2013: What I'm Looking Forward to This Year

A little over a week ago, I closed the door on 2012 by looking back on what I was anticipating the most coming into the year. And now it's time to look forward. Since we're at the start of 2013, I'm going to do it again: list some of the movies, books, TV shows and music that I'm looking forward to this year.

Golden Globes 2013: My Predictions vs. Winners

(Photo Source: HFPA)

Last night, NBC aired the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards. And out of the 25 categories in which awards were handed out, I got 16 correct, which is 64%. Once I counted everything up after the show ended, I actually thought this was still a pretty decent number, and it probably is. But when compared to last year's predictions, I did worse. Last year, I only missed six (76%). Oh, well--I'm still going to call it a success.

Below are the list of winners compared to my predictions:

Jeff Dodge's 2013 Golden Globe Predictions

(Image courtesy of HFPA)

The 2013 Golden Globe Awards are tonight (Sunday, January 13) at 8pm ET/5pm PT on NBC, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler -- I can't wait to see them pair up together for this event! Check out my predictions below in both the movie and television categories.

2012 Year in Review: My Top Recommendations of the Year

In Part 1 of my 2012 Year in Review, I went back and reviewed my January 1, 2012 post 'What I'm Looking Forward to This Year.' Now, in Part 2, it's time to compile all my 2012 Recommendations in order. So let's get right into it with the my #1 Recommendations, the movies/TV shows/books/etc. that stood out above them all:

2012 Year in Review: Looking Back on 'What I'm Looking Forward to in 2012'

I don't know about you, but 2012 went by in a flash, especially the last half of the year. Last I checked, we were deep in the middle of a presidential election, and now we're approaching inauguration day in a couple of weeks. See what I mean? Went by fast. But I'm not here to talk politics. No...it's time to do a 2012 Year in Review and also compile my top recommendations of the past year.

I Recommend: 'Brave' & 'Pitch Perfect' Films

Jeff Dodge's Recommendations:

Movies:
Brave (on DVD)

(Image courtesy of Disney/Pixar)

Ever since the initial trailers were released for Pixar's 2012 film Brave, I knew I wanted to see it. Of course, what ended up happening was I somehow never made it to the theater this past summer. (And now that we're on the subject, there's actually another movie from this past fall that's no longer in theaters that I originally meant to go see as well, but I'll leave that for another day.) But Brave is now out on DVD and I finally watched it recently. I remember hearing that it received mixed reviews. But I'm trying to figure out why, because I absolutely loved it, and not just because it's from Pixar--I'm a Pixar fan, though I don't follow them 100% blindly as they have had some bumps, **cough** Cars and Cars 2 **cough**.

Short Reviews: 'Ice Age: Continental Drift' & 'ParaNorman'

Movies:

Ice Age: Continental Drift (on DVD)

(Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox)

I'll admit, I went into watching Ice Age: Continental Drift with low expectations. I've watched the previous three over the years and have found them to be at most just above average films. Now, you may be thinking, why then do you continue to watch this series? Well, it's because having said that, they are enjoyable films, but I wouldn't pay to see them in theaters or buy them on DVD. There are aspects that I like, such as Scrat and Sid. And I think a lot of the actors voicing these animated characters have been put to good use, for the most part.