John’s top 10 movies of 2025
Movie list: Genres blended but franchises ruled on the big screen in 2025.
Romance
‘Family Stone’ (2005), with loaded cast, better than a lump of coal
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Though it’s not a stone-cold classic, Bezucha effectively explores how different personalities play off each other.
‘The Holiday’ (2006) is impossible, and impossibly cute
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Four movie stars team up for the inevitable Christmas rom-com on their resumes; lucky for us, charm edges out schmaltz.
‘Cinnamon Skin’ (1982) blows up into a good quest novel
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): MacDonald crafts one of his most psychologically interesting villains in the penultimate McGee yarn.
A century of suspense: All 52 Alfred Hitchcock films, ranked
Movie list: One hundred years after his first silent film, we rank the cinematic catalog of the Master of Suspense.
‘Hallmarked Man’: For the love of mystery, and for the love of love
Book review: The case is almost too complex. But thanks to an omniscient narrator, the romance is deceptively simple in Rowling’s eighth Strike novel.
‘The Fly’ (1986) is a classic fairy tale … in reverse and inside out
Frightening Friday (Movie review): Just because Cronenberg’s film is many people’s introduction to body horror doesn’t mean he eases you into the subgenre.
‘No Way Out’ (1987) a time capsule of early crime-solving with computers
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): This dated Hackman-and-Costner thriller has come back around as an instructive snapshot.
‘Marple’ Season 6 (2013) takes a respectable final bow
Sleuthing Sunday (TV review): Jane gets a well-deserved island vacation in a grand but shortened season that includes a short-story mashup and a great “Endless Night” lead turn.
Williamson’s ‘Wasteland’ (1999) is not a total waste
TV shows lost to history (Review): The “Dawson’s Creek” creator jumps ahead to explore the issues of 20-somethings – sort of.