The Hunger Games

[Auroranorth]

Apr 6, 2012 21:50:51 GMT -4 @huntergrayson said:

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.

He actually did A Little Princess which I thought was terrible. He mangled the source material for no good reason- the whole point was that Sara was an orphan! On the other hand, I liked Prisoner of Azkaban. So, it's a tossup.

[huntergrayson]

Oy, how on earth did I make that mistake? Especially since I just rewatched it!

Again, never read any of the source material for his films - which he usually doesn't write anyway - but really like his direction. I just think, visually, he could bring a lot to the table. Plus, Children of Men shows that he can do dystopia.

My reason for Soderbergh is I thought the D11 riot scene - which he partially directed/served as second unit on - was well done.

If they need to replace anyone though, it's the costume designer. The fire dress was SO yawnworthy.

I can not stop listening to the soundtrack.

[Babycakes]

One lingering thought about the movie--I remember when the pics from the movie started to leak, and we saw a picture of Josh/Peeta with brown hair in front of the bakery, holding burnt bread. It was assumed that this was when he throws the bread to Katniss in the rain. I always thought that it was from a screen test or something, but lo and behold, it made it to the movie. So why dye his hair blonde? Were we supposed to assumed that he was younger, and his hair got more blonde through the years? I think Josh looks so much better with brown hair, so why not just go with it? I know that people find so many things to nitpick about the differences bwtween the book and the movie, but that one unexplained change, I've seen no complaints about. [/kanye shrug]

[kostgard]

If they need to replace anyone though, it's the costume designer. The fire dress was SO yawnworthy.

I'm hoping that the costumes were a victim of a somewhat low budget, and that's something that can be improved next time around when they get more money. I mean, they better get more money for costumes - how in the hell are they going to pull off the mockingjay dress with a tiny budget?

As for the bread scene - I think Josh's hair looks darker because of the lighting/rain. They didn't totally bleach out his hair and you could still see brown hair in the under layers of it and in a few places in the movie it looked kinda dark.


I've complained that Peeta is an underdeveloped character in both the movie and the books, but this piece has some interesting ideas about him that do kinda flesh him out a bit.

[Babycakes]

Great article you linked Kostgard.

Also, Gary Ross has confirmed he's out citing scheduling conflicts. Right. I can't to see who they replace him with.

[kostgard]

[Francis Lawrence has been chosen to direct Catching Fire.

He directed "I Am Legend" which might lend well to this movie. But he also directed "Water for Elephants" and there was some complaints that the main relationship in that one didn't come across that well, so we'll see how he handles the ramping up of the Katniss/Peeta (and Gale) stuff.

[huntergrayson]

Apparently Cuaron, Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel) and Cronenberg (who I didn't realize had turned down stuff like Jurassic Park and Robocop) were all on the shortlist.

I think Lawrence will do an okay job. I am one of the few who really liked Constantine. It's still my least favorite book in the series.

[Deleted]

Well he can definitely handle the visuals, that was the best aspect of I Am Legend.

[angelaudie]

Saw this today and really enjoyed it! Was the book better? Yes, but this was a pretty good adaptation. Overall it did stay true to the spirit of the book.

Jennifer Lawrence was excellent as Katniss and I thought Josh Hutcherson did well as Peeta. In fact, I think he actually fleshed out a Peeta a bit. In the book he's just kinda there though we're told how he's just the kind of guy you can't help but like. We actually saw why people just can't help but like him. I did come to like Peeta by the end of Catching Fire but it was nice the movies got a head start on making a realized human being. Liam Hemsworth did well in the few scenes he had. Hopefully Gale will be fleshed out a bit more in the next movie.

I really like Elizabeth Banks, Wes Bentley, and Stanley Tucci in this as well. EB nailed Effie! Woody Harrelson, and it pains me to type this, could have been better. Once Haymitch sobered up he was great but he really didn't capture drunken Haymitch that well. Plus, I always imagined a bit of sarcasm in his tone whenever he called Katniss sweetheart.

The little girl that played Rue was just adorable! I didn't cry but my eyes did water when Rue died. Even my mom (saw this with her) mentioned that you would have to be one sick person to want to hurt her!

I thought the smartest move the movie made was showing the behind-the-scenes of the games and using Caesar and Claudius's games commentary to provide background information. It gave insight to the mentality the Capitol residents have but also managed to sneak in exposition without hitting us over the head with it.

I hope the success of the movie will inspire the studio to up the budget for the Capitol costumes and makeup. The hair and makeup people did a good job but I guess the limited budget meant no showing Capitol residents that went overboard with the plastic surgery. Plus, I Cinna's costumes could have been better.

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2012 23:11:14 GMT -4 angelaudie said:

Woody Harrelson, and it pains me to type this, could have been better. Once Haymitch sobered up he was great but he really didn't capture drunken Haymitch that well. Plus, I always imagined a bit of sarcasm in his tone whenever he called Katniss sweetheart.

This bugged me too. In the books I never got the impression that Haymitch liked Katniss. At times he felt sorry for her and recognized that she was a young kid who was in way over her head, and so he could occasionally be nice to her, but their personalities really clashed. Haymitch was usually a useless drunk with a bad attitude, and Katniss never missed an opportunity to tell him so. So when he calls her "sweetheart" I too felt it was done in an ironic way, not a loving pseudo-Dad kind of way.