Avatar With a Vengeance
James Cameron is my favorite director, and any new film by him is a source of joy for me. Let's just say that our senses of film-logic and interests overlap to an uncanny level. Plot holes he allows, I'll allow. What he considers awesome, I consider awesome. Not because it's James Cameron, but because we apparently think a bit alike. I don't have this "innate connect" with anyone else.
Every time I do see a new film by him, I'm floored by the spectacle but always come away a bit disappointed, storywise or casting-wise. Funny thing though: on repeat viewings, when I know what's coming, the disappointment is gone, it only happens once. The awesomeness? That stays, and grows stronger the more details I discover.
Because of this, I place a lot of trust in James Cameron. I would have been very surprised if Avatar: Fire and Ash would have hit me as bad as it did most critics. Still, the general panning was so severe that I entered the cinema with trepidation. I need not have worried though: the magical connect was still there. For me, it works. I prefer it over the second film. I saw it twice in a 3D IMAX, the second time with my whole family, and everyone liked it a lot. Haters, feel free to hate. But I am happy this film is as successful as it is, because while I would love James Cameron to do something else entirely, I don't mind a part 4 and 5.
Horror Got Cracking (sticks)
I mentioned nice additions to the horror genre, and Weapons was pretty damn great. An ad campaign that didn't spoil anything, an intriguing set-up, baffled protagonists who are hopelessly flailing into cluelessness... and a super-satisfying ending. Speaking as part of the audience, this was bliss. I liked Barbarian and was hoping Zach Cregger could properly follow that one up, but this? This exceeded my expectations. I could say more but I do not want to spoiler it for anyone.
Australian Boxes
Brilliantly bedecked boxsets are my vice, and I have been collecting physical media for decades now, to my delight (and the exasperation of the other people at my address). And every few years, I will suddenly become aware of another country which is a treasure trove to pay attention to. This year, it was Australia, and two distributors in particular have released some absolute bangers recently. Umbrella Entertainment released stunning editions of Salute of the Jugger (a.k.a. The Blood of Heroes), Angel's Egg, Wake in Fright, Eyes Without a Face, Tarsem's The Fall...
And they weren't even the craziest distributor: that medal goes to Via Vision with their label Imprint. In 2024 they released a whopping large 40th anniversary special edition for The Neverending Story, a set so huge, the lobby-cards are included in actual size. In 2025, they even topped it with boxsets for The Keep, Lifeforce, and the Kill Bills, all of which are magnificent and large. Their release of David Lynch's Dune may have the craziest outer box yet...
These people are bonkers in all the right places so rest assured I will be following their releases closely.
I became a commissioned writer
Speaking of Umbrella Entertainment: they gave me something else of note in 2025. In a time when generational A.I. is used for everything, including writing, I was offered a commission for a written piece about a film. It is not the first time I've been paid for something I've written (I mean, I'm a writer here, and I have sold articles to other outlets in the past), but it was the first time I was asked to write something specific, in advance, and get money for it. And it happened again after that, so I must have done something right!
And what was I asked to deliver? An essay for a booklet included with Umbrella's excellent release of Shiraishi Kōji's terrifying Noroi: The Curse.
This Is Golden
Talk about surprises: if someone had told me in advance I'd love K-pop Demon Hunters I would have called them crazy. It literally took an army of people I know (and some I don't know but respect) to get me to watch it, and it charmed my socks off.
And the backstory of how it went viral is so much fun too: a loss, a write-off for the studio which had no confidence in it, a massive hit for the company that picked it up for what, in hindsight, turned out to be a pittance. Available for free if you had Netflix, the songs became monster hits through Tik-Tok, then in bought media, then it brought attention to the film, then the film got released in cinemas, then it got sing-along versions... No more hiding, it's now shining like it's born to be! I would not be surprised if it picks up an Oscar-nomination for best song.
It is an amazing industry story, and the film itself? It's fun! It got me to laugh, and even though it is a bit patchy in places it hit me in the feels at the end. K-pop Demon Hunters didn't make it into my top-5 for 2025, but in my top-10? It may have wriggled in... It definitely is in my top-20.
Of Sinners...
Ryan Coogler's Sinners was the number two in ScreenAnarchy's top 10 of 2025 (with pole position at the halfway point...) and it has one of the best scenes in recent cinema history in it, a moment when music unites past, present, future, fantasy... The vampire thriller surrounding it is a pretty solid eight, but that bit? A ten out of ten. I said there weren't any true classics this year, but that may have been a bit too unkind. This is one that will be remembered.
... and Saints!
Ryan Johnson's Knives Out murder mysteries have a place in my heart, I like them a lot. We got treated to the third one in 2025 and two others are apparently contracted by Netflix. That makes me happy.
And Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery was one of my favorites this year. It is a decent murder mystery (though not too hard...) but on top of that it is a very funny film, a Phantom of the Opera musical moment had me in stitches. And on top of THAT, it is one of very few films which explains what the actual use is of a good priest. Like in Calvary, you get shown the difference, and whether you are religious or not, we could all do with a bit of kindness and forgiveness, as long as it is rooted in sincerity and honesty. Non-believer Benoit Blanc's sudden insight near the end hit me where I did not expect it.
The Dutch Festivals
There are now five festivals in the Netherlands I always try to visit, and each of them is special in its own way.
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is the largest cultural event in the Netherlands, judging from number of tickets sold, and as luck would have it, it is in my hometown. It's generally where I end up seeing my favorite film of the year (though I never know that in advance) and 2025 was no exception. More on that later, in another bullet!
Breda has a festival dedicated to B-Films, Underground and Trash (BUT) and one of the best atmospheres of ANY event, but in 2025 I missed it (sorry!).
Then it's Rotterdam again with a festival dedicated to Japanese Films and culture, the Camera Japan Festival. This year it had its 25th iteration and instead of a small food-and-culture market, to my delight this year they had a LARGE food-and-culture market. Also, sake-tasting never grows old...
In Amsterdam we have the Imagine Festival, dedicated to fantasy, science fiction and horror, which had a great line-up this year! None of which I was able to review as they were all already picked up by other writers. Ah well, at least I got to see the films in a cinema!
My favorite in 2025 though was the Film by the Sea festival in Vlissingen (Flushing) which is smaller than the IFFR but far more glamorous, with red carpet events as well. Great films were shown there including A Woman Like Monique (reviewed here), which was a world première. That is also where I shot this picture with a lot of Dutch film royalty in it. From left to right: actor Edwin de Vries, director Claire Pijman, actress Monique van de Ven, director Dick Maas, director Esmé Lammers.
My Most-read Article
As I am a vain person I always check which of my articles was the most popular, or at least the most-read one. To my chagrin, for the last few years it has always been the top-t0 list of the previous year. So, what do you think happened in 2025? Check out my top-3 most-read articles:
1: The top-10 list for 2024
2: The top-25 list for the 21st Century
3: The top-10 list for the first half of 2025
I get it, lists are fun, I mean... this article is literally another list. But still! Lists are communal items, we've created them as a group. What did I do that is mostly me?
Well, letting go of lists for a moment, my most-read article was my review of the Philippine horror film Lilim. And as it's a damn solid film I am happy to give it some more limelight here.
My (well, not really mine, but...) Favorite Interview
In 2025 I didn't interview many people, but my colleague Theodoor Steen jumped right in when he saw a few persons of personal interest in the guest list of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. I went with him to take pictures, and with the interview he did with Joseph Kahn I was actually invited to join in for some of the questions. Mister Kahn is very friendly and very knowledgeable, a delight to just have a conversation with and a treasure trove of anecdotes. When he discovered Theodoor was especially interested in music videos, he even showed us on his laptop what he was working on. The interview itself got pretty big so we had to publish it in two parts. Check out part one and part two!
Fun thing: Theodoor is one of those super-tall people (much closer to 7 feet than 6), and when the press desk told us they "found us a room for the interview", this is where they took us.
My Favorite Acquisition
A fair chunk of my income is spent on film. So what did I buy that delighted me the most? Was it a book? Was it a film? In 2025, it was a film. Or rather, a very special edition release of a film.
I've mentioned Australia's Imprint edition of Michael Mann's World War Two horror fantasy The Keep already. The film itself is a flawed, cut B-movie about Nazis having to free a Jewish professor from a concentration camp, to save them from a vampire-like demon they have inadvertently awoken. Flawed or not, it is star-studded, has a legendary soundtrack by Tangerine Dream, and is a wonderful curiosity from the 1980s.
For decades it was hard to find on home video, and when the US released a Bluray it was sold out in hours. Well, someone in Australia thought: let's put this thing in a giant box with books, posters and trinkets, and let's put a 650-grams-heavy metal cross on the front. Oh, and when you remove that cross you see a 3D lenticular image of the face of the demon.
Ehm... you had me at 'lenticular' already. Blimey, what a bling.
And that was just the front...
My Favorite Film
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is huge, with literally hundreds of titles playing, many of which are premières. How to choose what to see? Me, I follow the audience charts. Several times a day, the festival updates the rating chart, and it is always worth it to see what bubbles up.
In 2025, this led me to see Walter Salles' drama I'm Still Here about a congressman in Brazil who was "disappeared" by the fascist government in the early 1970s. The film shows the effect this had on his family, the hopes, the hardships, the absolute vile injustice, but also the perseverance, the strength. In my review, I said the following:
"I'm Still Here is also not just a voyage into despair. You see the family suffer, but you also share in their resilience and stubbornness. Eunice Pavia became a world famous fighter for human rights, defending the Amazon rainforest and the tribes living in them, and remained a thorn in the side of right-wing political parties for her entire life. Stick around for the end credits too, as the film is full of photographs, family snapshots, several of which are important to the story. When the end titles run, you get to see how carefully these were all reproduced, as you are shown the originals with the real Rubens, the real Eunice, and their real children.
One of the most powerful films I have seen on the subject, treating it with respect and intimacy, I'm Still Here is a punch to the gut, but a good one. Viewers at the International Film Festival Rotterdam loved it and awarded the film the Audience Prize, with a whopping high rating of 4.8 out of 5."
