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The Hunger Games (Dir. Gary Ross) |OT| May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

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Koodo said:
Hmm...

Chris Hemsworth sounds perfect.
rsnRP.gif
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If only they hadn't cast his far less talented younger brother as Gale...
 
Of all the books, Mockingjay deserves to have most of its awful filler cut down to a 140-min runtime, not padded to twice that length. A shame as this movie was so zippy in pacing.
 
PG13 excuse is weak. There are more creative ways of depicting violent acts of manslaughter without showing it directly than to shake the camera around so nobody can see anything.
 
Pachterballs said:
Really don't think there's much hype if at all. I've never even heard of the hunger games til the trailer showed up. Just because it's doing gangbusters at the BO doesn't mean it's hyped.

JC was way more hyped. Although it was largely negative. Lol
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I guess you don't know what people mean when they say hype.
 
I found this kind of tedious. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was very good, and the supporting cast was fine. The other Tributes were really weak characters and so underdeveloped that I didn't care when they died. It was difficult even knowing who died and how many were left. I guess I don't even notice shaky-cam anymore, beyond a general confusion. My friend asked, "Why was the camera always moving? Is that a thing?" I thought the locations weren't very well developed, either. I know the costumes were supposed to convey the strangeness of the Capitol citizenry, but it just seemed like lazy shorthand.

Can someone explain the dogs? At first, I thought the forest fire was an illusion until she got burned, but I can accept starting fires and even shooting fireballs remotely. But, how were those dogs released? If they can create animals out of thin air, why do they need bread from District 11? It just seemed like a "cool" thing, but I'm hoping that the book explains it more, and that's true of much of the film.
 
adamsappel said:
I found this kind of tedious. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was very good, and the supporting cast was fine. The other Tributes were really weak characters and so underdeveloped that I didn't care when they died.

Can someone explain the dogs? At first, I thought the forest fire was an illusion until she got burned, but I can accept starting fires and even shooting fireballs remotely. But, how were those dogs released? If they can create animals out of thin air, why do they need bread from District 11? It just seemed like a "cool" thing, but I'm hoping that the book explains it more, and that's true of much of the film.
Click to expand...


Agree with everything you posted here, though I enjoyed it moderately. I felt that the story just kept taking the easy way out, which bothered me. It could have been far more compelling if the original premise remained strong, and the main character would have to make hard choices about killing people who weren't purely bad, or out to murder her. But instead, all these conveniences (like the dogs you mentioned) kept popping up that made it so that she didn't have to make those tough choices.

I don't mind the arena being alterable, but also agreed that the way the dogs just popped up was ridiculous. I could accept if they released one from a cage, or even parachuted it in, but they literally just came into the scene from nowhere, and the control room even added extras.

I also have huge issue with the entire premise of the hunger games in general. Even a fascist cruel heartless dictator would know that such a tournament, where one draws names from a hat to kill them would do nothing to maintain control. I could accept the plot if it involved putting people who committed petty crimes into the ring or something to send a message to the others, but a random lottery, where everyone knows it's a random lottery, is just going to create unrest and hostility.

It was pretty good, with some great intensity to it, but these holes bothered me throughout the screening. Possibly the book does a better job of justifying the tournament.
 
Just got back from the movie. I thought it was mediocre, but we had a lot more fun with it than we probably should have. So I went with my family (we're black) and at the scene where
Rue died and it cut back to the reaction in her district, when we saw that the majority of the population was black, we said to ourselves, " there's no fucking way that many black people are gonna stand for some shit like that ", then the very next second, we see a riot break out. The laughter was uncontrollable.
11 out of the 12 districts had casualties, and that was the only one that reacted that way. So funny
The fire hoses from the sky were the icing on the cake
We were the only ones laughing, but it was worth it.
 
adamsappel said:
I found this kind of tedious. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was very good, and the supporting cast was fine. The other Tributes were really weak characters and so underdeveloped that I didn't care when they died. It was difficult even knowing who died and how many were left. I guess I don't even notice shaky-cam anymore, beyond a general confusion. My friend asked, "Why was the camera always moving? Is that a thing?" I thought the locations weren't very well developed, either. I know the costumes were supposed to convey the strangeness of the Capitol citizenry, but it just seemed like lazy shorthand.

Can someone explain the dogs? At first, I thought the forest fire was an illusion until she got burned, but I can accept starting fires and even shooting fireballs remotely. But, how were those dogs released? If they can create animals out of thin air, why do they need bread from District 11? It just seemed like a "cool" thing, but I'm hoping that the book explains it more, and that's true of much of the film.
Click to expand...

You know the platforms the tributes were on? The dogs rose on something similar.
 
adamsappel said:
I found this kind of tedious. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was very good, and the supporting cast was fine. The other Tributes were really weak characters and so underdeveloped that I didn't care when they died. It was difficult even knowing who died and how many were left. I guess I don't even notice shaky-cam anymore, beyond a general confusion. My friend asked, "Why was the camera always moving? Is that a thing?" I thought the locations weren't very well developed, either. I know the costumes were supposed to convey the strangeness of the Capitol citizenry, but it just seemed like lazy shorthand.

Can someone explain the dogs? At first, I thought the forest fire was an illusion until she got burned, but I can accept starting fires and even shooting fireballs remotely. But, how were those dogs released? If they can create animals out of thin air, why do they need bread from District 11? It just seemed like a "cool" thing, but I'm hoping that the book explains it more, and that's true of much of the film.
Click to expand...

They're not really coming out of "thin air".

In the books, they come out of and, after killing Cato, go back to some kind of hole in the ground with platforms similar to those that led the tributes to the arena.

Regarding their origin: the books also detail how the Capitol created many mutations (called "muttations", actually, just 'cause Collins felt like it) during the original Panem rebellion 74 years before the present time to fight the Districts. The mockingjays that Katniss's pin references is one of them, and so are the tracker jackers she uses to kill Glimmer and escape from the tree with Rue's help. The "wolfs", too, were muttations.

In the book, they actually used the dead bodies of the other tributes in combination with wolves to create those muttations, but that part was supposedly scraped from the film because it'd be ridiculous to have Katniss and Peeta recognize traces of Rue and Thresh in a wolf in the middle of the night.

King Of Fuh said:
I also have huge issue with the entire premise of the hunger games in general. Even a fascist cruel heartless dictator would know that such a tournament, where one draws names from a hat to kill them would do nothing to maintain control. I could accept the plot if it involved putting people who committed petty crimes into the ring or something to send a message to the others, but a random lottery, where everyone knows it's a random lottery, is just going to create unrest and hostility.

It was pretty good, with some great intensity to it, but these holes bothered me throughout the screening. Possibly the book does a better job of justifying the tournament.
Click to expand...

Well, they did maintain control for more than 70 years. The books also show how, before the 74th Hunger Games, while there obviously was a lot of tension among the Districts,
they only really started rebelling after Katniss's actions after Rue's death and with the berries in the end.

It all falls into place with that scene in which Snow explains his thoughts of "hope".
 
King Of Fuh said:
Agree with everything you posted here, though I enjoyed it moderately. I felt that the story just kept taking the easy way out, which bothered me. It could have been far more compelling if the original premise remained strong, and the main character would have to make hard choices about killing people who weren't purely bad, or out to murder her. But instead, all these conveniences (like the dogs you mentioned) kept popping up that made it so that she didn't have to make those tough choices.

I don't mind the arena being alterable, but also agreed that the way the dogs just popped up was ridiculous. I could accept if they released one from a cage, or even parachuted it in, but they literally just came into the scene from nowhere, and the control room even added extras.

I also have huge issue with the entire premise of the hunger games in general. Even a fascist cruel heartless dictator would know that such a tournament, where one draws names from a hat to kill them would do nothing to maintain control. I could accept the plot if it involved putting people who committed petty crimes into the ring or something to send a message to the others, but a random lottery, where everyone knows it's a random lottery, is just going to create unrest and hostility.

It was pretty good, with some great intensity to it, but these holes bothered me throughout the screening. Possibly the book does a better job of justifying the tournament.
Click to expand...

The whole point of it being random is what allows it to be a suppressive event, along with the fact that the winner gets lauded with luxury and "glory." President Snow even talks about that delicate balance of hope - it's about giving them a glimpse or glimmer of a better life, while also laying the blame on themselves versus on the capital.

Katnsis is the one that fucks it up.
 
King Of Fuh said:
I also have huge issue with the entire premise of the hunger games in general. Even a fascist cruel heartless dictator would know that such a tournament, where one draws names from a hat to kill them would do nothing to maintain control. I could accept the plot if it involved putting people who committed petty crimes into the ring or something to send a message to the others, but a random lottery, where everyone knows it's a random lottery, is just going to create unrest and hostility.

It was pretty good, with some great intensity to it, but these holes bothered me throughout the screening. Possibly the book does a better job of justifying the tournament.
Click to expand...

Snow touched on that during one of his talks with the director.
The fact that they allow a person to win and become a celebrity is what keeps the people in check because it gives them hope. They could go out and randomly execute 24 people a year, but the districts would revolt like they did once before. You also have to remember that these are as much of a punishment and a way to show the districts that the Capitol can do whatever the hell it wants as much as they are entertainment. At least at this point, the districts couldn't revolt again simply because they're too poor and unorganized. They'd be destroyed like District 13 was.
 
Scullibundo said:
Except they didn't show it. And somehow two dogs materialized next to the other one in the middle of a chase.

I'm not saying it was magic, but it was magic.
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Yeah, it's definitely weird in the film. I don't know why they did it that way.

In the book, they reach the lake close to the Cornucopia, and then they see Cato running towards them with the mutts already chasing him.
 
Scullibundo said:
Except they didn't show it. And somehow two dogs materialized next to the other one in the middle of a chase.

I'm not saying it was magic, but it was magic.
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advanced technology would seem like magic to a less technically advanced group of individuals.

.they can control water/fire/day/night/temperature etc in the arenas.
. wait til you get to the sequel....

guns in the HG universe are
solar powered.
. <--- Not really a spoiler



edited. LOL
 
Pachterballs said:
advanced technology would seem like magic to a less technically advanced group of individuals.

they can control water/fire/day/night/temperature etc in the arenas. wait til you get to the sequel....

guns in the HG universe are
solar powered.
. <--- Not really a spoiler
Click to expand...

So you're ok with spoiler-tagging non-spoilers, but you don't spoiler-tag spoilers?
 
Saw it last night. It was a good movie however I'm sure all of you probably felt the motion sickness in the beginning.

Other than that it was good.
 
Pachterballs said:
advanced technology would seem like magic to a less technically advanced group of individuals.

they can control water/fire/day/night/temperature etc in the arenas. wait til you get to the sequel....

guns in the HG universe are
solar powered.
. <--- Not really a spoiler
Click to expand...

I'm sorry. But when there is not even the slightest hint of an explanation as to how it works, then it is magic. Good ol' deux ex machina movie magic. Lazy narrative device that are just too convenient.
 
Ghost_Protocol said:
Just got back from the movie. I thought it was mediocre, but we had a lot more fun with it than we probably should have. So I went with my family (we're black) and at the scene where
Rue died and it cut back to the reaction in her district, when we saw that the majority of the population was black, we said to ourselves, " there's no fucking way that many black people are gonna stand for some shit like that ", then the very next second, we see a riot break out. The laughter was uncontrollable.
11 out of the 12 districts had casualties, and that was the only one that reacted that way. So funny
The fire hoses from the sky were the icing on the cake
We were the only ones laughing, but it was worth it.
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they reacted that way because katniss was breaking the rules of the game and showing compassion and empathy. And highlighting the waste of youth and life. Not the usual bloodsports highjinks. She was showing throughout the game her "revolt" - also her suicide pact was designed to ruin their "game" and show that there is an alternative

You'll see what happens next in the sequel as a result of the 74th Hunger games
 
Scullibundo said:
I'm sorry. But when there is not even the slightest hint of an explanation as to how it works, then it is magic. Good ol' deux ex machina movie magic. Lazy narrative device that are just too convenient.
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please. stop trolling

its not like they didn't make it extremely clear that the gamemakers could start
fires, change weather, night/day

for someone who really hated the film; you keep coming back to post in here.
 
Pachterballs said:
please. stop trolling

its not like they didn't make it extremely clear that the gamemakers could start
fires, change weather, night/day

for someone who really hated the film; you keep coming back to post in here.
Click to expand...

He just really feels the need to share his anger after JC.
 
Pachterballs said:
please. stop trolling

its not like they didn't make it extremely clear that the gamemakers could start
fires, change weather, night/day

for someone who really hated the film; you keep coming back to post in here.
Click to expand...

I didn't really hate the film, I hate that the film wasted the potential of its premise. As I said before, I didn't mind the first half of the film.

Weather and day/night changes etc is something I'm willing to accept since it seems that the game is operating in an enclosed biosphere Truman style. But magic dogs and fire appear out of nowhere with absolutely no explanation is beyond lazy.
 
Huh. I had no idea what to expect from this movie, but it was pretty good.

I'm really curious about where the sequels go. It's obvious where the plot's gonna go in general, but I wonder how they'll do that and keep the same tone.
 
Scullibundo said:
I didn't really hate the film, I hate that the film wasted the potential of its premise. As I said before, I didn't mind the first half of the film.

Weather and day/night changes etc is something I'm willing to accept since it seems that the game is operating in an enclosed biosphere Truman style. But magic dogs and fire appear out of nowhere with absolutely no explanation is beyond lazy.
Click to expand...

I think we're on the exact same page Sculli. I didn't hate the film either, but it seemed like a lot of wasted potential and not at all worth the hype. Some of the things that you mentioned really bothered me as well. Particularly the wild dogs that could just be conjured up from no where without any explanation about how they manifested them on the playing field.
 
I really liked the movie apart from a few nitpicks. The last fight on top of the cornucopia was like a scene straight out of Transformers 1. I couldn't tell who was who and what was going on due to the shakey cam and the fact that Peeta and Cota looked exactly the same during that shot. I'm glad the dogs didn't resemble the killed tributes. Other than that, enjoyed it quite a bit.
 
Movie was great. Expected Twilight and was actually into it. Also it's great for the message alone to the younger female generation instead of, "WAIT FOR THAT SEXY VAMPIRE TO LOVE YOU".

The premise is also really fucked up... sounds all cool until it starts and a little girl gets stabbed to death by a big dude. OK! Maybe we should go back to reairing American Idol.
 
Scullibundo said:
I didn't really hate the film, I hate that the film wasted the potential of its premise. As I said before, I didn't mind the first half of the film.

Weather and day/night changes etc is something I'm willing to accept since it seems that the game is operating in an enclosed biosphere Truman style. But magic dogs and fire appear out of nowhere with absolutely no explanation is beyond lazy.
Click to expand...
You thought the fire was magic? When they clearly show the guys in the studio directing the action through a VR interface? When the head director makes a point to say, "oh, give me a falling tree here"? When they went out of their way to explain "hey she's running away from the other tributes, let's herd her back to the group following these homing beacons we implanted." The dogs were terrible CGI, but I don't see how you made that leap, especially after they had the precedent of the other genetically altered creatures.
 
Sho_Nuff82 said:
You thought the fire was magic? When they clearly show the guys in the studio directing the action through a VR interface? When the head director makes a point to say, "oh, give me a falling tree here"? When they went out of their way to explain "hey she's running away from the other tributes, let's herd her back to the group following these homing beacons we implanted." The dogs were terrible CGI, but I don't see how you made that leap, especially after they had the precedent of the other genetically altered creatures.
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I'm asking where the fire and dogs come from. Answering 'The guys in the room press the magic fire and magic dogs button' doesn't alleviate my criticisms.
 
Mac the KNife said:
Saw it last night and came away disappointed. While the casting and art direction was good, the content was incredibly sparse. I'd be curious to know just how many lines were spoken in the movie, because there didn't seem to be much dialogue. With what they had even a voiceover would have helped flesh out the story. They probably stuck a little too close to the sourse material and as a result no aspect of the film was afforded any kind of depth or development.
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I took my 12 year old daughter today, and this is exactly how I felt. Things just seemed to happen with little to no set-up. I won't even go into the awful shaky cam stuff because that has been beat to death already. While not a bad movie, I felt that there was a lot of untapped potential and what is left is a extremely mediocre film.
 
Scullibundo said:
I'm asking where the fire and dogs come from. Answering 'The guys in the room press the magic fire and magic dogs button' doesn't alleviate my criticisms.
Click to expand...

It's not hard to create a fire. And I explained exactly were the wolves came from a couple of posts back - you just ignored the explanation.

The Capitol is incredibly advanced technologically, and the books show that they are able to do basically anything they want to keep the Games interesting, and will do so.

There are many examples of bizarre technologies in the three books, but they're not the focus. This isn't Star Trek. They're not going to spend time with tecnobabble explaining irrelevant stuff. You're thrown into a world with incredible technologies, and that's it. I don't see the point in fighting it. People don't ask about the origin of life in Mars in a film with aliens in them.
 
Marius_ said:
Really enjoyed this movie, though I didn't buy any of the 'love story'
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Because there wasn't one and it isn't explained very well in the movie. Peeta tells Ceasar Flickman he likes Katniss as a way to generate audience sympathy. Haymitch tells them to play it up because the more interesting they are as a couple, the more sponsors they'll get in game. Peeta really does like her though. Katniss, on the other hand, "plays along" in the arena, but her feelings kind of show in Haymitch's message "You call that a kiss?" After the arena, Peeta feels like he's gained ground with her, but Katniss is still indifferent to him.

The "love story" unfolds in the later books.
 
The movie would have been better if they explained hey this is WHY things were happening or at least a bit more background information on the characters.

The scene where that little girl died just freaking dragged on...why were we suppose to care about her for that 2 mins of screentime we saw her?
Maybe I should read the book or something but you shouldn't have to.
 
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