The McGuffin Tapes

On our last episode of this year, we update our watchlists for 2026 and discuss our favorite series and movies of 2025.

What were your favorite movies and series of 2025? Let us know in the comments! We’re always looking out for interesting things to watch.

Timestamps

(01:19) - Movies we’re dying to see

(14:16) - Diving into series: What to watch next year

(27:10) - Our favorite series of 2025

(45:05) - Our favorites movies of 2025

(1:22:31) - Our favorite episodes

---

We now have an Instagram! Follow us to get updates on upcoming shows ⁠⁠⁠⁠@mcguffintapes⁠⁠⁠⁠.

---

Thank you for subscribing and rating our podcast! It helps the show a lot.

What happens when fame loses its shine and everything you built your life around starts to crumble?

In this episode we dive into Jay Kelly, Noah Baumbach’s new film with George Clooney and Adam Sandler. We unpack the movie’s slippery identity, revisit whether the title and central figure really match the story, and probe why the film keeps its main character just out of emotional reach.

Tune in as we untangle what the film gets right and where it leaves us unsettled.

---

We now have an Instagram! Follow us to get updates on upcoming shows ⁠⁠⁠@mcguffintapes⁠⁠⁠.

---

Thank you for rating our podcast! It helps the show a lot.

Join us for a banger of a conversation as we unpack Kathryn Bigelow’s high-stakes thriller A House of Dynamite. We explore the film’s pulse-pounding narrative — as seen through three interlocking perspectives: the White House Situation Room, U.S. Strategic Command, and the President himself. We dive into themes of leadership under pressure, moral paralysis, and how people can be haunted by the weight of decisions that could end everything.

---

We now have an Instagram! Follow us to get updates on upcoming shows ⁠⁠⁠@mcguffintapes⁠⁠⁠.

---

Thank you for rating our podcast! It helps the show a lot.

On this show, we’re dissecting Guillermo del Toro's version of Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelley's novel. We try to connect the dots between the different scenes and themes of the movie: abusive parent's toxic masculinity, legacy, otherness and forgiveness.

If you can't tell by the length of the episode, one of us was really moved by this motion picture!

---

We now have an Instagram! Follow us to get updates on upcoming shows ⁠⁠@mcguffintapes⁠⁠.

---

Thank you for rating our podcast! It helps the show a lot.

On this show, we’re dipping into… comedy?
Aziz Ansari wrote and directed Good Fortune, where he plays a poor guy whose life gets swapped by — wait for it — Keanu Reeves, playing an angel, with Seth Rogen’s rich guy.
The twist? Turns out, money actually fixes all the poor guy’s problems.

We also rant a bit (okay, mostly Michael) about going to the cinema, how that ties into the movie’s themes, and what just didn’t work for us.---

We now have an Instagram! Follow us to get updates on upcoming shows ⁠@mcguffintapes⁠.

---

Thank you for rating our podcast! It helps the show a lot.

With One Battle After Another Paul Thomas Anderson delivers what’s probably the best movie of 2025 — and we’re all in for this rollercoaster ride. We dive deep into characters that may seem like caricatures at first but reveal surprising complexity and nuance.

---

Here is Michael's ranking of PTAs movies.

---

We now have an Instagram! Follow us to get updates on upcoming shows @mcguffintapes.

---

Thank you for rating our podcat! It helps the show a lot.

In this episode, we dive into The Life of Chuck — a story told backwards, from an ending to a beginning. From the novella by Stephen King, brought to the screen by director Mike Flanagan. What does it mean to measure a life not by its milestones, but by its dances?

In this episode, we dive into The Roses (2025): a film that wants to dazzle with its story and its setting—but how much of it truly blooms? We unpack the balance between external drama and inner struggles, debate whether the characters feel crafted or crafted too much, and worry just a little about Dario’s sudden urge to redecorate.

In this episode, we're thrown into this dark comedy thriller by Darren Aronosfky which takes place in 90s New York. A curveball for this director, but a fun entertaining chase.

Materialists from director Celine Song is finally out in swiss cinemas and we couldn't resist talking about it. Just when you think that romantic movies are out of fashion — Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal pull you back in.

This movie is a nice cerebral counterpart to Song's more emotional Past Lives and though it looks simple on the surface — has lots of subtle details to discuss.