The summer of 2013 had a wide variety of movies that kept audiences rolling in, good or bad.  While I do not consider this year to be as successful as 2012, it still had some great hits. Some were fantastic but not hits, and some were huge misses.  After narrowing it down, here are my top picks for the best, worst, and most underrated movies of 2013.

Best: Star Trek Into Darkness

I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this one (particularly Trekkies), but I found this movie to be absolutely fantastic.  The plot revolving around Kirk’s conflicting role as the captain when under attack by John Harrison and even the Federation was one of the many things that made this movie great.  While some films this summer disappointed me in the villain department (looking at you, Iron Man 3), Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance and character was everything I wanted in a perfect movie villain.  Finally, like the last movie, elements such as the special effects (minus the lens flares), the acting, the music, and the relationship between Spock and Kirk were all very well done and did not make me regret purchasing my ticket.

Worst: The Smurfs 2

Hollywood can never learn.  While I debated films like Planes and After Earth to take this spot, I decided to give it to the biggest sell-out this summer.  It has all the elements of a bad cartoon to live-action movie.  Weird CGI creatures in live-action settings, actors who you really wish were not there (Neil Patrick Harris), awful jokes (Smurfbook, get it?), and attempts to “modernize” something popular in the 1980s.  If this sounds familiar, then it should not surprise you that the director of this movie is the same guy who made the live-action Scooby-Doo movies.  When I walked around a mall and saw all the merchandise, it just really emphasized how this “movie” is just an excuse to make Smurf merchandise popular again.  The worst part is not the fact that the only people who would enjoy this would have to be under five years old, but the fact that they’re already developing the next movie in the series.

Underrated: The World’s End

This film came out a week before classes started, so chances are you haven’t seen it yet.  This movie is the final film in Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, films that were directed by Wright and starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (the other two films being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).  Not only does the bizarre concept of a pub crawl in a town taken over by robot aliens work, but the actors and writers did a fantastic job of making me laugh.  The fight scenes were surprisingly well done, and the characters were very memorable.  With all of these positive aspects, The World’s End is a satisfying conclusion to Edgar Wright’s hilarious trilogy.