Movie Morsels 78: The Hunger Games Review

As a huge and obsessive fan of The Hunger Games trilogy, I went out and saw the first movie on opening weekend (as y'all knew I would). I've had a blank post in the queue since then, just waiting for me to type out my review. But, as those of you who have heard this diatribe first-hand know, I get so dang worked up about the whole thing I just couldn't find the time (or will) to sit down and type it all out. Now, there are plenty of people who liked the movie and some of those have even read the book. But the majority of people that I talked to that liked the movie had not read the books - and that's precisely why they liked the movie. Because anyone in their right mind who has read the books could (and should!) not enjoy the film. It was too rushed. It cut out way too many relationships. It did away with Katniss' narration which completely obliterated most of what you were supposed to get out of the story. But most egregious of all is it made Peeta a whiny dude who closely resembled a pussy! And Peeta is sooooooooo not that person! I know THG isn't all about the romance and blah blah blah, I get that, but the relationship and dynamic between Peeta and Katniss is pretty critical to the entire series as a whole and the movie just did not do it justice AT ALL. Peeta is a super awesome guy and my favorite character (can you tell?). In fact, he's a lot of peoples' favorite character - Entertainment Weekly polled their readers and 27.77% voted Peeta their favorite character, #2 behind Katniss. (Gale only received 1.96% of the vote while "Other" got 2.79%. Ha ha! Suck it, Gale!!! Moving on.) But when I left the theater with Robert and Maria, going on and on about the hatchet job the movie did on his character, Maria said "Who was Peeta?" Not a good sign. When having a similar rant session with Wade just last weekend, he, too, asked "Which one was Peeta?" An even worse sign. And one of the techs at my clinic actually said "I was hoping Katniss would kill him." !!! This is NOT what you are supposed to think or feel about Peeta, people!!!!!!! Oh. My heart hurts. So, of course, I trolled the messaged boards to see who else agreed with me and I found this post, which I think sums things up nicely:

Movie Peeta is scripted differently than book Peeta. In the book, Peeta and Katniss are portrayed much more as equals. The mutual benefit of their relationship is much more obvious. His motives with the Careers are spelled out. Movie Peeta is stripped of most of book Peeta's wise and humorous lines. The bread scene is botched and becomes something for which he has to apologize. Book Peeta is confident, even while accepting his death. He comforts Katniss, while she is afraid he will die and leave her to fight alone again. None of that cave dialogue is included in the movie. The actor did well with what he was given, but I feel that the script short changed the character.

So true, Whateveryournameis. So true. And, just to add to your list of character inaccuracies portrayed in the movie, Book Peeta didn't puss out and fall off the rope ladder! Ugh. That annoyed me. You know I love my IBF Josh Hutcherson and I think he did the best with was he was given but geez. To say I was supremely disappointed would be an understatement. (And I wasn't only disappointed because Josh should have had a shirtless scene 'cause there was one in the book but we got to see bupkis. Though that was pretty disappointing.)

Still, I saw the movie a second time with my fellow THG-obsessor Kristine and I actually enjoyed that viewing a little bit more, no doubt because my expectations were so nonexistent that I was able to watch the movie for what it was and not spend 2 hours and 22 minutes waiting for it to get good. And I'll buy the DVD when it comes out, which brings me to the actual point of this post: The Hunger Games DVD is coming out on August 18.

But since this has turned more into a post about how poopy the movie is as compared to the book, I will share with you a couple of links that agree with me, as well as a cute Unscripted with Josh, Jennifer, and Elizabeth.

The Hunger Games: Book vs. Movie

THG: Review By a Moviegoer Who Never Read the Book

Unscripted - The Hunger Games - Complete Interview

Procrastination Games

I am supposed to be working on a school project right now (a sample client handout about canine herpesvirus... fun!) so, of course, I'm buying my tickets for and watching YouTube videos about The Hunger Games. (Just as an aside, I've gotten two of my classmates hooked since I last posted so it's really time you start thinking about giving them a try.) And so, to kill even more time, I have embedded all of the best ones right here just for me you.

 

BRAND NEW clip! Squee for Peeta!

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Entertainment Tonight's behind-the-scenes footage (with a cave scene blip!):


L.A. Q&A session from the current mall tour (you can read an amusing recap of the event here):


Newly released scene - Katniss meets Cinna:


I always like Josh Horowitz interviews but this is a teeny one:

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And, because he's my inappropriate boyfriend and the clip is mostly about THG:

Only 22 Days!

Til The Hunger Games hits theaters and I can't wait!!! And just look at what's showing up (hopefully) in my mailbox tomorrow:

“Is it violent?” says director Gary Ross of his PG-13 film. “Yes. Do we back off from what it is? No, we don’t.”

The March 23 release of The Hunger Games is nearly upon us. While we can’t make the clock turn any faster, we can offer fans of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling dystopian trilogy (and newcomers, too) a deep, behind-the-scenes look into the making of the film, from conception to casting, filming to marketing.

Perhaps no bit of casting news was met with greater surprise than Lenny Kravitz taking on the role of Cinna, hero Katniss Everdeen’s deeply cool and compassionate stylist. Kravitz was working on his album, living out of a trailer in the Bahamas and oblivious to the Hunger Games phenomenon, when Ross first approached him to offer him the part. The director had been moved by the musician’s gentle grace in Precious and was further intrigued by the fact that Kravitz already felt a nurturing bond with star Jennifer Lawrence, who had become close friends with his daughter Zoe during the filming of X-Men: First Class. “I love that girl,” says Kravitz. “The minute I met her she became a part of the family.”


It took one sleepless night of reading a downloaded version of The Hunger Games in his trailer for Kravitz to commit. But Woody Harrelson, who initially turned down the role of Katniss and Peeta’s sodden wreck of a mentor Haymitch, was a harder sell. “Listen, I’m nuts,” he explains. “It was just a stupid thing where I hadn’t read the books yet. I didn’t see that there was enough for me to do in the script. But then Gary called me back and said ‘You got to do this, I don’t have a second choice for the role.’ And of course flattery always gets the best of me so I read the books and really saw the depths of this guy. Holy s—, I would have been bummed to miss this.”

I just finished the third and final book yesterday and am re-listening to THG to see if I pick up anything new now that I know how the story ends. Have I mentioned that they're awesome books and you should be reading them right now? Cause they really are. And you really should.

My New Obsession

Is The Hunger Games. I loooooooooooove it! I resisted it for a long time, writing it off as a young adult book that wouldn't interest me but both my friend, Kristine, and one of the techs at my clinic have just raved about it over the last couple of months so I finally caved. Kristine has all three books of the trilogy as MP3 files so she handed them over to me and I just finished the first book Thursday. The story was so good I couldn't wait to listen more and find out what happened! I loaded it onto my iPod and listened to it in the car, while I cooked and even in the shower. So good!!! Now I'm devouring every trailer and morsel of information I can find about the upcoming movie adaptation (out March 23) because, as I said, I'm obsessed. I already have a date with Kristine to see the movie when it comes out and if any of you are waffling on whether or not to give the books a whirl, I say go for it! I will totally share my audio files with you. :o)

EW.com dissects the new trailer!

The Hollywood Reporter : The High Stakes of The Hunger Games

And I have to add that I am so excited that Josh Hutcherson is one of the lead roles. Were I 16 years old, I would be squeeing over him massively! Seriously. It's kind of embarrassing. I just think he's the cutest darn thing and a good actor to boot. I've liked him since Bridge to Terabithia (I have always been a sucker for a guy an actor that can cry) and I'm happy to see him grab a big, meaty role. But I realize I am a creepy old lady with an inappropriate crush so I will just have to fangirl on the inside...