That was the year that was: 2025

Let’s be honest: it’s no big secret that 2025 was a shitty year in many ways, so much so that at times, as if we’d woken up in an episode of Black Mirror, it felt like reality itself had installed a doomscrolling plugin. You no longer have to take out our phone or tablet: just walk around with open eyes and the rest will take care of itself.

And yet: not everything is bad. Whenever I hear or read someone going on about how culture, originality, cinema and TV are dead, I can’t help but roll my eyes – because there is so much out there that is pretty damn good: fresh, engaging, challenging, riveting.

See exhibit A:

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: One for all, and all for one

Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.

Is Wes Anderson basically making the same film over and over again, with minor variations in plot, while the style, tone, cast and crew stay the same? Matt confessed this week that he sometimes thinks this is true when watching the trailers for new films by the director – but once he’s watching the actual films, it’s obvious that there is much more to Anderson than a highly recognisable style.

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The Anderson Enigma

I think it’s fair to say that, after Wes Anderson has directed 11 feature films (12 if you count The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, which Wikipedia does), I am something of a fan – and yet, I don’t really think of myself as such. Of his last eight films, starting with Fantastic Mr. Fox (check here for a typically wonderful Six Damn Fine Degrees by Julie about the film), I’ve loved several and enjoyed the others a lot. Admittedly, I have some issues with the early films of his I’ve seen – Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic -, but after a streak of eight movies that I like or even love, shouldn’t I be able to say that I like the work of Wes Anderson? And, if not, why?

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Domo arigato, Mr Roboto

Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.

This week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees was the kind of post that wouldn’t even need a byline: it’s immediately clear that this post about Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights is one of Julie’s.

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