I had stretching abilities like Mr. Fantastic or the Elongated Man, I'd definitely use them to help Sylvia reach things because she's even shorter than me, but I'd ALSO tease her with silly antics such as inflating my eyeballs or stretching my neck up high so I could look over people taller than us in public. "Stop making a scene," she'd say. Hee hee! 

I'd probably entertain some fantasies about fighting crime, but in the real world I think it would be pretty hard to find a crime in progress, and interfering without any training might do more harm than good. Also, crime can be better addressed by reducing income inequality, providing better social supports, improving public education, and creating affordable housing, among other measures. Sure, I might be able to wrap my body around bank robbers and hold them until the police arrive, but how much does that really benefit society? 

I'd definitely entertain myself by rolling down mountains, though. Or maybe jumping out of airplanes and seeing how high I bounce. Wheeee! 

What a Revoltin' Development

I don't know why, but I take great amusement in switching around action figure heads to different bodies. In reality, Ben would need a bigger suit of armour. 
 

If Not the FF, Then...

As Steve pointed out in yesterday's post, it's unlikely the Fantastic Four will debut as a live-action television series anytime soon. Not only do intellectual property holders have an irrational phobia about allowing characters to appear in competing media at the same time (we viewers are too stupid to understand the differences between a television Batman, for example, and a movie Batman), the Fantastic Four would be an incredibly expensive show, more expensive by far than even Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Steve and Sean suggested some of Marvel's urban crimefighters could headline their own show, which makes sense; heroes like Iron Fist and Power Man have relatively simple powers, though the suggested '70s period setting, while cool, might also make such a show prohibitively expensive.

So. If I had to guess which four shows Marvel might be working on - and leaving out the Incredible Hulk and the proposed Agent Carter show, which have already been suggested - here's what I'd gamble on...

X-23
Hugh Jackman is too expensive to offer more than a cameo from time to time, so why not produce a series about his female clone? It could follow the same general format as the old Incredible Hulk show; hunted by her creators, X-23 wanders North America, running from her own past to try and find a home.

Hail Hydra
This would be the anti-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; while the do-goodniks of S.H.I.E.L.D. have their adventures, Hydra plots to take over the world. Lots of potential for crossovers, and ABC could run the shows back to back much as the WB ran Buffy and Angel back to back years ago.

Captain Marvel
They might save her for the Avengers movies, but Carol Danvers is probably Marvel's most bankable heroine, next to She-Hulk or the Invisible Woman. Give her Jessica Drew as a best friend and you have the makings of a new Odd Couple of the superheroine set. Could make a great dramedy.

Hawkeye
Television executives love to ape success, so with Arrow on the air and doing well, Marvel's carbon-copy archer could hit the airwaves despite his involvement in the movies.

Could Fantastic Four be the Next Star Trek?

Deadline reports that Marvel has an ambitious plan to bring more of its characters to television. While this report only specifies one possible show, I hope Marvel is considering a new Fantastic Four series. If done right, such a series could fill the empty space left by the absence of Star Trek.

Consider the fundamentals of each story:

Star Trek features a tightly-knit group of adventurers exploring strange new worlds in time and space.

The Fantastic Four are a tightly-knit family exploring strange new worlds in time and space.

Star Trek's characters can be defined by their logic (Spock), leadership (Kirk), heart (Bones), youthful exuberance (Chekov), grace under pressure (Uhura)...

The Fantastic Four are defined by logic (Mr. Fantastic), leadership (Mr. Fantastic again), heart (the Thing), youthful exuberance (the Human Torch), grace under pressure (the Invisible Woman)...

Star Trek's colour palette consists of the bright primaries of the early colour television era.

The Fantastic Four's colour palette consists of the bright primaries of mid-twentieth century printing technology.

Star Trek's characters face colourful, larger-than-life villains such as Trelane, the Klingons, Khan, V'Ger, the Doomsday Machine...

The Fantastic Four face the Mole Man, Galactus, the Skrulls, Dr. Doom...

Star Trek's strange new worlds include the Guardian of Forever, the shore leave world, Yonada, the great barrier at the edge of the galaxy...

The Fantastic Four has encountered the Microverse, the Negative Zone, the Blue Area of the Moon...

Frame a Fantastic Four series in the Star Trek mold and add the FF's inherent family drama and I think you could have a real winner. I'd certainly watch.

Laws 'n Things

Back in the 70s I was an avid collector of Marvel Two-in-One, the team-up book that paired the Fantastic Four's The Thing with other Marvel superheroes. In this issue Thing teams up with Matt Murdock, blind criminal defence lawyer (and also Daredevil). Jailed for causing tremendous property damage, Thing is at first resigned to his fate, prepared to wait in jail to stand trial despite his ability to break out at any moment...that is, until Matt lets some information slip suggesting Thing was framed. With that all bets are off and Thing uses his super-strength to bust out of prison.

I love Matt's rationalizations. "Technically, Ben is escaping. But he's also innocent - even if it hasn't been proven in a court of law." I imagine failing to alert the authorities about an escape in progress would probably get any lawyer disbarred, even one who represents superheroes.

The Financial Foibles of the Fantastic Four

Given the current recession and the state of most RRSPs these days, I can't help but take comfort from Mr. Fantastic's umbrage. Even a genius like Reed Richards can take a hit from the market, just like the rest of us.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, creators of the Fantastic Four, revolutionized comic superheroes by bringing their typically larger-than-life antics down to earth from time to time. On one page, the FF or Spider-Man might be fighting a galactic threat; on the next, worrying about their dysfunctional lives. I wonder how much Reed might have fetched for the Pogo Plane, the Fantasticar or the Ultimate Nullifier if he'd had access to ebay...