Luke Y. Thompson is a movie reviewer, journalist, pop culture writer, unashamed atheist and a longtime friend of Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness. On this show, LYT discusses the state of arts criticism in the current media climate and shares some of what he has been writing about on his Substack. The discussion goes deep into the Star Wars franchise, with particular attention paid to “Andor”, “The Mandalorian” and its forthcoming big-screen incarnation as well as Shawn Levy’s forthcoming Star Wars: Starfighter. LYT shares his favorite films of 2025, hips Dean and Phil to a couple of overlooked gems, and even reveals what movies he thinks the majority of his film critic colleagues “got wrong” in hailing as among the best of the year.

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