I gave thanks for my favorite things in both 2015 and 2020
so it seems appropriate I do it again five years later in 2025. Time flies,
doesn’t it? Politically the good ol’ USA is shittier than ever, but that doesn’t
mean we can’t take joy in the arts. The continued consolidation of media
ownership means every year we get less originality and more regurgitated IP slop,
but a few gems always manage to find a way to our screens and shelves and the
truth is, even some of the slop is entertaining if you don’t mind turning off
your brain for a bit and just enjoying the ride. So, let’s set aside concerns
about the pending sale of Warner Bros. Let’s try to forget Trump has plastered
his name in front of Kennedy on our center for the arts and let’s instead chat
about some of the stuff that made 2025 worthwhile.
The movie business still hasn’t recovered from COVID 19 and
I’m not sure it ever will. Streaming continues to be king so I’ll start with
it. Disney+ delivered the second and final season of Andor which for my
money, is the best thing produced in 2025. It’s Star Wars for adults: dark,
political, and far superior to their more childish streaming series. Netflix gave
us two of the best movies of the year. The third installment of the Knives
Out series starring Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc, Wake Up Dead
Man wasn’t quite as fun as the first two films, but it provides some
interesting commentary on religion. If you haven’t watched it yet, I recommend you
give it a try. Director Guillermo del Toro delivered the latest version of the
classic gothic tale of Frankenstein and while it took a few liberties
with the details, I thought it hewed closer to the book than any other version
I’ve seen and it was beautifully done with some solid performances from Oscar
Issac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, and Mia Goth. Netflix also delivered my
favorite mini-series of the year, Black Rabbit. Jude Law and Jason
Bateman play restauranteur brothers who get in over their heads with gangsters.
It’s eight hours of story that kept me thoroughly engaged throughout. Writer
Neil Gaiman was revealed to be a sexual predator which put a damper on the
release of the final season of Netflix’s The Sandman, but that didn’t
stop it from being a strong completion to a series I enjoyed. The final season
of Stranger Things includes some questionable writing, but has still been
a fun way to finish out the holiday season even if it did leave us with a
cliffhanger until 12/31. The fifth season of Apple TV’s Slow Horses made
a few questionable plot choices as well, but the characters are still as
amusing as ever. Prime Video’s Fallout was a pleasant surprise last year
and its second season is now underway and off to a great start. Hulu gave us Alien:
Earth. Personally, I think it would be even stronger if it were a standalone
series that didn’t involve Executive Producer Ridley Scott’s famous sci-fi
creature, but it's still an interesting run through what can go wrong when
futuristic defense industry corporations insist on valuing profit over people. Hulu
also released Predator: Killer of Killers, a fun animated film expansion
of the world of Predator.
One of the biggest theatrical releases of the year was the final
Mission Impossible film. At almost three hours long, I thought it spent
too much time on exposition, but the action scenes were as great as always. The
biplane and submarine sequences are worth the price of admission alone. F1:
The Movie was similarly a little long, but the racing scenes are exciting
and Brad Pitt remains as watchable as ever. The best original film of the year
for me was Sinners. Ryan Coogler’s take on the vampire genre has a great
setting and strong lead in actor Michael B. Jordan. The Accountant 2
wasn’t as good as the first, but watching Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal kick ass
is still a nice way to spend a couple hours. I also enjoyed Caught Stealing,
28 Years Later, One Battle After Another, the latest Jurassic
Park movie, and Black Bag.
I read 10 novels this year, only one of which was published in
2025. Pennies by Lora Senf is a well-told prequel to her Blight Harbor
trilogy. If you enjoy middle-grade or know someone who does, check out all four
of her books in this series. She does a great job of getting the reader
emotionally invested in her characters and immersed in the fantastic world she
builds around them. The best adult fare I read this year was Heat 2 by
Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner and William Gibson’s Idoru. The former acts
as both a prequel and a sequel to Mann’s 1995 crime film Heat and it’s
got me hyped for the planned film version even if all the parts have to be
recast. The latter is one of Gibson’s better 90s cyberpunk efforts, an author who
never fails to entertain me with his vision of the near future. A book released
this year that I haven’t read yet but look forward to is Thomas Ha’s collection
of short stories, Uncertain Sons and Other Stories. Ha has published
stories in just about every speculative magazine I aspire to sell a story to
and for good reason. He’s fantastic at telling compelling tales in imaginative
settings. And finally, one of my favorites, author Jeff Somers has a new novel
coming out soon entitled Five Funerals.
Music continues to make me miss the songs of my youth, but
that’s not to say all of the newer stuff sucks. 2025 releases I enjoy include new
music from older acts like the latest album by Garbage, “Let All That We Imagine Be the Light,” the TRON: Ares soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails, and Guns N’
Roses new single “Nothin’.” Newer artists did some good work too. “Secrets” by
Miley Cyrus is a beautiful song that reminds the listener of Fleetwood Mac
thanks to the contributions of both Lindsey Buckingham on guitar and Mick
Fleetwood on drums. Wolfgang Van Halen continues to churn out great tunes like “The End” under the band name Mammoth (and makes a cool nod to Michael Jackson's Thriller in the video). “The Fate of Ophelia” is another irresistible
bop from Taylor Swift and it’s difficult not to reminisce about my clubbing
days when I hear “yes baby” by Madison Beer.
I don’t know what 2026 will bring, but I hope all of us
experience our share of happiness and success along with another slate of
entertaining art. Cheers!
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