Summer 2012 Movies

After a much needed break from writing these reviews for my film class that I was taking, I'm back again.  This summer seems to be a pretty promising summer for movies and it looks like I will be going to a lot of movies.  I've been to a bunch already this summer and the list of movies that I see is only going to get bigger!

The Pirates! Band of Misfits
This was the first movie I saw of the summer and I thought it was hilarious.  I love stop animation and this is from the same creators of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run which are both AMAZING!  I love the detail that the creators put into making these movies because they are so time consuming to make.

A movie based on pirates...okay Disney has done that with the Pirates of the Carribean series and used the star power and comedic performance of Johnny Depp to make it a great film.  But, The Pirates! Band of Misfits uses just straight comedy.  The whole premise of the movie is that the head pirate of this one ship of useless pirates or aren't really good at being pirates is trying to win "Pirate of the Year".  The only thing that the Pirate Captain (which is his actual name) has to over come are:  that he's not a very good pirate, there are 3 other amazing pirates that get a lot more booty than he ever has, and the Queen does not like pirates and is after and wanting to kill any pirate that crosses her.  With these three things against him and his crew it is a ball of laughs the entire time.

As the poster says, "Laugh Your Booty Off" is a true statement.  I don't want to give away anything about the plot because you need to see this film if you like kid movies that have a lot of adult jokes in it.  I couldn't believe some of the jokes that they told and innuendos but then I realized I got them but a kid probably wouldn't so it be okay.


The Avengers not much to say about this movie other than it was an action pact superhero movie that tops all the others that have been made.  It did amazing in the box office and put a star studded cast together.  I thought the new Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo was a great choice and hopefully if they make an Avengers 2 they go with him again because he was a good choice to play the big green man.

I've recently started watching the cartoon version of the Avengers and the one thing that had me wondering about it was why didn't they include all of the Avengers.  The writers, director, and producers left of Ant Man, Wasp, and Black Panther.  I wouldn't mind leaving out Ant Man because I think it wouldn't look realistic with the rest of the film and also his character is pretty boring.  Wasp it would have been nice to see because she is really funny in the show.  The one I was most disappointed about was Black Panther.  He is such a bad ass character and it would have been great to see him in the movie!  Just look at his costume it would have been amazing in the movie!  But maybe, just maybe if there is a second movie he will make the cut to become part of the Avengers!!!  Fingers Crossed

P.S.  Make sure you see all of the other Avengers individual movies (except the Hulk one's they aren't very good) because it will easier to understand than without seeing them.  The first time I went without seeing Thor and I was confused about all the characters in the movie that dealt with Thor.

Men in Black III eh...that's all really.  I love these movies but this one was just eh.  Will Smith is certainly showing that he is getting older in the film.  It had some good laughs in it like all Men in Black movies do but the story line was eh.  Not that impressed with it.


Dark Shadows  it is a typical Tim Burton/ Johnny Depp film.  These two have made great films together and this one is up there.  It was funny and was very entertaining.  I've never seen the original Dark Shadows television show, which I heard is really dark, but I thought for an interpretation of the film was pretty good.  Of course Johnny Depp was great, Helena Bonham Carter was superb, and the rest of the cast were equally as good.  I'm now very interested in watching the old Dark Shadows shows which are now on Netflix online if you have an account with them.


Snow White and the Huntsmen its sad to say that this was Kristen Stewart's best acting in a film...yup.  I thought it was a good movie but it seemed long.  It may have just been me but I thought it was.  Charlize Theron was not as good as I thought as see was going to be in the movie, I found her portrayal of the Evil Queen was annoying.  Chris Hemsworth once again played a ruggedly handsome character almost similar to Thor.  Kristen Stewart for once I did not want to punch her in the mouth for the awkward things she said or her awkward style of acting.  I would take her in the movie acting over the Twilight series or the way she acts in real life. However, the most annoying character besides Charlize Theron was her screen brother who was a pervert and just wouldn't stop chasing Snow White.  He didn't know when to give up, like really your never going to get Snow White so give up!


Madagascar 3:  Europe's Most Wanted was really funny and I could not stop giggling.  It was so funny and I went to go see it with my sister during the afternoon and it was completely filled with children.  I think my sister who is 25 and me who is almost 22 were the youngest people there...NOT with a child.  But what makes movies like this better is seeing it with little kids because they laugh and it is a genuine laugh that makes me laugh so much.   The 3rd movie in the situation was the best  of them all and it had songs in it that I could not stop singing because they are so damn catchy.

Welp,  there are going to be many more posts like this and I can't wait to go see many more movies this summer!

The End of a Forced Blog

So today was my last official cinema seminar class and the last time I would technically have to write a blog entry for this blog! But I enjoyed doing this blog so much and writing and discussing film, that I'm going to continue on writing!

I know you all must be so excite about this news but please try and contain yourselves! I'm going to try and continue to write at least once a month and anything more will be an amazing bonus for you and me!

Well for now, enjoy the summer thats coming up and keep searching for that next great film and so will I here at film quest!

Thriller Flops

My new favorite genre of film that I've been really getting into lately is thrillers.  I love being scared and having those jump out of your seat moments that happen during the film.  So, this semester at school I went and saw two thrillers that I was really excited for.





The 1st was The Woman in Black featuring Daniel Radcliffe.  I feel like I'm going to use this word a lot when talking about thrillers but I'm gonna say...POTENTIAL.  This film had such potential to be a great and scary film but because of some terrible acting and an iffy story line the film fell flat.  There were only a few moments in the film that made me jump but other than that nothing.



The next film that had such great POTENTIAL was The Raven which I saw this past weekend and this was another film that rested on it being a thriller too much.  Also the film relied too much on it being about Edgar Allen Poe short stories and poems and him being very dark.  The acting and dialogue fell really short for me with John Cusak leading the way for disappointment.  This movie could have been amazing but yet it wasn't.

Edited The Artist

            This past weekend, saw the film The Artist directed by Michel Hazanavicius. This film was brilliantly done from the beginning to end and was a pleasure to sit through in the movie theater.  At the movie theater I attended they were only showing two films being The Artist and The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep.  Normally I would go see any Meryl movie because I absolutely love the way she acts because she is so diverse and can truly act in any role, but I went against my normal choice and picked The Artist.  The director was able to capture the essence and magic of what silent films can capture and also what these films were like when they first came out.  From the beginning of the film I got the sense that this was a treat instead of just another movie that I would see any other time.  Sometimes I wish when I watch films like The Artist that I could go back to a time when films were starting out so I could live during the time period when going and seeing a film was an event and the processes of movie making and the stars where the big news in everyday life.  The Artist, I believe, captures what it used to be like for the audience, movie stars, and directors of silent films in this time and what it was like for them when film was changing from silent to talkies.  I believe today that most films rest of the laurels on-sound effect and the spectacular use of digital effects to maintain their audience’s attention.  This however takes away from the message and the shot composition of the film because people who go to the movies today are just looking for the new effect or the new 3D movie which is going to wow them. 

Staircases used in the film

The Artist was able to wow me unlike any other film that I have seen recently because of the shot composition that the director chose because they were all cleverly thought out.  The one scene that sticks into my mind the most is when George Valentin is leaving the production studio offices and heading down the stairs.  The shot reveals the different levels of stairs going up and down and each floor.   Nothing is obstructing your view from seeing what is going on in the building.  It made me think this is what it would look like if you were looking at the stairs through a glass window or wall.  This scene also reminded me of one of my favorite films Rear Window, and its shot composition of the buildings where the main character views all of his neighbors.  In the stair scene the audience sees the stairs as if there were no walls surrounding them and you can see everything that people are doing when they are walking up and down the stairs, talking to people, and doing many other things.  Michel Hazanavicius was able to create a very visually appealing movie that I enjoyed and would recommend anyone to go and see.

Cast of The Artist at the 2012 Oscars

The weekend that I saw the film was very close to the Oscar Awards so it was really interesting at the awards to have seen the film that won most of the awards.  This year it was the 84th Academy Awards and The Artist received an amazing ten nominations.  The film ended up winning five awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Hazanavicius, Best Actor for Dujardin, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.  I totally agree that the film should have won in all of these categories because of it being such a great film.

Secret Agent Enriches 1962: James Bond and Dr. No

So here it is...the final draft of my critical essay on a film from 1962.  The film I did was Dr. No, so I hope you enjoy and learn something from what I wrote and researched!

Dr. No movie poster

           In 1962, the world was introduced to one of the most famous film spies’ movie history.  With just three words, audiences learned the identity of this man, this memorable statement: “Bond, James Bond.”  James Bond was introduced in director Terrence Young’s first Bond film Dr. No and it helped change the action adventure genre forever.  Dr. No created a new genre some people call “secret agent,” which emerged and grew in popularity in the 1960s.  The James Bond series has become one of the longest lasting secret agent film series and has created an unforgettable character who always is trying to save the world from a new villain.  As it evolved the James Bond series also has mirrored what was happening in the world at the time each film was produced as 007 tries to save the world from the dastardly villains who threaten it.  The series continues to tap into such anxieties and threats in its contemporary incarnation.

            James Bond was created by British writer Ian Fleming.  As of 1963 Fleming wrote eleven James Bond books in eleven years and sold millions of copies of the books.  The novels attracted many readers from around the world because of the adventurous situations James Bond was involved in.  According to Geoffrey Boca, writer of “The Spectacular Cult of Ian Fleming,” “each winter, he [Ian Fleming] retreats from London whirl and writes a new Bond novel at his beach house in Jamaica,” which is interesting in relation to the film Dr. No because, like Fleming, Bond leaves England to head for Jamaica to complete his assignment and help out another spy (1).  Most people believe that Fleming based Bond on himself with whom Bond shares a couple of similarities, but according to Fleming this is not true.  In fact Fleming wrote Bond to be the “opposite of himself…Bond, Fleming writes in every book, is “cruel”.  The essence of Fleming’s personality is his gentleness, he abhors violence” (Boca, 1).  When Boca says James Bond is cruel he means that James Bond is not afraid to hurt some people in order to figure out the truth and complete his missions, he does not care whom he hurts in the process.

            Fleming was able to create such a likeable interesting character with Bond that many people such as President Kennedy enjoyed reading the books.  With this success of the books, Eon Productions and producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli picked up the rights to produce James Bond novels into a feature film.  After deliberation, producers Saltzman and Broccoli decided to produce Dr. No as the first film, even though it was not the first book in the Bond series.  The first book in the series was Casino Royale, which they later decided to adapt to film in 1967.  James Bond is one of those book and film characters that can be both likeable and unlikeable by people because of the way he acts towards people and always puts his aggression out on others.  There are many reasons as to why James Bond is a likeable character with the first one being his good looks.  It is hard for a person to be hated in a film if he has such good looks.  Also he is very suave and both men and women wish dream about him, in different ways though.  “Guns, fast cars, hot women and the free life of a spy…the life of a suave British spy is some sort of escapist fantasy for men” (Ewing, 1).  These are all reasons as to why men want to be like James Bond because they can vicariously live a lifestyle that is.  Women also fall in live with the fantasy of James Bond because they want to each be wooed by Bond just like the women in he books and films are.  Bond’s likeability is questioned sometimes because of his negative traits are the only things that people notice.  James Ewing noted that “Bond is some kind of socially sophisticated sex maniac or he’s one misogynistic SOB” (2).  Most of the negative characteristics and traits that Bond possesses all have to deal with two things—sex and women.  Bond seems to not know the acceptable ways of courting women because he does not court them at all, he only sees them as objects of desire that he finds attractive.  “Womanizing is all well and good, but it seems Bond has a come on line for just about every woman he meets…Bond bedded a woman he knew was working for the enemy and then turned her in to the authorities right after that” (Ewing, 2).  Bond’s womanizing ways disgust and turn people away from his character because he is cold to women.  It seems that he does not have any interest in knowing how to treat women properly and seems to only want them to fulfill his sexual needs and desires and often his needs as a spy.  007 is one of those men who will always remain a bachelor because he is content with just sleeping around with different women and never getting married.  However, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, James Bond played by George Lazenby, actually gets married to one of the Bond girls that he falls in love with.  This marriage is short lived because after they are married his wife is shot and dies in Bond’s arm and cementing the fact that James Bond will always be a womanizing bachelor.  The first time that we meet Honey Ryder, we see her emerge from the water in a white bikini through the eyes of James Bond.  The director uses point of view focalization to show that James Bond looks towards the ocean and sees Ryder coming out of the water and the camera follows her trek from the water to the sand.  When she throws down the shells she has collected the camera moves back to James Bond and a smile comes across his face and then the camera turns back to Ryder again.  When the camera goes back to Honey Ryder it is a close-up of her torso and head focusing on her wet body.  The camera once again turns back to Bond and the smile on his face is even bigger and he begins to interact with Ryder.  Bond’s gaze is seen throughout the Bond series because of the use of point of view focalizations because other directors pay homage to this particular scene in other Bond films in the future.

            Dr. No established many iconic images and characters that have appeared in twenty-two other Bond films.  The first iconic image is in the opening sequence with Bond walking across the screen as we see him in the scope of the gun.  While we see him walking across the screen he abruptly turns towards the viewer and shoots his gun, and still looking through the scope of the gun, we see blood begin to travel down the scope.  Once this happens the iconic and memorable James Bond theme song begins to play and we are introduced to the next other iconic image in the film.  The opening title sequence, which is similar to that in other Bond films.  In Golden Eye, the opening title begins with gun scope, similar to Dr. No, but instead of just having the gun scope be filled with blood, a bullet is being shot at the audience as if they were staring down the barrel of that gun.  In every Bond film the opening is an animated sequence, which features characters that will be introduced later in the film and also features multiple women.  In all the openings animated shapes of women’s body is shown from head to toe in silhouette form.  The women are shown as if James Bond himself was looking at them moving in sexual and sensual ways that could be the women teasing Bond with their good looks because they know they are an object of his desire.  This is seen in both Dr. No and Golden Eye.  However, in Golden Eye the women’s silhouettes are done in 3D animation making them seem more realistic than the women shown in the Dr. No opening sequence.  While women are being shown in the Golden Eye opening sequence, other symbols and objects that are relevant to the films plot lines are featured, like communist Russia symbols and a mask that has a golden eye. Women become an important image in the James Bond films because Bond is a very sexual person and loves any women that are pretty whether she is good or bad for him. 

Sean Connery

            When it came to casting James Bond, it called for someone who could command the screen while also being suave and sexual.  The front runners for the part of James Bond in the beginning were, Cary Grant, Patrick McGoohan, James Mason, and Steve Reeves, all of whom turned down the role either because of other commitments or for other reasons. Sean Connery was ultimately cast as James Bond 007.  Sean Connery was not Ian Fleming’s choice for Bond but Saltzman and Broccoli cast him “because they liked how he was big, tough-looking man who nonetheless moved gracefully” (IMDB).  The producers and the public embraced Sean Connery as the British spy who would help save the world.  Sean Connery used his good looks, charm, and smooth voice to win over Bond lovers as 007.  It is said by film critics and fans that they “view George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan as impostors” in the role of James Bond (Berardinelli, 2).  Sean Connery was such a great Bond that he reprised the role six more times after Dr. No.  “Connery’s panther-like movement and look of an ever-ready sexual predator, made him Bond worthy…with his leisurely smile, deadpan wit and impassive manner, Connery epitomized the early Bond to such an extent that it seemed near impossible task to replace him” (Black).

            Along with Sean Connery as the iconic Bond in the film series, the Bond girl, and the villains also became staple characters in the series that would set the standard for the other films in the future.  The first Bond girl is Honey Ryder played by Ursula Andress.  Honey Ryder set the standard of how a Bond girl should look in the films.  Bond girls should be extremely beautiful and sexy women that men lust over.  It also happens that Bond girls are given “exotic and far out names like Honey, Kissy, Pussy, Bibi, Lupe, and Jinx” to name a few (Black).  Honey Ryder’s entrance, which happened to be almost halfway through the film, was an attention getter for both James Bond and viewers.  Honey Ryder, enters the film by emerging from the Caribbean waters on Crab Key Island wearing only a white bikini that shows off her assets and wielding a knife and a bag of shells.  When Honey Ryder comes out of the water she is singing the song, “Underneath the Mango Trees” which is one of the songs from the opening title sequence that is played after the iconic James Bond theme song.  Ryder agrees to help Bond out on Crab Key Island for his search of Doctor No and his secret lair.  At nightfall, the two are attack by the supposed “dragon” of the island and they are captured and brought under Doctor No’s control.  James Bond near the end of the film searches for Ryder as she is in danger because the maze of a lair is about to blown up due to nuclear weapons.  Bond and Ryder are reunited at the end and share a passionate kiss that is familiar in all Bond films as an ending.  For many Bond fans, Honey Ryder is considered to be the best looking and most memorable Bond girl to have ever graced the screen.  She is able to capture the attention and make James Bond become entrenched in her good looks and everything that she does.  These characteristics are what makes a Bond girl because James Bond should be entirely entrenched in who she is and always desire her like Bond does of Honey Ryder in Dr. No.

            Doctor Julius No sets the stage for villains that James Bond has to defeat in order to save the world.  Doctor No is hired by SPECTRE, which stands for SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, to help topple and ruin the United States Space Program by disrupting Project Mercury which was the first human spaceflight.  Doctor No uses his location on Crab Key to hide his secret plans of using a radiation beams to disrupt the space launch.  Another feature that makes Doctor No memorable is that he has metal hands because constant exposure to radiation that has caused the loss of his hands.  During the film, it is evident that Doctor No shares certain traits with James Bond because they “both have a cool, calculated demeanor but both fight for two competing ideologies” (Ewing, 3).  Doctor No remains calm believing that he will outsmart and prevail against James Bond and complete his mission.  The only time Doctor No loses his calm, in the film is at the end when James Bond is messing around with the nuclear reactor and defeating the plans that Doctor No set up to sabotage the United States Space Program.  Doctor No set the standard high when it came to other villains and foes that James Bond was later to fight against because he outwitted most people that he faced and did it with his wits instead of just power.

            One thing that the James Bond films have been able to accomplish very well is having relevant story lines that go along with what is happening in the world at the time in 1962:

Not only does Fleming write with great skill and verve, but there is a startling topicality about his work.  Bond’s world of spy fantasia has proved to be no fantasia at all but a mirror of what is going on in the world.  We know now that the Russians do build missile bases in nearby Caribbean islands (Dr. No)… (Boca, 84). 

Fleming uses his stories to show the public that the things in his novels and subsequently films may truly be happening in the world.  Bond films, like Dr. No, play on the fears that people have.  One of the fears is that there may actually be a villain like Doctor No, trying to plot against the United States Space Program, as there is in the film.  Dr. No is a great example of using events that are going on during the time of the film to set up the scenes of the film.  “The U.S.-Soviet Cold War had worked its way into the fabric of everyday life in both countries, fueled by the arms race and the growing threat of nuclear weapons…” (www.history.com).  The threat of nuclear weapons became ever increasingly real when the Soviet Union launched a “R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile—Sputnik…[and showed] the demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile—seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. airspace…” (www.history.com).  Nuclear warfare was such a threat to Americans that they began to worry about everything that the Soviet Union happened to be doing with their space program.  Also in 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis became world headlines as President John F. Kennedy believed that the Soviets had armed the country with nuclear missiles pointing toward the United States.  It is amusing to see the similarities between the United States and Soviet Union conflict in relation to the film Dr. No.

            During the Cold War, Khrushchev, the Premier of the Soviet Union, decided to place nuclear missiles in Cuba and help another communist country.  Khrushchev stated that Kennedy and the United States had violated an air and space agreement that was a part of an international treaty.  But Kennedy, “blocked Cuba, halted the shipment of new missiles, and demanded the removal of existing installations” which led to Khrushchev removing all missiles from Cuba and thus ending the immediate threat of nuclear warfare (Kagan, 915).  James Bond can be seen as similar figure during the time of Dr. No was made and when the story takes place.  James Bond can be related to John F. during the placement of the film because of his calm and collected nature during a time of national terror.  James Bond himself during his mission trying to defeat Doctor No also remained calm and collected always knowing that he would be able to figure out how to solve the problem.  Along with Bond having the same personality as Kennedy he also had the same good looks that also help him with women.  Many women thought that John F. Kennedy was very good looking and that helped with his popularity.  James Bond is also a good looking man and this helps him with the women also.

            Writer Ian Fleming and film director Terrence Young in 1962 were able to create a film that would change film forever.  Dr. No set a new standard for film genre featuring spies while also setting the standard for the future James Bond films to come.  James Bond and the Dr. No film created iconic images and characters that movie viewers were able to remember for years after the film was released.  Sean Connery as James Bond set the standard for the suave, smooth talking, secret agent, Bonds to come throughout the film series.  Honey Ryder set the standard for Bond girls and how they were supposed to look as a sexual object within the film and Doctor No was the first dastardly villain the 007 would face in order to save the world from his plan for world domination.  The James Bond film also raised discussion of how Bond treated women and how this film set the standard for how other Bond girls were to be objectified by other Bond’s in later films. The film was able to use current events in order to play on the fears of the viewers and keep them entertained with its story lines during the Cold War period.  Ian Fleming’s Dr. No introduced the world to the most famous secret agent in the world and was able to do it with three words; “Bond, James Bond” and with those three words the film industry was introduced to the greatest international spy that would stay around for years to come.

Works Cited

Berardinelli, James. "Dr. No." Rev. of Movie. Reelviews. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=643>.

Black, David. "The Villians." The James Bond International Fan Club. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.007.info/default.asp>.

Bocca, Geoffrey. "The Spectacular Cult of Ian Fleming:." Rev. of Dr. No. Saturday Evening Post 22 June 1963: 66-68. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=cd31fe2d-cf33-4b56-a20f-ad3422ba72dc%40sessionmgr110&vid=4&hid=104>.

"Dr. No (1962)." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055928/>.

Dr. No. Dir. Terence Young. Perf. Sean Connery, Ursula Andress and Bernard Lee. Eon Productions, 1962. DVD.

Ewing, James B. "Dr. No (1962)." Rev. of Movie. Cinema Sights: Through the Eyes of Film. 21 June 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://cinemasights.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/dr-no-1962/>.

Kagan, Donald, Steven E. Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. "The Cold War Era, Decolonization, and The Emergence of a New Europe." The Western Heritage. 10th ed. Vol. 2. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

"The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. <http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>.

"May The Odds Be Ever in Your Favor"

North America in the future. Post uprising. Famished districts. Two pieces of paper.  Girl on Fire.  24 Tributes. Arena. Savage Killings. Love Blossoming.  Television Broadcast. Mockingjay. Gale. Peeta. Katniss.  This is THE HUNGER GAMES!

The Hunger Games was the #1 film that people were looking forward to in 2012.  The Hunger Games book series are one of the most addicting novels that I have ever read, EVER!!!  I literally could not put the book down, I kept telling myself "okay its midnight, only one more chapter"--5 chapters later I would still be reading.  I read the first two books in three days which is remarkable for me because I'm a really slow reader or I just fall asleep while I read.  But these novels engaged me throughout the whole story and they wanted me to read more and learn more about the characters and the games!

So, as soon as I found out there was going to be a Hunger Games film--I FREAKED OUT--I was like a kid on Christmas.  I went online and researched (yes researched) who was going to the main characters, who was directing, and first of all how long was I going to have to wait to see the film on the big screen.  March 23, 2012 was the date that I had to wait and I was counting down the days till I could see Katniss, the girl on fire, and the other 23 tributes fight to the death in an arena.

The story of the Hunger Games pushes the envelope in story-telling.   Suzanne Collins, the writer of the trilogy, wasn't afraid to create a story revolved around kids killing other kids for a nations entertainment.  But the novels "graphicness" left me wondering how they were going to bring it to the big screen.  Were they going to censor the film due to the studio possibly catering toward a younger demographic?  Or were they going to go over the top and lose a large group of people who do not enjoy overt violence. With the film though, they would have to find a happy medium between not enough violence and overt violence to appease all of the book and film fans.  The director, Gary Ross however found the happy medium between the two too well.  At some points in the film, when there was going to be an overtly violent scene, Ross played around with the camera angles and the speed that they moved the camera at and also the speed the actors moved at so you could not really tell how violent the scene truly was.  The opening area scene by the cornucopia 12 tributes die as the 24 tributes rush toward the cornucopia in order to gain weapons, food, and other survival tools; but you would never really have known that 12 had died until later on when they're deaths were announced.  I don't know if its my sadistic side of myself coming out but I wanted to see the blood shed and the violence that I read and weirdly enjoyed in the book.  This wasn't the only problem I found in the film.  But first I want to clarify something, when I say problem I don't mean it like the film was awful, I mean it as just bothersome.

Most of my other problems I found were in the selection of what details be left in or out of the film.  The director chose to leave out highly important information like the whole back story of Katniss's father, Rue's District sending Katniss bread and many other story lines I thought were important to the story itself.


With Katniss's father's story, it was only briefly mentioned in the film during a dream sequence, but if you had not read the book this scene may have been confusing.  The confusing part is that the director shows a bunch of coal miners heading down into the mines and then an explosion.  In District 12 the profession of the men was coal mining so therefore Katniss's father was a coal miner, but in this scene we are not give any knowledge that one of those men was her father.  It was just a very confusing scene that basically if you blinked you would have missed it because it was very, very quick.

With District 11-Rue's District-in the film are not given any information about the important role they play.  When Rue dies, Katniss takes it very hard because of the relationship they had formed and the comparison the Rue has to Katniss's sister Prim.  At her death instead of just leaving her there Katniss places flowers around her body before the game keepers take her away, giving her a sort of funeral.  Because of the kindness that she showed, when Katniss is starving of hunger, District 11 sends her bread thanking her for her kindness.  During the film, the only admiration that you see District 11 give is they put there three fingers in the air.  When they showed District 11 what I ABSOLUTELY hated was that they put a lower third saying that we are in District 11.  NO! Get that out of there, okay I get it people who haven't read the book won't know that that's District 11 but we do.  Us Hunger Games book fans know that is District 11.  The lower third looked out of place since it was the first one since the beginning of the novel and it was unnecessary.  Ross you have already catered to people by lowering the violence but please stop dumbing it down.  It makes me afraid that they are doing this in this film because the books just get more confusing as you get into the 2nd and 3rd one so if they are dumbing it down for people now, oh vey!

The last thing that really bugged me was the relationship between Katniss and Haymitch.  In the book, Haymitch seems to have no interest in Katniss as one of his tributes.  They have a hate hate relationship that seems to work in the end but brings up lots of arguments and disagreements.  Haymitch holds out on sending things to Katniss in the games to teach her lessons and to think of different things that can keep her alive.  In the film this hate hate relationship is non existent.  Haymitch and Katniss are civil to one another and Katniss is sent things, like medicine and food, in what seems like right away.  We don't hear the inner-monologues that we read in the book of Katniss wondering why she is not being send food and other supplies.  We don't hear the questions like: What is Haymitch doing other there, is he wanting Peeta to win instead of me, and is he trying to kill me here?  The inner monologue was important in understand Katniss and her thought process which we do not get at all in the film.
 

Even with the storyline flaws, I was still able to enjoy the film.  I thought the actor selection was great.  I was highly surprised by Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and Lenny Kravitz as Cinna.  Elizabeth Banks I'm used to seeing in comedies like Zack and Miri Make a Porno and not in dramatic roles where she could not rely solely on stupid comedy.  Banks, however played the role of Effie Trinket with perfection.  She captured the quirkiness of Effie and the strangeness of her since she is from the Capital and everyone from the Capital is a little off in the minds of everyone else.  I thought her make-up and costumes were amazing because they were over the top but just exactly how I imagined her to look like.  Elizabeth Banks surprised me and I hope she does reprise her role in the next film because I thought she did a great job and defiantly surprised me in how well she did.

Lenny Kravitz was another real surprise for me since I did not see that choice in actor coming at all.  When I think of Lenny Kravitz I think of him singing and playing the guitar, but in the film he played the stylist for Katniss and Peeta.  And once again I thought this ended up being a great choice and role placement because Lenny Kravitz was able to bring the coolness that he has from being a musician and brought it to the role of Cinna.  He played a passionate friend to Katniss and Peeta that was there to help them out.  When imagining the person of Cinna from what I read in the book I didn't know what to really think of but now looking back at Kravitz that's exactly what I can think of of Cinna looking like.

I didn't want to spend that much time on the main characters like Katniss, Peeta, and Gale because honestly its the same as any other critique of the film: Jennifer Lawrence brought beauty to her amazing performance as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson even though younger than what people expected for the role did a good job, and Liam Hemsworth personifies Gales masculinity to a T.

When I saw the film in theaters at the midnight showing of the film I saw it at our theaters IMAX screen and it was worth every penny.  The movie has amazing panning shots of nature and the other surroundings that the story takes place in and with the IMAX high definition screen it made it look even more spectacular.  The establishing shots were great because you were able to see what the Panem (what the country is called now) really looks like.  But any who seeing the movie in IMAX is recommended, even though you will be out $15 dollars!

So go see The Hunger Games because it was great movie but I defiantly recommend reading the books first because you will truly understand and appreciate the movie a lot more if you do so.  And hopefully you as much as I am will be looking forward to the 75th Hunger Games and remember, "May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor".

Excited!!!

All I can say is: I'm excited to see this film this summer when it comes out!!!