2025 was a hectic year for a lot of people.
Our jobs or personal lives can sometimes hinder us from watching movies we’d otherwise line up to see.
Streamers like Netflix, Paramount+ and Mubi allow Us to watch high-profile films we may have missed the first time around at the multiplex.
Watch With Us has compiled a brief list of three great 2025 movies you may have overlooked last year: the action comedy Caught Stealing, the airplane thriller Fight or Flight and the delicate Josh O’Connor drama The History of Sound.
I’m on a big ‘90s nostalgia kick lately, so I eagerly accepted all of what Caught Stealing, Darren Aronofsky’s massively appealing new movie set in Giuliani-era New York City, had to offer. Austin Butler plays Hank, a former baseball player-turned-bartender who cat-sits for his punk next-door neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), while he travels to London. When two Russian mobsters come looking for a mysterious key he knows nothing about, Hank has to find it fast or lose an organ or two — and maybe his life. Even if he does find it, will these mobsters let him or his girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), walk away unharmed?
Caught Stealing was ignored by audiences when it was released last August, even though everyone is begging for more original movies. Oh, well, at least you can discover all of its subtle charms on streaming. Butler showcases just why Elvis and The Bikeriders made him a star, and Aronofsky regains some of his filmmaking mojo after his dour 2022 drama, The Whale. Caught Stealing is one of those effortlessly entertaining movies that actually takes a lot of effort to get made and seen. Do yourself a favor — watch it and realize what we’re missing at the multiplexes.
Trap did OK at the box office in 2024, but it wasn’t a big enough success to vault Josh Hartnett back into the major leagues again. That’s a pity, as the Oppenheimer actor has plenty of untapped charisma left in the tank for a wide variety of roles in big pictures. Even in a B-movie like Fight or Flight, Hartnett is mesmerizing as Lucas Reyes, a former Secret Service agent who is called back into action by his former lover, Katherine (Katee Sackhoff).
She needs him to board a plane from Bangkok to San Francisco to locate Ghost, a mysterious hacker whom everyone wants dead. Some of Lucas’ fellow passengers are assassins in disguise, and he has to find out who they are and stop them before they kill their target.
Fight or Flight sounds an awful lot like Bullet Train with Brad Pitt, but this action movie is far less insufferable about its pop culture influences and more gritty and violent. The story is absurd, but Hartnett’s performance holds it all together. With his dyed-blonde hair, five o’clock shadow and soulful eyes, he’s the guy you’d want on your side if a plane full of killers wants to eliminate you.
After World War I, David (Josh O’Connor) invites his friend Lionel (Paul Mescal) to accompany him on a tour of America to record folk songs in isolated communities. During their journey, the two friends catch up, bond and gradually realize they’ve fallen in love with each other. But their romance is impossible to continue for a wide variety of reasons, and they part ways.
That’s just part of the story of The History of Sound, a beautifully made movie that’s kinda like a cross between Brokeback Mountain and Call Me by Your Name. It’s a love story that’s more sweet than bitter, with two sensitive lead performances from Mescal and O’Connor. While some may find it a little too slow, I enjoyed its leisurely pacing — it allows you to soak up the rich atmosphere
