Everything Is Catching Fire

Hubbin took me to the movie Catching Fire last weekend, based on the book of the same name and second in the Hunger Game series. The main thing I took away from this film is that the director took the title very seriously and pretty much set everything on fire.  Clothes, trees, people, villages, food, whatever it was all on fire.  But lets get to the good stuff shall we, the big question is always how did it compare to the book.  This was an interesting one for several reasons.  One I was not a huge fan of the second half of the book, so my caring level for the movie was already at a lower threshold then for the first one.  Second, this movie had a much bigger and flashier budget then the first movie did so instantly the costumes, sets, and effects were already better.  Keeping both of those things in mind here is how I felt about the movie compared to the book.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD! Also I am going to assume you have either read the book and/or watched the movie and not spell out the plot.

As far as the Hunger Games trilogy was concerned I always wanted to combine the first half of Catching Fire with the second half of the third book Mockingjay to make a perfect book.  I felt the second half of Catching Fire as a book kinda was an excuse to have another Hunger Games and it felt like a recycled idea.  The first half however, dealing with the aftermath of the games and the realization that there was never going to be an end, that even as winners they were the Capitals playthings until they died was pretty heavy and awesome.  The movie I felt went a bit further away from the book then the first one did, focusing on President Snow (I love you Donald Sutherland!) and his need to keep any and all possible dissension controlled. The movie

rolled through a lot of stuff pretty quickly, the victory tour, Peeta and Katniss being weird with there partially pretend romance, Haymitches excessive drinking, and the crackdown on District 12.  This all was explored pretty thoroughly in the book and was shown in pretty quick succession in the movie. What I thought they did really well was show Katniss trying to quell the rebellion by following President Snow's orders, she was never trying to incite rebellion, she was simply trying to stay alive and after the games keep her loved ones safe.  I liked the progression the movie showed of her realizing how much danger her family was in, how hard she tried to "behave" and then finally realizing nothing she did would ever be enough so she may as well fight back. I felt that they glossed over the whole Peeta and Katniss love/fake love/maybe not fake love story, which normally I am all for 'cause I am not a huge romance fan, but in the book the added tension of these two trying to survive in close quarters while this huge thing hangs there was kind of great and added some dimension to the typical teenage love story.  In the movie it was all resolved in the first 20 minutes with a quick chat and then poof all better blah!  I actually liked how they did the Quarter Quell better in the movie, with it seeming to be more obvious that the President was using the games as a means to eliminate all the victors, while in the book it seemed like a happy coincidence that the old founders of the game wrote up this version of the game long before President Snow needed to rid his country of the victors.  I wish we had gotten to see more of the other
victors in the movie.  In the book they studied old videos of the various victors to try and figure out there strengths and weaknesses and we learn some surprising things about various people. At the Capitol in the book there is also a lot more conversation on how the victors are used and abused.  Finnik especially is blunt about what the victors have to do to survive post-games.  We get a bit of that in the movie but not nearly as dark and heavy as in the book.  Also can I just say I am not a Jenna Malone fan and it sadly ruined the character of Johanna for me, which is sad 'cause I liked her bitchy only helping 'cause I've got nothing left attitude in the book.  The casting for everybody else was very well done and I am still in love with Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman...seriously if they made a spin-off with him I would watch it every day.  The costumes were stunning, the makeup surreal, the sets fantastic, special effects well done and the camera work motion sick inducing...seriously they kept zooming in on weird things, I think I saw Katniss's left nostril at least three times.  Overall I enjoyed it, it kept completely to the plot of the book, adding a bit here, leaving out a bit there but nothing to change the basic story.  I hear they are going to make Mockingjay into a two parter (groan) so we shall see how that goes, probably more running around and angst.  I would recommend this movie to anybody who read the books and/or watched and enjoyed the first movie.  We have a couple more book inspired movies coming out so I shall watch them and post on them later.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Do you find that you lose all the tension when you watch a movie that you already know the outcome?  How important is casting to a movie made from a book?  Do I spend way to much energy on a simple pop film?

Ender On The Big Screen

As I mentioned last week, we went and saw the movie version of Ender's Game and it was totally worth it.  I had read the book to my Hubbin on our daily commute (yep I married a guy who lets me read my favorite books to him all the time, I think he's a keeper) so he was just as excited and nervous as I was to see what they would do with it.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD.

I am going to assume that if you are reading this you have either read the book or watched the movie or both so I am not going to go into a lot of plot details.  In fact lets start with the plot.  I thought that the movie did an excellent job with keeping the important parts of the plot of the story completely intact.  In fact the only thing they really left out was the political shenanigans of Ender's older siblings, which in all honesty we figured would happen.  It makes sense in the context of the movie because a) it does not have a direct impact on the rest of the plot (for this book) b) it would be boring to watch people typing on the internet for hours at a time c) if you are not interested in obscure philosophical ideas it's kind of pointless and boring.  They did however leave in Peter's cruelness and Valentines bond with Ender which I thought was well done and necessary.

They used Petra as Ender's besty instead of Bean, which irritated me a bit 'cause I loved Bean in the book, but I understood they were trying to add some femaleness to the male dominated story again nothing that altered the plot. The ages of the kids that went to battle school was raised, but I understand that they can't show 6 year olds beating the crap out of each other and get a decent rating...though it did take a smidge of some of the horror of what they were doing to these kids away. They also altered the ending a bit, making it more of a complete movie and less open ended, again worked perfectly for the movie.  Onto the casting.  I think when it comes to making a movie from a book, especially such a well known book that has been around for years, casting is key.  The wrong person in a part can be distracting and irritating and just wrong (I'm looking at you Josh Hutcherson as Peeta). This movie got the casting dead on.  Asa Butterfield was a genius choice as far as casting goes, he was by turns tough, smart, lonely, angry, scared all while maintaining a weird genius socially awkward calm that was perfect. I can watch Harrison Ford in anything and his turn as Colonel Graff is no exception.  I liked the change of Major Anderson to a female for the film and Viola Davis was wonderful to watch in that role.  My favorite (other then Ender) casting choice may have been for the role of Bonzo, the older, competitive boy who feels the need to prove himself against Ender, Moises Arias was superb for that role.  In some ways I am glad that they waited for so long to make this movie as the visual effects were stunning.  The landscapes, the space battles, the school, all done beautifully.  I especially loved seeing the scenes in the Battle Room come to life and wish we had been able to watch even more battles.  As you can probably tell I loved this movie, it did justice to one of my favorite books, not glossing over any of the difficult points which make it such a discussable story.  I would recommend it to anyone who has read and loved the original book. I give it 8 out of 10 Asteroids.

What did you think of the movie?  Do you ever read a book and edit it for a movie in your head?  Are you shocked that I actually approve of a movie of a book?

Kidoween

Watched Hocus Pocus last night, definitely one of my favorite Halloween movies.  I then spent the rest of the night discussing with my two sisters how to best get together one Halloween and dress up as the Sanderson sisters, all in all a very good night.

A little creepy for a children's movie

This got me thinking how much I enjoy kid stuff around Halloween.  The books and movies intended for the younger crowd are surprisingly dark and delicious, here are a few of my favorites when it comes to Halloween Jr.

Cinderella Skeleton

A new acquisition this year and it is wonderful, the illustrations are graveyard perfect, the story is written in spooky rhyme and it is the perfect book for any fairytale/undead lover.

A Halloween Treat

Anything by Edward Gorey is gonna be a little on the awesomely grotesque side, but this one is perfect for a pre-trick or treat read.

I Spy Spooky Night

I love all of the I Spy books (note to self buy more I Spy books).  This one is always a favorite with the young crowd.

The Berenstain Bears: Trick or Treat

Ah nostalgia plays the biggest role in this pick.  I love me some Berenstain Bears!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

I love the colors in this book, it is also awesome to read out loud you get to make lots of scary noises :-)

Hopefully these have inspired you to give the children's section a quick glance next time you are at your local bookstore, I have most of these on my shelf and I don't even have the excuse of kids (unless you count the six foot tall one I am married too!).  

Ok ok here is the other awesome song!