.

I can hear it now. 

‘That doesn’t count.’

I can even picture in my head the people who will say it to me. 

My friends and colleagues know I love cinema and they know I keep lists, so often they ask me what my favourite film of the year is. I love that they do, of course I do, but this year I’m worried they’ll think my choice doesn’t qualify as a movie. 

Maybe they won’t, maybe the person I am having to justify this to is myself. Either way, it’s on my mind.

There’s no question though, the 2025 ‘film’ I have enjoyed more than any other so far is the last episode of the new series of Netflix’s Black Mirror. 

A while ago I only considered feature films that had been released in theatres but streaming has definitely changed all that, especially post 2020. Since then a lot of the big releases have come straight out for watching at home. So this one, which is part of an anthology show so has a stand alone story, stars an Oscar nominated actor and runs for 90 minutes, is as much a movie as any other. 

I should note it isn’t quite an isolated narrative. This is a follow up to 2017’s opener to Black Mirror Series 4 which itself was an hour and sixteen mins. (While there isn’t a standard ruling, most festivals and awards boards class a feature film as anything over an hour twenty.) Of course it being a sequel certainly doesn’t disqualify it as a movie, that would wipe out nearly all of last year’s box office top twenty. The first one was a smart Star Trek pastiche but this being Black Mirror it incorporated a spin on dark technology and created serious stakes for those aboard the titular spaceship. I won’t explain the set up because if you’ve seen the episode you don’t need me to and if not you should discover it for yourself. This second part turns around the optimistic ending we were left with then but in a way that makes perfect sense rather than it being a reversal or a forced point to keep the story going.

In fact, as is the case with the best of this show, Charlie Brooker’s writing is what makes it. Not only in the twists in the plot, the final confrontation between hero and villain here plays with tension and expectations in a way that just has your heart in your throat, but also in the characterisation. USS Callister: Into Infinity carries on with its excellent ensemble with a skill not commonly seen in the show (most episodes focus on one or two players) or in any movie. Most of the cast returns and any absence is also explained easily. 

The cast are superb in these roles. Jesse Plemons returns despite his character reaching a conclusive end previously (again it’s managed perfectly and with effortless precision) and he is a perfect mix of vulnerability and menace. Paul G. Raymond and Jimmi Simpson shine as well, with two very different dramady showcases. The whole thing belongs once again to the brilliant Cristin Milioti though. Milioti has become a little better known in the last eight years, mostly due to HBO’s The Penguin but her finest moment is 2021’s Palm Springs (which also never saw the inside of a cinema and was my number two film that year). Brooker is a writer who knows what to give his actors as much as he knows what to give the audience though and his and Milioti’s pairing really works.

Taken on its own, USS Callister: Into Infinity is a thrilling little film. It mixes the otherwise opposing genres of corporate thriller and science fiction wonderfully and brings great intrigue, humour and excitement from both. The visuals and design are worthy of the big screen too, even if made for the small.

I’ve not watched the whole of this new series of Black Mirror yet so there may be even better instalments, although only one other is feature length. If that does improve on this then we’ll be back here later but for now this is definitely the most enjoyable time I have had watching anything since January. With its classic sci-fi trappings, gender politics and the tension not compromised by its sense of fun it is kind of in my wheelhouse but it’s also very, very good.

Yep, it totally counts.