The 12 Days of Recapsmas continues! We are back after a short holiday break. For the uninitiated: over the last few years, I have kept a list of my 4 favorite first-time watches for every month of the year, and end up with a great way of seeing my favorite 48 movies of that year. This will be a recurring series on Anatomy of a Film, where I break down my favorite discoveries for the year. Let the 2025 recap continue with our four favorites from May 2025! You can view the full list by clicking the image below.
1. The Departed (2006)
Martin Scorcese’s The Departed (2006), or more affectionately known as THE DEPAHTED, is a brilliant crime thriller. I feel a great amount of shame for only having seen this movie once, and that it took this long to watch it. Having only seen it once, have I really, actually seen it? I’m not sure. All I’m sure of is the fact that I loved this movie. Its as tense as it is hilarious, and everyone (yes, even Mark Wahlberg) is acting their asses off here. Scorsese really does bring the best out of everyone he works with, and any time he works with DiCaprio is a treat. Watching DiCaprio work alongside Jack Nicholson, especially, are standout moments in the film.
2. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)
Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (and frankly, the whole Dollars trilogy), are my favorite westerns to date. I watched these for the first time during my wife and I’s honeymoon this year whilst staying at a villa in Tuscany. I will be abbreviating this as GBU from here on out. GBU is a massive, sprawling epic tale of 3 outlaws during the Civil War hunting down some hidden booty. I watched this during a pretty severe case of food poisoning, yet it still managed to make me laugh, shock me, and leave my heart touched by the end of it. Compared to the other 2 movies in the Dollars Trilogy, Leone’s camerawork, world building, and pacing are all at their peak here. Morricone’s score here is also iconic. I still catch my wife to this day singing the classic western theme from this movie that’s been used a million times in pop culture now, but it all started after this viewing. My favorite scene is when Blondie (Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (Eli Wallach) stumble upon a Civil War battle and take matters into their own hands by blowing up an important bridge. This is a 4k I can’t wait to own.
3. Strange Days (1995)
This was another first-time watch on my honeymoon. We had never heard of Strange Days before, but while trying to decide what to watch on our train from Florence to Venice, we came across Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days (1995) on the Criterion Channel. As huge fans of Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, and sci-fi, we were surprised we had never heard of this movie before. What my wife and I didn’t realize at the time is that this is just about the most insane (and inappropriate) movie to watch in public on a train. It definitely left an impact on the two of us. I was shocked to see that this was written by James Cameron, one of my favorite directors. It is easy to see why this isn’t widely talked about today – for how great of a film it is, it’s themes are unimaginably difficult to get through and was considered a box office flop. As someone who doesn’t give a shit about box office numbers, that is disappointing to see because of how relevant the film remains to this day.
Ralph Fiennes plays a retired cop named Lenny Nero. In his retirement, he sells black market SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) “experiences” to the desperate and lonely denizens of this expertly crafted world. SQUID devices allow others to record and share physical and visual memories directly from the users cerebral cortexes. That concept is explored as thoroughly as it is brutally. The film itself has an action-noir vibe to it, with Nero navigating the underworld of this alternate version of Los Angeles and trying to figure out how he is connected to the murder of political activist and hip-hop star Jeriko One (played by Glenn Plummer). One thing about Kathryn Bigelow’s directing that you have to appreciate is that she takes every possible opportunity to show off how ripped Angela Bassett is. There is also a subtly great performance here from everyone’s favorite kingpin, Vincent D’Onofrio, as corrupt cop Burton Steckler. There is a scene towards the end of the movie where he makes this horrific face straight into the camera that will leave you haunted after you see it. This movie is a wild ride that I would recommend to any hardcore sci-fi fan.
4. Lilo and Stitch (2002)
Uhhh…. Yeah. I had never seen Chris Saunders’ Lilo and Stitch (2002) before May 2025. This was unacceptable to my wife when she found this out. I loved it. It scratched a sci-fi itch I didn’t know I needed from Disney, and it told a story that was close to my heart as well. As the big brother to the black sheep of the family, I related closely with the dynamic between Nani and Lilo. It meant a lot to me to see that kind of portrayal in a family Disney movie like that. It is a beautiful film, both visually and emotionally, and one of my new favorite Disney kids movies.
And that concludes May’s Recapsmas 2025! Thanks for reading.
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