Love this film and loved this chat about it with Mark. We get into some fantastic car action sequence theatrics, deeper meanings & the brilliant way de Niro pronounces ‘Hereford’. Hope you enjoy!

Yep okay, I feel like this might be a chance giving me a good omen.

Episode 87 is out now! @samwellpv.bsky.social rounds up the best of 2025 with some help from @violeth310.bsky.social, @ajblack.bsky.social, @bazgreenland.bsky.social and @markadamshc.bsky.social. What were your favourites? Available on all major platforms. @filmstoriespodnet.bsky.social

Happy New Year all! If you’re here for writing, I’m hoping to get more on the table in January, including beginning a new project looking at Film in 2001 for reliablenarrator.co.uk If you’re here for podcasts, this month expect takes on 1998’s Ronin, the new 28 Years Later, Agnes Varda & more.

By no means a finished list, as I’ve not seen at all everything in 2025, but here’s how I’m finishing the year on Letterboxd. Top 12 and bottom 12. Some great stuff at the top, some utter gash down below.

Genuine end of an era to mark the end of the year. After 10 years, my X-Files podcast The X-Cast comes to an end today. Some reflections that crystallise the journey and how important this project has been to me over the last decade. I’ll miss it. reliablenarrator.co.uk/2025/12/31/t...

Amidst all the X-Cast ‘fervour’ today, don’t also miss a mammoth chat I did about It: Chapters 1 & 2 for Modern Horror. That’s our 50th episode and a show that has become one of my favourite podcasting projects ever, with loads of great plans with @angryscotsman81.bsky.social in 2026.

Genuine end of an era to mark the end of the year. After 10 years, my X-Files podcast The X-Cast comes to an end today. Some reflections that crystallise the journey and how important this project has been to me over the last decade. I’ll miss it. reliablenarrator.co.uk/2025/12/31/t...

Roderick is one of the best film writers out there and this is a magnificent trove of 2025 reviews. I don’t always agree with him, but I always enjoy reading him. The fact he’s thinking of throwing in the towel is these days of withering genuine criticism is awful. Please read & support his work.

Here are the great seasons of #Television we discussed this year... @ajblack.bsky.social joined host @bazgreenland.bsky.social to talk season 2 of #Alias open.spotify.com/episode/51ip...

Share a great female villain 🐉

My energy going into 2026.

I’ve tried doing some video podcasting this last year. Way less enjoyable to make than pure audio, frankly. You can edit as cleanly or clear up the audio, plus it changes the tenor and texture of what you’re putting out there. I’d never watch a podcast either, mainly as I consume them on the move.

Make a Bond movie casual. Die Tomorrow Maybe, No Biggie

Christmas schedules in 1982, the year of my birth. At 6 months old, can’t say I remember watching anything specifically…

Merry Christmas everyone! Oh look it’s half past eight! youtube.com/shorts/1w0XQ...

Tonight, time to rewatch the greatest Christmas special of all time…

Talking on @filmstories.bsky.social today about the 1994 remake of MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, and how when it’s talking about Santa, it’s really on about the Almighty. Have a tremendous Christmas Eve, one and all. filmstories.co.uk/features/mir...

Some great authors joined me on #DoctorWho #Christmas Specials to share essays on the show, including @ajblack.bsky.social www.amazon.co.uk/stores/A-J-B... and @kjheritage.bsky.social www.amazon.co.uk/stores/K.J.-...

Just up on the Telegraph, a thorough and thoughtful piece about the wrongheaded policy changes at WAC. Thanks to Kate Murphy, @illuminations.bsky.social, @unamccormack.bsky.social and @marklewisohn.bsky.social for giving up their time. Gift link here www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/65a1031...

While there’s no denying Chris Evans is iconic in this role, it’s obviously an indictment at how Marvel can’t command the same reach if after just 7 years, they’re becoming a ‘legacyquel’ franchise. Still up for Doomsday but it’s hard to go into this without the context at the back of the mind.

Last night, my old podcasting chums @ckjsweeney.bsky.social @rmuldrake.bsky.social & @sarahlblair.bsky.social wrapped the final episode of our #TheXFiles podcast, The X-Cast. An emotional and meaningful recording that I think we did justice, celebrating a 10 year journey. Dropping NYE.

I’m a paid up Nolan devotee so expect me opening weekend travelling out to the biggest IMAX in reach for this one. No question my most anticipated movie of 2026.

Followers! If you’re interested in my podcasting or writing, please keep an eye on this handy link where everything will be regularly updated. Also with Christmas approaching, do consider one of my books for your Dad (they’re very Dad books, let’s face it). Links within! linktr.ee/ajblackwriter

This was such a lovely chat with the tremendous Mary about Christmas, capitalism, Richard Attenborough, and way more. Hope it gets you in the festive mood for a rewatch!

Look what came through the Santa post today! Technically my 5th time in print, contributing to my friend @bazgreenland.bsky.social’a excellent tome about the Doctor Who Christmas specials. My essay is on 2013’s ‘The Time of the Doctor’, the conclusion to an epic narrative. Looks good on the shelf!

Hey, want to know what we’re up to in January? Of course you do!

NEW EPISODE! @ajblack.bsky.social & @samwellpv.bsky.social come together to chat Sergio Leone & his final film, Once Upon a Time in America. 🎧 wherever you get your podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/l...

I wrote about Rob Reiner: www.vulture.com/article/rob-...

Another great chat with Sam about a great director and, here, a great movie. We get into Leone’s career, Westerns, the myth of America, dream theory and a lot more. Hope you enjoy!

Very pleased to get my latest copy of Film Stories @filmstories.bsky.social, in which tying into a general boxing theme, I chat a few underappreciated films from that sport sub-genre. A bevy of writers delivering great material here for a good price. Get a copy. filmstories.co.uk/news/film-st...

Director Zach Cregger's Barbarian contains dark, powerful ideas around cycles of trauma. We unpack its deeper meaning... filmstories.co.uk/features/bar...

Very pleased to get my latest copy of Film Stories @filmstories.bsky.social, in which tying into a general boxing theme, I chat a few underappreciated films from that sport sub-genre. A bevy of writers delivering great material here for a good price. Get a copy. filmstories.co.uk/news/film-st...

The final episode of S1 of my parody podcast Don’t Call Us Shirley! taps into Christmas with the truly dreadful An American Carol aka Big Fat Important Movie. I hated it. I will tell you I hated it. I will tell you why. I hope me doing that will be entertaining! open.spotify.com/episode/6cCJ...

And so continues the genuinely bonkers career of Lily James. I mean good on her, because I absolutely imagined she’d spend her career doing Richard Curtis comedies and period dramas, not playing Pammy and taking on Stallone sequels, yet here we are. Hope this is as fun as the first Cliffhanger.

NEW EPISODE! @ajblack.bsky.social & @steelbookbluray.com chat the 1996 action thriller THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT. 🎧 wherever you get your podcasts: open.spotify.com/episode/7I3E...

NEW EPISODE! This week @ajblack.bsky.social & @angryscotsman81.bsky.social chat the Phillipou brothers chiller BRING HER BACK. 🎧 on all podcast players: open.spotify.com/episode/7rjQ...

This is perhaps the most terrifying book I’ve ever read. It’s brilliant and reads like a thriller, but I wish I’d never read it. Might never sleep again.

I’m hoping to launch a new show in 2026 on my podcast network, AT THE MOVIES IN THE EIGHTIES, talking 80s movies across a truly classic decade. Keen to find 80s obsessive co-hosts who are a) British (because it’s just easier to record) and b) happy to do some editing. Is that you? Give me a shout!

This is the most horrific trophy I’ve ever seen. It looks like a cursed object found in a desert crypt.

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Great fun as always popping up to talk #Lost on The Magic Box. Here we pontificate on Mr Eko, the Smoke Monster’s abilities, and whether it all looks like Nigeria or Hawaii… Hope you enjoy. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

What a brilliant guest this is! Very excited to listen.

Terrifying stuff here in this thread. It’s fair to say that even on a secondary school level, the work you have to do to get students over the line is enormous now, so can’t imagine how hard it must be at the higher level.

Tell us you don’t like James Bond by writing a whole article without saying it. They may not be wrong here but I’m quite sad if we live in a world where boys and men don’t want to be Bond now.

I was interviewed by The #DoctorWho companion about my upcoming new book, Doctor Who Christmas Specials - which is going to print now! Check it out in the link below 👇 thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2025/11/25/e...

Though Weapons has dominated the conversation this year, Zach Cregger’s Barbarian contains powerful ideas around cycles of trauma. AJ Black unpacks its deeper meaning… filmstories.co.uk/features/bar...

Followers! If you’re interested in my podcasting or writing, please keep an eye on this handy link where everything will be regularly updated. Also with Christmas approaching, do consider one of my books for your Dad (they’re very Dad books, let’s face it). Links within! linktr.ee/ajblackwriter

Writing today on @filmstories.bsky.social about Zach Cregger’s BARBARIAN, which contains some dark truths about familial abuse under the horror theatrics. filmstories.co.uk/features/bar...

It’s not one I can bust episodes out of regularly, but I love doing this with @samwellpv.bsky.social. We had a great chat about Charlie Chaplin. Genius artist, awful man are the cliff notes. Hope you enjoy!