best of 2025: TV shows

 A few notes before I begin:

- This is a short enough list that it's in preferential order..

- Not all of these were first released in 2025, but that's when I watched them.

-Some of these are ongoing series, but I only included shows where I've watched at least one full season.  Our TV watching is on a bit of a hiatus at the moment since we're playing Persona 3 Reload and JRPG = 100+ hours of gameplay, so most other pastimes are back burnered for now.

- I made a parenthetical note of where I watched it, although some of these may be available other places as well.  

- And, as always, your mileage may vary.

1. The Good Place:  When Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) dies, she wakes up in the "Good Place", where she meets new friends and there's all the frozen yogurt she can eat.  Yes, I knew the most infamous plot point before we even started (I'm terminally online; there was no way to avoid spoilers for the S1 finale when it first aired), but I still loved this show. The cast is fantastic, and mixed in with the humor is heartbreak and some surprisingly deep philosophical discussions.  (Netflix until they lost the rights, and then we switched to Amazon Prime)

2. Evil:  A priest, a skeptical psychologist, and an ex-Muslim tech expert investigate potential supernatural occurrences at the behest of the Catholic church.  It's a deeply weird, often hilarious, and occasionally creepy show that I binged like potato chips.  (Netflix until I got to the final season, which they inexplicably DO NOT HAVE, forcing me to get the rest on DVD from the library)

3. Eastbound and Down:  Kenny Powers is a former MLB player whose drug use tanked his career.  Now working as a gym teacher, he starts to think about returning to baseball, which is easier said than done when he hasn't changed his ways.  Funny and foul mouthed.  (HBO Max)

4. Creature Commandos:  A black ops team made up of prisoners (think Suicide Squad with monsters and mutants) goes to a fictional country to help its princess fight a threat.  Reliably wild James Gunn fare.  (HBO Max)

5. Adolescence:  A 13-year-old boy is charged with murdering his classmate in this grimly relevant British series.  The cast is uniformly excellent, but Owen Cooper is a revelation as the troubled boy.  (Netflix)

best of 2025: video games

 A few notes before I begin:

- Because this list is so short, it's in preferential order.

- Not all of these were first released in 2025.

- These were all played on the PS5, but they may be available on other systems as well.

- I only included games I completed.  I just started Persona 3 Reload, and it's great, but I've only played 13 hours of what promises to be a 100 hour plus game, so watch for it on next year's list!

- In addition to these games, I also played The Callisto Protocol (scary as hell and has gorgeous graphics, but it pissed me off too much to include) and Royal Match/Royal Kingdom (fun but they didn't exactly reinvent the match 3 wheel).  Shockingly, after nine years of almost daily play and god knows how many thousands of hours, I finally deleted Hidden City.  It was beginning to feel more like a chore than a hobby, and y'all know how much I hate chores.

- As always, your mileage may vary.

1. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth:  Protagonist Ichiban Kasuga returns, and this time he's in Hawaii!  He gains a new group of allies, and some familiar faces show up too.  I was expecting gorgeous graphics, wacky side stories, great characters, and exciting combat.  I was NOT expecting a moment that made me gasp.  Holy fuck I loved this game.  LOVED it.

2. Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii:  Why should Ichiban get to have all the fun in Hawaii?  Here comes fan favorite Goro Majima, and he's a modern-day pirate.  To be honest, I wasn't super jazzed with the ship battles, but practically everything else was great.  Not only that, but the after credits scene was amazing.  

3. Resident Evil Village:  When this first came out, I wasn't able to play it because it was first person (frickin' sim sickness), but they released a patch to play in third person too!  So I watched a recap of Resident Evil 7 (still first person only), since it leads straight into REV and has the same protagonist, and then I dove in.  It features Ethan Winters, a man exploring the titular Eastern European village in search of his kidnapped baby girl.  There are no zombies, but there ARE vampires, werewolves, and possessed dolls, among other monstrosities.   The combat is tough but generally fair, it's beautiful to look at, and it features the scariest RE area ever in my opinion.  And the DLC is absolutely terrifying!  I'm glad I finally got a chance to play this.  (By the way, I saw some complaints online that the third person mode was wonky. I didn't experience any issues with it.)

best of 2025: movies

UPDATE: On 12/13 I replaced Thunderbolts with Wake Up Dead Man.

A few notes before I begin:

- This list is in random order, but I did make note of my favorite.

- Not all of these were first released in 2025, but that's when I watched them.

- Obviously the year isn't over yet, but if I watch something between now and the end of the month that belongs here, I'll update accordingly.

- And, as always, your mileage may vary.

1. A Real Pain:  Benji and David (Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg) are cousins who take a Jewish heritage trip through Poland to honor their late grandmother.  Sharply written and bittersweet.

2. Anora:  The titular stripper (Mikey Madison, who won the best actress Oscar) thinks she's found the man of her dreams when she gets involved with the super rich son of a Russian oligarch, but suffice to say his parents don't approve of the match.  Very immersive (probably helped by the fact it doesn't have a score, just background music at clubs and such), raunchy, funny, and sad.

3. Weapons:  When several children run off into the night and vanish, a devastated community searches for answers.  A clever horror movie liberally laced with pitch black humor and some great camerawork.

4. KPop Demon Hunters:  A Kpop girl group moonlights as demon hunters, but a new boy band might cause some complications for them.  Colorful and fun, with some real bangers on the soundtrack.

5. My Old Ass:  Elliott (Maisy Stella) is anxious to leave her small town for college.  She still has a few weeks left, so she decides to do shrooms with her friends, and she's visited by her future self (Aubrey Plaza), who has an extremely important bit of advice for her.

The title does it a real disservice (I think My Old Self would have worked better, especially with the double meaning); it makes it sound like a raunchy comedy, but although it has some funny lines and moments, overall it's a bittersweet coming of age movie that really moved me.  This was my favorite movie of the year.

6. The Life of Chuck:  This is a hard movie to describe without ruining it.  I'll just say it's beautiful and you shouldn't watch it with anyone you wouldn't want to see you crying.

7. Ballerina:  An elite assassin (Ana de Armas) seeks revenge for her father's death in this action thriller set in the John Wick universe.  The plot is standard revenge thriller, but man, the action is top notch!  It's gory, innovative, and a lot of fun.  

8. Fight or Flight:  A man (Josh Hartnett) tasked with protecting an important person discovers the plane they're on is full of assassins.  Funny and absolutely packed with terrific action scenes.  

9. Heretic:   Two Mormon missionaries stop by the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant, who's excellent), a seemingly pleasant man who has some sinister tricks up his sleeve to test their faith.  An engrossing thriller with some really sharp and clever dialogue.

10. Wake Up Dead Man:  After a young priest gets tangled up in a strange death, master detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) investigates.  Like the other two movies in the Knives Out series, it's got a stacked cast and a very clever script.

MADE ME CRY (OR AT LEAST TEAR UP):  The Wild Robot; My Old Ass; Flow; Wicked; Paddington in Peru; Anora; Never Let Go; Peninsula; Kpop Demon Hunters; My Mom Jayne; Thunderbolts; Elio; Superman; A Real Pain; The Fantastic Four: First Steps; Bring Her Back; The Long Walk

MADE ME SOB:  The Life of Chuck; The Perfect Neighbor

best of 2025: nonfiction

 A few notes before I begin:

- I read much less nonfiction than fiction, so this list only has five titles.

- This list is in random order, but I did make note of my favorite.

- And, as always, your mileage may vary.

1. You'll Never Believe Me by Kari Ferrell:  The author gained notoriety for being the "Hipster Grifter" (who I'd somehow never heard of despite being terminally online), committing check fraud, lying her way into (and out of) a job at Vice, and spending time in prison.  It's no surprise that Cat Marnell has a blurb on the front cover, because like Cat's book, I read it feeling like I should despise the author but I very much didn't.  It's a funny and acerbic book that's perfect for Orange Is the New Black fans.

2. Sweet Nothings by Sarah Perry:  I have a sweet tooth and I loved the author's previous book, so I was excited to read this.  It's a wonderful exploration of different kinds of candy mixed in with associated memories and highlighted by simple but evocative illustrations.  Just a heads up that not everything in this book is lighthearted; the author talks about a chronic vaginal infection and her mother's murder, for example.  I wasn't bothered, but I figured I'd mention it for those expecting a strictly sweet read.  My favorite nonfiction book of the year.

3. Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever:  An absorbing and funny memoir about the author's time working in the food industry with superstars like Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain.

4. The Tell by Amy Griffin:  The author felt like she had it all, but chronic pain and a comment by her daughter led her to try microdosing.  She recovered memories of sexual assault and began the arduous path to healing. Raw and vulnerable, but be warned that the description of the abuse she suffered is absolutely horrifying and very graphic.

Side note: since I first read this book, there have been some allegations about its veracity.  If it is proven that the author lied, I'll remove this from my list.  (I will excuse some artistic license for nonessential things, or changing details to protect someone's privacy or avoid a lawsuit, but not outright lying about the assault.)

5. Murderland by Caroline Fraser:  A look into why so many serial killers were rampant in the Pacific Northwest during the 70s and 80s.  The author won a Pulitzer for a previous book about Laura Ingalls Wilder (quite the topic switch!), so it's more scholarly and less lurid than most true crime books.  It's also fascinating.

best of 2025: fiction

Somehow, it's December, so it's time for my "best of" lists!  A few notes before I begin:

- It was an unusually lackluster reading year for me, so this list doesn't go up to 10.

- These are in random order, though I did make note of my absolute favorite.  

- Not all of these were or will be first published in 2025, but that's when I read them. Numbers 6 and 7 on this list were advanced reader copies (thank you to NetGalley and the publishers!) and don't come out until next year.

- Obviously the year isn't over yet, but if I read something between now and the end of the month that belongs here, I'll update accordingly.

- And, as always, your mileage may vary.

1. Blob by Maggie Su:  Vi finds a blob of unknown origin in the alley behind a bar and impulsively takes it home.  As it starts to become more sentient, she decides to mold it into her dream man, which doesn't quite go to plan.  Original and weirdly touching.

2. Soft Core by Brittany Newell:  Ruth is a stripper and dominatrix whose life is disrupted when her boyfriend Dino mysteriously vanishes.  She struggles to hold herself together while she tries to figure out what happened.  Beautifully written and propulsive.  

3. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker:  After her sister's horrific death during the height of the pandemic, crime scene cleaner Cora Zeng starts to notice a pattern of Asian women being murdered.  Gory, tense, and compelling, with one of the best opening chapters I've read in a long time.

4. Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin:  In an Irish shopping mall on its last legs both financially and physically, a sentient orchid controls a young florist.  Think Little Shop of Horrors but played completely serious, with the added bonus of nasty body horror.  

5. We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter:  Small town sheriff Emmy Lou Clifton investigates the disappearance of two local girls, one of whom is her best friend's  stepdaughter.  This book was really good until about the last fifty pages, at which point it became gasp out loud great.  As with almost everything Karin Slaughter writes, though, it has a LOT of potentially triggering content, so read with care.

6. Whidbey by T Kira Madden:  Told from different perspectives, this novel is about the wake of destruction left by a serial sexual predator and how the effects ripple across years with unexpected results.  Beautiful and devastating; I'll happily read anything T Kira Madden writes in the future.  This was the best novel I read in 2025.

7. The Keeper by Tana French:  When the suicide of a well-liked young woman rocks her small Irish town, former Chicago cop Cal Hooper smells a rat.  It's a bit of a slow burn, but Tana French's writing is so rich and atmospheric that I knew I'd enjoy the ride.  And, as ever, she completely sticks the landing.