Our previous end-of-year best lists mainly focused on films because there is too much TV to get even close to a definitive list. However, this year there were too many good shows out there not to engage with them.
So this year, we will look at all the shows we reviewed last year, SEE HERE, and pick our Top 10 of the 40 shows we reviewed. For a show to count, it needed to end its run or season in 2023.
TL;DR – It was a wonderful, moving, sad, delightful, and wild ride, unlike anything I have seen before, and it has been sitting in the back of my mind since I watched it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.
Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.
The Holdovers Review –
When you are watching a film, there are times when you have an experience where you become completely absorbed into the narrative. Taken back 50 years to a place you have never been before, to a place that you have no connection with, but you are taken there wholly. These cases are where the narrative, the direction, and the acting all come together for a perfect work. Today, we look at just such a film that focuses on three actors who give their all to the proceedings.
So to set the scene, it is coming to the end of the year in 1970 as we come to Barton Academy in New England. The term is coming to an end, and everyone is getting ready to go home to their families for Christmas, well, almost everyone. Every year, there is a handful of students who can’t make it back home for the break and stay over at the school, the titular holdovers. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) teaches ancient civilizations and is hated by most of the students, does not want to be the one stuck with the holdovers but gets out manoeuvred by another staff member. Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) wants to go home for the holidays, but his mother is spending it with her new husband, and Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) lives on campus but is facing her first Christmas alone. They make an odd bunch as the snow comes in.
This year, with the slight shift in how we format the awards, we added in a touch more flexibility. While that is mainly in the backend, I did want to take the opportunity to expand one of the awards we covered during this period.
It was a fantastic year for Australian and New Zealand Cinema, with each film I saw knocking it out of the park. There were intimate documentaries, films that held up a mirror to society, and those that brought the action to a new level.
This list will look more at the locally made Australian and New Zealand productions/co-productions and not just films filmed in those countries.
So, without further ado, these are the best of Australian and New Zealand Cinema in 2023. Be warned that there will be significant spoilers for the films in question.
Animation is a form of filmmaking that is often related to second-tier status, something just for kids. This is by both the organisations giving out the awards and the guilds meant to promote their members’ work. However, they are not second-tier films; in many ways, animated films push the frontiers of filmmaking and what is possible, and they should be championed for their work.
Animated films can be hand-drawn, stop/clay motion, or computer-generated; it does not matter, but all of them show the unique techniques of hundreds of artists that bring the work to life.
So, without further ado, these animated films showed us the glory of animation in 2023. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers for the movies in question. Also, click on the banners/titles to go to the full reviews of each of the films.
One of the benefits of film is that it is a visual medium, which means that it can do in a frame what it might take a book several pages of description to pull off. We see this the most in its ability to build worlds in front of our eyes.
These worlds could be great space operas exploring galaxies, a small period piece that looks back in time, or anything. But when every part of the film is used to tell a story, you know it is good.
One factor that I will always look out for in a film is the musical score. I can get caught in the world of music as it sits in my head in the days, weeks, months, and even the years that come. There is immense artistry in weaving emotions from music, having us slip into the world that is created, fear the oncoming dread even if we do not know why, or rejoice in the triumph of that final victory.
Music charts the cinematic world as it guides us, lifts us up, and can crush our souls. This is its power.
So, without further ado, these are the musical scores that moved us in 2023. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question.
Well, we have looked at Emotion and swung wildly across the spectrum to Fun, and now we are completing that trifecta by looking at Tension. Tension is one of the most challenging facets of filmmaking because it requires the script, direction, acting, and editing to all work in tandem to evoke the perfect pace. If just one part of that group misses, then an essential part of the film falls apart.
In 2023, we continued to see some excellent use of tension to build mystery, to be the harbinger of the coming dread, or even to tick the clock of inevitability.
So, without further ado, these moments of tension kept us on the edge of our seats in 2023. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers ahead for the films in question.
We looked at the films that hit us in the feels with emotions in our last awards. Now it is time to hard pivot to the other side of the spectrum with a look at the films that were a riot of fun. So today, I take a moment to champion those films that brought the joy, whether through upbeat action, one laugh after another, or that silliness that brings a smile to your face.
As I have gotten older, I am not afraid of having a good old-fashioned ugly cry in the cinemas when the time calls for it, and hell, I probably got emotional just writing this list (Spoiler: I did). Sometimes, they are tears of grief or tears of joy, and even still, sometimes, they are tears of anger.
Emotion is a core part of the cinema experience. If you can’t get us to respond emotionally to your characters and/or the situation, I am sorry you failed to make a great film.
So, without further ado, these are the films of 2023 that emotionally wrecked us. Be warned that there will be significant spoilers for the films in question.
You can use many techniques to help build your world, ground your setting, or give dimensions to your characters. You can use music and create elaborate sets, but one of the best ways is through the costumes you make.
People instantly judge a character within moments on the screen, and the outfits are essential to that first impression. More than this, you can also use costumes as a way of storytelling. What do they say about this world? What do they say about how a character is progressing?
Costumes can build worlds and tell us details we can only see, but also they can make us say, ‘Hot Damn’, look at that beading on that dress. That must have taken hours to do!
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 