Critically Acclaimed #352 | Bibbs and Witney's Best Movies of 2025!

William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold were going to present their picks for THE BEST MOVIES OF 2025, THE WORST MOVIES OF 2025 and THE AVERAGEST MOVIE OF 2025, but the "Best Of" part is three-hours long, so now the podcast is an epic two-parter!It's an in-depth look at the greatest films 2025 had to offer, from a wide variety of genres, and Bibbs and Witney don't actually agree on a lot of them! Disagreements, ahoy!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week, Bibbs and Witney review the epic sci-fi threequel AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney's darkly comic thriller THE HOUSE MAID, James L. Brooks's long-awaited return ELLA MCCAY, a oceanic documentary called THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS, Kate Winslet's directorial debut GOODBYE JUNE, the slasher horror remake SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, Mamoru Hosoda's revisionist Hamlet fantasy SCARLET, the thriller sequel INFLUENCERS and Joe Carnahan's maritime disaster drama NOT WITHOUT HOPE!Avatar: Fire and Ash - 5:50 The Housemaid - 39:55 Ella McCay - 51:00 The Spongebob Movie: Search for Square Pants - 1:02:37 Goodbye June - 1:13:52 Silent Night Deadly Night - 1:22:40 Scarlet - 1:37:45 Influencers - 1:45:50 Not Without Hope - 1:51:55 Review Round-Up - 1:58:45 Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bibbs and Witney answer YOUR emails in this all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, and talk about all-night movie marathons, cozy movies we forgot, surprising anecdotes about Walter Keane and more, more, MORE!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Because our patrons demanded it, Bibbs and Witney present their picks for the best THIS HAD OSCAR BUZZ movies ever!These aren't just movies that had Oscar buzz, these are movies specifically featured on the long-running, awesome podcast THIS HAD OSCAR BUZZ, where Chris Feil and Joe Reid explore movies that people thought would get an Oscar nomination but, for one reason or another, didn't!They've released over 370 awesome episodes so far and you should totally check them out! (They also have their own PATREON!)Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bibbs and Witney review the new Brazilian political thriller THE SECRET AGENT, the horror video game movie sequel FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S 2, the filmed version of the Tony Award-winning revival of Steven Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, Kristen Stewart's directorial debut THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER, Michael Showalter's all-star ensemble Christmas movie OH. WHAT. FUN., the wacky spoof of snooty British movies and tv FACKHAM HALL, the queer graphic novel adaptation 100 NIGHTS OF HERO, and the bleak tragedy ROSEMEAD starring Lucy Liu!The Secret Agent - 4:48 Five Nights at Freddy's 2 - 21:37 Merrily We Roll Along - 47:12 The Chronology of Water - 1:02:05 Oh. What. Fun. - 1:12:18 Fackham Hall - 1:25:35 100 Nights of Hero - 1:33:55 Rosemead - 1:42:03 Review Round-Up - 1:52:45Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bibbs and Witney review Rian Johnson's latest all-star whodunnit WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, Chloé Zhao's historical weepy HAMNET, Disney's animated sequel ZOOTOPIA 2, and the Netflix holiday rom-com/crime caper hybrid JINGLE BELL HEIST!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Because our patrons demanded it, Bibbs and Witney are back with their picks for THE COZIEST MOVIES EVER MADE!But what, pray tell, makes a movie "cozy?" It's not a well-defined genre, and as much as warm hearths and fuzzy sweaters seem to define the vibe, there's more to coziness than creature comforts.Bibbs and Witney (and especially Witney) push the boundaries of what "cozy" really means, as they come up with their own Top Ten lists on... THE IRON LIST!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bibbs and Witney review WICKED: FOR GOOD, the Brendan Fraser drama RENTAL FAMILY, the Eurospy throwback REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND, the action sequel SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE and the Netflix rom-com CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS!(UPDATE: It has come to our attention that we accidentally misgendered filmmaker Hikari in this episode. We apologize for this extreme oversight and we will not make this mistake in the future.)Wicked: For Good - 2:00Rental Family - 32:00Reflection in a Dead Diamond - 43:15Sisu: Road to Revenge - 55:55Champagne Problems - 1:06:20Review Round-Up - 1:14:55Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bibbs and Witney review a great big pile o' new releases, including Edgar Wright's Stephen King adaptation THE RUNNING MAN, the magic heist threequel NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON'T, Richard Linklater's ode to Jean-Luc Godard (and Godard's ego) NOUVELLE VAGUE, the French animated time travel story ARCO, the Australian animated lesbian space princess story LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS, Osgood Perkins' cabin in the woods thriller KEEPER, the biblical Nicolas Cage horror movie THE CARPENTER'S SON, the Jonas Brothers Christmas movie A VERY JONAS CHRISTMAS MOVIE, and the Alicia Silverstone Christmas movie A MERRY LITTLE EX-MAS!The Running Man - 9:55 Now You See Me: Now You Don't - 36:30Nouvelle Vague - 47:18Arco - 1:00:48Lesbian Space Princess - 1:14:26Keeper - 1:24:50The Carpenter's Son - 1:39:10A Very Jonas Christmas Movie - 1:48:48A Merry Little Ex-Mas - 1:57:13Review Round-Up - 2:05:33Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bibbs and Witney review the new sci-fi sequel PREDATOR: BADLANDS, the new international ensemble drama SENTIMENTAL VALUE, Yorgos Lanthimos' kidnapping thriller BUGONIA, the historical legal drama NUREMBERG, Lynne Ramsay's latest DIE MY LOVE, Colin Farrell's gambling woes in BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER, the Netflix animated kids flick IN YOUR DREAMS, and the Sydney Sweeney boxing biopic CHRISTY!Predator: Badlands - 5:55 Sentimental Value - 33:53 Bugonia - 47:35 Nuremberg - 58:18 Die, My Love - 1:08:10 Ballad of a Small Player - 1:22:23 In Your Dreams - 1:35:07 Christy - 1:41:41 Review Round-Up - 1:55:45Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy