Best of, and worst of, lists for the year of 2013 are everywhere. Clearly, this is subjective territory and for everyone who declares, “This film is a giant pile of drivel” someone else claims, “That pile of drivel is the new Citizen Kane.” Opinions are flying because – oooh, ahhh – everyone’s gearing up for award season! With winner pools, layman ballots, even an Academy-sponsored bingo sheet available for download, Oscar parties appear to be all the rage. You won’t need to hire your photographer friends to play paparazzi and yell at attendees all night or an actual length of scarlet carpeting – all you need is a little ingenuity.

Casting directors probably have one of the most important jobs in Hollywood. When it comes to getting somebody right for a role, all sorts of things have to be taken into consideration, like if they have the right look, or if they’re a cokehead who might just not turn up on set or whether or not they’re Jennifer Lawrence (so hot right now). Sometimes, casting directors take a chance and get it spot on – Heath Ledger as The Joker, anyone? Other times, they not only get it wrong. They get it really, really, weird.

After a wobbly start and a second episode so distressing we didn’t even write a blog about it, Sherlock finally gave the fans (apart from those it’s-all-about-the-brolance twerps on Tumblr) what they wanted with last night’s barnstorming episode. We trot across the big/small screen divide to look at some other third instalments that have restored faith in their respective franchises.

The words ‘independent film’ and ‘the National Lottery’ don’t normally go together; but they probably should. In a bid to highlight the mounds of cash that the Lottery diverts from the pockets of hopeless optimists to the cameras of budding film-makers, this short film suggests how one of Britain’s best loved flicks might have turned out without NL funding.

We’re a trifle excited about the upcoming Inside Llewyn Davis, have we mentioned that at all? So in its honour we’ve compiled a list of our favourite ever fictional musicians. From rock gods, to rock definitely mortals, to rock not even anythings but rather pop or folk, this is a list of people who should be on your radio right now but aren’t because they’re tragically not real.

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.