My 2025 August R-Rated Movies Ranked
Here's what I say, what about you?
Here’s my latest batch of R-rated movie watches. What did you watch this month? Agree with my ratings? Share your watchlist in the comments.
After only going to the movie theater once in June and once in July, I feel like I was making up for lost time in August. I was busy in June, and there were a few nighs where I wanted to go to the movies but I was just too tired. As for July, I had CONvergence one week, traveled to South Korea for work for 2 weeks, and most other nights I was wiped out. In August, I went to the movies 10 times for 9 movies! That includes the first movie I saw in the theater twice (below…) and the first time I maxed out my “4 movies per week” with AMC A-List (also below…).
In August, there were enough movies we wanted to see as a family (Sketch is an excellent horror movie for kids, part Gremlins, part old school Jumanji, part Inside Out) and enough that I wanted to see on my own, including holdovers from July. I met my goal of seeing at least 1 movie in the theater per week easily. And hooray, we had the 50th anniversary re-release of Jaws and we all went as a family — one of us for the first time! Let’s hear it for going back to the movies!
September’s goal is a little different. I’ll watch a pair of movies that have an original and a remake. I’ll make sure each pair has at least 1 R-rated movie so I can write about it here, but as we all know sometimes an R movie gets remade as PG-13, like Total Recall or RoboCop. But it can also be vice versa, with 1950s horror films turned 1980s R like The Thing or The Fly.
2025 Total Movie Stats
188 MOVIES TOTAL | 112% of 167 Movies in 2024
46 Movies at the Theater | 24.5%
137 First-Watch Movies | 72.8%
110 R-Rated Movies | 58.5%
81 First-Watch R-Rated Movies | 43%
2025 August Movie Stats
18 Movies | 200% of 9 Movies in August 2024
9 Movies at the Theater | 50%
8 First-Watch Movies | 44%
11 R-Rated Movies | 61%
6 First-Watch R-Rated Movies | 33%
January Goal Met: Watch (at least) one movie per day.
February Goal Met: Watch all 10 Best Picture nominees.
March Goal Met: Watch the final 12 Oscar nominated 2025 films I hadn’t seen yet.
April Goal Met: Watch at least 1 movie per week during a busy travel month.
May Goal Made: Watch an R-rated movie selected by each of my kids.
June Goal Met: Watch Sinners in the theater.
July Goal Met: Watch 1 movie per week.
August Goal Met: Watch 1 movie in the theater each week.
September Goal Made: Watch a pairs of movie remakes.
Movies and faith in your mailbox for free.
And with that, let’s get to the rakings! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
August 2025 R-Rated Movies Ranked in the order I saw them:
Bad Faith (2024) 4.5 out of 5 Brutal Truths
FIRST WATCH | I’m often weary of documentaries about our current climate of culture, politics, and religion, but this one nailed it. They interviewed people I trust, including Dr. Rev. William Barber II, so I went with it. I would tell any progressive Christian or non-religious person to watch this film for hope and solidarity. And, I believe the people who are finally feeling the veil pulled from their eyes should watch this, too, so we can work together to change the world in the name of God’s loving compassion and justice.
The Toxic Avenger (1984) 2.5 out of 5 Creepy Cult Classics
I haven’t seen any of these Tromaville cult classics in a long time, and with a remake coming up starring Peter Dinklage as Toxie with the moxie, I thought I’d give them a whirl. Troma movies are an acquired taste, for sure, but I really like the over-the-top, satirical farce with a heart. It works for me. I won’t watch it religiously, and I’m not in any rush to show it to my kids (it’s hard to understand satire if you don’t understand what is being satirized), but it was fun to revisit. I did not find the other three fun at all. Scroll down for my thoughts on those messes.
Weapons (2025) 4.5 out of 5 Newspaper Curtains
FIRST WATCH | Wow. I really liked this. It’s been a while since I was in a movie theater as packed as this (maybe 2023’s Top Gun: Maverick, honestly) and I’m glad I went opening weekend. The shifting points of view really work, and I’m not sure how else you could effectively tell this story. Some laughs, some fun twists along the way. I missed writer/director Zach Cregger’s debut film, Barbarian, and I’m more interested now. I hope to write more about Weapons soon.
Bonus Fun Fact: Weapons holds the distinction of being the first film I saw in the theater more than once in 2025. Last time I did that was in 2024 for Alien: Romulus.
Together (2025) 3.5 out of 5 Sawzalls Appearing in Act 1 Must Be Used by Act III
FIRST WATCH | A nice little horror movie. Meaning, the scope was small and focused squarely on just a few characters. Two, really, and real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco are naturals in this unnatural thriller. The practical effects throughout are great. Great enough that a CGI money shot later in the film falls flat. It’s a “body horror” movie with good scares, good squirms, good themes, and good acting.
Rifftrax Live! presents Timecop (1994/2025) 3.5 out of 5 RATINGS
FIRST WATCH | We enjoy our annual family outing to the latest Rifftrax! show. I hadn’t seen Timecop in some time and I’d told myself you know, it probably holds up better than I remember it. No. No, it does not. Some good riffs from the former Mystery Science Theater 3000 wizards turned Riffers, with 2-3 major laughs. The kids didn’t enjoy the actual movie as much as others, so I don’t think it will get as much replay value in our house as, say, Rifftrax Live! presents Rad.
The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) 1 out of 5 Point of Diminishing Returns
FIRST WATCH | A few clever fights but the silly, satirical heart of the original is sorely missing in this sequel. They made this back to back with the next one and, well…
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989) 0.5 out of 5 Past the Point of Diminishing Returns
FIRST WATCH | Hey, didn’t we pass the point of diminishing returns 90 minutes ago? Ugh, just not great, even as a cheap cash grab. I knew we should’ve taken that left turn outta Tromaville…
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) 0 out of 5 Past the Point of Toxic Concerns
FIRST WATCH | Gross. Just disturbingly bad. I guess they succeeded? Farce and satire have transcended to just plain bad. No need to watch this one again.
At least I can still watch the new Toxic Avenger (2025) in theate— okay, it’s gone. That was fast.
Nobody (2021) 4 out of 5 Kitty Cat Bracelets
It’s too bad that Nobody got lost in the shuffle as we were still emerging from pandemic, because it’s very fun and deserved a decent theatrical release. It definitely found its audience with premium streaming rental and on 4K disc after that. We rented it the weekend it came out and really enjoyed it. Seen it a few times but I knew I wanted to see it again leading up to the theatrical release of Nobody 2 this month. Our oldest lost interest, which surprised me, but our youngest stuck it out and really enjoyed it, which also surprised me. Great action comedy!
Nobody 2 (2025) 4 out of 5 Polls in the Water
FIRST WATCH | My youngest and I saw this together in an AMC Dolby Cinema and believe it or not, we liked it better than the first Nobody! We liked the setting, the escalation of the stakes with the family’s involvement, the double-crossing, wide-spanning criminal network, and a wonderful finale that — in the midst of a kill or be killed way of life for our heroes — also has a touching moment of mercy. Another great action comedy, bring on Nobody 3!
We had a fun movie theater night as a family. Nobody 2 is 90 minutes, Weapons is 2 hours. My wife and our oldest went to Weapons, which started 30 minutes before Nobody 2, which I went to with our youngest. We all arrived in the lobby at essentially the same time. That was fun!
Honey Don’t! (2025) 3.5 out of 5 Macaronis Just Sitting There!
FIRST WATCH | Excellent acting, including the supporting cast. Margaret Qualley is a delight, channeling a character with a flair of Hollywood yesteryear. She’s a humdinger of a crackerjack gal private detective, with the hair, wardrobe, and quickly-paced Mid-Atlantic accent to prove it (think Rosalind Russell in one of my all-time favorite films, 1940’s His Girl Friday). The strings of the story are tied together in surprising, clever ways, but they’re laid down too slack and don’t pull as tightly as one would hope, both at the end and throughout the film. That said, if Ethan Coen made more movies featuring Honey O’Donahue, I’d watch them.
Bonus Fun Fact: I’m a longtime AMC A-List subscriber, which means I one monthly fee to see up to 4 movies per week. It used to be 3, and they bumped it to 4 this spring. Honey Don’t! marks the first time I used all 4 of my weekly movies. Honey do be honored by such a landmark moment!
Your turn!
Disclosure: Some links here are affiliate links, which means at no cost to you, I earn affiliate commission if you tap or click the link and finalize a qualifying purchase. You can also express your support by Ko-Fi or as a paid subscriber.
What did you see in August? Agree with my ratings? Any reviews to share?
Glad you’re here today, Dear Reader. God’s peace and good movies to you!