We’re back with our latest episode of Guide for the Film Fanatic! In each episode, Jason Bailey and Mike Hull invite a guest from the world of film (including filmmakers, authors, critics, actors, and more) to select one of the 1600+ “must-see movies” collected in Danny Peary’s seminal 1986 book, Guide for the Film Fanatic. Bailey, Hull, and their guests deep dive on each film, discussing its history, themes, style, performances, initial reception, and legacy, taking a fresh look at some of the most beloved titles in cinema history.

However! This is a bonus episode! And carrying over an annual tradition from our previous podcast A Very Good Year, New York Times film critic, author, and friend of the pod Alissa Wilkinson returns to discuss her top five movies of the year we’ve just completed, and to talk a bit about the trends and controversies that preoccupied us.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Downcast, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’ve partnered up with One Heat Minute Productions on this show, so we’ve migrating it over to their feed; subscribe now if you haven’t already. 

We’re also putting our new episodes up on YouTube! Watch the show on our YouTube channel, @guideforthefilmfanatic, for visual accompaniment and bonus stuff and who knows what else:

The Testament of Ann Lee is currently in theaters; you can read Alissa’s review of it here. Marty Supreme also just hit theaters, while My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow is currently being self-released (you can read Alissa’s review of that one here). It Was Just an Accident is currently available for digital rental or purchase, while One Battle After Another is streaming on HBO Max. 

You can read Alissa’s full year-end best-of list (and the great Manohla Dargis’s as well) for the New York Times right here. (You can also read Jason’s at Crooked Marquee.) And you can buy her terrific book that we discussed, We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine, here, and her earlier, also excellent books here. 

If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, “Black Diplomats,” it’s here. And Jason’s book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend is OUT NOW, and you can order it from MZS Press, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your hardbacks, ebooks, and/or audiobooks. OR you can pre-order the paperback (out April 14, 2026) here. 

Last but not least, if you’d like to make a little donation to support us and the show, you can do that at Ko-fi!