The Tagline: The Hunger Games. I thought that with it recently out on DVD that it would be fun to talk about the dystopian action film The Hunger Games, based on the young adult novel of the same name. The film follows the life of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, you might remember her as Mystique in X- Men: First Class) who volunteers to partake in the games to take the place of her sister. The games are essentially the same scenario as the one played out in the Japanese film/book/manga franchise Battle Royale. For those who aren't familiar, a number of adolescents are pitted in a fight to the death until only one remains.
In the case of the Hunger Games, one boy and one girl are chosen from each of 1. Capitol. The movie follows the lead up to the actual games, and then the ensuing violence. Other notable cast include Gale, Katniss' friend/hunting buddy/confusing love interest (played by Thor's little brother, Liam Hemsworth) Effie Trinket, the herald of the Capitol (played by a heavily made up Elizabeth Banks, most recently you might have seen her on NBC's 3. Rock as Avery Jessup), Stanley Tucci as the Capitol's favorite talk show host and Lenny Kravitz as Katniss' stylist Cinna (yes, that's right Lenny Kravitz). For starters, I enjoyed the book, and the movie hedges pretty close to it in pretty much every regard. So does that mean I enjoyed it as much as the book?
The movie was cast very well, and the actors all play their parts superbly. The effects were good, with the Capitol looking suitably surreal and futuristic, while the districts were rustic and low tech.
The effects on the mutants at the end were a little rough, but otherwise everything looked good and sounded good. This film is about teenagers (or in some cases not quite teenagers) savagely killing each other in an arena for the amusement of a live audience. The movie was rated PG- 1. R rating. You would not be keeping a PG- 1. Even without coming right out and showing it though, you still get brief flashes, and I think that, as in so many other cases teasing rather than just coming out and showing ends up being more effective. I feel the same way about most horror movies for that matter. While the book ends on something of an open ended cliff- hanger, the movie leaves most of that off, giving a much more .
Gale Hawthorne Hunger Games. Save Learn more at imdb.com. Finnick Sugar Finnick Odair Funny Finnick Her close friend Gale has his name in 42 times. IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities : Junglee.com Shop Online in India.
It seemed like they should've included more of a cliffhanger given that they are already shooting for the sequel. Then again, this movie certainly grossed like it was, finishing out its theatrical run at a whopping 6.
No surprise then that they immediately started shooting on the sequel. Critics generally liked it too, and the ones who didn't were the sorts who wanted it to go to the 'next level' whatever the hell that means. Join me on Thursday, I'll serve up a total piece of crap, I promise.
The Hunger Games (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Hunger Games is a 2. American dystopianscience fictionadventure film directed by Gary Ross and based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. It is the first installment in The Hunger Games film series and was produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, with a screenplay by Ross, Collins, and Billy Ray. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers to take her younger sister's place. Joined by her district's male tribute, Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson), Katniss travels to the Capitol to train for the Hunger Games under the guidance of former victor Haymitch Abernathy (Harrelson).
Development of The Hunger Games began in March 2. Lions Gate Entertainment entered into a co- production agreement with Color Force, which had acquired the rights a few weeks earlier.
Collins collaborated with Ray and Ross to write the screenplay. The screenplay expanded the character of Seneca Crane to allow several developments to be shown directly to the audience and Ross added several scenes between Crane and Coriolanus Snow.
The main characters were cast between March and May 2. Principal photography began in May 2. September 2. 01. 1, with filming taking place in North Carolina. The Hunger Games was shot entirely on film as opposed to digital. The film was released on March 2. European countries.
The Hunger Games: 1/3 (Hunger Games Trilogy) eBook: Suzanne Collins: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store. His name is in the mix 42 times. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part. Part 1 at the Internet Movie Database; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 at Box Office Mojo.
When the film released, it set records for opening day ($6. Like the novel, the film has been noted for its similarities to other works, such as Robert Sheckley's short story . Collins stated in an interview that her novel and screenplay drew on sources of inspiration such as the myth of Theseus, Roman gladiatorial games, reality television, and the desensitization of viewers to media coverage of real- life tragedy and war, not to think as just an audience member, . For her performance, Lawrence won the Saturn Award for Best Actress, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie, the Empire Award for Best Actress and was also nominated for the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.
As punishment for a past rebellion, each of the twelve districts of the nation of Panem is forced by the victorious Capitol to annually select two tributes, one boy and one girl between the ages of 1. Hunger Games. In District 1. Katniss Everdeen volunteers after her younger sister Primrose is initially chosen by lot.
She and the male tribute, Peeta Mellark, are escorted to the Capitol by chaperone Effie Trinket and their mentor Haymitch Abernathy, a past District 1. Haymitch impresses on them the importance of gaining sponsors, as they can provide gifts of food and supplies during the Games. During part of a series of televised interviews, Peeta publicly expresses his love for Katniss, which she initially takes as an attempt to earn sponsors for himself but later learns that it could help her.
While training, Katniss observes the Careers: Marvel, Glimmer, Cato, and Clove, tributes from Districts 1 and 2 who have been training for the Games from a young age. At the start of the Games, Katniss ignores Haymitch's advice and grabs supplies from the ground around the Cornucopia, a place filled with food, weapons and other supplies where the contestants start, and narrowly escapes being killed by Clove; about a quarter of the tributes are killed in the initial melee, and only eleven survive the first day. Katniss tries to stay as far away from the other competitors as possible, but Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane triggers a forest fire to drive her back towards the others. She runs into the Careers, with whom Peeta has seemingly allied, and flees up a tree. The Career pack fails to kill her and Peeta advises them to wait for her to come down.
She notices Rue, District 1. Rue silently draws her attention to a nest of poisonous tracker jackers, genetically modified wasps that can cause hallucinations and death. Using a serrated knife, she cuts the branch holding the wasps, causing it to fall and release them onto the Careers. Marvel, Cato and Clove escape, while Glimmer succumbs to the venom and dies. Katniss is stung, and becomes disoriented from the venom, hallucinating the death of her father. After Rue helps Katniss recover from the poison, they become friends. Katniss devises a plan to destroy the cache of supplies that the Careers have been hoarding.
After Katniss succeeds, Cato angrily kills a boy from District 3 who was supposed to be watching the supplies. Marvel finds them and kills Rue with a spear, and Katniss shoots him in the heart with an arrow, killing him. Katniss comforts Rue with a song; after the girl dies, the grieving Katniss places flowers around her body. She then holds three fingers up to a camera, as a way to honor Rue towards District 1. Capitol. The people of District 1. President Snow to warn Crane that these Games are not turning out well. Haymitch persuades Crane to change the rules to allow two winners if they are from the same district, suggesting that this will quiet the unrest.
When this change is announced, Katniss searches for Peeta, finding him wounded after fleeing from the Careers. He tells her Cato found out that he was intending to return to Katniss, leading him to stab Peeta with a sword. After she moves him to safety, they hear an announcement that what each survivor needs the most will be provided at the Cornucopia. Despite Peeta's strong opposition, Katniss leaves to get medicine for him. Clove attacks and pins her down; she then boasts about her part in Rue's death. Katniss is saved when Thresh, District 1. Clove. He spares Katniss's life .
The medicine heals Peeta. The two devise a plan to leave fatal Nightlock berries out for Cato so they can kill him, but Peeta disappears and Katniss is horrified to find the berries on his jacket. Peeta is found fine, and they discover District 5's female tribute whom Katniss had dubbed . For the finale of the Games, Crane has wild beasts unleashed into the arena which attack and kill Thresh. The beasts chase Katniss and Peeta onto the roof of the Cornucopia where Cato is hiding, and after a long fight, the two subdue him and throw him to the beasts below, which maul him. Katniss then proceeds to shoot and kill Cato, ending his misery.
Katniss and Peeta think they have won, but Crane cancels the rule change: there can be only one victor. Katniss then convinces Peeta to eat Nightlock berries with her. Just before they do, they are hastily named co- winners of the 7. Hunger Games. Afterward, Haymitch warns Katniss that she has made many enemies by her acts of defiance.
Snow has Crane locked in a room where the only source of food is nightlock. As Katniss and Peeta return to District 1. Snow ponders the situation.
Katniss encourages Peeta to forget what happened between them in the Games, devastating him. Production. I created the game center and also expanded the role of Seneca Crane for those reasons. I thought it was tonally important. The look of the control center, the antiseptic feeling of it and the use of holograms were all intended to make the arena feel 'constructed' even when you weren't seeing the control room. We wanted to find a way to introduce them without having to explain specifically and exactly what they were and the game room was a really great opportunity for us to be able to do that.
And then she came in and read for me and just knocked me out; I'd never seen an audition like that before in my life. It was one of those things where you just glimpse your whole movie in front of you. Reilly was in talks with Lions Gate Entertainment to portray Haymitch Abernathy. Multiple- Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland was cast as President Coriolanus Snow in late May 2. Other stars who dyed their hair for the movie include Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale.
Forbes magazine estimated that the state economy gained up to $6. Ross and production designer Phil Messina drew on the buildings of the 1. New York World's Fair and symbols of political power including Tiananmen Square and Red Square, when designing the Capitol architecture, which they wanted .
Along with separate songs from Swift and The Civil Wars, the soundtrack also features songs by The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, The Secret Sisters, Miranda Lambert featuring The Pistol Annies. Jennifer Lawrence singing . The album debuted at No. Billboard Top 2. 00 chart, having sold 1. It is one of just 1.
Top 2. 00 and the first since Michael Jackson's This Is It to debut at #1. The group composed the grand, fascistic- inspired, ominous Panem national anthem, entitled . So as a thought experiment, we tried to write what that might sound like. It's like the Capitol's idea of itself, basically. More of an anthem that could be playing at a big sporting event like the .
So we did a structure for that, and then James Newton Howard made a movie- score version of it that happens in several places in the film. It still has one foot in the band's uncorrupted neighborhoods, but another is up on the podium at the end of Star Wars accepting an Olympic gold medal or something. Horns blare, a choir booms, strings swell, the martial percussion steals the show, and we just realized how much we love Big Brother. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 8. The site's consensus states . According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence embodies Katniss, .
Justin Craig of Fox News rated the film as . A darker, more mature franchise has come to claim your throne.
Despite being a largely positive review, he criticized the film for being too long and noted that the film misses opportunities for social criticism. Reynolds also spoke highly of Lawrence's performance and director Gary Ross, whose . This is a grounded, thoughtful and sometimes quite emotional film, with its dark scenario given due weight.