Movies
Barack Obama Shares His Top Films For 2025
Barack Obama shared his favorite films of 2025 as part of his annual year-end roundup, a tradition that highlights notable books, music, and movies from the past year. The list was released through his social media accounts and the Obama Foundation’s platforms, continuing a practice he began while in office that has become widely followed in cultural circles.
The 2025 list includes eleven films spanning multiple genres, countries, and formats: One Battle After Another, Sinners, It Was Just an Accident, Hamnet, Sentimental Value, No Other Choice, The Secret Agent, Train Dreams, Jay Kelly, Good Fortune, and Orwell: 2+2=5. Each entry was highlighted in media coverage and represents a selection of films that drew attention in 2025.
Barack Obama – Instagram
One Battle After Another is a black-comedy thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The film received coverage for its blend of action and dark humor. Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, also received widespread media attention. Historical drama is represented by Hamnet and Train Dreams, which were noted for their storytelling and period settings.
International cinema features prominently on the list. No Other Choice is a South Korean drama that was covered in international film reporting, while the Iranian film It Was Just an Accident received attention for its themes and direction. The Secret Agent, another highlighted feature, and Orwell: 2+2=5, a documentary revisiting George Orwell’s work, round out the globally minded selections.
Barack Obama
Other entries include Jay Kelly, led by George Clooney, as well as Good Fortune and Sentimental Value. These films were also recognized by press outlets and cultural reporting throughout the year.
Obama’s 2025 list does not rank the films. Instead, it presents a curated selection of works he found notable or enjoyable over the year. Following the release, the list was widely shared and discussed online, reflecting the continued interest in his year-end cultural picks.
Barack Obama – Instagram
Taken together, the list covers a diverse mix of genres and styles, including studio films, independent productions, international cinema, historical drama, and documentary. It provides readers with a snapshot of the films that drew attention in 2025, offering a factual guide to notable works from a wide range of filmmakers.
By sharing this list, Obama continues a tradition that blends personal taste with public cultural reporting, giving audiences insight into the films that shaped his year.
Marvel’s new X-Men movie has its cast, director and release date, giving the long-awaited reboot a defined shape for the first time. Sadie Sink will return as Jean Grey, joined by Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Maya Boyd as Storm, Inde Navarrette as Rogue and Adam Driver as Mister Sinister. Jake Schreier, who directed Thunderbolts, is directing, while Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo are developing the screenplay.
The film is scheduled to arrive in cinemas on May 5, 2028. Much of what happens between now and then remains undisclosed, including the full story and whether additional characters will join the announced cast. What Marvel has confirmed already, however, points to a new version of the X-Men built specifically for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Photo: Marvelstudios
Sadie Sink Will Return as Jean Grey
Sink is the only member of the new team who audiences will have already seen in the MCU.
She plays Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, where the character is introduced as a powerful telepath. Jean’s storyline in the film brings her into conflict with Spider-Man before she ultimately helps him.
Her appearance establishes Jean before the new X-Men film, giving Marvel a character who can move directly from one MCU project into the team story.
Jean Grey has long been one of the most important characters in the X-Men mythology. Her telepathic abilities have made her one of the team’s most powerful members, while her relationships with the other mutants have been central to numerous X-Men stories.
Marvel has not yet explained what happens to Jean after Spider-Man: Brand New Day or how her existing storyline will lead into the new film.
The New X-Men Cast
The new lineup brings together actors from film and television for some of Marvel’s most recognisable mutant characters.
Kit Connor as Cyclops
Connor will play Scott Summers, known as Cyclops. The character has traditionally been one of the X-Men’s principal members and leaders.
Christopher Abbott as Professor X
Abbott will portray Charles Xavier, the telepath who has traditionally founded and led the X-Men. Xavier’s school provides a place where young mutants can learn to understand and control their abilities.
Samara Weaving as Emma Frost
Weaving will play Emma Frost, a prominent mutant whose history with the X-Men stretches across Marvel’s comics.
Maya Boyd as Storm
Boyd takes on the role of Storm, one of the franchise’s most established characters.
Inde Navarrette as Rogue
Navarrette will portray Rogue, another longtime member of the X-Men.
Adam Driver as Mister Sinister
Driver will play Mister Sinister, who is confirmed as the film’s villain.
The announced lineup does not necessarily represent the entire cast. Marvel has not revealed every character who will appear in the film.
Photo: Marvelstudios
Jake Schreier Is Directing
Schreier’s appointment places the director at the centre of Marvel’s new approach to the franchise. He previously directed Thunderbolts, which also brought him into contact with the writers now working on X-Men.
Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo are developing the screenplay. Sung Jin created Beef, while Calo is a writer and co-showrunner on The Bear. Both worked with Schreier before, giving the three filmmakers an existing creative relationship.
Schreier confirmed that the screenplay was being developed earlier this year. The story is still being worked on, and Marvel has not released a detailed synopsis.
Kevin Feige has described the project as youth-oriented, reflecting the way the X-Men have traditionally been portrayed in the comics. The new cast also gives the film a different age profile from the previous franchise.
What We Know About the Story
The actual plot remains one of the film’s biggest unanswered questions.
The X-Men mythology centres on mutants whose abilities emerge naturally and set them apart from the wider human population. That difference has traditionally created fear, discrimination and conflict, while Professor X has sought peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans.
His school has also been an important part of the mythology, providing a place where young mutants can learn to control their powers and understand their abilities.
Those elements are established parts of the X-Men universe, but Marvel has not confirmed exactly how they will be used in the new film.
There is also no information yet about the circumstances that bring Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Emma Frost and Professor X together. Mister Sinister is confirmed as the antagonist, but his role in the story has not been revealed.
Photo: Marvelstudios
A New Team for the MCU
The film will introduce a new group of actors to roles previously played by stars of the Fox-era X-Men films.
Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming and Kelsey Grammer are among the actors associated with the earlier franchise. Several of those performers are returning in Avengers: Doomsday, while Jackman is again playing Wolverine.
Their return does not mean that the previous cast will lead the new X-Men movie. Marvel is using the current MCU storyline to bring elements of the earlier franchise into its wider universe while establishing a different cast for the future.
That distinction is expected to become clearer through the next two Avengers films.
How Avengers: Doomsday Fits In
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to arrive in December 2026, almost two years before the new X-Men film.
The film will feature several returning members of the original X-Men cast, placing those characters alongside the MCU’s established heroes. It will be followed by Avengers: Secret Wars, another major entry in Marvel’s multiverse storyline.
The two films are expected to play an important role in the transition between different versions of Marvel’s characters.
For the X-Men, that creates a clear divide between the returning characters appearing in Doomsday and the new team Marvel is assembling for its 2028 film. Exactly how the two versions will relate to each other remains unconfirmed.
Marvel Has Already Begun Introducing Mutants
The studio has been laying the groundwork for mutants across the MCU for several years.
Mutant-related elements have appeared in WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels. Professor X also appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, played by Patrick Stewart.
Those appearances helped establish that mutants and the X-Men mythology could exist within Marvel’s expanding universe without immediately introducing the full team.
Jean Grey’s appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day takes that process further. Unlike a brief reference, her character is now directly connected to the new X-Men film through Sink’s casting.
What Happens Beyond the First Film?
Marvel has not announced a sequel.
Schreier has nevertheless spoken about the potential for future X-Men stories, including material from the comics that has not been explored extensively in previous film adaptations. For now, the priority remains the first movie, but the filmmakers have considered possible directions for the characters beyond it.
That does not confirm additional films. Marvel’s only announced project at this stage is the 2028 movie.
When Will the New X-Men Movie Be Released?
Marvel’s new X-Men movie is scheduled for May 5, 2028.
Jake Schreier is directing, with Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo developing the screenplay.
Marvel has not yet revealed the complete plot, full cast or trailer. For now, the film’s confirmed details establish the foundation: a new generation of X-Men characters, a new creative team and a place for the mutants within the MCU that will take shape alongside the events of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Anne Hathaway takes on a sinister role in the new trailer for Verity, playing bestselling author Verity Crawford, a woman who is left unable to move or speak after an accident. But while she appears helpless, the trailer hints that her condition may not be what it seems.
Based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel of the same name, Verity follows Lowen Ashleigh, played by Dakota Johnson, a writer hired by Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford, played by Josh Hartnett, to complete his wife’s book series. But after moving into the Crawford home, Lowen discovers an eerie unfinished manuscript that reveals something unsettling about Verity.
Photo: IMDB
The nearly two-minute trailer follows Lowen as she settles into the Crawford home and begins working on Verity’s unfinished book. While going through Verity’s things, she comes across the author’s autobiography, and what she reads in the manuscript is disturbing. “This is my confession. My autobiography. A writer’s words should be honest and bloody and a little bit terrifying,” Verity warns.
Later in the trailer, Johnson says, “This place is insane,” and as she spends more time at the house, she grows closer to Jeremy, and the two begin a romantic relationship. But that relationship takes an unsettling turn. After Lowen and Jeremy are seen kissing, she notices blood on her lips. When she looks again, it is no longer Jeremy she is kissing, but Verity.
Photo: IMDB
In the flashback scenes, Hathaway’s character appears with red lips and a menacing presence, even though she was unable to move or speak, suggesting that Lowen may have a reason to question Verity’s condition. “This is your final warning: only darkness ahead,” Verity says at the end of the trailer.
Directed by Michael Showalter, Verity is based on Colleen Hoover’s 2018 novel, which was originally self-published before being acquired by Grand Central Publishing. Hoover also serves as a producer on the film.
Verity is Hathaway’s fifth film of 2026, following Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and The End of Oak Street.
Verity is scheduled to hit theaters on October 2.
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