Lloyd’s Top Ten Movies of 2025

If you’re to pay attention to the people who are supposed to know about these kinds of things; movies are dead, Hollywood is burning and AI is coming to take over us all. As a consequence, movies are apparently getting worse by the year… I mean, I don’t know about that; I watched a crap ton of movies this year and I liked a whole bunch of them too. So much so that coming up with just Ten has been incredibly difficult. And I haven’t even watched all the ones I want to watch but hey, 2025 is done in a couple of days and so why not…

Hopefully my fellow Ugandans will be able to stock up on some of these before our impending media and internet black out… but first, a few;

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Friendship

Awkward, uncomfortable and agonizingly hilarious. Just like the protagonist of this comedy about male friendship.

• Justin WIllman: Magic Lover

Because who doesn’t like magic?

• The Shadow’s Edge

And how old is Jackie Chan? Because mandem has still got it. But also, this is peak fast and furious ridiculousness, I wish I could have watched this in a movie theater.

• The Life of Chuck

It seems like Stephen King adaptations tend to come back into vogue every decade or so and 2025 has been a big year for him. Life of Chuck is my Stephen King adaptation of the year… Now let me wait for that Dark Tower TV series.

• ‎Influencer + Influencers

Even though the first one came out in 2022, its sequel came out this year but seeing as I watched them back to back I’m lumping them together. Beautiful people, beautiful places and buckets and buckets of blood.

And now with those out of the way, here are;

MY TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2025

10. ‎Wick is Pain

John Wick is THE definitive action franchise of the last decade. It gave the effortlessly cool Keanu Reeves a third wind. This behind the scenes documentary is an amazing testament to how a little scrappy B movie that almost never got made became the behemoth that it is today.

9. ‎28 years later

After Frankenstein this was actually my 2nd most anticipated movie of 2025. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland together again 20 years after introducing the world to fast zombies? This was going to be epic. And boy it didn’t disappoint. It’s definitely not 28 Days Later… it’s something more.

8. ‎The Actor

I will watch anything actor Andre Holland is in. He really is one of my favorite working actors right now. This beautifully shot, surreal examination on memory and whether we are who we are even when we don’t know who that is, is both haunting and heart warming.

7. ‎Bone lake

More beautiful people in beautiful locations behaving very, very badly. It’s like The White Lotus except with buckets and buckets of blood.

6. ‎Ash

Flying Lotus’ feature film debut stands on the shoulders of sci fi horror classics such as “Alien”, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and even “Event Horizon” but it’s trippy visuals, twisty script and beautifully bloody body horror got me.

5. It Ends

I know people loved the Francis Lawrence adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Long Walk” but this little indie film for me was the YA existential parable wrapped in a sci fi horror packaging of the year. The fact that this was a first feature made by a bunch of friends is incredible.

4. On becoming a Guinea fowl

That’s 2/2 for Zambian filmmaker Rungano Nyoni. Like her first film, “I am Not a Witch” this film’s blend of dark humor and social commentary would give you tonal whiplash if not in the hands of such a talented filmmaker. The experience of a relative dying and the burial preparations hit so close to home and the surreal elements she snuck in were brilliant.

3. Warfare

This was my most visceral movie theater experience this year. War is hell. Yes, we know this. But this movie made you feel it. And damn that sound design was incredible. Alex Garland is on a roll.

2. ‎Blue moon

People talk about Scorcese and Deniro or more recently, Scorcese and Dicaprio but Blue Moon is Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke’s 11th collaboration together and they haven’t missed yet. A beautifully written, beautifully acted chamber piece about musical theater and I knew all the references…! Am I showing my Theater geek cred yet.

1. Frankenstein

Pure Cinema. Pure and simple.  One of my favorite books of all time. One of my favorite directors of all time. It was my most anticipated movie of the year… and Del Toro scored 10’s on everything.

And there you have it, my favorite movies of 2026. Which ones are you going to watch?

Written by

Lloyd Lutara

Follow

Did this story move you? Every gift goes directly to Lloyd Lutara — writers on Muwado earn from reader appreciation, not algorithms. Even $1 makes a difference.

Gift Once Gift Monthly