Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Before my review, I must state that I have never read the books, I am basing it on what I saw on screen, rather than comparing the two.

I never intended to watch this franchise when the first Hunger Games came out in March last year. The main reason was that the target market was teenage girls, and a lot of people were comparing it to Twilight, which I have no ambition whatsoever to watch that particular franchise. But after hearing the ideas within the story, and some of the cast involved. I was going to give it a chance and managed to get round to watching it last summer.

I was instantly proved wrong, and without hesitation I had 'Catching Fire' in my list for films to watch in 2013 without even watching the trailer.

After now seeing the highly-anticipated sequel, I will make sure I get to see the next stage of the franchise in 2014. I felt totally gripped as we start to see the bigger picture of the world of Panem as there is something more than just the games itself.
You were constantly learning more about life outside the games, but as one scene was explaining new things, I just knew that the book would tell me more. But I was still being entertained and that did not bother me about not knowing everything.
As we build-up to the next games, we start to see many more interesting characters with their own motives on life and the Capitol. One that I noticed was Sam Clafin who played the priest in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. So that was a nice comforting actor to have along the way. One huge shock was seeing Jena Malone, who I loved in Donnie Darko and Into The Wild. Definitely an actress who deserves more chances. Another nice surprise was Jeffrey Wright, who is well known for playing Felix in the latest James Bond films.
As we were building up to the climax, my tension levels were high and I had no idea who was on what side as there was so much suspicion throughout. What I saw in the final third of the film had me having a reaction I have only experienced once. As soon as it ended, I felt gutted as I wanted to see what happened next. But that means, it was the perfect response to a sequel. It left me wanting more, and the almost 2 1/2 hour duration obviously must have flown by. The only other time I reacted like this when the first Lord Of The Rings ended. That was only really because I did not know they were in three books.

The performances were a big positive. Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic as Katniss Everdeen. I am glad to see her become a huge inspiration to girls everywhere, and it is always great to see a heroine take the lead in such a big blockbuster. Joss Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark did a solid performance and I felt it was better then the first Hunger Games. Donald Sutherland is great as President Snow. His on-screen presence is instant villain and you always know he is bad news. As well, is new addition Philipp Seymour-Hoffman who is never in a bad film. His villain in Mission Impossible III will do well to be bettered, but his performance as the new game-maker Plutarch Heavensbee was a nice touch. Other worthy mentions were Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci who continues to be as flamboyant as ever as Caesar Flickerman and Malone who played the odd character of Johanna Mason.
Another nice positive was the CGI. After receiving much more budget, they have managed to improve the visual effects after what I thought were pretty poor effects in the previous installment. The set-designs also looked like they have been improved with the expanded budget. I was very happy to see where they know the improvements were.

Not many negatives to speak of. The only one that slightly bothered me was some of the dark scenes were proper dark. I would have liked a fraction more light to see what was going on. But as I am only nit-picking, it shows how much I enjoyed this film.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. To me, it is clearly as good and at times better than the first installment. I still love the ideas and that they were not afraid to go deep and be controversial. Also, now there is more politics-driven ideas, it is starting to get a bit more heated with only two more films to go. Even though the ideas are extremely similar to Battle Royale, which in my opinion is a far superior film to this, I would still recommend it and would happily watch Catching Fire again. Lawrence is a joy to watch and I am excited to see her next big screen appearance in January to see potential Oscar-favorite 'American Hustle'. Hoffman was a great addition to the cast and his reputation continues to grow, as he never has a bad film. Everyone contributed nicely and the ending got the perfect reaction from me to get pumped up for part one of the final installment next year, Mockingjay. The odds are definitely in their favor.

Rating: 8/10

Requested Nostalgic Review: The Hunger Games

Despite being released in March last year, I only managed to get round to watching it this summer just gone, when using the free trial on Netflix.

The main theme I got from people's recommendations was that, even though it's target market is teenage girls, it does not have that Twilight feel to it. That instantly got me on their side.

Even with the plot sounding a lot like Battle Royale, The Condemned and a violent version of The Truman Show. I was interested in this, because history has shown us that it is a successful plot to work with. But the only thing I was unsure about was the target market. So I was hoping they would not soften the violence, and instead have the likely love story to be the centrepiece.

Thankfully, I was wrong, well sort of. I was instantly interested and gradually gripped in time for the actual Hunger Games.
The beginning of the film sets you up nicely for what type of the world we are about to be experience for the next couple of hours. It also gives us a healthy amount of character background, but I am sure the books go more in-depth as you can't really use the sub-text in films due to the duration limit, compared to books, which is always the problem with novels becoming films.

As we go into the build-up of the games, we start to see the tension in the characters. Then we get a terrific opening to the start of the games itself, when you suddenly realise what is at stake here. After that, it is a non-stop gripping finale and gives you a nice build-up for the sequel.

The biggest positive has to be the performance of Jennifer Lawrence. She is definitely becoming the big modern actress that mainstream audiences love in anything that she does. Josh Hutcherson was solid but nothing more. I knew it would be tough to top his performance in one of my favorites, Bridge To Terabithia. Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland did what comes naturally to them these days. Elizabeth Banks' character was intriguing in my opinion. I think that was probably those loud costumes that certain people were wearing that helped emphasize her character. One character that I enjoyed was Stanley Tucci's, as the flamboyant host of the games. As for the villains, I reckon they could have been a bit nastier. They felt too generic to me which was a shame as I still managed to enjoy this.

The negatives were probably the lack of heavy violence, which sadly I think was because of the studios making sure this was a 12 certificate to get in the core of the target audience. Had this been a 15, which it should have been, I think everything would look better and would have made this into a great film rather than good.
Another was the CGI, especially in some certain scenes. It felt quite poor, especially as we are in a generation of such high quality CGI. I was definitely expecting something better than what I saw.
I also would have liked a bit more info on the minor characters as I felt they were hardly mentioned at all to basically give more screen time to the main characters.

Even with those negatives, I did enjoy watching it. But even though I have never read the books, I know it could and should have been a tougher watch for viewers. It was a shame it was pushed down to a 12 rating, when it should have been a 15 rating. But the way the industry works, it had to be a 12 rating to reach its target audience and therefore get the big box office. For a 12 rating, it's very good, but if it ended up being a 15 rating, then we could have seen a much better film, and that was truer to the novel.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Gravity

When I first read about this, it did appeal to me, but not excite me.

Seeing Alfonso Cuaron direct this was the biggest hook for me. Despite disappointing me with Harry Potter and the Prisoner Azkaban, I could see his potential in terms of his vision rather than his story-telling.
Then his first real blockbuster for me was Children Of Men. That is where I saw what Cuaron and his team could do with films. Such amazing camera-work and a much more engaging story line.

Now to Gravity, and when the first trailer came out, that was enough for me. Most of the trailer contents I thought were o.k., apart from two which scared me so much about being in there position.
After hearing HUGE success in America and possible Oscar domination, I decided to not see anymore trailers. I felt the one trailer was enough, and I did not want to ruin it for myself.

I am so glad I did that, as what I experiencing today was something I have been waiting for this whole year. Each year, I manage to find a film that really makes me take a step back and just have many new thoughts running inside my head. In 2011, I had Hugo, which taught me about the importance of cinema and how we should appreciate the foundations and how ground-breaking they were and could be if they were here today. 2012 had Cloud Atlas. It made me realise about how we as a species live and keep making the same mistakes despite each generation trying to make it easier for the next one.

Gravity managed to engage me in an environment where I know I will never get to, space. From the very start, you are engulfed by the beautiful cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki who will guarantee Gravity's first Oscar. Also Lubezki manages to create some pretty ground-breaking camera angles that really put you in their shoes of the peril Bullock and Clooney's characters are in whilst orbiting the Earth.

As the film goes on, you start to appreciate how dangerous space can be, and I was amazed at all the possible things that could happen and any ordinary person would completely lose it mentally. You gain so much respect for our astronauts and Clooney pulls it off beautifully.

Bullock however gives us a different perspective. She plays a doctor who has recently taken astronaut training as she is needed in their latest mission. She shows the panicky side of what someone would do if you were in space and in danger. What we see from the performance of Bullock as the film went on, could well get her a possible Oscar nomination. As we crossover into the second half of the film, I was losing it and I did not think it would match that impressive start. But a brilliant and clever scene suddenly appears and is the saving grace, and the perfect build-up for what was an emotional finale.

The star of the show is obviously the cinematography, but the visual effects came a close second. With this film solely being shown in 3D at my local cinema, I was seeing my first 3D film since Marvel Avengers Assemble which was in March 2012. I got the novelty, but that was it. Most of the films retro-fit the 3D, it is not done well, it distracts you from the film as a whole and it actually makes the picture 30% darker, which is tough for particularly dark scenes.
But what Cuaron and his team did with it reminded me of how well Martin Scorsese used the 3D with Hugo. It did not distract from the big picture and I highly recommend you watch it in 3D. It gives you the full feel of being in that space environment.

A few final positives that I want to mention. The realisticness of space was mind-blowing. It felt like you were having a science lesson, but with no instructions. It is quite a short film compared to others (91 mins), and therefore you are straight into the action and you have to understand the space jargon for yourself, which I respect the director for doing. Most films have big character development and have people explaining situations for the audience to understand. Not this one. Which is what I think may attract the same type of audience that watched and enjoyed Inception.

I could obviously talk more about this special film. But all I will say now, is go see it for yourself. Not only is this my new film of the year so far, it is now in my top 10 thrillers, my top 10 films of this current decade and most importantly, my top 100 films of all-time and quite high up.
Be prepared for the next step in film-making. I reckon it will make the rest of the big named directors take a step back, look at their next project and have second thoughts about it.

Rating: 9/10

My Top 10: Thriller Films

A great thriller really stimulates peoples emotions. It is all about suspense, anticipation, uncertainty, shock, anxiety and even terror. The best way to realise that you have watched a thriller is to see if you ended up having an adrenaline-rush or maybe there are scratch marks on objects near by to where you watched a thriller.

The phrase 'on the edge of your seat' is commonly used with thrillers and there are plenty that do that. I feel that my top 10 are all terrific and will have you behind the sofa, especially when some of them were directed by the 'master of the suspense', Alfred Hitchcock. If you do not know who he is, read up on him, and watch his best work which is nearly everything he has done.

Here is my top 10:

10) Battle Royale - Quentin Tarantino's favorite film. That pretty says it all for this Japanese film about a world where the Japanese government forces a class of young students to kill each other under the 'Battle Royale' act.

It's pretty tense and frightening, and you will be amazed by it. Well, unless you've seen The Hunger Games.



9) Black Swan - One of the best films of 2010 which managed to get an Oscar for Best Actress by Natalie Portman. She is pretty spectacular in this surprisingly creepy tale of a ballet dancer who becomes the lead of their new show, Swan Lake.

As she struggles to become the Black Swan, the tension gets to her and her paranoia goes into overdrive and we are now in the middle of a pretty scary ride.

8) Phonebooth - Was not expecting this one. Remember seeing the trailer and instantly thought it would o.k and nothing more.

But it is SO much more then what I imagined. All the performances are amazing, especially the man on the phone to Colin Farrell. See if you can recognise who it is. Also for a film to be directed Joe Schumacher who ruined the Batman franchise, have very little budget, and virtually have one set location, it just shows you don't always need a mega budget to be successful.

7) Shutter Island - A bit out of Martin Scorsese's comfort zone, but he still manages to create terrific films. Starring Leonardi DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, it has two detectives investigating the disappearance of a patient on an island that has a hospital for the insane.

It is a pretty big twist, and has a really powerful final line that changes your views of the film completely.


6) Silence Of The Lambs - Best Picture winner of 1992 and a winner of four more Oscars, this a terrific tale consisting of the dangerous Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins in probably his most recognisable and successful role.

I only recently saw this, and thought I was expecting everything that I was about to watch. But I was quite wrong, there is another story within this that just adds to the overall tension.


5) The Birds - Another Hitchcock classic that had me hating birds for quite a while after seeing what was probably his final hit.
Quite a strange story of a wealthy woman pursuing a possible boyfriend who comes into a town where the birds suddenly start attacking this town as soon as she arrives.

It also containing one of the most tense scenes in film history in my opinion.

4) Vertigo - Seen by the American Film Institute as the greatest film of all time. A lot of the younger generation will probably think it's boring, but if you appreciate the works of Alfred Hitchcock, you will love his 1958 classic.

Starring the incredible James Stewart and Kim Novak, this is full of mystery, thrills, romance, quite a few surprising twists and a pretty ground-breaking camera trick that wowed audiences.

3) Gravity - Just seen this at the cinemas and was completely amazed by it. Director Alfonso Cuaron has created not only the most realistic space film, but a pretty impressive visual masterpiece. You feel like you are constantly in peril, and the ground-breaking cinematography really puts you in the characters situation. It really shows you how dangerous space truly is and how worse it could get in the near future.


2) Jaws - Steven Spielberg's most successful film and became one of the highest-grossing films ever made.

A pretty simple story about a shark that terrorizes a popular coastal town.

But the ground-breaking style of film-making and the terrifying theme music made it something much bigger then anyone could have imagined.

1) V For Vendetta - Not only the best film in this genre in my opinon. But I have ranked this the best movie I've ever seen in my top 100 films of all-time list.

The action never lets up from the very beginning, the performances are terrific, it's dramatic, it's action packed and it is very emotional. It works for me every time.