What Kinds of Film Writing Can I Find on CINEMA AUTOPSY?

CINEMA AUTOPSY is a personal film criticism blog by Thomas Caldwell, and its content falls into three main types: yearly "Favourite Films" lists, focused critical essays on individual films, and reflective writing about filmmakers. The site is organized in reverse-chronological order across more than 130 pages of archives, so the newest posts appear first and older writing is reached by paging back. If you are looking for a specific kind of piece — a year-end list, a deep essay on one film, or a tribute to a director — the sections below explain what each looks like and how to find it.

Yearly "Favourite Films" Lists

The most recurring format on the blog is an annual roundup of favourite films released in Australia that year. These posts are dated in late December and are written by Thomas Caldwell.

Two things are worth noting if you plan to use these lists. First, the selection criterion is Australian release, not global release or festival premiere, so a film may appear in a different year than you expect. Second, these are explicitly personal favourites rather than ranked best-of lists in any institutional sense — the framing is one critic's picks.

To read a given year, open the post from the homepage or page back through the archive until you reach the late-December entry for that year.

Critical Essays on Individual Films

Beyond the annual lists, the blog carries longer-form criticism focused on a single film. The example visible in the archive is "Violence in the Suburbs" (19 March 2023), an essay on Justin Kurzel's 2011 film Snowtown. This is the format to look for if you want sustained analysis of one work — themes, context, and argument — rather than a short verdict.

When browsing, treat these essays differently from the lists: they are not tied to a release year, so they can appear at any point in the archive and are best found by paging through or scanning post titles rather than by looking near December.

Writing About Filmmakers

The blog also includes personal, reflective pieces about individual filmmakers. "Farewell David Lynch" (17 January 2025) is described by the author as brief notes shared after Lynch's death, framed around the filmmaker's personal significance to him as both a fan and a critic. This type of post is elegiac and first-person rather than evaluative — useful if you want a critic's perspective on a director's influence, not a review of a specific title.

How the Archive Is Organized

All posts sit in a single reverse-chronological stream, paginated with links reading "1 2 3 ... 130 Next Posts." Practically, this means:

• Newest first. The homepage shows the most recent posts, so recent year-end lists and tributes surface immediately.
• Deep archive. With over 130 pages, older essays and earlier annual lists require paging back or using the site's own navigation; there is no visible category menu in the provided material, so plan on sequential browsing.
• Mixed formats. Because lists, essays, and tributes share one stream, expect to scan titles to separate a year-end list from a single-film essay.

If you want a quick overview of a given year in Australian cinema, start with that year's "Favourite Films" post. If you want depth on one film or filmmaker, page through the archive and look for essay-style titles such as "Violence in the Suburbs" or tribute posts like "Farewell David Lynch."