The Tolkien Collection, 2016 Version

Back in 2011, Anassa gave me the idea to take out my Tolkien books and stack them up on the table. Made for a rather impressive pile too. The table then seated four. Now, it takes one side of a snooker table to display the collection. The last few years have been good ones for the Tolkien collector, with new books (not to mention new editions of his books) being released every year.

I did another list in 2013, which was the first time I used the snooker table to hold it, and now it's time for a new one.

To get the whole thing in one frame, I had to back away so far that none of the titles can be read easily in the photo. In general though, there's the entirety of the History of Middle-Earth series stacked to the far left of the photo followed by the newer books of Tolkien's poetry. Above those we have the audio books, two Hobbit Blu-rays, Mr. Bliss, the Art of The Hobbit and The Art of the Lord of the Rings (two absolutely gorgeous books). Next to that is most of the mass-market sized Tolkien books and then the Black boxed set and the white set (still in it's shrink-wrap). Just to one side of the middle of the stack are my Verlyn Flieger books on Tolkien, the Lord of the Rings movies, some art books, and the final item in the display is the J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide two book set.

The books:

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
   One volume edition, illustrated by Alan Lee. (Middle of the bottom row)
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
   One volume, movie cover edition. (Horizontally in the middle of the stack beside the Alan Lee illustrated Lord of the Rings)
3. The Lord of the Rings 50th Anniversary Box Set by J.R.R. Tolkien
   The white box set including the Lord of the Rings Readers Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. Still in the shrink wrap.
   
4. The Lord of the Rings box set by J.R.R. Tolkien
   The black box set. (above the white set)
5. The Lord of the Rings
   The BBC Radio Play edition adapted by Brian Sibley. Each of the major characters is done by a different actor, including Ian Holm (Frodo), Peter Woodthorpe (Gollum) and Michael Horden (Gandalf). (About the only thing not pictured. I realized too late that it's upstairs)
6. The Lord of the Rings
   The BBC Radio Play edition adapted by Brian Sibley. Each of the major characters is done by a different actor, including Ian Holm (Frodo), Peter Woodthorpe (Gollum) and Michael Horden (Gandalf). Duplicate edition with some new narration. Not pictured.
7. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
10. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
11. The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Annotated by Douglas A. Anderson
    Lovely design with two columns: one for the text and the other for notes, including excerpts from letters, possible inspirations etc. I'm a bit ashamed to admit I have yet to fully read this edition, but it's so full of information that it really is a must have.
12. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Illustrated by Alan Lee
13. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Mass market edition.
14. The Hobbit Graphic Novel
15. Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Black edition.
16. Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Illustrated Hardcover edition, with the illustrations being by J.R.R. Tolkien too. Library discard.
17. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Hardcover, with illustrations from the Rankin-Bass animated movie. The first edition of The Hobbit that I ever read. A bit awkwardly sized, but has a lot of sentimental value.
18. The Hobbit
    BBC Radio Play edition
19. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    80th Anniversary Hardcover Facsimile edition. Not pictured.
20. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Hardcover, illustrated by Ted Naismith
21. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
22. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Library discard hardcover
23. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo translated by J.R.R. Tolkien
    My favourite translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Tolkien seems to have kept the meter and rhyme scheme very well.
24. Tales from The Perilous Realm b J.R.R. Tolkien
    Made up of Leaf by Niggle, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major. Illustrated by Alan Lee
25. On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson. Included commentary and notes
26. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
27. Tree and Leaf by J.R.R. Tolkien
28. Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull.
29. The Tolkien Reader by J.R.R. Tolkien
30. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Christopher Tolkien
31. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Audiobook read by Christopher Lee.
32. Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Christopher Tolkien
33.  The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Christopher Tolkien 
34. Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Christopher Tolkien.
35. The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Christopher Tolkien
36. The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Verlyn Flieger
37. Beren and Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Not pictured.
38. Tales from the Perilous Realm
    BBC Radio Play edition.
39. Mr. Bliss by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Lovely slip-cased facsimile edition.
40. The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R. Tolkien
41. Smith of Wootton Major by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Edited by Verlyn Flieger
42. Finn and Hengist by J.R.R. Tolkien
43. The Ancrene Wisse edited by J.R.R. Tolkien
    One expensive book! In some form of Middle English, I think with some latin mixed in. I can't read it at all. Early English Text Society edition.
44. Bilbo's Last Song by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
45. The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays by J.R.R. Tolkien
46. The Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    Same cover style as the Black box set of the Lord of the Rings.
47. The Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
48. The Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    The deluxe slipcased edition. Not pictured.
49. The Book of Lost Tales One by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
50. The Book of Lost Tales Two by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
51. The Lays of Beleriand by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
52. The Shaping of Middle Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
53. The Lost Road by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
54. The Return of the Shadow by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    The first book covering the draft versions of The Lord of the Rings. Also, the first book in the History Of Middle Earth series that I ever read.
55. The Treason of Isengard by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    The second book about the Lord of the Rings
56. The War of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    The third book in the set about the Lord of the Rings.
57. Sauron Defeated by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    Only part of the book covers the end of the documents about the Lord of the Rings. The rest holds one of my other favourite unfinished stories by Tolkien though: The Notion Club Papers. I think this copy also has some holes punched in the pages  (from the metal bookmark I stopped using as soon as I discovered it was doing that).
58. Morgoth's Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
59. The War of the Jewels by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
60. Peoples of Middle Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
    Only one of the History of Middle-Earth books I have in hardcover.
61. A Middle English Reader and Vocabulary by Kenneth Sisam and J.R.R. Tolkien
    IIRC, Kenneth Sisam was one of Tolkien's tutors.
62. The Tolkien Family Album by John and Priscilla Tolkien
63. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter
    Hardcover edition
64. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter
    With the improved index.
65. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
    This is the gold standard biography I believe.
66. The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter
67. Tolkien by Raymond Edwards
68. The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
    Slip-cased set of two volumes: the Chronology and the Reader's Guide. Another jaw-dropper of a set, and one I consider to be a must-have.
69. The Lord of the Rings Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
70. The Art Of The Hobbit by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull.
    The artwork that J.R.R. Tolkien did for The Hobbit, both during the drafts and for publication gathered together in one place. Beautifully done in a lovely slipcase.
71. The Art of the Lord of the Rings by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. 
    Follows the same format as the Art of the Hobbit. Absolutely spectacular!
72. J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist And Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
    About Tolkien's own artwork over the years from his childhood on. Stunning, and has insights into Tolkien and his writings as well.
73. The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth by Robert Foster
74. The Complete Guide To Middle Earth by Robert Foster
    Dates from university where I was keeping a copy handy for between class editing of my website.
75. Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth
76. A Question of Time: Tolkien's Road To Faerie by Verlyn Flieger
77. Interrupted Music: The Making of Middle-Earth by Verlyn Flieger
78. Splintered Light: Langage and Logos by Verlyn Flieger
79. Green Suns And Faerie by Verlyn Flieger.  
80. There Would Always Be A Fairy Tale: More Essays on Tolkien by Verlyn Flieger
    Not pictured.
81. Meditations on Middle-Earth edited by Karen Haber
    Illustrated by John Howe. A number of authors writing on how Middle-Earth and J.R.R. Tolkien influenced them.
82. Master of Middle Earth by Paul Koch
83. A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings by Lin Carter
84. A Tolkien Compass by Jared Lobdel
85. Tolkien's Legendarium Essays on The History of Middle-earth (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy) edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter
    Essays that focus on the History of Middle Earth series. Another expensive book (especially for its size).
86. The History of The Hobbit: Mr. Baggins by John D. Ratelliff
87. The History of The Hobbit: Return to Bag-End by John D. Rateliff
88. The Journeys of Frodo by Barbara Stratchey
    Maps and distances focused on the descriptions given in The Lord of the Rings. Rather a neat book to have, if an awkward size.
89. Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstaad
90. Understanding The Lord of the Rings by William Ready
91. Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary by Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall and Edmun Weiner
92. The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle: Music By Donald Swann and Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien
    This is one that I`d really like to hear some day. I can`t read music, so I don`t fully appreciate the book at all.
93. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Man Who Created The Lord of the Rings by Michael Coren
94. Understanding The Lord Of The Rings: The Best Of Tolkien Criticism Edited by Rose A. Zimbardo and Neil D. Isaacs
95. J.R.R. Tolkien by Robley Evans
    To be honest I cringe at this book - the errors are glaring.
96. Tolkien: A Celebration edited by Joseph Pearce
97. The Battle For Middle-Earth: Tolkien`s Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings by Fleming Rutledge
98. Middle-Earth: Visions of A Modern Myth by Donato Giancola
    A book of art about Middle-Earth.
99. The Road To Middle Earth by Tom Shippey
100. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author Of The Century by Tom Shippey
101. The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition DVD
102. The Two Towers Extended Edition DVD
103. The Return of the King Extended Edition DVD
104. The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions set. Blu-Ray
     Not pictured. Purchased after the photo was taken.
105. The Lord of the Rings DVD
106. The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack
     Not pictured
107. The Two Towers Soundtrack
     Not pictured
108. The Return of the King Soundtrack
     Not pictured
     The animated Bashki edition. Interestingly, Peter Woodthorpe does Gollum here too.
109. J.E.A. Tyler`s Tolkien book
     Not pictured, in storage
110. Tolkien`s Ring by David Day
     Illustrated by Alan Lee - the most redeeming feature of the book
111. The Tolkien Encyclopedia by David Day
     
112. A-Z of Tolkien by David Day
     
113. The Gospel According To Tolkien by Ralph Woods.
114. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
     Peter Jackson's first movie in his Hobbit trilogy. Blu-Ray format.
115. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
     Peter Jackson's second movie in the Hobbit Trilogy. Also in Blu-Ray. 
116. The Battle of the Five Armies
     Number three in Peter Jackson's version of The Hobbit. Blu-Ray.
     Not pictured - purchased after the photo was taken.
117. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack
     Not pictured.
118. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug soundtrack
     Not pictured.
119. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies soundtrack
     Not pictured.
120. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Origin of the Rings
     DVD. A waste of a hour it's that bad. Not pictured as I can't find it. I might have sold it on. Unfortunately I have to report since that that is not true. I still own this one.
121. Tolkien Treasury
     A little gift-book of quotes. Not pictured. 
122. The Song of Middle-Earth: J.R.R. Tolkien's Themes, Symbols and Myths - David Harvey
     Not pictured
123. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Secret Vice - Tolkien on Invented Languages - eds. Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins
     An expanded edition of A Secret Vice originally published in The Monsters and the Critics. Not pictured - purchased after these photos were taken.
124. The Oxford Inklings - Colin Duriez
     Not pictured - purchased after these photos were taken.

Close-ups of the collection:

The left-most portion of my Tolkien collection

The center portion of the collection

The right end of the collection

Book Rambling: What Makes A Successful Book Adaptation?

Inspired by watching the third of the Hobbit movies on Wednesday, I started trying to figure out what, at least in my mind, makes for a good adaptation of a book into a movie or TV show.

I think it's a combination of a few things including just how faithful the makers are to their source material, although there are ways of being faithful that still allow for changes. Also, though, in many ways, the opinion of whether or not the directors/producers are being faithful to the source depends on how familiar the viewer is with that material.

Take Warhorse for an example. I've only read the book once. In my mind, the movie was pretty faithful to the book and they did a spectacular job. Yes, they did make some changes, but I felt that they kept the characters the same and touched on most of the best moments. But, I didn't (and still don't) know every word of the source material.

The movie version of Snow Flower And The Secret Fan was another adaptation that I really enjoyed. In some ways, I wasn't expecting to either because they decided to make quite a few additions to the book in the movie. However, it was done in a tasteful way, and although the movie-makers added their own characters in the modern story-line, the material from the book itself seemed to me to have stayed quite true to the characters and story Lisa See wrote.

In the same vein, but over to TV, are the two shows that I'm watching this year: Outlander (currently on it's mid-season break) and now the mini-series The Book of Negroes.

So far, the first half of the season of Outlander has stayed true to the book, at least as far as I can remember (it's been more than a few years since I've read Diana Gabaldon's books). Again though, barring a couple of additions, the characters are feeling 'right' to me - and even the small additions work. Still, as I've noted with other adaptations I'm watching or have watched, I don't know every little word or detail of these books.

And with The Book of Negroes, I haven't read the book at all. Which is why I'm asking what you think and how the show compares with the book. I have to say, coming at the show cold, without any knowledge from Lawrence Hill's book, it's been pretty good so far.

Now we come to the big ones when it comes to movie adaptations of books. The Lord of the Rings movies and The Hobbit movies. Everyone around me knows my opinions on the Lord of the Rings movies - although I'm finding a new appreciation of the soundtracks of late. Too many changes - most of which were unneeded at least in my opinion. I also didn't feel like any of the characters were true to their source characters at all. I remember making comments along the lines of "the only thing these characters have in common with Tolkien's is their names". It may simply be that this is the one case where I know too much about the books - I've re-read it more times than I can count by now.

Most of the changes that really bugged me were in two general categories:

• changes to the characters and their motivations. Most of these changes were to the detriment of the characters. Denethor, for example. Where was his dignity? Aragorn too was made less. Sam would never have turned back, even for a moment the way I remember him doing in the movie.
• Unneeded additions. Did Frodo and Sam really need to be at the battle in Osgiliath? Did we really need to see Aragorn falling off that cliff? 

What really adds insult to injury on the latter front is when they claim that there's too much material and so of course some needs to be cut. Fine. Just don't do it so you can add your own entire storyline in in it's place!

Paradoxically, The Hobbit movies felt truer to the source material - barring, of course the entire stupid chase sequence that lasted through all of them, and a few other specific incidents (Don't get me started on the whole Radagast and his rabbit-drawn sled). In this case, a lot of the "added material" aside from the chase and to a lesser extent the whole Tauriel/Kili storyline is stuff that I have no problems with - most of it is from Tolkien, specifically, if my memory isn't playing tricks, the chapter The Quest of Erebor in The Unfinished Tales.

What is it that makes a movie or tv adaptation of a book work for you?

Paddington Bear Movie

How did I miss finding out about this until just now?

Paddington Bear is coming to movie theatres next week - in North America, at least. I get the feeling that it's already been out for a while in the UK.

Raise your hand if you read the Paddington Bear books as a kid. I sure did! Unfortunately it's been so long ago that I can only remember one little scene from one of the books. I don't even remember what book it was.

The scene was the one where he's entered some kind of a Christmas Cake/Christmas Pudding contest and ends up messing up his recipe badly enough that in the end, he ices and decorates the oven and takes that to be judged - with the cake inside!

Outlander TV Show Trailer

I'd heard rumors that Outlander, the first novel in the series by Diana Gabaldon was going to be made into a TV show. It definitely looks like it's gone beyond the rumor stage, as I've just seen the first trailer for the series:

I have to say, it looks really good, although that's a bit hard to determine based on only 48 seconds. Still I think I'm going to try and watch it when the show comes out this summer.

It's been a long time since I've been actively interested in watching a TV series.

I have to ask, what are your thoughts on the trailer and the forthcoming series?

Christmas Watching

There are lots of fine Christmas themed movies out there, but before I get to those, I want to mention one episode of a T.V. show that is one of the best Christmas themed shows I've seen in a long time:

The T.V. show is MacGyver, and the episode in question is The Madonna from Season 5.
The episode blurb from the season is:

A mysterious homeless woman comes to stay at the Challenge Center, and with her pocketful of miracles, ends up teaching MacGyver and the kids the true meaning of Christmas.

The amazon.com blurb:

MacGyver faces a busy Christmas Eve: he tries to help a priest reclaim a stolen Madonna figure, aids Cynthia in keeping the Challenger Club's doors open, and comes to the rescue of a bag lady preyed upon by thieves.

To be honest, I prefer the first blurb, but either way, this is an episode worth watching. I saw it a couple of weeks ago as part of watching the whole series through in order for the first time and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.

This is also the time of year for Christmas movies, and there are almost too many to count out there. Who can forget the Charlie Brown Christmas though?

That's a family tradition to watch, although I haven't gotten around to it yet this year.

How about A Christmas Carol? There are several versions of this movie out there, almost too many to count, but the most recent is the Disney version.

Another first for me this year was watching The Polar Express. Great music, and a very warming storyline, although I found the red/blue 3D glasses rather disconcerting to use. At least part of that though is that I wear glasses, and so don't really like any of the 3D glasses out there. Even so, it was quite the experience to see a movie at home in 3D - without needing any special technology.

What's your favorite Christmas movie or T.V. show?

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer

As usual, I'm slow off the mark on finding trailers, but I just discovered the trailer for the second Hobbit movie. Not even a month after it was released - not too bad, I guess. Especially as I'm not following any of the movie sites the way I did with the Lord of the Rings movies.

After watching the first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I'm curious to see what Jackson does with the source material to create the second and third movies. However, and this might not be accurate, given that this is a trailer, it does look like he's emphasized the big battles and fights, as well as adding more in.

Are you looking forward to anything in particular from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?

The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey Movie Review

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,

Racing Radagast through the blazing sun...

My apologies to Rolf Harris for the paraphrase of his Christmas carol, Six White Boomers, but if you've seen the movie in question, you'll know what I'm referring to. That's the only thing that came to mind for certain scenes.

It's been almost a month since the DVD was released, and you've either seen it, or (hopefully) read the book, so I'm not going to worry too much about spoilers at this point.

I should note right off that I'm something of a book purist - some might say extremely so. As such, based on the Lord of the Rings movies done by Peter Jackson, I didn't go to see The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey in theatres. Whereas I did go see the LOTR movies on their opening days.

So, I finally got around to seeing the new Hobbit movie. Right off the bat, I have to say I was expecting good things concerning sets and scenery - those they got right in the Lord of the Rings movies (only helped by the fact that my two favorite Tolkien artists were involved), and the same thing held true for this one. It was kind of nice seeing Rivendell and the Shire again. No complaints there.

I was surprised at how true to the text of the Hobbit and the dialogue Peter Jackson stayed (at least for the scenes that were in the actual book). Of course, I'm trusting my memory here on this, and it's been somewhere between five and ten years since I read The Hobbit - and what's more, all my Tolkien books have been packed away. Somewhat aggravating to say the least - there were a few times last night where I was wanting to be able to reach over and double-check some detail against the book. Still, it felt a bit like I could tick off the lines, starting with that rather famous line "In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit. Not a dirty, nasty, wet hole....". Slightly changed, but still there.

Andy Serkis certainly did a good job as Gollum again. No quibbles there - I especially liked the scene where we're watching his face in the reflected water.

Now for the starting run of grumbling. I knew going into the movie that there were things that were going to annoy me about it - after all, it's another movie adaptation, and one done by Peter Jackson.

Did we really need the constant chasing by Azog and his minions? It added too many battles and special effects extravaganzas. To the point where I found the running battle/escape from the Goblins' caves under the Misty Mountains to be somewhat comedic. Probably not the effect they were going for.

The other running gripe was Jackson's portrayal of the dwarves as slobs with no table manners. Beer running down their beards, grabbing for food, etc, etc. My feelings on that change were probably not helped by the fact that I couldn't really tell them apart for the majority of the movie.

I've already alluded to Radagast's means of transportation at the start of this post. Rabbits pulling a sled. Really? That got comments from the rest of the audience as well - "Christmas in New Zealand" for example. I have to say, I didn't like Jackson's portrayal of the Brown Wizard at all.

There were also a number of scenes I found to echo scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies - Gandalf talking to the butterfly to bring the Eagles in The Hobbit, vs. Gandalf talking to the moth at the top of Isengard in the Lord of the Rings movies for example.

I have to say though, I was surprised at how little I found myself grumbling about Jackson's version of Bilbo. There were a couple of things - that he willingly started out on the adventure, for example, and his willingness to fight - my thoughts on the latter could be somewhat confused due to the length of time it's been since I read the book though, but I don't remember Bilbo doing much of any fighting at all.

Overall, I think Jackson did a slightly better job with this first movie in the Hobbit trilogy of movies than he did with the Lord of the Rings movies.

The Dark Knight Rises - Movie Review

I'm reading a lot of books right now, but nothing is even close to being finished. On the other hand, I watched a movie that surprised me with how much I enjoyed it the other day.

The Dark Knight Rises
Christian Bale, Michael Kane, Christopher Nolan
Release Date: December 4, 2012

The amazon.com product description:

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane. 

First off, before reviewing this movie I'm going to have to admit that I've never seen any of the Batman movies before this one. So, some of my comments may seem irrelevant to anyone actually familiar with the backstory.

With that disclaimer, on with my review.

The first thing about this movie that struck me, and has stuck with me since, is the soundtrack. It is amazing, and goes very well with the story. Of course, given the composer, I wouldn't expect anything less. Hans Zimmer has done the soundtracks for two of my favourite movies: Gladiator and The Last Samurai. The score for The Dark Knight Rises is on the same level in my mind.

Visually, the movie is absolutely stunning as well. Given the kind of movie this is, the constant high level of action, with the expected fight scenes, chases and explosions were to be expected, and none of it seemed to be gratuitous just for the sake of the special effects. It all worked.

The Dark Knight Rises also kept me on the edge of my seat for a good part of it's run-time. On the other hand, I can't comment on the continuity with either the previous movies or the rest of the Batman franchise. I just don't have the knowledge, but I was watching it with someone who does know the series, and he was questioning things.

The biggest thing about the movie that I found frustrating was the backstory for the various characters that it's expected that the audience should know. On the flip side though, this is the third movie in a trilogy, so it makes sense that most of the audience will have seen the previous two, and to restate all the backstory would probably slow things down incredibly and use a lot of the time the movie could dedicate to another aspect of the current story.

There were certainly some surprising twists to the story too.

Overall, I quite liked the movie and I'm planning to watch the other two at some point in the future.

Star Wars - Return of the Jedi Variants?

I know this is a place mostly for book reviews - it's my own blog after all, but I couldn't think of another place to ask. I was watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi last week on TV and I could have sworn that the ending was different to the previous version I'd seen. Now, it's been a while since I watched my VHS tapes of the movies, and there was one difference I saw - the young Anakin Skywalker in that last scene.

What I'm wondering about is the rest of the montage. Are there actually some new scenes in that montage? I can't remember that Roman-looking building with the green roof for example.

I would just pull out the tapes and check, except I don't own a vcr anymore. So, I'm sure there are some Star Wars fans out there who do know every single change to the movies.

By my count, this makes for three different versions of Return of the Jedi: The original, then the original Special Edition, and now this one. What's the version on the DVD's for sale?

Snow Flower And The Secret Fan Movie Trailer

This should be interesting to watch. They're making a movie of Lisa See's novel Snow Flower And The Secret Fan. From what I've heard (which isn't much), it's due out in June or July.

The trailer looks good, but it's clear that they've chosen to make some changes, like including a modern period storyline as well as the main one. I'm just hoping that the two tie together well and that the movie makers stay fairly close to the book.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a book that I think could do well as a movie, so I'm really hoping that I'll like the movie as much as I do the book.