The Hunger Games

[Deleted]

ONTD post about critics who call Jennifer Lawrence too fat to play Katniss. Man, I feel bad for Jennifer, mainly because she has come across as such a likable, self-deprecating, funny person during this recent press tour. As I said before, I bet she will be made feel bad about her body by Hollywood producers but having critics calling her too big is terrible. I know too that Katniss and Gale are hunting for food or else they and their families would starve but honestly, I didn't think once about that while watching the film. Mainly because Jennifer did such an awesome job in this. I feel that I'm getting worked up too much over this but I hate that critics who will always praise Natalie Portman for looking so child-like and fragile all the time, now bully a young actress for looking like a normal person. And I bet most of them haven't even read the book so they wouldn't know what Katniss is supposed to look like.

[ijustworkhere]

I was one of the people annoyed with her casting at first because she is so bodaciously curvy, I thought she was a bad fit for both a 16-year-old and a half-starved person. But any doubts I had were erased ten seconds into the film because she is such a damn good actress. They picked the best actress they could find, the end, and that's what the critics should focus on.

Let's get one thing straight, world: Jennifer Lawrence is not fat. In fact, she has (IMO at least) pretty much an ideal body. I'd love to look like her.

Does she look well-fed instead of starved? Yes. But in a choice between a healthy-looking actress who hits the role out of the park and gives me chills with her acting, and a waify CW woman-child who can't carry the role, I'm gonna go with the better actress every time.

Totally agree re: the critics' comments on NP in Black Swan last year. It seemed like a good 75% of the accolades were for how much weight she lost. It grossed me out.

[kostgard]

I saw it this afternoon and really liked it. I'd call it a solid A- (B+ at the worst). Surprisingly, I didn't have any problems at all with the casting. JL kicked ass, like I knew she would. I was worried about LH because he really doesn't seem like the strongest actor and has approximately one facial expression, but he did fine in his limited screen time. I thought JH did a good job with Peeta, especially considering he's a bit underdeveloped in the movie (well, I think he's also underdeveloped in the books, too). I thought he did a fantastic job of trying to be positive and playing the game all with this undercurrent of "God, I am so fucked. I'm going to die" right underneath the surface.

And as for the whimp factor, Peeta is kind of a whimp. He's not a coward, but he's also never been trained like the careers and he's never had to fend for himself and fight to survive the way Katniss has. It's a gender role reversal from what you usually see in action films. Think about how many action films out there have a male lead with a female love interest who is no where near as skilled and needs to constantly be saved -- Peeta is just playing that role here while Katniss is the action hero.

I understand that they had to trim things for time, but I too was bummed that the cut out the dehydration stuff (shows just how dangerous things were for Katniss. In the movie, she does pretty well with little trouble), and bummed that they cut the part where District 11 sent her bread, but I guess they used them instead to show how Katniss was sparking the flame of revolution. And the ending did feel a pretty rushed. But those are all minor complaints.

Pretty much the best part for me was when Haymitch first stumbles onto the screen, someone in the theater I was in somehow managed to sneeze in a way that sounded like fart, and that somehow seemed appropriate for Haymitch's drunken state.

[Deleted]

I just got back from seeing it, so I'm still processing, but I loved it. There were minor changes, but they really captured everything I imagined when I was reading the book.

I never cry at movies, and I had to fight so hard to hold the tears back when Rue died.

[Atreides]

I saw the movie earlier today. I haven't read the books so went into this pretty much blind, with only the commercials and trailers to help me. I liked it quite a bit and Jennifer Lawrence was pretty terrific, light years beyond the insipid Kristen Stewart in her Twilight franchise. Katniss makes for a pretty good role model for young people.

I would have liked to have seen more violence during the actual Hunger Games to show how horrible it must be. It was pretty tame even by PG-13 standards but I imagine the director and the studio must have been under a lot of pressure due to the subject matter.

[mariposalabrown]

Just saw it and liked it. I must have read too fast because in my head the cornucopia was a huge wicker basket, other than that, everything looked how it did in my mind, actually better. Man can Jennifer Lawrence act, she made me tear up a few times just with her facial expressions.

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'The Hunger Games' Devours $155 Million

Estimates have it as the third largest opening weekend ever, behind the last Harry Potter movie and The Dark Knight...and ahead of all the Twilight movies. Excellent.

[Atreides]

And the best opening ever for a non-sequel. The anticipation is going to be sky high in November 2013 when Catching Fire comes out.

[kostgard]

Jennifer Lawrence's performance is making me really excited about "Catching Fire." She's going to act the shit out of it.

I'm also looking forward to the casting of the other tributes. They will all be adults next time around and the studio will have more money to throw at movie, so they could get some good character actors to fill the roles.

[Deleted]

I'm really interested to see who they cast as Finnick, he was my favorite of the older tributes.