Criticker's Top Seven Moments of 2025
2025 was one of the most exciting years in the history of Criticker. We hit a bunch of milestones, celebrated some major successes, and did more to bring attention to our little corner of the internet than ever before. These efforts went hand-in-hand with major functional and aesthetic updates to the website itself.
Let's take a look back at the top moments of the year for Criticker!
#7. The Introduction of Full Reviews
Since its inception, Criticker has allowed users to write "mini-reviews" to go along with their ratings. But it wasn't until this year that we introduced the ability to write detailed reviews of any length. This proved immediately popular, and we saw thousands of long-form reviews swiftly join the one million+ minireviews already on the site.
#6. An AMA on Reddit
As part of our 2025 efforts to spread the word about Criticker, Mike took a couple hours to host an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. This kind of no-holds-barred, crowd-sourced interview was something we've never done before, and we were worried about it ... maybe the questions would be too hard, too mean-spirited, or maybe there wouldn't be enough of them.
But the event went without a hitch! We received a ton of excellent, insightful questions, and the post sat at the top of the IAMA Subreddit for a number of days. We also crushed our single day record of user registrations, immediately following the event. If you haven't read the AMA yourself, why not check it out now, and get to know a little bit more about Criticker and the people who make it!
#5. Our Inevitable Embrace of the Dark Side
Dark mode had been one of our most-requested features for many, many years, and in 2025 it finally became a reality. This option to experience Criticker was immediately popular, and we soon made it the default. There's something about a website devoted to movies which kind of begs for a darker, more relaxed and muted experience.
#4. The 2025 BASE Awards
Criticker was proud to sponsor the Hidden Gem category at the 2025 BASE Awards. BASE is the British Association for Screen Entertainment, which promotes and supports the country's home entertainment sector, and they have a big annual awards show, held this year at London's Camden Roundhouse. It was thrilling to see the Criticker logo up on stage, and in the photo backdrops, alongside names like Disney and Universal.
And we were also thrilled that one of our favorite films of the year took home the prize, which is voted upon by the public. Hundreds of Beavers was the funniest movie we had seen all year, and a worthy winner of the Hidden Gem Award!
#3. A New Logo and Fresh Style
It seems hard to believe that it was just March when we relaunched Criticker with a totally new look. We unveiled a new logo, color scheme, mobile experience, and a totally new layout. It was a facelift that was way overdue and seemed to be well-received in the community -- a considerable feat for a website whose audience had gotten used to it over the course of many years many years.
Not only did the revamping of Criticker make it look a lot more modern, but it came with a major refactoring of code on the backend, which has made it much easier for us to roll out bug fixes and feature enhancements at a pace we had never before come close to approaching.
#2. Our Biggest Year Ever
In just about every measurable metric, 2025 was Criticker's most successful year ever. We had a record number of new users, and new sponsors. More new film ratings, more press, more bug fixes, more monthly active users, more new enhancements, more partnerships... just "more" of everything!
We're a long way from where we want the site to be, and are still a very small fish in a massive ocean swimming alongside whales who could swallow us in a single gulp. But we're still alive, and growing. The fact that momentum is building for Criticker in 2025 is incredible, considering that this was the year we celebrated...
#1. Twenty Years of Existence
On September 9th, 2025, Criticker celebrated its twentieth year online. Twenty years is a long time for a website to be online, and we're extremely proud of the accomplishment. Also, we're pretty shocked by it -- was it really twenty years ago that we were scheming out this idea, from our apartment in Berlin? That's a lifetime ago! It's no small feat for a core team of two, to keep something alive for such a length of time.
Not just alive, but growing: as mentioned above, 2025 was Criticker's best year ever. That's no accident. Although we had kept it running over the past two decades, we never really devoted ourselves to Criticker in the way we did this year. It's been gratifying to see that effort pay off, although
Twenty years means Criticker is older than some full-fledged adults! And indeed, we've heard from a number of users who discovered it when they were kids, and who've grown up with it. What an amazing relationship... and we hope it lasts at least another twenty years! We don't plan on slowing down anytime soon.