it was just too dark and somber for me, both visually and thematically. The acting was superb.
My comment wasn’t directed at Chefguy either. It was for the two people who gave it an F without even having seen it. Unless they went to the Marathon the day before, or saw one of the first showings of the day (and who would do either unless they were already fans?), they rated it without having seen it. I believe the 3rd F was probably given by someone who had seen it but it still perplexes me. Why do people even GO to movies they think they’d hate enough to give it an F? Unless they’re book fans who hate the BIG change so much they’re willing to hate the rest of the movie to punish it.
It doesn’t matter, none of it matters, and I should have kept my mouth shut. I do try to make an effort to stay out of movie threads because I can easily get myself into trouble by spouting off, but sometimes I’m weak.
I like the books (except for the ending of Mockingjay) because I like Katniss, and I like being inside her head and knowing her thoughts. I like the movies because they open up the world. I can see what’s going on while knowing details the movie can’t show. Then, when I go back and read the books, I picture most (not all) of the actors as the characters.
Gotcha. That annoys me too, like people who rate recipes poorly after changing half the ingredients.
I saw this last night and was very disappointed. I thought the overall pace of the movie was slow, the story did little to help me understand why they were in the position they were in, scenes seemed to drag on and on for no apparent reason, and Jennifer Lawrence’s performance was mediocre at best. She had some good scenes but most of the time I was bored silly. I gave it a “D”.
Did you forget what happened in the first two movies?
What scenes?
I’m sorry you felt that way. I think I know Katniss very well, having read the books several times. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was wonderful, portraying a wide range of emotions, from nervous breakdowns (two of them), to horror and empathy when seeing the injured, even bigger horror and anger at what happened to them, the various understandings about what being the Mockingjay meant (from feeling silly, surprised, moved, daunted, resolved), and much more. Katniss is not an over-the-top character who has a lot of scenery-chewing moments. She’s taciturn in the best of times. She’s in the middle of something extremely traumatic and it’s not over yet. I don’t think they could have picked a better actor to play Katniss. Jennifer Lawrence can convey a lot with minimal facial movements. She’s perfect in the role.
I stayed to the end to read the credits, and it is her voice. I also wanted to know who did the music over the end credits - it turned out to be Lorde.
Usually I dislike the “half head shave” look, but she absolutely rocked it. I wanted to fistbump her every time I saw her.
The Peeta interviews also really reminded me of the brainwashed Bree commercials in Lonelygirl15, which is not a bad thing.
I gave it an A-. Mockingjay was my least favorite of the books, and I like that the movies are expanding on it, because it was fairly limited. I’ve just about decided that Jennifer Lawrence is going to be the next Meryl Streep; she needs to play a villain, though. It was extremely intense, although they all are to differing degrees. I did have one point in it (which I also had when reading the book) where I really wanted Katniss to look at them and go, “I’m a 17 year old girl!!! Why are you asking me to do this?”
My comment to my husband on the singing (which was lovely): “If that doesn’t prove that District 12 is Appalachia, then nothing does.”
Gotta admit, I was bored out of my mind waiting for something to happen beyond the constant and irritating hand-wringing over Peeta (who, after two films, has proven himself to be sincere but mostly useless). At least the first two films had the Hunger Games as a driving force, but this was like visiting the two Matrix sequels, where it’s all about the Revolution and internal politics of blah blah blah and I don’t care.
My primary interest was to see PSH, and watching him again with Julianne Moore was like a small delightful little PTA reunion (since they were in Boogie Nights and Magnolia together). But I continue to be astounded by how good J-Law can be in more demanding roles (she was phenomenal in Winter’s Bone and American Hustle) but seems completely set adrift in these films–though it doesn’t help that Katniss is written as a bit of a wishy-washy pill.
I didn’t like the first HG at all but the second one was better, primarily because of Jena Malone and Jeffrey Wright, neither of whom had much to do this time around (and I was surprised how much I missed Lenny Kravitz until he was gone).
The Hanging Tree anthem is a nice touch, but still can’t compare to the greatest Hanging Tree movie song ever (though I’ll admit that film isn’t much better than this one). I gave it a D because it spent a ton of time running in circles only to leave you hanging in a seemingly unnecessary cliffhanger. Peter Jackson didn’t need 3 films for The Hobbit and I’m skeptical this book (unread by me) needed two films either.
I enjoyed even the ridiculous “save the cat” bit and Katniss’ super laser awesome bow and arrow set.
I do think they have done a poor job getting me to sympathize with the districts…since they seem to be filled with morons.
The lumberjack district uprising—literally hundreds of people with axes and other sharp, brutal things that can be used as weapons march out into the woods with a few dozen armed guards… they choose to …run away from the men with guns and then monkey climb up trees to then blow up the ground beneath them? Are they fucking serious?
And the same with the attack on the dam…have these people never heard of sneaking? Maybe shields? For Christsake you have people in Ferguson making crude armor out of pots and pans…but these people run idiotically into gunfire and then blow up the dam…which floods where they are.
If the rebellion fails, just what are you supposed to cook with? 
…Touche’.
Complaint rescinded!
At least in the movie you get to actually SEE the other districts, and the attack on the dam gets more than the (I think I remember) single sentence, unrelated to anything else in the book. (I think I also remember the director saying that he made up the lumberjack revolt specifically to have something for the districts to do.)
Sure they could have been less stupid, but at least with the movie we’re not stuck inside Katniss whiny PTSD’d useless moaning head the whole time, and that makes it eleventy bajillion times better, no matter what world-building plotholes remain.
(and in defense of the dam-breakers, I got the impression from them singing the depressing-ass song and marching along all solemn-like that they knew they were all going to die if their plan worked, so they weren’t too worried about tactics or stealth.)
I give the movie A-; it’s mostly movie-standard cliche`s that bring it down for me: Beetee is apparently the only smart guy in the rebellion (and we know he’s smart because he’s the one wearing the glasses). The scene of Kat taking out an attack aircraft with an arrow is even less believable on screen than it is on paper.
I think it’s a wonderfully acted, though. JL is able to display such a wide array of emotions (her reaction to Snow cutting off communications is vivid). Like other have said I find book three to be the weakest of the trilogy and this movie papers over it. (Granted, the worst parts of the books are coming up.) I formed an immediate crush on Natalie Dormer as soon as she appeared.
I understand what you’re saying but we have real-life examples (North Korea) so it’s totally believable. 1984 had the same background.
Granted, but 'Lil Kim is only able to get away with it by keeping North Korea utterly isolated from the rest of the world. He’s not setting up huge video screens in public and rubbing their poverty in their faces.
Pretty sure no one in NK is dumb enough to think that the holy-godlike-supreme-ruler of-everything-blessed-be-his-name-and-dont-smite-my-family is getting fat off half a cup of moldy rice every day, and he has his picture displayed prominently and religiously in everyone’s home by law.
The idea there is that everyone in the Capitol (of Panem or NK) deserves all the wealth and riches, and if the peasantry would just quit fucking things up, they’d get those lovely things eventually for themselves also. At some point, the disparity is so great and the cognitive dissonance so high that people literally can’t think straight (objectively, or even rationally) to realize that the wealth and power of the elites is directly related to the utter shittiness of everyone elses’ lives, theirs included.
I thought the melody for “The Hanging Tree” was haunting and JL did such a good job singing it I didn’t believe it was her. It’s too bad Billie Holiday isn’t around to sing it.
It’s actually on the charts in the UK!
Here’s a link to the cite, but be warned, it’s a stupid video.
I actually enjoyed it (saw it this past weekend). The slowing down worked for me, especially since I read the books and like any book reader enjoy seeing more of a book explored. It also helps that Mockingjay was, by far, my favorite book of series and one of my favorite YA books ever. Can’t wait until Part 2 (my favorite part of the book - I admit that a lot of the first half of the Mockingjay book dragged a bit, but to good effect, IMO)!
Since the Capital is aware of District 13 and that it still exists (since they knew where to bomb), I assume that there will eventually be a good explanation on why they keep it around. If they wanted to, couldn’t they could bomb it so that nothing survives (even underground)?