This was my very first midnight premiere and it was quite an interesting experience! We sat in line for 12 hours, attempted to do homework, and ate all sorts of unhealthy movie theatre food. I also dressed up as Katniss for the premiere:
I know, no bow and arrow. I figured they wouldn't allow weaponry in the theatre. :P
I don't know about you but my midnight screening crowd was pretty rowdy. We had a LOT of Peeta lovers so when he first popped up on screen in the reaping girls screamed. They also screamed during the kiss. Yep, it was real entertaining. Ironically when I went to the pre-screening the day before there was a man there who warned us not to scream at the actors. He literally said "I have a tazer and I'm not afraid to use it." I hope he was joking... >.<
Anyway I really enjoyed The Hunger Games movie and I'm not gonna lie I've sorta been putting off writing this post because I don't know how to put my love for it into words. Finally I decided that filming a video would be the best format to express my feelings of awesomeness. I really tried to keep my rambling and fangirliness to a minimum and only talk about Josh Hutcherson for about 3 minutes which is a real feat let me tell you. :P
So without further ado: My thoughts on The Hunger Games movie! Oh and it goes without saying but I thought I would say it anyway: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS! (as does the rest of this post)
If you don't want to watch the whole film here's a quick rundown of what I said:
Cried 3 times while watching the movie.
I loved every actors performance, yes even Liam Hemsworth surprised me and pulled off Gale.
Josh Hutcherson has actually made me like Peeta. I still like Gale better but I no longer think of Peeta as just a wuss. Now he's an adorable wuss. :P
Alexander Ludwig's performance as Cato was stellar and brought me to tears. I'm not even kidding.
I loved the costumes, the camera work, and the way they adapted stuff directly from the book to the screen.
Some favorite scenes were the reaping, the interviews, Rue's death, ROCK FACE PEETA, the cave scene, and Seneca's execution.
PEETA HAS TWO LEGS YA'LL!!!!
I wish that they had developed Rue's character a bit more and done a bit better on creating the Katniss/Peeta dynamic.
Overall this movie is a phenomenal adaption of the book and I CANNOT wait for Catching Fire! How on earth are we to make it to November 22nd 2013 guys? THAT'S OVER A YEAR! It's torture I tell you, TORTURE! :P
Now comes the fun part! What did YOU guys think of the movie? Did you love it? Hate it? Wish there was something they had done differently? And most importantly: What actors are your top picks to play Finnick Odair in Catching Fire?
And I apologize in advance but I couldn't resist leaving you with this lovely photo montage of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. He's forever adorable. :P
Julia :)
I got to see the movie twice this weekend, the first time being at the midnight screening, and I have to say -- it was one of the best book-to-movie adaptions I've ever seen. :) However, the first time I watched it, I was honestly disappointed by it, because it left out some of my favorite parts of the book. I didn't even want to go see it the second time, but I'd already bought tickets for last night, so I trudged along and put on my mockingjay pin and snuggled down at the theatre with a bag of popcorn... and I FREAKING. LOVED. IT the second time around! I think because my expectations were much more realistic that time, it was so much better, and now I'm really glad I got to see it the second time because I can be all fangirly and happy about the movie, now, instead of just walking around all bitter about it. :)
ReplyDeleteIn other news: YOU GUYS WAITED TWELVE HOURS FOR YOUR MOVIE??? My group got there at 8:00 PM for the midnight showing, and we were the first people there. Nobody else showed up for like another half hour. The Hunger Games fans in your area are INTENSE!!!
Somebody's a huge fan of JHutch. ;D
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was super nervous about the movie, I was pleasantly surprised. Obviously things weren't as good as the book; I'll start there. BUT. I felt that the limiting factor of the film world did do the first book of probably one of the most phenomenal YA series justice.
ReplyDelete3 Things I Loved:
1. Elizabeth Banks as Effie. Holy crap, she did an amazing job. Somehow, she created Effie into a feeling character, definitely displayed during the reaping scene. Also, her role was amazing. I'm glad they picked a comedic actress, because in the entertainment value of the movie, Effie definitely made me laugh out loud. "THAT. IS. MAHOGANY!"
2. Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman. He is seriously the best, and there are no words to describe his awesomeness in this movie... and all of his other ones, I may add. He's spectacular.
3. The costumes. We all know they were a tad... twisted... from the descriptions in the book. Well, purists, get over it. Suzanne Collins isn't a fashion designer, but the essence of her wordy creations was brought to the screen with gusto!
3 Things I didn't Like so much...
1. The mutts. For me, the epitome of the Capitol's cruelty came in the form of the dog muttations in the arena. The thought that breeding dogs with mixed human DNA is incredibly frightening. I missed this aspect but understand that it'd be extremely difficult to transmit visually to an audience.
2. Liam Hemsworth's Gale. I know that you said you were surprised by how you liked him, despite criticisms, in the role, Julia. But I definitely have to disagree, on a personal level. I have reasons, though... I always saw Gale as more of a shadowy, mysterious figure in the books. I don't know how else to explain it like that. A dry and dark sense of humor, too? Um... but in the movie, Liam portrays him as a chummy bestie. I had to laugh because the only thing that could make it more corny for me was him pulling out the finger guns and making clicking sounds with his mouth. That may be how the role is written or what the director said to do, but quite honestly I'm not buying it. That's a personal opinion, so sorry to any offended.
3. Rue's Lullaby. Maybe this melody depicted the depravity of Panem in all its haunting tones and what-not. However, I felt that, as a self-entitled "lullaby," it should have been sweeter, ending on a minor note to create that mystery and bittersweet feeling. The overall melody line was... how should I say this?... disappointing. I loved all fan-posted ones online and wished that maybe they should've just bought one off of them... THAT would be amazing! Or have a fan contest or something... ;)
Overall, I thought it was phenomenal for the means of the film industry. I condemned any of my siblings to see it without reading the book first, and considering that the cost of a movie ticket in my area ($9) is almost exactly the price of the HG paperback at Barnes & Noble, I'm disappointed that ANYone would go see the movie without so much as reading the first couple chapters, which would ensure that they'd read the rest of the book because it's just that good. (That was definitely a run-on sentence.) Furthermore, I pray that the minor details they changed in the movie won't come back to haunt any minor-turning-to-major storylines in the proceeding movies. :)
:D Again, I enjoyed the movie A LOT!!!
Fun review! I agree with everything you said! I was surprised at how much I loved the added scenes that weren't in the book because I usually hate that. Guess it helps that Suzanne was a co writer :) Camouflaged!Peeta was my favourite scene in the movie!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the movie so so much! I was definitely pleased with how it turned out, given the normal sad state of book to movie adaptations. I was also pleasantly surprised that I liked the added scenes.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite parts were the tracker jacker scene, Clove ready to cut Katniss (she was so perfectly vicious), and Effie and Haymitch interacting, it wasn't how I pictured it but it was hilarious.
My least favorite was the choppy, in and out of focus camera work (more in the beginning than anywhere else), the fact that the cave scene seemed, to me, like it was sped up way to much, (I get that they had time restraints but it was so fast) and for some reason, Glimmer annoyed the heck out of me.