2025 Movie Diary

52 Weeks = 52 Movies (Give or Take)

Current Count: 43 movies (42 New / 24 Rewatches) as of Week 47

Okay, so, the gist is that I promised myself I'd watch at least one movie per week this year. Sometimes I skip a week but it evens out because sometimes I double up. You can also follow this journey on my Letterboxd if you're that kind of person. I watch a lot of these with my dear friend Ki. Thanks, Ki, for always being down for a movie. Have any recommendations? Please let me know!

Week 1

Scream (1996)

Rewatch alert! Boo, you cheater! One of my fave slashers- I wanted to show this to Ki because they'd never seen it but little did I know they've absorbed enough throuh Osmosis to already pretty much know the twist. Oh well, still really fun. 4.5 stars.

Week 2

Bullet Train (2022)

Another rewatch. I feel like someone isn't taking this challenge very seriously. Another good one that Ki hadn't seen- fun vibes, super snappy and enjoyable to watch, everyone already knows that Lemon and Tangerine are the highlight of this movie (and that's about all Ki really cared about too). 4 stars.

Week 3

Skipped.

Week 4

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

I've been on a bit of a 50s movies kick lately. Unfortunately this one failed to impress me- I think I went in with my hopes too high. I did like a lot of the dialogue, and the fact that the protagonists were the bad guys was fun. I love a good lackey. I think if the sister and her boyfie had been more fleshed out it could have won me over more than it did. 3.5 stars.

Week 5

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Rewatch. I had to redeem myself in Ki's eyes by showing them a movie from the 50s that was actually amazing. Sunset Boulevard is always a fun watch but it was honestly even more fun hearing Ki react to it- this is a movie I had been trying to get them to watch for like two years and it was worth it, especially right at the end. Honestly, Ki's reaction to the last scene made it just as exciting as when I first watched it. 5 stars.

Week 6

Haunted Mansion (2023)

Watched immediately after going to Disneyland with Ki. They'd never been on the Haunted Mansion ride which was bizarre to me because they've visited that theme park way more than me. But anyway, they wanted to watch the movie when we got back to their house and I very reluctantly agreed because I didn't have anything better in mind. And it made me feel evil. It was just so insanely stupid. And LONG? 2 stars.

Week 7

Dogman (2025)

Ki and I went and saw this one in theatres. It was really, really cute! Loved the animation style, and was pleasantly surprised by how well Pete Davidson did as Petey. This was just adorable. I was a bit too old for the Dogman books when they were coming out, but I did grow up on Captain Underpants, and it has the same sort of heart. I hope there will be a sequel. Or ten. 4 stars.

Double Indemnity (1944)

Rewatch. Showing Ki another one of my favorite older films. You really have to appreciate how solid the plots were back then, I mean, they didn't take a whole lot of detours. The highlight of this movie for me (and for Ki) was the relationship between Walter and Keyes, and that final scene with the two of them is brutal to watch. Makes the whole film for me. 4.5 stars.

Week 8

Skipped. I was pooped after my vacation.

Week 9

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

I wanted to watch this one after seeing an image of dissheveled Al Pacino on Twitter. Ki did, of course, come along for the ride. I love movies with bank robberies, heists, cat and mouse games, shit like that, so this was an instant win for me. I love how poorly this one goes from the getgo. The ending gutted me. Good stuff. 4.5 stars.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

This is the sort of thing that should be right up my alley, but it didn't really do it for me. I don't doubt that it was a very good movie, I just... Never really cared for Aardman's style and don't have any nostalgia for any of their other movies, which I think I saw glimpses of in my childhood but never properly watched. I just find them. Unpleasant to look at. Wallace especially so. Again, I think it's fine, just not for me. 3.5 stars.

Week 10

Skipped.

Week 11

Goodfellas (1990)

Before watching this the only impression I had of the movie was via the Goodfeathers bits in the original Animaniacs series. I know it would be silly to expect the same amount of hijinks as the pigeons provided, and yet... Wishful thinking. It was a good movie. I do think Henry was the most boring character in the movie, but at least everyone else was fun to watch.4 stars.

Week 12

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Watched because I like Mark Ruffalo and was curious about some of his older roles, plus I think that this movie has been making a bit of a comeback lately (possibly due to Severance?). Again, I was... underwhelmed? I wish I weren't! It seems like everyone else loves this movie. It was good, it was memorable, I liked the premise. Absolutely amazing effects and I loved the structure of the story. I found myself not very invested in Joel and Clementine, mostly because I feel like they are the most annoying people on Earth. I really liked all the sickos who worked at the memory clinic. What a bunch of freaks. 3.5 stars.

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

I was curious about this one because I like courtrooms. At the beginning of the movie I thought I was really gonna hate Sir Wilfrid, but I ended up quite liking him. He's really very charming. Ki had fun too. 4 stars.

Week 13

Novocaine (2025)

Goes down easy. Not a whole lot of depth but fun action scenes and a few jokes that really got me. I liked how pathetic the main guy was, it was fun to watch him ragdoll around. The villain guy was boring... He didn't even really have a motive besides just being an asshole. Which, like, I can appreciate an asshole, but he went so far for absolutely no reason... And the way he was written made me feel like a 14 year old came up with him. But look, this isn't the kind of movie you come to for amazing character writing. 3 stars.

Week 14

Men in Black (1997)

Rewatch. Ki had never seen it, so I had to show them. I've always liked this franchise! K is so so delightfully funny to me. And Laurel is really, really hot. I wish they kept her in the sequels, she's just so good. 4 stars.

Men in Black II (2002)

Rewatch. We watched this the very next day- I did warn Ki that it was nowhere near as good as the first. Too many callbacks to jokes from the first movie, and they lasted way too fucking long. I could've appreciated, like, a glimpse of the pug alien- I didn't need to see it as a main character. Still, there's some really fun scenes and I feel like there's so much potential here. I just wish it was like, better. And I wish it wasn't just trying to do the exact same plot as MiB but with a sexy lady instead of a gross bug man. MiBIII does the mentor-trainee role reversal thing between J and K so much better. 3 stars.

The Eunuch (1968)

Woah. That's a weird movie to jam into the middle of a MiB rewatch. I liked a lot of the cinematography. The flashbacks and foreshadowing are all nicely done, but the transitions between scenes can be pretty jarring. I liked the sex scene at the ending the best- the shift in music with the nuanced acting really had me hyped. 3.5 stars.

Week 15

Men in Black III (2012)

Rewatch. Ah, there we go! My favorite of the series but I'm biased by nostalgia because it was also the first one I saw (in theaters, when I had just turned 12 years old!). Time travel plot but it wasn't hard to follow. Brolin plays a great K. There's a bit more of an emotional core to this one that isn't really there in the rest of the series. My biggest nitpick is the sudden shift in K's character in this movie- it wants to portray him as this gruff, serious, no-fun guy, but I've always thought he was so fun and had such a sense of humor in the other movies. C'mon! Straight-faced doesn't mean unfunny! 4 stars.

Week 16

The Host (2006)

Ki wanted to watch this one. It was a wild ride. A bit sad, a bit funny, pretty absurd. I like how everyone in the family was a total loser. The fish monster was hard to take seriously, especially when it was doing monkey bars shit. Didn't expect the direction it went, and I really didn't expect that ending... I enjoyed how blatantly the message was that "Americans make everything worse." 4 stars.

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)

Rewatch! I'm honestly still surprised this movie got made, and even though it's been 6 years (WHAT) since it came out, I still really hope they make another. I loved the animation, the longer story was really solid and didn't feel dragged out, the incorporation of things from the series (Like Tak's ship?!) was so fun. Just a blast overall. 4.5 stars.

Airplane! (1980)

Asked Ki to watch this with me directly after watching a bunch of anime OVAs which was a bizarre shift in tone. I loved it because I'm a sucker for one-liners and sight gags. Super duper funny but the constant flashbacks and lack of any meaningful plot makes this movie seem, like, three times as long as it actually is. Ki described it best when they said "a solidly edited clip compilation could probably get the job done just as well." 3.5 stars.

Happy Feet (2006)

My OTHER friend Ozzie had never seen this one so I forced them to watch it. You don't expect a jukebox musical with realistic 3d animated penguins to touch on religion, racism, developmental disabilities, ableism, environmentalism, alien abductions, and zoo animal welfare, but it absolutely does all of this and more. Should it have? Well, that's for you to decide. Fun fact, when I was a little kid with an iPod Nano, this was the only movie I bought on iTunes. I probably watched it 30 times on that two inch screen. My parents kept complaining because the file would sync to their iPods too. 3 stars.

Week 17

Madagascar (2005)

They really loved to shove those stupid animal faces right directly into the camera for like 2 frames at a time just to make this movie as jarring to watch as possible. But fuck it, fun characters, fun stylization, fun story... It does hold up. And the penguins will always hold a special place in my heart. 3.5 stars.

Mickey 17 (2025)

As fun as I'd hoped. I wish I had gotten to see this one in theaters. Really cool premise, great characters and dynamics, answered a lot of the questions I had and yet still left me wanting more. Ending was a bit more drawn out than I'd expected. I loved this! 4 stars.

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

A bit slow until the trial actually gets started. I almost gave up but this movie did end up winning me over. God, Mona Lisa Vito is so fucking hot I could die. 3.5 stars.

Week 18

Skipped.

Week 19

Sinners (2025)

I wrote a mile long review on Letterboxd but for the sake of brevity (and not spoiling it for anyone) here is the TLDR: Beautifully shot, legendary soundtrack, and characters with a lot of depth and soul. So fun and so tragic. I want more but I think it actually gave the perfect amount. Wow. See this on the big screen if you can. 5 stars.

Week 20

Skipped.

Week 21

Conclave (2024)

Absolutely beautiful, gorgeous movie as expected. Interesting themes. There were a lot of lines and moments that piqued my interest but didn't really go further- I would have liked to see more of those. I was definitely pulled in, though, I was gasping at the drama and pickign sides lol. It's kind of insane how much gay fanart there is of this movie but there's yaoi everywhere for those willing to see it I guess. 4.5 stars.

Week 22

Argylle (2024)

Dogshit. Oh my god. It was so bad. I wish I could say more but the only note I took was "This is honestly what I imagine booktok to be like". 1 star.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Rewatch! This is one of my favorite movies. HAL begging for his life and talking about he can feel his brain shutting down one piece at a time, all in his perfectly polite monotone voice, never fails to Kill Me. 5 stars.

Week 23

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)

More fun and engaging than I remember. Makes me miss my grandma. Crazy that a movie from 2004 is more empowering and progressive than movies released 20 years later, like, Disney would never release something like this in 2025 LOL. 3.5 stars.

Harvey (1950)

Charming, funny, silly. Kind of inspiring in a weird way. Not super exciting but a pleasant watch. More culturally significant than I think most people realize. 4 stars.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

The lore in this movie is kind of nuts. Feels ahead of its time. Very beautiful, stunning use of color. The first scene was my favorite. Really fun premise and a healthy dose of shitting on the British. 4.5 stars.

Pillow Talk (1959)

Ohhh... It's cute... Falls into that old trope of "guy annoys girl into dating him" but I honestly can't even be that mad at it because the phone setup is so unique and of its time. Really funny. Some great shots. Some horrible accents. I really liked this a lot!

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

I had been meaning to rewatch this one for a while. Mercutio is everything. EVERYTHING! Fun colors clever costumes and sets good casting. It's just a good time. 3.5 stars.

Week 23

Austin Powers: International man of Mystery (1997)

Rewatch with several friends. It's a classic. Some amazing gags in there and a few misses. Overall it's impossible not to love. 3.5 stars.

Week 24

Skipped.

Week 25

Black Swan (2010)

Really solid! Tight plot, one of those movies where you know exactly where it's going but it's still fun all the way. I think this would be a great movie for students or anyone looking to get into analyzing film because the symbolism is very clear and easy to follow, especially the use of colors. 4 stars.

Week 26

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Rewatch for my birthday party. Ha! I get the Harvey joke now. Really fun characters and is nicely put together. The crossovers are still exciting and novel even in the era of Fortnite. 4.5 stars.

Mary Poppins (1964)

Rewatch for my birthday... 2! Thanks Ki for sticking around. One of my favorite movies. I'm a sucker for a good musical and all of these songs pull their weight. The animated portions looked great, I just know Who Framed Roger Rabbit was taking notes from this movie. Bert.... I love you Bert...... 5 stars.

The Wild Robot

I had my doubts about how engaging this movie would be but the positive reviews from my friends convinced me to give it a try. It's really beautiful, visually and narratively. Bittersweet ending. Brightbill was pmo. 4 stars.

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)

Simple and funny. Farmer Jim really fucking killed me every time he was on screen. Feels very classic and refreshing. Beautifully animated. 4 stars.

Week 27

The Handmaiden

It got me! It got me good... Incredibly compelling and great at pulling the rug out from under you. It's so over / We're so back meme on repeat. I watched the extended version so I'm not sure what the difference is between that and the regular cut but I enjoyed it. They weren't lying when they said this movie is like 50% porn though. 4.5 stars.

Week 28

Skipped.

Week 29

Oklahoma! (1955)

I thought it was kind of evil that I'd never seen this, being a self-proclaimed musical lover and all. It was nice. I liked the songs, though only a couple really stood out to me as memorable. The first half of the movie was pretty dull but it got much more interesting the moment Curly went to Jud's house to sing him a song about how he should kill himself. I think I said "Bro WHAT?" out loud more than once while watching this movie. 3.5 stars.

Picture Snatcher (1933)

Not a lot of depth to this one but I was certainly never bored. It was a bit like watching Tom and Jerry, with Danny Kean as the clever mouse and that poor pig as the dumbass cat. I cannot believe they still reconciled at the end. Entertaining! 4 stars.

Week 30

Osmosis Jones (2001)

Rewatch because Ki had never seen it. I think actually they HAD to put all that horrible disgusting live action bullshit in because the animated portions were just TOO good and clever. I love you David Hyde Pierce. I love that fucked up smile that Jones makes every once in a while that makes him look Devious As Fuck. God, what a fun time. Also I was kind of high when we watched this so maybe that helped. 2.5 stars, given lovingly.

Broadcast News (1987)

Crazy insane dynamics between these characters. Sharp, clever, really good. An excellent reminder of why I don't work in news, though honestly, this movie kind of makes me wish I was cool enough to work in news. Begging for a rewatch. 4.5 stars.

Week 31

The Court Jester (1955)

Really, really delighted me. I think I enjoyed it a lot more than Ki did. Great bits, lovable characters, insanely funny at times. Reminds me of a Mel Brooks movie tbh. 5 stars. I don't think it actually deserves 5 stars, but it's getting 5 stars.

Week 32

Get Out (2017)

Rewatch because Ki hadn't seen any of the big Peele horror movies. I do like this movie but I prefer the others. Still a fun time! I picked up on some things I don't think I caught the first time. And honestly, in hindsight, I think the straightfowardness of the premise does kind of give it a leg up over Us, despite my personal preference for the latter. 4.5 stars.

Us (2019)

Rewatch. We watched these suckers back to back. I love Us for the symbolism, the open endedness, the ability to crawl into the plot and really theorize. It seems Ki ended up annoyed with the plot holes, which I can understand tbh. I think the film should have just left the origins of the tethered even more ambiguous- by somewhat explaining it, it draws more attention to the parts that don't make as much sense. And, I think that most of what was explained in the movie could have been gleaned from what was shown (the lab rabbits, the classrooms, etc). 4.5 stars.

Week 33

Tommy Boy (1995)

I wanted to watch this because I was sadbaited by SNL's continued mourning of Chris Farley. Those videos of Adam Sandler giving him posthumous shoutouts always did make me kind of sad. SNL would have you believe that Farley was a comedic god among men, and while I am still sad that the guy died so young, I was left slightly disappointed by this first taste of his humour. I mean, it's like... fine. Not really that funny to me. I did REALLY enjoy David Spade's character in this movie, but honestly, I bet everyone could see that coming. I'm trying to remember more to say about this movie, but all I wrote on Letterboxd is "That's exactly what it's like to be fat in an airplane bathroom," so, points for that I guess. 3 stars?

Nope (2022)

Now this is the Peele film Ki was most excited for. And tbh, yeah, I think it's probably the best one. I love it. It's so cleanly put together, the concepts are awesome, I love the characters and the aesthetics. Badass stuff. 4.5 stars.

Week 34

Nobody (2021)

Saw this in preparation for Nobody 2. There's not much to say about this movie other than the fact that it's just total action porn. It's just a fun time for lovers of violence. I love the action subgenre of "I really wish I didn't love beating the shit out of people so much." Like, yeah, man, feel guilty and yet make no changes to your lifestyle. Punching bad guys is, like, an addiction. Uhm, it looks like I gave this 4 stars on Letterboxd, but in hindsight, I don't know why the hell I did that. It's not THAT good. 3.5 stars, and that's being generous.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Watched again so I could get Ki in on it. That first scene is just beautiful, man, this whole movie has the most gorgeous colors. Sticking at 4.5 stars.

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Love a good court case. I feel like I learned a lot about the french legal system. Fun, frustrating, lots of reveals that make you hardcore reevaluate everything. Enjoyed. 4.5 stars.

Week 35

Nobody 2 (2025)

Dogshit. Nowhere near as good as the first, which wasn't even that great to begin with, but it's fine I guess. These are total dad movies for dads to watch and have their, like, Protector fantasies over or whatever. The characterization of the wife kinda pmo. 2.5 stars.

Monkey Man (2024)

Rewatched because I love him. Badass fight choreo. Awesome blood. Yay. 5 stars.

Week 36

Pacific Rim (2013)

Pretty fun! I can see why there's like a million Pacific Rim AUs in fandom spaces. Newt really reminds me of one of my OCs except I think if the kaiju were reaching out for Orph he would be like fuuuck yesss so it's good he's not in this movie. Some annoying character choices. Would've liked to see Mako have more agency. 3.5 stars.

Week 37

Network (1976)

Well, I certainly couldn't predict where this movie was going at any given point throughout its duration. It made some points, some really good points, but got just a bit too zany with the plot for me. 4 stars.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Very strong and memorable characters. Good story. Hated that fake ass accent though. 4 stars.

12 Angry Men (1957)

Had been on my list foreverrrr. Classic and for a reason. Again, I love a good courtroom drama. I love the limitations of having the entire story take place in one room. Cleverly written. I love the logic, and lack thereof from some characters. Just awesome. I loved it. 5 stars.

Week 38

Skipped.

Week 39

Skipped.

Week 40

Skipped.

Week 41

Skipped.

Week 42

Skipped. Sorry for dying for several weeks.

Week 43

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Fun but they could never make me forget you, ROTTMNT. Cute, I liked the art style, the new backstory and younger vibe was appreciated. The character designs were fun. 4.5 stars.

Pretty Woman (1990)

Watched because I was trying to see if my OC would like it lol. Fun and feels good. Does have more depth and meaning than half the romcoms being released today. Not my fave but for the record, he WOULD like it. My OC, that is. 3.5 stars.

The Birdcage (1996)

Watched on a friend's recommendation. It was funny, I liked it. Some characters were surprisingly mature and some where annoyingly immature. There's lots of moments that had some deep emotional undercurrents that I feel they could have really dug into, but they didn't for some reason or another. Time maybe? Or maybe that's just not the sort of tone they wanted to take? It gives you enough but it does leave you wondering. 4 stars.

Week 44

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Rewatch, but I hardly remember the first time I saw it. Great stuff that I caught while getting ready one morning in a hotel room. Obviously fun visuals. I really hate Johnny Depp but his range cannot be denied. Probably one of the least satisfying endings ever, though, I mean fuck. Movie that leaves you going "...THAT'S IT?" 4 stars.

Week 45

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Rewatch. Ok so I was gonna make Ki watch Edward Scissorhands because I don't think they ever have, but we went to see a play and the theater was advertising that they're gonna do Sweeney Todd in February and I was like fuuuck I should come back so we can go to that. So instead we watched Sweeney Todd to make Ki's sister Ellie experience it for the first time. I love this movie, genuinely, looove it. The songs are great, the story is wild, I have no doubt that it's better as a musical but fuck, this movie does it for me until I can experience that. 4 stars.

Week 46

Save the Green Planet! (2003)

Ki and I watched this to prepare for Bugonia. Fuck me, dude, it's one of the stupidest movies I've ever seen in my life. Some of the things that happen in this movie aren't even, like, Oh Wow! Unlikely but Rule of Cool! No. It's just BULLSHIT that really annoyed me. I mean, spoilers upcoming but you shouldn't want to watch this movie anyway: At one point, the kidnapped rich guy kills his captor. He's about to leave, but he turns around and starts kicking the corpse, and one of the kicks hits the captor's heart and restarts it. Like. FUCK OFFFFFFF. Also, the entire ending section could be cut off and the movie would be so much better for it. It should absolutely have been left ambiguous. I hate it here. 2 stars.

Week 47

Whiplash (2014)

Rewatch so I could show my friend Ozzie. I hadn't seen this since college when I had to write the most tedious paper on it for my soundtrack class. Honestly, I think that having to lock in on that paper made me miss other aspects of the film that I really enjoyed this time around. I will never forget that torturous paper, though, which biases me against the movie by half a star. 4.5 stars.

Smarty (1934)

Sooooo pre-code. I think this is actually a pretty good movie- the characters are funny and likeable, the plot is interesting. It feels like it runs a little too long which is crazy because it's only an hour. I think there's a lot of nuance to the plot, actually, and some interesting social commentary. But literally all of that is overshadowed by the film's firmly Pro Spousal Abuse stance. Basically the lead woman intentionally infuriates her husband to the point of hitting her, divorces him, marries her divorce lawyer, and then intentionally infuriates him to the point of hitting her, leaves him, and goes back to her first husband, who has since realized he should. Hit her more? And she likes this. It's a really sour taste, I won't try to defend it. It seems that a BDSM subtext is a very popular read of the film, and while I can see where they're coming from, I don't think that watching with that intention absolves it of the Yikes! Seeing every character proudly proclaim that hitting women IS the answer, IS ALWAYS warranted, is PROVING their love- well, I can't imagine how much that movie would sting to watch for women trapped in abusive marriages in the 1930s. I'm gonna chew on this one for a while longer. 3 stars.

Pillow Talk (1959)

Rewatch to show Ki. It's a fun time, honestly. I wish the ending had a bit more time to round out because her switch from fury to forgiveness at the word "wife" gave me whiplash even knowing it was coming. 4 stars.