The Best of 2025...So Far.
Hey, welcome to The Five’s semi-annual review of the best pop culture.
This issue covers releases in April, May and June.
One quick note before we dive in…I’m cutting the Five back to a weekly publication for the rest of summer, keeping the Friday Issue (pop culture & commentary) and dropping the news for the time being.
I’ll be knocking out a novel (with the help of AI) in the next 30 days or so.But of course, you have no idea if I’m any good at that or not (writing as a journalist tells you nothing about my fiction talents, or lack thereof), so the options will be:
-download for free
or
-pay $1, or the minimum Amazon will let me charge for an ebook/audiobook.
If you missed this last time, it’s called The Deere Pipeline: A Midwestern Tale of Opiods, Murder…And Farm Equipment.
With that being said…let’s get into the reason you’re here…the pop culture list.
[movies]
The critics were wrong on this one. Yes, the movie has a generic villain problem,. and the third act could have been more compelling. And yes, there’s some “movie math” going on (like when a character should have drowned at sea, and popped back up).
But none of that overwrites just how brilliant John Krasinksi (The Office, A Quiet Place) and Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta, Thor) are brilliant here as siblings/best friends/rivals trying to solve a mystery while wrestling through childhood baggage.
The same critics who will throw a “fresh” stamp on the most poorly thrown together Marvel slop called Fountain of Youth a copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. First off, that’s not true. Secondly, it’s an archeological adventure flick. Genre films always carry common traits—most action films since 2014 can be called “John Wick rip-offs.” That’s a feature, not a bug.
The third act is the weakest part of the film, but you should still give Fountain of Youth a chance. The dialogue is whip smart, performances are great…and (without giving anything away) some of the stunts here are really cool.
Wow. Prey director Dan Trachtenberg has now made two of the four best movies in the Predator/Aliens world.
Spinning off into (ultra violent—NOT FOR KIDS) animation, Predator: Killer of Killers stands alongside the other classic films in this world: the horror/action hybrid Aliens (1986), Predator (1987) and Prey (2023—also directed by Trachtenberg).
An anthology that connects Vikings, Samurai and WWII pilots battling the trophy-hunting alien race, the premise sounds like it was made up by an 11-year-old boy. But the execution? Flawless…and a surprising return to classical (as opposed to Postmodern) storytelling, focusing on self-sacrifice, honor, and the greater good.
I’m pretty disillusioned with Marvel (more on that in TV), with complete disinterest in pretty much any post-Endgame movie output. But newcomer director Jake Schreier (who’s mostly done music videos) finds the right balance between levity and real stakes here. This is a breakout performance for Florence Pugh (Midsommer, Black Widow), the de facto leader of a rag-tag group of also-ran characters in the Marvel universe.
The MCU is finally dropping the silliness. Thunderbolts* didn’t break any records at the box office, but it proves Marvel is back on the right track. And, if you give these characters a couple of hours…you’ll want to spend more time with them in future projects.
Kicking to Craig Dunham from Second Drafts on this one:
A total homage to the franchise (and Tom Cruise himself), this summer's version was a half hour longer than it needed to be but still a pretty good time. I've always liked the franchise, but it’s time to wrap things up before Cruise’s believability as Ethan Hunt goes the way of John Woo’s M:I2.
For those playing along at home, here's my order of most enjoyable M:I films and what I thought "best" about each:
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (4th movie, 2011): Best fun (Brad Bird of The Incredibles directing)
Mission Impossible (1st, 1996): Best surprise (Mr. Phelps)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (6th movie, 2018): Best mask misdirection (Benji/Lane)
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Pt. 1 (7th, 2023): Best acting performance (Vanessa Kirby as Hayley Atwell)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (5th, 2015): Best government critic (Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley)
Mission Impossible-The Final Reckoning (8th, 2025): Best homage (unnecessary for fan base but well done)
Mission Impossible: Impossible III (3rd, 2006): Best sidekicks (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Maggie Q)
Mission Impossible 2 (2nd, 2000): Best theme song version (Limp Bizkit w/ Hans Zimmer)
Not since T2: Judgement Day has Hollywood gotten this detail right about a female-led action flick…women are not as physically strong as men. The most comically bad example of ignoring this fact came earlier this year, when Viola Davis (who’s a wonderful actress, but turns 60 next month) manhandled a special forcers soldier and shoved his face onto a cooking griddle in the Prime Video Streamer G20.
But Ballerina gets it right. It’s follows the (somewhat) typical John Wick story beats, of taking on secret societies for a reckoning…but convinces the audience a woman, adapted with the right training, could be one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Well done.
Plus, that flamethrower fight…you’ll see.
Tom Hardy (Warrior, The Dark Knight Rises) and Forrest Whitaker (Southpaw, The Last King of Scotland) are a heck of a duo as a corrupt cop and evil politican who are entwined on one last job.
It follows a semi-predictable cop movie format…but this is one heck of a thrill ride. I mean, they throw a washing machine at a moving car…
[shows]
Full disclosure: I hate Marvel TV shows. They’re all garbage, low stakes slop that lack real stakes, and are rushed to get SOMETHING on Disney+ to avoid “churn.
Until…a much panned project, Iron Heart. I didn’t have much hope for “young girl replaces Tony Stark” (about the only major MCU character that’s stayed dead), but Iron Heart is fun and fascinating, mixing an Ocean’s 11 style heist plot some high concept sci-fi mixing tech and MCU magic (not a “magical viewing experience, magic a la the Dr. Strange part of the MCU).
Plus, they absolutely nailed the little details of life in Chicago. Don’t believe the review bombing…this one is worth it (and again, no one is more surprised than me).
Did the previous MCU shows suck? Yeah? Will the future offerings be garbage? Maybe. But is this Iron Heart a great viewing experience? Absolutely.
STL native (who grew up about a mile from my house) Jon Hamm is on a hot streak this year, between a supporting role in Landman, and leading Your Friends and Neighbors, in which the Mad Men alum plays a man who’s wife left him after an affair, and boss cheated him out of his fortune, so he starts stealing from his ultra-wealthy neighbors.
It’s funny while wrestling the economic insecurity faced by many (most?) in a post-COVID economy, marked by rampant inflation.
Stick is Apple’s new golf comedy-drama starring and executive produced by Owen Wilson. The show centers around Wilson’s Pryce Cahill, a washed up pro who thinks he has stumbled upon the next Tiger Woods style star in the sport.
Cahill takes it upon himself to mentor the young golfer in a quest to redeem himself and overcome demons that we continue to learn more about as the season progresses. Wilson brings his usual charm to the show, which also features a solid supporting cast highlighted by the always great Marc Maron.
Although there is a somewhat uneven tone bouncing back and forth between comedy and drama in the first few episodes as the series finds its footing, it feels like this is a good show with the potential to be great. Will Stick fill the Ted Lasso-shaped hole in your heart? At the very least, it has the potential to shoot a solid score and find itself on the leaderboard.
-Matt Odom lives in the Chicago area, is a longtime friend of Seth, a music lover and TV aficionado.
As Disney struggles to figure out what the heck to do with Star Wars (the House of Mouse can’t even get a movie to theaters set in a Galaxy Far Away…), there is one bright spot in a very muddled sci-fi universe. Andor is smart, prestige viewing that even non-Jedi fans will get sucked into.
[albums]
With Americana being as big as it’s ever been (and finally added to the Grammys, with a new award for “best traditional country album), there’s a good case to be made for Turnpike Troubadours might take home the freshman trophy.
The first two songs alone are among the best the band has ever written, simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking, with a whole lot of imagery packed into each verse.
“There’s a mid-July whitetail in velvet/red as your old Chevrolet/and I was 16 when you wrecked it/ and we were lucky we both walked away.
I remembered the view/when you live like we do/death doesn’t leave with the best part of you.”
Sleep Token is weird, brilliant and…ok, really weird. The alt-metal outfit hails from Britain, wears masks to conceal their identity, mixes in R&B vocals and hip hop cadences (but sung, rapped) and allude to Bible verses in almost every song. Oh, and they leak their album details to a weatherman in North Carolina.
Are they Christian? Secular? Industry vets playing coy with the secret identities? Recently discovered, unknown geniuses? Teenagers? Gen Xers?
Nobody knows…and that’s half the fun.
Bruce Springsteen rejected a LOT of great songs that he recorded, and never released in the 1980’s and 1990’s…and we’re finally getting to hear them. Tracks II: The Lost Albums is a lot to break off (a total of 82 songs), and vary between “Born in the USA” songwriting that reaches for the cheap seats and the more hushed sounds of Nebraska. There’s also a fair bit that calls back to Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions with his sessions band, diving into the folk styles of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and early Bob Dylan.
Whether or not this album is for you depends on your tolerance to sort through such a massive drop of songs as a single project.
Liz Vice wanted to be a filmmaker, before a serious illness left her on dialysis for five years. A kidney transplant saved her from an early death, and set her music career in motion. A Portland, OR native, Vice recorded her second album in NYC and this one as an ex-pat in France. Her smokey, sorrowful vocals slide through classic R&B backtracks as she mixes more traditional worship songwriting with Ecclesiastical declarations.
Apple Music | YouTube Music
I’m just gonna say it, and you can hit play to see if I’m correct…Kat Hasty is the best female artist in country music. Full stop. The Time of Your Life proves it. This one is a near-perfect no-skip album.
NOTE: EP’s are not full albums, but they still deserve some love…here are two of the best from this quarter.
Presley Haile has been on my radar as one of the best young Texan songwriters since her single “Mountain Daughter” blew up last year. You can hear the ghost of Emmylou Harris vibrating in the Gen-Zer’s vocal chords…
If you like your country music whiskey soaked and heartbreaking…let me introduce you to Evan Bartles. The 26-year-old spins tales with the wisdom of a man twice his age…the Gen Z version of Jason Isbell.
[songs]
There’s a pretty clear nod to Gladys Knight & the Pips on the chorus to pull this one together, Lil Wayne toasts his loved ones (“family first, family second, family third”) and drops some signature clever lines (“And if it’s beef, I turn the whole cow to leather”) on an album that’s 1/3 great, 1/3 good, and 1/3 awful. If he’d trimmed the track list down, the whole record would have made this list.
Sabrina Carpenter owned pop music last summer, and this summer looks like she’s going for back-to-back championships. A very simple song about calling her ex-boyfriend dumb, this is one of those tunes that may not change the world, but it will stay in rotation at the local public pool.
Former football standout Tobe Nwigwe was bound for the NFL when an injury ended his athletic career, and we’re all benefitting from it.
Born to Igbo, Nigerian immigrant parents, “A Pilot” dives into the Texan’s choice to pursue music over his parents (and grandparents) wishes, and a sticky hook.
An ode to putting freshly picked blackberries on top of ice cream, Dylan Gossett’s “Like I Do,” could easily fall into the “checklist country music songwriting” trap that turns small town life into a bad stereotype, but he’s got more soul, and smarts to let it.
Raised in Austin, TX, Gossett’s releases fall somewhere between Tyler Childers and Noah Kahan…and absolutely deserves a spot on one of your playlists. If you get a chance to see him in a small venue this summer or fall, do it…something tells me this guy is going to be filling up arenas in the future.
A summer love song that’s been blowing up on social, British songwriter James Bay, who first blew up in 2013, is enjoying a new hit single thanks to Sheryl Crow. Drop the Bluetooth speaker next to your cooler on the beach, and turn this one up…
[podcasts]
Note, these are the best podcast episodes of the quarter, not the best shows.
Alt-metal/hardcore mainstays (and elder Millennial icons) Underoath sit down with mega popular YouTuber Chris Williamson to look at the brutal reality of touring, and how it affects marriages, parenting and mental health.
The case of a family in New Jersey who were terrified out of their dream home by a stalker who simply signed letters as “The Watcher” gets under your skin.
The Free Press tackling how the heck NYC chose a 33-year-old socialist rich kid who’s only previous work experience was being a rapper in his mom’s movie is a must-listen to understand the political climate in 2025.
Kind-of-a-podcast-kind-of-a-documentary, Headwaters dives into Charles Wesley Godwin’s world in West Virginia when he's off the road as one of Americana’s fastest rising stars.
James Gunn sits down and unpacks his vision for the DCU, which draws inspiration from Star Wars and Game of Thrones, not Marvel. If you love the details of how movies and TV get made…this one’s for you.
[books]
NOTE: As I’m not a full-time book critic, this is the five best (new-ish) books I read this quarter…
ALBION’S SEED: This one’s a decade old, but quite evergreen. Pulitzer Prize winning historian David Hackett Fischer dives deep into the English Civil War of 1642, and how it eventually shaped America, both in 1776 and today.
This is a big one to bite off, as it’s 30+ hours of dense history in audiobook format. But highly recommended. Amazon.
APPLE IN CHINA: Patrick McGee claims Apple moving manufacturing to China is just as big as the Berlin Wall falling (although not nearly as good). Amazon.
If The Social Network, is one of your favorite films, you’ll love this book, which blends business, espionage and international relations. Amazon.
LIVING IN WONDER: Eastern Orthadox writer Rod Dreher takes on the paranormal/supernatural, and unpacks why “reasonable atheism” is going away. Amazon.
THE MAIL MAN (A MERCURY CARTER THRILLER): A kidnapping-gone-wrong thriller set in rural and small town Illinois and Indiana, as well as the suburbs of Chicago and Indianapolis (a refreshing change of place), this is a heck of a debut from Andrew Welsh-Huggins.
Especially recommended if you have ties to the Midwest. Amazon.
WAY OF THE WARRIOR KID: Navy SEAL and Iraq combat vet Jocko Willink’s take on self discipline via a middle grade novel, this one touched my whole family (via audiobook-ready by Jocko’s real life son Thor). Amazon.
Until the next one,
-sth