Albert W. Vogt III’s picks:

Best: Downton Abbey: The Final Chapter

This one is a no-brainer for this Downton Abbey (2011-2015) fanatic.  Like the series and other films, Downton Abbey: The Final Chapter has little to do with Catholicism, but that is nothing new when it comes to cinema.  Instead, I look to this one as a reminder of what God gives us in terms of past, present, and future.  The past is for learning, the present is for doing the best we can, and these things will make the future better.

Worst: Bugonia

I should have known better.  Of late, Bugonia star Emma Stone has been appearing in films that stretch my Catholic sensibilities.  It is her career.  What I hoped for was less nudity.  I got that, but instead was treated to a plot that involves kidnapping, torture, and aliens wiping out humanity.  It is the first of those two aspects that are the biggest problem from a Catholic perspective.

Biggest Surprise: The Naked Gun

The Naked Gun should be familiar to most of you.  In the time honored (read as lazy) tradition of Hollywood, they have rebooted the franchise of the same name, which starred Leslie Nielsen as Lieutenant Frank Drebin.  I was nervous about Liam Neeson playing Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr., but he pulled it off brilliantly.  The rest of the film is a great mix of homage to its predecessors and new material.  I am not sure what to say about it from a Catholic perspective here other than to warn against its suggestive material.  Otherwise, it is hilarious.

2024 Honorable Mention: Hundreds of Beavers (2022)

There are two reasons why I wanted to include a 2024 Honorable Mention.  First, The Legionnnaire was unable to do a full one last year.  Secondly, I wanted to talk more about Hundreds of Beavers (2022).  Sure, it does not have the most Catholic sounding title.  Yes, it premiered in 2022.  However, I saw it in 2024 and this black-and-white, silent movie is not about what you might think.  It is about a former apple cider brewer on a quest to win his true love by trapping fur animals in the nineteenth century.  As a Catholic, I can appreciate a quest.  By the way, all the animals are played by people in furry costumes.  The first time I saw it, I laughed solidly through the whole film.

Cameron J. Czaja’s picks:

Best: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

I’ve been a fan of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films since the beginning, but I think his latest film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, is not only the best one so far, but it maybe my favorite film of 2025.  While others (i.e. critics) could say Sinners or One Battle After Another are superior films, this Knives Out entry hit me on a personal level mostly because this one has a Catholic protagonist, who happens to be a priest. He is a flawed, but ultimately good person all in all. While we do have Daniel Craig returning as the Southern charm detective Benoit Blanc, and a mystery paired with a tight script, the character of the priest (Josh O’Conner) and how the movie treated him was the biggest highlight for me. Sure, there are scenes, whether through dialogue and imagery, that some Catholics might find uncomfortable, I didn’t let that bother my overall experience of watching a quasi-Catholic film with an ending that left me satisfied.

Worst: War of the Worlds (Sponsored by Amazon*)  *Not Really

Product placement in movies in general are not uncommon and I don’t mind them if it’s done well. That being said, the latest adaptation from the H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds (1898) feels like it was produced and funded by Amazon due to how causally it name drops the e-commerce company. Granted, one might assume that is because it was released on Amazon, but in reality, it was developed by Universal Pictures, filmed in 2020, but wasn’t released until 2025 . . . not a red flag whatsoever. If only those two flaws (the product placement and the delayed release) were the only things wrong with the film, it might be tolerable. Unfortunately, there’s so much I could pick apart such as the glaring plot holes within the alien invasion story, the generic family drama, and the wooden acting from Ice Cube. It feels like he’s just reading the script for the first time, which, given how the film is 99% within one room from the perspective of a computer screen, I wouldn’t be surprised. Also, if you’re wondering what the Catholic angle in this film is, I guess you could say that family is everything? I know, kind of a weak and generic answer but it fits the overall result of this film.

Biggest Surprise: KPop: Demon Hunters

Usually, when Netflix puts on an animated film, four out of five times it’s something generic. Still, I’ll find myself watching it either out of boredom or the fact that animation is one of my favorite genres. I did not, however, expect KPop: Demon Hunters to be not only entertaining, but quite honestly the biggest surprise film of 2025. Maybe it’s the animesque humor, the trio of hero, or the catchy soundtrack, but I was hooked to this animated film. The more I think about it, the more I’ve grown to appreciate it since I first watched it. For those who haven’t seen it, the film is about K-Pop entertainers known as Huntrix who masquerade as demon hunters in order to protect the world. One major issue throughout the film, though, is that one of them (Rumi, voice by Arden Cho) is half demon herself. She keeps this a secret from her other friends, and when a K-Pop boyband enters the scene (who are in reality demons) with one of them knowing her secret, things become more complicated for her. As a Catholic, I already loved the premise of demon hunting, though it’s also a reminder that we can’t choose our origin story even if it is riddled with the shame of being part demon, but we can control how to live our lives moving forward.

2024 Honorable Mention: Sing Sing (2024)

One would think that a movie with little story about a group of prisoners in a drama program would be considered entertaining for mainstream audiences, let alone a Catholic one, but what makes Sing Sing (2024) my favorite film from that year is the two themes: humanity and redemption. The cast in the film (which a majority consists of real-life former prisoners) use theatre as a new sense of purpose and shows their struggles of trying to reform themselves while preparing for a new play. Redemption is one key feature that I love seeing in any medium. While one could find it hard to sympathize with prisoners, the film finds a way to make you care for these characters seeking that theme.