My 2025 May R-Rated Movies Ranked

Here's what I saw, what about you?

Jul 04, 2025

Here’s my latest monthly update on the R-rated movies I watched this year. Seen any of these? What did you watch? Share your watchlists in the comments.

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2025 Total Movie Stats

2025 May Movie Stats

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 Made: Watch Sinners in the theater. That's it! June is so packed, and I never got around to this when it first came out, so I'll make this a priority.

Commentary: May kicked off the summer box office season and I was there for it. Between that and discovering I should've watched more movies on Mubi before my trial subscription was up, I had a mix of two kinds of movies: European arthouse and Hollywood blockbusters. I ended up watching 10 movies on Mubi before the trial ended. Maybe I should've named this “May Mubi Month.”

My June goal is simple: go see Sinners. Too small a goal? Well June is bizarrely busy! Think I'm in for a good time?

And with that, let’s get to the rakings! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

May 2025 R-Rated Movies Ranked in the order I saw them:

Revenge (2017) 4 out of 5 Emergency Blood Drives

FIRST WATCH | Fan of The Substance? Try Revenge, the feature-length debut of writer/director Coralie Fargeat. At least, if you have the stomach for it. From a tragic act of sexual violence to the pooling bloodbath throughout, it can be a lot for some viewers. Both movies make you wince for different reasons and captivate you by their incredible leads, in this case Matilda Lutz. Great flick, tough watch. I also saw Fargeat's short film Reality+ (2013), on Mubi. A creative, thematic stepping stone to The Substance. Less disturbing, more sweet?!

Carol (2015) 4 out of 5 Knowing Glances

FIRST WATCH | A wonderful character piece with excellent performances by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Their love story was compelling, romantic, playful, and tragic - everything this sort of movie can do well in the hands of a trusted director like Todd Haynes. Unfortunately, both he and Blanchett got the big ol’ Oscar snub, though Mara was nominated for her role. It’s a tender story, I enjoyed it.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) 4 out of 5 Size 8 1/2s

FIRST WATCH | This one has many of the telltale trappings of an indie flick. Many characters who cross paths in bizarre ways, “real” dialogue of ums and ahs and talking over each other, and lots and lots of quirkiness for the sake of quirkiness. Good thing that sort of movie appeals to me, because this one really worked. I don’t know any of Miranda July’s other works, but I love John Hawkes and he is excellent in this.

It’s fun to recommend what we enjoy. Please share this with someone who would enjoy it.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) 4 out of 5 Resentful Looks

FIRST WATCH | Oof. Tough watch. Nearly every second of this film is brutal. It begged me to turn it off. But it was so compelling. I don’t know if I could watch this one again, but I thought it was a fascinating take on parenting, love, resentment, forgiveness, societal norms, and what happens when people who are suppose to love each other don’t even like each other. Again, a brutal film in its own tragic way.

The Babadook (2014) 3 out of 5 Ceiling Skitterings

FIRST WATCH | I’ve heard about this one for a while. There are a few quick clips of it out in Internet Land as shorts or reels or tikkitty tokkitty whatevers. Finally watched this and it was… not scary? I dunno. I thought all of the buildup I’d heard about it would make me genuinely jump a little bit, or at least get creeped out a bit. The story was a bit too clunk for me to have its attempt at a scary atmosphere do its job. If someone else loved this, I’m all ears.

The Nightengale (2018) 4 out of 5 Armed Women in the Woods

FIRST WATCH | Another brutal movie, and this one has the shotgun shells to prove it. Claire’s epic rampage of revenge for what happens to her and her family has the sort of gruesome violence that makes you want to turn away, if it hadn’t been so compellingly shot on film (likewise, it an uneasy way, all of what happened to her and her family, too, which is a lot). This is written and directed by Jennifer Kent as her big follow-up to writing and directing The Babadook and wow, this one is leaps and bounds above it!

Infinity Baby (2017) 4 out of 5 Fake Moms

FIRST WATCH | Another quirky, quirky, quirky indie film. Everyone in this movie seems to know it, too. Kieran Culkin plays Kieran Culkin, and that’s a compliment. The science fiction background of babies who will always be babies is deftly handled as a satirical commentary on societal pressure and class structure. Plus, it’s just plain funny. This one is short and sweet, just 80 minutes, so give it a shot.

Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025) 4 out of 5 Lucky Pennies

FIRST WATCH | Let me say this loudly, for the people in the back: This is not only a good Final Destination movie, this is a good movie. I was really impressed with this one. Well-shot, plenty of tension, nice character development and relationships, some funny bits, and a nice string of “good kills,” as they say about this genre. I took my oldest daughter to see this in a Dolby theater, knowing she’d love it or hate it. She loved it! Can’t leave this one without a shout out to Tony Todd. His scene was amazing, and so is the story behind it. This entire video is a spoiler, but the 4:25 mark is just plain the best and worth watching on its own. Rest in peace, big man!

28 Days Later (2002) 4.5 out of 5 Bottles of Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch Whisky in Your Shopping Cart (Okay, Just One More. Aaand One More…)

We went to this to prep for the upcoming 28 Years Later, which the trailers have me wondering if it’s more brutal than the other 28 entries. Watching this one again for the first time in years, it seems more tame than I remember, but perhaps that’s because it kicked off the “fast zombie” movie genre that got pretty gross pretty quick. Everyone in this is amazing, and Danny Boyle’s directing is top notch. Again, the oldest daughter loved this, and she’s ready for the sequels.

Friendship (2025) 4 out of 5 AWK. WARD. PARTIES.

FIRST WATCH | Everyone in our family are big fans of I Think You Should Leave. Not everyone has seen every sketch because many are wildly inappropriate, but I took a moment to check out the parent guide on IMDB and my spouse and I decided we’d give this on a shot with the kids. It really paid off for us. So awkward, so cringe, so funny. And, in a lovely and surprising way, so moving, too. This is a story about how people truly just want someone else to like them. The desperation is what turns that kernel of truth into great satire. Looking forward to watching this one again.

Your turn!

What did you see in May? Agree with my ratings? Any reviews to share?

Glad you were here today. God’s peace and good movies to you!

R-Rated Movie Club

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