tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post1017767165851096483..comments2024-02-04T05:13:04.501-05:00Comments on Nik at Nite: The Hunger Games: The MovieNikki Staffordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04463618183850438914noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-20808014715157780232012-04-10T02:41:49.741-04:002012-04-10T02:41:49.741-04:00read hunger games ebook Free download,anytinkz.blo...<a href="http://anytinkz.blogspot.com/2012/04/read-hunger-games-online-for-free.html" title="read hunger games ebook Free download,anytinkz.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">read hunger games ebook Free download,anytinkz.blogspot.com</a>hackertrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15009892830131344407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-41864871237861282702012-04-06T17:30:51.330-04:002012-04-06T17:30:51.330-04:00@Blam - I agree with you. Which, as always, has me...@Blam - <i>I agree with you. Which, as always, has me concerned.</i><br /><br />Ha! That's funny, I would think someone as smart as you would be used to being right...Joan Crawfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04513335615114222374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-13950397313378275082012-04-06T00:00:26.180-04:002012-04-06T00:00:26.180-04:00Oh, I meant to add that my mother and her friends ...<br>Oh, I meant to add that my mother and her friends really enjoyed it — so there's the verdict of some well-educated 60somethings with children if not grandchildren. I'd told her that I would probably give the film a solid B, with the caveat that I had no idea how it might come across to someone who hadn't read the book (which none of themd had). And I was happy to hear that they could actually read Haymitch's "You call that a kiss?" note — because it was such an important moment in the book and the film, yet in my screening the shot was too dark to see the note even though I knew what it was; a major disappointment there.Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-79148215224084297352012-04-05T23:48:24.036-04:002012-04-05T23:48:24.036-04:00Ambivalentman: Jennifer Lawrence was exceptional i...<br>Ambivalentman: <i>Jennifer Lawrence was exceptional in the role. I also found it funny that she can't be on the big screen unless she's hunting squirrels and taking care of her family in the face of absent parents.</i><br /><br />She <i>did</i> play Mystique in last year's <i>X-Men: First Class</i>, in which she merely foraged for food in the Xaviers' refrigerator in the face of absent parents...<br /><br />Joan: <i>A Big Fat Boo for Haymitch.</i><br /><br />I agree with you. Which, as always, has me concerned.<br /><br />Haymitch as portrayed in the novel looked, in my mind's eye, at least 10 years older and 100 pounds heavier than Woody Harrelson in the movie. I know that playing drunk can veer into flat-out silliness pretty easily, but Haymitch was one of the few characters in the book whom I pictured really clearly and he was nothing like what we got on screen; I admit to complicity <i>there</i> — all sorts of odd little personal things can feed into how we imagine characters on the page in our heads — but Collins' writing had something to do with it as well, and despite her involvement in the film that was a major disconnect for me.<br /><br />Joan: <i>Peeta looked... his face from certain angles... he sort of came across like he might need you to remind him to lace up his shoes and make sure he drinks all his milk at snack-time</i><br /><br />Frankly, I pictured Peeta very much as you describe in the book — kind-of like Moose from the Archie comics. He was taller and doughier, and had a blanker face, in my head than Josh Hutcherson has. Even when Katniss was convinced that he was trying to psych her out during training and whatnot, I read him as, well, a pretty simple guy in more than one usage of the word. Hutcherson had an element of that in the film, but wasn't quite the right <i>kind</i> of blandness to me.<br /><br />Inara: <i>I do wish they had left in the scene when District 11 sent Katniss bread although I understand how it would have broken the pace of the action to do so.</i><br /><br />Yeah, I really missed that scene because it was so moving. My own guess as to why it was dropped was because, even in the book, it felt a little too convenient for Thresh to spare Katniss because of her kindness to Rue <i>especially</i> after District 11 sending Katniss the bread in thanks — despite the fact that there's no causality there, since Thresh doesn't know about the bread. I suspect, too, that the literal gesture of solidarity and the rioting in District 11 felt more important to the filmmakers to include, particularly in terms of setting up later films.<br /><br />Which brings me back to the most jarring thing about the movie for me, namely the expansion of the action beyond Katniss's immediate world. I don't think that it was a bad idea in theory, since the movie wasn't going to carry her first-person present narration and some way was needed to get some exposition in there, but in practice I really didn't care much for the cuts to Flickerman and Templesmith in the commentary booth nor for the cuts to Seneca's control room. The book wisely didn't delve much into how the Hunger Games arena was brought about, although we knew that it used advanced technology; in the movie I thought that it suffered for being too "magic".<br /><br />Nikki: <i>I got the sense from the book that they'd actually consummated their relationship</i><br /><br />Well, I just finished the book about a month ago, a little too close for comfort to watching the film, and while they did get into the sleeping bag together I don't think they had, as Liz Lemon put it, "Mommy-Daddy sheet-monster time".Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-51081473030541614872012-04-05T23:43:43.058-04:002012-04-05T23:43:43.058-04:00I get what you're saying about the sense of &q...<br>I get what you're saying about the sense of "complicity" that may be felt watching the movie versus reading the book, Nikki, but it didn't work that way for me. <br /><br />What we paid to see — most of us, anyway, certainly most of us familiar with the novel(s) — was not awesome scenes of young people killing one another but a story that inevitably included such scenes as it denounced the senseless barbarity of them and focused on one young woman's triumphs (getting out alive; getting out alive <i>with her companion</i> by outwitting the gamesmakers) amidst that barbarity.<br /><br />Ditto to your comments on Jennifer Lawrence's performances her and in <i>Winter's Bone</i>, though. I'd not yet read <i>The Hunger Games</i> when she was cast, despite being prompted to when <i>Catching Fire</i> came out in 2009 and the incipient trilogy became a slow-burning but undeniable phenomenon, but I didn't see how she could be a bad choice — at least in terms of her acting chops. Her baby face notwithstanding, a friend of mine was rather adamant that <i>True Grit</i>'s Hailee Steinfeld was a more age-appropriate option.<br /><br />I have to disagree again on the "outfits of fire" — at least the first one. I liked the flaming hem on Katniss's later dress, but I was seriously underwhelmed by the trailing blue flames on her and Peeta in the opening ceremonies. Lenny Kravitz was surprisingly good as Cinna, whose relative quiet and restraint were all the more noticeable in contrast to an unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks' delightfully spot-on embodiment of Effie Trinket and the great Stanley Tucci as the unctuous Caesar Flickerman (a role that was unfortunately all the more annoying for how well it was played, because the character is just insufferable).<br /><br />I wouldn't recommend the movie to anyone not interested in either reading Suzanne Collins' novel first — then waiting a while, if like me you find it too jarring to experience original works and adaptations in close proximity — or reading it, eventually, afterwards. The book is so much richer in its first-person narration and, particularly, the opening chapters set in District 12, that the movie's wider scope in general and short shrift given certain material can't help but be disappointing in comparison. I certainly wouldn't recommend against seeing the movie if you have read and/or plan to read the book, however, because it is an interesting and largely faithful spin on the source material.Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-59441602176684423982012-04-02T15:29:36.673-04:002012-04-02T15:29:36.673-04:00Oh and as my friend wrote for a blog he contribute...Oh and as my friend wrote for a blog he contributes too the bigger problem with the people complaining about the Rue/Cinna casting is not reading comprehension but the actual racism that is at the core of it.<br /><br />Here is a link to his article: http://www.teamvalkyrieftw.com/2012/03/racist-hunger-games-fans-outraged-that-black-character-is-black/<br /><br />or just go to this tumbler if you want to be disgusted by racist tweets: http://hungergamestweets.tumblr.com/page/3Zach Zhttp://www.zombiemusicblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-71859352508572991562012-04-02T15:23:45.144-04:002012-04-02T15:23:45.144-04:00Well I went and saw it at a midnight showing, whic...Well I went and saw it at a midnight showing, which always brings interesting crowds and definitely had an effect and how I viewed the movie. Just because the heavy tweener audience reactions to the movie felt like how the capitol reactions to watching the actual games...<br /><br />Well overall I was disappointed in this as a movie mainly because it tried staying too close to the book without being able to capture the tone or feel of the book because so much of it is Katniss's story and what she is thinking and going through and you don't get that from the movie. And since the only way to do that is voiceover and that would be terrible more than likely I thought it should have went farther the other way and expand the world better which I thought was done well getting to see the gamemakers and meeting president Snow who is nothing what I thought he looked like in the book, seems a lot less creepy and dangerous looking.<br /><br />I also worry about them adapting the next 2 books especially with how they portray the other victors. Because of how they softened Haymitch in the movie and he was not a man completely lost to alcoholism for the last 20 odd years of his life.<br /><br />So in conclusion I thought the movie did a good job looked amazing and showed the the Hunger Games amazing just didn't translate all the themes and sociopolitical backstory.Zach Zhttp://www.zombiemusicblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-65101081212025841072012-04-02T15:20:34.944-04:002012-04-02T15:20:34.944-04:00I had not picked up the book until 2 weeks ago. I ...I had not picked up the book until 2 weeks ago. I tried twice to start reading. got as far as when Katniss gets to the woods to hunt and put the book down both times.<br />I get that it was supposed to be a hard life but I just didn't like her. at all. Her trying to boil the cat and killing the lynx that was her hunting friend and selling it's pelt made her a non sympathetic character to me and couldn't get past it. I just didn't want to read any farther.<br />The movie however, looked intriging which prompted me to try to read the books. So with that and the fact that my friends were talking about this amazing story, I saw the film last night.<br />it was SO good!<br />I felt the outrage and anger at the rich Capital City for punishing the poor districts over and over for a rebellion that the current citizens had nothing to do with.I was horrifed at the near concentration camp feel of District 12. I was shocked at seeing the other tributes young ages. I sobbed when Rue died, thinking she was just a baby. <br />The whole movie affected my dreams and stayed with me all day today.KathyThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05108675847665822274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-82835724021700453012012-04-02T14:09:38.879-04:002012-04-02T14:09:38.879-04:00Well. I find that it’s a little bit difficult for ...Well. I find that it’s a little bit difficult for me to talk about HG the movie. Overall, I enjoyed it, and will no doubt go to see it again, probably in the next week or two. And I’ll buy the DVD, and hope that there’s an extended version. But in my conversations about the movie, I usually feel that I’m offering excuses for it. Along the lines of: “They cut out Rue leaping through the tree-tops because earlier we didn’t get to hear Katniss’ internal dialogue, wondering what on earth Rue could’ve done to earn such a high score from the gamemakers.” Or, even though I LOATHE jiggle-cam: “They used the shaky camera to keep the audience from seeing most of the blood and gore, because it was essential to avoid an R rating.”<br /><br />But it wouldn’t have cost the filmmakers anything to include one of the loveliest moments from the book. When the mockingjays all took up Rue’s song, their voices harmonized into a beautiful, resonant chord. I can just hear it! I was really looking forward to that moment in the movie, and sorely missed it when they skipped over it.<br /><br />I read the HG trilogy for the first time recently, finishing it just a few weeks ago. The story was fresh in my mind, so I was able to draw comparisons between the first book and the movie, just like all the fans of the books. And the things that I found unsatisfying about the movie made me long for the experience of reading the books again. So, I began re-reading HG this morning, and my reaction to it was surprising! First of all, I immediately picked up lots of details that I had forgotten, having only read the story once. And almost the first thing we learned about was the animosity between Katniss and Buttercup. (I felt my heart squeeze at that, and fans who know the ending of “Mockingjay” will understand why.)<br /><br />Most surprising to me was the sense of relief I felt, to be getting back into the story “told right”. The implication there is that the movie got it wrong, but I don’t really feel that way about it. (My husband saw the movie with me, having never read the books, and never even seeing a preview. So, he went into it completely cold, and left the theater a little bit grumpy. That colored my experience slightly.) But the relief I mentioned is sort of like getting to eat your favorite meal when you’re super-hungry, or running icy-cold water over a minor burn. I love it that I’m back into the story as originally told by Suzanne Collins. My relationship to the story is individual and private. And I never feel like making excuses.Marebabenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-47679897871188212942012-04-02T10:00:51.645-04:002012-04-02T10:00:51.645-04:00Mockingbird and I went to see the film this past F...Mockingbird and I went to see the film this past Friday. While she has read and enjoyed all three books (and seemed to enjoy the film), I have not, so I can only write about my impressions of the film.<br /><br />In all I really enjoyed the movie. Jennifer Lawrence has some major chops, and you can never go wrong with giving Stanley Tucci some scenery to chew. Woody Harrelson is one of my favorites, and I am continually surprised by how someone who in every real-life interview I've seen always seems at least half-stoned, can pull off so many different roles. That's one hell of an actor!<br /><br />Still, I think I'd tell someone who asked that this one is worth matinee prices at best, and could definitely be skipped until you could stream/DVD/on-demand it. It's a good film, but nothing really spectacular or stand out.<br /><br />That having been said there were some elements of the film that I had real problems with:<br /><br />I really disliked all of the hand-held camera-work. I can see a justification for it's use in the fight sequences to demonstrate the chaos of it all, but the combined jerky hand-held work and flash cuts as Katniss walks through District 12 didn't work to emphasize the poverty and squalor of the district. Too jumbled.<br /><br />As for the hand-held cameras in the fight scenes, there too I was jerked out of the story as the camerawork became an obvious tool to de-emphasize the violence and gore. When you can't really see what's going on, you can't see what's going on. Trying to soft-pedal the reality of the brutality and violence these kids were experiencing seems to me to weaken the entire film. I kept MST3King the film by softly singing "steady-cam! Steeeaady cam!" Which means I was so not in the moment of the story.<br /><br />Also, Panem ("bread")? Really? Come on, this is the most unrealistic imperial structure I've seen on screen in quite a while. It just doesn't work. To be fair, I saw more Rome than Nazi Germany as Lt McD did, but that may have more to do with my brain having already been on the Latin kick from the empire's name. <br /><br />Finally, I have one big nitpick. Although I think Jennifer Lawrence is wonderfully talented and brought a tremendous amount of skill to this role, she needs to take some notes from Linda Hamilton in T2. Several times, particularly when she was drawing her bow, I was jolted by how soft she looked. Not fat at all, but a girl from a poverty-stricken place, who constantly runs the risk of malnutrition, and who hunts game with a traditional composite/recurve bow to survive, would have a bit more muscle tone. This was definitely no country-girl!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07482502868011391570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-66158581378467611712012-04-02T07:47:13.739-04:002012-04-02T07:47:13.739-04:00As huge fans of the books, my wife and I were defi...As huge fans of the books, my wife and I were definitely excited to see the film. And were universally let down, pretty much all the way across the board. Lifeless, emotionless, boring, completely DOA. And it wasn't hype or overexpectation -- I'm pretty sure if we hadn't read the books and had stuff we were waiting to see, we would have left before the midway point. An enormous disappointment, particularly considering how good the reviews have been. When you have a character that is intended to play largely emotionless in order to be true to the part as written, and everyone singles out THAT performance as the film's standout, then something has gone wrong.<br /><br />One big 2.5-hour pulled punch.yourblindspothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17976169517693699335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-54224981914008567702012-04-02T05:59:24.885-04:002012-04-02T05:59:24.885-04:00My sister hadn't read the book prior to watchi...My sister hadn't read the book prior to watching the film, I had. When the film was over, she was "I have to read the books RIGHT NOW!!!", while I was satisfied, but not as enthusiastic, which comes to prove my theory that it's better to watch the film first and then read the book, because the book is always (OK, nearly always) better, and this way you get to enjoy both.<br /><br />On issues touched by you and/or others:<br />- Yes, Gale should have had a bit more screen time at the beginning -showing how close he and Katniss are and how his feelings seem to be other than pure friendship and all that- but I don't really care, because I don't like him. I was actually surprised to see that you like him better than Peeta because, you know, everyone should think like me! Jokes apart, I would much like to hear your reasons why, because I really, really DON'T get it. Maybe he's my new Locke, whom most people seemed to like but I hated with a fiery passion.<br />- The people who complained about Rue, Thresh and Cinna being portrayed by black actors are complete idiots and probably illiterate. And with Cinna, I kind of get it, because the description of brown hair and green eyes did bring a white person to my mind as well, still his colour is of absolutely no importance and I don't even remember it being described. But Rue and Thresh are DEFINITELY described as black, and I was actually thinking "WOW, great casting" when I saw them. To then see comments like "I'm not a racist, but why did they have to make Rue/Cinna/all the best characters black?" was infuriating. And these people should realise that saying that whn a black actor portrays a character it diminishes your liking of said character DOES make you racist.<br />- I liked that they showed the Games puppet-mastering. The book's first person POV makes for an interesting read, but I don't think it would have made for an excellent movie having Katniss saying aloud to herself or someone else "I got burned by this fire who was probably set by the Game-makers, because they do stuff like that when nothing 'interesting' is going on and the tributes aren't killing each other" etc.<br />- I was not happy with the final minutes: I wanted Katniss to lose her hearing from one ear (OK, that happenned kind of midaway), I wanted Peeta to lose his leg, I wanted Katniss to realise that Peeta really had a huge crush on her and Peeta to find out that her feelings were just an act so that they could get gifts from the sponsors, and above all I wanted the horror of the mutts.<br />- Regarding the age of consent: I'm not one to talk, having read and watched age-inappropriate material all the time when I was young, but perhaps because of that I know how traumatising some material can be. I read 'Alice X' (which is about a girl's descent into the world of drugs and all the degradation that contained) and George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' (which, to my defense, was a gift and I actually thought it was going to be something like 'Charlotte's Web') when I was 11, and I still remember how I felt, even after all these years. Especially with 'Animal Farm', I was extremely creeped out -I still consider it one of the creepiest books I've ever read, even after all the Stephen King I've been consuming for many years now. So, even 12 seems a bit young to me. Maybe 13-14?Efthymianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-52574507846319273392012-04-02T00:18:56.443-04:002012-04-02T00:18:56.443-04:00I like to think I can suspend disbelief with the b...I like to think I can suspend disbelief with the best...I'm a Lostie for crying out loud.<br /><br />but two very basic plot points in The Hunger Games I didn't buy for minute.<br /><br />Twelve years old ...really... what entertainment value (longevity) are you going get out of a twelve year old going against an eighteen year old. Not much.<br /><br />Would 16 to 25 make just as much sense, really? They are still young and have families who love them.<br /><br />I might also add brutal despotic regiemes don't really need to go to all that trouble to control their populations, do they. Randomly shooting a number of people usually does the trick just fine. Then yous stick in some operatives to control the district and ...viola...<br /><br />And I didn't like the "Nazi" look to the Capital...geez guys...there have been at least a couple of other despotic regiemes throughout history to borrow your look from.<br />Why keep going back to the same trough.<br /><br />I really like the characters and I can see how fans would like the movie...I just couldn't buy the premise so it was impossible for me to get into the film.LT McDihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06760191794587989262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-4320028318127828762012-04-01T23:04:05.601-04:002012-04-01T23:04:05.601-04:00I saw the movie on Friday. I have not read the bo...I saw the movie on Friday. I have not read the books, although I've heard lots about them from my students. As a person trained to "read" film and TV in much the same way I was trained to read books, I did not feel the complicity you talked about Nikki. I no more felt like a real spectator of the games than if I had read them described by a narrator in a book. The camera was the narrator, visually telling me the story. I've thought a lot about this in the past few hours since reading your post (although I did, of course, "pause" the thinking to watch Game of Thrones and Mad Men), and I wonder if rather than complicity (which I hate for you to feel), it was more the type of discomfort we feel when watching a documentary about, say the atrocities in the Sudan, and realize we are seeing the results of "man's inhumanity to man," and we belong to that humanity capable of such atrocity? That is the feeling I got watching Hunger Games, and it is a feeling I hope the young people in the audience also felt. Oh, and I thought the movie was great, by the way, visually stunning, well acted, and very important :-)Cynthia Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-47298929662629681272012-04-01T21:21:04.956-04:002012-04-01T21:21:04.956-04:00My friend and I (ages 43 and 52) were suitably hor...My friend and I (ages 43 and 52) were suitably horrified by the context and the politics and the viciousness of the Careers (even after reading the books) and had a lot to discuss afterwards. We were grateful that the movie didn't go as far as the books (especially the Mutts).<br />We saw lots of 8-9-10 year olds without adults in the cinema (in Quebec it is rated G??!!) and they seemed blase about the violence, and I know of two young adults who were disappointed in the movies (they wanted more brutality?)..<br />which only went to prove to us that the desensitization to violence and the lack of empathy has already begun. <br />Governments can do what they will, vicious, unfair, unfeeling, - people will only care when it happens to themselves, everything else is "entertainment", which is horrifying to me.<br />And makes the books only more powerful. I loved how the books descended into PTSD and how EVERYTHING has consequences, and even a "just" war is full of victims, not victors. <br />I put this book in the category of Lord Of The Flies and 1984 in terms of lifelong memory and metaphorical context.mari0n.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-90793804823910409852012-04-01T21:17:40.068-04:002012-04-01T21:17:40.068-04:00I thought this was a fantastic adaptation. I'v...I thought this was a fantastic adaptation. I've already written up two (so far) reviews focusing on my reactions to Peeta and Gale and I'll probably do a few more because I have so much in my head about them.<br /><br />I actually went to see the movie a second time - loved it more, but ended up with more nitpicks - can't figure out how that worked :)<br /><br />The game-makers was added to the movie, but that's because the books are in first person. Since Katniss doesn't see them, we don't. And I loved the addition, along with the scenes in President Snow's garden.<br /><br />I think my biggest disappointment (SPOILERS to anyone who hasn't read the books!)was the shortening of the end. For me, Katniss banging on the door as Peeta hangs between life and death was so important to show how much she had come to care for him, even though she hadn't realised it herself. Also, um... Peeta lost his leg in the book! And it was much more overt in the end with Katniss admitting she had faked the romance, which makes a big difference in their relationship.<br /><br />But it was already a 2:22 movie, so what could they do? I don't know what I would have wanted them to cut out :)<br /><br />Overall though I thought they nailed the tone of the books and I found the political situation was better and more succinctly expressed in the movie than in the books.Rebecca T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11994380364321336824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-70841888703214319012012-04-01T20:38:04.419-04:002012-04-01T20:38:04.419-04:00@Nikki They didn't go any farther then a few k...@Nikki They didn't go any farther then a few kisses, only one of which Katiness "felt" but her bleedin head forced her to stop. Having her family and entire nation watching them in the cave, going any father is not a good idea.Dusknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-45142973662688647152012-04-01T20:34:28.973-04:002012-04-01T20:34:28.973-04:00@Kulu: The rule change was called into effect when...@Kulu: The rule change was called into effect when Katiness and Peeta were alive, but also Cato and Clove, two of the Careers. At the end Katiness realies it was all a ploy to raise the stakes for the viewers and then be a great twist when one of the star-crossed lovers killed the other.<br /><br />You also appear to be overlapping a few things from the 2nd book, but I won't go into spoiler territory.<br /><br />Also, Nikki are you still doing OUAT recaps?Dusknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-43229212311216607932012-04-01T20:33:23.186-04:002012-04-01T20:33:23.186-04:00Dusk: Jabberjays! You are absolutely right. I was ...<b>Dusk:</b> Jabberjays! You are absolutely right. I was worried I was remembering it wrong, so I'm glad I stated that outright. Mockingjays sing, jabberjays talk. That's right. Thanks for the clarification!<br /><br /><b>kluu:</b> I agree about the romance. I said to my husband, "I think they were in that cave a LOT longer in the book," and I got the sense from the book that they'd actually consummated their relationship, but now I can't remember it very well (and maybe I'm just remembering it wrong again!) I didn't like Peeta in the movie as much as I did in the book, but then again I always liked Gale more. (By the way, not trying to open this up to shipping; I'm open to any opinion on this one!)Nikki Staffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04463618183850438914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-20842945308896085972012-04-01T20:30:29.260-04:002012-04-01T20:30:29.260-04:00Joan: Have I ever told you the time that Wes Bentl...Joan: Have I ever told you the time that Wes Bentley walked up to me in a movie lineup? It TOTALLY happened, and yes, those eyes are just as blue up close as they are far away (it was during the TIFF, and he was promoting his documentary, that I actually already had tickets to. He was thrilled we were already planning to go see it. SWOON). I hadn't heard anything about the heroin and didn't realize that's why he disappeared. I'm thrilled he's back. <br /><br />And YES about Haymitch! He played it so well in the beginning, drunkenly falling onto the couch and being a sloth, and I thought this is great... and the next thing you know he's quietly holding his hands over his glass to indicate he's off the sauce (right... because it happened that easily) and there wasn't that big turnaround. That's what gets you hooked on Haymitch in the books, but I didn't find him very likeable in this. <br /><br />But then again, I always pictured Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role anyway.Nikki Staffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04463618183850438914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-42327190221349241792012-04-01T20:28:18.374-04:002012-04-01T20:28:18.374-04:00I read the books at your recommendation last summe...I read the books at your recommendation last summer.<br /><br />I can't add much to what others have already said, I liked the film but understand what you are saying, since I knew the story and plot it didn't surprise as I think it might if I had not read the books.<br /><br />I also missed the Dist 11 contribution and expected it.<br /><br />I thought that they could have shown more of Dist 12 at the beginning to give more of an idea of what life was like there.<br /><br />I assume for brevity they dint add the memento of each district and the giving of the Mockingjay pin by her Friend. I seem to remember that the Friend did something important later but maybe not.<br /><br />I don't think they played up the 'fake' romance between Peeta and Katniss. Am I remembering wrong about them implying she was pregnant and they were planning to be married or something like that. I thought it was this that caused the changing of the rule to allow both of a district to win because the Capital would have had a riot if they forced one of them to kill the other. The changing of the rule in the movie seemed kinda arbitrary to me without more of a play up of their secret love.<br /><br />I saw the movie with a friend and when they created the hounds I was kinda disappointed they weren't genetic creations. When they mad ethem tho, my friend said oh crap, and I siad, wiat it gets worse. I had thought that the game master was going to say soemthing more but it never happened. It appeared like he was going to say something like, " Make the faces on the hounds look like those Tributes already killed in the game," followed by an evil grin. But they just went to the evil grin without this added cruelty.<br /><br />Anyway, it was still an excellent film and I look forward to a second which like the book, I think will be the best.kluunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-53444870168642613332012-04-01T20:27:53.992-04:002012-04-01T20:27:53.992-04:00Page48: Haha! I'm glad to have opened your eye...Page48: Haha! I'm glad to have opened your eyes to the Hunger Games! And as for the I'm sorry gifts, I should have qualified that those died out a few years ago. Now I just get a shrug. So I plot my revenge instead. <br /><br />Heehee...Nikki Staffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04463618183850438914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-62925419384496821872012-04-01T20:27:03.939-04:002012-04-01T20:27:03.939-04:00Ambivalentman: LOVED your comment about the kids. ...<b>Ambivalentman</b>: LOVED your comment about the kids. I don't want to go on and on about it, because I have friends who've let their younger kids read the books, but the 18-month-old babbled and talked and sang through the scene of Peeta and Katniss sitting in the window at the Capitol on the eve of the Games and no one in the theatre could hear it, until finally someone shushed the baby loudly, and the mom finally gave up and left. Seriously, I know what it's like to want to see movies when you have a baby, but with movies for mommies every Wednesday, GO THEN. Or get a babysitter. <br /><br />But honestly, the baby wasn't paying any attention. It's the 5-year-olds directly behind me talking and asking what was happening and whimpering during the scenes that made my stomach churn. I saw a little girl who looked about 8 get up and run out to the bathroom and back, and I thought, I got babysitting for my 7-year-old. Why did other parents think it was ok to just bring 'em along? <br /><br />I shudder to think at the desensitization we're about to face with the upcoming generation of kids. Of course, I'm sure the generation that preceded me thought the same thing. Hell, I sometimes think Phineas and Ferb is too advanced and I should switch to Sesame Street. <br /><br />Sigh.Nikki Staffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04463618183850438914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-72834141429909022712012-04-01T20:23:40.191-04:002012-04-01T20:23:40.191-04:00Yeah, sorry about the Gage typo... of course I kno...Yeah, sorry about the Gage typo... of course I know he's Gale. I'm appalled that I typed it twice and not just once (however, I feel a little better that just now when I typed it, I typed it Gage again... I'm thinking my fingers automatically want to go to "age" rather than "ale"). ANYWAY. <br /><br /><b>Graeme</b>: What an interesting perspective, and you're absolutely right, by the way. My husband's first comment was that it wasn't nearly as violent as the book, and he wondered if that had to do something with chasing a PG rating, too. And in many ways I felt that they were so beholden to the plot, as you say, they couldn't do anything new and focused on action instead of meaning. <br /><br />One thing I failed to mention was that I was a little disconcerted (and I was meant to be) by the scenes of battle where the camera angles were SO close up you couldn't figure out what was happening or who was doing what to whom. That was on purpose -- it's one thing to watch something from further back and thinking, "Oh come ON, Katniss, you could totally take this guy," but to see it from her pov, up close, and realize how disorienting something like hand-to-hand combat is, you realize what they're really up against. That said, I found it difficult to follow, and a few pullback shots here and there wouldn't have hurt. Not to mention I felt a little woozy. ;) But I did think it was a nice use of direction to show that material.Nikki Staffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04463618183850438914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30892649.post-2522007434670721442012-04-01T19:36:45.798-04:002012-04-01T19:36:45.798-04:00I have read the books—LOVED the first, liked the s...I have read the books—LOVED the first, liked the second, not thrilled with the last but am going to reread—but I wanted to put in my 2 cents' worth:<br /><br />Cinna was never meant to be "Capitol" flamboyant. This is the description of him from the book: I'm taken aback by how normal he looks...Cinna's close-cropped hair appears to be its natural shade of brown. He's in a simple black shirt and plants. THe only concession to self-alteration seems to be metallic gold eyeliner that has been applied with a light hand. It brings out the flecks of gold in his green eyes...I can't help thinking how attractive it looks. <br /><br />Also, the reason we got to see more of the gamemakers and Caesar in the movie is because of the decion to not make it exclusively Katniss' pov, as it is in the book, but to open it up—I think this works well, especially as they did without the internal monologue (also a good choice).<br /><br />I'm not sure that I liked them softening up Haymitch as they did—and I do wish they had left in the scene when District 11 sent Katniss bread although I understand how it would have broken the pace of the action to do so.<br /><br />I also wasn't happy with the under 10 set in the theatre, especially when they started giggling at Rue's death scene. I guess it's better than having nightmares later.Inaranoreply@blogger.com