My 10 Favorite Media Titles from 2013
—Melly Anderson

A funny and touching coming-of-age story based on the beloved best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower DVD, Blu-ray is a modern classic that captures the dizzying highs and crushing lows of growing up. It is a moving tale of love, loss, fear, and hope--and the unforgettable friends that help us through life.

Yann Martel 's novel Life of Pi DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo comes fantastically to life under the direction of Ang Lee. Pi survives a tragic disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship's only survivor...a fearsome Bengal tiger.

Brooklyn Castle DVD tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories.

A funny new twist on a classic love story, Warm Bodies DVD, Blu-ray is a poignant tale about the power of human connection. After a zombie epidemic, R (zombie) encounters Julie (human), and rescues her from a zombie attack. Drawn to each other, R becomes increasingly more human—setting off an exciting, romantic, and often comical chain of events that begins to transform the other zombies and maybe even the whole lifeless world.

In an adventure evocative of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, we meet Ellis and Neckbone, two boys out to explore a boat beached in a tree on an island off the Mississippi River. It's where they run into Mud DVD, Blu-ray a gritty character who claims to be a fugitive on the run with bounty hunters hot on his trail and the love of his life waiting for him in town. And, being boys, Ellis and Neckbone make a pact to help him.

Set in Yokohama in 1963, From Up on Poppy Hill DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo centers on Umi and Shun and the budding romance that develops as they join forces to save their high school's ramshackle clubhouse from demolition. The top-grossing Japanese film of 2011 and winner of the Japan Academy Prize for Animation, it captures the innocence of new love as well as the beauty of Yokohama's harbor and lush surroundings.

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in the Man of Steel DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

In a charming sequel to Raymond Briggs' iconic children's book, Billy, his mum, and his aging dog move into James' old home. As the seasons change, Billy loses his longtime companion. In mourning, he discovers a snowman-making kit left under the floorboards by James that he uses to build his own Snowman and a Snowdog. That night they come to life and take him on a wonderful adventure. As dawn breaks they fly home, but before the boy returns to bed, a magical surprise awaits him in The Snowman and the Snowdog DVD.

Fighting game and comic book fans alike rejoice in the first installment in a new video game franchise, Injustice: God’s Among Us PS3, PS4, WIIU, XB3, a fighting game that blends classic Arcade style gameplay mechanics with an intriguing storyline that pits classic DC Comics characters against each other in unique combinations for the ultimate fighting experience backed by a top-notch fighting engine.

Frog Trouble…and Eleven Other Pretty Serious Songs Album by cartoonist and children’s author, Sandra Boynton, is a mish mash of sweet and silly melodies that will appeals to toddlers and grannies alike. With an impressive list of performers (Darius Rucker, Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams and, yes, Fountains of Wayne…to name a few), Boynton has assembled a remarkable album that comes from her inner child.