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 The Hunger Games 

What grade would you give this film?
A 46%  46%  [ 18 ]
B 23%  23%  [ 9 ]
C 10%  10%  [ 4 ]
D 13%  13%  [ 5 ]
F 8%  8%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 39

 The Hunger Games 
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
MovieDude wrote:
Shack wrote:
The only scene I wish was a little better was the bloodbath at the start. Understandably Katniss isn't there for a lot of it but I was looking forward to a good 3-5 minutes of brawl to the deaths


But wouldn't that be too exploitative and present the games as the gore-hound feast the movie criticizes them as?


Considering its a movie, yes, it should've been more exploitative. Instead it feels manipulated, which is ironic with the the themes of the movie in mind.

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Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:22 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
MovieDude wrote:
Shack wrote:
The only scene I wish was a little better was the bloodbath at the start. Understandably Katniss isn't there for a lot of it but I was looking forward to a good 3-5 minutes of brawl to the deaths


But wouldn't that be too exploitative and present the games as the gore-hound feast the movie criticizes them as? I thought the muted presentation was an excellent way to portray this scene.


I kind of feel that would fit thematically, as if turning the movie audience into the real Hunger Games audience (by their enjoyment of the killing) proves the point about our obsession with sadistic violence. (Which is exactly what the Hostel movies attempted, though more distastefully) Though I kind of got the sense that neither Collins or the directors are as interseted here in making some sociopolitical message as much as using the HG games as a plot that will make an exciting action book/movie and roping in 16 year olds looking for the next franchise and love triangle (Team Peeta/Team Gale?) to talk about. She came off as trying to be Stephanie Meyers more than trying to be William Golding. For example the Careers and Cato in the book are basically stock villians saying silly shallow lines whenever they speak. Someone taking a Golding like perspective instead of creating the HG games for an appealing "good guys fight bad guys" setting probably wouldn't do that. Perhaps the 2nd and 3rd ones attempt a bit more from the perspective of saying things about us.

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Tue Apr 03, 2012 6:29 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Solid cast and concept but cheap looking, under-produced and badly edited. B, or so. It need a lot better exposition earlier on and more effective suspense later.

Also I didn't get any sense that Katniss was faking for the cameras in the private scenes with Peeta during the actual game, like when they kissed and she fed him soup and all that. It may have been in the books but wasn't on the screen.


Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:34 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
A. G. wrote:
Also I didn't get any sense that Katniss was faking for the cameras in the private scenes with Peeta during the actual game, like when they kissed and she fed him soup and all that. It may have been in the books but wasn't on the screen.

She'll need to convey that in a medium that we the audience can access but that they the audience in the story can't access. In the book, there's the monologue of her inner thoughts, but in the movie, what we see is what they see, so if she acts differently for us, it would not be a convincing fake for the Capitol audience. I think they did the best they could under those constraints with the private message from Haymitch that came with the soup. He's reminding her to keep up the act, and that's our cue that it's still an act.


Anyway, I think the pacing is a bit off (pre-Game dragged a bit and the Game felt rushed) and I didn't like the camera work in District 12. But it is otherwise a good adaptation. Great performance by Jennifer Lawrence. The things that were removed or changed made sense and were necessary given the constraints. So... A-.

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Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:52 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Watched it again and it was great.

A

On a side note I read the trilogy now and wonder how bad will the first part of Mockingjay be?.

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Post Re: The Hunger Games
trixster wrote:
As someone who has no stake whatsoever in this so-called franchise, I found it a load of poorly made, cheap-looking nonsense.

I thought I'd written a review for this bland bit of product, but I agree with trixster - - there's no there, there.


1 out of 5.


Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:43 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Watched it again last night. Still loved it.


Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:40 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Rewatched it on Blu-Ray the other night and I loved every single minute. Like expected, the shaky cam didn't bothered me at all at home. But I'm still surprised it grew that much on me at home. Upping my grade from B+ to a straight A.


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Post Re: The Hunger Games
C

This is a Battle Royale rip-off, plain and simple. The only thing THG has going for it, is the acting, which is really strong.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:32 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games

For the life of me I can't work out how this is so popular. On the whole, it's a really bad movie, with tiny segments of average film-making. The film is quite generic and incredibly cliched, and I can only assume it did well because of its millions of fans of the book.

I went into this one with a completely neutral mindset. I am open to liking new franchises, just like I did with Twilight (and liked it a lot), but this is no Twilight saga. With a story this barbaric it really needs to be more gory and explicit; the film was shot like an episode of Robin Hood or Merlin (British TV programmes, for anyone that doesn't know). All of the fighting was an incoherent mess, fast edits, no idea what was going on, shaky-cam etc. Horrible to watch. The last sequence with the three big dogs that were sent in was shot in the dark as to disguise just how CGI'd and crap they actually were, which was really lame and just a cop-out by the production team.

The acting in this was terrible. I hate those types of movies/TV, like in Spy Kids or Tracy Beaker, where children try to act like adults, and they do all of the pauses, sighs, groans and "performances" that adults do...it's just so cringeworthy when a minor does it. The film is so cliched in that they let two people win the tournament. Why would they do that? Seriously. Why? In 74 years there has been one winner each year, why change now? It's just too convenient. Again, it goes back to the criticism of the barbaric nature of this game, surely the bosses wanted to see one winner, but no, the bosses cringeworthily shouted "stop" and proceeded to say that it's ok for two winners. Such a weak, weak, weak, weak, weak, weak ending. Why hasn't this happened before in 74 years? It's such an easy loophole and I can't believe that it took that long for someone to work it out.

None of the characters were very engaging, as in I didn't care for any of them. Well, towards the end I felt a little bit for Jennifer Lawrence's character, but not too much. Some of the scenes in the jungle were ok, even if they were let down by bad film-making. Woody Harrelson was good as always, as was, to my surprise that it was even him, Lenny Kravitz. All the way through the movie I was saying to myself "ha, the guy that looked like Lenny Kravitz, I can say that when I review it". Little did I know that it was ACTUALLY Lenny Kravitz!! lol

I must say that Stanley Tucci performed his role incredibly well. Very fun to watch as the host. Some of the songs/score were good, I think I counted twice when a piece of music was good. Not so great from a 130-minute movie, though. I couldn't suspend my disbelief with this film. How all of the contestants were revved up and ready to kill with just a few days training, but JL wasn't...it's just too fucking cliche. There's always a big football player-type that is a total jerk, and The Hunger Games was no different.

I can imagine that this series gets better as the sequels get made, but so far, pretty lame. Glad I watched this for free. Overall this was like watching an episode of Saved by the Bell without the comedy. It's just so incredibly uninspired. They get picked, go there, and win, the end. So boring. They don't truly have to overcome any hardship or battles. The movie just folds. Gives in to the shitty material it was based on. Oh, and for those that say Jennifer Lawrence is pretty or good looking, are you fucking crazy? She's just a chubby-faced looking dyke. In one of the earlier shots you see her without make-up and she looks like just a normal girl, nothing special at all. It's only when she has make-up on and brilliant hair on a red carpet that people have come to this opinion that she is in any way attractive.

D

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:55 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Good review, Algren - I enjoyed that.


If anyone has seen Versus, I felt like Gary Ross tried to copy how that film was shot and edited. He failed with flying colors, and I certainly agree with many others about the shaky cam ... pitiful.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:07 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Thanks, man.

I also forgot to add that it's a rip-off of Battle Royale, but I think people have already mentioned that enough. It has slight differences, but it's pretty much bang on. She just wrote a few difference to fool people that it's an original idea - seems to have worked.

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:21 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
You're welcome.

You are 100% accurate, a few tweaks here, a change there - and you've duped an unsuspecting audience. :disgust:

It's little things like that, that just totally gets under my skin. I almost turned this off 10 minutes in, not sure why I stuck with it to be honest.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:36 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
I've only ever not watched one film in its entirety at the cinema - The Last Airbender. I walked out and caught a showing of The Expendables instead. As for The Hunger Games, I watched it at home, but the same stubborness applied; I will always watch a movie to the end. I was just waiting and waiting for something to happen to justify its popularity - it never did.

I suppose in their defence, audiences that like this shit have probably never even heard of Battle Royale prior to its release, let alone seen it.

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:59 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
This film truly is ugly. And I am not against hand-held cinematography. A director such as Paul Greengrass uses it perfectly; films such as The Bourne Supremacy and United 93 are mostly shot hand-held and also feature rapid-fire editing, but he is always in control of what the audience sees, so it becomes an electrifying way to reveal information and tell a great deal of the story in a visual, visceral way. It is concrete spatial understanding replaced by compartmentalized immediacy, which I find intriguing. Here, many scenes are just disorienting without reprieve or point, and most of the compositional and editorial choices feel arbitrary.

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:38 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
@ Algren: I think the whole "why it's popular" aspect is why I stuck with it as well. That's true man, and a damn shame. I purchased Battle Royale on Blu last year and it's phenomenal. A DVD copy doesn't do Kinji's work justice.

@ David: I agree on Bourne Supremacy & United 93 - loved them both. You're spot on about Greengrass, everything is effortless as the action goes crazy.


I'm just glad I caught THG on EPIX instead of seeing it in the theater or rental.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:04 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
I haven't watched Battle Royale in a while. I should try and find a copy that has English subtitles - a feat indeed.

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:12 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Algren wrote:
I've only ever not watched one film in its entirety at the cinema

Aha... yet another valuable bit of information helping us to piece together Algren's skewed taste in film. :-k


Tue Jan 01, 2013 9:21 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Bradley Witherberry wrote:
Aha... yet another valuable bit of information helping us to piece together Algren's skewed taste in film. :-k


"Pot", "kettle" and "black" come to mind.

Yet another unprovoked attack and snobbish post by Bradley Witherberry.

My post was about viewing habits. It means that out of all the movies I've seen at the cinema, only one of them I walked out of. How is that related to my taste?

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 9:37 am
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
"A chubby-faced looking dyke."

Real nice language. I assume Algren is Brad Pitt in real life if he's going to dole out gross proclamations like that.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:08 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Libs, you getting stranded on an island with Algren and Bradley would be an epic adventure truly worthy of the big screen.

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:18 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Darth Indiana Bond wrote:
Libs, you getting stranded on an island with Algren and Bradley would be an epic adventure truly worthy of the big screen.


I'd jump in the water and let the sharks end me before that could happen.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:21 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
I'd push you before you could jump.

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:26 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Algren hates Lawrence for some completely unknown reason. Probably because she's a woman.

Was there any doubt he would hate this?

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Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:50 pm
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Post Re: The Hunger Games
Chippy wrote:
Was there any doubt he would hate this?


No, not if you've seen Battle Royale.


Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:01 pm
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