Happy first weekend of 2026, everyone!! My hubby and I just kept it mellow as I’m still suffering from my arthritis flare-up in my left hand that makes it a bit difficult to do many activities. We just went to brunch at our favorite pancake place and accompanied hubby shopping for new glasses.
I’ll start posting reviews again on Monday, but in the meantime, I’m sharing FlixChatter’s Year in Review via Letterboxd. If you have a Letterboxd account, let’s connect there!
I’m quite surprised that I watched a total of over 200 films this year, since I feel like I didn’t watch enough. It’s a year where I watched quite a lot of TV, hence I posted my Top 10 Fave Shows list. I invite you to check out my top 10 Favorite Movie Music list as well, if you haven’t already.
I’m not surprised at all that Josh O’Connor is my most-watched actor, as I saw a total of three of his films: Rebuilding, The Mastermind, Wake Up Dead Man (A Knives Out Mystery); I couldn’t fit in History of Sound, or it would’ve been four. As for the Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, I saw two of his films: 2 Guns and Touch, two completely different films… one is an action comedy with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg; the other is a romance drama that spans multiple decades and continents with Icelandic and Japanese actors.
FILMS #DIRECTEDBYWOMEN
I didn’t plan for this, but I’m thrilled that the first and last film I watched in 2025, The Last Showgirl and Goodbye June, are both directed by women, yay!! I made a list on Letterboxd of all the new-to-me female-directed films (narrative and documentary) I saw in the entire year, and it’s ranked. Here’s the current ranking that makes up my top 10 of the year. Hamnet by Chloe Zhao easily takes the cake, but I really wish Undercover (La infiltrada) by Arantxa Echevarría would be available to watch on VOD at some point. I’m glad I got to see it on the plane, as I missed it at MSPIFF.
2025 Favorite Rewatches
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s been to my blog which movie is my favorite rewatch of the year. Thrilled that I got to see Sense & Sensibility (1995) on the big screen for its 30th anniversary special, as well as Roman Holiday, as I hosted the Secret Movie Night at EMAGINE last August. I rewatched ROGUE ONE after finishing ANDOR S2, and it truly made me enjoy that movie even more!
December 2025 Movie of the Month
Though I’m not doing a monthly recap for December, I still selected a film to be crowned Movie of the Month. It’s an easy pick as The Secret Agent is truly the best film I saw last month by a long stretch. I’m hoping Wagner Moura makes the cut in the Best Actor category at the Oscars. I highly recommend it if you can find it on VOD.
🏆⭐ 2025 MNFCA Award Winners!! ⭐🏆
The Minnesota Film Critics Association (MNFCA) recently shared the winners of their 2025 annual Film Awards. This year, One Battle After Another took home the prestigious Best Picture award and snagged a total of four awards, more than any other nominated film. I’m glad to be a part of the voting members of MNFCA, and for the most part, I’m happy with this year’s winners! 🌟
Check out the full list of 2025 winners on MNFCA’s website.
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
I’ve never used Letterboxd, with so many social media apps, it kind of got lost in the shuffle for me. Maybe I should sign up since I’m no longer on Twitter and I do miss interact with other film fanatics on social media.
Last month, I rewatched a bunch of older films. John Woo’s original The Killer finally came out on 4k blu-ray and I watched that, haven’t seen it in years. Then I also purchased Ridley Scott’s underrated Kingdom of Heaven, it also just released on 4k disc. I watched a few of my favorite “Christmas” films, Die Hard, Enemy of the State, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Home Alone.
I rewatched an older film that was supposed to be a new “Christmas” classic, Reindeer Games. It came out way back in 2000. A heist thriller that starred the then young and hot actors, Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron. It was so hyped up at the time and many predicted it to be a massive box office hit because of the two young stars. It was supposed to come out in Christmas 1999 but after several bad test screenings, it was dumped in theaters in February of 2000. When I first saw it, I thought it was one of worst films I saw that year. Watching it now, it’s still a terrible movie. Lol! A total misfire.
Another “Christmas” theme that I thought was a misfire was the recent A Violent Night. It’s a Die Hard knock-off that didn’t have the charms or excitement like Die Hard. They tried to combine Home Alone and Die Hard and it just didn’t work at all.