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A Year End Review 2013

31
Dec
Our "Best" and "Worst" selections of 2013.

The year 2013 brought a lot of changes to TheLifeStyleElite.com, with an introduction of more features than the previous year,including of our new film review,featured photographer sections. All things considered it has been a year that has seen many changes, and improvement to our website. Our ever growing “Models Of TheLifeStyleElite.com” section has grown exceptionally over this past year,with more model features, and a few exclusive YouTube promotional videos that were first only available to our Twitter followers via DM. We have featured/reviewed several books, films, gadgets, fashion, and everything you would expect from our elite lifestyle website the past 12 months. We have compiled a list of a few of the interesting things we have featured throughout 2013,and ranked them from best to worst.

One of the most notable films that immediate made of “The Best Of ” list was “The Great Gatsby”. A film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of the same title. Coined by literary scholars as “The Great American Novel” “The Great Gatsby” is set in the 1920’s per-stock market crash, and follows a naive young writer,Nick Carraway, as he slips into a world of lavish parties. Though this is not the first screen adaption director Baz Luhrmann, who is known for his attention to detail,and musical importance to the film , made this the most visually stunning film that our staff has ever seen. DiCaprio embodies the hopeless romantic with seemingly little effort, and truly draws you in as a supporter of Gatsby’s all the while rooting for him to realize his dream to be with Daisy again. Though this the book reads like a greek tragedy, Baz’ visuals make you feel all, but devastated at the films outcome in a visual style only he could bring to the big screen. Read our full review of the film.

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This year Marvel brought us the second installment in the Thor franchise,and like the majority of the Marvel’s films Thor returns with full force of Asgard. Thor returns to theaters in is awe inspiring Sci-Fi sequel “Thor: The Dark World”,and like all its previous Marvel predecessors it has become even better. This film offers more character development than the original,and answers questions posed in “The Avengers“ ,with visual Sci-Fi special effects that rival Star Trek. Read more in our detailed review.

Just as last year we have a late entry only a few days ago the dark comedy “The Wolf Of Wall Street” directed by Martin Scorsese,and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. at first glance at the trailer you might not know that this is actually a dark comedy,and it is a first for DiCaprio, as the majority of his films are serious roles. DiCaprio’s performance as Jordan Belfort, the drug taking,hooker sleeping,wall street swindler, in this film is Oscar worthy ,and his comedic timing is impeccable, with numerous scenes that we challenge you not to laugh at. Read more in our detailed review

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The Xbox One makes our list for the extreme upgrades,including the voice command features,and seamless online gaming we found while testing. cheyan gray, antwaune gray, thelifestyleelite, thelifestyleelitedotcom, thelifestyleelite.com,cheyan antwaune gray,fashion,models of thelifestyleelite.com, the life style elite,the lifestyle elite,elite lifestyle,lifestyleelite.com,xbox one,

Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell :Blacklist has a new take on Sam Fisher in more ways than one. Whilst he is rocking the goggles again, Fisher is a new man following Splinter Cell:Conviction. If you are a long time fan of the franchise you will notice right away that Fisher sounds different. This is thanks to the addition of Eric Johnson, who replaces well-known series regular Michael Ironside as the voice of Fisher. Ironside has been involved with Blacklist’s development, though, as Johnson’s mentor, as seen in the first dev diary. Fans have been very vocal of Ironside’s absence in the role of chat boards for sometime. The “Mark and Execute” was one of the best features about Conviction, but Killing in Motion seems to be an evolution of it. With this, Fisher is able to move through ,and even in some aspects, use the environment to take out targets in a fast pace. One example is Fisher being able to kill enemies whilst running through an enemy camp before pouncing over a car bonnet and taking out two guys quickly. Expect Killing in Motion to be a heavily trumped feature of the game. For every gamer this is one of the best games to be released this year.

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This year also brought a lot to the small screen with the long awaited return of BBC’s Luther (Though the series will not premier in the U.S. until next year we have seen an advance screening of series 3, and thoroughly enjoyed it). DCI John Luther is London detective , that is a cross between Sherlock Holmes, The Mentalist,and The Shield’s Vic Mackey in the way of doing what it takes to makes sure justice is serve (only a lot less corrupt)  Series 3 is rumored to be the last installment before a movie is made ;though this is all still rumored the final episode in the series does leave a lot of potential for any form of its next installment.

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In “Paradise in Brazil” we fell in love with the more than 150 color ,and black and white images, of stunning women of Brazil. Coupled with the equally beautiful tropical landscapes, including locations with mountains, jungles, beaches, and historical sites. There are even photographs that couple models with Brazil’s indigenous wildlife like jaguars and macaws. This is a must have for every man’s coffee table. Available Online

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Photographer,Barry Feinstein, was able to work almost unnoticed while being at the center of the action for the vital moment. Recently he complied previously unseen images of his close personal friend ,Steve McQueen, and prove his mastery of the lens with each photograph. Available Online

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This year we featured even more “Models Of TheLifeStyleElite.com” our newest entires have generated a variety of fan mail. The most popular of our newest featured models has been the very beautiful “Stephanie Rao.” With her sultry eyes, fashionable style,and her figure have made her by far the most popular model featured in 2013.(including a few fan mail marriage proposals)

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One of our new additions to the website has been our featured photographers section, in which much like our featured model section we feature up ,and coming photographers. This year our most popular,and most stylish has been Spiro Mandylor, a free lance photographer/style blogger from Toronto. Read his full interview click here

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Unfortunately with the best, there is always the worst, and in 2013 there have been many things we have demeaned to be on this list.  At the top of our list is the extremely flawed “Man Of Steel.” One of the main reasons we hated the Zack Snyder’s  reboot was at first the simple changes we found in the film that did not need to be changed. Most notably was the fact that in the original mythos of Superman receives his super-human powers is solely from the sun’s yellow rays.  The re-imaging of director Snyder,and  Christer Nola (director of  The Dark Knight Rises which made last years “The Worst Of 2012”) made Superman cocky, self centered,and very uncaring about saving the innocent as it has been portrayed in the comics for 75  years. The fact that the writers,and director felt it was necessary to change the fundamental fact that he receives his powers for the yellow rays of the sun, to a much more complicated combination of the Earth’s atmosphere,and the “younger sun” in our solar system. This becomes one of  many loop holes in the story when Superman is taken in a spaceship above Earth’s atmosphere. According to their story line Superman needs both Earth’s atmosphere, and the yellow rays of the sun to gain his powers. When he escapes the ship he is above Earths atmospheres thus should stay as powerless as a human being, coupled with the fact that he kills an enemy rather than finding a peaceful resolution (something even Batman would never do which makes a cross over film seem improbable) ,and with the billions of dollars of damage he causes that result in killing millions rather than saving. This and various reasons listed in our detailed review made this film less then desirable.

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation was rumored they postponed the release to add more footage that would make the film even better………. unfortunately this was not true. The first film was some what childish, and film makers seemingly wanted a more mature take on the franchise. The Joe’s are framed for stealing nuclear warheads from Pakistan by Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) who is impersonating the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce). The entire team is eliminated in a military strike, with Duke (Channing Tatum) as one of the casualties. Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) are the only survivors. Meanwhile, Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and ex-Joe Firefly (Ray Stevenson) rescue Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) from an underground maximum-security prison in Germany. Killing the main character Duke to replace the new lead with Roadblock,and not showing the original cast from the previous film leaves a lot to be desired. They introduced Bruce Willis as the original G.I. Joe, but with the killing of the original cast in just the second film it leaves the franchise’s future in question, as most fans did not receive this film very well. For there lack of originally ,and over all boring over the top action, we placed this film firmly on our “The Worst Of 2013” list.

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Though we feel Man Of Steel was the worst film of 2013, we feel Iron Man 3 was Marvel’s first, and hopefully last film failure. The Iron Man franchise has been a fan favorite for sometime,and this year fans where looking forward to seeing the third installment. Unfortunately like last years “The Dark Knight Rises” the thrid ,and what we are told the last installment of the franshice falls short of what fans loved about the franchise. Gone where the witty comebacks , made famous in films 1 & 2, and replaced with serious fear,douts,and an attempet to make Tony Stark a hero without his Ironman suit. In the last film we where treated to a superhero duo of Iron-Man & War-Machine leading most fans to think that the next film would have more of the action they enjoyed in the second film. Rhodey was not in the film much,and when he is it is more like a cameo. Though without the humor of the orginal films,action,and all lack of improvement in this film earns a spot on our “Worst Of” section for 2013.

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Midnight will usher in 2014 bringing more reviews for film, console games,products,travel ,and many more changes to TheLifeStyleElite.com. Our ever growing “Models Of TheLifeStyleElite.com” section has grown exceptionally over this past year,and will grow even more next year. We would like to thank all our readers,and supporters,and we hope to see you in 2014.

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