Dec. 26, 2025
MUST WATCH Movies: Our Favorite Flicks Of 2025
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RSS Feed If you want some phenomenal movie recommendations that don't look like anyone else's list, or if you want to go deeper than the top grossing movies of 2025, look no further than this episode! Amy and T.J. discuss their favorite movies of the year, including the one they took the family to on Christmas Day.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
00:00:03
Speaker 2: It is Friday, December twenty sixth, and yes, we now begin that period of time where no one really knows what to do, what day it is, where they are.
00:00:17
Speaker 1: If they should work.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: It's that time between Christmas and New Year's And you know what, a lot of us do.
00:00:22
Speaker 1: We watch movies.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: We relax, we have fun with our family, and so we thought it would be fun to put together our list of the best movies of.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: And warning here it looks nothing like anyone else's list or even the top box office results of the year.
00:00:39
Speaker 3: This is so we're going with the best movies based on critics or the top movies based on numbers.
00:00:49
Speaker 2: Well, the best movies based on critics would be highly subjective, and every list is different.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: I do have the box office results, but the best movies we're.
00:00:58
Speaker 2: Talking about are our favorite movie. We're gonna recommend our favorite movies of twenty twenty five.
00:01:04
Speaker 3: And we don't follow along with the critics.
00:01:06
Speaker 1: We're not even close with where the critics are.
00:01:08
Speaker 3: Critics hate us.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Actually, yeah, we would not do well in a mingling like situation with them because we would get into.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: Like, no, what you think that was good. Uh uh No, we just have a very specific taste.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: Now we I think we should start with what we saw last night Christmas Day. We have now kind of established a tradition of going to the movies with our kids, and it's really fun last night. Would you put that as one of your favorite movies of twenty twenty five? Uh?
00:01:38
Speaker 3: If I stopped and thought about it a little longer, it might be in the top five of twenty twenty five. It was such an certainly nostalgic for us, but it was an unexpected treat and delight with a hell of a cast.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Yes. So last night we saw the an account Conda twenty twenty five version, and we'll explain it's not a reboot, it's not a redo. It's such a clever way to have a follow up movie or an adjacent movie to a movie that we loved with j Lo that was in the nineties.
00:02:09
Speaker 1: Correct, we watch us ad nausey.
00:02:11
Speaker 3: Absolute cult classic. Everybody knows that movie. It's not the greatest movie type of thing you would put in that kind of category. It is a cult classic, wonderful every time in delivery.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: It's just fun.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: So last night we went into it not really knowing what to expect to see Anaconda. This one stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd. It was an absolute blast. You know those movies where you laugh out loud and you can hear other people in the theater where in New York's a week and hear other people in the theater all the time laughing out loud.
00:02:37
Speaker 1: It was amazing. So the critics only gave.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: It fifty one percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience already up to seventy nine percent, so that is a big deal. And I always like those movies where the audience likes it more than the critics. That usually means we're in. But I just wanted to read the synopsis for you because if you haven't seen it, that would be our biggest recommendation. Run out of the theaters and see Anaconda. It is so much fun for the whole family. By the way, it's an entirely original comedy inspired by the classic Anaconda.
00:03:06
Speaker 1: It features yes, Jack Black and Paul Rudd.
00:03:09
Speaker 2: Who've been best friends since they were kids, always dreamed of remaking their all time favorite movie. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep into the Amazon to start filming, but things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation.
00:03:27
Speaker 4: It was perfect. I loved that movie. It had heart, it had some meaning, It was funny as all get out. There are two scenes in this movie that are extended jokes. If you will, you will be laughing for minutes.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: Yes, on end, you were crying.
00:03:43
Speaker 3: It was it was so unexpected. Oh my god, what's the guy from White Lotus? We can never come up with his name? He was the dad the first season.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can never.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: We can never come up with his name.
00:03:53
Speaker 1: He is amazing.
00:03:54
Speaker 3: You see him and you love him. Oh and Dandy Newton.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: Oh, Sandy Newton was incredible. How did I not mention her either?
00:04:01
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:04:01
Speaker 1: Oh so the dad from White Lotus.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: I was like, first this joke that he was a part of I thought was stupid, and then it because they were they leaned into everything. They went full force with all jokes. Yes, they didn't half ass anything, and so when people are all in, you're on board too, and it just worked. We were all laughing so highly highly highly recognized. Okay, so wait, we'll start with the box office top ten. This is what Americans went to go see or this is a yeah, this is domestic.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: This is not international. It's a little bit different when you do international.
00:04:35
Speaker 3: You know, cool, this is a good way to do it, but.
00:04:37
Speaker 1: I wanted to do domestic results. Yes, okay.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: So the number ten movie of twenty twenty five, Captain America Brave New World. We didn't see it, did not see it. Number nine, How to Train Your Dragon, didn't see it, didn't see it. Number eight, The Fantastic Four First Steps, didn't see it, didn't see it.
00:04:53
Speaker 3: Can you tell me number ten? There? How much money did you make?
00:04:56
Speaker 1: Number ten?
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Mate? This is just domestically two hundred point five five million.
00:05:00
Speaker 3: And it was considered a little bit of a failure, Yes, a little bit, right, a box office bus to a.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: Certain Yeah, they would they probably would have thought it was going to get into the top five.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: Yes, okay.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: So How to Train Your Dragon, the Fantastic Four, number seven Sinners, Oh yeah, of course, that is the only movie on the top ten list that we actually, you're kidding. We only saw one movie.
00:05:20
Speaker 3: You're telling me America's favorite movies. We only gave a damn about seeing and you saying to the theater or to the theater.
00:05:27
Speaker 2: So there's one that we saw halfway through and stop, yeah, you know which one it is, all right? So okay, So Sinners was the one we saw. Number six. Both of my daughters were begging us to see this Zootopia too. They were like, Mom, you and TJ. I know it sounds silly and childly, you will love this movie.
00:05:46
Speaker 1: They were raving about it.
00:05:48
Speaker 3: First one was delightful. I do want to see it. I didn't run out to the theater, but yeah, oh those movies are.
00:05:52
Speaker 2: When it starts streaming, we will watch the Sopia too. She's like, you will laugh, you will cry, it has heard is everything? Number five Wicked for good Now we saw the first one. We didn't see the second half. Okay. Members of our family represented us and saw number four Jurassic World. We didn't see that, and that's something we would have normally seen. I don't know why we didn't watch.
00:06:16
Speaker 3: You know, it takes a lot to get us to the theater. And there were a number of horror movies this year. We go to movie theaters for horror movies. We kind of exclusively almost even last night, even though it was a common comedy, but it had its horror thrillers agreement to it. But now I think that's it. We get excited about a new horror movie coming out. We don't get excited about anything nothing. I don't care how big of a blockbusting, even Sinners. It was the one horror movie I know.
00:06:41
Speaker 2: That's I know, that's the why, that's why we saw the one. Okay, number three, here's the one we saw halfway through. And to be honest, we get up really early, so it has nothing to do with the movie. We fell asleep and we just didn't fully commit. Recommit to watch it, Superman.
00:06:54
Speaker 3: I want to see it.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: Curious about all everyone talks about how wonderful this film was. I the original is such a huge part. It's one of the first movies I remember loving.
00:07:05
Speaker 3: But this was a significant for the reboot for DC and James Gunn being in charge, and the movie did well and people, so it looks like this was the one that finally put him on some kind of good footing with Marvel, and we didn't get him. We just heard exactly.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: Will recommit at some point maybe this week, to watch to finish watching Superman number two, Lilo and Stitch to Man four hundred and twenty three point seven million domestically.
00:07:30
Speaker 1: That is remarkable.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, so you're telling me Minecraft movie was the big movie.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: The Yes, the Minecraft movie number one domestic movie. That's pretty remarkable. So don't know how many of them you've seen. We've seen one point three.
00:07:45
Speaker 1: We saw about a third of the top ten. Yeah, that's it.
00:07:48
Speaker 3: I think we were rare. Yeah, we were rare, all right.
00:07:50
Speaker 2: So we put together a list of the movies that we did love, and you won't be surprised that they all kind of fit in the horror genre.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: I searched, I looked.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: I actually spent a lot of time going through all the movies of twenty twenty five, thinking, my god, we had to have gone to the movies.
00:08:07
Speaker 1: To have seen something other than a horror movie. And turns out it's none. We did not. So on the list, we'll start with The Long Walk. Your first impressions of The Long Walk.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: Shockingly emotional. That was I wasn't expecting Stephen King. I didn't know this Stephen Ling story. Stephen King store. That movie was intense from start to finish, and there was a friendship that formed black guy, white guy in the midst of the highest stakes possible, only one of us can survive, and we still found a way to connect and be friends. That's I was shocked and how emotional I was watching the movie.
00:08:50
Speaker 2: We loved this movie. Honestly, it almost felt like because Stephen King wrote this story, so it was a short story adapted to a film long, long, long ago, and yet it reminded me of The Hunger Games, like he was almost the original Hunger Games it really. I mean, obviously it's a it's a more it's a simpler story than The Hunger Games, but I got those same vibes from it.
00:09:10
Speaker 1: But it's funny.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: In the actual write up or in the description of it, you said intense the long walk and intense, chilling and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question, how far could you go?
00:09:25
Speaker 1: So you actually nailed it?
00:09:27
Speaker 2: Okay, yes you could, all right. Eighty eight percent from critics, eighty four percent from audience, So the rotten Tomatoes. Everyone agrees this was a phenomenal film, and namely, yes, obviously Stephen King, the author of being the huge reason why it was great. But Cooper Hoffman, Philip Seymour, Hoffman's son stars in this He is remarkable. The apple does not fall far from the tree. And then David Johnson, he was a black guy. He was amazing. They call it a soulful performance, but they say brings a lot of heart to Stephen King's dystopian tailor, making The Long Walk a life or death ordeal for its characters and a riveting ride for audiences.
00:10:05
Speaker 1: That was the critics consensus.
00:10:07
Speaker 2: So agreed. And Mark Hamill is phenomenal in this film too. Forgot to mention him.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: He was great because that makes you hate him, yes, and you don't want to.
00:10:17
Speaker 1: But who hates Luke Skywalker?
00:10:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, you will in this one.
00:10:21
Speaker 2: It made sixty three million dollars internationally against a twenty million dollar budget. You can rent it on Prime or Apple highly highly highly recommend. Actually, look, it's a little gory, want to mention, like if you're going to have the family around. It's heartwarming and it's emotional, but it's gory. Just wanted to let you guys.
00:10:38
Speaker 3: Know, and disgusting at time just for really not going over the top, but it was necessary at times just for the realism of it, and you know, I encourage folks, if you don't see his name, you probably won't piece together before the end of the movie that that's Mark Hamill. You've been looking at that.
00:10:53
Speaker 2: That's true, all right, that's true. He looks very different and because his character is so evil, you just wouldn't think, oh, there's Luke.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: But he stars in it the whole time. Yeah, he's a special one in this movie. He makes this movie work a lot.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: You're really good, all right.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: I want you to talk about I think you said this might be your favorite. It's at least in your top two hard eyes that we have to put that on for a must see. If you haven't seen it, please please please. I can see why people might have skipped over it. But this movie is.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: Incredible because we said they nail it. Could have you take out the horror and it would have been a rom com. You take out the rom com elements and it's a legit horror movie. And it's difficult to get both of those genres genres. Right. It was great. And I love Cuba Gooding Junior son. He's just a charming dude. I love watching him.
00:11:42
Speaker 1: Mason Gooding, I.
00:11:43
Speaker 3: Love that dude. But I hope he gets more and more opportunities. God like do like watching him. But this was for folks like us who love horror movies. For someone like you who loves rom com. We immediately recognize this as a special movie, and it.
00:11:55
Speaker 2: Could have gone horribly wrong putting those two things together, but it went. Everything went exactly as it should. So the synopsis is, for the past several years, the Heart Eyes Killer has wreaked havoc on Valentine's Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine's Day, no couple is safe and it is great. Seventy eight percent from the critics, seventy six percent from the audience. The critics consensus was a mixture of gory, slasher and sweet rom com that ingeniously nails both formulas. Hard Eyes serves up a bloody Valentine that will make the heart skip a beat, perfectly said. Yes, this was a brilliant mashup of genres, amazing kills, good fun. I think this is the perfect date night movie. So yes, Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding were fuhenomenal in this.
00:12:43
Speaker 3: Well. Please discuss with your date that you're going to watch this movie and why because if you just, you know, put it on, I might look at you like you're crazy.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: Hay, So she or he has to be okay with a little more and a lot of fun. But you can watch it on Netflix. I'm surprised weapons wasn't higher up just I saw where it fell. And this movie was remarkable. It made two hundred and sixty nine million dollars internationally, but this movie was incredible. Critics gave it a ninety three percent. The audience gave it an eighty five percent. The synopsis is at all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night, at exactly the same time, and a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: Why did you love this movie?
00:13:28
Speaker 3: The con The promotional campaign was pretty brilliant. It's that simple. All these kids from one class left and nobody knows where they went, and only one kid has left. Let's figure out the mystery. They sold it as that and this whole all the campaign, everybody right now can still see kids running with their arms down outstretched. It's just kind of freaky, the whole thing. I think they did a great It reminds me of the Megan campaign for the first Megan. It just gets going. There's a clear message of what this is and a mystery that needs to be figured out and they I thought they did a great job with that. And what's the young lady from Mom?
00:14:03
Speaker 1: I did Julia Garner?
00:14:04
Speaker 3: I didn't watch Ozar.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Oh, she's so good. I love her.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: She's one of my favorite favorite actresses right now. Julia Garner, She's pretty wonderful. And Josh.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: They carry this movie in a lot of ways. There's a couple other characters in there you recognize, and you know the Asian guy who was.
00:14:20
Speaker 1: The principal Benedict Want isn't this.
00:14:22
Speaker 3: The guy who was also I think in the Marvel movies who yes, sidekick of Doctor Strange. So you see that. The performances are great. Yeah, this is a this is a god. And some people had a problem with the way they told the story. It was kind of through each person's eyes through the same day. I liked it.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: I did too.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: I thought it was phenomenal. The acting was just obviously so incredibly good. I liked the pacing, I like the way they told the story. I loved the mystery and I liked the payoff in the end. I liked what the answer was to the mystery. A lot of times I don't and a.
00:14:55
Speaker 3: Lot of people didn't. I didn't mind it, but I liked how this movie ended almost a comedic horror way.
00:15:02
Speaker 1: Exactly this movie I forgot. How did I not mention that? Oh?
00:15:07
Speaker 2: That makes every horror movie better? All right, you can watch this on HBO Max. All Right, when we come back, we're going to tell you our final two movie recommendations for the best or at least our favorite movies of twenty twenty five. Welcome back, everyone. We are talking about our favorite movies of twenty twenty five. Our list does not mirror anyone else's and certainly not even close to the highest box office or the highest grossing box office movies. But there are favorites and we hope you might want to check them out as well if you have some extra time on this week between Christmas and New Year's so also on our list. This is one that everyone agreed with, including the box office. Was one of the best movies of the year. Sinners, it was remark the synopsis is trying to leave their troubles behind Twin brothers, both played by Michael B. Jordan by the way, returned to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. This is a vampire movie and a musical almost mashed up in one, and I loved.
00:16:20
Speaker 3: It, and quite frankly, the soundtrack is something we listen to quite a bit around here. So the music is great. But yeah, Michael G. B Jordan is just Michael B. Jordan. He's wonderful. But the story here is pretty, is pretty cool, and it's original, an original horror movie. This is not some ip they got sitting around on a show. If they had to dust off, you just don't see it a lot. This is a I give it more credit because it is a new is a fresh and an original story, and they pulled it off.
00:16:46
Speaker 1: So yes, you see. Ryan Coogler's genius.
00:16:49
Speaker 2: He was the writer and director and this is his first original blockbuster. But the critics say it was a rip roaring fusion of masterful visual storytelling and toe tapping music. That is exactly the perfect way to put it. Yes, we love the music, the visuals, the stories. You know, it felt like an event more than a movie like you were watching an event.
00:17:11
Speaker 1: Does that make any sense? That's how it felt to me. But Michael B.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: Jordan stars in it, Hailey Steinfeld and just it's just a blast to watch and to listen to. It made three hundred and sixty seven point nine million dollars internationally, so kudos to them.
00:17:27
Speaker 1: You can watch it on HBO Max.
00:17:28
Speaker 2: And finally, this seems like a good one to end on Final Destination. Bloodlines were huge, huge Final Destination fans, but this last one man, they saved the best for last and perhaps among the reasons why we love this movie so much. Two words for you, Tony Todd.
00:17:49
Speaker 3: Yeah he was. I think that is why the movies at the top of the list. If he were not in this movie, I wonder if we would feel the same. But there was just an emotional connection. And then look, any horror movie fan, you know who Tony Todd is, and Candy Man is on somewhere your list of moments. You remember, movies, you remember lines, you remember, and to this day you will not say Candy Man in the mirror. So for this, oh God, now, that guy to be in this movie and have the send off that he had made it really really special for us. But the movie was fun how they kind of brought the whole story of Final Destination together. So this was this was a go.
00:18:25
Speaker 1: It really was.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: Rotten Tomatoes agrees ninety two percent from the critics, eighty six percent from the audience. Yeah, they really liked this film, and I liked how the critics consensus put it. Adding some surprising emotional layers onto the ghoulish bones of Final Destinations mythology. Bloodlines ingeniously executes grizzly set pieces with precision and turns impending doom into outrageous fun. We said this was the best of the series. The production value was incredible, the deaths, the storyline.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: I thought it was cool that they found a way to expand it. They went back in time.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: This is supposed to be the beginning basically a Final Destination, and it was just really smart how they brought it and made it intergenerational, like there were a lot of folks they had to kill, and they just did such a brilliant job bringing it home. But Tony Todd made it our favorite movie.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: All right. It made three hundred and fifteen million dollars internationally.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it did really really well, But if you haven't seen it, that is absolutely one to check out. You can find it on HBO Max and Without. Everyone, we hope you enjoy your time. We hope you get a little time off actually away from work and with the family, and hope that maybe some of these suggestions will help you have some fun passing the time until you get to party on New Year's Eve. And with that, everyone on behalf of my dear TJ.
00:19:44
Speaker 1: Holmes. I'm Amy Robock. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
00:00:03
Speaker 2: It is Friday, December twenty sixth, and yes, we now begin that period of time where no one really knows what to do, what day it is, where they are.
00:00:17
Speaker 1: If they should work.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: It's that time between Christmas and New Year's And you know what, a lot of us do.
00:00:22
Speaker 1: We watch movies.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: We relax, we have fun with our family, and so we thought it would be fun to put together our list of the best movies of.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: And warning here it looks nothing like anyone else's list or even the top box office results of the year.
00:00:39
Speaker 3: This is so we're going with the best movies based on critics or the top movies based on numbers.
00:00:49
Speaker 2: Well, the best movies based on critics would be highly subjective, and every list is different.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: I do have the box office results, but the best movies we're.
00:00:58
Speaker 2: Talking about are our favorite movie. We're gonna recommend our favorite movies of twenty twenty five.
00:01:04
Speaker 3: And we don't follow along with the critics.
00:01:06
Speaker 1: We're not even close with where the critics are.
00:01:08
Speaker 3: Critics hate us.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Actually, yeah, we would not do well in a mingling like situation with them because we would get into.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: Like, no, what you think that was good. Uh uh No, we just have a very specific taste.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: Now we I think we should start with what we saw last night Christmas Day. We have now kind of established a tradition of going to the movies with our kids, and it's really fun last night. Would you put that as one of your favorite movies of twenty twenty five? Uh?
00:01:38
Speaker 3: If I stopped and thought about it a little longer, it might be in the top five of twenty twenty five. It was such an certainly nostalgic for us, but it was an unexpected treat and delight with a hell of a cast.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Yes. So last night we saw the an account Conda twenty twenty five version, and we'll explain it's not a reboot, it's not a redo. It's such a clever way to have a follow up movie or an adjacent movie to a movie that we loved with j Lo that was in the nineties.
00:02:09
Speaker 1: Correct, we watch us ad nausey.
00:02:11
Speaker 3: Absolute cult classic. Everybody knows that movie. It's not the greatest movie type of thing you would put in that kind of category. It is a cult classic, wonderful every time in delivery.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: It's just fun.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: So last night we went into it not really knowing what to expect to see Anaconda. This one stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd. It was an absolute blast. You know those movies where you laugh out loud and you can hear other people in the theater where in New York's a week and hear other people in the theater all the time laughing out loud.
00:02:37
Speaker 1: It was amazing. So the critics only gave.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: It fifty one percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience already up to seventy nine percent, so that is a big deal. And I always like those movies where the audience likes it more than the critics. That usually means we're in. But I just wanted to read the synopsis for you because if you haven't seen it, that would be our biggest recommendation. Run out of the theaters and see Anaconda. It is so much fun for the whole family. By the way, it's an entirely original comedy inspired by the classic Anaconda.
00:03:06
Speaker 1: It features yes, Jack Black and Paul Rudd.
00:03:09
Speaker 2: Who've been best friends since they were kids, always dreamed of remaking their all time favorite movie. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep into the Amazon to start filming, but things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation.
00:03:27
Speaker 4: It was perfect. I loved that movie. It had heart, it had some meaning, It was funny as all get out. There are two scenes in this movie that are extended jokes. If you will, you will be laughing for minutes.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: Yes, on end, you were crying.
00:03:43
Speaker 3: It was it was so unexpected. Oh my god, what's the guy from White Lotus? We can never come up with his name? He was the dad the first season.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can never.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: We can never come up with his name.
00:03:53
Speaker 1: He is amazing.
00:03:54
Speaker 3: You see him and you love him. Oh and Dandy Newton.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: Oh, Sandy Newton was incredible. How did I not mention her either?
00:04:01
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:04:01
Speaker 1: Oh so the dad from White Lotus.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: I was like, first this joke that he was a part of I thought was stupid, and then it because they were they leaned into everything. They went full force with all jokes. Yes, they didn't half ass anything, and so when people are all in, you're on board too, and it just worked. We were all laughing so highly highly highly recognized. Okay, so wait, we'll start with the box office top ten. This is what Americans went to go see or this is a yeah, this is domestic.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: This is not international. It's a little bit different when you do international.
00:04:35
Speaker 3: You know, cool, this is a good way to do it, but.
00:04:37
Speaker 1: I wanted to do domestic results. Yes, okay.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: So the number ten movie of twenty twenty five, Captain America Brave New World. We didn't see it, did not see it. Number nine, How to Train Your Dragon, didn't see it, didn't see it. Number eight, The Fantastic Four First Steps, didn't see it, didn't see it.
00:04:53
Speaker 3: Can you tell me number ten? There? How much money did you make?
00:04:56
Speaker 1: Number ten?
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Mate? This is just domestically two hundred point five five million.
00:05:00
Speaker 3: And it was considered a little bit of a failure, Yes, a little bit, right, a box office bus to a.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: Certain Yeah, they would they probably would have thought it was going to get into the top five.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: Yes, okay.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: So How to Train Your Dragon, the Fantastic Four, number seven Sinners, Oh yeah, of course, that is the only movie on the top ten list that we actually, you're kidding. We only saw one movie.
00:05:20
Speaker 3: You're telling me America's favorite movies. We only gave a damn about seeing and you saying to the theater or to the theater.
00:05:27
Speaker 2: So there's one that we saw halfway through and stop, yeah, you know which one it is, all right? So okay, So Sinners was the one we saw. Number six. Both of my daughters were begging us to see this Zootopia too. They were like, Mom, you and TJ. I know it sounds silly and childly, you will love this movie.
00:05:46
Speaker 1: They were raving about it.
00:05:48
Speaker 3: First one was delightful. I do want to see it. I didn't run out to the theater, but yeah, oh those movies are.
00:05:52
Speaker 2: When it starts streaming, we will watch the Sopia too. She's like, you will laugh, you will cry, it has heard is everything? Number five Wicked for good Now we saw the first one. We didn't see the second half. Okay. Members of our family represented us and saw number four Jurassic World. We didn't see that, and that's something we would have normally seen. I don't know why we didn't watch.
00:06:16
Speaker 3: You know, it takes a lot to get us to the theater. And there were a number of horror movies this year. We go to movie theaters for horror movies. We kind of exclusively almost even last night, even though it was a common comedy, but it had its horror thrillers agreement to it. But now I think that's it. We get excited about a new horror movie coming out. We don't get excited about anything nothing. I don't care how big of a blockbusting, even Sinners. It was the one horror movie I know.
00:06:41
Speaker 2: That's I know, that's the why, that's why we saw the one. Okay, number three, here's the one we saw halfway through. And to be honest, we get up really early, so it has nothing to do with the movie. We fell asleep and we just didn't fully commit. Recommit to watch it, Superman.
00:06:54
Speaker 3: I want to see it.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: Curious about all everyone talks about how wonderful this film was. I the original is such a huge part. It's one of the first movies I remember loving.
00:07:05
Speaker 3: But this was a significant for the reboot for DC and James Gunn being in charge, and the movie did well and people, so it looks like this was the one that finally put him on some kind of good footing with Marvel, and we didn't get him. We just heard exactly.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: Will recommit at some point maybe this week, to watch to finish watching Superman number two, Lilo and Stitch to Man four hundred and twenty three point seven million domestically.
00:07:30
Speaker 1: That is remarkable.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, so you're telling me Minecraft movie was the big movie.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: The Yes, the Minecraft movie number one domestic movie. That's pretty remarkable. So don't know how many of them you've seen. We've seen one point three.
00:07:45
Speaker 1: We saw about a third of the top ten. Yeah, that's it.
00:07:48
Speaker 3: I think we were rare. Yeah, we were rare, all right.
00:07:50
Speaker 2: So we put together a list of the movies that we did love, and you won't be surprised that they all kind of fit in the horror genre.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: I searched, I looked.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: I actually spent a lot of time going through all the movies of twenty twenty five, thinking, my god, we had to have gone to the movies.
00:08:07
Speaker 1: To have seen something other than a horror movie. And turns out it's none. We did not. So on the list, we'll start with The Long Walk. Your first impressions of The Long Walk.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: Shockingly emotional. That was I wasn't expecting Stephen King. I didn't know this Stephen Ling story. Stephen King store. That movie was intense from start to finish, and there was a friendship that formed black guy, white guy in the midst of the highest stakes possible, only one of us can survive, and we still found a way to connect and be friends. That's I was shocked and how emotional I was watching the movie.
00:08:50
Speaker 2: We loved this movie. Honestly, it almost felt like because Stephen King wrote this story, so it was a short story adapted to a film long, long, long ago, and yet it reminded me of The Hunger Games, like he was almost the original Hunger Games it really. I mean, obviously it's a it's a more it's a simpler story than The Hunger Games, but I got those same vibes from it.
00:09:10
Speaker 1: But it's funny.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: In the actual write up or in the description of it, you said intense the long walk and intense, chilling and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question, how far could you go?
00:09:25
Speaker 1: So you actually nailed it?
00:09:27
Speaker 2: Okay, yes you could, all right. Eighty eight percent from critics, eighty four percent from audience, So the rotten Tomatoes. Everyone agrees this was a phenomenal film, and namely, yes, obviously Stephen King, the author of being the huge reason why it was great. But Cooper Hoffman, Philip Seymour, Hoffman's son stars in this He is remarkable. The apple does not fall far from the tree. And then David Johnson, he was a black guy. He was amazing. They call it a soulful performance, but they say brings a lot of heart to Stephen King's dystopian tailor, making The Long Walk a life or death ordeal for its characters and a riveting ride for audiences.
00:10:05
Speaker 1: That was the critics consensus.
00:10:07
Speaker 2: So agreed. And Mark Hamill is phenomenal in this film too. Forgot to mention him.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: He was great because that makes you hate him, yes, and you don't want to.
00:10:17
Speaker 1: But who hates Luke Skywalker?
00:10:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, you will in this one.
00:10:21
Speaker 2: It made sixty three million dollars internationally against a twenty million dollar budget. You can rent it on Prime or Apple highly highly highly recommend. Actually, look, it's a little gory, want to mention, like if you're going to have the family around. It's heartwarming and it's emotional, but it's gory. Just wanted to let you guys.
00:10:38
Speaker 3: Know, and disgusting at time just for really not going over the top, but it was necessary at times just for the realism of it, and you know, I encourage folks, if you don't see his name, you probably won't piece together before the end of the movie that that's Mark Hamill. You've been looking at that.
00:10:53
Speaker 2: That's true, all right, that's true. He looks very different and because his character is so evil, you just wouldn't think, oh, there's Luke.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: But he stars in it the whole time. Yeah, he's a special one in this movie. He makes this movie work a lot.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: You're really good, all right.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: I want you to talk about I think you said this might be your favorite. It's at least in your top two hard eyes that we have to put that on for a must see. If you haven't seen it, please please please. I can see why people might have skipped over it. But this movie is.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: Incredible because we said they nail it. Could have you take out the horror and it would have been a rom com. You take out the rom com elements and it's a legit horror movie. And it's difficult to get both of those genres genres. Right. It was great. And I love Cuba Gooding Junior son. He's just a charming dude. I love watching him.
00:11:42
Speaker 1: Mason Gooding, I.
00:11:43
Speaker 3: Love that dude. But I hope he gets more and more opportunities. God like do like watching him. But this was for folks like us who love horror movies. For someone like you who loves rom com. We immediately recognize this as a special movie, and it.
00:11:55
Speaker 2: Could have gone horribly wrong putting those two things together, but it went. Everything went exactly as it should. So the synopsis is, for the past several years, the Heart Eyes Killer has wreaked havoc on Valentine's Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine's Day, no couple is safe and it is great. Seventy eight percent from the critics, seventy six percent from the audience. The critics consensus was a mixture of gory, slasher and sweet rom com that ingeniously nails both formulas. Hard Eyes serves up a bloody Valentine that will make the heart skip a beat, perfectly said. Yes, this was a brilliant mashup of genres, amazing kills, good fun. I think this is the perfect date night movie. So yes, Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding were fuhenomenal in this.
00:12:43
Speaker 3: Well. Please discuss with your date that you're going to watch this movie and why because if you just, you know, put it on, I might look at you like you're crazy.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: Hay, So she or he has to be okay with a little more and a lot of fun. But you can watch it on Netflix. I'm surprised weapons wasn't higher up just I saw where it fell. And this movie was remarkable. It made two hundred and sixty nine million dollars internationally, but this movie was incredible. Critics gave it a ninety three percent. The audience gave it an eighty five percent. The synopsis is at all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night, at exactly the same time, and a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: Why did you love this movie?
00:13:28
Speaker 3: The con The promotional campaign was pretty brilliant. It's that simple. All these kids from one class left and nobody knows where they went, and only one kid has left. Let's figure out the mystery. They sold it as that and this whole all the campaign, everybody right now can still see kids running with their arms down outstretched. It's just kind of freaky, the whole thing. I think they did a great It reminds me of the Megan campaign for the first Megan. It just gets going. There's a clear message of what this is and a mystery that needs to be figured out and they I thought they did a great job with that. And what's the young lady from Mom?
00:14:03
Speaker 1: I did Julia Garner?
00:14:04
Speaker 3: I didn't watch Ozar.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Oh, she's so good. I love her.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: She's one of my favorite favorite actresses right now. Julia Garner, She's pretty wonderful. And Josh.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: They carry this movie in a lot of ways. There's a couple other characters in there you recognize, and you know the Asian guy who was.
00:14:20
Speaker 1: The principal Benedict Want isn't this.
00:14:22
Speaker 3: The guy who was also I think in the Marvel movies who yes, sidekick of Doctor Strange. So you see that. The performances are great. Yeah, this is a this is a god. And some people had a problem with the way they told the story. It was kind of through each person's eyes through the same day. I liked it.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: I did too.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: I thought it was phenomenal. The acting was just obviously so incredibly good. I liked the pacing, I like the way they told the story. I loved the mystery and I liked the payoff in the end. I liked what the answer was to the mystery. A lot of times I don't and a.
00:14:55
Speaker 3: Lot of people didn't. I didn't mind it, but I liked how this movie ended almost a comedic horror way.
00:15:02
Speaker 1: Exactly this movie I forgot. How did I not mention that? Oh?
00:15:07
Speaker 2: That makes every horror movie better? All right, you can watch this on HBO Max. All Right, when we come back, we're going to tell you our final two movie recommendations for the best or at least our favorite movies of twenty twenty five. Welcome back, everyone. We are talking about our favorite movies of twenty twenty five. Our list does not mirror anyone else's and certainly not even close to the highest box office or the highest grossing box office movies. But there are favorites and we hope you might want to check them out as well if you have some extra time on this week between Christmas and New Year's so also on our list. This is one that everyone agreed with, including the box office. Was one of the best movies of the year. Sinners, it was remark the synopsis is trying to leave their troubles behind Twin brothers, both played by Michael B. Jordan by the way, returned to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. This is a vampire movie and a musical almost mashed up in one, and I loved.
00:16:20
Speaker 3: It, and quite frankly, the soundtrack is something we listen to quite a bit around here. So the music is great. But yeah, Michael G. B Jordan is just Michael B. Jordan. He's wonderful. But the story here is pretty, is pretty cool, and it's original, an original horror movie. This is not some ip they got sitting around on a show. If they had to dust off, you just don't see it a lot. This is a I give it more credit because it is a new is a fresh and an original story, and they pulled it off.
00:16:46
Speaker 1: So yes, you see. Ryan Coogler's genius.
00:16:49
Speaker 2: He was the writer and director and this is his first original blockbuster. But the critics say it was a rip roaring fusion of masterful visual storytelling and toe tapping music. That is exactly the perfect way to put it. Yes, we love the music, the visuals, the stories. You know, it felt like an event more than a movie like you were watching an event.
00:17:11
Speaker 1: Does that make any sense? That's how it felt to me. But Michael B.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: Jordan stars in it, Hailey Steinfeld and just it's just a blast to watch and to listen to. It made three hundred and sixty seven point nine million dollars internationally, so kudos to them.
00:17:27
Speaker 1: You can watch it on HBO Max.
00:17:28
Speaker 2: And finally, this seems like a good one to end on Final Destination. Bloodlines were huge, huge Final Destination fans, but this last one man, they saved the best for last and perhaps among the reasons why we love this movie so much. Two words for you, Tony Todd.
00:17:49
Speaker 3: Yeah he was. I think that is why the movies at the top of the list. If he were not in this movie, I wonder if we would feel the same. But there was just an emotional connection. And then look, any horror movie fan, you know who Tony Todd is, and Candy Man is on somewhere your list of moments. You remember, movies, you remember lines, you remember, and to this day you will not say Candy Man in the mirror. So for this, oh God, now, that guy to be in this movie and have the send off that he had made it really really special for us. But the movie was fun how they kind of brought the whole story of Final Destination together. So this was this was a go.
00:18:25
Speaker 1: It really was.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: Rotten Tomatoes agrees ninety two percent from the critics, eighty six percent from the audience. Yeah, they really liked this film, and I liked how the critics consensus put it. Adding some surprising emotional layers onto the ghoulish bones of Final Destinations mythology. Bloodlines ingeniously executes grizzly set pieces with precision and turns impending doom into outrageous fun. We said this was the best of the series. The production value was incredible, the deaths, the storyline.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: I thought it was cool that they found a way to expand it. They went back in time.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: This is supposed to be the beginning basically a Final Destination, and it was just really smart how they brought it and made it intergenerational, like there were a lot of folks they had to kill, and they just did such a brilliant job bringing it home. But Tony Todd made it our favorite movie.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: All right. It made three hundred and fifteen million dollars internationally.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it did really really well, But if you haven't seen it, that is absolutely one to check out. You can find it on HBO Max and Without. Everyone, we hope you enjoy your time. We hope you get a little time off actually away from work and with the family, and hope that maybe some of these suggestions will help you have some fun passing the time until you get to party on New Year's Eve. And with that, everyone on behalf of my dear TJ.
00:19:44
Speaker 1: Holmes. I'm Amy Robock. We'll talk to you soon.