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Song of the Day #6,455: ‘Hold On, I’m Comin” – Sam & Dave

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2025
#5. No Other Choice

I’ve been unemployed for the better part of a year, dealing with all of the uncertainty that comes with being out of a job, so Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice was particularly impactful right now.

The film follows Yoo Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun), an executive at a paper company who loses his job and goes to extraordinary lengths to land a new one. Desperate and helpless, he takes the concept of eliminating the competition to a whole new level.

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Song of the Day #6,454: ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ – SSgt. Barry Sadler

Today is my 29th wedding anniversary, so I was hoping a romantic song topped the Hot 100 the week of March 8, 1966. Alas, it was not to be.

Instead, we have ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ by Staff sergeant Barry Sadler. This simple march was a massive Vietnam War-era hit that wasn’t critical of the campaign, like most popular music of the time, but instead celebrated the men who fought in it.

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Song of the Day #6,453: ‘The Poor People of Paris’ – Les Baxter & His Orchestra

Throwing back to the week of March 7, 1956, we find a couple of repeats atop the Hot 100: Kay Starr’s ‘Rock and Roll Waltz‘ and Nelson Riddle’s ‘Lisbon Antigua.’

Another instrumental track was hot on the heels of Riddle’s hit, and would soon overtake it. That was Les Baxter’s recording of ‘The Poor People of Paris.’ This was a take on the French song ‘La goualante du pauvre Jean,’ which translates to ‘The Ballad of Poor John.’ Somewhere along the line, somebody mistook “pauvre Jean” for “pauvres gens,” which means “poor people,” and that explains the title change.

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Song of the Day #6,452: ‘Courtyard’ – Bobbie Gentry

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2025
#6. Eddington

Writer/director Ari Aster’s Eddington is the first film to tackle the insanity of America in 2020 — that discombobulating period when anti-COVID measures collided with the post-George Floyd social justice movement. The movie interrogates both sides of a country divided right down the middle and does so with humor, smarts, and a healthy dose of cynicism.

Some liberals disliked the film because it pokes fun at young social justice warriors and those who were overly cautious about COVID. But to the extent that Eddington takes sides, I see the more biting satire aimed at the right. This is a movie in which a planeload of heavily armed ANTIFA crisis actors descend on the town like something out of a Fox News fever dream.

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Song of the Day #6,451: ‘The Dark End of the Street’ – Percy Sledge

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2025
#7. Weapons

Zach Cregger’s 2022 Barbarian was an easy top ten entry for me — a twisty delight, alternately nerve-wracking and hilarious. It made me an instant fan, eager to see what he would deliver next.

The answer is another twisty delight, alternately nerve-wracking and hilarious. Weapons is broader and more ambitious than Barbarian but it serves up the same intoxicating blend of mystery, humor, scares, and catharsis.

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