Posts Tagged ‘hunger’

1 Dec

Movie Review: The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Nothing like a few gigantic rapid-fire movie releases to get you blogging again. I couldn’t let this series go without a lengthy review, of course.

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Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Natalie Dormer
Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1)
Rating: M
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I feel a little conflicted when it comes to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II. Every movie adaptation mega-saga has to end, and now The Hunger Games has joined that club. The second half of Suzanne Collins‘ bestselling finale novel Mockingjay has completed its transition to the big screen, and I have a funny feeling the lasting impact of this film will divide opinions just as much, if not more, than that sucker punch of a book did back in 2010.

Filmgoers who haven’t delved into Collins‘ vehemently anti-war pages will likely find themselves a little shocked at how depressing this final chapter can get, even despite the film’s much higher action emphasis than that of its predecessor, Mockingjay Part I. Meanwhile those who have read the trilogy may find that, despite some crucial scenes that don’t quite land in the same way they did on paper, Francis Lawrence‘s closing vision for this wildly popular series successfully achieves what it needs to.

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24 Nov

Movie Review: The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Have I missed my window to see Interstellar? No, surely not. I will make time. Meanwhile, check out yet another 2014 blockbuster in pretty damn good form:

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Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore
Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I am Legend)
Rating: M
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So here we are, dear friends, embroiled in the hype of yet another young adult novel film adaptation that has been arbitrarily split into more movies than there were books, all in the name of making more money from fans. Like Harry Potter and Twilight in days gone past, as well as the Divergent series in the near future, Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games novel trilogy is now a quadrilogy because of reasons, and as usual, it’s the final book that has copped the razor. Given this phenomenon, it will surprise absolutely no-one that the inherently incomplete Mockingjay Part 1 is the weakest film in the series thus far. Yet the things it accomplishes are so impressive and so on-point with Collins‘ original narrative vision that I have to recommend it to pretty much all fans of the series anyway.

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28 Nov

Movie Review: The Hunger Games Catching Fire

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Saw this one the night it came out – so much hype around it! I’ve let it stew for a week to make sure I was giving it fair thought.

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Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson
Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I am Legend)
Rating: M
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After all the excitement that came along with the wonderfully realised film adaptation of the first Hunger Games book (to which I gave a glowing review last year), I find myself in a weird position regarding its sequel. The end-of-year blockbuster has done little to change my opinion that Catching Fire is the weakest of the three chapters in Suzanne Collins‘ young adult novel trilogy story-wise, but Catching Fire the movie is so cleverly made, so effectively acted and so tonally spot-on that I am forced to admit, with some degree of surprise, that it is every bit as good as its predecessor.

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