The Hunger Games - Part 1

[marvelman2006]

I actually thought they did more with Haymitch in the movies versus the books. I really got a sense of his biterness and anger from his reaction to the Capitol children play-fighting the Hunger Games. I also liked the scene showing how he collected sponsors for Katniss.

On a sidenote, I'm going to get all Twi-hardy (I don't care much for Twilight but I dont hate it, it gets kids to read) and say that I am Team Peeta. My gf on the other hand is team Gale. This is my reasoning:

Team Peeta = it's the woman's job to take care of their man
Team Gale = it's the man's job to take care of the family.

I also want to add that this Hunger Games is one of those examples where criticizing something (cheesy romances to cater to audiences) actually kind of promotes it.

Better take that crap down the block.

 

[ALP]

Ugh, I hate that silly "team blah blah blah" stuff. That's why people are comparing it to Twilight. Twlight started that schmaltzy crap.

 

[Project862006]

Hunger Games Tracking To Make 138+Million for The weekend

EXCLUSIVE: Rival movie studios looking at early matinee grosses (which are dominated by pre-sales) tell me that Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games may beat the most recent Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One opening weekend gross of $138 million. That would be an extraordinary result since this is only the first in The Hunger Games franchise trilogy. “Early matinees are in the world where The Hunger Games will give Twilight a run for their money,” one mogul tells me. “It’s doing spectacularly. Unlike Twilight, it’s attracting both boys and girls as a 3-quadrant movie. And the heat of it from the teens and tweens is making adults start to get interested as well. Older audiences are turning up to make it a 4-quadrant film.”

 

[Ajendo]

Great movie. Lawrence was fantastic. Great actress. Some choppy bits of editing and frenetic shaky cam but nothing abysmal like QoS.

 

[LexCorp]

Ugh, I hate that silly "team blah blah blah" stuff. That's why people are comparing it to Twilight. Twlight started that schmaltzy crap.

Me too. Team sigh.

 

[danoyse]

Funny how things work out. At least Hunger Games/Twilight got those teenage girls to read. We just need schools to teach them HOW to read critically.

Did you think teenage girls didn't read before Twilight and The Hunger Games?

 

[Uncanny1]

Yeah the violence is much more implied than it is shown. Out of the 25 people in there I think you see maybe 4 or 5 people die, .BLACKOUT]

Chick flick. I wanted this to be like Gladiator.

 

[Project862006]

the books barely show the kills

tons of people die off screen in the books but that is mostly because we follow katniss and she would have to see the kill for us to see it

 

[danoyse]

Chick flick. I wanted this to be like Gladiator.

The book wasn't like Gladiator, so the movie shouldn't be.

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

I caught the mid night release last night with some friends. I've never read any of the books (though now I plan to) and I have to say I really liked it. my only gripes were the shakey cam and the editing at certain parts, it took getting used to. the only thing i down right hated were the fans in the audience, my god they're almost as bad as the f***ing twihards. they sucked the momentum out of almost every scene because they just couldn't ****, laughing at every little thing, freaking out whenever Peeta was on the screen. something dawned on my though, and I may be wrong, but I picked up on a satirical element in the movie (not sure if its in the books) but it looked like they were satirizing audiences who get so ridiculously involved in the characters. all I could think was "I wonder if these girls realize that they're the ones being satirized?"

Damn, so tired of that...

 

[terry78]

The book wasn't like Gladiator, so the movie shouldn't be.

No. As guys, every movie produced in existence has to cater to us, or it's not worth the paper it was written on.

 

[def28]

Decent flicks. Leads were excellent.I really dont get the hype for it, felt like Ive seen this all before and better. Had a few probelms. Thought the biggest problem with the film were the actual games lacked any real tension or danger. The impact of each death had little to no effect on me. The action was done pretty bad as well and the shaky cam wasnt used well to hide violence imo. It was used to not let you know whats goen on at all. Frustrating. Overall solid but not great.
Id give it a 7 /10

A few questions to those who read the book?

Spoiler

Why didnt Peeta kill everyone why they were sleeping when Katniss was in the tree? Was he just scared? It seemed like he had a plan for a second but I didnt think it was explained well at all what the he was doing with the others. Did I miss something?

Spoiler

What are those dog things at the end? I was brefily told they have dead contestant body parts in them. Why wasnt that used? Sounds like it could have been a better last battle and reveal at the finale.

 

[terry78]

Decent flicks. Leads were excellent.I really dont get the hype for it, felt like Ive seen this all before and better. Had a few probelms. Thought the biggest problem with the film were the actual games lacked any real tension or danger. The impact of each death had little to no effect on me. The action was done pretty bad as well and the shaky cam wasnt used well to hide violence imo. Overall solid but not great.
Id give it a 7 /10

A few questions to those who read the book?

Spoiler

Why didnt Peeta kill everyone why they were sleeping when Katniss was in the tree? Was he just scared? It seemed like he had a plan for a second but I didnt think it was explained well at all what the he was doing with the others. Did I miss something?

Spoiler

What are those dog things at the end? I was brefily told they have dead contestant body parts in them. Why wasnt that used? Sounds like it could have been a better last battle and reveal at the finale.

Regarding your last spoil, just look up this book series and the word "creatures."

 

[def28]

Regarding your last spoil, just look up this book series and the word "creatures."

Are those even supposed to be the same as the movie? Are they waiting for a later reveal?

 

[Uncanny1]

The book wasn't like Gladiator, so the movie shouldn't be.

There is nothing wrong about wanting to hear Jennifer Lawrence ask the people watching " Are you not entertain " ?

 

[ironwez20]

Spoiler

The mutts could have been more emphazized. Like the whole dead contestant eyes shown on the mutts.

Also I found a certain death scene to be quite heartbreaking, and when katniss started to scream I almost broke down.

 

[gugumugats]

Decent flicks. Leads were excellent.I really dont get the hype for it, felt like Ive seen this all before and better. Had a few probelms. Thought the biggest problem with the film were the actual games lacked any real tension or danger. The impact of each death had little to no effect on me. The action was done pretty bad as well and the shaky cam wasnt used well to hide violence imo. It was used to not let you know whats goen on at all. Frustrating. Overall solid but not great.
Id give it a 7 /10

A few questions to those who read the book?

Spoiler

Why didnt Peeta kill everyone why they were sleeping when Katniss was in the tree? Was he just scared? It seemed like he had a plan for a second but I didnt think it was explained well at all what the he was doing with the others. Did I miss something?

Spoiler

What are those dog things at the end? I was brefily told they have dead contestant body parts in them. Why wasnt that used? Sounds like it could have been a better last battle and reveal at the finale.

I like what the film did with violence. It really felt brutal and wasn't glamorized in any way (maybe except for the archery).

Answer to your question:

Spoiler

No real explanation for why Peeta didn't kill the others (whole series is in Katniss's POV), but it may have something to do with him being relatively passive PLUS he probably has a compunction about killing people unless it was urgent for self-defense or defense for others.

The dog things were supposed to have eyes/facial features resembling the dead tributes. I dunno if it was direct grafting or if they were just genetically engineered to look like that.

 

[def28]

Spoiler

The mutts could have been more emphazized. Like the whole dead contestant eyes shown on the mutts.

They should have been explained it. I had no idea what the heck those things were or that they had things like this in the world it takes place in. For a second I thought they were digital projections.

 

[gugumugats]

There is nothing wrong about wanting to hear Jennifer Lawrence ask the people watching " Are you not entertain " ?

For some reason it felt like she said something like that OR the tribute from District 2 did.

 

[def28]

Answer to your question:

Spoiler

No real explanation for why Peeta didn't kill the others (whole series is in Katniss's POV), but it may have something to do with him being relatively passive PLUS he probably has a compunction about killing people unless it was urgent for self-defense or defense for others.

The dog things were supposed to have eyes/facial features resembling the dead tributes. I dunno if it was direct grafting or if they were just genetically engineered to look like that.

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[gugumugats]

Did you think teenage girls didn't read before Twilight and The Hunger Games?

I should've emphasized that it got a lot more of them to start reading books again.

Plus, am I the only one who enjoyed the movie more than the book? The style/prose of the book really felt like it was written for kids/teenagers but the content itself can get kind of deep. One of the things that really really bug me about first person narration is how they sometimes spell out everything for you. Half the time I felt like a lot of the book could've been done with more subtlety nuance rather than have Katniss's narration spell it out for me. In my opinion, the book is one the few examples of substance over style.

What was pretty amazing about the movie is how Jennifer Lawrence's performance felt more nuanced than the "inside the character's head" narration.

 

[Blue Sugar]

I thought the movie was great for most part and it met my expectations. Not as good as the book as a whole obviously but maybe more striking in certain individual scenes.

One thing is for sure, this was a movie for the fans. If I hadn't read and loved the book I don't think I would have thought it was as good. Because the weakest part of the movie is the way that some things go unexplained and that some of the characters and relations don't developed or shown enough. I already cared for these characters when the movie started so for me it wasn't a problem.

What I loved most was how striking some of my favorite scenes from the book were done. Dry tears and goosebumps at several moments. And the trackerjacker scene was just as thrilling as I'd hoped!

Now about the action, with the shaky-cam and cut-aways it became too disorienting at times but it also succeded with making things intense in other as the intention were. So it was a mixed-bag, I don't hate the shaky-cam as many others but I was a bit too much at times here.

The acting was solid, except for Lawrence who was fantastic. Incredibly believable in the extreme emotions but also subtle in the way she uses her eyes and expressions, it feels like not just one emotion at a time as is the way with many other actors.

I really loved the scenes added that wasn't in the book, I thought they did a great job with the Snow and Seneca scenes and also showing how the games work. I overall loved the visuals in the capitol.

Last but not least I must compliment the cinematography. Loved that they went with a slightly grainy and more un-polished style of photo. It felt very natural with the lightning, the out of focus stuff and everything. It worked very well for the story and helped it with not becoming too shallow or speculative.

I'm definitely on board on this film-series and I'm certainly gonna follow the production of Catching Fire with excitement!

4/5

 

[Octoberist]

I should've emphasized that it got a lot more of them to start reading books again.

It shows that books, good and bad, are still being read.

 

[Punisher Rising]

Saw this earlier, absolutely loved it and it makes me want to read the trilogy of books, now. I was completely immersed in this watching it and reeled in by not only the story but also the performances. Jennifer Lawrence was outstanding in this and deserves a major award, alternating between so many emotions so seamlessly and with her intense presence and demeanor. It also has some of the best production design I've seen in a while and the action was intense and thrilling to watch, and the scene where

Spoiler

Rue dies

even made my eyes teary. Excellent movie all-around, I'd give it a 9/10. Can't wait for it's sequels and to read the books. My only gripe with it is the shakycam used during some of the fight scenes made it difficult to see what was going on, but other than that, it's fantastic.

 

[Silvermoth]

For some reason a girl and guy were at the showing last night dress as Wolverine and Harry Potter......

Maybe it was Wolverine and Harry Potter?