Looking Closer's Annual Favorite Albums Lists

Favorite Recordings of 2025: #15–#11

Here are my reflections on five of my fifteen favorite recordings of 2025, featuring (in alphabetical order) Ólafur Arnalds (with Talos), Patty Griffin, Anna B Savage, Mavis Staples, and Wet Leg.

Favorite Recordings

Overstreet’s Favorite Recordings of 2025, Part Two: #30–#16

Time to open up your music apps and make yourself a list of outstanding albums you might have missed!

Film Review

Kate Hudson earns that nomination: first impressions of Song Sung Blue

This is a story that deserved a decent movie, and it got one. It might’ve become by-the-numbers melodrama, but cut through my cynicism and made me believe.

Journal Entry

Refueling, revving the engines...

A Surprise Package post full of recent highlights — Muppets! Anna Tivel! Rian Johnson! Catherine O’Hara! and much more.

Bruce Springsteen

Bragg, Bryan, and Springsteen light the way for artists of conscience in 2026

The great Bruce Springsteen is stepping up and singing with courage, conscience, and truth...

Tricia Cooke

Wish I hadn’t: first (and last) impressions of Honey Don’t!

I wish I’d trusted the reviews I got from friends and favorite critics who saw Honey Don’t! in the theater. Or maybe I just should’ve trusted the title’s imperative.

Songlights

Songlights: 2026 begins with Peter Gabriel, Mistki, They Might Be Giants, Iron & Wine, Buck Meek, and more

I’m already sampling new tracks from upcoming albums by quite a few of my favorite artists.

2025

Overstreet’s Favorite Recordings of 2025: introduction and honorable mentions

If only with candles and stars Broken light from dreams like ours We will still find our way through to love . . . — Sam Phillips, “Candles and Stars” By the age of 13, I was a devoted listener to Rick Dees’ Weekly Top 40. Every week, I’d turn the delicate dial

Pierre Creton

7 Walks with Mark Brown: a brilliant way to start a new year of movies

[Streaming on Hoopla.] Today, I listened to a podcast in which Father James Martin talks about how to begin 2026 with a “spiritual reset.” Then, I went home and watched 7 Walks with Mark Brown. And I experienced a spiritual reset.

John Williams

A memorable evening with John Williams’s biographer

On January 8, I interviewed Tim Greiving about his extraordinary journey to becoming the first biographer of the great John Williams.

Luci Shaw

The Generosity (or, why we’re celebrating Luci Shaw’s 97th birthday anyway)

In memoriam: Luci N. Shaw, 1928–2025.

Journal Entry

Sending out a New Year’s SOS, and making a resolution

An update regarding my recent absence, and a resolution — despite my soul’s fatigue — to keep on keepin’ on.

Ryan Coogler

First (and second) impressions of Sinners

Sinners is a film of two halves: daytime and nighttime. The first half is colorful, epic, and full of surprises; the second is shadowy, violent . . . and disappointing.

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

First impressions of Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

In a year that hasn't been particularly exciting for animation, Little Amélie is a memorable standout.

Jessica Jacobs

Perhaps you need a “Perseverance Prayer”

Here’s a poem that I offer as a prayer for my own weary heart, and for all who long for the opportunity to do what they do best.

By My Lights

By My Lights: A December 17 Surprise Package

Some recent highlights from my recent incoming texts, the news feed, and the Coming Soon movie calendar.

Sixpence None the Richer

NPR celebrates a Sixpence Christmas

Sixpence brings tidings of comfort and joy to NPR’s Tiny Desk!

John Williams

You’re invited to a celebration of John Williams film music!

Join me in Seattle on January 8 for an evening with the author of the first-ever biography of John Williams.

Knives Out

Wake Up Dead Man — a review in progress

Rian Johnson's third film in the Knives Out series is not only my favorite of the series — it's one of the most provocative films about Christian faith I've seen in many years.

Film Review

Train Dreams (2025)

Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing) collaborate on another enthralling film about men seeking meaning in hard times.

Journal Entry

Breaking this week’s (apparent) silence...

Technical difficulties interrupted my posting this week.

Meet Me at the Edge of the World: the 2025 Nowhere Else Festival keynote address

Here is a revised, expanded version of the keynote address I delivered at the 2025 Nowhere Else Festival in Martinsville, Ohio on Labor Day Weekend.

Songlights

Songlights: Lucinda Williams, Brandi Carlile, The Mountain Goats, David Bowie, Valerie June, and Elbow (live!)

Some of the music that’s kept me moving under dark clouds and torrential rain this last week.

You Can Count On Me

You can still count on Lonergan

A few notes on revisiting You Can Count on Me as we approach its 25th anniversary.