Ten movies to see in 2025 - Scotsman film critic Alistair Harkness picks his highlights for the year ahead

A Complete Unknown | Macall Polay

A Complete Unknown Timothée Chalamet takes on his most challenging role yet as the famously inscrutable Bob Dylan in this early years biopic exploring Dylan's rise to fame, directed by Walk the Line’s James Mangold. With Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Edward Norton as Pete Seeger. 17 January

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The Brutalist Actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet has quietly been establishing himself as one of America’s most uncompromising directors, and he could well have his breakthrough with this Oscar-buzzy three-and-a-half-hour epic about architecture and the immigrant experience in postwar America. Adrien Brody stars. 24 January

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On Falling This debut feature from Edinburgh-based filmmaker Laura Carreira (our ones-to-watch pick for 2024) has already won lots of awards on the autumn festival circuit for its artful and humane depiction of a Portuguese immigrant (Joana Santos) working as a “picker” in an Amazon-style warehouse in Scotland. Produced by Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, it’ll also receive a Scottish premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival (26 February to 9 March), which comes of age with its 21st edition. 7 March

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Mickey 17 Bong Joon-ho’s first film since Parasite casts Robert Pattinson as a frustrated nobody who volunteers to become an expendable space explorer whose body can be regenerated with his memories intact whenever he dies on the job. When he meets one of his “multiples”, though, things start going a little crazy. Mark Ruffalo co-stars. ​18 April

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Mickey 17 | Contributed

Tornado It’s been ten years since former Beta Band member-turned-filmmaker John Maclean made his stunning debut Slow West, but this belated sophomore feature for the Scottish writer/director looks like it’s been worth the wait. Pitched as a mix of wilderness survival thriller and Samurai movie, the 1790s-set British film stars up-and-coming Japanese actor Kōki as a young woman out for revenge against Tim Roth and Jack Lowden, cast here as the father-son criminals who killed her dad. Release date TBC

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28 Years Later Danny Boyle and Alex Garland reunite for this almost real-time sequel to their 2002 genre-redefining zombie hit 28 Days Later. The first of a new trilogy, it looks suitably gnarly, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson leading a cast that includes Ralph Fiennes and Jodie Comer through a post-apocalyptic British landscape in which the Rage virus has mutated in unexpected ways. ​20 June

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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Is this the end for Tom Cruise’s almost 30-year run hanging off planes, trains and automobiles as Ethan Hunt? The delayed release and title change suggest so, but never underestimate the Cruiser’s ability to dazzle audiences. 21 May

​Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Event Film Not much is known about Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest foray into the crime genre. Nevertheless, the place-holder title, summer release date, blockbuster budget and starring role for Leonardo DiCaprio suggest it’s his biggest, most ambitious movie to date. ​8 August

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Frankenstein Horror maestro Guillermo del Toro was all over Scotland in 2024 shooting this new version of the Mary Shelley classic, which stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Monster. Primo support from Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz – with Edinburgh’s Old Town adding gothic atmosphere aplenty. Release date TBC

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The Running Man Directed by Edgar Wright and featuring movie star du jour Glen Powell, this re-imagining of Stephen King’s reality TV-anticipating novel has also been shooting in Scotland, with Glasgow’s city centre providing the backdrop for a dystopian future in which Powell’s character must competes in a deadly game show to regain his freedom. Expect a different approach from the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version. 21 November