My at home watching habits changed a lot this year. Last year I turned to streaming in search of films that would make me feel, this year it was much more for entertainment. For the first time in five years, Sean Connery didn’t top my most watched actors list. TV was a much bigger item on the menu for me. And claymation made up much more of my viewing than I would have expected. If there was a theme for my first time watches in 2025, it’d be things I either hadn’t seen since childhood or had always wanted to and didn’t until now. But there was so much more to explore than that, so let’s start with the honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

The BBC Narnia Series (1988-1990)

I read a few of C.S. Lewis’s signature classics this year and it put me in a Narnian mood. I redeemed some Amazon reward points and visited the BBC Narnia series for the first time (with the exception of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe; which I saw once as a child.) These movies aren’t flashy or speedy but there’s a quiet charm that helps you watch these movies with the eyes of a child who grew up an avid Narnia fan.

28 Days Later (2002)

The 28 franchise was new to me this year. I watched the first two with my (then girlfriend now fiancée) as we prepped for 28 Years Later. I loved 28 Days Later and the grittiness of its low-budget early digital camera that reinvented and reimagined the zombie genre.

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

When William Hurt passed away, I heard a lot of talk about his performance in The Kiss of the Spider-Woman. The film follows Hurt and his cellmate as Hurt is being poised to get information out of him while quietly falling in love. It’s a really sad and sorrowful film made sweet through Hurt’s performance.

Demonlover (2002)

This was the most intense watch I had this year. I expected a movie about corporate espionage and instead found myself watching an exploitative thriller about the underbelly of hentai. Definitely not something I’d recommend to everyone, but an interesting watch to say the least.

The New World (2005)

A visually stunning portrayal of the classic John Smith story. It paints the origins of the Virginia colony in striking new light.

10. Superman and the Mole Men (1951)

Like a lot of people, I spent a good chunk of this summer prepping for the release of James Gunn’s Superman. I watched the Fleisher animated serials from the 40s, the Dean Cain series I grew up with, and George Reeves’ The Adventures of Superman pilot, Superman and the Mole Men.

The film is a low stakes adventure that finds Lois Lane and Clark Kent investing sabotaged mining equipment that accidentally breached another world. The mole men run around the surface, blissfully unaware of the lethal radiation they carry, and it’s up to Superman to calm the townspeople and stand up for the hunted mole men.

There’s a really striking scene where Superman stands up to a trigger happy town leader, exemplifying his pursuit of truth and justice against prejudice and bigotry.

9. Enchanted (2007)

I saw Enchanted as a kid but didn’t remember much of it. I was surprised when watching this, to see Disney making a live action Snow White in 2025 when the perfect Snow White remake already existed within this film. Enchanted is everything the best of Disney’s classic Princess films are, while also being a shining example of what a live action adaptation can be.

Enchanted is a fairy tale where each of its actors are in on the joke. Where the writers had Shrek levels of freedom to poke fun at studio tropes, and where the overused “animated character winds up in New York” trope finally really shines.

James Marsden is a national treasure.

8. Shutter Island (2010)

Kelli loves this movie, and I had been wary of watching it for a long time because the ending had long been spoiled for me by the internet. It was interesting to watching already knowing the final twist because you notice all the little details that Martin Scorsese peppers in to build to that reveal. I’d argue it makes the ending far more impactful knowing the choice that Leo is making for his guilt ridden character.

7. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

I was on a comedy high in the buildup and release of the SNL 50th Anniversary Special, and I wanted more Steve Martin. I’ve known about Frank Oz’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for what seems like forever, but I decided 2025 was the year to finally get to know it.

This movie is hilarious, and the feeding frenzy between Steve Martin and Michael Caine is great fun to watch. Martin’s physical comedy paired with Caine’s biting tongue keeps this movie hilarious at every turn in the sick game between these two con men.

6. Superman (1978)

Like I said before, much of 2025 was spent pregaming Superman. The original 1978 film is another that I know that I saw as a kid, but that I hadn’t seen in at least fifteen years. I was blown away by how well the film holds up visually, and with how intimate its main story is behind the cartoonish villainy of its plot.

Superman slowly builds its world and isn’t afraid to spend a long time with Kal-el and then Clark as it builds its way to Superman. When the Man of Steel finally makes his debut in the sky, it’s thrilling enough to make you believe a man can fly.

5. Superman II (1980)

As much as I liked Superman, I found myself drawn more toward Superman II. Despite the behind the scenes drama, I found this film to be a better story for both Superman and Clark, and it reminded me a lot of my favorite superhero film, Spider-Man 2.

Clark being torn between living a fulfilling human life and doing his Kryptonian duty really drilled down into the duality of the character in a way that a lot of the other Superman adaptations have failed to. If the first film makes you believe in Superman, this film will make you believe in yourself.

4. An American Werewolf in London (1981)

I knew that the Warren Zevon song had nothing to do with this, but I’m still disappointed that Werewolves of London didn’t play over the credits. This is a great body horror film and it portrays the uncontrollable rage of the werewolf in some truly gruesome ways. The added twist of seeing the people turned to mincemeat by the curse is a really unique way to grind down the main character.

3. The Mist (2007)

I watched a lot of Stephen King adaptations this year, but none struck me quite like The Mist. I was excited to see Frank Darabont paired with King once again, and while it’s a radically different movie from The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist succeeds in all the right ways.

Watching the townspeople turn on each other as the unknown creeps in and kills all around them is unsettling, tense, and often gory. The film’s final moments are some of the most haunting not just of any King adaptation but of any movie I saw this year in general.

2. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

More than anything, 2025 was the year of Wallace and Gromit. I made Kelli watch Vengeance Most Fowl in January and in the lead-up to it, Wallace and Gromit took hold of me. I remember trailers for Curse of the Were-Rabbit when I was a kid, but I never saw the film or knew much about its principal characters until this year.

The 2005 film, and duo’s feature length debut, is a hilariously funny twist on the werewolf mythos and story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is nonsensical in only the way that Wallace and Gromit can be, and it climaxes in an action sequence worthy of any King Kong movie.

1. Wallace and Gromit

If I’m going purely on my Letterboxd stats, Wallace and Gromit would have taken up Four of my Top Ten. In the name of variety, decided before realizing this put Superman into Three of my Top Ten, I opted to squish Wallace and Gromit into two categories. The short films, A Close Shave and A Grand Day Out both made my original Top Ten, but it was always lead by The Wrong Trousers.

If you explained the plot of this short to anyone they’d think you were insane. You can’t expect anyone to believe that an escaped penguin would fool the world into thinking it was a chicken with a rubber glove on its head. Nothing can prepare you for when that same penguin pulls a gun on a dog. And there’s no way anyone will believe you that the train sequence in this movie is better than any stunt out of The Great Train Robbery or Mission: Impossible. When I say that mankind’s greatest achievement might be the creation of Wallace and Gromit, that isn’t an exaggeration. The Wrong Trousers didn’t just entertain me, it changed me.

2025 First Time Watches

For a rundown of all my first time watches in 2024, check out my Letterboxd List.