Every year our staff vote for their favourite books, albums, films and TV shows of the past 12 months. Here are our top 10 DVDs of the year, voted for by Readings’ staff, and displayed in no particular order.

(You can find all our best picks for books, CDs & DVDs of 2016 here.)

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi’s latest and greatest is a must see for laughs and tears. It follows young Ricky Baker and his unwilling guardian, Hec (Sam Neill), who are on the run from police, social services, and bounty hunters in this splendid Spielberg-esque adventure film.

Barracuda

Adapted from Christos Tsiolkas’ novel, Robert Connelly (of Paper Planes, Balibo and The Slap) delivers a beautiful production that strips back the Aussie coming-of-age tropes to reveal scenes that are raw with conflicting desires. Like a realist companion to Aronofsky’s Black Swan, two competitive high school swimmers are caught between private passions and their individual pursuits of glory.

Brooklyn

Based on the Colm Toibin book, with a screenplay penned by Nick Hornby, Brooklyn paints a transatlantic love triangle between an Irish-American migrant (Saoirse Ronan), and her American and Irish beaus. The film is classical and yet never antiquated, with gorgeous colourful cinematography to brighten its nostalgia. A pitch-perfect tale of love and longing.

Weiner

Anthony Weiner, Democratic nominee for New York mayor, is an insatiable exhibitionist, married to a Hillary Clinton staffer and unable to resist the battleground of political discourse or extra-marital flirtation. Scandal-ridden beyond comprehension, Weiner refuses to concede, or stop campaigning. This is a jaw-dropping and thoroughly entertaining fly-on-the-wall documentary about politics, marriage and sex addiction.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The long awaited follow-up to Return of the Jedi is set 30 years in the future, with a new heroine, a brooding villain, and some familiar faces as well! Director JJ Abrams does a great job of recreating the galaxy far, far away and takes his technical skills to dazzling heights, inducting the next generation into the irrepressible pop culture phenomenon that is Star Wars.

The Durrells: Series One

Based on Gerald Durrell’s Corfu trilogy, this adaptation was a welcome substitute for Downton Abbey fans – though a little more wicked! – about a widow who moves her four children and a lot of animals to the Mediterranean, to begin a new island life. Greece has never looked so inviting, and fans of The Darling Buds of May will also love it.

Carol

Todd Haynes’ most sumptuous, delicate and tender film (which is saying a lot) is a beautiful love story between two women – Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara deserve every accolade – who begin a love affair. Paying homage to David Lean’s Brief Encounter, Haynes pours love into fabrics and photographs, palpable and beautiful scenes with gestures, touches, and tears. Your heart will swell.

Cleverman

A superb superhero, Dreamtime drama about two Gumbaynggirr brothers who are passed the mantle of ‘Cleverman’, a transcendent figure in Aboriginal storytelling, who walks a line between the past and present. Directed by veterans Leah Purcell (Black Chicks Talking) and Wayne Blair (Redfern Now) it is a refreshing departure from usual Australian TV-making and mixes sci-fi allegory with a frank, performative naturalism.

House of Cards: Season Four

A show that started being great in season two has delivered possibly its best season yet. President Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) has a worthy contender in his own wife (Robin Wright), and the parallel power plays and backdoor politics are executed with a fresh, tense precision that really pays off in the final episode.

The Affair: Season Two

The first season of The Affair was a sexy Hitchcockian experience, and season two brings more thrills and tragedy for Noah (Dominic West), Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Helen (Maura Tierney) and Scotty (Joshua Jackson). A welcome shift of storytelling devices allows more time for the grit and scandal that hooked us in season one.