Here are all the new films I have watched this year in order of how much I have liked them….there’s a good few still on my “to watch list” that came out close to the end of the year like Sentimental Value, Train Dreams etc that I will carry over to next year.

I also won’t include films I programmed for SCENE Festival where my highlights were Plainclothes, Queens of Drama and Monk In Pieces.

It’s not been a brilliant year for film compared to last year with many of the film releases not really matching to my taste and my film watching down a lot. Here’s to 2026 where there will hopefully be an abundance of new brilliance.

Speaking of brilliance I have to sing the praises very loudly of my fave film Sorry Baby, Eva Victor’s debut feature, a hilarious study in friendship and trauma that hit me bang in the bullseye of exactly everything I am wanting from a film. It’s dryly funny, heartfelt, beautifully shot and acted and a must see for everyone please…

Sorry Baby*
Sinners
The Brutalist
One Battle After Another*
A Real Pain
No Other Land
Weapons
Bugonia
The People’s Joker*
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Wicked: For Good
Marty Supreme
Pillion*
Blue Moon*
Nosferatu
A Complete Unknown
The Apprentice*
It Was Just An Accident
Friendship
I’m Still Here
Will and Harper*
Fantastic Four: First Steps
Materialists
Superman
Black Bag
Babygirl
My Old Ass*
- asterisks added for LGBTQ themed films or films with LGBTQ characters

GARY'S TOP FILMS OF 2025