The Hunger Games - just misses the mark

Ok, so totes in dange of (sorry, sorry) - and again...! I'm in danger of sounding like a broken record when it comes to novel to film adaptations (and slightly aghast that peeps in the biz aren't reading my reviews as wonderful analyses of how adaptations could work and applying them to their own work - it's free consultancy, yo!)

Anyhow, getting back to the necessary task at hand - The Hunger Games viewing for moi et Arctic Bunny was last night. I had pegged this as a 'must see of 2012' as most others did and I refrained from reading reviews, though I cracked when Incredible Suit posted this week (gah!).

*SPOILERS ALERT* Dare I say it, but it was an all around decent film but exceptionally and lazily adapted from the book. It took too long to 'get to the good stuff' and there were some other obvious flaws that have nothing to do with flaws from the book itself - it's all down to the film-makers.

I kind of guessed at this the moment the film opened and we see Game-Maker, Seneca Crane talking to blue haired presenter (played solidly well by Stanley Tucci) - and it became a continual problem - removing us out of Katniss's POV and the games and into the 'behind-the-scenes' world of the Capitol. UGH. It completely leached the strength of menace that an antagonist has - seeing Presi Snow chatting to Crane on various occasions, I sat there trying to fathom why this was in the narrative at all. It's like seeing the most bad ass robot and then they take you to see it nuts and bolts - or find it works on water. Lame.  Another classic example is when Katniss is in that ante-room before entering the pod-lift into the arena. It's suspenseful stuff and then [cut], we're in that control room with some lady telling us 'Ok, they're in.' Geez - talk about removing oneself from the suspenseful moment of Katniss entering the arena in one seamless sequence. That warrants a hit to the head, editor. 

Another issues were Peeta and Katniss - it wasn't good chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, but Josh came across stronger in his performance as the 'boy with the bread'. Which also brings me to the 'bread' scene - why is it raining and why wasn't it made clear that Katniss was literally starving to death with nothing to take to her family? The flashbacks were lazy and confusing. There could have one sequence of 'father's death - starving - bread via Peeta - daffodil' but no, that would have been too simple. If we knew she was at the end of her tether, that moment would have been more significant and so to, their relationship. Instead, when it's time for Katniss to turn on the 'charm', it's not even obvious that she has turned on anything. And then we kept cutting to see Gale in District 12, *shakes head*. And if they'd done the bread scene properly, we'd have known that Katniss does whatever it takes to survive - she's survived near death before - this is her trait, her winning element - not the bow and arrow.

My top films of 2011

Ok, so 2011 is drawing to a close and I'm jumping on the bandwagon and blogging about my top movies of 2011 (can anyone say 'No original content'?).

I've been surprisingly blah about the movie offerings of this year and as such, the ones I have ended up rating, have taken me by surprise - in a good way.

2012 looks to be far more exciting for me as a viewer - The Hobbit, The Hunger Games and War Horse are all must see films for me - the kind of ones that actually raise my heart beat and have the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

But before looking ahead, let's look back at the ones that got the thumbs up from me, in ascending order:

#5 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
An avid fan like meself was desperate for this film to do it's thing and bring the series home - it did but without the serious finish to adequately top it off. It underperformed but it was the end, so deservedly wins a place on the list. Read the full review here.

#4 - Ides of March
Classic example of brilliant casting, contained and focused narrative, enough to keep you thoroughly engaged without needing to throw explosions and mega SFX our way. Full review here.

#3 - Kung Fu Panda 2
This was just good fun and had me laughing loads and you need a good comedy in there. To be honest, Bridesmaids should also be mentioned as a great one too, though it was a lot less comedic than I thought and a lot more poignant. So Po wins out for the comedy value. Review here.

#2 -  True Grit
As with #4 on the list, you canna beat good casting, solid script etc. Plus Hailee Steinfeld was so amazing, I'm just honoured the Coen brothers brought that on screen to show us. Review here.

#1 -  X-Men: First Class
This one took me totes my surprise - it had a little bit of everything: solid performances, great action, a smattering of laughs and intense drama. It was an all rounder. Read the review here.









And if you care to bother to know which films I didn't even want to see (and you may argue, I missed out on)

- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The title alone was offensive to me - did anyone tell the creators that 'of the' twice in a title is just plain ugly?
- Twilight: Breaking Dawn
Let's not even go there.
- Immortalz
I put a 'z' on the end to demonstrate how it lacks any semblance of creditability whatsoever.
- Hangover Part 2
You just knew it was going to be appalling, even if no 1 was a laugh.
- One Day
I couldn't stand the book and didn't finish it - why would I want to watch Anne Hathaway play that annoying Emma for 2 hours?
- Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern, Transformers
Yeh, no.


Films I wanted to see:
- The Help
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Well, let me know your thoughts and best wishes for Christmas and New Years!

The Hunger Games

So, I've been in what I can only say is something of a reading 'depression' and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's been going on for some time - perhaps years really, when I try and think about any book that has ignited me - I mean, really and truly to the point where I'm immersed in it my head it still in the narrative long before I put the book down. I was momentarily lifted by 'Revolution' by Jennifer Donnelly but that is a stand alone book and the momentum didn't carry me on to further great reads.

So I stumbled upon 'The Hunger Games' by Susanne Collins - thanks to my sis, who sent me a link to the trailer of the upcoming movie. I watched it, read the general premise for the original books and was like 'OM%G, why haven't I heard of these?' Apparently, it was the series that Hogwarts graduates fell into after the void Potter left us in (Hogwarts graduates meaning the age group of people who are Harry Potter's year - i.e. when the first book came in 1997, we were the kids starting Year 7. So if JK had stayed true to the book a year thing, we would have been graduating high school the same year as Harry - what? Don't give me that look!) I must have missed the memo about these books though because I only came to know of it the Friday two weeks ago, harassed my sister into buying the series on Monday and was reading it Monday evening. I've read the second but am putting a breather between tackling the third.

It really is riveting - the premise is strong, clear (and though I know The Hunger Games fans will hate me for it, it has shades of the ORIGINAL Battle Royale books by Koshun Takami) which makes me a wee bit envious because I sometimes forget the whole premise/purpose of my own book because it's such a huge story. Writing one person POV must be nice too. I let various characters sidetrack me totally.

I love that the Minotaur-Cretan-Athenian-conflict legend inspired the whole 'send the kids to their death' - of course I would love that!

Why am I blabbering about this, you wonder? Well because these series are about to movies very soon and I wonder whether they will capture the nature of the books because I loved how well the film adaptation of Battle Royale went down. And I'm wondering whether the USAns can do the same, because often, I'm left pretty darn miffed with their adaptations - I even got into a Twitter back and forth with Philip Bloom, much respected camera-man and my reference to all things Canon 7D (thank you) - but we had a difference of opinion regarding 'IMMORTALS' - I put an end to the discussion when I saw that Bloom had written 'You won't see a better looking film.' *I grits my teeth* Oh, Philip, you don't know me AT all! (he wouldn't, naturally...but yeh) It is so typical of a DoP to put the aesthetics over all other elements - flashbacks of university when we watched fellow students work and when left to give feedback, people would always talk about 'how pretty' it was, while I was dying to blurt out 'Did anyone get it?' or 'The story was rather weak, dude - sorry. While you're all admiring the lighting and framing and everything, I'm sitting there thinking 'why do I care about this character or whatever is happening for 5 mins'...' *sigh* Sorry, got diverted there - the discussion of story, truthful adaptation and 'good looking' film is to be left to another blog post soon.

Anyhow, I will look forward to this film coming it is all.