Movie of the Year

Movie of the Year: Best of the Year 2025
Best Movie of the Year
The Best Movies of 2025 Face Off
What are the Best Movies of 2025?
That question drives the biggest episode of the Movie of the Year season.
Hosted by Ryan and joined by Mike, Cassie, and Greg, this flagship episode brings together 25 of the most talked-about films of the year in a massive competitive bracket designed to determine one definitive answer: what is the Best Movie of 2025?
This is not a ranked list.
It’s not a polite retrospective.
It’s a full-scale movie showdown.
Twenty-five contenders enter the bracket.
One film leaves as Movie of the Year.
Why the Best Movies of 2025 Are Hard to Define
The Best Movies of 2025 come from everywhere: theatrical releases, streaming premieres, international cinema, prestige dramas, comedies, franchise entries, and bold originals. This year in film refuses easy categorization.
To qualify, a film simply had to:
release in 2025
make a real cultural or artistic impact
hold up under comparison with the year’s strongest work

Sequels compete with originals.
International films face studio giants.
Streaming releases battle theatrical spectacles.
Everything is on the table.
The 25-Film Bracket
The bracket for the Best Movies of 2025 includes a wide-ranging field representing the full landscape of modern cinema. Among the contenders:
One Battle After Another
Sinners, one of the most discussed films of 2025
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
It Was Just an Accident
Weapons, a major genre standout
The Naked Gun
and many more filling out the 25-film field

Each matchup forces direct comparison. Reputation alone isn’t enough to advance.
Bracket Battles: How the Best Movies of 2025 Are Decided
Every round of the bracket asks the same core question:
Which film actually deserves to be remembered when we talk about the Best Movies of 2025?
Debates center on:
directing vision
performance strength
originality
cultural impact
rewatchability
long-term staying power

Ryan drives the bracket forward. Mike focuses on craft. Cassie champions bold swings and emotional impact. Greg looks for longevity and structural strength.
No film advances without a fight.
What Is the Best Movie of...

Movie of the Year: Best of the Year 2025
Best TV Show of the Year
The Best Television Shows of 2025 Enter the Arena
The Best Television Shows of 2025 didn’t rise to the top by accident. They survived hype cycles, second-season expectations, streaming saturation, and cultural overload.
In this episode of Movie of the Year, Greg hosts a 16-seed competitive bracket—with play-ins—to determine the Best Television Shows of 2025. Joining him are Cassie, Ryan, Mackenna, and Mike, ready to debate prestige drama, ambitious limited series, breakout comedies, and the year’s most talked-about streaming hits.
This isn’t just a 2025 TV year in review.
It’s a showdown.
Sixteen scripted contenders enter.
One show leaves as the best TV show of 2025.
What Counts as the Best Television Shows of 2025?
This bracket includes:
Returning seasons like Andor (Season 2) and Severance (Season 2)
Limited series such as Adolescence
Bold new scripted debuts
Comedy, drama, satire, and genre television
Network, cable, and streaming releases
International series (though primarily English-language)

If it aired in 2025 and was scripted, it was eligible. The goal: determine the top television series of 2025 across all platforms.
The 16-Seed Bracket and Play-In Rounds
Before the bracket locks, two play-in battles determine the final spots in the field. The play-ins ensure that no prestige favorite automatically advances and that breakout surprises earn their place.
Once finalized, the bracket includes:
The Pitt
Andor (Season 2), one of the most anticipated streaming shows of 2025
Pluribus
The Rehearsal (Season 2), pushing formal experimentation
Adolescence, a standout limited series of 2025
Severance (Season 2), a defining second season
The Lowdown
Dying for Sex
Long Story Short
The Studio

Every matchup forces hard choices. Reputation means nothing without performance.
Bracket Battles: Prestige vs Risk
As the eliminations unfold, several themes emerge:
Can a second season surpass its original impact?
Does a limited series compete differently from an ongoing drama?
Is cultural buzz equal to narrative...

Movie of the Year: Best of the Year 2025
Best Unscripted TV Show of the Year
The Best Unscripted Shows of 2025
The Best Unscripted Shows of 2025 reflect a television landscape that is bigger, stranger, and more carefully constructed than ever. In this episode of Movie of the Year, Mike hosts a high-stakes bracket to determine which unscripted series truly stood above the rest, joined by panelists Cassie, Greg, and Mackenna.
Eight shows enter the bracket, spanning competition series, long-running institutions, comfort viewing, and chaos engines. What follows is a sharp, opinionated unscripted TV year in review, focused on craft, format, and why these shows continue to dominate the cultural conversation.
Why “Unscripted” Matters More Than “Reality” in 2025
Early in the episode, the panel draws a clear distinction: unscripted is the better word.
In 2025, unscripted television includes:
competition shows built on structure and fairness
formats refined through years of iteration
personality-driven series that reward consistency
shows designed for communal viewing

The Best Unscripted Shows of 2025 aren’t judged on mess alone. They’re judged on execution.
The 8-Show Bracket: All Platforms Represented
The contenders competing for the title of Best Unscripted Show of 2025 are:
The Traitors
Game Changer
The Great British Baking Show
Project Runway
Not Her First Rodeo
Taskmaster
Love Island USA
Below Deck

Network, cable, streaming, and niche platforms all collide here. No show advances on nostalgia alone, and no platform gets preferential treatment.
Bracket Battles: Competition, Comfort, and Chaos
As eliminations begin, the debates sharpen quickly.
Some unscripted shows dominate through:
airtight format design
fairness and repeatability
long-term audience trust

Others succeed through:
personality
escalation
social dynamics
controlled chaos

Mike pushes the panel to separate enjoyment from achievement. Cassie argues for innovation and tone. Greg interrogates...

Movie of the Year: Best of the Year 2025
Century of the Year
A 2025 Year in Review in Real Time
Every year tells a story — but rarely this fast.
In this special episode of Movie of the Year, the panel presents 2025 – Century of the Year, a bold and chaotic 2025 year in review that attempts something simple, ambitious, and wildly entertaining: 100 of the biggest moments of the year, discussed in just 100 minutes.
This isn’t a countdown.
It isn’t a competition.
It’s a real-time replay of the year as it unfolded.
If you’re looking for a 2025 year-in-review podcast that values memory over rankings and chaos over consensus, this episode delivers.
What This 2025 Year in Review Covers
Across 100 minutes, the episode touches on a wide range of moments that defined the year, including:
major film releases and pop-culture events
TV moments that dominated conversation
internet and media chaos
stories that felt huge in the moment
robot chickens

The goal isn’t to judge what mattered most — it’s to remember what actually happened, when it happened.
The Format: 100 Moments, 100 Minutes
Unlike traditional year-end lists, Century of the Year moves chronologically, creating a true 2025 year in review rather than a retrospective ranking.
Each moment gets:
one minute
one burst of conversation
One chance to capture why it mattered then

January flows into February, February into March, and suddenly the year is racing by. The format mirrors how 2025 actually felt: relentless, noisy, and impossible to fully process in real time.
Who’s on the Mic
To keep pace with the format, Movie of the Year brings together a full PopFilter lineup:
Greg
Mike
Ryan
Cassie, host of The Superhero Show Show
Katelynn
Mackenna

With six voices rotating through the moments, the episode becomes a rolling conversation — jokes collide with reflection, and no one has time to overthink. The result is a loose, funny, and surprisingly emotional 2025 year-in-review podcast.
Why Century of the Year Is a 2025 Year in Review Unlike Any Other
There are no winners.
No awards.
No arguments to settle.
Instead, this episode leans into playful chaos. One minute forces instinct. Tangents get cut short. Opinions are stated boldly and sometimes abandoned just as quickly. That’s not a flaw —...

Movie of the Year: Best of the Year 2025
The Mixtape
The 2025 Mixtape as a Time Capsule
Every year leaves behind more than movies — it leaves a sound.
In this episode of Movie of the Year, the Taste Buds come together to create the 2025 Mixtape, a curated playlist designed to capture what the year felt like through music. Rather than ranking songs or chasing chart placement, the panel builds a living soundtrack that reflects the moods, moments, and cultural undercurrents of 2025.
The goal of the 2025 Mixtape isn’t consensus.
It’s memory.
What the 2025 Mixtape Is (and Is Not)
The 2025 Mixtape isn’t about declaring “the best songs of the year” in isolation. It’s about sequencing, contrast, and flow — how songs interact when placed side by side, how energy builds or collapses, and how a playlist can tell a story.
This episode explores questions like:
What song opens the year?
Where does the emotional peak land?
When does the mixtape need to slow down?
And what track closes the door on 2025?

The playlist is treated as a narrative, not a ranking.
Choosing Songs That Define 2025
As selections are made, the panel debates what qualifies a song for inclusion on the 2025 Mixtape. Is it cultural impact? Longevity? Personal obsession? Or the ability to instantly transport listeners back to a specific moment in the year?
The conversation weighs:
singles versus deep cuts
mainstream hits versus discoveries
songs that grew over time versus immediate standouts

Together, the picks form a portrait of how music functioned in daily life throughout 2025.
Genre, Mood, and the Shape of the Year
One of the episode’s central tensions is the extent to which the musical landscape of 2025 is truly diverse. The 2025 Mixtape moves across genres, tones, and emotional registers, reflecting a year that resisted easy categorization.
The discussion touches on:
pop’s evolving extremes
hip-hop’s shifting center
Indie music’s changing role
genre-blurring experimentation
and songs that moved from background noise to personal anthems

The result is a playlist that mirrors the year’s complexity rather than flattening it.
Flow Matters: Sequencing the 2025 Mixtape
More than any single song, sequencing becomes the battleground. A great track can still feel wrong if it breaks momentum or disrupts the mood. The panel debates transitions, tonal shifts, and the extent to which a listener can handle emotional whiplash.
This is where the episode gets deeply nerdy — and deeply satisfying.
The 2025 Mixtape isn’t just assembled.
It’s designed.
Why the 2025 Mixtape Matters
Years blur together.
Playlists don’t.
The 2025 Mixtape