Movie dentists have a bad rep. Try and name a decent movie dentist (apart from that one in Finding Nemo, and frankly there’s not enough character exposition there anyway). It’s basically impossible. According to our resident dental correspondent on the matter (no, really), dentists have been consistently portrayed as “killers… buffoons… sexual harassers” in film, literally ever since the 1930s when that short film came out about an evil dentist extracting teeth willy-nilly. Here are four of the worst movie dentists of all, and one orthodontist prick.

It might not be a film, but so far the return of Sherlock is still the cinematic event of the year. In one of our most gloriously jumbled opinion blogs ever, a heady mix of Best For Film writers, opportunistic tweeters and people whose opinions we’ve nicked get round the table to discuss The Empty Hearse. Spoilers, obviously, abound.

Don’t give me that. Don’t even try. You’ve seen Love Actually. You know what I mean when I say First Lobster. You know that what comes after David Beckham’s right foot is David Beckham’s left foot. You know that the best way to pick up chicks is to go to Wisconsin. It’s Christmas: here are ten bits I really love, actually about Love Actually, and watching Love Actually. (Or just have thoughts on. I have a lot of Thoughts on Love Actually. Full disclosure: this blog is written a bit smashed at 1am. Merry Christmas, constant readers. You’re tip top.)

It’s that time of year again! As the seasons turn, our adamant gaze pierces the mists of the future to tell you what you should be seeing next year. And, as usual, it’s mostly superheroes (not our fault the interesting little indie films don’t publicise themselves a year in advance, is it?). This year’s list is in order of release rather than assumed quality, because we keep putting crap films in the top 5 and then regretting it.

This Christmas – indeed, this year – the biggest thing to happen to BFF Literary Correspondent Ella Risbridger has been the day someone left an iPad unlocked and she got to play with it. And since we at Best For Film believe that no pursuit or hobby, no matter how arcane, is too odd to preclude its being the basis of a blog, here are some digital watercolours of the films she’s watched this holiday season. Obviously.

We are now entering what used to be called the dead days: that is, the days between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. It’s traditionally a time for witchery, magic, and mystery- and so, here at BFF we’ve compiled a list of films for each of the dead days, specially designed to bring you all the adventure, magic, mystery and witchery you could possibly want while sitting on the sofa in your Christmas PJs.

Look. Bear with me here. I know, I know, you’ve put up with a lot. You’ve put up with two two-thousand word essays on everything Gone with the Wind. You let me declare Chicken Run the greatest film of all time. You read the nonsense I talk about books – on a film blog. But this is probably the worst thing I’ve done yet.

We’re basically horrified by Joe Wright’s plan to make a Peter Pan origin movie in which Peter is FRIENDS WITH CAPTAIN HOOK. Even if Hugh Jackman’s in it. And since all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, we thought we’d give him some other ideas for Pan-themed films which (tragically) don’t yet exist. NEVERLAND FOREVER!

Right, here’s this year’s maddest news: if we can trust him, it appears Colin Farrell spent the couple of years before her death having a discreet little affair thing with Elizabeth Taylor. And if that’s true, then all bets are off. We’ve done a little digging and found a few more actors whose relationships stretched the limits of plausibility…

American Hustle, the shiny retro mafia romp from The Silver Linings Playbook’s David O Russell, starring The Silver Linings Playbook’s Bradley Cooper, and The Silver Linings Playbook’s Jennifer Lawrence (and some other people) comes out next week. The title seems to suggest that there’s something particularly American about being a con artist in the seventies. As a full-on tea-drinking foul-mouthed middle class Brit, who am I to disagree with this? Here are five more titles which have taught me something about what it’s like to be from THE LAND OF THE FREE.