Poppin' Off Early Edition- Best Movies of 2013

I saw lots of movies this year, here are some of the ones that I think are the best (and that I can remember watching. Isn't that horrible?! I have the worst memory, seriously). (As always, if you haven't seen these movies yet and would like to, please read at your own risk. There could be spoilers.)

Family movies:

Monsters University. I am a big fan of Monsters Inc, so I came to this movie with huge expectations. And they were met. The story was good, the graphics were great.....I just loved it. And so did my kids, which means a lot. There were a couple of kid movies that didn't impress them as much this year *cough*Planes*cough* 

Despicable Me 2. Minions!!!! I love the Minions! And the story was cute too. It was able to stand on its own even though it was a sequel. 

Honorable mentions to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Frozen and Turbo.

Movies Based on Books:

Ender's Game. I got excited about this movie while walking some of the sets at San Diego Comic Con over the summer, and the movie did not disappoint. I haven't read the book, so I'm not sure if its true to it or not, but the movie was just outstanding. 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. This movie was so much better than the first. It had enough length to cover what needed to be covered, it didn't lack on the emotional disparity of the situation in the Districts and in the Quarter Quell, and some of the characters really held their own this time. Effie for me, made the biggest change. You could see that she was realizing what the Games really were about, and some of her scenes had me near tears (and I am not a crier for movies). Another one was Johanna Mason, the District Seven tribute. She starts off racy (stripping in the elevator anyone), but she always comes through for Katniss. And Peeta.....he was much more of a babe in this one. Gale, who? Team Peeta all the way!

Other:

Don Jon. The subject was so unconventional for a mainstream movie, but I think that's what made it great. Loved the cameos by Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway, but wished Brie Larson had more of a speaking part.

Elysium. I thought the concept was neat, Matt Damon didn't suck at acting and even Jodie Foster did a nice bad guy.

This Is The End. This is good if you need a laugh. I love these guys, and you really can't expect a high quality film when they're all together (I'm sorry, you can't).

Did I miss a movie? Disagree with my choices? Let me know in the comments!

Keeping Up With The Cons- SDCC 2013 Part 2: Outside the Con

Since we were only badge holders on Saturday, we used Sunday as an opportunity to explore some of the things going on outside of Comic-Con.

We managed to find parking in the Campus parking lot this time, and walked in the direction of Petco Park. We were in search of Nerd HQ and the Geek and Sundry lounge, and I feel like such a noob for even saying this, but we didn't find either one. Fail. But what we did find ended up suiting us a little better.

We started our day at the Ender's Game exhibit. It was really neat because it had actual sets from the movie that you could walk through. And props and costumes that were used in the movie, with plaques that said who used them. Pictures were strongly encouraged, which was awesome because in a lot of the movie/game exhibits they were strictly prohibited. What I found most surprising was how small the sets were, they always look so big in the movies lol. Also, how simple some of the costumes were. The school uniforms will be easy to cosplay, I'm thinking about trying it out myself. I also want to start reading the books on which the movie is based on. Everyone in line kept saying how amazing all the books are, and nerds are pretty good for a book recommendation.

After that we went to the Sega arcade. My son loves Sonic the Hedgehog, and there were demos of Sonic The Lost World set up, so he got to play that. He also got to play a Mickey game, Castle of something (I can't remember), and  my husband and I got to try out a PC game called Total War Rome II. They gave you a good amount of time to try out the games, and all the games were pretty neat. The Nintendo Gaming Lounge was the next stop for us. We got to play a bunch of different games, and the Year of Luigi thing going on was pretty cool. There's a Luigi based game that has no Mario and a new toon named Nabbit who is pretty hard to kill. Most of the games didn't have attendants working them, so people took advantage and played way longer than was polite. It was super crowded in there too, so we didn't spend a massive amount of time in there.

For lunch on Sunday, we hit a food truck. It was a Mexican food truck that was at the back of the convention center and it was pretty good. From there, we hit this area on the other side of the Sky Bridge that is a Comic-Con affiliate. We had gone for a little bit on Saturday because my daughter saw the Hello Kitty truck and just had to see it up close (shes a huge HK fan, like me). It had a Smufs 2 display, some Kia cars done up like Justice League members, food trucks, Hello Kitty Wonderland, Wolverine interactive (which I didn't get to do), a Samsung charging station, and a few other things. The main thing in there, to me, was the Gravity preview. We saw the last showing of it. It was done in realD 3D, and visually it was stunning. I'm not sure about the story line though. I know I will be seeing it however, because my husband is a huge Sandra Bullock fan. Everything ended at 5pm that day, and we stayed until the end. The last hour or so brought rain, which was nice, even though it added to the humidity.

Stick around for Part 3!