Every year, I try my best to put together a list of the 20 best performances of the year, though last year I was only able to make a 10-person list due to personal reasons. This year, I more than made up for it with a 20-person list of performances that were the best of the year. Now, as usua,l I wish to bring up that “Best” is a marketing term which really just means “Shit that I liked a lot”, these aren’t going to be the award winners or things that might be considered the height of the craft but they are the most fun, interesting or jaw dropping performances of the year that I just couldn’t stop thinking about. Of course, every list needs some honourable mentions, so here’s mine with no explanations for why they’re here (Ask nicely and maybe I’ll explain them… or not)
Continue reading “Best Performances of 2025”Locked (2025) – Open Up
Released: 21st March
Seen: 30th May

A kind of story that we just don’t get enough of in cinema nowadays is “Person confined in a single space we almost never leave” Buried is a pretty great example of this kind of film, a film that takes place entirely in the confines of a coffin with someone buried alive inside it. It’s a deceptively simple idea but works really well in practice. It’s also remarkably cheap, the biggest expense being the lead actor you put in the single location and if done well it can be truly spectacular. There are a lot of challenges that come with making a film about one character and a voice on the phone in a small isolated location, but it’s such a simple and effective setup that I’m always looking for more films with that basic scenario to see what they can do. Well, now we have a new one in the form of Locked and it has got some great elements but it also doesn’t seem to know what to do with all of them.
Continue reading “Locked (2025) – Open Up”