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)

1987 and 2025 versions of The Runninng Man. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss The Running Man (2025) and The Running Man (1987), adaptations of the Richard Bachman aka Stephen King novel of the same name. We begin with our initial reactions to the new film, recorded immediately after watching the preview screening together. The conversation moves to the original adaptation from 1987 - we generally praise the fun-factor in the film. We move between the two films and consider the strengths and weaknesses, linking back to the Stephen King novel throughout.

Paul Thomas Anderson films. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss One Battle After Another (2025) and Punch Drunk Love (2002), both directed by PTA. Out conversation begins by comparing the villains in both films, played by Sean Penn and Philip Seymour Hoffman, respectively. We talk about the confident performances of Adam Sandler and Emily Watson in Punch Drunk Love. We praise the work of Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another and discuss our other highlights from the film. We also praise the performances of Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor. We make connections to the films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Children of Men, Heat and The Dark Knight; the work of David Lynch, The Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino and Spike Jonze; and the Western genre.

Girl power demon slayers. Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss KPop Demon Hunters (2025) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). William and Jeremy also watched the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) television series episode "Hush" (Season 4, Episode 10), as well as reference "Doppelgangland" (Season 3, Episode 16) and the musical episode "Once More With Feeling" (Season 6, Episode 7). The conversation begins by discussing connections to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, with William's first foray into the world in preparation for this episode and Jeremy's fandom being put to the test by watching the film for the first time. Both are critical in their experience of watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film. Discussion moves to KPop Demon Hunters and highlight how it is a film of its time, hitting a nerve with the public and confidently stepping into the combined cultural consciousness. The conversation moves into a comparison between the work that Sony is doing with animated films and Disney Animation Studios.

Zach Cregger films. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss Weapons (2025) and Barbarian (2022). Our conversation begins with our experiences watching Barbarian for the first time and it quickly weaves into our reactions to watching Zach Cregger's latest film Barbarian. We make connections between the films and with Heretic (2024), Longlegs (2024), The Shining (1980), Carnivàle (2003-2005), Magnolia (1999), Prisoners (2013), and No Country For Old Men (2007). We praise the work of Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long in Barbarian, and Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benadict Wong, Alden Ehrenreich, Toby Huss and Amy Madigan in Weapons.