Week in Review: January 14 - 19

Awards - With the mentality of better late than never, I did up a thing on the nominations for this year's Golden Raspberry Awards, my favourite awards of the season.  Also up were the results of the 70th Golden Globes, and a bit of a commentary on the presentation itself.

Birthdays -  Two birthday's this week, Betty White's 91st, and A.A. Milne's 131st.

Movies - While I said last week that I would be doing Gangster Squad this week I clearly lied.  Instead new movie of the week was Jack Reacher, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Other movies of the week were the 1984 Red Dawn and The Bang Bang Club, neither of which was all that good.

Books - Book of the week was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is probably my favourite instalment in the series.

TV - TV show of the week was the first season of the original series of Star Trek.  I've had some computer problems, so the review was initially posted uncompleted; that's been corrected now.

Recommendations - The movie out this week that I'm most looking forward to is Broken City. While I made other recommendations, nothing else overly caught my attention and I doubt I'll see them in theatres.

Next Week - I'm not too sure about next week, owing to the computer problems.  I'm definitely going to do Gangster Squad, and I'll do the weekly recommendations, but the rest of the week is up in the air.

Requests -What about you? Anything I should read or see? Let me know!

Birthday: Betty White

Today is the 91st birthday of actress, comedian, singer, author, television personality, and, since 2010, soul surviving Golden Girl, Betty White.

White has had an active career since 1939, when she entered into show business by appearing in radio shows.  She soon got her own radio show, The Betty White Show, before entering into television.  In 1950 she received her first Emmy nomination, for Best Actress in the first year that the category was made.  White went on to appear in the comedy shows Life with Elizabeth, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Love Boat, Mama's Family, The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, Boston Legal, The Bold and the Beautiful, and most recently Hot in Cleveland.  She was also the hostess of NBC's annual Tournament of Roses Parade, then CBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and now hosts Betty White's Off Their Rockers.  Oh, and for many years she made regular appearances on game shows like Password and Match Game, the former which was hosted by her third husband Allen Ludden.  In her lengthy career, White has received 21 Emmy nominations, won seven Emmy Awards, won one Grammy, and in 1995 was awarded a Star on the Walk of Fame.

Yeah, and she's 91.  Happy birthday!

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

Stars: Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Rob Riggle

Director: Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Rating: C+

I was a bit disappointed by The Lorax.  The trailer for it made it appear to be a fun movie, a bit of comedy, a bit of romance, a bit of suspense, and the occasional musical number.  While technically it did follow through with this, it did so in a manner that left me wanting.  The story overall was good in theory, but somewhat poorly executed.  In many ways the walled city of Thneed-Ville appears to be a utopian society; everyone’s pretty happy and gainfully employed, and everything is very, very clean – largely due to the complete removal of nature.  Rather than have real trees, dirt, and everything that comes with that the world is covered in cement, Astroturf, and blow up trees, and oxygen comes in bottles.  Everyone is completely satisfied with this state of affairs – everyone, that is except Audrey (Swift), who dreams to see a real tree.  Enter protagonist and love interest Ted Wiggins (Efron), who sets out to find a tree for her, taking him beyond the walls of Thneed-Ville to the home of the Once-ler, who tells him the tale of the Lorax and the trees.  This brings him attention to corporate giant Aloysius O’Hare (Riggle), who has made his fortune from selling air and consequently does not want anyone to bring back the trees.

If you think that this sounds like an environmentalist, anti-corporation film you’d be right, and in that manner it does justice to the book that it’s based on.  I have no problem with the message in general, and in general it’s handled well although a bit heavy handed at times.  Some of it made me roll my eyes, particularly in regards to the use of bottled air, especially as there’s a lack of continuity there – the Thneed-Villians have to buy air for their home, but have no problem breathing outside, it’s just when they leave the city that this becomes an issue.  There is a difference between the ending of the book and the film; in the book, it’s rather ominous and fore boarding.  There is a sense of hope, but just a sense.  In the film, however, things are a lot happier in the end and there is a resolution.  Given the nature of the issue, however, I was a bit disappointed that there was a resolution; it’s an ongoing issue, and I disliked the way that it was resolved with a nice little song and dance.  The point of the book is that there is more to the issue of saving the environment than just the trees, but the trees provide a start.  The film implies more that if you save the trees then you save the world, and everything is hunky dory afterwards.

Other problems… I wasn’t amazed by the voice acting.  It really seemed a bit half assed, which was disappointing given some of the actors.  I don’t really expect much from Taylor Swift or Zac Efron when it comes to acting, but I do have expectations with other cast members, especially Betty White.  Danny DeVito was great, but I think his role was somewhat sidelined, which is odd given as he played the title character.  I was especially disappointed by the Once-ler.  In the book he’s a rather foreboding character, hidden except for his green arms.  It’s easy to believe that he’s this formerly malevolent character, who has seen the err of his ways and holds the last hope for humanity.  In the film, he’s really just a pathetic character who failed to listen to the Lorax, who didn’t have any real power to begin with, then faded into legend as the world was left to deal with the consequences of his actions.  It was a disappointment, as was the film overall.