The Hunger Games

[kratz]

I thought the movie really felt disjointed and hurried/rushed and it seemed to have an almost Twilight air about it some times.

I kind of got this feeling from the trailers (NOT THAT I'VE WATCHED TWILIGHT THANK YOU), and it has been my biggest fear - that they are trying to quickly push out a slick, low substance buck maker.  This is not reassuring.

[rickfc]

Wife and I watched it last night and thought it was pretty good. The screenwriters did a good job changing some things from internal monologue in the book, like the scenes where the capital people are controlling the games and such.

The shaky cam stuff was a little overwhelming at times.

8/10

[CeeKay]

they're estimating $155 million for the opening weekend.

[hepcat]

I need to write me some Young Adult Fiction.  That's where the cash is.  If Hemingway were alive today, he'd be hard at work on a book called "The Sun Also Rises...AND BURNS THE VAMPIRES!" 

[Devil]

Saw it. Liked it.

Twilight was unwatchable. No comparison.

[CeeKay]

I need to write me some Young Adult Fiction.  That's where the cash is.  If Hemingway were alive today, he'd be hard at work on a book called "The Sun Also Rises...AND BURNS THE VAMPIRES!" 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Yeti in a love story.  call it 'Hunchback Mountain'.

[KC]

Saw it with my daughter.  I read the book, but she did not.  There were a number of plot points she did not fully understand.  I would give the movie a 7/10.

[Blackjack]

I'd like to catch this in a couple weeks after the box office fury is hopefully a little less crazy (just "hopefully" in terms of shows not being sold out every day  ). Now I'm in my mid 40s and don't pretend to have any clue about the book series' appeal (just as with Twilight and its ilk). However, my now 17 year old niece was nuts about Twilight (and then eventually got a bit tired with it), and I'm curious if she's into this stuff. I'm all for her having some brave female movie heroines in her life.

I hope more people now discover Winter's Bone (2010), which Jennifer Lawrence was Oscar nominated for but made less than $14M at the box office in its run. If you watch the Winter's Bone trailers and clips at imdb now, you can't help but seeing it as Lawrence's feature long audition for The Hunger Games' role (even if that was certainly not planned that way). She's a tough but always appealing lass, very riveting to watch. 

[PeteRock]

The shaky cam stuff was a little overwhelming at times.

8/10

Agree with both the shaky cam and your rating.  I'd give it the same.  I enjoyed the film, loved the scene with Rue, and felt that the film was a pretty accurate representation of the source material.  Overall I was impressed and not at all disappointed.  

8/10 sounds about right.

Don't bother staying until after the credits, though.   

[Isgrimnur]

Yeah, because the people that worked so hard on the movie don't deserve to have their name seen.    Not everything has to have a prize at the bottom, Pete. 

[Razgon]

I'm  very tempted to make a "Your mom" joke now...

[Roman]

saw it yesterday with the wife and son. We did not read the books but understood the overall synopsis ahead of seeing the movie.
I enjoyed - shaky cam was not fun.
We liked the story and the setting.

All in all a solid 8-10.

[Blackjack]

Is the shaky cam used a lot, or just for the actual "hunger games" battle/competition? It's not a deal breaker for me (that indy horror film Silent House my bro and I caught recently was shaky camera all over, and it didn't bother me per se; just didn't seem entirely necessary), just curious.

fwiw, in an EW article, Jennifer Lawrence mentioned the cast is expected to go back into physical training in July for the follow up film. Her already-in-the-can horror film "House at the End of the Street" is due in about 6 months (Sept. 21), EW First Look.

In interviews, she loves this and loved doing X-Men First Class and Winter's Bone. It sounds though like she'd like to play someone a bit more vulnerable and less a of a butt-kicking hunter, just for variety's sake.  

[hepcat]

Is this a sequel to The Crying Game?

[Blackjack]

Is this a sequel to The Crying Game?

Do you mean "Is Katniss a man, baby?!" Um, no.   The plural "games" keeps that joke from working very well imho.  

This LA Times blog post on 'The Hunger Games:' Five lessons from its box-office success has one thing music to my ears...

Things look better in 3-D? Perhaps the biggest rebuttal this weekend to a piece of conventional wisdom. For the last few years, the thinking has gone that the gloss of 3-D -- not to mention the higher ticket prices -- was the way to really profit from a movie. But "The Hunger Games" had the biggest-ever opening for a non-sequel by telling its story in good old-fashioned 2-D.

That said, here comes Titanic rolling out in 3-D, and The Avengers, and God knows what else this summer. Other than Avatar and maybe Hugo (the 3-D was well done imho, but I'm sure I'd have enjoyed the film as much in 2-D), I just haven't felt 3-D was necessary or truly made a movie special in anything I've seen the last few years.

It's generally just made me pay a King's ransom and fiddle with 3-D glasses over my regular eyeglasses. This is on top of $4 small sodas, $5 bottles of water, $5 small popcorns, $23 chicken nugget "combos," etc. etc. And you thought videogame/PC game DLC had gotten out of hand... 

[PeteRock]

Not everything has to have a prize at the bottom, Pete. 

That's why I also stopped eating cereal.   

[Isgrimnur]

Not everything has to have a prize at the bottom, Pete. 

That's why I also stopped eating cereal.   

 

[rickfc]

Is the shaky cam used a lot, or just for the actual "hunger games" battle/competition? It's not a deal breaker for me (that indy horror film Silent House my bro and I caught recently was shaky camera all over, and it didn't bother me per se; just didn't seem entirely necessary), just curious.

The shaky cam stuff was used throughout, though WAY more extensively during any fighting/running scene. For me, that's when it became overwhelming and overused. It was ok in the other scenes, IMO.

[rittchard]

Not too surprisingly, I absolutely loved it.  Of course I loved the book as well, so I may have been just a little biased.  That said, I felt the filmmakers did an excellent job of capturing the essence and feelings of what I experienced when I read the book.  It's not an easy thing to do, as I had a lot of expectations going in, and pretty much on all counts, they blew me away.  I haven't felt the immediate urge to go rewatch a movie in many many years now, but I definitely felt it with this one.  Probably the last time was when I saw the first LOTR movie.  

The casting was really fantastic.  I had my doubts about Jennifer Lawrence, she seemed a little too old/mature for the role, but she really captures it well.  The book is told in first person narrative, so you are really in her head the whole time, and often enough it can be a bit frustrating when she doesn't realize certain things/signs that are so obvious to the reader.  I didn't know how they'd pull this off in a movie, but she does a really good job of it, almost entirely through reaction (or lack of reaction) shots.  Very well done.  Then of course there's my beloved Peeta.  OMG, every time the camera zoomed in on him I think I turned into a little girl.  I fell in love with him in the book but Josh Hutcherson just brings him alive and made me swoon.  

(still recovering)

Anyway, I'm curious to hear what people outside the original target audience think of the movie.  Taken at face value it's still an absoribing and intriguing sci-fi dystopia kind of story, sort of The Condemned meets Survivor meets Running Man - but with kids.  In some ways it's actually darker than those movies that came before it, especially the first time you see what looks like a 13-14yo cherubic kid dead.  The movie, like the book, doesn't dwell on gore or mayhem, and uses some semi-cheap tricks to allow the leads to not get terribly bloody, but still there's no way around the fact that you've got 24 contestants ages 12-18 that are set up to die.  Pretty gruesome in concept.

[Blackjack]

Ted Nugent praises Lawrence's 'Hunger Games' hunting form

"All of us archers and bowhunters are so very happy to see real honest-to-God archery form being displayed properly for a change," Nugent tells USA TODAY. "Proper archery is one of life's most beautiful ballets, especially when executed by a beautiful woman like Jennifer."

He adds, "It makes for the ultimate eye-candy."

How's that for an endorsement?

I think Jeremy Runner worked with some Olympian archers for The Avengers too. I'd be curious if all this movie fixation on archery makes it more popular in terms of classes and what not.

I did some archery back in 7th grade for PE class.

[kratz]

I went last night, and I'm happy to say that my fears were unfounded... I thought everything was really well done, with the exception of Rue and Cinna being black, which ruined not just this, but all movies.  The fear that characters I failed to recognize as black will be shown as such in future adaptations of books that I have read makes going to the theater in the future completely unpalatable.

Seriously though... with the exception of the chariot scene, which was a really bad case of green screening (looked almost original Clash of the Titans bad, I thought), I think that they hit a good tone, and really did exactly what they should've done with everything (in a movie that is PG13, which it clearly had to be). The silly things were the silly things from the book.  The moments leading up to the start of the game were pretty gut wrenching, and scenes with her sister and Rue were actually emotionally impactful.  Thumbs up!

[rittchard]

That's funny, I always assumed Rue was supposed to be black, I have no idea why.  Maybe I just saw the early casting for her.  Cinna definitely could have been improved.

I did end up seeing it again and it still held up on the second showing.  I'm not really sure why people were complaining about shaky cam as I am notoriously easy to nauseate (motion sickness) but didn't notice much at all.  Of course ever since my bout with anxiety/insomnia last year I always sit in the very back row of the theater so maybe I'm just less prone to it from there.

[PeteRock]

That's funny, I always assumed Rue was supposed to be black, I have no idea why.  Maybe I just saw the early casting for her.

She was actually described as having dark skin in the book.  Kratz's comments stem from the racist outcry following the film's release as discussed here and on OO.  Pretty ridiculous actually.

[kratz]

Yeah, I was totally joking. I thought Rue was great, and the scenes with her were some of the best.

[Bullwinkle]

Cross post because, what the hell:

[Blackjack]

EW's exclusive Katniss Barbie pix She's in her "hunting" attire.

[hepcat]

Saw it last week and I was pleasantly surprised.  A friend and his wife, both having read the book, dragged me to a matinee.  I was surprised at the brutality of the film.  It's also made me want to pick up the new blu ray release of Battle Royale too.   

[Purge]

It was decidedly "OK" in my books.

The shakycam was horrid, and we were sitting in the back of the theater. Seriously, shakycam during a dinner scene?

FYI: I have not read any of the books - the social commentary on classes, upper class being out of touch, and the crushing oppression was not lost on me.

Earlier that day I had just watched the BSG episode where Chief becomes the leader of the union when their fuel ship goes on strike - just as I felt likw BSG did it better, so too have other movies.

[Blackjack]

Don't know if someone else posted this earlier -- Gary Ross apparently won't be directing the second film, according to various news reports recently. I can only guess that the studio wanted to start filming practically right away (later this year as I understand it?), and Ross maybe wanted to either take a break or work on a different film before returning to the franchise.

It's not like the Star Wars days where you might sort of take your time between films -- now it's boom boom boom with franchise sequels and you can rarely get the same director to sign up for more than maybe two films in a series.

[hepcat]

I guess because I don't experience the nausea that some report from the use of shaky cam in movies, I've never held up its use in a film as automatically a check mark in the negative column.  Of course there is, as with everything, the danger of overuse.  But I didn't see its use in The Hunger Games as such.

[Bullwinkle]

Don't know if someone else posted this earlier -- Gary Ross apparently won't be directing the second film, according to various news reports recently. I can only guess that the studio wanted to start filming practically right away (later this year as I understand it?), and Ross maybe wanted to either take a break or work on a different film before returning to the franchise.

It's not like the Star Wars days where you might sort of take your time between films -- now it's boom boom boom with franchise sequels and you can rarely get the same director to sign up for more than maybe two films in a series.

Actually, those reports were a little early.  Ross and the studio are still trying to come to an agreement, and it may well happen yet.


Now Ross has officially said no.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Meh, Harry Potter survived multiple directors, I suspect this'll be fine.

[wonderpug]

New director sounds great to me.  I thought the movie was ok, but it suffered from the same issues in Harry Potter 1 & 2.  The director tried to cram too many scenes from the book into the movie, without making sure the movie flowed well on its own.  All three of the above movies feel like a slideshow of "oh remember that scene from the book?" clips.

I would love Hunger Games 2 to do what Harry Potter 3 did, and have some big important book things cut out so that the remaining items could make for a complete and strong film.

[raydude]

Just saw the movie this past weekend. Read the books, and thought the movie did a good job portraying the general feel of the first one. Although, since my wife did not read them she had a few questions for me to answer. So in that respect I think the movie could have done better for to those who haven't read the book. It seems like the shakey cam was very jarring in the beginning and then started becoming more minimal as the movie went on. Then for the later half of the movie the shakeycam was used for more appropriate moments.

On the beginning:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Shakey cam was especially jarring when you see Katniss getting ready and going out to the woods because there is one scene where the camera does not move at all. I think its the one with people walking in the background. So it was like

<shakyscene><shakeyscene><shakeyscene>
<still scene>
<shakeyscene><shakeyscene>

Which made it even more jarring.

[PR_GMR]

Watched this one last night and I very much enjoyed it. Jennifer Laurence is very talented and she made me care about her character Kadniss. I also liked the camera style and the direction from Gary Ross. The whole movie would have been some overdone CGI spectacle, but the way it was filmed, it cut deeper. It just seemed more 'real' than most big Hollywood movies. The shakey-cam didn't bother me, in fact, I argue it worked great because it was looking at things from Kadniss' perspective and the violence she faces is very jarring and suddent. In general, I very much liked the movie and would be down for the second one. I've no plans to read the books. Just give me good movies out of them.

[PeteRock]

Jennifer Laurence is very talented and she made me care about her character Kadniss.

I thought she played the role quite well also.  The books present a lot of her mental conflicts and emotional struggles as inner monologues, and as that wasn't possible in the film I thought that she skillfully demonstrated those same topics with body language and facial expressions.  Granted, I had an idea as to what she was supposed to be thinking or feeling in certain situations based upon having read the source material, but I felt she did an impressive job conveying those emotions without having any sort of inner monologue crutch.  Some griped about her performance, calling it "wooden," but I argue that she played the role of Katniss impressively well.

[raydude]

I argue it worked great because it was looking at things from Kadniss' perspective and the violence she faces is very jarring and sudden.

I had no problems with it in the arena. In fact if anything it seemed less out of place there. Shakey cam feels very out of place when she's merely walking out to the woods.

[Blackjack]

I finally caught this on Netflix, was pleasantly surprised to see it show up there.

I enjoyed it overall. I've heard of the books but not read any.

I've liked Jennifer Lawrence in everything I've seen her so far (did not see that apparently lame little horror flick she was in a few months back).

[kronovan]

I also saw it on Netflix a few months back and enjoyed it very much.  I don't know why I held off for so long at watching it, as friends told me eons ago that it was great.