Yes. It’s still January. And yes, it is the longest month on record in human history.
But January is still January, and we are still within the window for memorializing events that occurred in the previous year. Don’t argue with me on this. Our world is divided enough as it is. Just gather, light a candle, and join me in paying homage to some absolute legends we lost in 2025.
David Lynch
THE STRAIGHT STORY | Official 4K Restoration Trailer | STUDIOCANAL
David Lynch was one of the most beloved and respected filmmakers in the history of cinema. Known for iconic films like “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” he made this list for his projects “The Straight Story,” “Twin Peaks: The Return,” and “Dune.”
Although not traditional war movies, they tackle themes and the consequences of military action. The 1999 film “The Straight Story” is based on the true story of World War II veteran Alvin Straight’s journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawn mower as well as through his own psychological trauma leftover from the war. Meanwhile, “Twin Peaks” explores the catastrophic effects of mankind’s most harrowing weapon, the atomic bomb. Lynch’s “Dune,” while overshadowed by the more recent reboot, was the first attempt to adapt Frank Herbert’s anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist sci-fi epic to the screen.
Gene Hackman
Crimson Tide (1995) Trailer | Gene Hackman | Denzel Washington
A two-time Academy Award winner and absolute icon, Gene Hackman played heroes and villains from Lex Luthor in three “Superman” films to a corrupt sheriff in Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven,” to a Civil Rights-era FBI agent in “Mississippi Burning.”
Before all that, this actual Marine Corps veteran was in the 1957 film “Born to Fight,” a film about the Marine Corps. From there, he also appeared in Richard Attenborough’s 1977 war epic “A Bridge Too Far,’ about Operation Market Garden during World War II. Hackman did great war and military movies for the rest of his career: “March or Die,” “Uncommon Valor,” ‘Bat*21,” “The Package,” “Crimson Tide,” “Behind Enemy Lines,” and even Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer’s 1998 “Enemy of the State,” the action thriller about a political assassination and covert surveillance operation.
Val Kilmer
Best of Iceman in Top Gun (RIP Val Kilmer)
“Alexander” might have been an epic box office bomb and “Top Secret!” might have been an over-the-top World War II comedyVal Kilmer gave us Iceman in ‘Top Gun” (and, for his final performance on film, “Top Gun: Maverick”), warrior Madmartigan in “Willow,” dueling champion Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” and Russian foil-slash-thief Simon Templar in “The Saint.” An absolute legend. Though those roles
Marcel Ophuls
Marcel Ophuls was a German-French and American documentary filmmaker and actor whose family fled Nazi Germany during its rise to power in 1933. He served in the United States Army after World War II, then became a citizen of France and the United States. Ophuls makes this list because of his 1969 documentary “The Sorrow and the Pity,” which stunned France for shattering the postwar myth that most of the French people actively resisted the Nazis.
Instead of allowing the French people to comfort themselves with their ongoing legend, Ophuls’ film leans on extended, unvarnished interviews—not just with celebrated resisters, but also collaborators, ordinary townspeople, and even German officials. He let his subjects talk at length as they try to justify themselves (or fail to). France refused to show the film until 1981.
Robert Redford
Spy Game (2001) – Official Trailer – Brad Pitt Movie HD
I mean, if there’s an honor to be given in the entertainment industry, the magnetic and generous Robert Redford has it, from the Academy Award to the Cecil B. DeMille Award to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He co-founded the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, two of the most prestigious institutions in the history of filmmaking. He was an absolute titan, and that’s before we even dive into his credits.
Redford was in the war movie game early in his career, staring with 1962’s “War Hunt.” Then there’s “Situation Hopeless… But Not Serious,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “The Great Waldo Pepper,” “A Bridge Too Far,” “The Last Castle,” and “Lions for Lambs.” Although not explicitly military, we can’t forget his Cold War film “Spy Game” and NSA-adjacent classic “Sneakers.” And then there’s comic book war: Redford’s villainous turn in Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was absolute cinema.
Rob Reiner
A Few Good Men – Courtroom Scene
Beloved actor, screenwriter, and director Rob Reiner spanned genres, from adventure epics (“The Princess Bride”) to romantic comedies (“When Harry Met Sally”) to psychological thrillers (“Misery”) to crime films (“The Wolf of Wall Street”). His military movie credits include the Vietnam-era coming-of-age story “Summertree” and the Iraq War-era thriller “Shock & Awe.”
But here we best remember him for his military legal drama “A Few Good Men,” which follows the court-martial of two United States Marines charged with murder. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and remains an iconic and oft-quoted masterpiece of film.
