The best of the year. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss their film and television highlights of the year, including their biggest surprise, biggest disappointment, classic revisted, best television and best films of 2025.
Here are the films and television shows we discussed:
• Biggest surprise of the year: Ne Zha 2 (William); The Last Showgirl (Sarah); Final Destination: Bloodlines (Jeremy)
Biggest disappointment of the year: After the Hunt (Sarah); Sinners (William) - with disappointed shout outs to Den of Thieves: Pantera and The Accountant 2; The Brutalist (Jeremy)
• Classic revisited: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Jeremy] - with a shout out to All That Jazz (1979); Tron (1982) and The Little Mermaid (1989) [William]; Scarface (1983) [Sarah] - with shout outs to Pretty Woman (1990) and Final Destination (2000)
• Best television: The Pitt, Season 1 (Sarah); Andor, Season 2 (William); The White Lotus, Season 3 (Jeremy) - with shout outs to The Celebrity Traitors, The Gilded Age, Severance, Squid Games, Stranger Things, Heated Rivalry, Boots and Pluribus
• Runner-ups to the film of the year: Frankenstein, The House Within and Conclave (Sarah); 28 Years Later, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Anora (William); Final Destination: Bloodlines and Anora (Jeremy)
• Best film of the year: 28 Years Later (Sarah); F1: The Movie (William); One Battle After Another (Jeremy)
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The best of the year. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss their film and television highlights of the year, including their biggest surprise, biggest disappointment, classic revisted, best television and best films of 2025.
Here are the films and television shows we discussed:
• Biggest surprise of the year: Ne Zha 2 (William); The Last Showgirl (Sarah); Final Destination: Bloodlines (Jeremy)
Biggest disappointment of the year: After the Hunt (Sarah); Sinners (William) - with disappointed shout outs to Den of Thieves: Pantera and The Accountant 2; The Brutalist (Jeremy)
• Classic revisited: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Jeremy] - with a shout out to All That Jazz (1979); Tron (1982) and The Little Mermaid (1989) [William]; Scarface (1983) [Sarah] - with shout outs to Pretty Woman (1990) and Final Destination (2000)
• Best television: The Pitt, Season 1 (Sarah); Andor, Season 2 (William); The White Lotus, Season 3 (Jeremy) - with shout outs to The Celebrity Traitors, The Gilded Age, Severance, Squid Games, Stranger Things, Heated Rivalry, Boots and Pluribus
• Runner-ups to the film of the year: Frankenstein, The House Within and Conclave (Sarah); 28 Years Later, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Anora (William); Final Destination: Bloodlines and Anora (Jeremy)
• Best film of the year: 28 Years Later (Sarah); F1: The Movie (William); One Battle After Another (Jeremy)
The Alien franchise. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss Alien (1979) and Alien: Romulus (2024), as well as Aliens (1986), Alien³ (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). Our conversation dips in and out of all these films, praising and critiquing the work of directors Ridley Scott, Fede Alvarez, James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. We praise the performances of Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Winona Ryder, Michael Fassbender, Cailee Spaeny, David Johnson and Spike Fearn. We consider the human-android-alien-company relationships throughout all the films, with Ripley, Ash, Bishop, Call, David, Walter, Andy and Rook. We celebrate the production design of the original and new film, and how the latest entry into the franchise harks back to its predecessors. We discuss the lore of the Alien franchise, considering the stages of the titular monster through the queen, egg, face-hugger, chest-burster, xenomorph, "The Newborn" alien hybrid, black goo and now cocoon and "The Offspring". We discuss our predictions of where the Alien franchise might go from here.
Cinema in Context
The best of the year. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss their film and television highlights of the year, including their biggest surprise, biggest disappointment, classic revisted, best television and best films of 2025.
Here are the films and television shows we discussed:
• Biggest surprise of the year: Ne Zha 2 (William); The Last Showgirl (Sarah); Final Destination: Bloodlines (Jeremy)
Biggest disappointment of the year: After the Hunt (Sarah); Sinners (William) - with disappointed shout outs to Den of Thieves: Pantera and The Accountant 2; The Brutalist (Jeremy)
• Classic revisited: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Jeremy] - with a shout out to All That Jazz (1979); Tron (1982) and The Little Mermaid (1989) [William]; Scarface (1983) [Sarah] - with shout outs to Pretty Woman (1990) and Final Destination (2000)
• Best television: The Pitt, Season 1 (Sarah); Andor, Season 2 (William); The White Lotus, Season 3 (Jeremy) - with shout outs to The Celebrity Traitors, The Gilded Age, Severance, Squid Games, Stranger Things, Heated Rivalry, Boots and Pluribus
• Runner-ups to the film of the year: Frankenstein, The House Within and Conclave (Sarah); 28 Years Later, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Anora (William); Final Destination: Bloodlines and Anora (Jeremy)
• Best film of the year: 28 Years Later (Sarah); F1: The Movie (William); One Battle After Another (Jeremy)
