Oscars 2013, or how the Academy was actually right for a change

So this is a break in the norm for me. I'm not really doing any review. I'm actually just going over the cataclysmic, world changing events of last night's Academy Awards. So.... yeah I don't really have much to say. I guess I can start off that more often than last year, I was almost in complete agreement for most of the awards last night. Last year I was very split with how Life of Pi won a ton of awards, Django Unchained should have won more awards than it did, and Argo pulled a Best Picture win out of its ass. This year was a lot more fair and had the most deserving movie win. So here are the most memorable things to talk about for last night, for better or worse.

Rayman Legends Review

Alright, here it is. The last thing I have to review before I can officially close 2013. No more. Done. I can actually get a bit of a break from reviews for a few weeks. But in retrospect, I'm kind of happy that Rayman Legends is the last thing of 2013 I'm reviewing. In a nutshell, this game pretty much sums up what 2013 was all about. Hype and expectation, riddled with controversy, but overall was a really good product. What do I mean by all of that? Well when it was first announced, Legends was going to be a Wii U exclusive game. It was originally going to be released in February, but was pushed back by seven months in order to make ports for other consoles, because Ubisoft didn't think that being a Wii U exclusive would justify the cost of production. Fans raged about having to wait over half a year to play it, made even worse by the fact it was releasing against Grand Theft Auto V, also known as a game you NEVER RELEASE ANYTHING AGAINST. It didn't sell a lot, but it was still a fabulous game for those who were patient enough to wait.

Mario Party Island Tour Review

For years, Mario Party has been a sacred tradition for many gamers. In the beginning, there was the original Mario Party. It was a game that destroyed friendships. It was a game that left those with the strongest of wills a weak shell of what they were. It was a game that physically hurt people. Since its inception in 1999, it has been a yearly tradition to release a new Mario Party game. Some of them were quite good, like Mario Party 2, 3, and 7, while others were regarded as terrible games. But in 2008, the series vanished off the face of the Earth. No one knew whether it would return or not, and were instead content with the memories of previous games. That is until 2012, when the false prophet appeared...Mario Party 9. It was called a Mario Party, but it had none of the soul of the original games. It was a travesty, and now more than ever, people claimed the series was dead and gone forever. Until last November... with the release of Island Tour. Join me, and I take a trip on the dreaded Island Tour. 

The Legend of Zelda: Link Between World Review

As some of you are aware, I like this game. I really, really like this game. As a matter of fact, I gave it my number 5 spot on my best games of 2013 list (which you should totally still read). So that begs the question; why am I reviewing this game if I've already said that this is a good game? Well, to make a long story short, it's very rare to see the evolution of a franchise, and I have a strong feeling that more Zelda games are going to be similar to Link Between Worlds, and that's not a bad thing in the slightest.

The Top 10 Best Movies of 2013

And here it is. 2013's best movies. I've seen more movies than ever before this year, clocking in at a grand total of 32 movies. That's pretty much a movie every two weeks, and after going up and down with the quality of films this year, here are the ten best films of the year. It was actually fairly easy to pick my ten favorite movies, because there really only were ten great movies that came out. That's not to say they were bad movies by any means. It was actually really damned difficult to even rank these movies, because each of them was so damned good. There was a point where any movie really was in contention to be in my top 3 favorite movies, so it was painful at times to put a movie I really liked low on the list. As always, if you see a movie on this list that you like, great! If your favorite movie isn't on here, no need to despair. I probably just haven't seen the movie, or it belonged on a much less desirable list. So without further ado, here are my Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2013!

Top 5 Best Games of 2013

I think it's a well documented fact that I love video games. I know that most of my views come from my movie reviews, but video games are my bread and butter. I've loved them since I was a kid, and I'll probably love them until the day I die. That being said, 2013 was an interesting year for games. You had the launch of not one, but two consoles, and even had the third console, the Wii U, begin to pick up steam. As would be expected for a transitional year like this, the games that were released were good, but not quite as good as previous years. There was a lot of empty space this year and made it pretty difficult to pick 10 games that I could call "the best of the year". So instead, a Top 5 would work just fine for this year. As always, my opinion may differ from yours and you're entitled to whatever opinion you want. My favorite games will not be everyone's favorite games, but respect should still be paid. So here are my personal Top 5 Best Games of 2013!

The Top 10 Worst Movies of 2013

2013 was a weird year for movies. Here you have a year that gave us countless movies that have had audiences split down the middle about whether they liked it or not. Man of Steel, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, and a lot of other movies are just the tip of the iceberg. Hell, even The Wolf of Wall Street is leaving people split on whether they liked it or not. So when making a worst movies of 2013 list, not one list is going to be the same, which I find really interesting. Each list is its own beast and reflects on a person's tastes, and when you have a year with so many movies that have the potential to leave audiences disappointed, there's no limit as to what movies could be in the Top 10. Hell, I've seen lists where Man of Steel and American Hustle can be called "the worst movies of 2013". So the long and short of it is, my list is my own opinion. If you agree with some entries, more power to you. If not, that's perfectly fine. Enjoy the movies that you like, but understand why I would call it a bad movie. My only rule for being on this list is making it a movie that I've seen that was released this year.

Best Broadway Show of 2013

Well, 2013 has come and gone, so being a yearly tradition now, I'm going to give my take on 2013 as a whole! Specifically, let's talk about 2013 for Broadway. How can it be summed up? In my general opinion, 2013 was not a good year for Broadway. I usually see around 5-7 Broadway shows a year, and if I'm really lucky closer to 8-9, so this year  saw a whopping 7 shows; 2 off Broadway and 5 on Broadway. And then it hit me; I was enjoying the off Broadway shows a hell of a lot more than I was for actual Broadway shows. There was a lot more experimentation and even standout shows than what was done on Broadway, which instead released shows that played it safe in the most generic, banal way possible. So I decided that instead of doing a Top 5 Broadway Shows of 2013, I would instead talk about the best show of the year...

The Seasonal Orders: Winter 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

So as always, I just wanted to give a little update for the next three months and what's in store for the blog amongst several other things about the blog. So let's not dabble any further and just get right down to the knitty gritty!

47 Ronin Review

If there's one hobby of mine that not many people know about, it's that I have a soft spot for history. At it's core, history to me is just telling stories about events and people and the results of said events and people. It's just another form of telling stories and entertainment for me, which is why there are tons of movies that are based off of historical events. Some are more grounded with what actually happened historically speaking, while others tend to embellish some aspects about history to make a more entertaining movie. 47 Ronin is a Hollywood interpretation of a classic Japanese folktale, so with that alone, you should know exactly what to expect from "Hollywood's interpretation of Japanese history", for better or worse.

The Wolf Of Wall Street Review

Though it may be surprising to hear, I'm not one for following the Oscars. I think that there's a significant dissonance between what the Oscar crowd views as the "best movie" of a given year, and what modern American views as the best movie of the year. I can guarantee that movies nominated for best picture are going to be American Hustle, Saving Mr. Banks, 12 Years A Slave, maybe Blue is the Warmest Color, and I hope Gravity. That's not to say that these movies are bad, far from it, but usually the Oscars are followed by really interested movie buffs, and not the average public. The average public would rather watch something like Monster's University, The Wolverine, or Man of Steel. Again, not to say those movies are bad, but you get the idea that there's a big divide between what film buffs think the best movies of the year are, and what the average American thinks the best movies of the year are. Performances over entertainment pretty much. However, I think a consensus can be reached between these two groups with The Wolf Of Wall Street. It's not only a good film, but it's a damned great one.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Review

What can really be said about Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy that hasn't been said before? Since it's release in 2004, it's become one of the most highly regarded comedies of the past decade, and in contention with Mean Girls for the most quotable movie of 2004. Practically everyone knows about Anchorman, even if they haven't seen it. So I was a bit apprehensive when a sequel was announced almost a decade since the original movie was released. Something about it just struck me the wrong way, and I'm still wondering if it was made to either please the fans, or because some people needed a paycheck. And yes, it does try to top the original, which is a nigh impossible task, but you can't really blame them for trying now can you?

Killer Is Dead Review

Reviewing a game like Killer Is Dead is very hard to do. I have completed the game and the credits have rolled,but I don't feel like I've actually "beat" the game. Well, in the traditional sense at least. Oh, the final boss has been killed and the world is saved, but I have no idea how it happened. It says a lot that Killer Is Dead is the single most confusing, nonsensical game that I have ever played. It's also one of the most controversial video games of 2013, so you know this is going to be fun!

Wolf Children Review

Since this is the first time I can officially talk about anime, and anime films no less, I might as well just be up front and say that I don't watch many anime films. It's for a lot of reasons, but it's a combination of various factors that lead me to only seeing a few anime films. Localization, culture, and overall quality dictate what anime movies I can actually watch, and only about a handful of movies are released in the West for the general audience. This year alone I remember seeing DVD's for Garden of Words, Colorful, and From Up On Poppy Hill, and for all intents and purposes, they may be the only notable releases this year. Enter Wolf Children.

Super Mario 3D World Review

Regardless of what console a person owns or their own taste in games, all gamers can agree to one universal truth about the industry: Mario is the greatest video game icon of all time. He's endured for several decades, everyone knows who he is even if they don't play video games, and his games have been some of the greatest and most influential games ever released, period. I will fully admit however that the past few years haven't been so good for him. His last great game, Super Mario Galaxy 2, was released in 2010 and since then, there's been a stretch of mediocre to outright boring games thanks to the New Super Mario Bros. series, a series that never really changes or makes an innovations at all. Enter Super Mario 3D World, a game that tries to reinvent how Mario games are played. And I'm happy to say that this game may just be the best Mario game since Galaxy 2.

The Top 10 Disney Animated Films

After seeing Frozen, it got my interest rekindled in animated Disney movies. For the past several years, I've slowly been becoming more and more interested in Disney movies and the sense of wonder and enchantment that each of them can bring. From having a great array of songs, to memorable villains, to even Oscar caliber production levels, Disney movies have their own sense of identity to them that anyone can enjoy. So, I started to think, what are my favorite Disney movies? Out of the 53 movies released by Walt Disney Animation Studios, which movies stand the test of time and are the best that Disney has to offer.

When it comes to this list, I'm only counting the 53 movies that were made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Unfortunately, that means I can't put other Disney movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas on this list for that exact reason. Consider it my unofficial number 11 I suppose. With that all said, here are my personal Top 10 Disney animated films!

Frozen Review

"One of the best Disney animated films since Beauty and the Beast." - IGN

A quote like that does not get throw around often. Comparing Frozen, the latest Disney animated movie, to one of the best children's movies EVER is not a phrase that you throw around lightly. By comparison, this is better than Princess and the Frog. This is better than Aladdin. Hell, this is better than The Lion King. IS it true? Does Frozen live up to those expectations? While I'm just going to be upfront and say that it's not as good as BATB, it's certainly the best Disney movie in a long, long time. 

Dragon's Crown review

I think that video games are looking in the wrong places to be visually impressive. If you look at games like Crysis 3, Uncharted, and Call of Duty, and even at the marketing behind the PS4 and Xbox One, you would believe that having better processing power makes for better graphics. While this isn't inherently wrong, there needs to be a stronger focus on a game's aesthetics than graphics. Most shooter games do have great graphics, but because the aesthetic is terrible and just full of cement and dirt, we make fun of the genre for all looking the same. Now Dragon's Crown doesn't have the graphical power to compete with those aforementioned games, but it looks far better than any of them ever did. 

Ducktales Remastered Review

I don't really buy downloadable games. It's not because I find them inferior to actual disk based games or about taking up space on my console's hard drive or anything other lame excuse. It's really just because I love that feeling of having a game in a case that I can add to my collection. There's just something about me that says that even if a game is a bit more expensive, if there is a physical version of it, I probably will buy it over a downloadable version. In this day and age, downloadable games are becoming more and more popular,but when a downloadable game is released physically, it's just enough to put a smile on my face.

Big Fish Review

OH MY GOD A BROADWAY SHOW! THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!

*Cough* Okay. Yes, I love movies and video games are my passion, but theatre is my job. If video games are a nice home cooked meal, and movies are fast food, then Broadway shows are a fine dining experience; something that I don't have all too often, but are usually worth it... or they would be if this season wasn't a boring, uninteresting one.