The News presents ‘Lifestyle Wrapped 2025’

This 12 months packed a popular culture punch, and we actually have leisure to thank for that. From sleeper hits to releases years within the making, the devoted writers of The Huntington News’ Lifestyle part took their time delving into the most important media moments of 2025.

To commemorate the 12 months’s finish, the Lifestyle editors prompted The News’ employees to submit their picks for one of the best movie, tv present and album of the 12 months. 

Here are the employees favorites, in addition to private suggestions from Lifestyle editors Janira, Jennie and Jenny.

Warning: Spoilers forward.

Best movie of 2025: “Sinners”

A recent tackle the vampire mythos, “Sinners” takes place within the Mississippi Delta in 1932, following the story of dual brothers Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore (each performed by Michael B. Jordan). Known collectively because the “Smokestack Twins,” they return to their hometown to open a juke joint, solely to come back face-to-face with a centuries-old Irish immigrant vampire named Remmick (Jack O’Connell) on their opening night time.

Director Ryan Coogler masterfully incorporates the historical past of the Mississippi Delta and folklore to inform a significant story of Black id and resistance throughout the Jim Crow period. Jam-packed with symbolism, “Sinners” explores themes of freedom, assimilation and cultural possession by utilizing vampirism as a metaphor for the predatory methods — similar to racism and colonialism — that hurt marginalized communities. 

Music can also be represented as a serious mystical pressure, performing as a conduit for ancestral connection that bridges the previous, current and future. The movie incorporates a lovely rating that pulls inspiration from composer Ludwig Göransson’s personal expertise with American blues music. 

Supported by an unbelievable solid, together with Hailee Steinfield, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo and Miles Caton, “Sinners” brings Coogler’s formidable imaginative and prescient to life, proving to be one of the crucial necessary movies of 2025.

Janira’s decide: “Marty Supreme”

Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” had a repute to reside as much as — and, oh, did it ship. The advertising and marketing marketing campaign spanned a self-aggrandizing Zoom name spoof on Timothée Chalamet’s Instagram, “Marty Supreme” branded track jackets on the door of almost each A-lister, Chalamet’s face splashed throughout Wheaties cereal bins, a blimp over Los Angeles and a grand finale atop the Las Vegas Sphere. Chalamet’s efficiency as Marty Mauser was simply as no-holds-barred as his press stunts. “Marty Supreme,” set in Nineteen Fifties New York, follows a fast-talking, fictionalized model of American desk tennis champion Marty Reisman. Mauser is a 23-year-old shoe salesman with larger-than-life aspirations however just about no approach of reaching them. 

“I have a purpose, and if you think that’s some sort of blessing, it’s not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through, and with that obligation comes sacrifice,” Marty tells childhood good friend turned informal lover Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), whom he refuses to just accept is carrying his youngster. And sacrifice, he does.

Funnily sufficient, “Marty Supreme” is a desk tennis movie through which Chalamet largely does something however play desk tennis. Dusting off his bruised ego after a loss on the British Open, Marty swindles, steals, dodges bullets, performs a recreation of cat-and-mouse seduction with actress Kay Stone (Gwenyth Paltrow), engages in a canine ransom plot, submits to paddling by potential sponsor Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary) and misses the start of his firstborn all for the possibility to show himself on the Tokyo World Table Tennis Championship. Marty is scrappy, self-serving, audacious and fueled by sheer willpower. The chance of failure “doesn’t even enter [his] consciousness,” he tells Kay, although by the point the credit roll, success is immeasurable. “Marty Supreme,” above all else, is a movie concerning the pursuit — not the sport.

Jennie’s decide: “No Other Choice”

Co-written, produced and directed by the sensible Park Chan-wook, “No Other Choice” is a satirical black comedy thriller following paper business veteran Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), who struggles with discovering employment after being a sufferer of a layoff triggered by Americans shopping for out the papermaking firm he labored at. After over a 12 months of unsuccessful job functions and sacrifices, Yoo reaches an all-time emotional low when he and his spouse, Lee Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), are compelled to significantly take into account promoting Yoo’s childhood residence.

Beyond determined, Yoo concocts a plan to determine his papermaking job opponents, and from there arrives to the conclusion that he has “no other choice” however to remove — which means homicide — his competitors: fellow paper consultants Goo Beom-mo (Lee Sung-min), Ko Si-jo (Cha Seung-won) and Choi Seon-chul (Park Hee-soon). 

Yoo slowly descends into insanity as his need to get a job and supply for his household engulfs him. His fragile manhood is additional threatened when Lee will get a job as a dental assistant, the place she works with a horny youthful dentist, Oh Jin-ho (Yoo Yeon-seok), whom Yoo is satisfied is after his spouse. 

Revolving across the horrors of capitalism and the debilitating burden of unemployment, “No Other Choice” is an sadly practical account of the darkish choices individuals make to outlive when confronted with at the moment’s financial pressures.

Jenny’s decide: “Frankenstein”

In the newest adaptation of “Frankenstein,” Guillermo del Toro introduced an previous story to new heights by giving narrative autonomy to Frankenstein’s monster, residing as much as the gut-wrenching and nakedly human writing of Mary Shelley in her horror basic of the identical identify. 

Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and The Creature (Jacob Elordi) each inform their very own aspect to the story, with every characters’ innermost ideas conserving the plot fast-paced and fascinating. Unlike the 1994 film adaptation or the 2019 comedic take on the novel, del Toro’s “Frankenstein” fleshes out from guts to glory the poisonous parental relationship between Frankenstein and The Creature. 

The horror and thrill lies within the movie’s questions of morality — del Toro humanizes The Creature, showcasing his vulnerability as he learns every little thing from scratch in an unconventional physique with an toddler thoughts. At the identical time, Frankenstein struggles with perfectionism, inflicting him to inflict his personal childhood trauma onto The Creature, build up a passionate-turned-loathsome relationship between the creator and the created. 

Out in the true world, The Creature finds humanity within the blind man (David Bradley) and Lady Elizabeth Harlendar (Mia Goth). Goth’s performing shines, superbly delivering Harlendar’s mild like to The Creature. Their interactions are uncooked, nurturing and fluid, leaving the viewers hopeful however feeling bittersweet for The Creature’s maturity as a result of he discovered life the exhausting approach. 

Each watch exposes completely different conflicts embedded within the movie, like nature vs. nurture and loss of life vs. infinity, but its division into “Victor’s Tale” and “The Creature’s Tale” neatly organizes the plot line with out swallowing the movie’s overarching themes of unchecked hubris and what it actually means to be human.  

Honorable mentions: “Bugonia,” “One Battle After Another,” “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Wicked: For Good”

Best TV collection of 2025: “Stranger Things,” Season 5, Vol. 1

After nearly 10 years, mega hit collection “Stranger Things” is coming to an in depth, staggering the discharge of season 5 throughout three volumes over the vacations. Season 5 units the stakes greater than ever, with Hawkins below army lockdown after Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) broke the liminal barrier between the true world and the Upside Down, opening 4 rifts that converged to blur the strains between dimensions. 

The gang routinely units out on “crawls” to seek out and kill Vecna as soon as and for all, with Jim Hopper (David Harbour) sneaking onto convoy vehicles on the Military Access Control Zone, or MAC-Z, to enter the Upside Down whereas the teenagers in Hawkins monitor his sign.

All the whereas, Vecna selectively seems in human type to the youngsters of Hawkins. He begins with abducting Holly Wheeler’s (Nell Fisher) bodily physique, taking her to the Upside Down and luring her consciousness into picturesque recollections of his childhood residence. She is the primary of 12 targets whom Vecna has deemed “perfect vessels” to “reshape the world.”

With Will Byers’ (Noah Schnapp) psychic connection to the hive thoughts, the gang catches wind of Vecna’s plan and units out on a covert mission to smuggle his subsequent youngster targets out of the MAC-Z, whom the army have misguidedly rounded up for safekeeping. Vol. 1 concludes with the youngsters’s abduction to the Upside Down and a massacre on the MAC-Z, the place Will, for the very first time, harnesses Vecna’s powers, snapping Demogorgons’ limbs and saving his associates in a blaze of glory.

“Stranger Things” season 5 is bound to culminate in an unforgettable finale — an ending which the Duffer brothers say has at all times been “inevitable” and long-served as their “north star.” Come New Year’s Eve, followers will “lose their damn minds,” actress Millie Bobby Brown, who performs Eleven, promises.

Janira’s decide: “I Love LA” 

Rachel Sennott’s ticklingly unserious HBO hit “I Love LA” catches lightning in a bottle for the chronically on-line. Expertly delivering Zillenial satire, “I Love LA” manages to be of-the-moment with out attempting too exhausting or verging on generational cliché. Sennott whisks viewers into the delightfully vapid influencer panorama of Los Angeles, following expertise supervisor Maia (Sennott) as she reconnects with ex-best good friend Tallulah (Odessa A’zion) and indicators her as an internet persona. Maia traverses skilled highs and lows in addition to weekly antics with Tallulah and her associates Charlie (Jordan Firstman) and Alani (True Whitaker). She additionally faces a rising rift between her and her boyfriend, Dylan (Josh Hutcherson) as their ambitions diverge. 

Shenanigans like a cocaine-fueled rampage whereas dealing with close to on-line cancellation and a misinterpret bed room encounter with superstar Elijah Woods present laughs, whereas quieter moments of reconciliation, romantic disillusionment and honest-to-God friendship preserve the plot grounded in emotional fact.

“I Love LA” is self-aware, chock-full of persona and deliciously modern.

Jennie’s decide: “The Studio”

A satirical comedy delving into the behind-the-scenes of the movie business, “The Studio” follows Matt Remick (Seth Rogen), a bumbling, self-proclaimed cinephile who turns into the brand new studio head of the fictional movie manufacturing firm, Continental Studios. Remick is employed after his predecessor, former studio head Patty Leigh (Catherine O’Hara), is fired by Continental’s CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) however on one situation: He should greenlight a film primarily based on the Kool-Aid Man. The viewers can do nothing however squirm as Remick flounders in an more and more bleak business to steadiness his job of creating the studio as wealthy as doable along with his need to be acknowledged as an artist able to making intellectual movies.

Remick is accompanied by his quirky government group, consisting of Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz), Continental’s vp of manufacturing, Quinn Hackett (Chase Sui Wonders), Remick’s former assistant who’s promoted to inventive government, and Maya Mason (Kathryn Hahn), Continental’s head of promoting. He can also be mentored by Leigh, who makes peace along with her termination — for essentially the most half — after securing herself as a producer at Continental Studios.

“The Studio” has garnered essential popularity of its cinematography and route, incomes 23 nominations on the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, making it the most-nominated comedy debut in historical past. It secured 13 wins, breaking the document for many wins for a comedy collection in a single season. With every episode boasting high-profile superstar cameos, similar to Martin Scorsese, Olivia Wilde, Adam Scott and Greta Lee, “The Studio” is a hilariously absurd watch positive to maintain you chuckling all through.

Jenny’s decide: “When Life Gives You Tangerines”

No villain, simply life — “When Life Gives You Tangerines” tells the tearful story of a two-generation household from Jeju Island in South Korea. 

The nuance of the lives of Jeju Islanders is infused all through 16 episodes, detailing Oh Ae-Sun (IU) and Yang Gwan-sik’s lives (Park Bo-Gum) from adolescence to previous age. The Netflix unique collection tracks the event of their household, from Oh working away from residence to Yang giving up on his budding athletic profession for love. All of it takes place within the context of Jeju Island, localizing and familiarizing the characters’ expertise to the viewers. 

From youngster loss to assembly the in-laws, every episode dissects the duo’s feelings, touching the viewers with the present’s vivid depictions of the couple’s  effort to construct and preserve their household. Every plot twist or improvement is relatable, as if the viewers resides it with them. The present’s ending makes you ponder the importance of happiness since you notice what you simply watched is probably somebody’s actual life — stuffed with roses, buds and thorns.  

A TV collection with a family-centric plot can simply turn out to be relatable for an viewers, however executing it nicely is not any easy process. That being mentioned, “When Life Gives You Tangerines” is a present that does all this and the above, efficiently portraying the ups and downs of household life.

Honorable mentions:  “Overcompensating,” “Severance,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “The Bear”

Best album of 2025: “Hurry Up Tomorrow” by The Weeknd

“All I have is my legacy,” Abel Tesfaye, recognized professionally as “The Weeknd,” sings within the first monitor of the album “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” “Wake Me Up,” that includes the digital music duo Justice. And he’s proper — no different album could be extra “The Weeknd” than this one. 

“Hurry Up Tomorrow” is the final hurrah of Tesfaye as The Weeknd, the musical id that the artist has been releasing music below for the reason that first recorded monitor “Get In There” in 2006. Leaving a hefty legacy behind, this album provided 2025 with sufficient synthpop for each season of the 12 months. 

Despite the membership bangers that The Weeknd crammed this album with, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” carries sentimental multitudes of emotion. Constantly reflecting on love and legacy, Tesfaye, all through his time working within the music business as The Weeknd, acquired affection and doubt in equal measure. 

“I wish that I told you all my feelings. I hope that I live life for a reason. But at least you’ll play this song when I’m gone,” sang The Weeknd in “Cry For Me,” the second track within the album that may be a fusion of R&B and soul. 

The album options artists that contributed to The Weeknd’s musical legacy, together with Lana Del Rey, whose musical colour and artistry lean towards dream pop and various pop, contributing to “The Abyss.” They beforehand collaborated on tracks like “Stargirl Interlude” that helped “Starboy” win the sixtieth Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album. 

The 22-song album marks The Weeknd’s legacy of songs that stick with generations of music lovers — “Timeless” it’s, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” retains The Weeknd’s flame burning.

Janira’s decide: “Virgin” by Lorde

“Since I was 17, I gave you everything,” singer-songwriter Lorde sings in lead single “What Was That” — and with a discography like hers, for the followers, it couldn’t ring extra true. Known offstage as Ella Yelich-O’Connor, Lorde soundtracked coming of age with albums “Pure Heroine” and “Melodrama.” After a four-year hiatus post-“Solar Power,” she’s again and higher than ever. 

Released June 27, “Virgin” is uncooked, effervescent, gritty and holds the last word mirror to the self. With poignant however easy lyrics like, “I’ve been the ice, I’ve been the flame / I’ve been the prize, the ball and chain / I’ve been the dice, the magic eight / So I’m not affected,” “Virgin” is introspective however unsentimental. It’s catharsis with out commiseration — a complete breath of recent air. 

“I WAS TRYING TO SEE MYSELF, ALL THE WAY THROUGH,” Lorde wrote in a pre-release e-mail to followers.

In a return to true type, “Virgin”’s manufacturing is unabashedly synthpop, with pulsing beats, corroded digital results and reverberating vocals. In a sonic feat, Lorde has created one thing totally danceable at the same time as she meditates on issues like gender expression in “Hammer” — “Some days, I’m a woman, some days, I’m a man” — and disordered consuming in “Broken Glass” — “I spent my summer getting lost in math / Making weight took all I had.”

At “Virgin”’s mellower moments, Lorde is experimental with tracks like “Clearblue,” which is stripped again and voice modulated, confessional with “Current Affairs” and visceral with “Man Of the Year,” metaphorically delivering herself with the lyrics “Take my knife and I cut the cord / My babe can’t believe I’ve become someone else / Someone more like myself.”

Packing a complete rebirth into simply 34 minutes, “Virgin” is a synthpop triumph from “What Was That” to “David.”

Jennie’s decide: “Ruby” by JENNIE

“Who else got ‘em obsessed like JENNIE?” Ever since leaving YG Entertainment in December 2023, Jennie Kim has saved followers world wide gripping the sting of their seats in anticipation for her new music as a solo artist. After conserving them in limbo for over a 12 months, JENNIE lastly launched her debut solo album “Ruby” March 7, written and co-produced with collaborators together with Diplo and Dem Jointz. Consisting of 15 tracks that includes artists FKJ, Dua Lipa, Doechii, Dominic Fike, Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis, “Ruby” is a daring, experimental debut following a fastidiously curated inventive imaginative and prescient.

“Ruby” steps into JENNIE’s personal private journey of self-discovery and empowerment, signaling the beginning of a brand new chapter in her life as each a person and artist. The motley of sounds in “Ruby,” from hip-hop and R&B to EDM and Brazilian Funk, exhibits off her sonic variety, every track coming collectively to type a cohesive album.

Tracks like “Mantra,” “ExtraL” and “like JENNIE” are whole woman energy anthems, emphasizing the significance of being unique and assured in your self, whereas different songs like “twin,” “Love Hangover,” “Handlebars” and “start a war” are extra private, traversing the panorama of her relationships. Its cinematic manufacturing coupled with its lyrical and emotional depth permits “Ruby” to exist as a love letter from JENNIE to her listeners.

Jenny’s decide: “Beautiful Chaos” by KATSEYE

A “gnarly” entrance to the nomination checklist for two 2026 Grammy Awards, KATSEYE shook the music business with its latest EP “Beautiful Chaos.” Having five-for-five viral songs, KATSEYE takes listeners by means of numerous tales, together with some centered round younger love and satire, and genres all through the album. 

After its 2024 debut monitor “Touch,” the group launched “Gnarly,” a single that went viral everywhere in the web for its heavy baseline, bringing out the highly effective voices of each member. The track experiments mixing hyperpop, electro pop and entice steel, which creates a chaotic but full-bodied exploration of the multifaceted phrase “gnarly.” 

In June, “Gabriela” made summer time even hotter — so sizzling it’s important to take your “hands off Gabriela” — with its attractive and danceable Latin pop melody and a touch of up to date R&B. 

When September got here round, KATSEYE adopted up the back-to-back wins by introducing “Gameboy,” “Mean Girls” and “M.I.A” to the sport, all from “Beautiful Chaos.”  Each track masters the style it’s directed towards: “Gameboy” is a secure mix of Afrobeat percussion and dance-pop for a playful vibe; “Mean Girls” brings a recent breeze to the viewers’s ears with the basic modern R&B that “blesses even the mean girls;” and “M.I.A” sounds just like the protagonist’s highly effective outro in a undercover agent film. 

And for each track of the EP, one can simply discover the designated viral TikTook dance that completely pulls off the story it tells. KATSEYE’s “Beautiful Chaos” presents a recent take to recognized genres inside the pop music business that make you need to dance regardless of what number of occasions they’ve already been performed on the operate.

Honorable mentions: “The Art of Loving” by Olivia Dean, “Essex Honey” by Blood Orange, “Man’s Best Friend” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Mayhem” by Lady Gaga