My Hunger Games Movie Review!

What I liked:

- The world they created (the look of the Capitol, District 12, etc.); I felt they were realistic and true to the book.

- The score, which surprised me because the music was nothing like the epic trailer music, but very subtle, and many times it was absent. I felt it created tense moments perfectly though.

- The camaraderie you see among the Careers. They act like teenagers... vicious teenagers, but Glimmer is kind of silly (though vicious, ha ha) and Cato is the tough guy. I thought their personalities were well-portrayed.

- The scenes that were added. I especially liked seeing the control room for the games and Katniss' hallucination of District 12. And I especially, especially liked the scene where you see District 11 start to revolt after Rue's death.

- The suspense you felt even if you knew what was going to happen. I was tense and nervous through The Reaping.

- How the relationships between Katniss and her mom and Katniss and her sister are portrayed.

- Peeta's cute "OhhaiIhaveacrushonyou" expressions.

- Prim with Gale at the end. It shows one of the few things I like about Gale: how much he takes care of Katniss' family.

- Katniss' makeup for her interviews and the parade.

- The scene with Seneca and the berries towards the end.

What I loved:

- The style of the film.

- Ceasar Flickerman. I knew I would. Stanley Tucci was perfect. I liked him and Claudius Templesmith together narrating the games.

- Effie.

- Jennifer Lawrence.

What I would have liked to have seen:

- Definitely needed more Peeta/Katniss moments. I thought they cut too much out of the cave scene and some of the great lines from the book (I know they couldn't have it all, just would have liked a little more).

- More of Cinna and Katniss' friendship developed.

- Katniss and Peeta actually putting the berries in their mouth, spitting them out, and splashing in the river afterwards. I know it's small, but I liked that moment in the book. Also, I like when they go in the hovercraft and are separated and Katniss bangs on the glass between them, calling out Peeta's name.

What turned out better than expected:

- Leaving out Madge and getting the Mockingjay pin (though Greasy Sal was not that nice in the book!).

- Haymicth. I was terrified of what Woody Harrelson was going to do with him, but I thought he did fairly well.

- The song "Safe and Sound" was not in the movie nor was it in the credits (or if it was I walked out before I got to it). YAY! I don't hate the song, but I just did not think it would have fit that well.

- "Because she came here with me" was better in the context of the film than it was in the stand-alone clip. I still don't think he says it just right, but it works well enough (just don't mess up the "Real" line JHutch...).

What I did not care for:

- The bread flashback... it just didn't ring true for me for some reason. I know Katniss was hanging by a thread starving to death, but she looked kind of dopey. I also don't like how you don't ever see the two of them in the same shot for those scenes. I guess I kind of get it, like there is the separation between them, but I don't know. This scene just did not look as good as the others to me.

- Gale whining about people watching the games and him being out in the field when they're starting. Does he not remember watching is mandatory? It just felt out of place to me.

- That all the districts were matchy-matchy instead of District 12 being unique in that. (Though it didn't bother me as much as some of the other things and I understand it simplified the costume department's job to do this.)

- At the end where Peeta seems to understand that it was all for the games (and it seemed to be like that in the cave too. I really missed the parts from the book when he tells her that she was the best thing that happened to him, her telling him he doesn't have much competition anywhere, etc., all those little moments that blurred the lines between fictional love and potential bona fide love). You really don't have that same sense at the end of the movie as you do at the end of the book.

Overall:

Not too long ago I finally started picking up on the idea that this might be an indie-looking film. And it really was, albeit a high budget one, but it did have not a very "mainstream movie" look. This would explain why I thought the clips felt weird out of context of the movie. But when it call came together, I really liked it. They did a lot of cool things with the cinematography and I felt like Gary Ross and gang thought outside the box.

Personally, the romance is my favorite part of the story, as well as all the different relationships between the characters in general, and I wish I could have seen more development in all those. However, I understand that it is a 2.5 hour movie with a lot of important action to cover. And the addition to add scenes that underscore the upcoming political uprising was spot-on, so I can't complain about those being in there. I would have been happy with a 3+ hour movie though.

I love how showing the uprising in District 11 and the President Snow scenes really set up the next film. I also thought the arena scenes were portrayed very well; they showed the brutality of the Games without it getting too graphic. Overall, I feel like the spirit of the story was captured very well!

*

I would like to see the film at least one more time before it leaves theaters, to see if I catch anything different, and just to relive it all.

I almost finished with Divergent. It's not as good as The Hunger Games, but it's pretty good. Next I'm going to read The Maze Runner, and assuming I like it, the rest of that trilogy, thanks to a co-worker lending me the books. It's not as girly as the ones I have on my library waiting list, but that will probably be a good change of pace.

And I have been tied for first in my American Idol work game for two weeks now! I hope I can pull ahead next week, or at least get three points again (for selecting the person who leaves and not just the runner-up) and stay tied for first. I got one point the first week, three points the second week, and one point last week. I should have guessed who was going home this last week since I really almost did pick her! Oh well.