Patrick's 12 Favorite Discoveries of 2025

by Patrick Bromley

Celebrating the best first-time watches of the year.
Every month over on our Patreon I compile a list of favorite discoveries from the last 30 days or so, and as we wrap up our 2025 coverage on FTM proper I thought it might be cool to share some of the standouts from the last year. Some are great movies, some are fascinating messes, some are trash I fell in love with at first sight. Here are 12 favorites, presented in no order whatsoever:


1. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling (1986, dir. Richard Pryor)

The lone directorial effort of comedian Richard Pryor is autobiographical story of his childhood in a brothel, getting his start in seedy clubs, and finally his struggles with addiction that led to his well-publicized suicide attempt. This is a flawed, messy movie, but one that is so raw and nakedly honest about Pryor's own demons that I can't help but admire his willingness to cash this kind of blank check. It's further proof that Pryor's cash-in comedies are mostly dreck but his dramatic work (like this and Blue Collar) is worthwhile. Good on Criterion for putting this in the collection. (On Blu-ray)

2. Larceny Inc. (1942, dir. Lloyd Bacon)

This has been on my radar for a little while as an Edward G. Robinson fan and when it played recently at the New Beverly in California I was jealous I couldn't be there. Thank you HBO Max! (The only time I will say that this year.) This is a delightful comedy about a trio of crooks, led by Robinson, who buy a luggage store to break into the bank next door and are taken by surprise when their luggage business is a giant success. I've seen Robinson be so good in dramatic films that I didn't realize he had this kind of comic ability; the rest of the ensemble is right their with him. What an excellent surprise. (On HBO Max)

3. The Age of Innocence (1993, dir. Martin Scorsese)

I'm ashamed to say that it took me until 2025 to finally watch Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. Costume dramas are not typically my bag and I assumed this would be stuffy and uptight. I should have trusted Scorsese, who brings his usual directorial flair to what could have otherwise been stuffy and uptight, making a movie that isn't repressed but instead is about repression. I already want to revisit it and know I'll like it even more on subsequent viewings. (On Blu-ray)

4. The Candidate (1972, dir. Michael Ritchie)

I started doing a Robert Redford watch and rewatch in the wake of his passing because I realize I didn't ever really give him his due as an actor, more as a filmmaker and champion of independent cinema. I had never seen Michael Ritchie's The Candidate but was always aware of its reputation as one of the sharpest political satires ever made. I'm not sure I got all that out of it, but it's still a good movie about a broken system that weaponizes Redford's on screen persona in an interesting way -- something he seemed regularly willing to do. (On Apple TV)

5. Place of Bones (2023, dir. Audrey Cummings)

Yes, it has the same limitations as the recent surge of low-budget indie westerns, but Place of Bones does a good job of writing to those limitations and playing to its own strengths. It's essentially a siege movie in the Old West in which Heather Graham and her daughter (plus an outlaw played by Parker Motherfucking Lewis) must defend their home against a gang of murderers and thieves. It's Assault on Precinct 13 until it becomes Tales from the Crypt, and if that sounds like a movie you would want to see let me tell you that we like the same kinds of movies. (On VOD)

6. Always (1989, dir. Steven Spielberg)

This was one of two remaining Spielberg movies I had never seen (the other is Empire of the Sun, still unseen), but I watched it for a really fun episode of Reserved Seating and was surprised how much of it worked for me. It has some major script problems and at least two performances I didn't like (Dreyfuss and Brad Johnson), but there's thematic stuff that works well for me, a couple of dynamite sequences, and the work of Holly Hunter and John Goodman to see the whole thing across the finish line. I'm mixed positive on this, but just about any unseen Spielberg is probably going to make it on a Discovery list. (On Netflix)

7. Performance (1970, dirs. Nicholas Roeg & Donald Cammell)

As both a Nicolas Roeg fan and a Rolling Stones fan, this movie (which I've been wanting to see for so, so long) was practically made for me. I always thought it was a movie about the existential dread of stardom and celebrity, but that was based solely on the title and cover art. It's actually so much more interesting: a London gangster (James Fox) kills someone he shouldn't and goes into hiding at the home of a rock star (Mick Jagger). Their lives and identities begin to intertwine in fascinating ways that could only come from Roeg. This was a movie that, once I saw it, I knew it would be one of my movies forever. I can't wait to revisit it, as I'm sure there's so much I missed and so much more for me to appreciate upon subsequent watches. (On Blu-ray)

8. Man's Best Friend (1993, dir. John Lafia)

I weirdly adored this movie. John Lafia (Child's Play 2) writes and directs the story of a journalist (Ally Sheedy) who adopts a super dog that's been "modified" by a mad scientist (Lance Henriksen) with monstrous results. There's weird humor, huge tonal switches, and all kinds of '90s goofiness. I can't wait to see it again. (On Kanopy)

9. Echo Park (1985, dir. Robert Dornhelm)

This was a Brian Saur pick from our Underrated '85 episode and I'm so glad he chose it because it got me to watch a really charming movie for the first time. Tom Hulce, Susan Dey, and Michael Bowen play a trio of singles navigating life and love in a California apartment complex. Dey is a particular standout, and watching his made me wish she had a bigger movie career than she wound up having. There's a DVD of this but it's OOP, meaning I had to resort to nefarious means to finally see it. This would be a perfect title for FCE or Cinematographe to release and allow people to discover for themselves. (Sneaky)

10. Undefeatable (1993, dir. Godfrey Ho)

This Cynthia Rothrock joint I ordered from Vinegar Syndrome a while back and hadn't watched until this year is AMAZING. Not great, not even very good, but still amazing. A guy named Don Niam gives an unforgettable performance as "Stingray," an underground fighter who begins killing women after his wife leaves him -- including the sister of Cynthia Rothrock, who vows revenge. The climactic kiss-off line along makes this one worth tracking down. (On 4K UHD)

11. Free Willy (1993, dir. Simon Wincer)

I finally watched this one to write my Highs & Lows piece on Simon Wincer, and everyone (but especially Adam Riske) knows by now that it was named one of his "highs." In fact, it might be the highest of all his highs, the genuinely touching story of the friendship between a wounded boy and a wounded whale. I love how this movie wears all its emotions plainly on its sleeve. Even with Adam's championing of it over the years, I thought I knew what I was getting into but I was wrong. It's so much better than I expected. This is one of my favorite discoveries of the year. (On DVD)

12. Jeremiah Johnson (1972, dir. Sydney Pollack)

I have wanted to see this movie for many, many years, but it wasn't until I checked out a DVD from my local library that I pulled the trigger and finally sat down to watch it. It starts as a movie about Robert Redford leaving society to go live alone up in the mountains, then becomes the story of a makeshift family, and finally becomes a revenge tale. All three are pretty cool. I would have loved this movie just for the scenery alone, but the John Milius script and frighteningly capable direction from Sydney Pollack (that's for you, Mike) made this one of my favorite first-time watches of the year. (On DVD)