Serious Listener
@seriouslistener.bsky.social
Music, Film, Life?
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The Best Albums of 2025: Quarter 3
In the beginning of the year when I first started these quarter lists, I didn’t really know what to expect with the results or if they’d even be something that I kept for this site goin…
seriouslistener.wordpress.com
Wrote about feeling like a perpetual 22 year old, DIY magic, slowcore studies, folk poetry, 2010s R&B, good and bad experimental music, shoegaze studies, hype-regret, countrified poetry, and why Wednesday is important for my third quarter list of 2025 💫
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/a...
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/a...
lowkey Avatar is sick af
December 26, 2025 at 10:52 AM
lowkey Avatar is sick af
Reposted by Serious Listener
Long Island rapper-producer Theravada is a healthy skeptic. On his standout album 'The Years We Have', The collapse of empire isn’t enough to scare him—he’ll be here, Maharishi sweatpants on, ready to shoot basketballs through your complacency.
Dylan’s Favorite Independent Rap Records of 2025
My favorite rap under-the-radar rap releases of 2025, from Bay Area swag rap and psychedelic freakouts to a euphoric footwork/juke/rap hybrid
www.hearingthings.co
December 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Long Island rapper-producer Theravada is a healthy skeptic. On his standout album 'The Years We Have', The collapse of empire isn’t enough to scare him—he’ll be here, Maharishi sweatpants on, ready to shoot basketballs through your complacency.
why the fuck do I care so much about the Na'vi how does James Cameron do it
December 19, 2025 at 7:58 PM
why the fuck do I care so much about the Na'vi how does James Cameron do it
"...thanks to his fondness for oblique storytelling, poetic voice-over, and overt spiritual themes, Malick’s oeuvre has become one of the more contentious in cinema. Each new release inspires debate over whether the film at hand is a deep, philosophical masterpiece or boring, pretentious drivel."
For the latest issue of The Yale Review, I wrote about Terrence Malick's massive influence on modern American filmmaking. yalereview.org/article/bilg...
Bilge Ebiri: “Why Terrence Malick Is the Most Influential Director”
Bilge Ebiri explores filmmaker Terrence Malick’s vision of grace and his far-ranging influence on American cinema.
yalereview.org
December 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
"...thanks to his fondness for oblique storytelling, poetic voice-over, and overt spiritual themes, Malick’s oeuvre has become one of the more contentious in cinema. Each new release inspires debate over whether the film at hand is a deep, philosophical masterpiece or boring, pretentious drivel."
wrote about Brooksian magic, boomer optimism, and why some artist's messes are better than others
#EllaMcCay, #JamesL.Brooks, #FilmReview
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/16/f...
#EllaMcCay, #JamesL.Brooks, #FilmReview
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/16/f...
Film Review: Ella McCay
One of my biggest pet peeves in all of film criticism is whenever a critic, either at loss for words or under the endless pressure of the endless content churn, praises a film by saying that “…
seriouslistener.wordpress.com
December 17, 2025 at 11:25 PM
wrote about Brooksian magic, boomer optimism, and why some artist's messes are better than others
#EllaMcCay, #JamesL.Brooks, #FilmReview
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/16/f...
#EllaMcCay, #JamesL.Brooks, #FilmReview
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/16/f...
I dont think anyone's been as perfectly cast as Naomi Watts is in King Kong
December 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
I dont think anyone's been as perfectly cast as Naomi Watts is in King Kong
Gary Trent Jr and Kevin Porter Jr might as well be the same players to me
December 12, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Gary Trent Jr and Kevin Porter Jr might as well be the same players to me
look I get (but disagree with) the view that ranking things can get pedantic and therefore lists should be alphabetized, but having a list of 100 albums with no ranking and no blurbs is just straight up crazy town
December 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
look I get (but disagree with) the view that ranking things can get pedantic and therefore lists should be alphabetized, but having a list of 100 albums with no ranking and no blurbs is just straight up crazy town
Reposted by Serious Listener
Up to 13 lists on the Album of the Year spreadsheet, please use it to inform your Bandcamp Friday purchases:
Top Albums 2025
docs.google.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Up to 13 lists on the Album of the Year spreadsheet, please use it to inform your Bandcamp Friday purchases:
Reposted by Serious Listener
On the occasion of Jeff Bridges's birthday, I'm reposting my Hollywood Reporter interview with him and Karen Allen, all about John Carpenter's STARMAN: www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen on Finding Empathy in ‘Starman’
Logo text One of the most remarkable things about Starman, the classic 1984 sci fi/romantic drama, is the way that actors Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen simultaneously perform for and against each other...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
December 4, 2025 at 7:01 PM
On the occasion of Jeff Bridges's birthday, I'm reposting my Hollywood Reporter interview with him and Karen Allen, all about John Carpenter's STARMAN: www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Reposted by Serious Listener
The best documentaries of the year included a sprawling odyssey of the Black experience, independent journalists fighting back in Russia, the life of a bullfighter, a deep dive into the video-store era, meta dissections of true crime, and much more.
The Best Documentaries of 2025
A sprawling odyssey of the Black experience, Independent journalists fighting back in Russia, the life of a bullfighter, a deep dive into the video-store era, meta dissections of true crime, a look in...
thefilmstage.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The best documentaries of the year included a sprawling odyssey of the Black experience, independent journalists fighting back in Russia, the life of a bullfighter, a deep dive into the video-store era, meta dissections of true crime, and much more.
Hamlet is kinda hammy but its also kinda secretly about artistic death giving way to artistic growth
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/f...
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/f...
Film Review: Hamnet
I’ve had a rough couple of months. I usually try to shy away from too much personal details in my reviews (because really who cares), but I think it’s important for me to be honest abou…
seriouslistener.wordpress.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Hamlet is kinda hammy but its also kinda secretly about artistic death giving way to artistic growth
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/f...
seriouslistener.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/f...
ah yes, list season, where I frantically try to listen to 15 new R&B albums before the year ends
December 3, 2025 at 1:32 AM
ah yes, list season, where I frantically try to listen to 15 new R&B albums before the year ends
Lakers defense making Collin Gillespie look like Devin Booker rn
December 2, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Lakers defense making Collin Gillespie look like Devin Booker rn
I totally thought Sword II and Full Body 2 were the same band
November 29, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I totally thought Sword II and Full Body 2 were the same band
Just got hustled by some mariachis
November 28, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Just got hustled by some mariachis
the new Jay Som sounds like oklou
November 27, 2025 at 4:40 PM
the new Jay Som sounds like oklou
Netflix deciding to only put Wake Up Dead Man and Jay Kelly in random theaters seems...bad
November 25, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Netflix deciding to only put Wake Up Dead Man and Jay Kelly in random theaters seems...bad
you can tell I'm single because I spent the whole morning debating whether to buy Magic cards or a Wishy shirt
November 22, 2025 at 3:28 PM
you can tell I'm single because I spent the whole morning debating whether to buy Magic cards or a Wishy shirt
even though it still has one of the ugliest album covers of the year, I think I'm finally coming around to the new Big Thief album.
I feel it man!
I feel it man!
November 21, 2025 at 8:38 PM
even though it still has one of the ugliest album covers of the year, I think I'm finally coming around to the new Big Thief album.
I feel it man!
I feel it man!
Reposted by Serious Listener
50 years ago this week, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert made the first pilot for their TV show. In honor of this huge anniversary, I created my definitive “Best of Siskel & Ebert” article - 50 of their best reviews from across their entire career. 👍🏻👍🏻
The 50 Best Siskel & Ebert Reviews
screencrush.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:52 PM
50 years ago this week, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert made the first pilot for their TV show. In honor of this huge anniversary, I created my definitive “Best of Siskel & Ebert” article - 50 of their best reviews from across their entire career. 👍🏻👍🏻
"...there is a strange beauty to... the movie’s imagery: a lymphatic system splayed on a wooden board...like the veins of a leaf; an early test subject crumpled across a table, in a gentle posture of submission; and the pallid, muscly power of the Creature himself..."
larsenonfilm.com/frankenstein-2
larsenonfilm.com/frankenstein-2
Frankenstein | Larsen On Film
... where del Toro’s gothic instincts flower into full-blown Romanticism.
larsenonfilm.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:18 AM
"...there is a strange beauty to... the movie’s imagery: a lymphatic system splayed on a wooden board...like the veins of a leaf; an early test subject crumpled across a table, in a gentle posture of submission; and the pallid, muscly power of the Creature himself..."
larsenonfilm.com/frankenstein-2
larsenonfilm.com/frankenstein-2
you gotta find the right banana bunch
November 18, 2025 at 12:14 AM
you gotta find the right banana bunch
Uncut Gems-like bet on Wemby NOT getting the tip off
November 13, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Uncut Gems-like bet on Wemby NOT getting the tip off
seeing Kelly Oubre become such a better Sixer is genuinely heartening
November 10, 2025 at 1:04 AM
seeing Kelly Oubre become such a better Sixer is genuinely heartening