Awards – My Top 20 Films of 2023

So far, in our awards, we have looked at Action, Animation, Best of Australia & New Zealand, Cinematography, Costumes, Emotion, Fun, Music, Tension, and Worldbuilding.

However, in this last entry into our Best of 2023 awards, we crown our Best Film of 2023.

All films are subjective, so our list might look completely different from yours. Of the 121 films we reviewed last year, 113 had their Australian Theatrical/Streaming Release in 2023. This is the list we draw our entries from, and you can see the complete list of movies HERE.

Much like last year’s list, we have had many staggered releases towards the end of the year in Australia. So we may have films here that were released in 2022 for you but 2023 for us, and there may be some omissions here because we won’t get those films until later in 2024, which is why you won’t see The Holdovers on this list (it will be on the 2024 list)

Highly CommendedAsteroid City, Crater, John Wick: Chapter 4, M3GAN, Nimona, Sweet As & They Cloned Tyrone

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s dive into the first entry in our list of Best Films of 2023.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – Video Game Review

TL;DR – A stunningly beautiful game full of wonder and bugs

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for this game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Review –

Well, 2023 is the year that Dungeons and Dragons [or D&D] continues to build on its growing success brought on by the Critical Role/Stranger Things pandemic boost. After seeing the genuinely remarkable Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves that gets better on each re-watch, I was musing that there is one pop-culture realm it seems to be absent in: video games. Back in my day, before my beard went grey, there were classics like Neverwinter and Baldur’s Gate, but it has been 23 years since the last game. Has it been worth the wait?

So to set the scene, [insert your character here] was going about their day in the grand city of Baldur’s Gate along the Sword Coast of Faerun when an enormous nautiloid ship appears overhead. It dives across the city, snapping up citizens as they run, teleporting them and you inside into the lair of the Illithids. These tentacle-bearded creatures reproduce by putting one of their parasites behind a victim’s eye and waiting a week or so for them to transform the victim into another Illithid. This is your fate, or at least this is what should have happened. But destiny had different plans as your ship gets attacked by Githyanki flying on the back of dragons. Your ship crashes, and you survive, escaping a painful death. However, your fate may now be linked to the survival of the entire Sword Coast.

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Movie Review

TL;DR – An enjoyable film that captures the chaos of a DnD session right down to the nat-20 dice rolls.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

The party enters the arena.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Review

Between a combination of Critical Role finding a moment in the streaming space and the wave of nostalgia birthed from Stranger Things, it has rarely been a better time for Dungeons & Dragons. Many people started their own DnD campaigns, and I am not immune to that, so what do you do? Well, you bring your party to the cinemas and experience a one-shot.

So to set the scene, we open in prison surrounded by an icy wasteland. Two prisoners were Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), a bard and his best friend Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a barbarian trying to get a pardon by explaining their tragic backstory. Or … you know, you could do a little prison break. Because when Edgin was captured, he left his daughter Kira Darvis (Chloe Coleman) in the care of his party member Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), rogue. Only Forge is now the Lord of Neverwinter and might have turned Kira against the group.

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