Is your Letterboxd looking a little lacklustre? Watching these great films from the first half of the year is a great way to speed run the must-see cinema of 2025 so far.
Check them out below:
Best films of 2025, as reviewed by ScreenHub:
Nickel Boys
- Director: RaMell Ross
- Cast: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater
- Runtime: 140m
- Rating: M
- Story: The film follows two African-American boys, Elwood and Turner, who are sent to an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida, inspired by the Dozier School for Boys.
- Where to watch: Prime Video
Why should you watch Nickel Boys?
From a review by Silvi Vann-Wall:
‘Nickel Boys was a novel before it was a movie. Written in 2019 by American author Colson Whitehead, the story follows the fictional characters of Elwood Curtis and Jack Turner, two African American boys living in the 1960s who are sent to the abusive Nickel Academy, a juvenile reformatory in Florida (which is based on the very real Dozier School).
In the film, we follow two first-person perspectives: initially, that of Elwood (played by Ethan Herisse), whose hopeful optimism spawns from seeing the changes in society brought about by Martin Luther King, Jr., and from his stalwart and cheery Nanna Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) who doesn’t let a thing bring her down. When he is unjustly incriminated as an accomplice to a robbery, we enter the Nickel Academy, meet Jack, and the perspective splits – to be shared by the two of them.
The film is one of the most unique works of art you’ll see this year – especially when compared to its Oscar-nominated companions. From the opening shot of an orange tree bearing new fruit against a bright summer’s sky, we rarely leave the point-of-view of its beholder.’
Watch the trailer.
Black Bag
- Director: Steven Soderbergh
- Cast: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender
- Runtime: 94m
- Rating: M
- Story: When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband – also a legendary agent – faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country.
- Where to watch: Apple TV
Why should you watch Black Bag?
From a review by Stephen Russell:
‘Penned by Jurassic Park scribe David Koepp, who collaborated with Soderbergh on both Presence and the Zoë Kravitz-led techno crime drama Kimi, this latest offering pops at a brisk 90 minutes.
Blanchett’s back in one of her sassiest turns yet, as Kathryn St. Jean, one half of a sexy spy couple, a real hot topic on screens small and silver at the mo. She’s very much in mutual love with bespectacled husband and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) colleague George Woodhouse.
Depicted by Soderbergh’s Haywire lead Michael Fassbender, he’s in The Killer mode, inscrutably blue steel about whether his wife’s a traitor to their country.
But rather than follow the BIG Bond mould inherited by their co-star Pierce Brosnan, as withering NCSC boss Arthur Stieglitz, George prefers the quieter Agatha Christie approach. Inviting four suspiciously fingered sleuths to his and Kathryn’s to-die-for London home for dinner, he intends to assess hers and their possible guilt in one evening.’
Watch the trailer.
Flow
- Director: Gints Zilbalodis
- Runtime: 85m
- Rating: G
- Story: A solitary cat, displaced by a great flood, finds refuge on a boat with various species and must navigate the challenges of adapting to a transformed world together.
- Where to watch: Rent or buy on Apple TV
Why should you watch Flow?
From a review by Silvi Vann-Wall:
‘The coming-together of the central animals of Flow arises from finding common ground: they all need to survive, yes, but, aside from the solitary cat, each of them chooses to leave their established tribes, for reasons that essentially boil down to feeling like strangers among their own kind.
Whether it’s having ambitions beyond what their tribe can provide, or being outright rejected for being injured, the lemur, dog, capybara and secretary bird find a better sense of belonging with each other than they do with their original ‘families’. This found family trope is a classic heartstring-tugger, and it will make you wonder, as it did me, if animals are better at reconciling their differences than we humans are.
With no dialogue in the film (an absolute balm for moviegoers sick to death of the talking animal shtick) Flow instead relies on the expressions and movements of its central characters to tell a story as they navigate the flooded earth.’
Watch the trailer.
Bob Trevino Likes It
- Director: Tracie Laymon
- Cast: Barbie Ferreira, John Leguizamo
- Runtime: 102m
- Rating: M
- Story: Lily Trevino unexpectedly befriends an online stranger who shares her self-centered father’s name. This new Bob Trevino’s support could transform her life.
- Where to watch: Prime Video
Why should you watch Bob Trevino Likes It?
From a review by Silvi Vann-Wall:
‘Barbie Ferreira as Lily Trevino charismatically leads an emotionally devastating script from debut writer-director Tracie Laymon in Bob Trevino Likes It. Here, Laymon has vulnerably drawn from her own similar experiences to pen the loveable mess that is Lily, and the endlessly endearing Bob (and the other, terrible Bob that unfortunately happens to be Lily’s biological father).
All of the characters in the world feel real and known, and the actors deftly balance the tumultuous tragicomedy of it all. For a first-time film, it’s notably well-executed.
As a 2025 release it feels oddly nostalgic, invoking the indie-quirk explosion of the early 2000s. Films like Juno and Garden State come to mind as Lily nervous-laughs and wry-smiles her way through a decidedly shitty life.
Lily’s unusual but innocent relationship with the better Bob (Leguizamo) is also unavoidably reminiscent of age-gap film friendships like Harold and Maude, and ‘older man brings younger woman out of shell’ movies like An Education. Though, unlike those narratives, this connection between Lily and Bob never veers out of the strictly platonic. He’s literally filling a void in her life as the father she realises she never had. Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Lily is not.’
Watch the trailer.
Vincent
- Director: Alan King
- Cast: Alan King, Christopher Kirby, Zoe Bertram
- Runtime: 92m
- Rating: CTC
- Story: Troubled writer, Vincent, escapes to an isolated retreat, determined to complete his first novel. However, his solitude is short lived as a dark force suddenly encroaches and Vincent becomes immersed in a violent and cathartic awakening.
- Where to watch: Rent on Google Play
Why should you watch Vincent?
From a review by Tiffany Barton:
‘Vincent is a film like no other. It defies categorisation and stands alone as a truly unique work of art.
Written, performed and edited by Melbourne filmmaker and actor Alan King, it’s a psychological character study of a brilliant yet tortured artist navigating friendship, fame, success, substance abuse, and his own precarious mental health.
Like cult Australian films Bad Boy Bubby, Mad Max and Peter Weir’s The Cars That Ate Paris, Vincent struggled to secure mainstream cinema distribution when it was released last year due to its wild experiments with form, editing, and narrative structure.’
Watch the trailer.
The Fall (4K re-release)
- Director: Tarsem Singh
- Cast: Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, Jeetu Verma
- Runtime: 119m
- Rating: MA
- Story: In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.
- Where to watch: MUBI
Why should you watch The Fall?
From a review by Silvi Vann-Wall:
‘The reason The Fall stayed in my mind for many years was its stunning visuals, so I’m happy to say that the new 4K re-release makes it look better than ever. The eye-popping colour grade takes the bloody reds, emerald greens, ocean blues and rich black and gold detail of the costumes (and real-life locations) and transforms them into a surreal dreamscape. It’s so vivid to a point where ‘vivid’ becomes an insufficient descriptor.
Costume designer Eiko Ishioka went to town with dressing the characters of The Fall, where each hero gets a unique look based on their ethnic heritage and reputation, all filtered through the imaginative mind of a child.
It’s immediately obvious to viewers that Roy Walker means to put a Native American in his story, calling him an ‘Indian’ and referencing wigwams, but in Alexandria’s version he becomes a South Asian Indian, because she recently met an Indian man in the orange fields. So, ‘the Indian’ gets a verdant turban and traditional warrior robes.
But my favourite of the costumes is Lady Evelyn’s lotus dress. Evelyn, being the woman in need of rescuing, first appears in the story wearing a gorgeous red silk dress, with a headpiece intended to look like a lotus flower.
The piece culminates in a veil that looks like an upside down fan, which Evelyn then parts into two pieces so that her face is revealed. No matter how many times I watch it, it still elicits a gasp from me. In 4K, the crispness of the image makes me eager to reach out and touch it.’
Watch the trailer.
Sinners
- Director: Ryan Coogler
- Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton
- Runtime: 138m
- Rating: MA
- Story: Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
- Where to watch: Rent or buy on Apple TV
Why should you watch Sinners?
From a review by Silvi Vann-Wall:
‘Let’s get one thing straight: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is probably the most original genre film you’ll see in mainstream cinemas this year.
Best described as a Southern gothic blues tribute with vampires (and even then that’s insufficient), Sinners sees Michael B. Jordan playing the dual roles of Smoke and Stack Moore; troubled twins who’ve returned to their home in Mississippi after living out their wildest gangster dreams in Chicago.
Unbeknownst to them, beneath the veneer of emancipation, cottonfields, bone-white chapels and Spanish moss, there is a threat that even the KKK can’t hold a tiki torch to.
Opening with a stunning animated sequence, Sinners sets up a narrative payoff that doesn’t focus on vampires at all, but rather on music and the spirituality that is inseperable from it. We then cut to a little chapel filled with the sounds of gospel, where a young boy (Sammie Moore, played by newcomer Miles Caton) who’s bloody and beaten stumbles down the aisles.’
Watch the trailer.
Bring Her Back
- Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
- Cast: Sally Hawkins, Sora Wong, Billy Barratt
- Runtime: 104m
- Rating: MA
- Story: Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are introduced to their new sibling by their foster mother, only to learn that she has a terrifying secret.
- Where to watch: Bring Her Back is not yet available on streaming.
Why should you watch Bring Her Back?
From a review by Stephen Russell:
‘Returning cinematographer Aaron McLisky artfully breaks this barrier in a nimble manoeuvre, as his much crisper camera picks up the shot from an older woman recording the ceremony on camcorder. Through this fourth-wall-breaking handover, the audience phases between worlds, from the film within a film to the one the Philippous are spinning.
McLisky captures another fateful crossing as Andy (tousle-mopped Invasion star Billy Barrat, an English actor affecting an impressive Aussie accent) and his younger step-sister Piper (brilliant newcomer Sora Wong) unwittingly step over a painted white line obscured by autumnal leaves. We also witness this passage through a rust-coloured circular sculpture as a woozy Dutch angle tips the camera to one side.
The perimeter encircles the remote and architecturally cool woodland home of foster carer Laura (Sally Hawkins). The new orphans wind up after their cancer-survivor father grimly dies in a tragic accident, negotiating with brusque but well-meaning social worker Wendy (Wentworth star Sally-Anne Upton) to be placed together until Andy can apply for guardianship when he turns 18 in three months.’
Watch the trailer.
28 Years Later
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Cast: Alfie Williams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer
- Runtime: 115m
- Rating: MA
- Story: Twenty-eight years since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one member departs on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.
- Where to watch: 28 Years Later is currently in cinemas.
Why should you watch 28 Years Later?
From a review by Stephen Russell:
‘It’s fair to say that of all the things I expected going into 28 Years Later, the last thing on my mind was beauty. But here it is in abundance.
Crumbled villages reclaimed by gnarled trees run riot, mossy strands snarling great wind turbines and the rusted shock of the Angel of the North swamped by tall grasses all evoke both a golden yesteryear and the nuclear collapse of Threads.
Ravaged by the infected en masse, they have evolved into new forms, including worm-snuffling slow crawlers and embarrassingly well-endowed alphas, pumped with roid-rage, perhaps explaining how why some of the not-quite-dead appear to be procreating.
With no Arthurian champion forthcoming, the UK has regressed into a medieval-style agrarian age, ringed by the steel of international naval forces maintaining lockdown on the island’s compulsory quarantine. Left to fend for itself sans internet, smartphones, electricity, planes, trains or automobiles, the vastly reduced populace has fallen back to one-for-all fortified outposts.’
