Week in Review: December 31 - January 5

Birthdays - The first birthday of the year that we've celebrated was the 121st birthday (or what would have been, were he still alive) of author J.R.R. Tolkien, best known for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  The second birthday that we did was the considerably younger (and still living) Diane Keaton, who turned 67 yesterday.

Notes - To ring in the new year we did two notes this week; one a review of the movies of 2012 and the other listing off what I'm looking forward to seeing in 2013.  Both were a bit lazy, but what do you expect for New Years Day?

Movies - New movie of the week was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first instalment in a trilogy based on Tolkien's The Hobbit, and Les Misérables, based on the musical adaptation of the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo.  The only other movie was Friends with Kids, which I also enjoyed.

Books - Two books this week, one the historical fiction based on the childhood of Queen Victoria, The Captive of Kensington Palace by Jean Plaidy, the other the erotic paranormal romance Dark Lover by J.R. Ward.

TV - TV show of the week was the first two seasons of the BBC drama Sherlock, a modern adaptation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novels.  I love it and want it to be 2014 just so we can see the third season.

Recommendations - No new movie recommendations this week, because there wasn't anything good, but Looper is out on DVD so go see that if you haven't already.

Next Week - Next week we'll have the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Men At Arms, and the Judd Apatow movies Knocked Up and its sort of sequel This is 40.  There will also be a note on the 85th Academy Awards nominations.

Requests -Any requests? Let me know!

Birthday: J.R.R. Tolkien

Yes, he is deceased, but as he's the 5th top-earning dead celebrity and the latest movie based on one of his works just came out (and is killing at the box-office) I figured we could still note what would have been the 121st birthday of legendary author J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tolkien is probably best known for his Middle-earth works, notably The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel The Hobbit.  His works were influenced heavily by Germanic and Old English literature, poetry, and mythology - an influence that you can see throughout the Middle-earth books.  You can also see Celtic influences as well, although Tolkien denied such an influence during his lifetime.  He has been deemed as creating the modern fantasy genre, which means that if you read modern fantasy the author was probably influenced by Tolkien - either directly or indirectly.  Despite having been dead for some time now, works under his name continue to be published, as his son, Christopher Tolkien, continues to publish previously unreleased Tolkien works.  I suspect that this, and the movies, have a large part in the world's continued love affair with Tolkien.

Anywho, happy birthday!

Recommendations: June 15

Rock of Ages – From director Adam Shankman Rock of Ages is a movie adaptation of a hit Broadway musical, about two young would-be singers trying to make it big.  Set in an LA nightclub in the late 80s, featuring 80s pop metal music, and composed of an ensemble cast, this musical looks awesome.  Really, even if the story didn’t hold up, or the acting was bad you could still expect to have fun watching Rock of Ages because of the music alone.  But given as it’s already a success on Broadway, the story is already known to be good, and the cast is well tested.  I’ve been excited about seeing this movie since I first saw a trailer for it, a few months ago.

That’s My Boy – In Adam Sandler’s latest comedy he plays a goofball father who resurfaces in time for his son’s wedding.  While I appreciate the fact that Sandler appears to be acting to his age instead of as a goofball guy pursuing a much younger woman, I’m rather bored by his movies.  I think I’ll be passing on this one.

Chicago­ – It’s being predicted that Rock of Ages will kick off a musical renaissance that will surpass the musical renaissance experienced early in the millennium.  While it’s far too early to tell if that prediction is true, I think it’s fitting to recommend that you watch Chicago, the movie credited with having kicked off the last musical renaissance – pay no attention to the fact that Moulin Rouge came out a year earlier...

Moulin Rouge – Actually, let’s not ignore this earlier musical.  While it may not have won as many awards as Chicago did, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge is just as great of a movie (some might even say better).  This is one of my favourite movies of all time.

Reign Over Me – In honour of Adam Sandler’s new movie, I’m going to recommend that you see one of Sandler’s best movies to date – although, I should warn you, it’s not a comedy.  In Reign Over Me Sandler is Charlie Fineman, a man who lost his entire family on September 11^th.  Since then he’s been struggling with a very crippling depression; this movie is about the way in which his former college roommate (Don Cheadle) tries to help him come to terms with his loss.

I recently came across my copy of William Goldman's The Princess Bride, which I think is a total must-read book (as is the film).  I’ve also stumbled across JR.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.  As TheHobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set to come out this December, I recommend reading the book that it’s based on.  If you start now, you might just finish it in time for the movie’s release.  On a not-made-into-a-movie(-yet) note, there’s also the clever, insightful, and humourous Hokkaido Highway Blues (also known as Hitching a Ride with Buddah) by Will Ferguson, describing the time that he decided to hitchhike across Japan following the Cherry Blossom Front.  It’s a really interesting read.