Tempest 2000 dev Jeff Minter will be the subject of Digital Eclipse's next interactive documentary

One of 2023’s biggest cinema trends was the way accomplished filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, and many more delivered some of the most creatively and commercially successful work of their careers. There was just something in the air this year, as one major artist after another took big swings that connected.

There are a lot of ways to judge a great performance. In 2023, as in every year, some of the year’s best movies were quirky, colorful, boundary-pushing challenges to the cinematic status quo, and some were low-key, emotionally intense stories, either tracking the lives of famous historical figures or just trying to evoke the pains of real life. Our list of the best performances of the year honors both extremes: outsized performances that tickled and surprised us, and realistic ones that made us forget we were watching a performance. Here are our favorites among the many great performances we saw in movies in 2023.

Few works of historical fiction have been so imaginative in premise, yet so dull and lackluster in execution. Freud’s Last Session puts a powerhouse pair of actors, Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode, in the shoes of two renowned real-life figures, Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, as they engage in theological debate. But the resultant conversation, based on the play of the same name by Mark St. Germain (who co-wrote the screenplay with director Matthew Brown), would be laughed out of a high school philosophy club. Despite the caliber of its performers — especially Hopkins, who’s in the most fascinating phase of his career with works like The Father and One Life — Brown’s film is an utter dud.

A new look at Nosferatu is here, and it shows Willem Dafoe looking absolutely terrifying, surrounded by flames. 

The American company Blue Origin plans to launch its rocketv Big Shepard Monday for the first time since an accident more than a year ago, as the firm founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos heads back into space. The launch window from the pad in west Texas opens at 8:30 am local time (14H30 GMT), said Blue Origin, which plans to live stream the event.

Art work reportedly taken from Free Radical Design's unreleased TimeSplitters game has popped up online.

Another Orphan sequel is officially in development, director William Brent Bell has revealed.

Starting from tomorrow through January 5, 2024, we’re celebrating the holiday season with a month full of activities for our PlayStation community. As part of the PlayStation Plus Season of Play, PlayStation Plus members can redeem free avatars for PS5 and PS4 consoles, join eSports tournaments, earn points on PlayStation Stars and enter a competition for your chance to win amazing prizes. Activities for those who are not PlayStation Plus members are available as well.

We’re losing two great entries into the TV memes category this week: First up is The Gilded Age, which has taken over X feeds everywhere — or at least in a lot of places — with goofy memes paying homage to the series’ arch language and high society antics. That show will be wrapping up its second season, with a possible season 3 on the horizon.

Another weekend means another batch of streaming recommendations, and there's plenty of variety to choose from this week. Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali star in new Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind, while Todd Haynes' May December, which is already generating Oscar buzz for actor Charles Melton, has made its way to the UK via Sky Cinema. If you're in the mood for something a little more festive and lighthearted, try animated movie Merry Little Batman or Christmas rom-com Your Christmas or Mine 2, both on Prime Video.

If you missed The Game Awards 2023 livestream, as it was on overnight here in the UK, and are looking for a one-stop shop on what the big celebrity cameos and new game reveals were during the three-hour-plus event, we’ve got you covered.

Connecting Worlds will be released across the globe in the spring of next year, via Disney+.