Justice League
Battle of the Sexes
Paddington 2
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Jigsaw
The Death of Stalin
Thor: Ragnarok
The Snowman
Maze
Blade Runner 2049
Home Again
Kingsman: The Golden Circle

To read more of our mini-reviews, visit our Reviews page.

Grinding My Gears: Films of the Year and Release Dates

Grinding My Gears: Films of the Year and Release Dates

15th December 2013

At this time of year, film critics and lovers worldwide start thinking about what films they truly loved in the past 12 months. I count myself as one of these. Throughout the year I've been keeping track of the new releases that I've seen and whether they 'cut the mustard' or not but I've also had to keep an eye on release dates around January/February and also towards the year's close.

The reason that I've had to keep track of these is because it's become pretty common that films which were in American lists for the previous year are actually released the following year over here. Zero Dark Thirty for instance, released in the US in 2012 but we (UK) didn't get it until January 2013, so it may surprisingly make my list this year even though it feels like its been out more than a year.

Things like this are also why it is getting increasingly hazardous to make your Best Films of the Year lists early as there is a massive swell of high-quality films released in the last sixth of the year due to the proximity of the awards season. These aren't your blockbusters or sequels, these are more the ones likely to win Best Actor or Actress Oscars or Best Picture.

It benefits these films to be released closer to the time because they will be fresher in the minds of the many voters, juries or even in the members of the public than films released earlier in the year. This is all to enhance the 'buzz' surrounding an awards season film.

This 'buzz' usually starts when the film screens at film festivals such as Toronto or Telluride, months before actual wide release. Argo is a recent example of this. Before the film started screening, there wasn't any 'buzz' surrounding it but then it popped up as a surprise screening at a film festival and started winning awards. When it was released in around October/Novemeber, it gained strong word of mouth so hung around for a long time and thus increased its buzz. Of course it went on to take Best Picture at the Oscars. It couldn't hurt it that it depicted Hollywood as the good guys and saving the day!

Back to my initial point though, there are so many films released at the end of this year and the beginning of next here in the UK that a list of best films of the year made a month or two ago may change completely due to these films' awards hopes. From the start of November 2013 and until the end of January 2014 we have:

  • Philomena
  • Short Term 12
  • Gravity
  • The Butler
  • Blue Is The Warmest Colour
  • Parkland
  • Saving Mr.Banks
  • Kill Your Darlings
  • Nebraska
  • American Hustle
  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  • Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
  • 12 Years A Slave
  • The Railway Man
  • The Wolf Of Wall Street
  • Inside Llewyn Davis
  • Out of the Furnace

Of course there are many other films out around then and maybe some in late October or early February are for this same purpose of proximity to the awards so that they're being talked about at the right time. Things like The Hobbit and Anchorman 2 are also out in December but I don't think that they are for awards reasons.

My cut offs will be UK release dates from 1st January to December 31st 2013. So my list will not be able to be true and published until I've seen a few more of these late releases and ones I've missed during the year that I feel could possibly be to my liking. Just to be sure.

I'm just excited to make my first Best Of list as Embarr Films so therefore I had been thinking about it a lot and grew impatient waiting on finalising my own list. Many people disagree with lists but I enjoy reading them although I usually struggle deciding on my own, I hope that many of you will be interested in what my final list will be and I look forward to reading as more of your own suggestions!

Fancy giving this a share?

Ethan M Barr
Embarr Himself

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About Us:

Embarr Films was created by myself, Ethan Barr, as somewhere to share film views with local film lovers.

It all began in the early days of 2013 with a Twitter account. I used that account to post my film views and often tweeted little film reviews confined to those 140-character bubbles. We have since expanded and now also have a Facebook page where we're also happy for you to get in touch and share your thoughts!

I built this website myself from scratch in summer 2013 just to give Embarr Films a bigger web presence. Make sure to check out our Reviews and Views pages before you go and don't hesitate to get in touch!

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We are based in Northern Ireland but more specifically, Derry in the North-West.

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