Watchlist 2025: Mini-Reviews [Long List]

Happy New Year 2026!

Lots of watches this past year 2025, and here’s a time capsule of everything good that I binged on.

Frankenstein (2025)

Standout watch of the year. This movie is a spellbinding visual feast. To think it is based on a book written by 20-year old Mary Shelley during a writing contest among friends in 1818! This story remains relevant for modern times, as genius scientific inventions come perilously close to upending longstanding concepts of humanity… and you wonder, at what cost? Where are we heading towards?

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Joan of Arc is a fascinating historical figure, so I jumped to watch this French silent film, which has been restored after great damage to the original reel and is in public domain. Yes, I know, silent films are difficult to watch, especially when superstition and religion are added to the mix. But seriously, the acting by Renée Jeanne Falconetti is phenomenal. She does not need words, her facial expressions of the solemn, devout, hurting, doubting Joan convey it all. When they burn her at the stake near the end, it is an electrifying, goosebump-raising, horrifying moment that will bring tears to your eyes. An underrated masterpiece.

Conclave

Ralph Fiennes has been my favorite actor ever since I saw him in The Constant Gardener and he shines in Conclave too. The election of the next Pope is a grand but top-secret affair, and now we look within to see how it all plays out. But what if the former Pope had been murdered? Fiennes, playing caretaker of the Papal elections, has a difficult task indeed. I am not particularly fond of the resolution, but I know I was glued to the screen throughout.

Murderbot (Season 1)

Murderbot Diaries #1: All Systems Red by Martha Wells has been long on my TBR, but then the TV adaptation came along. A team of human scientists is exploring flora-fauna on an unfamiliar planet, aided by AI-driven robotic sentient creature (any other description possible?) “Murderbot”. When these scientists fall into trouble, Murderbot is there to the rescue. The visualization was very 3D real-life, so it felt a little jarring at first, but I ended up loving it. Space opera at its weirdest, most feel-good, coziest, most thrilling best.

Three Comrades

I wanted to read this classic book by Erich Maria Remarque and ended up watching the 1938 movie instead. The book / movie depicts the lives of three men who became staunch friends after World War I. They come home expecting a better life, but it’s a slow uphill climb from a ruined world. Three friends become four, and it’s beautiful. But there are no happily ever after(s), because the War might be over, but Peace time is just as difficult. An understated but remarkably moving watch.

Parent Trap (1998)

I never got to watch this movie as a kid, which will always be a lingering disappointment, because I know I would have loved it then. Still, watching this time around with a kid in the family and a granny in the family, brought a smile to my face. Charming and strangely feel good. Lindsay Lohan shines in this role about twin sisters who get separated at birth, meet up at a summer camp and switch places, and end up bringing back their parents together.

Argo (2012)

Political thriller movie based on a true story set during the 1972 Iran Hostage Crisis. The way this story played out was almost unbelievable. The CIA trying to make a sci-fi movie in Iran as a guise to rescue Americans stuck in Iran during such a difficult phase: what a bizarre but also brilliant move. Who would have thought this could work?!

The Unsuspected (1947)

Is it possible to commit the “perfect murder”, where you leave no clue behind and can also get away with it? The movie starts with a woman’s suicide at the office of famous radio host, Victor Grandison. Then, a mysterious stranger claims to be the husband of Grandison’s niece, who had died in a shipwreck. Is he just a fortune hunter? It is a striking story, but I wish they had handled the suspense in the second half more deftly. Not a bad watch overall.

A Haunting in Venice

No, this is not a Poirot adaptation that I liked. A mother grieves for her dead daughter in a haunted castle in Venice. The medium called in by her is mysteriously murdered. I am not a fan of Kenneth Branagh as Poirot, even lesser so when an important friendship of fictional Poirot’s life is broken up for ugly reasons. Was it just to make the adaptation seem more “original”? *Grumbles* I also thought that the movie was way too long. Still, full points for the very spooky and atmospheric visualization.

Damsel (2024)

This movie was NOT what I had expected. You could be fooled into thinking this is yet another Cinderella/ Snow White-like fairytale. You would be wrong. Elodie, contracted into marrying the “Prince Charming”, gets the shock of her life when she is sacrificed to the dragon instead. But sometimes, a crisis can be the re-making of someone; and Elodie too is broken and remade. From Damsel in Distress, she becomes the Hero. An unexpectedly gripping watch.

Death by Lightning

Truth is stranger than fiction, just like the metaphorical death by lightning. To think that James Garfield became the 20th US President in the 1880s almost by accident… was almost ousted from power but regained it… only to be assassinated, and not for political reasons… and yet could have lived if not for medical negligence… A series of unfortunate and unforeseeable events, of the likes not seen even in fiction. This is a powerful show, especially that final, moving episode.

Pale Horse (2020)

A more recent TV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse. I ended up liking it quite a lot. The blurb: “When a bizarre list of names is discovered in the shoe of a dead woman, antiques trader Mark Easterbrook embarks on an investigative journey to uncover the reason why his name made it to the list.“

Batman (2022)

I did not expect to like actor Robert Pattinson in the role of the brooding, almost deranged Batman in this 2022 movie version. The kohl-darkened looks seem to match very well with the ever-building filth of corruption in Gotham city. There’s no hopeful (hero in dark times) element here, as I have come to expect from the Batman franchise. But the gritty look of the movie overall seems to work well.

People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Season 1 (2016)

The O.J. Simpson murder case is often studied in law schools. But this (older) TV adaptation produced by John Travolta took it to a new level. This was so intriguing and gripping, impossible to stop watching. And to think it is based on real life events!

The Rings of Power (Season 2)

One more solid addition to the lore of the Lord of the Rings, and how the rings came to be. Season 2 did not disappoint. The history of the rings is exactly as disastrous as expected. Dwarves, Elves, Orcs – all have their complex histories and motivations. Galadriel, glorious hero but also brimming with ambitions of her own, remains an important centerpiece in the chess game with the Dark Lord Sauron.

The Gilded Age (Seasons 1-3)

Really loved this show set in New York in the 1880s. Poor relative Marian is taken in by her father’s sisters (sort of grudgingly), whose neighbors next door are self-made railway barons instead of the aristocrats they ought to have been. We see life in changing New York through the eyes of different classes (including upstairs-downstairs), and that is the highlight of this show. Season 3 ends on a cliffhanger, so fair warning.

Have you watched any of these? Liked any of these? What were your standout watches of the year 2025?