I’m tired of all the Best of 2013 lists, but here is one more. Maybe it was just me, but there seemed to be yet another overload of films released this year. I was thoroughly underwhelmed by most of them. Sure, a lot of okay films for a few hours of amusement, but nothing I’ll watch again. So my list of favorites is rather short:
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Star Trek Into Darkness
Man of Steel
Oblivion
I’m not going to go into drawn out reviews of these. Maybe I’ll do a Hobbit review, which I had intended to write. It would be positive look at the film, so given its success, it probably doesn’t need my comments anyway.
Why no “artsy” films? Because most of them try too hard and are not really that good. If people have to spend countless hours and words convincing you it’s great, chances are it isn’t. Reminds me how Star Wars (not artsy in the traditional artsy sense, but it is art) fans have spent three decades telling everyone how The Empire Strikes Back is the best of those films. Well, maybe it isn’t the best if you have to try that hard. Doesn’t mean it’s bad either.
In any case, how many films (or the books they come from) will you remember a couple months later? People have been reading The Hobbit since 1937. So maybe there is something a little deeper in all that orc-killing? If you really want something a little different than big budget spectacle, don’t miss my Indie Film Fest.
And on 
Darrick Dean 