The 2023 DG Movies Awards

Another year over and it was great to regularly be back in cinemas for a full year after the pandemic effecting the last two.

It's been a much more varied year then ever with many favourites coming from all types of routes of distribution. They have come from the multiplexes, the indie picture house's, multiple streaming platforms, film festivals and even some from regular TV.

We still have the usual 17 awards that are up for grabs this year. Nothing flashy in the form of a video this year due to my lack of available time to make one. So it's back to basics again this year.

Below is the full list of the nominees for each award and the winners in bold.

BEST EDITING:

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Fast & Feel Love

The Bad Guys

The Northman

BEST COSTUME DESIGN & MAKEUP:

All Quiet On The Western Front

Babylon

Blonde

Crimes Of The Future

Elvis

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

All Quiet On The Western Front

Blonde

Elvis

The Batman

The Northman

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

Avatar: The Way Of Water

Black Adam

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore

Thor: Love And Thunder

BEST SCORE & SOUNDTRACK:

Blonde

Elvis

Please Baby Please

The Batman

The Northman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Babylon

Bardo

Blonde

The Batman

The Northman

BEST SCREENPLAY:

Bros

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

Tar

Women Talking

BEST POSTER:

Please Baby Please

The Batman

The Outfit

Thor: Love And Thunder

X

BEST TRAILER:

Avatar: The Way Of Water

Elvis

The Batman

The Northman

Triangle Of Sadness

BEST SCENE/MOMENT:

Before The Light Goes - Babylon

The Mask - Emily

Do Something Weird - Everything Everywhere All At Once

Siege At The Palace - RRR

Batmobile Chase - The Batman

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
Babylon

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Northman

The Whale

Women Talking

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE:

Stephanie Hsu - Everything Everywhere All At Once

Nicole Kidman - The Northman

Sadie Sink - The Whale

Jessie Buckley - Women Talking

Brittany Snow - X

BEST SUPPORTING MALE:

Tom Hanks - Elvis

Barry Keoghan - The Banshees Of The Inisherin

Colin Farrell - The Batman

Paul Dano - The Batman

Martin Henderson - X

BEST LEADING FEMALE:

Margot Robbie - Babylon

Ana De Armas - Blonde

Cate Blanchett - Tar

Danielle Deadwyler - Till

Andrea Riseborough - To Leslie

BEST LEADING MALE:

Billy Eichner - Bros

Eden Dambrine - Close

Austin Butler - Elvis

Bill Nighy - Living

Brendan Fraser - The Whale

BEST DIRECTOR:

Baz Luhrmann - Elvis

Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert - Everything Everywhere All At Once

Martin McDonagh - The Banshees Of Inisherin

Matt Reeves - The Batman

Steven Spielberg - The Fabelmans

BEST FILM:

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure

Avatar: The Way Of Water

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Fast & Feel Love

Nothing Compares

RRR

The Batman

The Northman

The Tinder Swindler

Total list of winners

5 - Everything Everywhere All At Once

2 - All Quiet On The Western Front

     Blonde

     The Batman

1 - Avatar: The Way Of Water

     Bros

     Elvis

     The Banshees Of Inisherin

     The Outfit

     The Whale

Total list of nominations

10 - The Batman

9   - Elvis 

8   - The Northman

6   - Everything Everywhere All At Once

5   - Babylon

       Blonde

3   - Avatar: The Way Of Water

       The Whale

       Women Talking

       X

2   - All Quiet On The Western Front

       Bros

       Fast & Feel Love

       Please Baby Please

       RRR

       Tar

       The Banshees Of Inisherin

       Thor: Love And Thunder

1   - Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure

       Bardo

       Black Adam

       Close

       Crimes Of The Future

       Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

       Emily

       Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore

       Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

       Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

       Living

       Nothing Compare

       The Bad Guys

       The Fabelmans

       The Outfit

       The Tinder Swindler

       Till

       To Leslie

       Triangle Of Sadness

My Top 10: Films Of 2022

2022 saw quite a variety of films shine and capture audiences imagination. Everything such as mainstream blockbusters, indie darlings, emerging international releases that caught the eye of the general audience and effective documentaries. In my view, each genre seemed to manage to give us a big success whether it was from a critical or financial perspective.

So if you feel films aren't giving enough variety these days, you clearly are not looking properly.

So my journey of getting to what I felt were the ten best films of the year was a very positive one as it made me realise how rich in content this industry is right now.

Below is my ranking of all 2022 films that I have seen along with a short review of each of my top 10:

198) Moonfall
197) The King's Daughter

196) Jurassic World: Dominion

195) Deep Water

194) No Bears

193) Flux Gourmet

192) Pinocchio

191) Pacifiction

190) Please Baby Please

189) Crimes Of The Future

188) Disenchanted

187) Morbius

186) All The Old Knives

185) Unwelcome

184) Halloween Ends

183) Slumberland

182) Against The Ice

181) The Lost City

180) Bardo

179) Watcher

178) Scream

177) Doctor Who Am I

176) White Noise

175) Rise

174) Hocus Pocus 2

173) Star Wars Kid: The Rise Of The Digital Shadows

172) Myanmar Diaries

171) Holy Spider

170) Roald Dahl's Matilda: The Musical

169) Ambulance

168) Uncharted

167) Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore

166) Return To Seoul

165) The Railway Children Return

164) Ticket To Paradise

163) Tommy Guns

162) Sword Art Online The Movie: Progressive - Scherzo Of Deep Night

161) The Son

160) Monica

159) Strange World

158) Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.

157) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

156) The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent

155) Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted

154) The Bubble

153) Sonic The Hedgehog 2

152) Rodeo

151) My Father's Dragon

150) Bodies Bodies Bodies

149) Spirited

148) Dual

147) Allelujah

146) Call Jane

145) EO

144) Emily The Criminal

143) The Sound Of 007

142) The Adam Project

141) Fireheart

140) Death On The Nile

139) Violent Night

138) Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

137) Black Adam

136) The Swimmers

135) A Love Song

134) Loving Highsmith

133) I Wanna Dance With Somebody

132) Saint Omer

131) Good Night Oppy

130) Smoking Causes Coughing

129) Triangle Of Sadness

128) We Might As Well Be Dead

127) The Lost King

126) Men

125) Super Pets

124) The Gray Man

123) M3gan

122) Pearl

121) Corsage

120) Thunder

119) The Pale Blue Eye

118) See How They Run

117) Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris

116) Fall

115) Don't Worry Darling

114) Decision To Leave

113) Wendell & Wild

112) The First Slam Dunk

111) Prey

110) Causeway

109) Enola Holmes 2

108) The Novelist's Film

107) McEnroe

106) Brian And Charles

105) Bullet Train

104) Thor: Love And Thunder

103) Name Me Lawand

102) Lightyear

101) Nope

100) America

99) Enys Men

98) Lady Chatterley's Lover

97) Matter Out Of Place

96) Sisu

95) The Eternal Daughter

94) Devotion

93) The Quiet Girl

92) Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymanda

91) Speak No Evil

90) A Man Called Otto

89) Love Life

88) Top Gun: Maverick

87) The Bad Guys

86) Dog

85) X

84) Turning Red

83) Bones And All

82) Empire Of Light

81) The Eight Mountains

80) How To Blow Up A Pipeline

79) All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

78) God's Creatures

77) Next Sohee

76) The Plains

75) Joyland

74) Incredible But True

73) The Wonder

72) Hatching

71) Emily

70) Viking

69) Karaoke

68) Barbarian

67) The Good Nurse

66) Hustle

65) Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

64) Thirteen Lives

63) Amsterdam

62) Three Thousand Years Of Longing

61) You Won't Be Alone

60) Emancipation

59) Blue Jean

58) Till

57) The Sea Beast

56) The Outfit

55) Where The Crawdads Sing

54) Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

53) The Woman King

52) Unicorn Wars

51) The Inspection

50) Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

49) Aisha

48) Armageddon Time

47) Return To Dust

46) Tori And Lokita

45) Alcarras

44) Aftersun

43) Blonde

42) Argentina, 1985

41) Navalny

40) Talk To Me

39) Hostile

38) Fire Of Love

37) That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime The Movie: Scarlet Bond

36) Stutz

35) Pinocchio

34) Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

33) Tar

32) The Whale

31) Women Talking

30) To Leslie

29) Hundreds Of Beavers

28) The Fabelmans

27) The Banshees Of Inisherin

26) The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari

25) The Menu

24) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

23) My Imaginary Country

22) Sick Of Myself

21) Bros

20) Hello, Bookstore

19) Girl Picture

18) Living

17) Babylon

16) All Quiet On The Western Front

15) She Said

14) Broker

13) A Bunch Of Amateurs

12) Suzume

11) Close 

10) Fast & Feel Love - An absolute hoot of an over-the-top comedy that involves the strange world of sport stacking.

The comedy is cleverly silly and there are a number of pop culture references which many will appreciate.

In the middle of all the silliness, there is also a solid heart to this story of learning how to come of age and become an adult. It didn't a big distribution. So I urge you to check this out and deservedly boost its coverage.

9) Nothing Compares - An absolutely gripping and raw viewing experience of how one of the most talented singers of 1990's was rejected by the mainstream world.

For those that remember the story will jump back into all that high-octane story of how people reacted to her actions.

If you are not aware of this moment in music history, prepare yourself.

8) RRR - A glorious Indian epic that managed to catch fire in America via Netflix, and deservedly so.

This 3hr+ period action drama has so much going for it. The action has high-energy and imagination to it, the emotion is nicely over-the-top and it has its moments of vintage Bollywood music set-pieces.

7) The Northman - A beautifully brutal action drama set in Viking times where a young prince is on a path to avenge his father's murder.

Director Robert Eggers continues to make highly impactable films that are beautiful to look at, contains strange yet engrossing imagery and has an energy to it that is hard to resist.

6) The Tinder Swindler - One of the first film documentaries that grabbed the attention of many people that reminded me of when I saw 'Catfish'.

The story is incredible and nicely cut, the interviewees present their side of the story very effectively that make it a highly satisfying viewing experience.

5) Avatar: The Way Of Water - The first of hopefully multiple sequels to James Cameron's beautiful looking franchise that gives us pure escapism.

It's great to be back on Pandora, the visuals have moved on in such a way I never thought possible and the story and action gives us something highly entertaining. Cameron can still do it.

4) Elvis - Another vintage visual spectacle by director Baz Luhrmann about the most successful musician of all-time.

Lead by the amazing performance of Austin Butler, this was highly-satisfying wild ride that you can't help but want to watch again straight away.

Also some of the vintage modern touches to the soundtrack that Luhrmann always does works perfectly.

3) Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure - Another wonderful coming-of-age story by director Richard Linklater. This one could well be his most personal.

Linklater's always amazes me as to how to sucks me and many others in. It goes at a gentle pace and the strong family connection and sense of adventure just captures the imagination perfectly for the viewer.

2) The Batman - When you thought we didn't need another Batman film, director Matt Reeves gives you another reason why.

His dirty and intimate style along with a cast list you wouldn't normally expect gives us a Batman story that while has those classic tropes is more of a detective story.

It also gives us a Batman at a very interesting point in his life. The complete package for me pretty close to competing with the Dark Knight trilogy.

1) Everything Everywhere All At Once - A film that truly lives up to its title.

Relentless pacing and energy, charismatic characters, consistent comedy and imagination of the highest order gives us something you have never seen before and that you won't be prepared for.

An absolute game-changer.