Hollywood wants you to believe 2025 was a banner year for bold filmmaking, but the truth is messier: a handful of genuinely strong films stood out amid an avalanche of franchise fatigue and preachy, virtue-signaling drivel. Critics picked certain pictures as the year’s best while naming several high-profile flops, showing that audiences and reviewers are still hungry for real stories — not lectures.
There were bright spots that proved cinema can still thrill when filmmakers stop lecturing and start telling stories, with critics lauding films like Weapons for its inventive structure and concentrated performances. Other directors offered grittier, more authentic takes on warfare and modern conflict, films that critics noted for their realism and technical craft.
But the studios kept doubling down on the safe, soulless sequel machine and woke adaptations that mistake politics for plot, and the results were predictable: big budget flops wearing progressive messaging like a costume. Marvel’s Sam Wilson outing, Captain America: Brave New World, was broadly criticized as a creative stumble that prioritized agenda over adventure, proving that even the corporate superpower can’t paper over a bad story.
If you wanted proof that name recognition and woke credentials don’t guarantee quality, look at the long list of misfires this year — from acclaimed auteurs delivering limp returns to comedy and horror miscalculations. Films like Honey Don’t! and The Home were widely panned for being tonally confused, hollow, or simply unfunny, a reminder that ideology can’t replace craft.
Calling certain pictures “evil” isn’t about theatrics; it’s about the cultural rot that happens when studios weaponize entertainment to normalize radical ideas while denigrating our traditions and values. Some films actively promote nihilism or moral relativism under the guise of art, and we should be brave enough to call out that cultural engineering for what it is rather than pretend it’s neutral storytelling.
Conservatives shouldn’t respond by retreating from culture; we should fight for better art — films that celebrate sacrifice, family, heroism, and the dignity of ordinary Americans. Support independent filmmakers who actually want to entertain and uplift rather than lecture, and put your dollars behind theaters and creators that show courage and craft.
The remedy is simple and patriotic: vote with your wallet, praise movies that tell true stories, and refuse to bankroll studios that have forgotten how to make popcorn movies that respect their audience. If Americans want a healthy culture, we must demand films that reflect our values and reward creators who respect the audience’s intelligence and love of country.
