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.
Hey Ted! The nice thing about Letterboxd is you can interact as much or as little as you want with others and it’s much less ‘toxic’ than say FB or IG where people get overly political.
That’s cool that you rewatch a lot of your old faves in 4k. I barely use my bluray anymore as I mostly watch stuff online. Home Alone is always a fun one to watch around Christmas!
I forgot if I watched Reindeer Games or not LOL, I guess that’s how forgettable it is. I might’ve seen the trailer. I didn’t even realize it takes place during Christmas, ahah.
I’m not interested in Violent Night, though some people think Bad Santa is funny. I actually only saw one Christmas movie as it’s on Netflix, Jingle Bell Heist, which is quite enjoyable, as I love movies set in London, esp during the holidays.
I’ll take a look at Letterboxd later this year. It is actually nice to get off social media. Twitter was my favorite app but since Nazi Elon bought it and welcome back all the nastiness, I got tired of blocking contents I don’t want to see or care to know about.
I think I’m 50/50 when it comes to watching contents on disc and streaming. Streaming’s picture and audio quality still can’t match physical discs. But it’s getting close, I imagine in like 5 years, streaming will be very close to 4k discs.
Reindeer Games has its fans, it kind of became a lesser cult hit. But yeah, the whole film was set around Christmas week. I just remember the studio and entertainment news hyped up the film so much because of the two leads but then the studio just dumped it after they realized how crappy the actual film was. Lol!
Apparently, a sequel to Violent Night comes out this Christmas. I think I’ll pass. I’ve never heard of Jingle Bell Heist. I do like films that sets in London but I’m not the biggest fan of the city. It’s definitely one of the iconic cities in the world but I find it boring. But I might be going there later this year for a video, assuming we don’t have a recession and my won’t make any more budget cuts. Sigh…
I wish there is an editing option on this comment section. Lol! This this what I meant: But I might be going back there later this year for a video shoot, assuming we don’t have a recession and my company won’t make any more budget cuts. Sigh…
I hit the reply button too fast. Ha ha!
Josh O’Connor was my most watched actor too lol. Great year for him.
Yeah! I hope to see more of Josh this year too!
You had a fab year in film critic’s world Ruth. Whew, what a lot of movies. Way to go!
Congratulations on meeting the “WIF” 52 films challenge, again!
I did watch – One Battle After Another by Paul Thomas Anderson. That was new in 25.
Still, nostalgia ruled my holiday week with a binge of oldies including: Die Hard (my fave Christmas movie), which then kicked off rewatching all of the Die Hard movies.
I also rewatched – The Fly (1958) Network (1976) and a bunch of old Columbo tv. episodes from the 70’s.
I rewatched Death Wish with Charles Bronson, then watched the 2018 Death Wish with Bruce Willis, which is not a new film, but was new to me.
Oddly, I watched (new to me) Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1958) starring Mamie Van Doren. Interesting… but … talk about low budget, and old tech low budget to boot. Peter Bogdanovich directed under an assumed name (don’t blame him) and narrated.
To 26!
~❦ ~ ❀✾❀ ♥︎ ❀✾❀ ~ ❦~
Hey thanks Resa!! I’m thrilled that I got close to last year’s tally for the WIF challenge! Hopefully next year I can actually beat that!
So did you like One Battle After Another? I find it pretty funny, though a bit too long. Leo and Benicio were hilarious!
Love that nostalgia ruled your Christmas viewings! You can’t go wrong with the Die Hard movies. The first one is the best of course ( ❤︎ Alan Rickman forever!) but I actually enjoyed the third one too w/ Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Irons as the baddie.
Oooh The Fly! That’s the only Cronenberg film I’ve seen, I can’t handle body horror, too gory! Wow, didn’t realize that Bruce Willis worked w/ Bronson in 2018 Death Wish, sad to see Willis’ continued declining health 😦
Yes, too 2026… may this year be a better movie-watching year for all of us, but aside from that, here’s to a healthier, more joyful & peaceful year!
♥︎ · 𑣲 · ᢉ𐭩 ·· ❤︎ · ❦
Haha I had the opposite reaction when I rewatched Rogue One after Andor Season 2. I kinda didn’t care for it after. Though I enjoyed Rogue in theaters, the rewatch made me realize what I love about Star Wars is what Tony Gilroy was able to realize in Andor: what revolutions look like, broken and remade revolutionaries, the terrifying mundanity/machine of fascism, etc. I find all that more gripping than lightsabers and Sith Lords.
To be fair, there’s so much more room to explore these things in a TV show than a 2-hour movie. I will say though that the set-piece on Scarif probably my favorite battle in all of Star Wars, kinda like Dunkirk in space. Also, considering the way the sequel trilogy went, I guess I like Rogue One much better in retrospect.