Perhaps due to the Netflix adaptation, many people are talking about the novel. “It’s trending,” a friend told me. Which is a good and bad thing. It’s good because more people are reading the original text and bad because, well, Hollywood is behind the 7-part series adaptation available now.

Five years ago, I published an article recommending 13 great films that you should watch even if you have to rent them. Today, I’m adding 13 more great films. While some great films have been released since then, I keep finding myself digging back into the past. Some are black and white classics and others are modern hidden gems. All are worth your time when you're in the right mood.

What stood out to me during the viewing were the set pieces. With no CGI or AI, the sets are things that actually exist, something a craftsman actually built. A little clunky and outdated at times, sure. But the aliens themselves, made from puppetry and everyday items, are terrifying, especially that queen!

Like so many great films, All About Eve warns us about ambition, untamed it is a ravenous lion. And while we may stand taller than others for a moment, there is often another predator who is both taller and stronger than we are.

The movie Backrooms (2026) proved that a 20-year old, Kane Parsons, with a small budget can make a more compelling film than Spielberg this summer. (Hint: don't bother watching Disclosure Day (2026)).

This is not a new storyline. Movies like Big (1988) or famous short stories like "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs follow similar plotlines. But this film’s cautionary message hit me hard: Human beings are terrible at judging what we really want and what’s best for us. The fallen heart often longs for things that will bring destruction. It's an argument for trusting God knows all things and is the embodiment of true, good, and beautiful.

A friend and filmmaker told me this week that "Project Hail Mary is the finest American film of the past two decades…" I was taken aback. Did we watch the same movie, I thought?

"Is this a joke on God?" That’s what a soldier says when he discovers a convent run by weed-growing nuns! And it's not the first odd subversion of Christian theology in One Battle After Another (2025).

Listed below are some of the movies I saw in 2025. They were also released in 2025, and I have ranked them from poorest to best.

A House of Dynamite (2025) traces a fictional day in which a nuclear missile is fired at the United States. No one knows who is responsible for the act of aggression and when the safety measures fail to stop it from barrelling to the states, the terrible question of “how” to respond is the question up for debate.