Cin-NERD-ma Top Ten of 2013

Seeing as it is the end of 2013 I thought it would be good to join in and give my list of what I think are the ten best movies of the year, that I saw. It’s interesting looking back now and remembering the year, mainly because I forgot some of these were this year. I think as a movie going audience it feels more like the start of summer is the beginning of the year in movies. Now I should say, it was hard to get this list to this point, because I didn’t get to see every movie in theaters but I did make up for it with DVDs. The other reason it was hard was because the list I had was 17 movies and I found it a little difficult to rank them, but two days of pouring over it and I think I’ve got it down. So here we go!

10. Man of Steel

 9. Star Trek Into Darkness

 8. The Wolverine

 7. Catching Fire

 6. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

 5. The Desolation of Smaug

 4. Kick Ass 2

 3. Warm Bodies

 2. Gravity

 1. Oblivion

 I am very excited to see what all of you think, and I would like to hear what you have on your top ten list of 2013.


Written by: Jeff Potts

The Desolation of Smaug

Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves of Erebor, continue their journey across Middle Earth to reclaim the Lonely mountain from the dragon, Smaug.

 Unlike most middle movies, these two trilogies, Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, do not suffer from the middle movie slump, in fact I think in the future we will look back and say that these are the two best middle movies of all time.

 Out of the many ways to see this movie I saw it in two similar fashions, in 3D and in IMAX 3D, no 4k in our area, unfortunately… maybe. I favor the look of the IMAX so that is what I will be referencing.

 For those that are following along with the book, there were some interesting divergences and additions, and to be honest I am okay with all of them. But I have a severe question about one addition, that might clash with the way the story unfolds in the Lord of the Rings, even though it was an astounding scene, it begs a lot of questions about one of the characters, unless it is resolved in the third film. I think most of you will know the scene I am referring to, if you have seen it, or will know when you do.

 The thing that got me the most excited while watching, was the extension of the Smaug sequence. Partially because he looked amazing, and then there was the comedic interaction by Bilbo, but mostly because I love dragons, and they finally did one right in a movie. The change in the barrel scene and the addition of Legolas also added quite an interesting aspect to the movie that the book didn’t have, it is also obvious that the director never wanted you to have a moment to breath and always wanted you to feel in danger, because the barrel raft scene, in the book, although tense was one scene where you felt like you had a breather until they reached Lake town.

 I think the biggest problem I had with the movie was the filter they used on the Greenwood… huh, oh sorry I mean Mirkwood, to make it look sick, it just kind of washed everything out to a grayish tint, that succeeded in making it look very sick, so it was good but bad. Something that was odd to me was how big Dol Guldur was, it looks like a single watchtower from one side, but from the other side it was a huge complex on the side of a cliff. I mean it served its purpose of misdirection perfectly, I was shocked at its true size.

So quick summary the story was good, the changes are acceptable, the dragon was amazing, and there are many questions to be answered in part three.

 I highly recommend this movie to all that love fantasy, and to all those that like adventure, but you were or have already gone, I’m sure.

 I give it a 4.5 out of 5

 Written by Jeff Potts

Thor: the Dark World

Before the universe came to be there was darkness, and in that darkness lived a race of dark elves. The leader of the dark elves ,Malekith, wanted to plunge the universe back into darkness, during an event called the convergence, where all the realms overlap and the lines between dimensions become blurred, so he created a weapon called the Aether to do this. A great war was fought between the elves and the warriors of Asgard. In the end Malekith sacrificed his people so he could escape, while the Aether was seized by Bor, father of Odin, and hidden away where no one should have found it.

It has been two years since Thor has destroyed the Bifrost, and in that time Thor has mourned the loss of his adopted brother Loki and pined over Jane Foster to anyone that has ears. To then find out his brother is still alive and trying to destroy the world his love is on, so he goes to Midgard, makes a whole bunch of new friends, beats his brother, and returns home, without making a stop to see his love. Now after the events of the Avengers, Loki has been imprisoned, Odin and Heimdall have restored the Bifrost, so Thor is set out to restore peace and order in the nine realms.

Back on earth Jane is trying to move on with her life, by going on a date, but is having trouble finding a way to forget about the man she hit twice with her car. Darcy interrupts the date, to tell Jane crazy science stuff is happening, and they rush off to investigate. Jane wonders where her colleague Eric has run off to in this exciting moment that they been looking for, not knowing that he was off at Stonehenge running around naked and getting arrested. Darcy takes Jane to an abandoned factory where a group of kids takes them to a temporal anomaly that they found. Jane wonders off and gets pulled through one of the anomalies that teleports her to an underground cave where the Aether is being stored. Janes curiosity gets the best of her and she touches the Aether, and it shoots out at her and possesses her.

Four hours later she wakes up back in the factory. On Asgard Thor is talking to Heimdall about the coming of the convergence, when Heimdall mentions that Jane doesn’t know it but she is studying it as well, when Heimdall realizes that he can’t see her anymore, and sends Thor to Earth to search for her. Thor finds Jane, and she slaps him for leaving and not contacting her when he came to stop Loki. Thor discovers that Jane is possessed and takes her back to Asgard to see what is wrong with her. Malekith is awoken by the activation of the Aether, and gathers his forces to retrieve it, sending a scout ahead.

Odin is displeased with Thor, for bringing Jane to Asgard, and Jane is shocked to hear that Thor has talked about her to his father. It is revealed that Jane is possessed by the Aether and that there was no way to remove it from her. Malekith’s scout has snuck into Asgard and set about causing a distraction so he can drop the defenses of the city, leaving them open to an attack. The attack came swift and brutally, but the dark elves did not retrieve the Aether, and they had to retreat. Thor hatches a plan to save Jane but needs the help of Loki to accomplish it, so he breaks him out of jail and the three of them set off to the Dark World to carry it out.

Plans go horribly wrong, and Thor has to stop Malekith before he unleashes the Aether on Earth. With the help of Jane, and her interns, Thor is able to save the day and stop Malekith, but not before delivering some hefty property damage to the city of Greenwich.



 I very much enjoyed this movie, more so than most of the previous Avenger related movies, I would say this is in my top 2 of Avenger related movies. I quite enjoyed the fact it was set in England, and that the villain was the Doctor, attacking it for a change, it only would have been better if it was set at Christmas time. The movie was very serious, which I like in my comic book movies, if it gets too cartoony I feel the slightest pang of disappointment. A few observations though, the romance in the movie didn’t flow that well for me, but I get that it probably wasn’t a focus point for them when writing the script. Loki added just the right amount of humor, but they might have taken it one or two quips to far too quickly. The movie left us with many questions that have me very excited for what is to come next, but probably wont be answered until Thor 3, so we have a while to stew on them.

All that being said the credit scene had me a little confussed since im not too familiar with that character, but I look forward to Gaurdians of the Galaxy to explain more about it. The after credit scene I hope will be what is adressed in the next episode of Agents of SHIELD, but we will have to wait and see.



I give this movie a 4 out of 5 


Written by Jeff Potts

Ender's Game

Today I will be giving a brief synopsis and then review of the movie Ender’s Game.

Ender’s Game is the story of a young boy growing up on Earth, in the year 2086, that is under threat of being annihilated by an alien species, called the Formics, that attacked the planet once before, but was defeated. In this future the International Fleet relies on children to be the next great Commanders of their space fleet. Children are selected at a young age to attend Battle School, a space station floating in the Atmosphere above Earth, where they learn military strategy and how to coordinate and fight in a Zero-G environment.

Ender is a candidate in this program, and after a monitored duration of time he has been selected to go to Battle School. Colonel Graff, the man in charge of Battle School, believes that Ender is the one to lead them to victory in the war against the Formics. Graff’s plan for Ender is to make him feel isolated and hated, so that he will have a hard time connecting with any of the other trainees, and force him to stay alert for the ones that feel threatened by the position the teachers keep putting him in.

Over the course of his stay at Battle School Ender overcomes all obstacles that Graff puts in his way. As he becomes a leader of his own squad, and leads them on to victory in a series of training sessions against other squads. Feeling jealous and threatened by Enders success one of the other squad leaders gets in an altercation with Ender, but Ender is far more adept at strategy and wins the fight. Getting fed up with all the things Graff is putting him through, Ender decides he doesn’t want to be a pawn in this game Graff is playing, so he quits Battle School and goes back to Earth.

Having invested far too much time in Enders training, Graff has to find a way to bring him back. He uses Ender’s sister Valentine to convince him to return, as much as he doesn’t want to Ender can’t deny that he is the best option for leading the fleet into war. Instead of returning to Battle School, Ender is shuttled off to a forward command base to start his training in Command School. Here he runs through simulations to help prepare him for the war that Earth has decided to take to the Formics instead of waiting for the next invasion.

I will end my synopsis there because this much information was given away in the trailer, and I am not here to spoil anything just give my review.

As with most book to screen adaptations there are things that get changed or left out completely, this is no different. The movie cuts out all non-Ender centered material, in fact the longest amount of time Ender is not on screen in one stretch is about 30-40 seconds. All training that Ender goes through in Battle School happens in 20 minutes and mostly through montage, so you never get to see how clever he really is. That being said, they mostly stayed true to the book on the scenes that were in the movie.

If you haven’t read the book the movie won’t have too many problems for you, other than wanting more from certain segments that they montage through.

So in summation, if you enjoyed the movie, please read the book, things will make sense in a whole new way that you won’t have understood just by watching the movie.


I give the movie a 3 out of 5

Review by Jeff Potts