Tag: The Mastermind

Films

The films I most loved this year, I loved unconditionally. Though I saw it all the way back in January, Bird (Andrea Arnold, 2024) has stuck with me. The dreamy, fantastical imagery works perfectly against the background of Arnold’s usual gritty realism, it’s become my favourite of the director’s films (above the stellar Red Road, Fish Tank and American Honey) – and it’s fair to say I now think of it as one of my favourite films of this century.

As is The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt, 2025). I’d been looking forward to this art-heist-gone-wrong film for ages, and it didn’t disappoint. Josh O’Connor has never been better, and what strikes me most is Reichardt’s patience in watching him perform the most trivial of acts. Meticulous observation is an important aspect of heist films, but in this film we’re forced to watch the post-heist actions of O’Connor’s character, JB, with equal scrutiny. The excruciating scene in which he tries to lift the stolen paintings up a ladder into a hayloft is probably my favourite sequence in any film this year.

The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths, 2025) is also excruciating, but due to strained social interactions. It’s the most wonderful British comedy, and it elevates Tim Key to national-treasure status, and it deserves to be seen by far more people. I think it’s close to perfect, and I’m pretty sure it’s the film that made me well up the most this year.

Other recent films I thoroughly enjoyed were The Delinquents (Rodrigo Moreno, 2023), a heist drama that sits comfortably alongside The Mastermind in its consideration of the aftermath of a crime; One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025) – I loved this perhaps less than other people did, but some sequences such as the final car chase tickled me; A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg, 2025), a modest and carefully-observed comedy about the strained relationship between two brothers, with a terrific performance by Kieran Culkin; similarly wry and ultimately warm The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023); delightful and surprisingly motivational behind-the-scenes comedy Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater, 2026); two meticulous account of different sorts of grief in Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023) and Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2019); the ambitious and equal parts annoying and startling 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle, 2025); the unexpectedly funny remake The Roses (Jay Roach, 2025); the ultimately life-affirming account of friendship during lockdown, Grand Theft Hamlet (Sam Crane & Pinny Grylls, 2024).

This year I finally watched the films of Jacques Tati (all of them), and was totally overwhelmed by Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967) and Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958) in particular. I’ve never seen comedy treated in such a meticulous manner; Playtime is one of the most beautifully staged films I’ve ever seen.

A totally unexpected favourite was Mademoiselle (Tony Richardson, 1966), a peculiar French–British production from Woodfall Productions, starring Jeanne Moreau. It’s wildly melodramatic, veering so far from realism that it becomes fantastical.

Other discoveries from cinema history included time-travel-relationship-murder-mystery Je t’aime, je t’aime (Alain Resnais, 1968), which I’ve been trying to hunt down for years; low-budget British thriller Eclipse (Simon Perry, 1977), with a wonderful central performance by Tom Conti; and Panic in Year Zero (Ray Milland, 1962), a post-apocalyptic B-movie that’s low on subtlety but is nonetheless arresting throughout.

TV

My household’s TV viewing has been dismal this year, mainly due to exhaustion once we relax each evening. We watched and enjoyed the obvious stuff – Adolescence was excellent, The Celebrity Traitors was as good as it needed to be, Last One Laughing was a brief delight, The Paper was a reasonable attempt to channel the successful formula of The Office.

One show that stood above the standard fare was the second series of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal, which was even more bewildering (in a good way) than the first series, and perhaps more enjoyable to chew over afterwards than as a viewing experience. I loved Long Story Short, a carefully constructed animated family drama from Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg. A final surprise was that How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) pushes the greatest modern British comedy character into new territory, the broadness of its remit a perfect fit for Partridge’s meandering mind.

Videogames

I can’t begin to describe how much I love Blue Prince (Dogubomb, 2025). I spent two months obsessed with uncovering every mystery of the Mt. Holly Estate. Unlike most cerebral puzzle games, the central mechanism of Blue Prince is as satisfying as the meta-mystery, so even on runs that resulted in no new clues, the simple act of opening doors and determining which room lay beyond absorbed me… again and again and again.

Almost as absorbing in a game-by-game sense is Balatro (LocalThunk, 2024), a poker roguelite in which you progressively stack the deck by adding cards and powers in the form of jokers. This year I effectively abandoned narrative games, preferring this sort of one-more-go arcade game.

Up there with the best in this vein was Kenny Sun’s Ball x Pit (2025), a mixture of bullet hell and Breakout, with insane powerups and constant accumulating progression. It’s the sort of game you get fiercely involved in, then complete, then put aside.

Wordless, gentle 3D puzzler Cocoon (Geometric Interactive, 2023) was an absolute delight, gradually training the brain to reach convoluted solutions to puzzles that initially appear impossible.

I did play some of this year’s huge successes such as Hollow Knight: Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but didn’t particularly chime with them. Instead, my final recommendation is Another Crab’s Treasure (Aggro Crab, 2024), a 3D action adventure with an ugly cartoonish style that disguises the fact that it’s actually a hard-as-nails Soulslike that will punish you endlessly. You know, for fun.