The 12 Days of Recapsmas continues! 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 July 2025! You can view the full list by clicking the image below.
1. Superman (2025)
James Gunn’s Superman (2025) is one of the new crown jewels of comic book movies. This film marked the first official movie in the new DCU helmed by James Gunn following his official and triumphant departure from the MCU with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023). As someone who thought GotG 3 was pretty good (4/5 stars on Letterboxd), but not a fan at all of Zack Snyders DCEU, I went into Superman with very mild expectations. Instead, I was transported into a beautifully and clearly meticulously crafted comic book world, full of monsters and heroes ripe for some Grade-A storytelling. I had never seen The Suicide Squad (2021) or the Peacemaker TV show prior to this, so I really didn’t know what to expect with Gunn at the helm. I left the theater with a newfound appreciation for DC as a whole and I cannot wait to see what they do with this universe. Superman is a hopeful story in an age of doomerist cinema and a beacon of light for comic book movies going forward. David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan’s dynamic immediately sets their tone as Clark Kent and Lois Lane, with Clark being a little bit of a passionate airhead while Lois stays grounded. When I saw that Nicholas Hoult was going to be Lex, I was in the same boat as most of the internet thinking “uhh what?” but I think now we can breathe easy knowing we have him in that role. In this movie, Lex Luthor is an analogue that you can ascribe most billionaires to, except he is a mostly competent genius that is fueled more by hatred and insecurity than pure greed. Let’s not forget to mention the Justice Gang either, I had no idea who Mr. Terrific (played by Edi Gethegi) was and now I can’t wait to see how they move forward with him. I also loved Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern, who is everyone’s favorite asshole Guy Gardner, and Isabela Merced’s loyal yet constantly irritated Hawkgirl. I just want more of all of this please. I can’t not mention Metamorpho who I immediately loved, the guy just has a literal heart of gold. I loved this movie, and again, can’t wait to see what movies like Supergirl, Clayface, and Man of Tomorrow have in store for us. And yeah. It is cool that he saved the squirrel.
2. Onibaba (1964)
Kaneto Shindō’s Onibaba (1964) is one of my new favorite movies of all time. It is what I have dubbed the quintessential “why is Hunter showing me this” movie.
– Black and White
– Foreign Film / Subtitles
– Boobs
– Demons
– Everyone is insane
It has all of my favorites to subject non cinephile friends to! Why did nobody tell me about it sooner? The least you know about this film, the better. Just watch this as soon as you can please. This was a blind-buy during the first 50% off Criterion sale this year, and is one of my favorite blind-buys of all time now. Just a wonderful film.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean series is one of those that I definitely saw as a kid but retained 0 information about anything in the franchise. I had the pleasure of being shown these movies by a really good friend who is passionate about the original “Pirates” trilogy and watches them every summer, which added a lot to the experience. I would easily say this movie is LOTR-tier when it comes to the sheer scale of the adventure here and how committed the film is to its practical aesthetics. Especially during a Lord of the Rings rewatch recently, I found myself thinking about Pirates of the Caribbean and how they did such a great job of recreating that vibe. The first movie was good, but Dead Man’s Chest is on entirely different level. In fact, it’s one of those movies that I watched this year that I was genuinely baffled I had never sat down to watch before. This would have been my shit as a teenager in high school. There have been a few I have written about in this series so far, and I am very excited to write about for the next few days. Our trio of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp), Yearner in Chief William Turner (played by Orlando Bloom), and the Pirate King herself, Elizabeth Swann (played by Kiera Knightley) all have been properly set up to take us on an epic adventure that you really can root for.
4. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
This summer marked the beginning of what I can only imagine will be a lifelong relationship with the series Twin Peaks. To me, Twin Peaks is David Lynch’s ultimate masterpiece. Though it was controversial upon it’s release, I think this was the perfect follow up to the cliffhanger in season 2. Fire Walk With Me is a retelling of the final 2 weeks of Laura Palmer’s (portrayed by Sheryl Lee) life. Throughout the first 2 seasons of Twin Peaks, we are fed bits and pieces of other peoples experiences with Laura during this harrowing time, but to see it be brought to life was something entirely different. I have no idea how Sheryl Lee didn’t come out of this movie to become an absolute superstar. She delivers one of the greatest performances of all time as Laura Palmer in this film. Everything about this movie is haunting, but Lynch being Lynch, there is a good bit of humor sprinkled throughout this as well. The companion film to this, Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces, is in fact required viewing once you have seen Fire Walk With Me. If you haven’t seen Twin Peaks, what are you doing with your life? Don’t just go watch it, you need to sit down and LISTEN. Twin Peaks as a whole deserves its own writeup on this blog, so I will hold off on going too deep right now.
And that concludes July’s Recapsmas 2025! Thanks for reading.
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