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In a June 2025 midyear ranking for Tom’s Guide, entertainment editor Rory Mellon named his five favorite and five least-favorite films he had seen in theaters that year. The headline says he had seen 42 movies, while the article body says 41; the source does not explain the discrepancy. These are one critic’s personal rankings, not an industry consensus.
Read Mellon’s original ranking at Tom’s Guide.
Mellon’s five best movies of 2025 so far
The ranking below preserves Mellon’s order. His favorites tend to stand out for atmosphere, tension, character work or memorable action, though his praise is specific to each film.
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Warfare
Mellon puts this real-time war film first for its sound, tension and visceral portrayal of soldiers trying to survive a siege. Co-directed by Alex Garland and military veteran Ray Mendoza, it draws on testimonies from Iraq War veterans.
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Black Bag
In second place, Steven Soderbergh’s 95-minute spy thriller earns praise for its screenplay, mystery and characters. Michael Fassbender plays an intelligence officer investigating his wife, played by Cate Blanchett, after she is suspected of being a double agent.
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Sinners
Mellon values both the character-focused opening and the shift into vampire horror. Directed by Ryan Coogler, the film stars Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown to open a juke joint.
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Hallow Road
This minimalist psychological thriller makes Mellon’s top five through atmosphere and mounting tension. Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play parents trying to reach their daughter after she calls about a crash on a country road; much of the film unfolds inside a car.
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Ballerina
Mellon is critical of the story and first act, but says the second half delivers the action: fights, shoot-outs, a flamethrower and explosives. Ana de Armas stars as an assassin seeking revenge, with Keanu Reeves also appearing.
Mellon’s five least-favorite movies
These are also personal judgments, not objective ratings. In his criticism, Mellon focuses on execution: whether a premise works on screen, whether humor lands, and whether an adaptation delivers what he wanted from its source.
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Marching Powder
Mellon faults this British comedy for crude humor, an abrasive protagonist who repeatedly promises to change, and an unsatisfying ending. Danny Dyer and Stephanie Leonidas play the central roles.
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Flight Risk
He sees potential in the Alaska plane-transport setup but says the thriller is undermined by plot holes, illogical decisions and poorly shot action. His criticisms also include Mark Wahlberg’s performance. The story involves a U.S. marshal, played by Michelle Dockery, transporting a government witness, played by Topher Grace, with a pilot (Wahlberg) who is not who he claims to be.
Rank #4
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A Minecraft Movie
Mellon says a few jokes and the song amused him, but finds the repeated kooky characterization tiresome and some effects conspicuously poor. He allows that the film may work better for Minecraft fans.
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Wolf Man
His objections include a limited werewolf transformation, weak scares and creature design. He does credit Julia Garner’s performance and notes some inventive sequences that use unusual perspectives.
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Until Dawn
Mellon argues that the movie tells an original story with only a few nods to the 2015 PlayStation game, and criticizes its scares and ending. For readers looking for the game’s story and experience, he recommends playing the game rather than expecting the film to reproduce it.
What the ranking says about Mellon’s taste
The choices point to preferences rather than a formal rating system. Mellon responds to strong atmosphere and tension in Warfare and Hallow Road, and to screenplay and character work in Black Bag and Sinners. His praise for Ballerina is narrower: its action wins him over despite reservations about the story. On the negative side, his recurring concerns are weak execution, humor or scares that do not land, and a mismatch between a film’s premise or source material and what it delivers.
Honorable mentions
Mellon also names Companion, Final Destination: Bloodlines, The Ballad of Wallis Island, 28 Years Later, Snow White, The Alto Knights, Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and The Woman in the Yard as honorable mentions.
When the ranking was published
The original article was published June 14, 2025, and updated June 20, 2025. Its references to films streaming or available to buy describe availability at that time; they do not establish where a title can be watched now. Availability varies by date and region.
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