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The Hunger Games (Dir. Gary Ross) |OT| May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor
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demosthenes
Member
We already know, Kat watches his replay in book 2.
And a lot of the winners turn out like Haymitch in one form or another.
Well gee, let me toss out a few of big words that don't really say anything and end the discussion there, too.
JGS said:
Having not read the book, I never seemed to get that impression in the movie. At one point, Katniss states that her primary concern would be to return to her sister and mother. I suppose I took that at face value, but I wasn't privy to her innermost thoughts.
@bumblebeetuna
Thanks. I personally don't think that excuses the movie, but from your response, the books seem to present the event in a more compelling way. There were other occurrences that didn't sit right with me too, but that seems to be lost in the previous page. Still, I might give the books a try.
It's less clear in the movie (I don't remember her saying that she was getting back to her mom & Prim) since we don't know what she's thinking. However, anytime she deviates from the script is a time that she shows where her priorities lie. She took care of Prim at the beginning because she didn't think she was going to win. Other ways:
- Going away from the battle. Her plan was to just survive as long as possible since that's how Haymitch taught her.
- Backtracking to rescue Peeta
- Wanting Peeta to kill her
- Willingness to eat the berries rather than letting the Capital change her or Peeta
- Rue's memorial
- Shooting at the Gamemakers
- Backtracking to rescue Peeta
- Wanting Peeta to kill her
- Willingness to eat the berries rather than letting the Capital change her or Peeta
- Rue's memorial
- Shooting at the Gamemakers
None of these were acts of a person that wanted to win. They may have been acts of someone not suicidal though.
When are people going to finally figure out how the Rotten Tomatoes rating system works?
I'm shocked that 86% of the reviewers liked the movie.
Eh, fair enough I suppose.
Mushroom021
Member
Saw the movie the other night, really liked it. Some awesome intense parts, I did think a lot of it came so easily to her/for her, a lot of the time she didnt have to do much. She never really had to kill anyone, if she ever did get stuck in a situation someone would come out and save her/help her. But overall I did like it.
Heh, I've been using RT for a very long time, and this is the first I've been misled. Though, I see now the Top Critics score has dropped to 80%. I thought enough reviews were in, but I guess not! When I left my house, it was at 85%.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Top Critics was 70%, but this thread isn't about scoring systems, so please back to the movie.
I liked it enough, but I thought the neo roman empire / Louis XVI aesthetic of the capital people was a bit heavy handed and cheesy. It was plenty apparent that the capital people were way richer and better off without having them all made up like that. It was just distracting.
I also thought the whole
I also thought the whole
'rule change being revoked' thing was entirely telegraphed from the start with how much game rigging was going on. Which also bothered me, why were the bosses so worried about the reaction of the districts to the games when they were so willing to completely rig the whole thing anyway?
I liked it. Shaky cam was annoying though. I think it in part had to do with the PG-13 rating as the shaky cam made the kills somewhat censored. Even though it never would've happened I think it could've done with an R rating. I never really felt a sense of dread like I did reading the book (maybe it had to do with knowing what was going on).
AlphaDragoon
Member
Just finished reading book3.
unlike most people throughout the thread; I thought it was pretty satisfying and I didn't really understand the wholeconstantly drugged out comments - the equivalent would be the trio in HP hiding out in the wilds in the last book for months while hunting the final horcruxes. I didn't know what I expected reading that complaint - drugged? but how she wrote it up was great
really thought:
MAJOR SPOILERS BOOK3.
that katniss ending up with Peeta was great (dandelion of life. I loved it!!)
can't believe they killed finnick
coin getting killed was a surprise
that Peeta went mental was great
pulled no punches with characters dying left right in the tunnels; and pulled no punches when they blew up all the kids.
death of prim
really dug the 3rd book. Book 2 was the best though. I can't wait to see the completed movies (1-4) now. Hutcherson is going to have to up his acting chops for book3.
Man,
Prim dying was like a fucking gutcheck after everything Kat went though. Suzanne Collins had no fucks to give in that last book, it was a goddamn bloodbath. XD
AlphaDragoon
Member
SonicMegaDrive
Member
Wasn't really feeling this one. It was a bit ham-fisted, particularly towards the end.
At leastDude, BOOK 3 SPOILERSFinnick, dude
Johanna didn't die, but I was sad to read she didn't move to District 12 with Katniss.
Mockingjay was pretty depressing. Even though Katniss ended up with Peeta and their little spawns, they both are so tainted by their prior experiences that their ending can only be described as bleak.
just got back. also finished reading the book last night.
movie/book spoilers/comparisons:
there's some other stuff, but ...eh, it was okay, i guess? didn't like the shakycam, but i think it was done to differentiate the realness of life in the district to the artificiality of life in the capitol.
movie/book spoilers/comparisons:
+caesar being used to help explain the society of panem and some of the stuff there was a good choice, since we can't read katniss's mind.
+rue's death scene was handled really well. while i missed district 1 boy's death being reactionary on katniss's part, at least they related it to the special sessions.
+i actually liked the riot scene in district 11, and sort of liked how it led to the rules change (although i think the reasoning was a bit weird).
+very limited use of flashbacks as a storytelling device. there's a lot of recollection in the book, so setting it up prior (like katniss singing the song to prim and later, rue), was a good way to go about it.
-the mockingjay pin. kinda important to know what the symbol means (it's the logo for the series)
-katniss was not as ruthless as in the book, and this doesn't come across that well in the movie. the ending when the rules are reversed, she immediately draws her bow and peeta throws the knife in the river.
-actually, a lot of the movie was nerfed. i understand they did it to hit the pg-13 rating, but we're supposed to be horrified that kids are murdering each other for the enjoyment of others. my theater, on the other hand, cheered the death of cato, totally missing the point.
+rue's death scene was handled really well. while i missed district 1 boy's death being reactionary on katniss's part, at least they related it to the special sessions.
+i actually liked the riot scene in district 11, and sort of liked how it led to the rules change (although i think the reasoning was a bit weird).
+very limited use of flashbacks as a storytelling device. there's a lot of recollection in the book, so setting it up prior (like katniss singing the song to prim and later, rue), was a good way to go about it.
-the mockingjay pin. kinda important to know what the symbol means (it's the logo for the series)
-katniss was not as ruthless as in the book, and this doesn't come across that well in the movie. the ending when the rules are reversed, she immediately draws her bow and peeta throws the knife in the river.
-actually, a lot of the movie was nerfed. i understand they did it to hit the pg-13 rating, but we're supposed to be horrified that kids are murdering each other for the enjoyment of others. my theater, on the other hand, cheered the death of cato, totally missing the point.
there's some other stuff, but ...eh, it was okay, i guess? didn't like the shakycam, but i think it was done to differentiate the realness of life in the district to the artificiality of life in the capitol.
I had forgotten about this and now I'm RAGING over its omission.
Especially since it would've helped people who didn't read the book understand that
Katniss' "love" for Peeta was just a ploy.
It was a real missed opportunity. It'd really help to make things clear.
Although after the way they "changed" the ending... I have no clue what route they're planning on taking with the first half of Catching Fire.
toxicgonzo
Taxes?! Isn't this the line for Metallica?
Reminds me of people's reviews of Full Metal Jacket.
In both movies, the lead up to the combat scenes were better than the actual combat.
Zoramon089
Banned
That shaky cam over the violence was ridiculous to the point of actually making me annoyed. I understand it was necessary to get it down to PG-13, so it could be a kids/teens movie but...I couldn't tell what was happening during ANY of the confrontations until it stopped and it showed who died
Sohter.Nura
Member
Watched the movie yesterday, and I was so pumped 10 minutes in the movie because it seemed like it had such a great premise. It was like it was all setup to be a great story. I was pretty disappointed.
1 - Scenes drag for too long. It's O.K to make a slow paced movie, but it needs to be well done, which was clearly not done in this one.
2 - The plot is so not fully realized. I understand this is just the first book, but it just doesn't seems like the scenes connect well at all.
3 - All the plot elements of the movie: The social commentary, the "hunger" aspect of the people, the games themselves, are not fully explored in the narrative of the movie. For a movie called "hunger games", there really is not a lot of hunger going on in the movie, while it seems like the drive to eliminate hunger / getting more ballots of your name in the draws for the games is a bigger plot element in the book.
4 - For a life and death game, none of the characters seemed really eager to survive. I was constantly telling myself "REALLY. If you're in a life and death situation, would you really do something THIS stupid?"
5 - The hunger games seemed like were going to be a much harsher environment from what the game masters were initially talking about. Characters were saying things like "You might die of disease or freeze to death before anybody else does" or stupid shit like that, but none of it came to realization.
So... A stinker for me. I'll give it a 3/10 :/
1 - Scenes drag for too long. It's O.K to make a slow paced movie, but it needs to be well done, which was clearly not done in this one.
2 - The plot is so not fully realized. I understand this is just the first book, but it just doesn't seems like the scenes connect well at all.
3 - All the plot elements of the movie: The social commentary, the "hunger" aspect of the people, the games themselves, are not fully explored in the narrative of the movie. For a movie called "hunger games", there really is not a lot of hunger going on in the movie, while it seems like the drive to eliminate hunger / getting more ballots of your name in the draws for the games is a bigger plot element in the book.
4 - For a life and death game, none of the characters seemed really eager to survive. I was constantly telling myself "REALLY. If you're in a life and death situation, would you really do something THIS stupid?"
5 - The hunger games seemed like were going to be a much harsher environment from what the game masters were initially talking about. Characters were saying things like "You might die of disease or freeze to death before anybody else does" or stupid shit like that, but none of it came to realization.
So... A stinker for me. I'll give it a 3/10 :/
I think you mean "romance"
ghostofsparta
Member
For not having even heard the name The Hunger Games before today i thought the movie was damn good. Best movie this year thus far.
Edelknoedel
Member
RedLetterMedia approved http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-bag/the-hunger-games-and-jeff-who-lives-at-home/
Pachterballs
Banned
nice
nice
about 10 minutes in and their review makes me want to watch THG again
Although it's usually pointless to respond to a completely negative view, the last two were interesting.
4 - A large part of the story is the fact that no one knows what to do in order to survive (Not even Districts 1 & 2 who focus on weapons and keeping hold of what's provided) and they are only as good as their mentors teach them. I'm not really sure what stupid things were done but apparently all of the decisions were stupid?
5 - No one knows where the Hunger Games will be from time to time. The commentator made reference to this. Although they were in the woods this time, it could have been the Tundra, a rainforest, desert, etc...
As an aside, the book dealt with hunger and dehydration in more detail.
I was thinking that Peeta was egging her on to kill him, but with this book things get fuzzy since I think I read it too fast.
The more I think about it the more I realize that I disliked the last 20 minutes or so in comparison to the book. It's good from a movie standpoint, but I think the book handled matters better regarding the last few chapters.
- For some reason, it annoyed me how Thresh killed Clove
- The Mutts killing Thresh- off camera no less
- Did they change the time to night in the Book?
- Cato's bag never was explained
- I liked that they added some humanity to Cato, but an odd way for him to die
- The Mutts killing Thresh- off camera no less
- Did they change the time to night in the Book?
- Cato's bag never was explained
- I liked that they added some humanity to Cato, but an odd way for him to die
toxicgonzo
Taxes?! Isn't this the line for Metallica?
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SonicMegaDrive
Member
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Douchebag Convention 2012.
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For a survival death match they sure were having a good time together. Another thing that bother me is how pointless the whole sponsorship thing turned out to be.
It's really not useless at all.
Without the ointment, Katniss's burn wound would have gotten pretty bad, and Peeta would have died without his medicine.
There are many other examples of how important they are in the book.
demosthenes
Member
Peeta's medicine wasn't a sponsor, it was designed by the Gamemaker's.
In the movie there were 2 gifts to them, her burn cream and the soup. In the book there were more I'm pretty sure.
Pachterballs
Banned
pretty central to the movie if you ask me..
district 11's bread gift
yeah, they make a point how the game makers try to push the tributes to kill each other and don't try to actually kill the tributes themselves (outside of extreme cases). thresh died 'off-screen' in the book as well, but it was understood that cato did it. i think showing cato had body armor would have been the better way to show he had very few vulnerable points to hit when she shot him
demosthenes
Member
Also show what his gift was from the feast.
as much as i thought caesar's commentary was a great choice in explaining the society/world/culture of panem, i think the movie could have been a lot stronger if it was focused more on katniss and her survival. i know this was a film being made with teenagers in mind, but the games lasted 3 weeks in the book, and they were about a week in the movie. things like how important food was, how katniss got 'in touch' with haymitch, and showing katniss as a survivor in general would have been much more interesting than shots of president snow or people in the gamemaker rooms, or the riot in district 11.
he fit that character really well. thought he was great.
This. The whole sponsorship was pointless in the end.
Oh yeah, you're right. My mistake.
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