‘Tis the season for turkey and frustrating holiday travel, so we’re naturally taking a look at some fun facts for the undisputed king of Thanksgiving films, John Hughes’ Planes, Trains And Automobiles!

Since 420 is upon us, we’re blowing plums of smoke and dishing out five fun facts about cinema’s greatest stoner comedy duo, Cheech & Chong.

With recent release of Leigh Whannell’s terrific modernization of H. G. Wells’ beloved story The Invisible Man, we’ve revisited the less terrific modernization from Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, 2000’s Hollow Man, and are serving up five fun facts about the film and its production!

To celebrate the upcoming release of Downhill, starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, we’re serving up five fun facts about the Swedish film for which its based on it, Ruben Östlund’s 2014 masterpiece, Force Majeure!

We’re celebrating the upcoming release of Benh Zeitlin’s sophomore feature, Wendy, with a few fun facts about the film and its production!

We were lucky enough to snag a seat at an early screening of The Lodge with co-directors Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz, along with cast members Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh in attendance.

With each new year’s wave of films comes an array of new cinematic soundscapes, and this year has been solid in that regard. Whether it marries perfectly with the visuals or can be cranked up on its own, a film’s score is integral to its atmosphere and overall aesthetic. At its very best, it enriches the film’s power by providing a layer of aural information that can inform the viewer on its characters and plot just as much as a the visuals.

In a sea of worthy competition, it's not uncommon for some great films to get eclipsed by the year's other contenders. There is, after all, a staggering amount of new releases each year, and some of them are here and gone in the blink of an eye, some don't even reach our local theaters at all. This makes it easy for a great film to go by unnoticed, and even when they do get seen, they don't always get the love and attention they deserve. Even when a film gets a lot of media buzz and attention, it can seem — to us anyways — like it still isn’t getting the attention it’s worthy of.

While there were several exceptional films last year, there was also an abundance of steamy crap too. Generally, a rotten film can be easily sniffed out (like Cats, Loqueesha or The Fanatic), so some bullets were easily be dodged, but there’s always a handful that sneak through undetected. We've already shared our favorite films from last year with you, and now it's time to share our picks for the worst. 

More than any other year here at Viddy Well, 2019 gave us the opportunity to review a lot of short films and even interview new and emerging filmmakers by phone and email. Since we’ve been watching a lot of short-form films, we thought we may as well recount our five films that really stood out the most to us and left a lasting impression.