Something Pretty Awesome in a Nutshell You Ought to Read

I'm sorry I haven't posted, I WAS IN SHOCK. Then I recovered, went to see The Hunger Games again, and WENT back INTO SHOCK. Is this going to be a good movie review? Yes. But don't stop reading now I've ruined it. You'll miss the big news. Here- I'll indent and everything.

I thought this movie would stink.

Not that I wanted it to. What kind of despicable human being would be rooting for the Hunger Games to fail? The kind of human being who hates Nutella and pauses Zac Effron movies just to punch the screen. I wanted this movie one of those movies that wins every Oscar and everybody gets sick of hearing about except for me. But I was worried about it, especially after watching every one of the teeny tiny little clips they let leak to the internet. There were like, two, but I was still worried, because they didn't look all that great.

Well, apparently I'm not a very good judge of movie character at first sight, because, news flash: that movie rocked. Way for crushing my expectations to a pulp and then blowing my little fan-girl mind with awesomeness. An FYI for you, just in case you live in District 13 and haven't seen it (because why else would you have not seen it yet?): Hunger Games rocked. Me, 85% of American movie critics, and (most likely) Miley Cyrus* say so.

But unfortunately, I'm not here to give you a list of Ten Reasons Why You Will Fall in Love With Josh Hutcherson After This Movie (although I do have a list of that), or rave about Katniss' dresses or use fifty-seven exclamation points or something. I'm here to make another point. Something slightly more important (then I'll get to that stuff). 

It didn't stink, (YAY!) but it wasn't perfect either. Hang with me for two more seconds and I'll tell you why.

(Lots of spoilers ahead. If you don't like spoilers, you're a little bit too grumpy for a pink blog, and should be reading something else. LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES. Then come back.)

Number one. Too little character development between Peeta and Katniss. Character development between your love interests, my friends at Lionsgate, is the magic secret to adorable romances.Where, in an action packed romance thriller, are we going to fit character development? Suzy Collins knew. I know now too, because I listen to Suzy Collins. And it isn't very hard.

If you ask me, all we needed for me not to have to complain about this was ten more minutes in the cave scene. Clear up Katniss' internal conflict (namely, the fact that she's having any at all) and let Peeta rant about his undying love a bit. For just seven minutes. Just a little bit more. That's all it would take.

I know, I know: selling the show for the romance turns all us crying fans in the audience into the Capitol and that's not the point. But it sort of is. The genius irony behind the story is that we are the audience. Also, Katniss and Peeta's romance is sort of kind of, just a little bit, maybe the crux of the yet to come monsters of box office domination that are Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Giving the romance more to go on would make sequels easier.

But instead, we have one conversation where Peeta sounds like a stalker (but Josh can pull it off anyway!), Katniss gives him ONE kiss (yes I counted how many kisses there were in this movie- but it isn't very hard to count to ONE) then poof! Holy Haymitch does your head injury look better. Let's get out of here and be attacked by wild dogs.

Costumes. They're fine. But The Hunger Games isn't like Twilight. It's not a fad the world loves now and but is going to laugh at in 2025 (and laugh at a little right now, too). Hunger Games is a story that future generations will probably need to hear even more than we need to. It has a message we can't afford to forget. While in 2012 all the tributes look pretty awesome and inspire Halloween costumes, they're decked out in 2012 every bit as much as we are. 

In 1982, Tron was nominated for Academy Awards for outfits that lit up. Now I look at those costumes, and it's a joke I can't take seriously. Hunger Games can't afford that. They needed to make it look eternal.
This leaks into set, too. If they wanted my kids to one day take it seriously, everything should have been classic. The Capitol, gold and marble and velvet style.

I have a little bit more, but I'll complain later to anybody who'll listen in the school hallway. Now, would you like to hear some awesome reasons the movie is worth watching anyway? And watching again?

1. Jennifer Lawrence just makes Katniss better. So much better, in fact, that the character may even be tolerable in Mockingjay! And that's saying something. What it's saying is, she rocked it.

2. The Capitol is Salt Lake City. In the books, it says it's surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. And if you look, for seven whole seconds, you can see my Rockies, right behind Effie's apartment building. I like to think Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins snuck into my backyard to get the footage.

3. Somebody is an awesome cinematographer. I didn't watch the credits that closely, but Somebody gets my kudos.

4. Two words. Elisabeth Banks. One quote. "That is MAHOGANY!" And a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

5. Do you even need a list of Ten Reasons You Should Fall in Love With Josh Hutcherson?

*I'm just assuming, here, seeing as her boyfriend is in a full eight minutes of this movie.

Your Hunger Games FYI

I looked back on blogs of school years past- all eight of them . . . or are there nine? I lost track around sixth grade. On one of my better named blogs, in my opinion, Read My Print: A Blog for All Book Maniacs (but mainly one) I wrote book reviews for anyone in the world that cared, fifth grade through seventh. Most of my posts were endless; they took up pages. If you've ever had a book discussion with me, you'll know why this is. I found the blog to be good therapy.

On these endless blogs, I tended to score about two to three comments from people who felt bad for me. The final post, however, was a complete hit, and it went like this:

News Flash

There is going to be a Hunger Games movie coming out in 2011! I'm very excited. I have confidence in it to stay close to the book, too, because the author, Suzanne Collins, is writing the screen play. Tell you when I hear more!

Two lines. Really? Apparently that's all you have to do to get followers around here, post about The Hunger Games movie. Even though I never posted again, (possibly out of outrage at the injustice done to my book reviews), I did hear more about the movie. Plenty more. And anyone who lives with me can vouch.

I can't help it, I'm excited. My friends and I dutifully attended the movie premieres of everything from True Grit to Beastly, searching for just the right cast. You know, because our opinions matter so much to Suzanne Collins. I read the NY Times articles and the MTV interviews. Even Anna knows what I'm talking about now. Just ask her who's playing Katniss now, she'll tell you. But we're getting to that.

As a little experiment, I'd like to see if the magic of a Hunger Games post still holds. Here's the lowdown for all the only slightly less devoted fans on The Hunger Games movie:

The screen play for the movie was co-written by the author of the novel, Suzanne Collins, which should give you hope already. The movie will be directed by Gary Ross, who's done all sorts of great movies I've never heard of.

Last month, they cast Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone as Katniss. She's twenty, blonde, and built like Taylor Swift, but the more I hear about her the more I actually like her. And there's such a thing as hair dye. Suzanne Collins actually said her main concern in casting the lead was that they would choose someone to young. True, the heroine tends to act pretty far from your typical sixteen year old.

A couple weeks ago, Josh Hutcherson, who I haven't seen since he was eleven in Bridge to Terrabithia, was cast as Peeta, and Liam Hemsworth, that guy from The Last Song, was cast as Gale. Personally, I think he looks like my uncle. Suzanne Collins can't stop raving about them either- or Jen, telling the world how much the embody the characters. I guess she would know.