SO THAT’S WHAT THIS WHOLE HUNGER GAMES THING IS ABOUT

I know it's not, but yet I write:

"Is this a remake of Battle Royale?"

Jennifer Lawrence looks strong. But overall, there's a flatness to this. I didn't expect a dystopian future to look quite so generic.

It does a serviceable job setting up the premise, but didn't hook my interest. I'm the wrong demographic, anyway, so it likely doesn't matter.

Book be bad. I'm keeping an open mind for JLaw, but I don't expect too much.

The only interesting thing about this, an adaption of a middling-at-best series, is the inclusion of Woody Harrelson as the stock drunken mentor character.  Him, I love.

The premise is quite gripping (albeit unoriginal), but the footage isn't doing a lot for me. However, I will still give this a shot as the girl, who reads the good shit, enjoys this. And go Jennifer Lawrence, we need more actresses who can clearly play teenagers until they're mid 30s!

I'm curious as to how they are going to pull off the pretty gruesome kills and yet hold onto a young adult audience friendly rating. Thats a compromise that I'm not sure the film could survive without some major mpaa politics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Happenin 

And go Jennifer Lawrence, we need more actresses who can clearly play teenagers until they're mid 30s!

Or until they're 21.

I'm game.

It looks pretty much how I imagined it on the page. The real issue is how the violence will be handled. 

You know, before today, I really wasn't sure what the Q rating was for something cult-y like "Battle Royale." Thanks to all these Hunger Games pieces, it does seem like apparently everyone has seen the Kenji Fukasaku movie. Sure.

Am I going to be alone in saying that Battle Royale isn't even that good? And that, in this, I have no problem that America gets their own version? Even if it does have to feature Wes Bentley?

That is exactly as I saw it in my mind as I read the book.  Opening day for me, bitches!!!!

Donald Sutherland as the president strikes me as dead on, despite the fact I saw a Vincent Price like character in my head.   If they had combined Imelda Staunton's Umbridge with the Effie Trinket character on the screen, that would have been what was in my head.  I think it is looking right.  Only character I am not seeing is Haymitch. I was imagining a John Goodman type.

One thing I feel is off, her rising up the tube and out to the field. Where is the Cornucopia?

Either way, I am there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

 

Am I going to be alone in saying that Battle Royale isn't even that good?

I'd refer you to this thread, although much of it has been edited.

Long story short- you have Diva's ass.  I mean axe.

Meh, doesn't do anything for me. Until I see crazy survival action that may sway my attention, I'm not going to see this unless I have to.

Just finished the first book after the girlfriend insisted I read it. It's not the arena scenario that sets it apart, but the worldbuilding around the Districts and the Capital, and the characterization.

I actually worry that once they're out in the woods the movie will become very generic, but something the movie could take advantage of that the book couldn't is showing the audience reaction. The book is 1st person pov from Katniss, but the movie has a chance to show how the outside world views the games. Anger, resentment, cheers, bets placed, lots of potential.

The best part of the book is how Katniss plays to the crowd, but her motivation is mostly in her head so I hope the movie is able to convey that.

I have mixed feelings about the book. You didn't find the 1st person view from Katniss a little restricting?

The narrative remaining first person grants the first film tension after Peeta does what he does to survive at first. And then it REALLY pays off with Mockingjay's narrative. There's ways to play around with that to carry the subtext.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

It looks pretty much how I imagined it on the page. The real issue is how the violence will be handled. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarleyQuinn22 

That is exactly as I saw it in my mind as I read the book.  Opening day for me, bitches!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrTyres 

Donald Sutherland as the president strikes me as dead on, despite the fact I saw a Vincent Price like character in my head.   If they had combined Imelda Staunton's Umbridge with the Effie Trinket character on the screen, that would have been what was in my head.  I think it is looking right.  Only character I am not seeing is Haymitch. I was imagining a John Goodman type.

 

One thing I feel is off, her rising up the tube and out to the field. Where is the Cornucopia?

 

Either way, I am there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bartleby_Scriven 

Just finished the first book after the girlfriend insisted I read it. It's not the arena scenario that sets it apart, but the worldbuilding around the Districts and the Capital, and the characterization.

 

I actually worry that once they're out in the woods the movie will become very generic, but something the movie could take advantage of that the book couldn't is showing the audience reaction. The book is 1st person pov from Katniss, but the movie has a chance to show how the outside world views the games. Anger, resentment, cheers, bets placed, lots of potential.

 

The best part of the book is how Katniss plays to the crowd, but her motivation is mostly in her head so I hope the movie is able to convey that.

I haven't read the books.  I showed a friend who has read them the trailer and she remarked that she felt they had gone the Prince of Persia/Jake Gyllenhaal route casting-wise.  She definitely didn't picture the characters so whitewashed.  Seems like everyone is focusing on the surroundings, anyone else have a problem with casting here?

Katniss is briefly described as having a darker complexion (I pictured olive colored skin), but it's pretty ambiguous. Like, she runs around in the woods hunting all day, it could be a tan.

Jennifer Lawrence is too good of an actress for this to be a criticism, since it has little to do with her character or the plot. There doesn't appear to be racial discrimination in the future of Hunger Games anyway, it's all based on class. 

It looks generic. And it definitely does not look like it's budget was almost 100.000.000 $

Yes, that's right!

The film seems to have handled the race thing pretty even handedly. I don't remember Rue being described as black (I could be wrong here) but she is in the film. Cinna is, and he's played by Lenny Kravitz, so they got that one right in racial terms. And they seem to have a good mix of ethnicity in the mix with the tributes. But like Bartelby said, the books focus on class distinction, not race.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Pretzel 

It looks generic. And it definitely does not look like it's budget was almost 100.000.000 $

 

Yes, that's right!

Hey! Hate the hunger, not the games!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Matchstick 

Hey! Hate the hunger, not the games!

Is this an allegory?

If it was, wouldn't the "games" stand for the over-simplified corporate media world of today?

And wouldn't the "hunger" be the hunger for more individualistic and heart-felt art?

Am i over-interpreting your post?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

The film seems to have handled the race thing pretty even handedly. I don't remember Rue being described as black (I could be wrong here) but she is in the film. Cinna is, and he's played by Lenny Kravitz, so they got that one right in racial terms. And they seem to have a good mix of ethnicity in the mix with the tributes. But like Bartelby said, the books focus on class distinction, not race.

 

 

Rue is described as having "dark brown skin and eyes" in the book.  Collins herself has confirmed that Rue and a good deal of her district are African-American.

While I am taken aback by how Ross chose to shoot the film, as based on the trailer - it has a very busy, documentary feel to it, which surprised me a great deal - I must confess that I read the books and found them to be, while more deserving of their fandom than most other emerging young adult properties (I, for instance, would not be disappointed by someone professing a liking for The Hunger Games, as opposed to Twilight), uninspired and ultimately pretty poorly written.  I will give props to Collins for how she handles the ending to the series, though, which is markedly more mature than how Twilight manages its own with Breaking Dawn, but aside from that the books are fairly overpraised. 

Partially, my annoyances with the book are due to the first-person present tense writing style, which Collins seems palpably uncomfortable with throughout the books.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TzuDohNihm 

I haven't read the books.  I showed a friend who has read them the trailer and she remarked that she felt they had gone the Prince of Persia/Jake Gyllenhaal route casting-wise.  She definitely didn't picture the characters so whitewashed.  Seems like everyone is focusing on the surroundings, anyone else have a problem with casting here?

Katniss is from Appalachia. Even in major urban areas, the number of African Americans is small.  I live in those mountains. I always saw dusky complexioned, tanned from outdoors. At most, she was Melungeon. True women off the mountain are not blonde-haired, blued-eyed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bartleby_Scriven 

Katniss is briefly described as having a darker complexion (I pictured olive colored skin), but it's pretty ambiguous. Like, she runs around in the woods hunting all day, it could be a tan.

 

Jennifer Lawrence is too good of an actress for this to be a criticism, since it has little to do with her character or the plot. There doesn't appear to be racial discrimination in the future of Hunger Games anyway, it's all based on class. 

Bingo!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

Rue is described as having "dark brown skin and eyes" in the book.  Collins herself has confirmed that Rue and a good deal of her district are African-American.

 

While I am taken aback by how Ross chose to shoot the film, as based on the trailer - it has a very busy, documentary feel to it, which surprised me a great deal - I must confess that I read the books and found them to be, while more deserving of their fandom than most other emerging young adult properties (I, for instance, would not be disappointed by someone professing a liking for The Hunger Games, as opposed to Twilight), uninspired and ultimately pretty poorly written.  I will give props to Collins for how she handles the ending to the series, though, which is markedly more mature than how Twilight manages its own with Breaking Dawn, but aside from that the books are fairly overpraised. 

 

Partially, my annoyances with the book are due to the first-person present tense writing style, which Collins seems palpably uncomfortable with throughout the books.

 

 

In my head, with the orchards and what not, I always imagined District 11, the Home of Rue was the deep South, Alabama/Mississippi/Georgia. Orchards bring to my head oranges and peaches, maybe apples. 

As to your criticism of the writing, I can agree. It is most definitely a novel skewed to the young adult audience. The laughable tension and extreme means of not talking about sex cracked me up.  As does further mentions of relationships never bring up sex.  I keep thinking of the song, "Common People" where they laugh, and drink, and screw, /cause there's nothing else to do.  There is literally nothing for them to do, but it never comes up in the writing of the first book, and later as something terribly scandelous in low-moraled people.

But if the main character is not sexing it up, it is an easier sell to the young adult crowd's parents and libraries. Look how long it takes the Twilight series to mention sex, and even then only in the terms of marriage.
 

The book has a little obsession with nudity. I think Katniss is naked many times, mostly during the preparations of the arena. I think shortly before her casting, she goes skinny dipping in her favourite lake. Then she's several times naked when Lenny Kravitz and friends repeatedly wax her whole body hair and test clothes. And in the arena there's a detailed description of Katniss washing a wounded male friend.

But it fits. Think about it, nudity is quite a deal for a sixteen year old. It won't be in the movie, due to the rating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

The book has a little obsession with nudity. I think Katniss is naked many times, mostly during the preparations of the arena. I think shortly before her casting, she goes skinny dipping in her favourite lake. Then she's several times naked when Lenny Kravitz and friends repeatedly wax her whole body hair and test clothes. And in the arena there's a detailed description of Katniss washing a wounded male friend.

But it fits. Think about it, nudity is quite a deal for a sixteen year old. It won't be in the movie, due to the rating.

Also, at least the first book is obsessed with meals. I know the point of the book is that Katniss has to fight for her food, and is amazed by the banquets presented to her, but there's seriously several chapters during the sequence in the Capital that revolve around eating and discussions at the dinner table.