Live action remakes, doomed romance and blocky ground – Scenes relieve the worst films on offer in 2025
I take no pleasure in writing this list. Even though a bad review is easier to write, I would much rather sit here and talk about what I’ loved and why I did. Sadly, it’s a fact of life that bad films will be released. Or if we are talking about one film in particular on this list, a total abomination. Let’s look back at these films – of which I luckily only spent money to watch two of them – and see which one takes the crown.
- Last Breath – Directed by Alex Parkinson
From the casting to the performances, everything in Alex Parkinson’s Last Breath is lazy. Which is a shame, because this story is anything but lazy. This is a movie which should feel like a race against the clock. In each scene, the severity of the situation should be felt, but more often than not, it’s people who look like they’re trying save their lost deep-sea diver is a chore. I understand they are professionals and can’t run around panicking, but any sort of inflexion on their face would be enough. It just feels as though everyone is phoning it in, which, you know, is the exact opposite of what the people in the real-life story were doing. It’s undoubtedly an incredible story, but similar to The Smashing Machine, I can’t help but feel the drama lends itself to a documentary more than a feature-length film.
- Snow White – Directed by Marc Webb
As incredible as it is that this somehow manages to be the worst version of Snow White despite how many terrible adaptations there are out there, I have nothing else to say other than stop making live-action remakes. It completely undermines what your company is built on. It is infuriating. I’m sure the Lilo and Stitch remake would be on here, but I refuse to ever watch that sorry excuse for a movie.
- A Minecraft Movie – Directed by Jared Hess
I wasn’t going into A Minecraft Movie expecting the second coming of The Godfather. Hell, I wasn’t even expecting something on the level of Sonic or the Super Mario BrosMovie. All I wanted was a film which at least had something for people like me who grew up playing these games to enjoy. Apparently, that’s too much to ask for. It feels like a movie which was made for literal infants. I refuse to believe kids aged five and above got any enjoyment out of this film. Surely even they would feel like they are being talked down to or see through the babyish jokes. You’re making a film about the most popular game ever made, and everything in the film is explained in painstaking detail as if I’ve never heard of the game before. Furthermore, you’re making a film based on endless possibilities and creativity, and you don’t even dare take a risk of your own. I don’t understand who the target audience could have been. What could have been a passable movie, instead is a 101-minute mess around a Minecraft world with some patchy CGI.
- The Map That Leads to You – Directed by Lasse Hallström
The Map That Leads To You, directed by the fairly unremarkable Lasse Halström, like the other films in the ever-growing subgenre of doomed romance, fails to capture the heart which makes us obsess over tragic romance stories. It tries. Well, Madeline Clyne tries; everyone else fails under the weight of what is a terrible script. Not their fault, mind you, it’s just an overall terrible plot for a movie. It would maybe leave a less sour taste in my mouth if it weren’t for a true disaster class performance by KJ Apa as Clyne’s love interest. I struggle to think of a more obnoxious and terrible character than Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s Hardin from the After series, which says a lot.
- Regretting You – Directed by Josh Boone
I hate to be harsh, as I am aware that hard-working individuals put their all into the movies they work on. In saying that, Regretting You may be the worst film I have ever had the displeasure of watching. What an abhorrent mess. It is unfathomable how this film was ever able to make it to cinemas. Scratch that, it’s unfathomable that this mess wasadapting a book, which I can only pray is more entertaining than the movie by the same name.
It all boils down to Colleen Hoover. I’m aware she has had her controversies, but I don’t think enough is said about how twisted her story lines actually are. The premise for this film, if you are not aware, is about Morgan (Allison Williams) and her daughter Clara (McKenna Grace) trying to navigate life after her sister and her husband are killed in a car accident. Sounds tragic? There’s more. It turns out, Morgan’s sister and husband were having an affair, which is why they were together when they died in the car crash. Think that’s devastating? It gets worse. Morgan’s sister’s husband Jonah (Dave Franco) just had a child, who turns out to be Morgan’s husband’s baby and not his. Had enough yet? Because there is still more. Turns out Jonah has actually always had feelings for Morgan since they were kids, as they were all in the same friend group, and he seems more focused on being with her than facing any of the trauma he should be experiencing.
Oh, and Clara is dating a guy who walks around with a lollypop in his mouth constantly to symbolise how cool he is. Other than that, the biggest crime these pair have on the plot is how stomach-turningly cringe it all is.
My main issue is how that nightmarish scenario is romanticised. The fact that – spoilers – by the end of the film, Morgan and Jonah are together, and happy, and Clara is relatively unfazed by it all is laughable. The only difference between Jonah and Morgan and their now-dead partners is that they didn’t get around to cheating when they were alive.
I could go on for hours about how troubling and terrible this film is. It doesn’t just fall apart in the plot either; there are some truly baffling choices made throughout, which makes my skin crawl. None more so than the awkward text voice-overs throughout the film. Maybe I expected too much, but coming from the same person who directed The Fault in Our Stars, I at least thought it would be watchable and not one of the worst films I’ve ever seen.
