Every year, I claim things will be ‘a little bit different’ on The Reel Bits—only to dive back into my usual mix of reviews, retrospectives, and festival coverage. To be honest, 2025 won’t stray too far from that formula.
I genuinely love watching and writing about films. Last year, I had the privilege of exploring film archives to craft a longform piece for the 60th anniversary of Mary Poppins. Combining my librarian skills, passion for cinema, and writing—while marveling at original Disney materials—is an opportunity I’ll seize every time.
Those longer-form pieces are fast becoming my preferred way to write. Perhaps it’s a nudge from my brain to start a new book, or maybe I just enjoy tumbling down nerdy rabbit holes.
Either way, here’s what I’m looking forward to this year.
Films and festivals
When I penned my 2024 wrap-up, I noticed my excitement skewing heavily towards franchise fare. Yet, looking ahead to 2025, the films I’m most eager to see are delightfully varied.
Sure, there’s 28 Years Later, Disney’s Elio and Tron: Ares, James Gunn’s Superman, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. But 2025 also brings a wealth of original and auteur-driven cinema.
This is the year Bong Joon-ho teams up with Robert Pattinson for Mickey 17. Guillermo del Toro takes on Frankenstein for Netflix, while Maggie Gyllenhaal reimagines James Whale with The Bride! Yorgos Lanthimos adapts the South Korean classic Save the Green Planet! as Bugonia, and the Safdie Brothers follow up Uncut Gems with not one but two films: The Smashing Machine and Marty Supreme. If that weren’t enough, Jim Jarmusch returns with Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, his first feature since 2019’s The Dead Don’t Die.
Living in a major Australian city means I’m spoiled with the Sydney Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival. With so much on offer, there’ll be few excuses to miss out on Cinema with a capital C this year.
Anniversaries
Did you know The Breakfast Club turns 40 next month? Or that Cinderella celebrates 75 years in February? I know, because I’ve been making lists.
This year is a treasure trove of anniversaries. It’s been 25 years since we dodged the Millennium Bug, but that also marks a quarter of a century since Gladiator, X-Men, American Psycho, and Dude, Where’s My Car?
Feeling old yet? You will when I tell you that Bad Boys, Se7en, GoldenEye, and Toy Story all blow out 30 candles. And one of my all-time favourite films—firmly in my Letterboxd Top 4—joins them: Showgirls. You better believe there will be content.
Speaking of favourites, Back to the Future turns a staggering 40 this year, alongside Brazil, A View to a Kill, After Hours, The Black Cauldron, and Santa Claus: The Movie.
And as we step into an era where Jaws and Monty Python & the Holy Grail hit the big 5-0, I’ll take any excuse to revisit these classics. At least I can sit down while I do it.
Travel — and then some
While it might not be obvious from my Letterboxd activity, I also spend a significant amount of time travelling. Post-pandemic, it’s been any excuse to get out and explore the world. Over the last two years, we’ve visited 14 cities across seven countries—and we’re just getting started.
After literally kicking off the year at sea, we have more trips lined up, both interstate and overseas. There’s plans to see some bands in multiple cities. I’m looking forward to a return to Japan and a first visit to South Korea, and there’s a spreadsheet (there’s always a spreadsheet) on the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Looking ahead to 2026, we’re planning something even bigger—but more on that this time next year.
My partner and I have also been building a separate travel site together. Travel While Nerdy is exactly what it sounds like: two nerds blogging about travel. It’s still early days, but more than anything, it’s a way to share our enthusiasm for the things we discover along the way.
Disney Minus Journey
Not all journeys are physical ones. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my big personal projects is slowly working my way through Disney’s entire output, watching and writing about each title. (I’m publishing select pieces here, though most of it lives on my Letterboxd).
Having nearly wrapped up 1961, one major milestone I’m set to reach this year is the end of the Walt Disney era. It’s been fascinating to watch the house style evolve over forty years, and I’m eager to see how Walt’s passing impacted the studio and its films.
In the meantime, I still have treasures like The Sword in the Stone and Mary Poppins ahead, plus the introduction of Winnie the Pooh in shorts and features—not to mention a surprising number of films and specials about coyotes and monkeys. It’s truly a labour of love.
