Review: The Hunger Games

IMDb

Title: The Hunger Games

Distributor: Color Force

Director: Gary Ross

Writer(s): Gary Ross (screenplay), Suzanne Collins (screenplay)

Staring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images - all involving teens.

Running Time: 142 min

Synopsis: Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 85% (Fresh), Top Critics: 80% (Fresh), Audience: 88% (Like It)

Metacritic: Critics: 67 out of 100, Users:7.5 out of 10

MRQE Metric: 73 out of 100

My Review

Source Material:  Based on the book with the same name written by Suzanne Collins .

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: This movie had some really good action. It wasn't necessarily "action pack" but it kept you entertained.

• Comedy Elements: I don't won't to ruin it for anyone but there is two or three actor that makes there scene funny to watch, even though this film not mean to be a comedy.

• Dramatic Elements: The drama come in two forms, slight love story and psychological turmoil to kill another human.  

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: The Sci-Fi elements are there because the film take place in the future. But this future seems lived in or dated and at times retro.  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: 8: The performance are solid. Jennifer Lawrence was very good. I sold on her as an actress, so far, X-men: First Class now The Hunger Games. There were some actor I wish I could mention but it will ruin it a tad bit, but they were awesome like usual.    

• Art Direction: 8: Personally I really like how the "world" or future world was more or less retro 80's meets aristocratic fashion. I also like the portrayal of social class or "districts" in the fashion and art. 

• Cinematography: 7: Overall it was well done, there was some issues was shake cam here and there. 

• Direction: 7: I felt the film started off a bit on the slow side but it pick up pace fairly quickly. The ending was a minor let down but I didn't read the book before hand so I don't know whats to come.  

• Editing: 7.5: Personally I say kudos cause with a "fight to the death" type of film death is spelled with a capital "D" meaning lots of blood and guts. This film did tastefully enough to keep PG-13 rating but still keep that edge.   

• Screenplay: 8: I really like the post apocalyptic, fight to the death for entertainment sub-genre concept over other  post apocalyptic genres. I thought the love story aspect of the film were on the week side but again I didn't read the books. This could have be one of the detail that were cut in the adaption phase. 

• Sound and Music: 7.5: The music worked for the film but did pop as much as I wanted to.

• VFX: 8: I already said I liked the "style" of this film. Well the VFX had a major helping hand in that process I assume. It was future but lived in. It was a future that seem not to distant from now.   

Overall: 7.5: I can say I enjoy this movie and honestly it was worth the money spent on it. One of my friends who read the books said that one of closest adaptions he saw in long while, so that's a plus. He said some of the casting where spot on. You may look at my rating and see it as on the low side, but I'm comparing it to the other major young adult fiction adapted books. I would have to rank them cinematically this way 1. Lord of the Rings 2. Harry Potter 3. The Hunger Games 4. Narnia 5 Every Other Movie That Fits The Category...100. Twilight      

Post Apocalyptic, Fight to the Death for Entertainment Sub-Genre Rant

Before I give my formal review on The Hunger Games, I want to make something clear. Movies or any other form of storytelling is always going to be based off a story already told. There is actually a word for this, is called an archetype. With that being said, guess what, The Hunger Games, and Battle Royal are built upon the same archetypes, therefore both movies will have similar themes, motifs and symbolic undertones. It happens to be that both movies are built on the roman ideal of entertainment known as “gladiators” For those of you who don’t know a gladiator was usually a slave or prisoner who was given the opportunity to fight to the death for their freedom. These gladiators would fight in coliseum as a specter sport. Take the “fight to the death” style of sport and mix it with reality television and what do you get, the plot of numerous movies today, let’s name a few. Besides, The Hunger Games, and Battle Royal, there is at least three films I can name right off the top of my head: The Condeemned (2007), Death Race (2008), and Gamer (2009). I know some of these maybe a stretch like Gamer because of mind control factor, but the fight to the death for entertainment theme is still there. I guess my main point here is that I kind of tired of hearing “This movie is exactly like that movie” Can anyone tell me what the difference between this list of movies are: Avatar, Dance with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Dune, Lawrence of Arabia, Fernguly, and Pocahontas.

Best of 2011 Sorted By Genre

This List is based on the movies that I saw last year, as you can see at the bottom there a good amount of movies I need to see to make a better, "Best of 2011 Sorted By Genre" 


Action: Transformers: Dark of the Moon 
Animation: Rango 
Comic Book: X-Men: First Class 
Comedy: 50/50 
Drama: The Help 
Epic/ Historical: The Conspirator 
Fantasy: Hugo 
Musical: The Muppets 
Sci-Fi: Super 8 
Sports: Moneyball 


Horrible Mentions: Captain America: The First Avenger, Drive, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Source Code, Thor, Warrior 


Movies I Haven’t Seen Yet: The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Like Crazy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tree of Life, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, War Horse

What to Watch Over the Holidays

Dear movie fans,

I want to start off by saying, “all good things have to come to the end.” With an opening like that you might be thinking I have to quite or even give up on this blog. Well, that’s not the case at all. Let’s just say my access to free movie watching has be terminated, yes my friends I have lost my job at my local movie theater. Hopefully this minor setback won’t suppress my passion for movies and filmmaking. I will try my best to keep my fellow film fans up to date on movie related news. As far as my movie reviews go, again I will try my best to keep them up to date. I won’t be able to literally watch every movie now, unless I pay an arm and leg for them. On the positive side I can now get some real use out of my “AMC Stubs” card, and really rack up rewards. I’m not paid to promote “AMC Stubs” card anymore but I personally think it’s a good rewards card if you frequently watch movies at an AMC theater.

With that being said what movie shall I spend my money on over the holidays? There is so many coming out that pique my interest, which I’m looking forward to. This weekend, December 16, 2011, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, both look promising. The Wednesday before Christmas on the 21st of December, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tintin come out. Both of these films will most likely be seen again around award season, as in the Oscars. I should have my Oscar predictions posted shortly after the nominations are announced. We Bought a Zoo comes out the Friday before Christmas on the 23th; personally it looks alright. Moving on to Christmas Day, a few movies come out and to tell you the truth none of them are really that “Christmassy.” The ones I would watch would be War Horse because of its potential Oscar buzz and The Darkest Hour, for its Sci-Fi themes. Feel free to tell me in the comment bellow what movies you might see over the holidays.

Review: The Muppets

IMDb

Title: The Muppets

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

Director: James Bobin

Writer(s): Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller,

Staring: Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper, and The Muppets

MPAA Rating: Rated Rated PG for some mild rude humor.

Running Time: 103 min

Synopsis: With the help of three fans, The Muppets must reunite to save their old theater from a greedy oil tycoon.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 97% (Fresh), Top Critics: 92% (Fresh), Audience: 91% (Like It)

Metacritic: Critics: 76 out of 100, Users: 8.6 out of 10

MRQE Metric: 80 out of 100

Yahoo Movies: Critics: NA Users: B+

My Review

Source Material: The charters were based on Jim Henson creations, but the story was original.  

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: The action comes to you in the from of slapstick, witch is hilarious.  

• Comedy Elements: Good old comedy, some is corny and others that are just down right funny.    

• Dramatic Elements: There is some real good dramatic parts, even thought a lot of them played out via musical style, but it was still good.    

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Old school VFX. Good old puppets shine bright in this film, wait a minute, I mean Muppets.   

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: 9: Add a lovable and musical friendly actress (Amy Adams) to a comic genus (Jason Segel) to an classic "puppet" act and you get gold. I know some people thought the movie 'breaking the fourth plane" was used to much. Personally, The Muppet knowing they are in a movie or that they are "puppets" is part of who they are, that's what makes it funny. 

• Art Direction: 8.5: I can only imagine the ingenuity the filmmaker have to come up with to make a good amount of "puppets" to come to life and be believable characters.  

• Cinematography: 8.5: I bet that it a challenge to shoot everything basically waste up especially on the Muppets, well because the puppeteers cant be in the shoot. It always amazes me to see an film shot with majority puppets if all.     

• Direction: 9: The film flowed nicely. You could see the amount of passion in the filmmaking. A great film coming from a guy behind "Flight of the Conchords"    

• Editing: 8.5: Very good job like I said before the film was very well paced.     

• Screenplay: 9: This film has a really good story. I wish every film was mad with the same passion as Jason Segel, there would be many more great film.      

• Sound and Music: 10: I want to buy this soundtrack so bad. not only did it have great classic song The Muppets are known for but good original ones too. 

• VFX: 8: Who cares about computer, when you have real life taking frog, pig, bear, and gonzo. Its the Muppet get excited for some fine puppetry.     

Overall: 9: I can say I enjoy this movie tremendously, and hope you do to. I think kids will like this film even though its not animated, maybe not the real young ones. Honestly, the adults may enjoy it more because we grew up on The Muppets. I highly recommend this film to everyone.    

Review: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

IMDb

Title: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Distributor: Summit Entertainment

Director: Bill Condon

Writer(s): Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay), Stephenie Meyer (novel)

Staring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, sexuality/partial nudity and some thematic elements

Running Time: 117 min

Synopsis: The Quileute's close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses a threat to the Wolf Pack and the towns people of Forks..

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 26% (Rotten), Top Critics: 27% (Rotten), Audience: 69% (Like It)

Metacritic: Critics: 45 out of 100, Users: 4.5 out of 10

MRQE Metric: 46out of 100

Yahoo Movies: Critics: NA Users: NA

My Review

Source Material: Based on the book written by Stephenie Meyer with the same name.  

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: The last ten to fifteen minutes get somewhat intense but the rest of the film is very melodramatic.  

• Comedy Elements: Some funny one liners from side charters.    

• Dramatic Elements: This movie has layer and layer of melodramatic moments.   

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: There is going to some sci-fi elements when dealing with "vampires" and "werewolf" but nothing to fancy that excites those parts of the brain   

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: 4: Honestly the side character are better actor then main three. Out of the main three I see Robert Pattinson getting prestige awards some day cause I have seen him in better roles. Out of the entire cast the one the deserves an award, not necessarily for her character in Twilight, is Anna Kendrick cause she is fantastic in just about everything.   

• Art Direction: 3: The only part I enjoy art wise about this film is it transformation from bright happy wedding to gloomy horror, personally that was the only redeeming factor to this film. 

• Cinematography: 3.5: I didn't really see much that excited me visually.  

• Direction: 1: The pacing of this film was slow. I felt like the filmmakers spent at least thirty to forty-five minutes on the wedding/ honey-moon scenes.   

• Editing: 2: I don't think the filmmaker know what the phrase "cut away the fat." Like I said before I think they should have spent less time on the wedding/ honey moon stuff. I understand that's what the women want but come one, move along.     

• Screenplay: 3: Can I say loop hole. I have discussed a few difference option that could have worked better than was in the film     

• Sound and Music: 5: The music was sadly one of the best parts of the film, for me.

• VFX: 1: One word terrible. You know this to be a fact when even the fans say, "I didn't like the special effects."   

Overall: 3: I'm way late on this review, with that being said, fans of all ages have already seen like a million times. Just look at the box office numbers. This review was more or less to get my opinion out there. Watch with cation though cause this film has caused people to pass out and even go into seizures.  

Immortals Review

IMDb

Title: Immortals

Distributor: Relativity Media

Director: Joe Johnston

Writer(s): Charley Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides

Staring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, John Hurt

MPAA Rating: Rated R for sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality.

Running Time: 110 min

Synopsis: Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion has declared war against humanity...

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 38% (Rotten), Top Critics: 25% (Fresh), Audience: 75% (Like It)

Metacritic: Critics: 48 out of 100, Users: 7.2 out of 10

MRQE Metric: 55 out of 100

Yahoo Movies: Critics: C- Users: B

My Review

Source Material: Based on on the Greek myths of Theseus and the Minotaur and the Titanomachy.

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: Honestly I wish the film had more of a epic feeling to it. Yes it has has some good action sequence but personally over all it fell a little short.

• Comedy Elements: There was no real comic relief, no one really to break the tension and seriousness. I remember a few cheesy line and stark comments. NO GOOD SIDE-KICK   

• Dramatic Elements: This film was mainly action driven but with that being there was a good amount of dramatic scenes which personally slowed the film down. 

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Greek mythology = high fantasy now days...so yes VFX were used. 

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: 7: Over All the actors put forth a good performance. When you exam this film the only real seasoned actors are Mickey Rourke and John Hurt. Mickey Rourke was a decent "bad guy" but I felt like he was board or didn't really care about his character. John Hurt was really good mentor type character, but not much screen time. I also enjoyed the beautiful Freida Pinto but her role and every other side charters role were weak.      

• Art Direction: 8: I liked the fact this film didn't portray the gods as "aged in wisdom" it was interesting to see them  portrayed as heroic 20 or 30 somethings. I also like the compare and contrast between the different "groups" Immortals vs Greeks (Theseus) vs Cretans (Hyperion).

• Cinematography: 6.5: I thought it could have been better. Personally I think Zack Snyder captures the "slow-motion / speed-up" effect better.  

• Direction: 6.5: With being an action film I thought the film moved slower than what I was wanting it to. I guess I was hopping for a 300 pace since it was shot with the same style.  

• Editing: 7: It was well edited but like everything else it kind of feel short.  

• Screenplay: 6: I love Greek mythology and lore, they make good stories, so how can you take a good heroic character like Theseus and basically screw it up. Maybe it was the director's fault for not driving the story he is know for visually awesome movies with weak stories. Come on dude Greek mythology is epic so tell a story that matches.     

• Sound and Music: 7: Over all it was good but again not up to par.

• VFX: 8: Like I said with the art direction on this film its beautiful. Good VFX all around...the gods smile upon this work. I thought the 3-D was weak though.  

Overall: 7: Personally I had a fairly good time watching this film. I love the action sequence especially the ones with gods...I enjoyed the "bad-ass" feel of the gods over the "aged in wisdom" Like I mention before. Personally after seeing it I don't feel one hundred present recommending it a friend to see at a theater, main because it not worth a full ticket price. Go on haft price day or wait and rent it on DVD.