Video Game Review: Back to the Future: The Game (2010-2011)

‘Back to the Future’ is my favorite movie of all time for a few reasons. Not only is the film (as well as its two sequels) highly quotable and incredibly entertaining, but in execution it’s more than just a ‘science fiction’ film; it’s a comedy film, an action film, a high school film, a romance film, and of course, a science fiction film all rolled into one. Because of this, I believe that it will stand the test of time for years to come. But this franchise hasn’t really fared well in terms of video games. There was the god-awful NES game made by LJN that barely followed the plot of the game in which protagonist Marty McFly, who for some reason was wearing an all-black shirt and not his usual red vest, went around the town of Hill Valley collecting clocks… don’t ask, and for the record if you haven’t played this game before, don’t even considering trying it out. It’s that bad. There have been a few other video games, but from what I understand, a lot of them aren’t that good as well. But in 2010, Telltale Games, the creators of the episodic ‘The Walking Dead’ video games, produced a ‘Back to the Future’ game which, while not exactly perfect, is the best representation of the ‘BTTF’ franchise in video game form to date.

Following a ‘re-creation’ of the scene in the original film where Marty McFly helps his friend Dr. Emmett Brown AKA Doc test out his new invention, a time machine made out of a DeLorean, we flash forward to a few months after the events of ‘Back to the Future Part III’ in 1986. In the time since, Marty hasn’t seen Doc at all. One day, when the bank starts to sell Doc’s house and his possessions, Marty comes across his ‘time-travel’ notebook before the DeLorean suddenly appears out of nowhere. Soon after, Marty learns that Doc is stuck in 1931 Hill Valley. Not only that, but he is also in jail for apparently burning down a local speakeasy, and is to be killed by local mob boss ‘Kid’ Tannen, the owner of the speakeasy. This leads Marty to travel back to 1931, where he gains the help of Doc’s 1931 self, in order to save the ‘present’ Doc before he is to be killed. However, in the process, Marty’s actions begin to set up a series of events that begin to drastically alter the timeline for both him and Doc.

The entire game itself is split into five separate episodes, each taking about two to three hours to complete. The story itself is very compelling, if mainly because of how this game feels so much like ‘Back to the Future’. Telltale had the help of Bob Gale, co-creator/co-writer/co-producer on the films, in developing the story and in doing so, it really helps this game feel like it’s part of the ‘Back to the Future’ universe, more so than previous games in the franchise (do I need to bring up that LJN game again?). Christopher Lloyd reprises his role as Doc and is once again excellent even after at least two decades since ‘Back to the Future Part III’ came out back in 1990. Michael J. Fox doesn’t reprise his role of Marty (well, to a certain extent but I’m not going to spoil anything about that) but his successor, A.J. Locascio, does a fantastic and very spot-on impression of him to the point where you can hardly tell any difference. All in all, the voice acting in the game is rock solid all-around. The overall presentation is this game’s greatest asset.

Now, the game itself isn’t particularly that ‘difficult’. It’s a point-and-click adventure game and in execution a rather ‘simple’ one at that. You control Marty as he travels around different ‘versions’ of Hill Valley and interacts with the various people and objects he comes across. Moving around from place to place is a little stiff because the game has a ‘fixed’ camera perspective meaning that it changes when you travel to a different part of the area you’re currently in. So, if you have Marty walking forward and the camera then switches to a different angle that’s facing him, he’ll continue to move forward if you keep the move button down, meaning that the controls become a bit inverted. You have to stop holding the move button so that the controls can revert back to their normal state. This does kind of get frustrating at times, but it’s not too big of a problem. I mean, I haven’t played a lot of games with a ‘fixed camera’ perspective so maybe it’s just me. Also, keep in mind I’m referring to the PC controls because that’s the version of the game that I played; not the PS3, Wii, or iOS versions. The game offers you hints if you get stuck on the various puzzles that you come across but even then the puzzles themselves aren’t too difficult to figure out. Some of them do require a little bit of trial and error but for the most part, they usually just consist of Marty selecting an item from his inventory and using it on either a person or an object.

‘Back to the Future: The Game’ isn’t necessarily a masterpiece, but as a video game, it is the best representation of the film trilogy in that format, even when it’s actually a follow-up to the last film (in other words, this is pretty much ‘Back to the Future Part IV’). Because Telltale was assisted by one of the film series’ writers, the game really feels like you’re in the ‘Back to the Future’ universe, thanks in part to the return of Christopher Lloyd to the role of Doc and A.J. Locascio’s dead-on impression of Michael J. Fox in the role of Marty among other things. The game itself isn’t particularly hard but at the same time, the main story is compelling enough to keep you entertained even if it only takes about two to three hours to complete each of the five episodes. If you’re a fan of the franchise, then this is an obvious must-buy and I guarantee that you will enjoy this game very much. Even if you’re not a fan, I’d still recommend it. Movie-licensed games usually tend to suck, but in the end, this is one of the best games of that genre.

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) review

Author Tom Clancy, who sadly passed away in October of last year, has left quite an impact on pop culture. His novels featured tales of military espionage set during or after the Cold War and 17 of his novels have become bestsellers. He has also lent his name to multiple video game franchises, including ‘Splinter Cell’, ‘Rainbow Six’, and ‘Ghost Recon’. Some of his stories have been adapted to film, with most of them focusing on the character of Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst and occasional field operative. This character had previously been portrayed on screen by Alec Baldwin in ‘The Hunt for Red October’, by Harrison Ford in both ‘Patriot Games’ and ‘Clear and Present Danger’, and by Ben Affleck in ‘The Sum of All Fears’. In this new film, which serves as a reboot for the franchise (its second after ‘Sum of All Fears’), Star Trek’s ‘Captain Kirk’, Chris Pine, stars in the role of Ryan and the film is directed by Kenneth Branagh, who as a director landed a very big hit back in 2011 with ‘Thor’. As for this film, it’s not exactly perfect (what more should you expect from a film that came out in the ‘dead month’ of January?) but it is still pretty entertaining mainly thanks to its cast which help this film manage to ultimately overcome its shortcomings.

Compelled to serve his country after 9/11, student Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) joins the Marine Corps but his time as a soldier abruptly comes to an end after he nearly dies when his platoon’s helicopter is shot down. While in rehab, he is recruited into the CIA by agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) as an analyst. Ten years later, Jack, while undercover as a broker on Wall Street, discovers a potential terrorist attack that could weaken the market, eliminate the value of the dollar, and lead America into a second Great Depression. After Harper promotes him to the position of operative, Jack heads to Russia to meet with Viktor Cheverin (Kenneth Branagh), a businessman whose directly involved with this plot. Things get a bit more complicated, however, when Jack’s girlfriend Cathy (Keira Knightley) is brought into the situation and he is forced to reveal to her what his ‘real’ job is having kept it secret for years.

Now I’m not too familiar with this franchise as a whole, but from what I can gather, the appeal of the character of Jack Ryan is that he’s an everyman. He’s someone who gets into incredibly dangerous situations even when they are more than he’s used to handling. But at the same time, he’s not like some invincible superhero without any flaws. Overall, I’d say this film succeeds at making the character of Jack relatable to the audience. He is in way over his head and while it may seem like he is able to get out of most situations that come upon him without any major problems, the character still has a very down-to-earth and likable personality. Chris Pine does a very good job in the role. It doesn’t require the ‘cocky’ attitude of a character like James T. Kirk, but Pine still manages to be a charming lead. Kevin Costner (who’s having quite the career resurgence lately after his excellent performance in ‘Man of Steel’) and Keira Knightley also do good jobs as well, although Knightley’s role leans toward ‘damsel in distress’ territory near the end of the film. At the same time, she does get involved in Jack’s work at one point and the two of them have really good chemistry so it’s not like she’s just there to be Jack’s love interest. Finally, in the villain role, Kenneth Branagh also does a good job as well; his character can be both menacing and yet charming at the same time.

However, as a director, Branagh still isn’t used to directing an action move yet. In ‘Thor’, it wasn’t really too much of a big deal when it came to the action sequences, but some were shot in that close-up, quick edit style that some action movies tend to use. The same scenario applies here; most of the action scenes are shot close-up and use fast edits. Like in ‘Thor’, it’s not too much of a problem but at the same time it shows that Branagh needs to improve as an action director. On that note, the film itself also really doesn’t have a ‘definitive’ action sequence. There are a couple of car chases and some one-on-one fight scenes but I can’t really say that any of these scenes really stood out. It’s sort of your basic spy thriller; a good and entertaining one, but pretty basic as far as its execution is concerned. Maybe under a different director, the action scenes could have been better and some of them could have really stood out. In the end though, that wasn’t the case with this film.

I was a little hesitant about this film being pushed back to January because, as we all know, January is not exactly the best month for movies and that was a little worrisome considering the talent involved on this film both behind and in front of the camera. However, in the end, this is one of the better films that have come out during this month. At the same time, though, it makes sense why this was released at this time because overall this film is just good, not great. That’s not to discredit this film by any means. It is a very entertaining spy thriller that benefits from having a solid cast, namely Chris Pine in the lead role. There is potential in this franchise but at the same time, there’s also room for improvement. Branagh is a good director, but as an action director, he still needs to work on just that… action. This film lacks a definitive action sequence, and some of the action sequences are shot in the close-up, quick edit fashion. Still, I can see this becoming a franchise. I would just suggest that the studio try and find a director who is more suited to the action genre.

Rating: 3/5

Her (2013) review

When you really get down to it, the premise for this film is… well, let’s face it, a little weird. I mean, we’re talking about a film where a man falls in love with the female voice of his computer’s operating system. It’s hard to deny it but it is true. But even with that in mind, why does this end up being one of the best films of the year (or of 2013, to be exact)? Well, that is because even with this film’s strange story, director Spike Jonze (‘Being John Malkovich’, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’) succeeds when it comes to the film’s overall execution to the point where this relationship between a man and a computer doesn’t feel as strange as it may sound. The writing is top-notch because the characters, as well as their dialogue, feel real, allowing us to become emotionally connected to these people, even when one of them is just a voice in a computer. When you take that and add not only Jonze’s excellent direction but terrific performances from the cast, then you have one truly excellent film on your hands.

The film follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix); a man who writes personal love letters for people who find themselves unable to express their emotions towards their significant others. However, at the same time, Theodore is lonely and introverted, struggling to deal with his impending divorce to his wife/childhood sweetheart, Catherine (Rooney Mara). One day, he purchases a new operating system for his computer, OS 1, the first artificially intelligent system of its kind that is programmed to adapt and evolve like human beings. After being asked whether he wants the system to have either a male or female identity, he decides that his operating system should have a female voice and as a result he is introduced to his new ‘system’ who gives herself the name Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). As Theodore and Samantha begin to bond, with the former starting to enjoy life more and the latter continuing to grow from her experiences, their relationship begins to get a bit more serious amidst her ‘limitations’.

This film mainly prospers because of the excellent writing (this film serving as Jonze’s first solo outing as a writer). Even when it’s working around a sci fi-ish premise, the characters still very much feel real and down-to-earth. That is also reflected in the dialogue. Regardless of your experiences with romantic relationships, good and/or bad, I think that you might be able to relate to a few of these characters because of their feelings and their interactions with each other. Heck, even Samantha, the operating system, feels real, not only because of how expressive she is and how she sees the world but also because of her relationship with Theodore. As weird as it may seem, it does manage to feel tangible. These two do have really superb chemistry which helps to ease the fact that this guy is basically in love with his computer. It’s quite something to be able to make us feel emotionally invested in a relationship as strange as this one and Jonze succeeds at doing just that.

Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic in the part of Theodore. He successfully disappears into the role of this man who may be able to express the romantic emotions that some people might not be able to say, but at the same time is lonely, introverted, and upset because of how his previous relationship is falling apart. This makes him incredibly sympathetic and Phoenix gives one of the best performances of his career. Likewise, Scarlett Johansson also shines as Samantha. She expresses so much emotion just by being a voice in the movie and that alone. I’m hoping that the Oscars will recognize her work, especially after she was ‘disqualified’ from being nominated for a Golden Globe. As for the rest of the cast, most of them only play minor roles in the film; of the film’s three female leads (not counting Johansson), Amy Adams has the biggest overall role compared to the other two (Rooney Mara as Theodore’s ex-wife Catherine and Olivia Wilde as a woman who goes on a blind date with him) but all three of them give their characters a sense of realism just like Phoenix and Johansson do with their characters.

‘Her’ is a film that may have a strange premise, but in execution, is full of real characters and dialogue that allow us to become emotionally invested in their actions. Yes, even to the point where we can believe in a relationship between a man and the female voice of his computer. There’s not much I can say about this film that’s bad. I mean, if I did have one solitary complaint, it would probably be that the film feels just a little bit too long at the end but even then that’s not really too much of a problem because everything else in the film is so good. The film has great direction, great writing, great performances, and a really great score (done here by Arcade Fire) among other things. I’m not too familiar with Jonze’s work as a director (I haven’t seen his other three films at the time I am writing this) but in the end, this might end up being one of his best out of the four films he has directed up to this point.

Rating: 4.5/5

Last Vegas (2013): Short Review

What happens when you take four major Hollywood stars and put them together for a comedy? You get a pretty entertaining film, which is the case of ‘Last Vegas’, a film that stars Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline as a group of friends who get together for a bachelor party in Las Vegas when Douglas’ character is about to get married. The film really benefits from its four leads. They have great camaraderie and the moment they all get together is when the film really starts to have a lot of hilarious moments. Kline in particular is probably the standout of the film. He’s actually the youngest of the four and yet ironically his character sort of feels like the oldest. But of course, De Niro, Freeman, and Douglas are also great as well. On the surface, this may seem like a less raunchy version of ‘The Hangover’ and in a sense, it kind of is. But at the same time, it’s still really funny, even if at times it’s a bit corny. It’s just really cool to see these four Hollywood legends on screen together; that’s something that I doubt we’ll ever get to see again. If I had any complaints, it was that at times the film kind of feels a little bit too much like a commercial for Vegas mainly just because of certain shots highlighting the sights and sounds of Sin City. Still, in the end, ‘Last Vegas’ is a pretty enjoyable film made even more so by its quartet of leads.

Rating: 4/5

TOP 12 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2013: #3-1

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s end-of-the-year list of my Top 12 Favorite Films of 2013. This is the final part of this list and today I’m listing my Top 3 Favorite Films of the year.

Number 3 is the latest collaboration from two Hollywood heavyweights. Together they make one hell of an entertaining film.

3. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

After seeing this movie, I’m finding that apparently many people are being misled by this film’s trailer. It seems like they’re thinking that this movie is glorifying the actions of the characters portrayed in this movie. But let me ask… are we talking about the same movie because I didn’t see that with this movie. They do establish that the main characters are, for lack of a better term, scumbags. I mean, the main character is consumed with greed a la Gordon Gekko from ‘Wall Street’, is a drug addict, and at one point hits his wife and tries to take off with their child a la Walter White from ‘Breaking Bad’. I don’t see how this film is supposed to glorify him after scenes like that. In reality, it’s just a very entertaining story of Jordan Belfort’s rise and fall as a major player in the business of Wall Street. I mean, this is directed by Martin Scorcese, one of the greatest directors of all time, so of course this film would end up being one of the best films of the year. As my friend Matt will argue, Scorcese has never made a bad film and while I haven’t seen a lot of his films, I’m beginning to agree with that statement.

The film may be three hours long, but it is never boring. It’s also ‘riotously funny’; a term that was applied to another film’s Rotten Tomatoes consensus, ‘American Hustle’, but in my opinion is more fitting for this one. There is one scene in particular around the midway point of the film where Belfort is trying to get home after some old Quaaludes that he ingested finally start to kick in was probably the most I’ve ever laughed in any film ever. That gives you an idea of how funny this movie is. It gets really crazy at times in this movie and yet it just goes with it. It’s incredibly entertaining, well-acted all around from DiCaprio (obviously) to the main supporting cast to bit roles from guys like Matthew McConaughey who is only in the movie briefly but is a total scene-stealer. The bottom line is simple; Go see this movie right now! It is easily one of the most entertaining films of the year.

Number 2… is the film that I predict will win the Oscar… in fact, I’d say it will be a genuine shock if it doesn’t win.

2. 12 YEARS A SLAVE

Like I said, this is a list of my ‘Favorite’ films of the year, not ‘Best’. If it was ‘Best’, then this would be number 1, no doubt about it. I mean this film is one in a million. And here’s the big thing about this movie… it’s quite difficult to watch. My friend Matt came up with a good alternate title for the film, ‘White Guilt: The Movie’, and I agree 100%. I guarantee that you people will be feeling that emotion while watching this film. It’s one that doesn’t let up in its brutality and is both highly intense and emotional. It also doesn’t skimp on anything. The thing about movies that are focused around slavery is that most of them will not show everything that happened during that period of time before the act was outlawed. This film doesn’t do that. This is slavery uncensored and we see the full effect of what life was like for African Americans back in the day. Slavery could corrupt anyone; there were no doubt slave owners like the vicious and cruel Edwin Epps, but then you have Solomon Northup’s other slave owner, preacher William Ford. Compared to Epps, Ford is a nice man who stays on good terms with his slaves… but don’t forget, he is still a slave owner!!! Even the nicest people in the world at that time could be slave owners. That’s how corrupt and vile this practice was.

This film is full of great performances from its cast. In the role of Solomon, Chiwetel Ejiofor gives one of the strongest performances of the year, saying very little but getting across so much emotion at the same time just through his facial expressions. His character realized the situation that he was in; he couldn’t tell anyone that he was actually once a free man because no one would listen to him and he would probably be killed because of it. Michael Fassbender is equally terrific in the role of Edwin Epps. Fassbender just gets into the role of the cruel slave owner and it’ll be a travesty if he’s not nominated for Best Supporting Actor just like Leonardo DiCaprio was snubbed of a nomination in that same category last year. But the whole cast is great; Benedict Cumberbatch as William Ford, newcomer Lupita Nyong’o as one of Solomon’s fellow slaves (and I’m also going to say; a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actress), and Brad Pitt in a small role as a friendly carpenter, among many others. I will be very surprised if this film doesn’t win Best Picture at this year’s Oscars because based on the current odds, this will be the film that wins it.

So here it is… my Number 1 film of 2013. This one actually did serve as my favorite film of the year for quite a while (at least half a year). However, these last few months of the year had a slew of terrific movies, so for a while, I was unsure what my favorite film of the year was by that point. In the end, though, it came right back to this film, which is slowly becoming one of my favorite films of all time. It’s one that, going in, I honestly did not have very high expectations for, mainly because of the prestigious pedigree it’s working off of, but the end I think that was why it exceeded my expectations; a film that came out in March of all times.

1.      OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

That title gives you an idea of why I was hesitant about this movie at first. Here we have a prequel to L. Frank Baum’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and while it’s not technically the official prequel, in a few ways it can be considered to be a prequel to 1939’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’, one of the most beloved films of all time. But for the record, it’s not supposed to be; this is Disney, not MGM, and there were a few elements from the original film that they couldn’t use, like the ruby slippers or even the chin mole of the Wicked Witch. Sure, in the end, ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ is probably not as good as the 1939 classic but it doesn’t have to be. It’s its own thing and it shouldn’t be compared to the original because it’s not trying to be it. This film really caught me by surprise in how much I loved it and there are numerous reasons as to why this ended up being my favorite film of the year, aside from a few obvious reasons. This is only one of two films I saw twice in theaters this year, the other being ‘Gatsby’.

Let’s get those obvious reasons out of the way. The film is just beautiful; it has some of the best CGI in any film this year. The world of Oz is just a visual sight for the eyes and as far as Disney’s past big-budget March releases are concerned; this is the best of the bunch in terms of the visuals. The other two I’m mentioning specifically are 2010’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, which did have a very unique visual look but was overall too dark, and 2012’s ‘John Carter’, which despite having a budget of over $200 million, was shot in the desert. This film has a terrific visual look and production design and is also one of the few movies that I will actually recommend seeing in 3-D. The 3-D is not in your face like some movies are or badly post-converted into the format like most movies are; it helps emphasize the terrific visuals.

But there’s more to this movie than just its great visuals. The writing is also really good, even though the story itself may not have that many surprises to it. It may be a prequel, but it doesn’t suffer from ‘prequelitis’; any references to ‘Wizard of Oz’ are very subtle and well-handled. It’s not like someone just goes up to a person and says, ‘look there’s the Yellow Brick Road’ or ‘hey, is that the Cowardly Lion?’ It’s not like that at all. The main character arc for Oscar Diggs, the man who would eventually become the Wizard of Oz, is also really well-done. Starting off as a womanizing con-man, Oscar eventually changes his ways to become the savior of Oz from evil, even if he’s not exactly the Wizard that the people of Oz were expecting.

But another good thing about the writing is that the movie itself is not mean-spirited. They could have just gone and done a story where the goal of the main characters was to kill all of the bad guys, but thankfully they don’t go that route here. Around the midpoint of the film, Oscar learns from Glinda that the people of Oz are forbidden to kill, which makes things rather problematic for his plan to defeat the Wicked Witches. Is it cheesy? Maybe, but at least the film has good morals. This is just a really pleasant movie, and considering some of the darker films that come out every year, it’s always nice to see a movie like this that is not mean-spirited and yet doesn’t talk down to kids at the same time. It does get dark at times, but in the same way that the original got dark; more through frightening imagery (like those flying baboons, which I think are scarier here than the ones in the original), not just to be dark. Going back to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ again, there’s one scene where Alice gets across a river that is full of decapitated heads… you know, for kids!

The film has an excellent cast, although I will say that one of them falls a little flat at the halfway point. That cast member in question is Mila Kunis, who plays the witch Theodora. She did a really good job in the first half of the movie as the naïve witch who prematurely falls in love with the Wizard, who doesn’t really love her back; he’s just doing his ‘womanizing’ act. This ends up breaking her heart and her sister Evanora has her turned into the Wicked Witch of the West… yes, that Wicked Witch. She’s not terrible in the part, but she’s no Margaret Hamilton either. For one thing, she screams pretty much all of her lines as the witch and that does get annoying after a while. But I don’t really blame her here. Honestly, I think they introduced the Wicked Witch way too early here. I know that the character was undoubtedly going to appear, but we didn’t need two villains, especially when the other one, Evanora, is a really good villain. Rachel Weisz is a scene-stealer in this movie and is clearly having fun in the role. They should have just had Theodora turned into the Wicked Witch right at the end of the film to set things up for a sequel. I’m not too big on the idea to have her turned halfway through the film.

But the big standout of this cast is Michelle Williams as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. In fact, I’d say this film had the best interpretation of the character in any ‘Wizard of Oz’ movie; yes, even more so than the 1939 film. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing Billie Burke’s performance from the original. It was still a really good performance, but the writing for the character was a little flat. She didn’t appear in the movie that much and she was just too ‘overly good’. This Glinda is still the ‘good’ witch, as her name obviously suggests, but even she has her limits. She immediately knows that Oscar is not the Wizard just through his actions alone and yet she still sees the good in him even when he doesn’t. She is also far more proactive in this film than the Glinda from the 1939 film, who only made brief appearances here and there. Overall, this Glinda is just the superior interpretation of the character and Williams brings the right amount of charm and kindness for the role while also giving her a very down-to-earth personality at the same time.

James Franco also does a very good job as the Wizard. I’ll admit that I would have been very interesting to see how Robert Downey Jr. (who was originally considered for the part) would’ve done in the role, but Franco manages to defy all expectations about him; it helps that he has a good character arc to work with and even when he’s acting like the womanizing con-man that he starts out as, he’s still rather charming. Like ‘The Wizard of Oz’, this film also has some really memorable supporting characters. Zach Braff plays the only ‘good’ flying monkey, Finley, and gets a lot of the best lines (“I see, because I’m a monkey, I must love bananas… that is a vicious stereotype,” “You don’t like bananas?” “Of course I like bananas, I’m a monkey, don’t be ridiculous. I just don’t like it when you say it.”). Joey King plays China Girl, a young girl made entirely out of china who loses her entire family in an attack on their village and joins Oscar and Finley on their journey. She’s pretty much the ‘Dorothy’ character of this film, giving the film an even greater human element even though she’s made of china.

So that’s ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’, my favorite film of 2013. Sure, it may not be as good as the original, but that’s one of the toughest acts to follow if you ask me because we all know how much of a classic that film is. But this film manages to be a great modern-day accompaniment to that film. That’s part of the reason why I liked ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ so much. Sure, it will never top ‘Wrath of Khan’, but it’s a nice modern update on the story and the same can be said with this movie. It’s probably the best Oz film that has ever come out since the 1939 classic and bear in mind that there have been a lot of films that have come out before and after the one we all know and love.

And those are my Top 12 Favorite Films of 2013. Thanks for reading.