The Hunger Games

[Parka 1]

So much truth tea in one post

I do what I can

I only remember so much of this since I read the books very recently. If I had read them earlier, I might not have remembered it all, and thus wouldn't have been so critical of the movie :sweat:

[Ellie Goulding 8]

Oh my god.. So far the movie is.. Eh.

Im about twenty minutes in.

1. I HATE the way the relationship between the mom and the kids is portrayed. It makes it seem like the mom is trying to be nice to Prim but Katniss is being a b---h and won't let her. And that's not how it was.

2. The reaping scene is kinda messily edited.

3. I HATE HATE HATE how Prim said goodbye to Katniss. It is SO forced.

Try to win.

I will. I'm smart, you know.

And you can hunt.

And I can hunt.

EDIT: Forgot about the Mockingjay pin.. WTF? Have they read the other books? I don't see why it was such a big problem to just have the Madge storyline..

Edited March 28, 2012 by Bloody Mary

[KingAlanI 3]

when it comes to music I don't obsess over chart performance, so I don't obsess over box office performance

I didn't care for the score; I thought it was overbearing in the emotional scenes.

Spoiler alerts:

I finally watched it yesterday and I have to say I was very satisfied with the movie. I was afraid it was going to be a little watered down since it was PG-13 but it wasn't. The part I was mainly looking for was Glimmer's deformed body after the tracker jacker attack and it was well done. I liked how they kept cutting in with the hosts to help explain things that the audience may not have known if they didn't read the books. The only thing that left me wanting more was the relationship between Rue and Katniss if I hadn't read the books I wouldn't have really cared about her that much but they still did a good job. I was almost in tears when she died and my friend Kassandra was sobbing. I think i heard someone in the theater crying as well.

One of my few criticisms is how some of the violence was masked with shaky camera work. I would have preferred that it be left in or at least censored less obtrusively (I understand that they wanted a PG-13 rating)

I didn't read the book and I still thought Rue's scenes with Katniss were the most genuinely emotional part of the movie.

However, I wasn't crying and I didn't notice anyone else in the theater doing so.

I liked the alternating views, although I felt there could have been more from outside the arena at times.

@ Parka:

I basically agree with Toad. Also:

I was certainly able to follow the movie without the book. The removed details seem interesting but not a deal-breaker. I was happy with the movie and want more at the same time.

I liked the pacing; I was riveted throughout the whole film.

The government's evil was subtle, the president and gamemaster in particular. Was there a reason they had relatively unmodified physical appearance?

I _liked_ the interviewer, his demeanor and the blue theme.

Edited March 28, 2012 by KingAlanI

[MuffinMan 3]

Oh my god.. So far the movie is.. Eh.

Im about twenty minutes in.

1. I HATE the way the relationship between the mom and the kids is portrayed. It makes it seem like the mom is trying to be nice to Prim but Katniss is being a b---h and won't let her. And that's not how it was.

2. The reaping scene is kinda messily edited.

3. I HATE HATE HATE how Prim said goodbye to Katniss. It is SO forced.

Try to win.

I will. I'm smart, you know.

And you can hunt.

And I can hunt.

EDIT: Forgot about the Mockingjay pin.. WTF? Have they read the other books? I don't see why it was such a big problem to just have the Madge storyline..

I agree a lot with the last part. I LOVED Madge. :cry:

[Parka 1]

@ Parka:

I basically agree with Toad. Also:

I was certainly able to follow the movie without the book. The removed details seem interesting but not a deal-breaker. I was happy with the movie and want more at the same time.

I liked the pacing; I was riveted throughout the whole film.

The government's evil was subtle, the president and gamemaster in particular. Was there a reason they had relatively unmodified physical appearance?

I _liked_ the interviewer, his demeanor and the blue theme.

Snow is supposed to have very minor altercations to his body- mostly to make him more appealing yet also frightening/powerful to all of Panem, including the districts. Having crazy hair and **** wouldn't do the trick. But I will never understand why those in the Control Room had zero altercations to them. Seems a bit odd, since they were clearly Capitol folk. The Head Gamemaker had his crazy beard- I think that was good enough for him lol.

The removed details are more than just simply "interesting". They add a lot more emotion and character depth to the story, which really makes it one of the greatest book series out there. It seemed like the actors perfected what they were given, considering the lack of character development for many storylines. Which was an amazing feat for the actors.

All in all, I wish they didn't put in so much new material. At least for this movie. The first book was amazing, but only really because of all the material that was cut here. At least for me. Yeah the movie was great, but it could've been perfect if it had more depth and details as the book did.

I woulda been fine with a 4-6 hours movie tbh

Oh, and someone posted a long time ago about how the beginning credits was really stupid- I totally agree! I don't see why they had to flash all that info on screen (in that HORRIBLE font!), since it was all explained within the first 45 minutes of the movie. (I'm talking about how at the start, they flash up the declaration of how The Hunger Games were formed...but then, I think it was either during the reaping or during the opening ceremony, it is explained again)

Edited March 28, 2012 by Parka

[Ellie Goulding 8]

Pres. Snow looks like a jolly Santa.. Not an evil ruler :sweat:

[KingAlanI 3]

Prop nitpick: I wonder why the arrows didn't have four-bladed broadheads

@Parka:

yeah, the gamemaker's crazy facial hair and the president's puffed lips were relatively subtle by Capitol standards.

the list of what was missing basically just explained a few details to me.

The overall plot already seemed deep especially for something targeted at this age group. Are you saying the books had deeper individual characterization?

Maybe I'll agree with you more after I actually road the 1st book.

@Bloody Mary

The way I see it, the president's pleasant facade is a key part of his subtle evil

{Goodnight for now}

Edited March 28, 2012 by KingAlanI

[Luiz 4,253]

is this another harry potter/twilight of thing?

i want to see it and i've seen some good reviews but i've seen terrible reviews from older ppl on the internet so it has me worrying this is another teen book series turned movie.

[Parka 1]

Other things that I noticed weren't in the film:

-After Rue's death, District 11 sent Katniss bread, and she thanked them for it.

-Thresh was supposed to hit Glimmer (right) in the head with a rock

-The Hob was barely seen

-The fact that District 12 Peacekeepers were very lenient at regulating the law was only hinted at, when I think it was Katniss that says to Gale "it's the peacekeepers that I want to see to" (referring to the meat)

-There was no Madge or the mayor

-No mention of how Katniss' mom acted when Katniss was growing up, especially after her dad's death

-Prim's cat was in good shape and healthy, whereas the book described it as old and gross

-Prim had a nightmare, but for some reason Katniss never did? Erm...wtf

-The other stylists were only briefly seen, but not even mentioned by name

-Cato's death was short, but whatever

-I coulda sworn that the tracker jacker attack happened at night..or at leader Rue appeared at night. Cause I remember the book mentioning about how at first Katniss could only see Rue's eyes

-Katniss didn't go to any training stations in the movie

-They didn't mention about how Katniss and Peeta were late to the training center

-Everything with the Mockingjay pin was done incorrectly

-Eyes from the dead ributes were missing from the mutts...which seems dumb, since Katniss just shouted this information to Peeta in the book

-The mutts were supposed to chase Cato, who then went through the river and on to the cornucopia. Katniss and Peeta were supposed to follow him close behind, after being confused as to why he was charging towards them without attacking them

-There was very very very little information on how Panem got to be the way that it is

-No information on how the Mockingjays were used during the revolution, and their symbolism

-The end of the book concludes with Peeta finding out about how Katniss and Haymitch knew all along that Katniss was faking her love for Peeta

-Nothing about the red headed Avox

-They only once mention Foxface's nickname, although she appeared many times

I'll probably think of more tomorrow, which is when I'll post the list of things that they really did well

yeah, the gamemaker's crazy facial hair and the president's puffed lips were relatively subtle by Capitol standards.

the list of what was missing basically just explained a few details to me.

The overall plot already seemed deep especially for something targeted at this age group. Are you saying the books had deeper individual characterization?

The books are much more intricate for the character development and their emotions, but it's still easy to follow and understand. It is also a bit more violent in its details

[croboy 1,212]

Allright, haven't read the books but the movie caught my eye so I watched it last night.

Generally I really liked the movie, I'd probably give it a 8/10.

But I have some critics. This may be cause I haven't read the books. I'll put it in spoiler in case someone didn't see the movie yet:

1) Effie, she was interesting but I didn't get her character totally. First of all the first time she appears you just hate her! You think she is having sooooo much fun when they chose Katniss and Peeta. Then she suddnely gets ok / jokish. And then she disappears midway through. Is she a good or bad person?! I didn't really get it.

2) My biggest complaint is the relationship between Peeta and Katniss. Why did Peeta join the other team? I guessed that he wanted to save him and her but it wasn't clear in the movie imo. I was like WHAT? And she didn't care about him AT ALL. She never mentioned him or thought of him once the games started. And as soon as it's anounced that two from the same district could win she goes "Oooh Peeta right, remember!". I actually HATED her for that. I'm sorry.

Plus she fooled him into thinking she likes him and kissed him. When I think of that I don't like her at all tbh! :(

3) I criiiiiiiied when Rue died. My god that scene was done so very well!!

4) What meant the hand signal Katniss did when Rue died? Another district did it too in the begining but it was never explained what it meant.

Edited March 28, 2012 by croboy

[Parka 1]

Allright, haven't read the books but the movie caught my eye so I watched it last night.

Generally I really liked the movie, I'd probably give it a 8/10.

But I have some critics. This may be cause I haven't read the books. I'll put it in spoiler in case someone didn't see the movie yet:

1) Effie, she was interesting but I didn't get her character totally. First of all the first time she appears you just hate her! You think she is having sooooo much fun when they chose Katniss and Peeta. Then she suddnely gets ok / jokish. And then she disappears midway through. Is she a good or bad person?! I didn't really get it.

2) My biggest complaint is the relationship between Peeta and Katniss. Why did Peeta join the other team? I guessed that he wanted to save him and her but it wasn't clear in the movie imo. I was like WHAT? And she didn't care about him AT ALL. She never mentioned him or thought of him once the games started. And as soon as it's anounced that two from the same district could win she goes "Oooh Peeta right, remember!". I actually HATED her for that. I'm sorry.

Plus she fooled him into thinking she likes him and kissed him. When I think of that I don't like her at all tbh! :(

3) I criiiiiiiied when Rue died. My god that scene was done so very well!!

4) What meant the hand signal Katniss did when Rue died? Another district did it too in the begining but it was never explained what it meant.

Effie is meant to be the chaperone of Katniss and Peeta..she's the Captiol representative for District 12. Katniss eventually starts to like her, but a lot of that dialogue was cut.

In the book, Katniss says a lot of things to herself about her trust and distrust of Peeta. She also doesn't know if she really likes him. She initially only makes outwith him and **** because she realizes that sponsors will send them gifts if she keeps up the star crossed lover shenanigans.

That hand signal is something special to Disteict 12, and the other districts found out about it because it was broadcast to everyone during the live reaping which all the districts saw. The book explains more in depth exactly what it means

Also I just realized that in the book, Cinnais the one that tells Peeta and Katniss to hold hands at the chariot, whereas in the movie, Peeta just randomly did it.

[Parka 1]

Oh, and can we PLEASE just talk about how ****ing emotional the music made some of the scenes?!?!?!?!? I didn't think I was actually going to cry when Katniss and Peeta went to the train after the reaping...but holy ****, I was shaking and crying just because of how powerful the music was over that scene.

http://youtu.be/i6Tctc3UM-4

The end scene, too, had me in tears because of this song:

http://youtu.be/jQTgAskYIFc

[KingAlanI 3]

I thought it was necessary to intentionally leave Peeta out of the loop. He believed it and behaved accordingly; would he have done as well if told it was just an act?

I didn't care for the score; I thought it was overbearing in the emotional scenes.

[Married the Night 3,955]

I thought it was close to perfect. I am dying to see it again. And to address a concern above, I think they left out Rue's district giving her bread was cut because it would confuse the audience. Too many loafs of bread being given away. I was fine with that. The was rue's death was done made up for it. Overall, the casting was perfect. The scenes and art direction was dead on. It really felt like the book I had read so long ago. It felt like the same universe. The only 2 major problems I had with the film: Cinna wasn't gay enough and Rue's character wasn't developed enough before her death. Other than that, I think we have witnessed the next big thing. Looking forward to the other 2 films.

P.S. Birdy KILLS it in her Hunger Games song.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Married the Night

[Parka 1]

I think that the only part of the acting that I didn't like was when Peeta was yelling at the camera to tell Katniss to move after the tracker jacker attack. Idk why, but it all felt a bit forced and not that convincing

Also, strangely enough, I don't think the movie portrayed Peeta's backstory of being a baker well enough. There's so many jokes around the interwebz about him and his damn bread, but the movie only mentioned it like...once, which was during the flashbacks to him giving Katniss the bread. :deadbanana:

Edited March 28, 2012 by Parka