Who doesn’t love a good year-in-review? Well, plenty of people. But here’s one anyway.

2025 was a shitshow for a lot of people, and I hope 2026 is an improvement. For me, 2025 was the year I self-published my 1984-set high school crime novel THAT OCTOBER, saw a bunch of short fiction and pop culture pieces published and joined with some friends in Constellate Creatives, where we’ll offer help to writers in the form of editing, publishing and marketing.

But like Milhouse from “The Simpsons,” you might be asking, “When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?” Or in this case, when is he gonna talk about something fun, like pop culture? Movies, TV shows, books.

I won’t try to tackle books here and I’ll note that some of my favorite books I read in 2025 haven’t been published yet. So that’ll wait.

In the meantime:

MOVIES: I don’t see a ton of movies in theaters. I catch a lot of movies on streaming services. So far this year, probably my favorite and best movie I saw, first in theaters and then on streaming, was SINNERS, Ryan Coogler’s story of race and vampires in Depression-era Mississippi. Just an absorbing, exemplary film and one that proves Hollywood can reach moviegoers/viewers with something daring and origiinal.

I think SUPERMAN should carry that definition too. Yes, we’ve seen sooo many takes on the classic superhero by now. But James Gunn’s SUPERMAN gave us one of the best, most original and fully-fleshed-out comic book worlds ever.

On the Marvel side, I really enjoyed CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, THUNDERBOLTS* and FANTASTIC FOUR. The latter seemed really safe and un-ambitious but was the best-by-far adaptation of my favorite comic book heroes ever.

Among streaming series, I think PLURIBUS was the best I saw, maybe tied with THE PITT. The two series couldn’t be more different, but PLURIBUS was thoughtful and funny and THE PITT was like a shot of adrenalin.

IT: WELCOME TO DERRY was also outstanding, I thought, with some of the best scares and characters and most authentic Stephen King atmosphere of any screen translation and expansion in years.

PARADISE was a good end-of-the-world contrast to PLURIBUS. BALLARD was a very good continuation of BOSCH. LONG BRIGHT RIVER was also quite good, moody and solemn and endearing. MURDERBOT was brutally funny. TASK was somber and intense. THE HUNTING WIVES was looney fun. THE BETTER SISTER was grim and affecting.

I wanted more of most of these series but admit I felt a little cheated of a proper conclusion when they ended with another season clearly in mind (or hoped for). I really want more DERRY and PLURIBUS and don’t mind feeling used and teased.