tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post7411785917815711517..comments2023-11-05T02:01:53.847-06:00Comments on Antagony & Ecstasy: THE RULES OF THE GAMESTimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09491952893581644049noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-29309433600950352252012-03-29T13:48:03.154-05:002012-03-29T13:48:03.154-05:00I must say, I'm so glad that someone agrees wi...I must say, I'm so glad that someone agrees with me about the violence in the film and also feels no guilt about it! The books were already a bit too 'clean' to me, but the film felt hopelessly sanitized, hardly horrific, made so as not to upset anyone too much. Yeah, yeah, the filmmakers had to get that PG-13 rating, but after all that Katniss has been through, I was struck by the end of the movie how beautiful Lawrence looked -- her face wasn't even smeared with dirt, her skin had this lovely sheen about it. It was weird, and slightly disturbing to me. (Not, I think, in a way that the filmmakers intended.)<br /><br />I find something ironic about how the movie and the books try to be a stinging condemnation of our culture of violence-as-entertainment, and yet are so perfectly packaged and neatly arranged to be entertaining to nearly anyone who consumes them. All in all, though I would quibble on some points, I agree that The Hunger Games was fun, was entertaining, but it's ultimately disposable.Meganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872907965389104215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-34488705472887557672012-03-29T10:09:08.886-05:002012-03-29T10:09:08.886-05:00I was one of the people who contributed to its rec...I was one of the people who contributed to its record-breaking midnight-showing gross, and...well, I wish I hadn't.<br /><br />It was perfectly functional as an adaptation, and it wasn't <i>bad</i>, but it never reached past okay.<br /><br />I understand the difficulty of adaptations and that things are bound to get lost, but surely they could've cut some of the interminable hiding-in-the-woods-okay-I'm-still-hiding parts, or not used so many flashbacks to the burned bread without actually explaining the reason for it, or not used tacky slow-motion for the part where she hoists the Careers by their own petards. And the time saved by trimming those could've been used for her to talk to herself, or play it up to the cameras, or get more explanation from the announcers, or something to give the characters as much depth as their universe. I think this is the first movie in which I actually wanted <b>more</b> exposition.<br /><br />It also suffers from the whitewashing that always seems to strike movies; in the books, Katniss hates the PR game she has to play to get supplies, but she plays it nonetheless, making her slightly complicit in the whole "manipulate-the-masses" nastiness. In the movie, Haymitch seems to be a benefactor with infinitely deep pockets who sends a treat whenever it's most needed, leaving her innocent of any moral murkiness (besides the central "killing strangers in a forced deathmatch" conceit).<br /><br />And oh god, the shakycam. I'm no film student, but I don't think you need the camera jerking all over the place when there isn't really anything to be shaking about.<br /><br />I know I'm bashing it kinda badly, and I didn't hate it, but it was <i>only</i> okay. They took a crackling action novel and turned it into a lugubrious drama where a couple people get violently killed.JDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11924843083559656074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-66556805481526296182012-03-29T00:24:49.306-05:002012-03-29T00:24:49.306-05:00If I have to do it single-handedly, I will make Le...If I have to do it single-handedly, I will make Les Miz the fourth (or fifth) event movie of the year.Wild Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08243331039670327167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-15369818676211408722012-03-28T15:37:18.745-05:002012-03-28T15:37:18.745-05:00Colin- The Avengers was exactly it; with a suffici...Colin- <i>The Avengers</i> was exactly it; with a sufficiently aggressive ad campaign, I can dimly make out the shape of a world where <i>Les Miserables</i> hits the same level of Event-ness, but I'd be surprised.<br /><br />jjonatron- I don't have any "negative" feelings towards the film, so much as I don't really have much of anything positive to say about it. It's pretty much the quintessential "just good enough" movie adaptation. Also, my dislike of Hutcherson was well in place before this movie.<br /><br />Christopher- Awfully hard to disagree with anything you bring up; I haven't read the other two books yet, but if they go where I expect them to, I rather think I'll be in complete agreement with you.<br /><br />I have to admit, though, that the cheapness of the sets is part of what I thought worked about them. It might have been an accident, but it gave me the sense of the Capitol as being essentially cheap, tacky, and gross without being imaginative.Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09491952893581644049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-37233312164005008482012-03-28T02:10:57.754-05:002012-03-28T02:10:57.754-05:00I can't blame them for scaling back too much, ...I can't blame them for scaling back too much, although it's unfortunate. The commentary in the next two books becomes less compelling and more sloppy, with one-note characters like President Snow betraying the author seemingly not putting much foresight into her characters and the world.Christopher Neesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06280748568762511164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-67636868936606541362012-03-28T02:07:52.382-05:002012-03-28T02:07:52.382-05:00The first book is the only one in the series that ...The first book is the only one in the series that really gripped me. Sadly, the next two get progressively worse and the first-person present tense becomes too sloppy, allowing for long stretches where Katniss is unconscious and then large chunks of exposition are relayed to her.<br /><br />I also was not as impressed with the action sequences as you were. They were perfectly adequate, but lacked the tension from the books. The Muttation sequence, where they rise from the ground as holograms, is simply terrible, doused in heavy nighttime lighting and flashes of poor CGI. Aside from the initial bloodbath, the bobbing camera does not work at all, in my opinion.<br /><br />The design was pretty good, if somewhat cheap-looking at times. You could tell that the Capitol exterior shots, which lasted all of fifteen seconds, were partially complete, and the interiors looked less interesting stylistically than "this is the production designer tossing semi-futuristic-looking items into the set."Christopher Neesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06280748568762511164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-28798377125049581782012-03-28T01:34:52.034-05:002012-03-28T01:34:52.034-05:00Well, what do you have to say negatively about the...Well, what do you have to say negatively about the film? You didn't really get to that. I haven't read the book, but I'd say literally my only problem was the mutant dogs, ha. I thought Josh Hutcherson seemed vanilla, but I figured that was the character (Peeta) being displayed. He was a vanilla little dude.jjjonatronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11572727325348235494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-72864506189102627762012-03-28T01:06:34.954-05:002012-03-28T01:06:34.954-05:00The Avengers, of course!The Avengers, of course!jjjonatronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11572727325348235494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-7611045318743601142012-03-28T00:01:30.097-05:002012-03-28T00:01:30.097-05:00The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbi...<em>The Hunger Games</em>, <em>The Dark Knight Rises</em>, <em>The Hobbit</em>, and...?Colin Lowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05486791544755794423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-78630475619129977742012-03-27T23:32:02.289-05:002012-03-27T23:32:02.289-05:00The number rating caused me some trouble - I'd...The number rating caused me some trouble - I'd say that I feel 6.5/10 towards it, but I erred on the side of being underimpressed with how much it thinned-out the book.<br /><br />The book, though, that would be a solid 8/10, and 9/10 on a day where I'm feeling generous.Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09491952893581644049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-48051727402064545202012-03-27T23:07:04.642-05:002012-03-27T23:07:04.642-05:00Oh yay, you liked it! (enough.)
This review is sp...Oh yay, you liked it! (enough.)<br /><br />This review is spot-on. Half of what I love about the Hunger Games is the conversations it starts. The actual books are great, the actual movie was good, but the parallels it has to what's happening in The Real World are even better.<br /><br />Josh Hutcherson surprised me by being entirely inoffensive as Peeta (which pretty much fits, given Peeta's character). I expected bad things and was so glad to be proven wrong. And the rest of the cast was stellar.<br /><br />I wish they'd devoted a little more time and energy to Rue's death, but I suppose with a 2 hr. 22 minute picture, there's only so much farther you can push the running time without people being like "RETURN OF THE KING SYNDROME." And as it was, thank God it didn't drag.<br /><br />(I am surprised you wound up giving it a 6/10, though! Besides the last paragraph, most of the review seemed so positive. I guess I don't have much perspective, being a die-hard fan of the books, but I suppose a solid adaptation of a stellar book averages out to something great in my mind.)Riley Redgatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11630001267841081266noreply@blogger.com