Best of the Year is back – we won’t rest until every year since the invention of the cine camera has been commemorated with a series of reductive and genre-specific blogs! This week it’s the turn of 1997. Specifically, action films from 1997. Specifically, Vincent’s favourite action films from 1997. Want to write your own Best of blog? Get in touch at [email protected]!

Harald Zwart, while speaking about his adaptation of young adult fantasy novel The Mortal Instruments, has cited The Exorcist and the original version of The Thing as influences. Zwart says he thinks it’s good for kids to be scared, and I agree to some extent. Children use films to explore feeling. Fear, loss, confusion; they’re all up on screens from the get go. But Zwart’s desire to scare seems too outspoken, too full-frontal for a children’s tale.

As you literally cannot have failed to notice, Ben ‘look what a nice beard I’ve got’ Affleck has just been cast as the new Batman in Warner Bros’ three thousandth reboot of everyone’s favourite neurotic detective gimp. We spectacularly failed to predict this. But could his CV offer some clues to other actors who’d be… well, Battier? We’ve delved into the depths of Ben’s IMDb to decide which of his costars would do a better job.

With Reagan’s biographers being all whiney about The Butler, and Naomi Watts apparently convinced that Princess Di’s been looking down on Watts as she plays her, thinking “Ooh, yes, lovely work there, Naomi,” we thought it was a good time to consider the nature of the biopic. Then we got a bit overwhelmed and decided to just harp on about a few that, for some reason or another, stood out to us.

All good things must come to an end, and after three jam-packed days of exclusive video interviews we’re finally running out – well, YOU try fitting more than three short films plus interviews plus music and a quiz into four hours. Smart arse. In our final celluloid retrospective, we meet the stars of Anna vs. the Dead.

Jackie Chan is undoubtedly one of the greatest martial artists in cinema history, and not just for his ability to hit stuff – his comedic timing, his ability to use props intuitively and allow himself to undergo extreme physical duress has made him a force of nature. Many know him only for his less-than-stellar Hollywood films (you can still hear the screams of innocent children in the background of Around The World In 80 Days), but when Jackie gets a hit you want to stand far back. Here’s our Top 10 Jackie Chan films EVER.

You seemed to like us doing a video and that yesterday, so here’s another one – an exclusive interview with the boys from Bustabowl Productions on the occasion of the premiere of their historic film Cooks, shot in 2010 or 2011 or something but first screened last week at Best For Film Presents… We Like Short Shorts. Enjoy!

Screenings are important. Screenings are how I discovered that Carrie is the scariest film ever made. Screenings are how I got to see Tommmy Wiseau tell a ten minute story about leather jackets. Screenings are responsible for the only tolerable instance I’ve seen of someone eating nachos in a cinema, albeit fancy ones. The guys from Scalarama are firmly in agreement with these statements, and they want to get you involved.

We’ve started having conversations and filming them! YES, Best For Film has finally joined the modern age. If you missed out on our latest film club, you can relive all the fun of the fair with this exclusive interview with the cast and crew of zombie ultrashort Mike.

Since we met the Griswolds 30 years ago, the cast of this legendary all-American family have gone out to explore on their own adventures in the world of acting. From having success in the music charts, to starring in hit TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory and even becoming another of Hollywood’s most famous embarrassing fathers, the original cast from The Ultimate Vacation Collection, out now on Blu-Ray for the first time, is still very much alive and kicking!