The games. They're hungry.
Mar. 23rd, 2012 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Every day should be like yesterday. Except for the part where I had to work in the day time. Anyway, had a blast watching The Hunger Games with adelagia and K, then going to Boiling Point afterward to have us some delicious stinky tofu hotpot. LIFE DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER.
So, the movie. Most people who are going to see the movie have read at least the first book, so I'm unlikely to spoil plot points, but in the interest of protecting those who don't want to know how the movie compares (and who haven't read the books), I'm cutting this.
- I really did not like the shooting style they went with for the movie. They wanted to make it gritty, which I understand, because of the subject matter, and there's a danger that the movie would look too "clean"... but I think they went too far the other direction. I hate the stuttering action/hand-held camera style; not only do I feel like I'm missing out on stuff (plot points/reactions) and wanting to pin the projector down so that it holds still already, but it also kind of makes me want to vomit. Literally, I get motion sickness when there's too much of that.
- It was a very faithful adaptation. Maybe a little too faithful, but I didn't mind that about the first Harry Potter movie either, so YMMV.
- The actor who played Peeta ended up being better than I'd thought he'd be, but I felt the same way watching the movie as I did reading the book... where I felt sorry for him because he was clearly so much more into Katniss than she was into him. Yet eventually she does end up with him, so. But still, in the first book and in the movie, I just didn't get the sense that she really liked him in that way. I thought Jennifer Lawrence had more chemistry with Liam Hemsworth, but that could just be my Gale bias coming through.
- Not that I'm that enamored of Liam. He can't hold a candle to his older brother Chris, sad to say. They barely even look like brothers. Gale, on the other hand, I really liked in the first book because he was the one protecting everything Katniss held dear in District 12. (From Slate's review: "The Hunger Games isn't perfect. The character of Gale, an important moral voice in the book, has been reduced to generic hunky dreamboat-dom (a development that's not Liam Hemsworth's fault; he simply hasn't been given enough to do, other than stare besotted at TV screens on which Katniss is off doing something interesting).") Gale's moral voice, btw, is another reason I was convinced for so long that he was the one Katniss was going to end up with, because he was good without being boring about it, which I felt was Peeta at the end of Mockingjay.
- As I told K and T, I felt more sympathetic toward movie!Prim than I did book!Prim. When I was reading the books, Prim just seemed like a whiny, pampered little brat who was just a burden on Katniss while never having to learn any responsibility herself. K pointed out that I felt that way because I am an eldest child ... and she's probably right. :)) Someone who's a younger sibling is probably unlikely to feel that way about her. But movie!Prim, at least the actress they chose, was much more sympathetic to me.
- Even before seeing the movie I had thought all the actors they chose were fine picks, and nothing about watching the movie changed my opinion. I really would have loved to have seen more of Effie Trinket, but the movie was already like 2.5 hours long.
- That said, there was plenty more I would have loved to have seen had they had time for it. Everything was (necessarily) accelerated, and felt that way too, which is pretty much the problem with all adaptations (including the Game of Thrones TV series).
- T and I noted that there was tons of food porn in the book, and I was disappointed we didn't see much of that in the movie. We see the food, but we don't see Katniss or Peeta eat it. Which to me is ridiculous -- not just for detail, but for characterization. Katniss and Peeta come from an extremely poor district and food is hard to come by. The food is pretty much the ONLY thing they enjoyed about the Capitol! They so would've been all over that. It also would have been nice to see them get to enjoy themselves a little bit before being sent off to die. (We weren't the only ones. From Slate's review: "The costumes, makeup, and production design for the Capitol are among the movie's chief pleasures, though I missed the books' love for lingering on sumptuous banquets.")
- What was with Cato's self-realizing speech before his death?
- The 'extra' scenes between Snow and the Gamemaker were interesting to add but ultimately pointless, I thought. I'm sure it was to introduce Snow as the villain, but I don't know if it was necessary. Plus it didn't really make sense when they killed the Gamemaker after having Snow tell him that they allow there to be a winner to give the people hope and keep them in line. Using that logic, the Gamemaker had no choice but to let Katniss and Peeta both live when they were going to off themselves! I mean, it's not like otherwise the Gamemaker seemed like he sympathized with the players or anything, so what would have been his motivation? That was really weak. They gave the Gamemaker more to do, but didn't actually flesh him out or tell us any more about him, so what was the point?
- Haymitch was way nicer to Katniss in the movie than he was in the books. He was super hard on her in the books, which I liked, because it made the relationship more real, and it totally makes sense in the overall context of who Haymitch is, the deal he makes with Peeta, etc. In the movie there's a bit of early tension and that's it. Also, I thought Woody was too built/hot for the role. They should've made him wear a fatsuit or something, or just made him seem more like a slob. We're not supposed to know that there's more to Haymitch until the later books.
- All in all, a really solid movie/adaptation. It didn't blow me away like I was kind of hoping it would, but I do wonder whether part of that is because of them wanting to keep a PG-13 rating so it just seemed more 'vanilla' than I'd pictured the Games, in particular, being.
Talis had his follow-up eye appointment today. The ulcer is smaller but not completely healed, so he's going to have to do the procedure. It's going to cost $750+ ughhghghgh. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH BACON THAT BUYS? And maybe the worst thing is that once that's done and he's healed somewhere down the road (soon, I hope), he's probably just going to do it to himself AGAIN because he's incapable of leaving Jaime alone.
Freaking Wisconsin and Michigan St., grrrrrrrrr. Syracuse should have been the first 1 seed to go. That would've done wonders for me. But no, the Badgers had to lose by 1 flipping point and Michigan St. totally choked (leading to me losing my first Final Four team). Both Michigan schools this year were big disappointments for my bracket, because I picked them to go much further than they did.
I have to babysit for K and D tomorrow. I'm going to bring over Pandemic and maybe when the kids are in bed, I'll play with their parents. :))
adelagia and K, then going to Boiling Point afterward to have us some delicious stinky tofu hotpot. LIFE DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER.So, the movie. Most people who are going to see the movie have read at least the first book, so I'm unlikely to spoil plot points, but in the interest of protecting those who don't want to know how the movie compares (and who haven't read the books), I'm cutting this.
- I really did not like the shooting style they went with for the movie. They wanted to make it gritty, which I understand, because of the subject matter, and there's a danger that the movie would look too "clean"... but I think they went too far the other direction. I hate the stuttering action/hand-held camera style; not only do I feel like I'm missing out on stuff (plot points/reactions) and wanting to pin the projector down so that it holds still already, but it also kind of makes me want to vomit. Literally, I get motion sickness when there's too much of that.
- It was a very faithful adaptation. Maybe a little too faithful, but I didn't mind that about the first Harry Potter movie either, so YMMV.
- The actor who played Peeta ended up being better than I'd thought he'd be, but I felt the same way watching the movie as I did reading the book... where I felt sorry for him because he was clearly so much more into Katniss than she was into him. Yet eventually she does end up with him, so. But still, in the first book and in the movie, I just didn't get the sense that she really liked him in that way. I thought Jennifer Lawrence had more chemistry with Liam Hemsworth, but that could just be my Gale bias coming through.
- Not that I'm that enamored of Liam. He can't hold a candle to his older brother Chris, sad to say. They barely even look like brothers. Gale, on the other hand, I really liked in the first book because he was the one protecting everything Katniss held dear in District 12. (From Slate's review: "The Hunger Games isn't perfect. The character of Gale, an important moral voice in the book, has been reduced to generic hunky dreamboat-dom (a development that's not Liam Hemsworth's fault; he simply hasn't been given enough to do, other than stare besotted at TV screens on which Katniss is off doing something interesting).") Gale's moral voice, btw, is another reason I was convinced for so long that he was the one Katniss was going to end up with, because he was good without being boring about it, which I felt was Peeta at the end of Mockingjay.
- As I told K and T, I felt more sympathetic toward movie!Prim than I did book!Prim. When I was reading the books, Prim just seemed like a whiny, pampered little brat who was just a burden on Katniss while never having to learn any responsibility herself. K pointed out that I felt that way because I am an eldest child ... and she's probably right. :)) Someone who's a younger sibling is probably unlikely to feel that way about her. But movie!Prim, at least the actress they chose, was much more sympathetic to me.
- Even before seeing the movie I had thought all the actors they chose were fine picks, and nothing about watching the movie changed my opinion. I really would have loved to have seen more of Effie Trinket, but the movie was already like 2.5 hours long.
- That said, there was plenty more I would have loved to have seen had they had time for it. Everything was (necessarily) accelerated, and felt that way too, which is pretty much the problem with all adaptations (including the Game of Thrones TV series).
- T and I noted that there was tons of food porn in the book, and I was disappointed we didn't see much of that in the movie. We see the food, but we don't see Katniss or Peeta eat it. Which to me is ridiculous -- not just for detail, but for characterization. Katniss and Peeta come from an extremely poor district and food is hard to come by. The food is pretty much the ONLY thing they enjoyed about the Capitol! They so would've been all over that. It also would have been nice to see them get to enjoy themselves a little bit before being sent off to die. (We weren't the only ones. From Slate's review: "The costumes, makeup, and production design for the Capitol are among the movie's chief pleasures, though I missed the books' love for lingering on sumptuous banquets.")
- What was with Cato's self-realizing speech before his death?
- The 'extra' scenes between Snow and the Gamemaker were interesting to add but ultimately pointless, I thought. I'm sure it was to introduce Snow as the villain, but I don't know if it was necessary. Plus it didn't really make sense when they killed the Gamemaker after having Snow tell him that they allow there to be a winner to give the people hope and keep them in line. Using that logic, the Gamemaker had no choice but to let Katniss and Peeta both live when they were going to off themselves! I mean, it's not like otherwise the Gamemaker seemed like he sympathized with the players or anything, so what would have been his motivation? That was really weak. They gave the Gamemaker more to do, but didn't actually flesh him out or tell us any more about him, so what was the point?
- Haymitch was way nicer to Katniss in the movie than he was in the books. He was super hard on her in the books, which I liked, because it made the relationship more real, and it totally makes sense in the overall context of who Haymitch is, the deal he makes with Peeta, etc. In the movie there's a bit of early tension and that's it. Also, I thought Woody was too built/hot for the role. They should've made him wear a fatsuit or something, or just made him seem more like a slob. We're not supposed to know that there's more to Haymitch until the later books.
- All in all, a really solid movie/adaptation. It didn't blow me away like I was kind of hoping it would, but I do wonder whether part of that is because of them wanting to keep a PG-13 rating so it just seemed more 'vanilla' than I'd pictured the Games, in particular, being.
Talis had his follow-up eye appointment today. The ulcer is smaller but not completely healed, so he's going to have to do the procedure. It's going to cost $750+ ughhghghgh. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH BACON THAT BUYS? And maybe the worst thing is that once that's done and he's healed somewhere down the road (soon, I hope), he's probably just going to do it to himself AGAIN because he's incapable of leaving Jaime alone.
Freaking Wisconsin and Michigan St., grrrrrrrrr. Syracuse should have been the first 1 seed to go. That would've done wonders for me. But no, the Badgers had to lose by 1 flipping point and Michigan St. totally choked (leading to me losing my first Final Four team). Both Michigan schools this year were big disappointments for my bracket, because I picked them to go much further than they did.
I have to babysit for K and D tomorrow. I'm going to bring over Pandemic and maybe when the kids are in bed, I'll play with their parents. :))
