As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on another year here at InReview.

We weathered ups and downs this year. Film critic Alexis Stewart’s reviews were unfortunately absent from the site as she has taken a break from writing, but we also gained another writer in the very talented Brandon Hill, who has been writing monthly science fiction and fantasy book reviews for us.

Myself, Poonguazhali Arularasu and Andrew Baillargeon contributed, film, literature and game reviews respectively. I delved deeper into the world of TV episode reviews, which I entered during the pandemic when new releases were few and far in between.

Overall readership of the website has been almost identical to last year’s, if slightly under. But we’ve also taken off on TikTok through our account, @inreviewmovies, where I’ve been providing mostly supplement material to our written reviews.

These videos already eclipsed the viewership of our written reviews last year, but they’ve greatly outpaced them this year, with viewership of our TikTok clocking in at 162,000. I started our TikTok in August 2022, and in 2023 it eclipsed the total viewership of this site, which celebrated its five-year anniversary in the summer.

Maybe video is the future, but I also believe in the value of the written content that we provide here, which we will continue to publish. InReview might be an entertainment review site, but in the 21st century, a website isn’t just a website; it has to be a platform on social media, usually multiple of them (aside from TikTok, we’re also on Facebook, which I’d appreciate if you like).

Five years in, InReview still remains to be a fulfilling journey that I’m proud of. Here’s to what 2024 has in store for us.