Released on November 20th, 2015, I am far overdue in writing a review about this movie. I almost trashed it from the back burner completely, but I figured I had better write it eventually, because I wrote reviews about the other three films, and I felt I had to “complete the set”. The problem is,…
This fall’s most anticipated movie is obvious: Mockingjay, Part 2. The movie producers certainly have a way of hyping fans up before the release. As with the previous film, there have been staged social media “hacks”. I think it’s really clever when this “life imitating art” strategy is used to promote movies. The same strategy was used…
Yesterday it was announced that Mockingjay, Part 1 was dethroned after three weeks at the #1 spot in America. For me, I felt that this was totally deserved, except that it really should have stayed on the top spot longer. It’s not only a great first half to what is bound to be an epic conclusion with Mockingjay, Part…
“If this is to end in fire, then we shall all burn together.” Sound familiar? The above quotation comes from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which came out last year. Now, appearing in the latest and final trailer for Mockingjay, Part 1, we have Katniss saying this: I have a message for President Snow: if we…
Whomever is behind the Mockingjay publicity campaign deserves a raise. The two Mockingjay teaser trailers that have been released thus far have been absolutely perfect. You’ve likely heard of “life imitating art”. Well, this is “art imitating life”. Both trailers are presented as though they are real addresses by President Snow to Panem. This second…
Chills. This perfect trailer is perfect. It’s perfect, because it’s so ridiculously simple. It doesn’t show us several glimpses from the movie mashed-up together, as you’d typically expect from a teaser trailer. No. Instead, this teaser trailer simply shows us President Snow addressing the nation of Panem, with Peeta standing wistfully by his side. It…
Critics say yes. Audience reviews and Twitter reactions say yes. The box office numbers say yes. I say yes. There are two ways that we can answer this question. First, is Catching Fire a better movie? Second, is Catching Fire a better adaptation? Both are valid questions, and both answers are still yes, in my opinion.…
Two sides are at war. Battles are televised. Interviews with each side are televised. You watch them. You hang on to every word. But you don’t really know, deep down, who to trust. You don’t know who the real enemy is. You only know what your parents tell you, and what their parents told them.…
Upon finishing reading The Hunger Games, I was about as reluctant to continue reading the series as I was to start the series, for mostly the same reasons. The dystopian setting. Kids killing kids. The hopelessness of their existence. And yet, this afternoon, I was struck with a sudden resolve to read Catching Fire, the…