The Hunger Games

[Neurochick]

Sure it does. It made it harder, or actually impossible to feel sorry for her since she was black. Totally ruined the whole movie. People are really sick. Even if those tweets were joking, or god forbid, even serious, it shows a callousness that runs through society, and illustrates how hard it is to sympathize with black people (or any other race of people who aren't just like you). It makes me realize why some people can't empathize with cases like Trayvon Martin, but can with the latest missing white child or teen.

And there you have it. There are some people for whom, it is impossible to like or sympathize with even fictional characters if those characters don't look like them.

As for the movie. I did hear about the violence. It sounds though that the movie is violent, but not a bloodbath, which is good. Sometimes when the violence is gratuitous, it almost seems pornographic.

[Babycakes]

I was just on TWoP and found out they have a movie section! Who knew? Anyway, they're were doing fantasy casting for CF and MJ, and I saw some really interesting suggestions--Ellen Burstyn for Mags and Ryan Gosling for Finnick. The most popular choice seems to be Armie hammer, but for some reason, I just can't see the Armie Hammer thing. He's so blah to me. I've never seen him act, but he just doesn't do it for me looks wise either. But I did get one of those lightning bolt moments. My new first choice for Finnick? Justin Hartley of Passions and Smallville fame. He's gorgeous and can actually act. I'd also like to see Micheal Emerson as Beetee. Don't know who I'd pick for Volts. I'd really like the past winners to all be big names, or at least recognizable character actors. I've already picked Ving Rhames for Chaff.

[Atreides]

EW seems to be pushing for Ryan Kwanten for the role of Finnick.

[mmmkrimpets]

Just saw it. I liked it. It did make the Twi trailer look like a student film. The shaky camera was annoying. Ridley Scott would have rocked the directing. I was meh on Gale. I was okay with Peeta. The adult actors killed it especially Harrelson as Haymitch. I was skeptical about him. I pictured him more Philip Seymour Hoffmanesque. Loved when he shoved his foot in Peeta's chest, a subtle hint to his pre-wino abilities that no doubt contributed to his win. Will Not comment on JL's bod cuz she looked great, but I will say my one complaint was her wardrobe in the opening scenes. District 12 residents were dressed like extras from Fiddler on the Roof. She was hunting in the woods wearing a fitted leather jacket that was supposed to be her dad's and fitted black pants and top. She could have been going to lunch at Nobu. As far as the games I do wish they had emphasized the "hunger" parts a little more. A couple lines of dialog about the difficulty of finding food if you didn't get it from the cornucopia or keeping dialog in from the books how long you can survive without water would have made that much of a difference. Also wished they hadn't skipped over the post games recovery time, but at the end neither actor really looked like they needed any renovation.

[Auroranorth]

Mar 27, 2012 19:05:28 GMT -4 kostgard said:

I remember the people flipping a bitch when the cast was first announced. How the hell did these people not notice that Rue was described as black (more than once)? Did they just latch on to the "reminds Katniss of Prim" thing and decided she must look exactly like Prim?

I think it's partly reading comprehension fail and partly "some people are stupid racist scumbags."

[huntergrayson]

So...Ross is apparently out over wanting more money.

I enjoyed this thoroughly but OMG, the shakycam. I actually threw up later that evening. (Due to weird eye stuff, excessive handheld makes me motion sick sometimes. Cloverfield was absolute hell to sit through.) I don't think it would be damaged horribly by Ross leaving though. The casting is right, which is a great start.

I saw it with my friend who hadn't read the books and she adored it - cried at Rue's death and the riots.

I do hope that they have a bigger budget. I totally concur with Slate that the costumes were crap. Not all the costumes, just Katniss's supposed to be amazing costumes by Cinna.

Someone elsewhere suggested Cuaron, which would be seriously amazing. That said, I thought Ross's script was very decent and made changes for the right reasons. I love Cuaron's take on Great Expectations and Secret Garden but I've never read the source material and know he tends to be looser with adaptation. Which, Catching Fire was my least favorite book so I don't think that would be a bad thing but I worry over ultrafans freaking out.

I also think Soderbergh would be excellent, actually.

[Babycakes]

I'm really shocked that Ross is out. I mean really shocked. This was a passion project for him, and he seems so close to the cast, particularly Jennifer (almost creepy close).

I saw it again with a friend who'd never read the books, and she enjoyed it a lot, and is still calling me to talk about it days later.
She was a little confused about how and why Seneca had to die, but she got the overall point.

Upon rewatching it, I actually came to see how violent it really was. Even with the quick shots and shaky cam, it was pretty damn brutal. I can't think of another PG-13 film that was this violent. I think I enjoyed it more the second time, since the high expectations were gone. Now I could sit back and see it for what it was. I liked it a lot, but I wish that the editor had tightened it up just a bit. A few less lingering looks/holds on faces would have done a world of good. Also, I think Katpee's movie relationship improves upon multiple viewings.

[huntergrayson]

I didn't realize that they had already commissioned a script from someone else (Simon Beaufoy who wrote Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours). I think that might be a factor for Ross - if he can't write it, they could at least give him a raise. But if they're going to do neither, he may want to pursue his own script/project instead, which the Playlist says may be as much a factor as money.

[kostgard]

I had read that he wanted to do other things in addition to not being thrilled with a low ball offer, so there wasn't much incentive to stick around and duke it out over money, so he checked out. I think they'll be fine as long as they get a competent director in there. I like Beaufoy's other work, so it seems the script will be in good hands.

And with the way the movie is making money hand over fist, it better have a bigger budget the next time around.


Thinking back on it, I wish they had been a little truer to the book/spent more time on the bread incident between Peeta and Katniss, because it explains that Katniss already had some pretty complicated feelings where Peeta is concerned and how she had trouble being vulnerable and connecting with people. In the movie, Peeta apologized for just tossing the bread to her instead of going over to her (something Katniss would not have tolerated). But in the book it's clear that he couldn't be direct about it because his mother had caught the starving Katniss digging in their trash and gave her the boot. Peeta saw that happen, intentionally burned some bread so he'd have to throw it out, his mom beat the shit out of him for it, and then he went outside and tossed it to Katniss. He saved Katniss and her family, and gave her the strength to pull it together and come up with a plan to keep her family fed. She never spoke to him after that day, and basically avoided him because she didn't know how to say thank you for something like that, and she hated the feeling of owing someone that much. Katniss was less than thrilled when he was chosen as tribute not just because she didn't trust anyone, but specifically because of her history with him.

While on the one hand I'm glad they really didn't play up the romance angle to make it the central focus just to attract teen girls, at the same time I wish they'd spent a smidge more time on it.

[huntergrayson]

Now Deadline is saying all the reports are b.s., which, really? Because many, many reputable news places reported it. I guess Ross is on vacation and couldn't be reached to confirm or deny anything.