Our Top 10 Worst Films of 2013

If you’re wondering where “Grown Ups 2” (aka Adam Sandler’s Vacation Part three) or “The Smurfs 2” are, we gladly avoided those movies upon their release. Partially because we avoided the first films, but mostly because we just didn’t feel like suffering or inflicting pain upon ourselves. We’re masochists, surely, but not religious about it.

And we weren’t interested in watching the ninety minute commercial for Google entitled “The Internship.” That said, we did watch our share of awful films in 2013. Some by choice, others by obligation, and this is the top ten that we couldn’t stop groaning over.

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Our 5 Choice Indies of 2013

With our commitment to reviewing and viewing indie films, we devote most of the year to exploring all kinds of independent gems. Though we’ve seen a ton of wonderful films from many talented directors and storytellers in 2013, we narrowed our list down to five independent films that really stuck with us and kept us re-living them in our minds. It was a tough decision since we’re sent so many films and have a tough time deciding, but in the end we decided these were five choice indies you should seek out immediately.

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Our Top 5 Television Shows of 2013

Admittedly we’re not big TV watchers these days. We’re mostly fans of “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons” re-runs, and whatever movie is playing on Syfy in America, but when we do watch, we’re very selective. Most popular shows these days just aren’t appealing to us. But out of the small portion of shows that we do watch, we decided to list five of the series in 2013 that kept us watching and wanting more.

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5 Choice Indies of 2012

Special Mention:
88:88
Directed by: Joey Ciccoline
Written by: Sean Wilson, Joey Ciccoline
Official Trailer
Watch It Now!

Originally a contender for an online short film festival, director Joey Ciccoline’s short “88:88” is a wonderful and absolutely remarkable horror short about a woman who simply can not escape her destiny. She’s built her life around her over night occurrences, and on the day we meet her, she’s decided to stop becoming a victim and start resisting. In spite of her life around her wondering where she is, our young heroine spends her time building mechanisms and odd devices around her room.

Though she’s calm and resolute throughout the course of the short, she is racing the clock, and before she knows it, night has fallen and it’s time to sleep. With a wonderful eye on the small budget, and low maintenance special effects, Joey Ciccoline delivers an onslaught of horrific images, and devastatingly traumatic monsters that desperately try to bring this woman in to their throes and by her own clever instruments, shows them that she’s not one to be reckoned with any longer. A striking and downbeat short, this is a film to watch, if only because it’s one of the few extra terrestrial films that have succeeded in turning its menaces in to terrifying beings that have been tamed over the years.

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Cinema Crazed's Worst 10 of 2012…

2012 was filled with so many surprises, and it’s a year we may be talking about for a while. The big screen adaptation of “21 Jump Street” we were convinced would be pure swill ended up being the funniest comedy in the last few years. Ridley Scott’s return to science fiction “Prometheus” which we were sure would be an epic masterpiece ended up being sub-par genre fare that didn’t exactly re-invent the wheel in spite of causing a rift between genre fans who either loved it or hated it. However, the comedy movie about a foul mouthed talking teddy bear pretty much met our rock bottom expectations. Disney and Marvel Studios took a gamble on a movie that assembled a group of superheroes from film franchises of varying success entrusting the task to a director and storyteller primarily beloved by cult fans, and ended up conquering the box-office, and the world.

Disney’s gamble on another fantasy film entitled “John Carter” also made history as one of the biggest flops in movie history. A movie based on a board game was crucified by movie fans all over the world, while the director of “The Avengers” made waves with his cult horror comedy “The Cabin in the Woods.” Quentin Tarantino introduced one of the rare African American Western heroes to mainstream cinema,  and The Dark Knight made his return to the screen unfortunately being forever linked to a horrific killing spree inflicted by a heartless monster, prompting Hollywood to re-think their stance on film violence causing an uproar among movie buffs. 2012 was a rather eventful year in the world of cinema and storytelling, and without further ado we introduce our Top 10 and Worst 10 Films of 2012.

As with every year we have some new categories, and we hope we inspire such rage in you that you’re able to find it in your heart to leave a vicious anonymous passive aggressive comment on Rotten Tomatoes for one of our reviews. That’s all we ask. Or if you’re feeling conversational, send us your own Top 10 and Worst 10 of 2012! We can likely begin a conversation that’s human and polite.

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Cinema Crazed's Top 10 of 2012

2012 was filled with so many surprises, and it’s a year we may be talking about for a while. The big screen adaptation of “21 Jump Street” we were convinced would be pure swill ended up being the funniest comedy in the last few years. Ridley Scott’s return to science fiction “Prometheus” which we were sure would be an epic masterpiece ended up being sub-par genre fare that didn’t exactly re-invent the wheel in spite of causing a rift between genre fans who either loved it or hated it. However, the comedy movie about a foul mouthed talking teddy bear pretty much met our rock bottom expectations. Disney and Marvel Studios took a gamble on a movie that assembled a group of superheroes from film franchises of varying success entrusting the task to a director and storyteller primarily beloved by cult fans, and ended up conquering the box-office, and the world.

Disney’s gamble on another fantasy film entitled “John Carter” also made history as one of the biggest flops in movie history. A movie based on a board game was crucified by movie fans all over the world, while the director of “The Avengers” made waves with his cult horror comedy “The Cabin in the Woods.” Quentin Tarantino introduced one of the rare African American Western heroes to mainstream cinema,  and The Dark Knight made his return to the screen unfortunately being forever linked to a horrific killing spree inflicted by a heartless monster, prompting Hollywood to re-think their stance on film violence causing an uproar among movie buffs. 2012 was a rather eventful year in the world of cinema and storytelling, and without further ado we introduce our Top 10 and Worst 10 Films of 2012.

Be sure to send us your own Top 10 and Worst 10 of 2012! We can likely begin a conversation that’s human and polite.

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5 Choice Indies of 2011

Beating Hearts
Directed by: Matthew Garrett
Written by: Matthew Garrett
Official Website
Not Available for Sale
Truly one of the most horrifying short films of the year, “Beating Hearts” is a disturbing and absolutely morbid look at a family ticking away to explode in to a hail of violence and carnage. That bombshell is incidentally the youngest daughter of a brood of middle class individuals who one day wakes up atop her mother’s heaving bosom only to mutilate her before her very eyes.

What follows is a suggestive and utterly unsettling look at cross generational love and disgusting symbolism that signals a horrific crime that was a long time coming and an erratic young girl who never quite figured out how to process her uneasy feelings.

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