Tag Archives: The Hunger Games

movies

Now that “The Hunger Games” franchise is finally finished expect a DVD/BluRay boxset of the whole series soon…

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I love “The Hunger Games” movies. I know these movies were meant for the young adult audience but man, I tell ya that these movies tell an actual story which is why I love them. The storytelling in these movies are pretty smart and intelligent. Plus the acting of the cast and the action scenes are pretty entertaining as hell. These are pretty violent movies to be considered “young adult”, in my opinion. Even though this franchise was aimed at the young audience, full grown adults have been enjoying them anyways as you’ve noticed… each time I go see a Hunger Games movie in the theater… you never see young people in theaters. Most of the franchises audiences are full grown adults from 30 – 50 years of age. You hardly ever see teens and 20 years olds in the audiences of “Hunger Games” movies ’cause believe me, I’ve seen them all.

I wanted to get all of these movies on BluRay but I didn’t get any of them yet ’cause I was waiting for the boxset to come out of all 4 movies in one set. Now they are finally done with the movies expect a big release of the boxset coming soon. I’m sure the Hunger Games boxset would be coming out sometime next year. I’m betting the Hunger Games boxset would come out next year sometime before Christmas in 2016 ’cause they would make a nice Holiday gift.

I just saw “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2” as I thought it was the best one of the series. It’s a fitting end to the series for sure. Is this the end of the Hunger Games franchise for good? I wouldn’t be surprised if Hollywood would plan some kind of spinoff, though. Could there be one more “Hunger Games” book by Suzanne Collins? The director says he would make more Hunger Games movies as long as Suzanne Collins would keep writing more books to continue the story:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/More-Hunger-Games-Movies-One-Condition-Director-Says-95387.html

I agree. It wouldn’t be right for Hollywood to continue the movies without Suzanne Collins so I hope she does more books. I think she will continue the books since she knows that the films are successful. I haven’t read all three books. I’ve only read the first book but will read the other two soon when I get around to it.

The Hunger Games is a great franchise.

Kev

movies

Did Suzanne Collins rip off “Battle Royale” for the “Hunger Games” books/movies???

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Last night, I finally got around to watching, “Battle Royale” which is a Japanese film that is made available for streaming on Netflix. After I watched, “Battle Royale”… I immediately thought to myself… is Suzanne Collins “Hunger Games” a complete remake/ripoff of “Battle Royale”? That’s what it felt like to me. The plot and idea to “Battle Royale” was very much the same as “The Hunger Games”… very close to it. All these kids get together and get forced to play this game where they fight to their death. I read that “Battle Royale” was too adapted from a Japanese novel of the same title. The thing is, “Battle Royale” came out earlier before Suzanne Collins published, “The Hunger Games” novel in 2008.

Did Suzanne Collins steal the story and rip off the idea? Seriously, if you haven’t seen “Battle Royale” or “Hunger Games” watch both films and you would see that they are almost exactly the same except the only difference is both of these films were made in different countries. Plus, “Battle Royale” is even more dark and more violent than the “Hunger Games”.

After doing a little google research, I haven’t seen Suzanne Collins herself said anything about “Battle Royale” on whether or not that’s where she got the idea from. No interviews about that or anything. I was pretty surprised to see that these two films were very similar.

On top of that, I find “Battle Royale” to be 10x’s better than the “Hunger Games”. “Battle Royale” is more intense, violent and gruesome.

I LOVE watching Japanese movies on Netflix. I’ve been watching a lot of them. Japan can make way better movies than the United States for sure.

Kev

movies

Film Review: The Hunger Games

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Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks
Directed by: Gary Ross

Today, I finally saw the movie, “The Hunger Games”, which is adapted from novel by Suzanne Collins. Here is my review:

Plot/synopsis: In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided between 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

This film is getting mixed reviews. You either loved it or hated it. I’ve read the first novel, and I would take the time to defend the film, on why I loved it so much. Yes, it was a great film. You can’t compare this film to the “Twilight” franchise, ’cause this is a different story and style.

Other reviewers and fans are also comparing this film, to “Battle Royale” (which I haven’t yet seen), and Stephen King’s “The Running Man” (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger). I don’t see how you can compare, “The Hunger Games”, to those other films. The way I look at “The Hunger Games”, I see the story being heavily inspired by “Lord of the Flies”, the William Golding novel.

I think, “The Hunger Games”, was pretty faithful to the novel. Everything in the film was pretty dead on, I thought. Jennifer Lawrence was perfect casting for Katniss, and I can’t see anybody else playing that character. I also thought the other casts did a great job. I was most impressed with Donald Sutherland’s (also Kiefer’s father) performance. I also liked Woody Harrelson and Lenny Kravitz in the film. Who knew Kravitz, the rock star could act? I thought Elizabeth Banks’s character, Effie Trinkett, was pretty scary and evil looking, made you want to hate that character.

I thought the movie had some pretty good action, and there was a little blood & gore as well. Lot of explosions too! Anyway, I also thought the movie followed the story from the book pretty well.

My only complaints are the camera were pretty shaky throughout the action scenes, plus, there were some scenes that had some pretty weird camera effects that I found unnecessary. Other than that, I thought the movie was great. It pisses me off that people would want to compare, “The Hunger Games” to Harry Potter, Twilight or any other of the big franchises for kids. Suzanne Collins is no J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer people. Suzanne has her own story.

The whole point about “The Hunger Games”, is not only that it’s a dystopian futuristic story, about a bunch of kids competing in a game, it’s a story about “survival”, period. Suzanne wanted to give kids a story about survival. I thought it was a great movie, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Score for “The Hunger Games” = **** (4 stars as in “excellent”)

Kev

movies

Cool Video: “The Hunger Games” trailer finally arrives online…

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“The Hunger Games” full trailer with footage from the film, finally arrives online today. I’m very impressed with it. The movie actually looks pretty good. Don’t compare this to “Twilight”, because this is something totally different as you can see. This franchise don’t really shove the teen romance down our faces. “The Hunger Games”, can get really violent and graphic at times. This is one film I’m looking forward to in 2012. It looks great, and I’m definitely seeing it in theater.

Enjoy.

Kev

Books

Book Review: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

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Well I finally got around to reading the book, “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. I bought the book because there is a movie being made to this. I thought the plot to the movie sounded interesting to me so I wanted to read the book before the movie came out. I learned that this book is a teen readers/young adults novel. Yes, another tween story, but this is no “Harry Potter” or “Twilight”, “The Hunger Games” is a totally different story.

The book is set after an unidentified future after the destruction of North America. The United States is replaced by Panem after the destruction. It is divided into the Capital and 12 Districts. Every year two young people are selected by lottery to participate in, “The Hunger Games”. “The Hunger Games” has 24 young people competing each other to win. The only way to win is to eliminate each competitor by killing them. The last person standing alive is the winner which is called a “victor”, in the book. 16 year old Katniss Everdeen teams up with a boy named, Peeta, who helps each other survive the games.

As you can tell by the plot, it sounds violent, right? The book is very violent. I was surprised on how violent it was. It really shouldn’t be considered a teen reader’s novel. As soon as I started the book, I just couldn’t put it down. It only took me a couple of days to read. It’s also a love story but there’s not much romance in it. I believe the romance was thrown in there so it can be considered a “teen” novel. Other than that, the book is way too violent for kids to read. There’s even a bit of blood and gore described in the book too.

When I read this book, I thought I was reading, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding ’cause that’s what the book will remind you of. “The Hunger Games” will also remind you about that TV show, “Lost” and “Survivor”. So I have this feeling that “The Hunger Games” movie will be shot reality show style

Back to the book, I really liked, Suzanne’s writing and looking forward to reading the rest of the Hunger Games series. I think the next book is called, “Mocking Jay” and I’ll buy that book sometime in the future. There are other books I need to catch up on. Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Why? Because I like books. I’ve been a reader of books ever since I was a kid. It’s just a hobby of mine that I like to do.

Kev