As streaming services have grown to be even more important in our lives over the last year, it's great to see that cinemas have also seen some resurgence.
That's largely thanks to some of the major studios supporting theatres and releasing their biggest blockbusters in cinemas first. So it's been a great year to watch a movie with a bucket of popcorn and a bunch of strangers.
And with the same films hitting streaming a few months later, those who'd prefer to curl up on the sofa (or even watch on a smartphone) are catered for too.
So, in alphabetical order, here are 25 great examples of films from 2025 available to stream right now and where you can watch them.
A House Of Dynamite (Netflix)
The director of Point Break and The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, returned to the director's chair after an almost nine year break with this tense and claustrophobic story about a single, unattributed nuclear missile being launched at the United States.
Dripping with the signature realism that Bigelow brings to her films, A House Of Dynamite is as divisive as it is impressive.
It's definitely not for everyone and garners criticism in equal measure to praise, but it's a film that's absolutely worth a watch.
All Of You (Apple TV)
I'm not crying, you're crying! You certainly will be at this amazing romantic drama written by Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso) and William Bridges (Stranger Things).
Goldstein and Imogen Poots play Simon and Laura, best friends since University who in later life find themselves battling the feelings they have towards each other while navigating their individual relationships.
Unrequited love, fate and integrity are each explored in this absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking film.
It truly is one of the best of the year and once again reminds us what a national treasure Brett Goldstein is.
Ballad Of A Small Player (Netflix)
With a limited cinematic release and therefore quick turnaround onto Netflix, Colin Farrell’s Ballad Of A Small Player is the very definition of a hidden gem.
With his past and gambling debts rapidly catching up with him, Farrell’s Lord Doyle goes on the run to Macau to lay low. While there he meets a kindred spirit who might be his salvation.
It's a stunning, stylish and visually striking film that makes up for its small budget and lack of promotion by just being really good. Find it and give it a watch.
Echo Valley (Apple TV)
Kate (Julianne Moore) is dealing with a personal tragedy while owning and training horses in the isolated and picturesque Echo Valley. But the quiet is disrupted when her daughter, Claire (Sydney Sweeney), arrives at her doorstep, frightened, trembling and covered in someone else's blood.
Here begins thoughtful thriller that looks at the concept of victimhood, abuse and the strength to rise above it all.
Solid central performances set Echo Valley above many of its type and the film is ultimately a rewarding watch.
Eden (Amazon Prime Video)
Based on a factual account, Eden deals with a group of outsiders who settle on a remote island only to discover their greatest threat isn't the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other,
It features an all-star cast, including Jude Law, Ana De Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Bruhl and Sydney Sweeney, while legendary director Ron Howard steers the ship.
It looks beautiful and due to being based on real events, is as shocking as you might imagine.
Eenie Meenie (Disney+)
With a tiny budget, zero publicity and a release almost hidden by Disney, this solid little crime thriller has largely fallen under the radar.
Samara Weaving plays Edie, a reformed teenage getaway driver dragged back into her criminal past when offered a way to save the life of her unreliable ex-boyfriend.
It has a great script, great action sequences and solid performances, so is a film well worth catching.
F1 The Movie (Apple TV)
A film that started life as Days Of Thunder 2 (until Tom Cruise pulled out), F1 The Movie is nothing short of car porn.
Brad Pitt is as handsome as ever, everything is shiny and oversaturated, at no point is there anything not going fast or making noise. The race sequences are as close to the real thing as you can get.
I believe there is some kind of story and plot involved somewhere, but I'm not sure that's important really.
Frankenstein (Netflix)
To date, there must have been over 400 feature films based on Frankenstein’s monster. And with this in mind, it seems mildly pointless to get excited about yet another one.
However, this version is directed by Guilermo Del Toro, has an all star cast and is seen by Del Toro himself to be his magnum opus.
Oscar Issac plays Victor Frankenstein, the doctor obsessed with defeating the concept of death itself, and Jacob Elordi is his creation.
Visually stunning, bold and lavish, the film is a masterpiece in filmmaking and could well become known as Del Toro’s finest work. It's superb and needs to be seen.
Happy Gilmore 2 (Netflix)
It took 29 years to get Happy Gilmore 2 to our screens. Why? Well that's a huge question, but let's just be happy (pun intended) that we got it in our generation.
This is a direct sequel to Adam Sandler's iconic 1996 comedy, and we see our hero Happy a lot older but still not any wiser.
Circumstances have lead him back to golf, and once more there are bad guys, good guys, a vast array of cameos and a tournament that has to be won.
It's certainly not groundbreaking, but it is a solid slice of fun that those of us with long memories will enjoy purely for the nostalgia.
Hedda (Prime Video)
A reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 stage drama stars Tessa Thomspon as the titular Hedda Gabler.
It's a lavishly told, cinematic and highly modernised tale of a woman unhappy with her lot in life, although the Prime Video adaptation has split critics with some praising and some condemning.
Check it out for yourself though, as it's certainly bold movie.
Highest 2 Lowest (Apple TV)
After a five year break from film making, Spike Lee is back, with Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright in tow.
Highest 2 Lowest is a story of power, morality, art and responsibility. Washington stars as David King, a music mogul who finds himself in the middle of a targeted ransom plot that descends into a life or death moral dilemma.
It's a film that drips Spike Lee from every pore and reminds us of why he became so adored in the first place. Just do yourself a favour and watch with the sound down as the soundtrack is an "interesting choice" to say the least. You have been warned.
I Like Me (Prime Video)
Those of us of a certain age will have grown up with the comedy legend that was John Candy.
From Planes, Trains And Automobiles to Uncle Buck, Candy was by far the greatest comedy actor of his time and when he died in 1994 at the painfully young age of 43, we all lost a huge talent.
I Like Me is a beautifully crafted and sensitive biopic that is clearly produced by real fans of the actor. It's funny, heartbreaking, life affirming, and is a lovely and gentle watch.
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)
Directed by Maggie Kang and inspired by her own Korean heritage, KPop Demon Hunters seemingly came from nowhere to become one of the biggest hits of 2025.
It was certainly Netflix’s biggest hit of the year and a franchise that will no doubt spawn a thousand spinoffs and adaptations.
The film has crossed generational as well as cultural boundaries too, to become something really special. Not many straight to streaming movies get dragged into cinemas after release and get a singalong version made!
Nickel Boys (Prime Video)
Nickel Boys is a strikingly assured and ambitious debut fiction-feature from director RaMell Ross.
It is composed almost entirely of point-of-view (POV) shots, and while that's been tried a handful of times on film before (such as in the 40s noir The Lady of the Lake), it's never been pulled off so intricately and effectively as here.
Bi-perspectival, we experience the gazes of two different characters, Elwood and Turner (Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson), teenagers incarcerated in a Jim Crowe-era juvenile detention centre that amounts to a borderline death-camp for its Black prisoners.
The film is brutal, raw and can be a difficult watch, but boy is it worthwhile.
Predator: Killer Of KIllers (Disney+)
An animated instalment of the long running Predator series, Killer Of Killers is a three-story anthology piece charting the Predators' battles against worthy humans across the ages.
With stunning animation, gory and adult aimed content and some genuinely great set piece battles, the film is every part of the franchise and breathes new life into it.
Stay until the end of the credits too, for a classic Predator easter egg.
Steve (Netflix)
For every ‘Fast And Furious’ and for every Marvel style CGI action blockbuster there is a ‘Steve’. Following Cillian Murphy’s titular character ‘Steve’ the film shows the daily struggle of a headteacher tasked with dealing with young adults deemed problematic and unfit for mainstream schooling. The absolute victory in ‘Steve’ is the central performance by Cillian Murphy which is nothing short of outstanding. Honest, raw, nuanced and naturalistic, truly special and award worthy.
The Accountant 2 (Amazon Prime Video)
After the surprise success of the first Accountant film, it seemed only a matter of time before Ben Affleck was brought back for a second.
This time it's a buddy cop-style film with equal emphasis on John Bernthal's brother character. So double the action, double the mayhem and half the actual plot.
It's to do with missing people or something, but that's not really important. The two brothers shoot a load of people with big guns, in cool ways – that's enough really.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Disney+)
Marvel finally introduced the legendary Fantastic Four to the ongoing MCU this year, and quite some style.
With an all star cast, including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn, Marvel’s "first family" came to our screens in a huge, bright, flashy and retro styled alternative universe. And considering that they spend time under attack from the iconic Silver Surfer and the pretty huge Galactus, it's a whole lot of fun, to boot.
The film certainly saw a departure from the previous bleak and depressing MCU movies and shows, and was all the better for it.
The Gorge (Apple TV)
There is a huge Gorge somewhere in the world and down at the bottom there are monsters and all kinds of bad stuff that wants to get up.
And for plot reasons, instead of closing it over or siting thousands of soldiers and tanks around it, the world has put its faith in Miles Teller and Anna Taylor-Joy to defend literally miles of ground on their own.
It's a film that can be enjoyed without having your brain switched on, even with the huge gaping plotholes as wide as the gorge itself. It's stupid CGI riddled fun.
The Roses (Amazon Prime Video)
This is a satirical black comedy based on the classic 1989 film The War Of The Roses, and sees Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman as a married couple who over time drift apart and begin a campaign of escalating cruelty towards each other.
There are great central performances from the two British icons, and they set this one apart from others of its type to make it well worth a watch.
The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix)
Based on the international best selling novels by Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club is the first in what we can only imagine will be a string of films and TV adaptations.
Directed by the legendary Chris Columbus and with an all star cast of British film legends, this faithful adaptation was partly written by Osman himself has been a huge success for Netflix.
It's surely a must see for all fans of "cozy crime", just don't expect shootouts and explosions – it's more cake and bus passes.
The Woman In Cabin 10 (Netflix)
Keira Knightley stars in this straight to streaming Netflix mystery thriller about a travel writer who discovers a gruesome secret while travelling aboard a luxury cruise ship.
It was released with practically no promotion, but is a solid and functional thriller with a strong central performance.
The Woman In Cabin 10 does exactly what it sets out to do and a decent watch.
The Woman In The Yard (Now / Sky)
In this 2025 Blumhouse original film, a mysterious woman repeatedly appears in a family's front yard, often delivering chilling warnings and unsettling messages. This leaves them to question her identity, motives and the potential danger she might pose.
It's a solid mystery thriller with horror elements, and is lavish and visually striking. It also holds enough twists and turns to keep your attention.
It's not the scariest movie of all time, but a good entry point into the genre.
Thunderbolts* (Disney+)
The only Marvel movie in the current phase that didn't cost over $200 million to make is also considered one of the best in years.
Thunderbolts* carries on the ongoing saga of the MCU with the focus on some of the franchise’s lesser known, arguably peripheral characters.
It's darker and perhaps more thoughtful than previous instalments too, and seems more focused on the emotional and human elements of the characters than all out CGI battles. It's all the better for it.
Warfare (Amazon Prime Video)
When it comes to brutal reality in film, there is currently nobody quite like Alex Garland. Straight from helming his hit Civil War, he brought us Warfare.
Written by Garland and real life Iraq war veteran Ray Mendoza, the movie is based on the latter's own experiences, so is a brutal, violent and visceral glimpse into the terror and panic of modern infantry combat.
It's loud, shocking, and at no point willing to allow its audience respite. Raw honesty at its most cinematic.
