THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE- Page 2

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 5:31pm

Just adding to the praise. We saw this on Sunday and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. The acting across the board was superb. Whereas in the first movie I felt it dragged somewhat until we got to the games, I didn't think that happened here at all. This moved very quickly for a two and a half hour movie.

Lawrence deserves a nomination, and actually, I think Banks does too for supporting role. She was incredible in the few scenes she had.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 6:03pm

In WTF news, something that just goes to show how ridiculous movie budgets and box office expectations are, some people who disliked the film (or the franchise) are posting the Variety report that Lions Gate shares have fallen because while the film met the average industry expectations, it didn't quite reach the top predictions (!?)

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/lionsgate-shares-slide-as-box-office-falls-short-of-sky-high-expectations-1200883030/

As for the article's mention hoping for a franchise with Divergent... I think there's a reason why so many of these successful book YA novels fail as movies (everything from The Golden Compass which I never watched, but as a book I thought was one of the best YA fantasy series in a long time, to Percy whatshisname both being compared to Potter, to the huge flop this summer of The Mortal Instruments which they hoped would be a new Hunger Games.) And the reason is MOST of these Hunger Games/Twilight type trilogies that do so well as books simply make no impact with anyone older than young high school students.



Don't get me wrong. I do think Hunger Games are well written genre fiction (but not much more, and they obviously do fit a formula) and I despise Twilight and am sorta mixed on Harry Potter (Probably if I was 5 or so years younger and had read them when they came out I'd feel differently.) But all of those series, for whatever reason managed to get a lot of 16+ fans. I don't know any 20 or 30 somethings who have read The Mortal Instruments, or Divergent for that matter, whereas for good or bad, I do know a ton of people int hat age range and older who have read Potter, Hunger Games and, ugh, Twilight.. So I kinda predict Divergent will flop.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 7:15pm

Yeah, you might as well title that Variety article "Everything That Is Wrong with America/Capitalism." I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting.
Eric, have you seen the preview for DIVERGENT? They showed it before THE HUNGER GAMES and it couldn't have looked more like a bad rehash of THE HUNGER GAMES, with Kate Winslet looking immensely bored by the whole thing.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 7:51pm

Exactly. Once the worldwide boxoffice and everything is tallied stocks probably will go up again.

I was outside smoking while most of the Catching Fire trailers played (there seemed even more than ever, but I always think that) so missed Divergent, but just checked it out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWjz10sM for anyone interested.) And yeah, it looks like a more action-y, less interesting Hunger Games. Poor Kate.

Another thing about the YA franchises that have done very well, that goes into the theory that they have to have had some adult appeal, is books like Hunger Games, etc, were titles that many post-teen readers were well aware of, even if they hadn't read them. That's simply not true for most of these other titles.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:50am

*****SPOILERS****



Will add my voice to the chorus of praise. (tho i still hate the frickin cornucopia - what nobody heard of a golden horn o plenty in 2200 ad or sumpthin?) Jenifer Lawerence is undoubtedly the finest natural actress of her generation. Her Katniss is transcendent, moving from traumatized survivor ( wonderful line they gave Woody Harrelson there) to discomfited celebrity to confused-by-romance teenager until her final metamorphosis into the Mockingjay in the last moment of the film. ( i got chills watching her go from shock and mourning to steely determination and a personification of Nemesis.
Donald Sutherland continues to grow in his evil tyrant persona w/out veering into melodrama. I loved Jeffery wright, Amanda Plummer and Lynn Cohen, all bright little gems. Lynn as Mags and Sam Clafin as Finnick are especially moving. Jenna Malone just rocked it, esp in the elevator scene. ( nice bit of humour to leaven this very dark story) The costumes, the makeup,the CGI all ramped up from the 1st film)
I think tho, it is the script that impressed me the most. How well they had adapted and edited from the book so "darlings" like Madge and Darius , Bonnie & Twill are not really missed.Some lovely bits of short hand like the removal of Cray w the arrival of the new Head Peacekeeper, Thread.( loved the whole scene w the Distict 12 tributes and the whipping- much better than the book!) I especially liked Phillip Seymour Hoffman- I have always had trouble w Plutarch- why he does what he does. ( yes i GET that many abolitionists were of the privileged class- but it is not quite the same here) The interplay between him ans Sutherland as Snow lets me see that Plutarch is NOT quite as privileged as he seems- Snow sees and treats him as just another lackey and I wonder if that resentment is not at least one of the underlying motivations in his actions- maybe even a little playing both sides just in case the plan doesn't ( and it almost doesn't) work.
Can't wait to see District 13 in MockingJay- it can only build on the strengths of this film.
( addendum- Lawerence & Hutcherson are finally able to build some chemistry too!)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 12:48pm

I saw it last night and liked it quite a bit. Having just rewatched the first one over the weekend, I can say with certainty that I think Catching Fire is the better film. Things still happen so fast (when Mags walked into the fog, I thought, "man, we're here already?") and I think neither director nor screenwriter of either film has been able to convincingly get across the complicated and ambivalent feelings Katniss has for Peeta, but all in all, I thought it was a pretty good movie.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 5:59pm

Collins was the screenwriter of the first movie (well the primary one.)

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 9:23pm

I saw it today and it was EXCELLENT. Jennifer Lawrence continues to prove what a remarkable actress she truly is. Even if she does not get nominated for an Oscar, I'm sure she will be awarded another Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie. Everyone else gave terrific performances. The action inside of the arena was very intense. Overall, I thought it was a stronger and better film than the original. I plan on seeing it again in theaters at the end of the month or sometime before the year is over.

Updated On: 11/27/13 at 09:23 PM

[sabrelady]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 11:23pm

This is a quote frm Collins re the script process:
“I wrote the treatment and original screenplay. Then screenwriter Billy Ray (State of Play) did a pass (or rewrite). Then director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) did a pass, then Gary and I did a pass together.”

So a bit of a committee work.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 11/28/13 at 12:24am

Adding my voice to the choir. As I sat in the theater watching this tonight, I definitely thought to myself, "This is so much better than the first movie!"

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/1/13 at 7:01pm

I didn't realize that at 50 continuous minutes, this feature had the most use of Imax of any fictional film. I did think it was effective how the screen opened up for the Games section.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/1/13 at 10:07pm

Saw it this weekend. Liked it, but think I felt more invested during the first film.

DIVERGENT is an excellent and well received novel. Of course it's similar to HUNGER GAMES, but all of these dystopian novels seem inspired by HG.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/1/13 at 10:48pm

And of course Hunger Games itself isn't all that original. Still, I can't help thinking from the trailer that Divergent will go the way of most of these Young Adult fantasy adaptations. Hugely popular books, but with no real name recognition outside of the teen age bracket, unlike Hunger Games or even Twilight, they just sorta die at the movie theatre (see this Summer's The Mortal Instruments, although, shockingly, apparently that's getting a sequel.)

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/1/13 at 11:53pm

Well I would recommend reading DIVERGENT. Veronica Roth is a gifted and deeply imaginative writer. I was shocked how taken I was by it. I'm working on reading the second book of the trilogy, but haven't had much time to read.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/2/13 at 12:18am

I just started Divergent today.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/2/13 at 12:34am

I don't know about others, but I was mainly talking about the preview for the film, which has nothing to do with the actual books. The movie (or at least the marketing of it) looks like it's trying to copy the style of the HUNGER GAMES movie a lot, and I still contend Kate Winslet looks very bored in those previews.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/2/13 at 2:16am

Winslet's character is a small but important character the book. Not sure if they've beefed it up for the film.

[suestorm]

Posted: 12/2/13 at 11:11am

Saw it. Loved it. For once a movie(s) lives up to the book(s)

I do think Petr is a wuss though, Hes her version of MAGS.

#teamgale