Members JKane Posted March 24, 2012 Members Posted March 24, 2012 Hmm, no way to enter sub-title when creating a new topic now... I knew nothing of the books (other than hearing they existed and were popular) so I went in a blank slate. The vast majority of the audience was much like a Twilight audience, which had me worried. But this is pretty much the anti-Twighlight: it's smart, moving, has a point, and has a strong lead actress (who CAN ACT) and she takes her life by the horns instead of being a pouting victim. Even better, it has a subversive message that is very, very timely at this point in history, especially in light of the 99% vs. the Romneys of the world. Visually it's not nearly as spectacular as John Carter but it is very touching and well done. Highly recommended! Anybody read the books? Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 I think I will go and see. I hope they take my student ID at the theater Last time the clerk kind of smirked but the card is not going to expire for another 3 months. Quote
Members JKane Posted March 25, 2012 Author Members Posted March 25, 2012 Good writeup from Towle, though I quite enjoyed going in blind... 03/24/2012 Now Playing: The Hunger Games BY NATHANIEL ROGERS "The Hunger Games," now in their 74th year, began as a way to punish an uprising against the government. The totalitarian regime of Panem (in what remains of the former United States) maintains total control over the outlying districts. Each of the 12 districts is required to send forth two "tributes" annually, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 to 18 chosen by lottery. They are shipped to the Capital where they are paraded about and then shipped off to die for the amusement of the masses. Everyone in the nation watches. There are no alternatives in this dystopia. Only one adolescent will live bringing supposed honor (and maybe food?) to their starving district... or so claims the capital. What honor there is in forcing teenagers to kill each other is not a question the Capitol asks itself. Any similarities that THE HUNGER GAMES has to the Japanese classic Battle Royale (2000), which also features schoolchildren forced to kill each other by a totalitarian regime -- only one survivor allowed -- are, according to The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, entirely coincidental. Another film in this subgenre, the little seen Series 7: The Contenders (2001) also features mandatory lotteried killing for televised amusement. In short, the ideas are nothing new, just the treatment; these are topics we're obviously grappling with in popular culture in this era of televised "reality" and winner takes all capitalistic vice. The gap between the haves and have nots grows and this dystopia gives it steroids. When 12 year old Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) is named as tribute in "The Reaping" ceremony, her protective sister Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her place. The district also sends Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) a sweet strong baker's son who Katniss knows a little. Will they kill or be killed? They're off and running... AFTER THE JUMP... The first hour plus of Hunger Games is touching and quite visually intriguing, "The Reaping" sequence is especially memorable with Effie (Elizabeth Banks) a flamboyant disconcerting fuschia in a sea of grayed out zombie teenagers fearing their name read aloud. The last hour, the actual games, paradoxically thrills less. I have not read the novels so the world building was fascinating and even semi-plausible. For the most part director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) delivers an artful scifi drama. Particularly impressive are the sound and scoring, both less bombastic than this type of film usually receives and more affecting for it. When a contestant dies there is a low "boom" that's surely intended for the combatants to keep count (since the Panem audience will already know who has died) but it adds to the dread. Consider it an artistic reminder that less can be more since the offscreen deaths are just as unsettling as those we witness. Once the tributes reach the arena, basically a forest with clearings, the slaughter begins. The initial bloodbath is filmed mostly in blurry handheld camera and incoherent quick edits (as are most subsequent action sequences), either because Ross has little feel for action, because coherent editing is out of style or because the R rated material wanted a PG-13 for a bigger box office reach; I'm guessing all three. He's also overly fond of foreshadowing and controlling where you're looking on the screen even when several people are in frame. Even if you haven't read the books it's easy to sense who will live longest based merely on who the camera asks you to look at. And one thing above all else becomes clear - this movie belongs solely to Jennifer Lawrence and cares possibly more about how wonderful Jennifer Lawrence is to look at than the sorry plight of teenage tributes as cruel pawns in a snuff film. Here's a basic shot list during the games: clearing, blurry slaughter, Katniss, Katniss, Katniss thinking, confused running, Katniss, tree, a report on who has died, Katniss thinking, Katniss sleeping, trees, Katniss waking, closeup of weapon, Katniss, nature, Katniss sleeping, Katniss, control room, Katniss thinking, Katniss, other contestants, Katniss, control room, Katniss walking, fireballs!, Katniss running, Katniss falling, Katniss running, Katniss, Katniss, Ohmygod it's Peeta, Cato and his gang, Katniss running, Katniss hiding, Katniss climbing, disgruntled teenage assassins, Katniss, Katniss sleeping, everyone sleeping, Katniss waking up, Katniss & Rue, something deadly, Katniss thinking, weapon, a particularly gross death, Katniss, Peeta, Katniss hallucinating, people watching the games, Katniss, Katniss walking, Katniss, Katniss, control room, Katniss & Peeta, Katniss sleeping, fire, Katniss running, Katniss, Katniss singing, Katniss making a friend, Katniss, Katniss crying, Katniss looking at the camera, nature, Katniss, Katniss, control room, Katnis suddenly thinking of Peeta, Peeta, a parachute, Katniss pretending to sleep, Katniss, Katniss strategizing, Katniss, grass, something threatening, another contestant, blurry fighting, Katniss running, Katniss hurting, Katniss, and so on... and some more Katniss. There are 24 tributes but you wouldn't know it to look at her. I didn't know where to begin in reviewing The Hunger Games which is specific enough as a concept to excite immediate feeling but vague enough as a metaphor to invite all sorts of projections. Like many pop culture phenomenons, what you bring in to the theater is half of the experience. The Hunger Games will surely spark a lot of conversation as the angles are endless: man's inhumanity to man as entertainment -- with us since the days of the Gladiators; Television as the opiate of the masses; The politics of wealth distribution; Our complicity in the perpetuation of our own misery; Etcetera. The Hunger Games flexibility with metaphor even extends to mass market entertainment and actors as celebrities. Katniss and Peeta are styled and primped before public apperances preceeding the games and they're repeatedly encouraged to be "likeable" so that they'll win sponsors. The movie hedges its bets this way too, employing the reliable trustworthy Disney tactic of not really making the heroes kill people unless its indirectly. (It might make them more likeable but it also kills some of the psychological horror the concept promises.) The showbiz doesn't end there. Katniss's mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) even encourages her to amp up the drama during the games and she complies. The best thing about Jennifer Lawrence's work here might be the occasional beats of ambiguity -- you're not entirely sure how much her feelings for Peeta are real or amplified for survival, and when she acknowledges the audience on occassion, how much is she really feeling? The Hunger Games will surely make Jennifer Lawrence, who came to fame with an Oscar nominated turn in the poverty-stricken drama Winter's Bone, a huge star. Curiously in both films she plays a destitute but resourceful Appalachian girl who kills squirrels and who happens to be her sister's proxy mother since the real one is terrible at the job. It may be the tiniest niche an actress has ever inhabited but Lawrence is a very big deal. Nathaniel Rogers would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr. Read more: http://www.towleroad...l#ixzz1q6v1o9A4 Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted March 25, 2012 Posted March 25, 2012 I can't bring myself to go and see this. It just seems like gratuitous violence to me. Doesn't look like my cup of tea at all. I may see it as a rental eventually. Have I really reached "that age" where I won't see a pop culturally popular movie anymore? OMG Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted March 25, 2012 Posted March 25, 2012 WOW. "Hunger Games" pulled in $155 million this weekend as the 3rd biggest opening ever. Check out the weekend estimates in the link below: http://www.boxofficeguru.com/weekend20.htm Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted March 25, 2012 Posted March 25, 2012 ??? But you like Lady Gaga and Madonna's pop culturally popular music videos? I will go and see and let you know... Maybe tonight... I can't bring myself to go and see this. It just seems like gratuitous violence to me. Doesn't look like my cup of tea at all. I may see it as a rental eventually. Have I really reached "that age" where I won't see a pop culturally popular movie anymore? OMG Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted March 25, 2012 Posted March 25, 2012 Those music videos are a 3 minute commitment versus 2 hours and a drive. . .and $12. . . Quote
Members ihpguy Posted March 26, 2012 Members Posted March 26, 2012 I decided to buy the book only because of the press puff concerning it. I then read it. Very disturbed by the popularity of it. The part of the review I agree with(not having yet seen the movie.) TEENAGE SNUFF FILM. Quote
Members JKane Posted March 27, 2012 Author Members Posted March 27, 2012 And leave it to Fox News. . . Love that! Of course Fox tries to spin it when it's actually about the dangers of having people like Murdock and Romney get everything their hearts desire. Quote
Guest Hoover42 Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 But you didn't answer my most important question! Any cute guys in the movie worth the price of admission? Quote
Members JKane Posted March 28, 2012 Author Members Posted March 28, 2012 But you didn't answer my most important question! Any cute guys in the movie worth the price of admission? Given the heavily "Twilight girl" part of the audience you'd think so, but it's not really a sexual film at all. Guess that's how you can have children slaughtering children and still get PG-13! FUCKING MPAA.. but anyway, there are two cute guys and every sign of a love triangle with the heroin (personally, while I'd kick neither out of bed, my first choice would be the actor that plays 'Gale' over the on playing 'Peeta'), but there's not much time spent on that and I can't remember seeing as much as I'd like of either... So again, 180 degrees/opposite of Twatlight with its perpetually shirtless werewolf. And if you want your fill of homo-eroticism the choice remains John Carter. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 I still haven't been able to see John Carter. I'm afraid I may have to wait until I can rent it on iTunes. At least I have a 65" screen in my living room. . . Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 When can I come over? I'll bring pop corn and soft drinks. I still haven't been able to see John Carter. I'm afraid I may have to wait until I can rent it on iTunes. At least I have a 65" screen in my living room. . . Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 I saw it over the weekend and loved it. It is very well made and a great story! Quote
Members JKane Posted March 30, 2012 Author Members Posted March 30, 2012 I saw it over the weekend and loved it. It is very well made and a great story! Oops, hit report instead of quote... So, Gale or Peeta? Quote
Members ihpguy Posted March 31, 2012 Members Posted March 31, 2012 Besides the SNUFF FILM aspect, I'd take Roxie's son. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 I saw The Hunger Games today. I'm surprised and I'm rarely surprised when I go to the movies. Not only was this a good movie; it was well written, well acted and excellently directed. It draws you in and holds you there even though you can surmise how the outcome will be. It still wants you to be completely involved in the characters situations. I know people are having issues seeing this on the IMAX screen but I saw it on the regular screen and that was good enough. 3D and IMAX is WAY over rated and I wouldn't waste your time on those screens. But this is a must-see movie of the year. Quote
Members JKane Posted April 4, 2012 Author Members Posted April 4, 2012 I saw The Hunger Games today. I'm surprised and I'm rarely surprised when I go to the movies. Not only was this a good movie; it was well written, well acted and excellently directed. [...] But this is a must-see movie of the year. WHY were you surprised??? I TOLD YOU!!! Sheesh! I fully agree that 3D or IMAX aren't needed for this (though they were put to good use by John Carter!) and that the well-written subversive nature of it make it a MUST SEE. It's the closest I've seen to copying the qualities of V for Vendetta since it came out! Quote
