Midyear Masterpieces: The 10 Must-Watch Films of 2025 (So Far)

It's official: we're halfway through the year, which means it's time to take stock of the things we've enjoyed so far. Case in point: movies. Here's the best of the big screen -so far. How many have you caught, and how many are still on your watchlist? We've got you.

28 Years Later

Director: Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland team up for the first time since 2007’s Sunshine to return to the world of their first-ever collaboration, 2002’s lo-fi zombie riff 28 Days Later , with the surprisingly poignant and emotional 28 Years Later . While the nail-biting action sequences and inventive evolutions of the infected are top-notch, it’s the film’s tender ruminations on life and death that linger long after the lights come up.

Black Bag

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Can something this icy be this sexy? Steven Soderbergh ’s razor-sharp spy thriller pairs Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as married British intelligence officers (who, judging by their home, could moonlight as interior designers). When George Woodhouse is tasked with tracking a list of suspected traitors, one name hits too close to home: his wife. Suddenly, the mission turns personal - and George must decide where his loyalty lies, and whether he can clear her name.

Bring Her Back

Directors: Danny and Michael Philippou

Australia’s Danny and Michael Philippou return with a hotly anticipated follow-up to 2022’s Talk To Me . Trading the high-octane spirit possession party-drug vibe for a sombre and unsettling meditation on grief - and the lengths we’ll go to bring a loved one back. The small cast is uniformly outstanding, but it’s Jonah Wren Phillips as Oliver who lingers long after the credits roll, cementing his place among horror’s greatest creepy kids.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

Director: Christian Gudegast

I’m hardly the first critic to call 2018’s gritty crime sleeper hit Den of Thieves a bozo, energy-drink-fueled riff on Heat (complimentary). Pantera proudly keeps the bozo homage alive, a similarly amped-up mash of Ronin and Miami Vice , with just as much testosterone and twice the chaos. Still, it’s the scrappy chemistry between Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as they bumble their way through a European diamond heist that lifts this sequel to new heights. Bring on Den 3 .

F1

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Joseph Kosinski ’s last film was Top Gun: Maverick , which should tell you everything you need to know about this glossy, high-octane motorsport blockbuster. An aging A-lister gets dragged back into the fast lane, butts heads with a cocky young rival, and maybe even finds time for a bit of romance. You know exactly where it’s going - but who cares? It looks great and sounds even better, and that’s what the big screen is all about: seeing pretty people do pretty things, really fast.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Sure, The Final Reckoning isn’t the best Mission: Impossible movie by a long shot (that honour still belongs to 2018’s superb Fallout ) and it’s weighed down by too much exposition and an uncharacteristically self-serious tone. But good luck finding a better reminder of why big screens exist than the two literally death-defying stunt sequences Tom Cruise pulls off in this potential final entry of the three-decade-long series.

The Phoenician Scheme

Director: Wes Anderson

The 12th feature from the ever-meticulous auteur Wes Anderson is as immaculately crafted as you'd expect. In The Phoenician Scheme , he offers subversive meditations on parenthood and death, all wrapped in the ornate trappings of an espionage black comedy. It's Anderson’s funniest live-action film since The Grand Budapest Hotel - and makes you wonder why it took this long for him and Michael Cera to team up.

Sinners

Director: Ryan Coogler

Ryan Coogler ’s ode to Southern Gothic horror isn’t just a box office hit - it’s a cultural phenomenon. Sinners proves that in an era of endless live-action remakes and tired IP recycling, original stories can still electrify audiences. There’s so much to love here: the inspired use of music, the dual Michael B. Jordan performances, and that totally gonzo coda. Here’s to more bold, original storytelling on the big screen.

Videoheaven

Director: Alex Ross Perry

Alex Ross Perry ’s three-hour documentary on the rise and fall of the video store is a staggering cinematic collage, composed entirely of scenes from films and television shows set in video stores. Narrated by Maya Hawke (who fittingly played a clerk in Stranger Things ), it’s a solemn, evocative reminder of the value of personal taste and physical media - before we all surrendered to the algorithm.

Warfare

Directors: Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland

It’s hard to think of a modern war film as visceral and unapologetic as Warfare . A collaboration between Alex Garland and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza , the “anti war” film is built from first hand testimonies of Mendoza’s former platoon and unfolds like a real-time military operation. Some critics took issue with its refusal to explicitly condemn the actions depicted, or dismissed it as mere propaganda - but that misses the point entirely. Warfare is a brutally unrelenting act of recollection, and it makes one thing clear: in war, there are no winners.

Angus Truskett presents Culture King, a weekly dive on all things pop culture on triple j Drive each Thursday afternoon.