Films of 2025 Part 2: Covid Reality Check, Creating a New Rome & Short But Important Film!

Hello world! Welcome back to another blog. This blog will feature some more amazing films I saw in 2025 so far. These include a film showing the reality of how the pandemic affected our key workers, a sequel to the 2000 Ridley Scott classic, and a 10 minute short film to raise awareness that made me pause and reflect. So without further ado, here are three more films I saw in 2025!

Help:

The first film I’m going to talk about is Help, casted by Beverley Keogh and starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham.

This film follows care worker Sarah finding her calling, but when the pandemic hits, she realises that things will not be easy for her.

Comer took on the role of Sarah beautifully. Yes the character may have a rebellious streak, and doesn’t always play by the rules, but her passion for the people she works with shine through. That and her chemistry with graham who played Tony was also a gem to see. He did the dementia community proud, and I can’t imagine how much hard work he had to put in to get the role correct. And the night shift where it was all one shot was brilliant, but having to use tony as a last resort to help his friend Kenny (Steve Garti who sadly in the film could not be saved), was heartbreaking to see. 

Other characters in the film served a purpose for Sarah’s journey. These included Tori (Angela Griffin), who was one of the other careers who also felt the strain, Steve (Ian Hart), the owner of the care home (and Sarah didn’t like the way things were being handled), who couldn’t help Sarah when he fell ill with the dreaded illness either, and Gaynor and Bob (Leslie Sharp and Andrew Scholfield), who each had different views on Sarah. Her dad not having much faith in her (which based on her backstory I can see why but bad mouthing her isn’t helping), and her mum who doesn’t voice her concerns but also tried to support Sarah in the best way she can. 

I think my only downside is the ending was not a nice one for Sarah. But still, she was passionate until the end of the film, and it was a shame that yes she broke the rules, it was a result of leaving her with not choice but to take drastic action.

Overall I would give the film a 4.95. It was tense, the one shot with Jodie during that awful night shift left me on the edge of my seat and the transcript at the end just reminded me of the terrible time the whole world went through. But I just wish that Sarah had a better and nicer ending of the film. 

Gladiator 2:

The next film I will talk about is Gladiator 2, starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Connie Neilsen.

Following the events of the first film, this tells the story of Lucille’s son Lucius, and on IMDB, the synopsis is as follows:

After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.

Paul Mescal was perfection when it came to the role of Lucius. To say he’s natively Irish, his English was a delight to see. And that’s why it’s important to have roles where you are yourself first (as seen in Normal People), before taking on huge roles like this. And I could tell as well that Lucius was not happy with that fact that gladiators are treated like slaves, and after the death of his wife Aristchat (Yuval Gonen) at the beginning of the film, he made it his mission to make Rome a peaceful country once and for all. And his mum Lucille (Connie Neilsen), hasn’t aged a day since the first film, and her decision to send her son away was something she didn’t want to do, but knew it was for the best, and she would sacrifice anything to get her son back after finding out he was one of the gladiators in the ring. And it was good to see that Gracchus (Derek Jacobi), was still loyal to her. 

We also got to see new characters throughout the film. These include Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who after my dad questioned if he was a goodie or a baddie, I came to the conclusion that he just wanted money and power no matter what the consequences were, and also General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), who met a fatal end after Lucius thought he was against him, when in fact he knew about him and the deceased maximus. There was also the twin Roman emperors Geta and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger), one of whom was abit deluded, but like Marinus, both wanted anything for power and money. There was even a nice cameo appearance from Matt Lucas who played the announcer of the games, which was very refreshing to see. Lucius also made a friend in doctor Ravi (Alexander Karim), a doctor of the gladiators who also supported him in making Rome a better country.

What I also liked about the film was the flashbacks of the previous film during the title sequence in the form of paintings. It gave off a real feel of the era of the film, and also a recap as to what happened, knowing that the first gladiator film was released in 2000.

I think my only two downsides were that like with the first film, it was abit hard to follow the story, but I managed to get the gist of it in the end. There were also some moments where for me personally it was abit too violent (probably even more violent than the first). So if anyone reading this has yet t watch it, maybe don’t watch it whilst you’ve got food with you. 

Overall I would give the film a 4.95. It was thrilling, exciting and despite my little things which I mentioned before, I’d say it’s probably even better than the first one. 

Safe:

The final film I’m going to review is Safe, starring Laura Bystan and James Nelson Joyce and directed by Debbie Howard.

This 10 minute short told the story of a mum who simply wants to get home to put her daughter to bed only to be trapped in a dilemma.

Laura took on the role of mum and cleaner Anna. I can see why she was picked for this role as her performance was off the chart. Her frustration of the littlest things such as her phone going off charge and having little money for the bus clearly showed. That along with the appearance of stranger Daz played by James Nelson Joyce definitely did not help. James himself did an incredible performance. Similar to his role in “This City Is Ours”, he is someone you do not want to mess with (and I’m sure he’s a nice person, but sometimes you get a role based on how you look, and he definitely has the look and talent to play a bully). The trust that he and Laura must’ve had to take on a scenario that sadly still occurs today must’ve been a big responsibility, but I can tell it paid off. 

The supporting roles also did a good job in carrying the story along. These included the taxi driver (Rashid Hussain), who yes was only trying to do his job when he denied anna of getting a taxi, but it only added to the tension. There was also the bus driver (Tom Tunstall), who I wasn’t sure if he was concerned for her safety or not, but he also helped play a crucial part in the film. But the biggest shout-out goes to Debbie Howard herself. Her creativity, hard work and direction of Laura and James definitely shone through and I could see why she got the awards she deserved during the film festival circuit. 

I think I only had two downsides, and that were that I wanted to know what happened if Anna got on the bus or not, and that I was still upset that things like the topic of the film still happen in this day and age. But I also hope that following the film festival circuit and now streaming on Amazon Prime, it’ll continue to raise more awareness, especially for women’s safety.

Overall I could give the film a 4.90. If was gritty, intense and it made me reflect on how these situations can often become the most dangerous.

And that is it for my second instalment of films I saw in 2025. Let me know if you’ve seen any of these films and share your thoughts on them. Equally, as mentioned on the last post of films I saw this year, let me know what other films you think I should watch going into 2026.

See you soon for another blog. Until next time…

This is The Autistic Actress signing off :)