I enjoyed this movie as I think most will, however if you have read the trilogy and are a fan of the books you will find some discrepancies in the story line. There are always a few when attempting to make books into movies. The one in this movie that most disappointed me was how Katniss receives the mocking jay pin. I think who it belonged to and where it came from is a semi important detail and it is completely disregarded in the movie version. Jennifer Lawrence is awesome as Katniss Everdeen. As a woman I must say I am quite pleased with the amount of female heroines there have been in movies of late. We root for her from the very first chapter as she has stepped up to fend for her family in the absence of her father. I love the casting in this movie, but must point out another discrepancy from the book in that the characters from Katniss's district save for her mom and Prim are supposed to be olive skinned and none of the actors hired to play the characters have olive skin. Maybe this is not important, but I certainly noticed having read the trilogy. I felt Woody Harrelson was perfectly cast as the cantankerous drunkard, previous victor Haymitch Abernathy. The premise of this film is as old as time I suppose.... there are districts of people that are starving that work themselves nearly to death under police state supervision and control to support a greedy rich capitol district where people live in the lap of luxury, going to endless parties where they feast until they are so full that they must induce vomiting so that they can do it all again. It is hard to miss the correlation to what is going on in our society today. We do have people starving and working long hours and struggling just to get by, albeit not under police state conditions, and we do have uber wealthy people making great gobs of money off the labor of those working so hard to get by. Just look at the Wall Street scandal, the Enron scandal, the state of our healthcare. I would have to say that the release of this trilogy couldn't have come at a better time or be a better wake up call. I am in no way asserting the authors intentions, just espousing my own opinions. So continuing with the premise, each year the capitol district visits each of the subordinate districts and draws the name of a boy and a girl starting from age 12, (reaping) to go into an arena where they must fight to the death, and the sole survivor gets to live in luxury accommodations and have food a plenty back in their own district for the rest of their natural life. They call this barbaric practice The Hunger Games and they televise it like an olympic sport. Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson play the two love interests of our heorine and the cast rounds out with notable actors including, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentlley, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitx, just to name a few. Definitely worth the price of the ticket, and "May the odds be ever in your favor". So on the Heart Chart The Hunger Games gets four out of five hearts. ♥♥♥♥
Firstly, I have to say that this movie is visually stunning. The cinematography is outstanding. The parts are very well acted and the casting was superb. All that said... I also have to say that I felt the characters were under developed. Although I enjoyed the movie visually and it is always cool to have a female heroine, it did not capture my heart. I know it is a fairy tale and there is not a whole lot of story-line to work with so I'll have to give it credit for being what it is. Charlize Theron is exquisite as the evil sorcerer queen Ravenna, and Kristen Stewart as Snow White has the victim turned heroine thing down to a tee. Her on-screen transformation from vulnerable innocence to determined courage is palpable. She is always the unlikely heroine and that is why we love her. I won't waste too much time going into the premise since most of us know the story of Snow White. For those of you who don't... The evil queen must kill Snow White before she comes of age and steals the title of fairest of them all. Unable to kill Snow White she instead gets her to eat a poisoned apple that will keep her in coma forever unless she is kissed on the lips by someone professing true love. Enter Chris Hemsworth who plays the huntsman and Snow White's true love. The movie is definitely worth seeing, just don't expect a lot of depth. So on the Heart Chart Snow White and the Hunstman gets
3 out of 5 hearts ♥♥♥
It's been a while since I have done Best & Worst, and it is long overdue. There has been a lot going on recently so here goes. :)
Best: Went wine tasting with our good friend Joyce on Memorial Day. We had a lovely picnic on the winery grounds and a very relaxing day. Our C.j. sunshine just had a birthday BBQ here at the L House and it was a blast. More drunk karaoke, (like there is ever enough of that) :). One of our original L girls will be coming for a visit soon and it will be good to see her, more drunk karaoke...lol. I wrote my first article for Expats Post a site I have joined recently and it was well received. I am very excited and looking forward to writing more for this site. I also just wrote a new poem after a little dry spell, and that's a good thing cause I really want to release my next book late this year, and time is running out. LOL We have a rafting trip planned next year with some of our favorite girls. We are so looking forward to that. A couple of weeks ago a bunch of us girls had dinner with a friend in Burbank and played some very fun bad-mitten. Now that was a sight to see. I have signed up to go to a conference in Utah for my Essential Oils. I know I am going to learn a lot, and it will be a lot of fun. I have never been to Utah. I will pick up doing my movie reviews again, now that I know about blog tags. lol I figured out what was making my cat hork, and I have fixed the situation. Yay. She is such a sensitive girl. Saving the BEST for last.... it has been rather cool so far this year, and anyone who knows me knows how happy that makes me. I am so not a fan of the heat, and it can get pretty hot here during the summer and it is an uncomfortable heat. The last few summers we have been so lucky. :)
Worst: I have been having some nagging back pain, but I have to say the Deep Blue essential oil really helps. I think I must be sleeping wrong or something..., the hangover from C.j.'s birthday BBQ...omg, my laminator took a crap and I have to get a new one..wait (not entirely sure that's a bad thing...it was 10 plus years old)..but I was in the middle of a project and now I have to wait for mail order because it is so so much cheaper than purchasing it at a retail outlet. sighs... :) So my partially laminated sheet waits.... and waits... lol
Funniest: My wife not being able to sleep after C.j.'s birthday BBQ cause of all the jack & cokes I made her.... and the visual of her sitting up watching tv drinking jack straight from the bottle. lol
What I learned: The definition of piquant. Well I am not going to tell YOU, if you don't know you need to look it up too. LOL Then you will have something to put on your what you learned. LOL
