The Hunger Games is a horrible turd of a film.

The wife talked me into it. I got about 45 minutes in. Had to quit it. So awful. Teen angsty nonsense where none of the characters actions make any sense. HORRIBLE. Do not watch -- that is all.

Have a nice night all. End ramble.

It was no where near as good as the book, but it was not as bad as most flicks that Hollywood produces these days.

I could understand a 14 year old getting into it -- surely that was the target audience. The defense "not as bad as most flicks that Hollywood produces these days" is no defense at all!

To each their own. As someone who never read the book(s), I thought the film was garbage.

Why are adults reading "young adult" novels anyway???

bigbeergeek said:

Why are adults reading "young adult" novels anyway???

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You don't read much do you.

I thought that the Harry Potter series would have put an end to questions like that.

I have to agree that after the books the movie was a huge disappointment. It did not do the book justice at all.

I guess as long as I'm talking about disappointments, I'd have to include the third book as well, but the first two books were great.

cfonnes said:

You don't read much do you.

I thought that the Harry Potter series would have put an end to questions like that.

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I kinda thought Harry Potter was the beginning of questions like that. I've read many, many, many books, I do read a bit less these days but that's mostly due to the fact that in life these days if I stop for a moment my pesky body tries to go catching up on sleep again (the nerve). I've read the Percy Jackson books, and Eregon and Elder, still haven't read Harry Potter but I know they are great and I surely will someday. The question still nags though, why do most adults these days read adolescent fiction? Is it because life is so heavy that we need to immerse ourselves in something light and dumbed down? I mean, when I was in 5th grade I was reading adult sci-fi/fantasy like Heinlein and Piers Anthony.

Back on subject though, I didn't hate the Hunger Games. Never read the books. I guess movies need to be appreciated for what they are trying to do. If you try to hold everything to the standard of Schindlers List, The Godfather, Goonies, or The Dark Knight then you're really going to be disappointed 95% of the time you go to the movies. If you go looking to be entertained, and realize the target audience is 16 years old and try to reawaken the sense of childish adventure then you might walk away having been entertained. Go looking to catch them with their pants down then you will likely find what you were looking for, to be irritated by the flaws you were looking for.

Call me crazy but I'd much rather walk away entertained...

Watch any of the Battle Royale Movies(at least the first one, ) and read the books. It's Japanese version of what the Hunger Games is a watered down almost direct rip-off of (even though the author of HG claimed never to have heard of Battle Royale- The parallels are just too uncanny.)

Much better movie....As ****ed up and twisted as only the Japanese can make something.





There's just something totally f-ed up about a girl in a school uniform holding a doll, covered in blood with this grin on her face. Definitely not the sanitized Mcdonald's Happy Meal toy kinda movie HG is....

I couldn't even finish the first book, there's no way I'm wasting my time trying to watch the movie.

That movie did suck! What was up with all the crazy outfits and hairstyles looked like a city of drag queens !? Oh and release the digital hounds lol

To each their own. I wouldn't classify it as a "work of art", but it was an entertaining film. The trick is to not think about whether it makes good sense or fits reality.

It's fiction, after all.

The original movie was great...Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Dawson, Jim Brown...The running man circa 1987.

I liked the book, but not enough to read the rest of the series.

I like the movie, and I would see the sequels. I went with my family of 5, so that might have put some shine on it. Still, I thought it was captivating, and compared well with the book.

Having read the book the movie would be more appealing. You have in the back of your head the reason all the characters act the way they do, something you take for granted when watching on screen. They also dumbed down the violence to get younger people allowed into the theatre. Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning having to read the book for a movie to be good just explaining why it is better for those that have read it.

I thought it was OK, nothing special. I would watch it until a commercial break if I came across it on TV.

The action at the center of the film -- the fact that all the parents across all of "Pan Am" are offering up their precious target-audience-aged tweens to die -- is not justified in the film. It's not like in the essay "The Lottery" where there is a heavy sense as to why terrible/violent customs are party of their society. In this movie we're offered a one minute exchange between two TV personalities and a worthless propaganda reel. It doesn't make sense that anyone goes along with anything in the first place.

Then the red-dressed "queen" of District 12 states "our first volunteer tribute!" I rolled my eyes. Really? 74 years of hunger games and no older sibling in Dist. 12 has EVER stepped in to spare their 12 year old brother/sister a violent death? Really?

I argue that films have to make good sense -- especially fiction -- if it's going to hold my attention. Otherwise you end up with a meaningless series of action sequences, which is not good cinema in my opinion.

...and the whole changing of the games rules (three times!) was some of the worst writing I've ever seen. If feels like a teenager wrote it. "OK, now that they beat the final bully-kid, let's change the rules and tell them they DO have to kill each other! What a TWISTED ending har har har!" Nere mind letting surviving partners pair up gives an unfair disadvantage to the districts who had already lost one player. There would be outrage on a mass scale!

I'm sure the teens loved it. I'll pass for something made for adults, by adults.

I still can't wrap my head around the entire concept of this movie. Correct me if I'm wrong here but it sounds like to me every so often they steal kids from their parents and force them to fight to the death so that people won't revolt?!? If parents love anything it is their children, how would this not increase the likelihood of a revolt? Why not just kill the adults?

Revvy beat me to it.

Go watch Battle Royale and be fully entertained.

for hunger games.. books 2 and 3 were much better than the first IMO.. first one really just sets the scene for the rest.. the movie was OK, though i am looking forward to seeing how to show the other 2..

and there is nothing wrong with adults reading adolescent fiction.. i use it as a break between more "adult" themed books, though one can easily argue that the hunger games is more adult themed than most adolescent fiction..

Funny we're talking about this today. The Quiet Earth Blog just posted this;

Here's THE HUNGER GAMES I Wanted to See

Like a lot of directors vying for the job of bringing The Hunger Games to the screen, Kevin Tancharoen (Mortal Kombat: Legacy) put together a pitch reel to showcase the tone and look of the movie that he wanted to make. Ultimately Lionsgate went with Gary Ross, but this is The Hunger Games I wanted to see - a film that fully committed to its violent dystopian world.

While concept art and treatments used to fit the bill, edited reels like this one below are commonly put together for pitch meetings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcXf90kB1cI&feature=player_embedded

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We could have had this?!?!

Books 1&2 were good, book 3 was bad and ended like.....well, nevermind in case you're reading this.
The movie was so-so and proof that people will do anything if you advertise enough for it. I know more people who thought the movie was a let down than those that said it exceeded their expectations.
Had I not read the book, I'd a never seen the movie.

Revvy said:

Watch any of the Battle Royale Movies(at least the first one, ) and read the books. It's Japanese version of what the Hunger Games is a watered down almost direct rip-off of (even though the author of HG claimed never to have heard of Battle Royale- The parallels are just too uncanny.)

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Me and SWMBO (she's 1/2 Korean) watch it on Netflix last week -- awesome movie. I haven't seen Hunger Games but Battle Royale is a gem of a movie.

I'll watch it for 3 reasons, not in any order...

1. I think the chick is hot.

2. I think the basic storyline (postapocalyptic) is interesting.

3. I'll make my own decisions as to which movies suck & which don't.

DISCLAIMER: (As if I actually needed one) I've been told by Siskel & Ebert and/or Gene Shalit that this movie or that movie was great, and when I went and saw it, it SUCKED; or that a movie sucked & when I saw it I thought it was pretty good...
None of those a$$holes warned me against Battelfield Earth, or Battle Los Angeles, and those were 2 of the WORST movies I've ever had the misfortune to see; so I'll make my own decisions from now on, thank you very much.

Though I do understand if you're actually trying to save me the pain of paying cash money to see a $hitty movie, for that I thank you, but I'll still watch it (on DVD) & make my own decision.
Regards, GF.

Wow, sounds like a bunch of crotchity old f*cks in here. Listen, if you're like me your wife and teenage kid read the books and raved about them and you being intriged by the teenagers killing each other decided to read the books too. You thought they would suck so you were prepared to put them down but instead you finished each one in about a week and were actually excited about the movies coming out. Then as per usual when the movie came out you were disappointed but still understood how difficult it is to make a movie that matches the books.

Anyway, I was disappointed in the movie too, but I read the books and am still excited to go see the next one. If you don't like 'em, that's cool...don't watch the next one. Better not catch you in here raving about how crappy part 2 is though....

And by the way, battle los angeles and Skyline are the worse scifi movies ever....

I gotta say I was not feeling battle royal. I have watched a fair amount of Japanese films(especially anime, which I think Battle Royal may have actually been first) and I thought the plot was kind of unclear and murky and the character development was a stretch. That being said I couldn't finish the hunger games series because it is a bit melodramatic and that makes it hard to suspend my disbelief. I shan't be seeing the movie.

chumpsteak said:

Wow, sounds like a bunch of crotchity old f*cks in here. Listen, if you're like me your wife and teenage kid read the books and raved about them and you being intriged by the teenagers killing each other decided to read the books too. You thought they would suck so you were prepared to put them down but instead you finished each one in about a week and were actually excited about the movies coming out. Then as per usual when the movie came out you were disappointed but still understood how difficult it is to make a movie that matches the books.

Anyway, I was disappointed in the movie too, but I read the books and am still excited to go see the next one. If you don't like 'em, that's cool...don't watch the next one. Better not catch you in here raving about how crappy part 2 is though....

And by the way, battle los angeles and Skyline are the worse scifi movies ever....

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Will agree with Skyline being horrible.

chumpsteak said:

Wow, sounds like a bunch of crotchity old f*cks in here. Listen, if you're like me your wife and teenage kid read the books and raved about them and you being intriged by the teenagers killing each other decided to read the books too. You thought they would suck so you were prepared to put them down but instead you finished each one in about a week and were actually excited about the movies coming out. Then as per usual when the movie came out you were disappointed but still understood how difficult it is to make a movie that matches the books.

Anyway, I was disappointed in the movie too, but I read the books and am still excited to go see the next one. If you don't like 'em, that's cool...don't watch the next one. Better not catch you in here raving about how crappy part 2 is though....

And by the way, battle los angeles and Skyline are the worse scifi movies ever....

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Gee, I don't FEEL crotchety.
Regards, GF.

You're right. You should try the Twilight movies. Much better.

gratus fermentatio said:

Though I do understand if you're actually trying to save me the pain of paying cash money to see a $hitty movie, for that I thank you...

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I am, and you're welcome. My apologies for the buck and change you'll lose at redbox.

I agree that it was a pretty bad movie. I only watched it because I was impressed with Jennifer Lawrence's performance in Winter's Bone, which was a much better movie.

DeafSmith said:

I agree that it was a pretty bad movie. I only watched it because I was impressed with Jennifer Lawrence's performance in Winter's Bone, which was a much better movie.

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That movie was good and her performance was spot on.

Battle royal anyone?! Japan made that movie in 2000. Then a sequel. Still read all three books. Movie not as good. But liked however, that is wasn't another #!&*ing remake in theaters. (comparatively)

Revvy said:

Here's THE HUNGER GAMES I Wanted to See

Like a lot of directors vying for the job of bringing The Hunger Games to the screen, Kevin Tancharoen (Mortal Kombat: Legacy) put together a pitch reel to showcase the tone and look of the movie that he wanted to make. Ultimately Lionsgate went with Gary Ross, but this is The Hunger Games I wanted to see - a film that fully committed to its violent dystopian world.

While concept art and treatments used to fit the bill, edited reels like this one below are commonly put together for pitch meetings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcXf90kB1cI&feature=player_embedded

Click to expand...

Ok, so I definitely HAVE to admit that this would've been a million times better film.

I think the problem is they can put out a thousand movies a year now, and they still make a sh*tton of money off of em. So nobody needs to take 5 years to make a movie anymore and 90 (98.5?) percent of them have the quality of an afterschool special. But this just goes along with my mindset that you should only expect what a film is shooting for, in this case its a watered down film for the "young adults" the novels were initially intended for. Not the gritty post apocalypse films most of that reel mas made from.

Man...that would've been a badass film though lol, well, they ARE remaking movies that were just made a few years ago now so MAYBE...well..one can hope huh?

basilchef said:

Battle royal anyone?! Japan made that movie in 2000. Then a sequel. Still read all three books. Movie not as good. But liked however, that is wasn't another #!&*ing remake in theaters. (comparatively)

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I take it you actually haven't read much of this thread. Several of us have referenced Battle Royale in here.

DerCribben said:

... 90 (98.5?) percent of them have the quality of an afterschool special.

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You just dated yourself.

Man...that would've been a badass film though lol, well, they ARE remaking movies that were just made a few years ago now so MAYBE...well..one can hope huh?

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Just wait to the days where the re-launch a franchise even before they wrap up the other one.

Revvy said:

You just dated yourself.

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HA! I remember seeing one where Helen Hunt was a teenager that got hit by a car and got a brain injury and had to learn to live with it. Wait, did I just do it again?

Revvy said:

Just wait to the days where the re-launch a franchise even before they wrap up the other one.

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I can definitely see things heading in that direction...they just released two snow white films basically on top of one another...I'd say its only a matter of time but it seems that comment would be better suited to a year ago

DerCribben said:

I think the problem is they can put out a thousand movies a year now, and they still make a sh*tton of money off of em. So nobody needs to take 5 years to make a movie anymore and 90 (98.5?) percent of them have the quality of an afterschool special.

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Cop-out. A turd is a turd, and that movie was a turd.

bigbeergeek said:

Cop-out. A turd is a turd, and that movie was a turd.

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Ok well here's a response from a friend when I posted that director reel on her Facebook and asked her for her take on the actual film vs the proposed film on that reel:

My Friend said:

Well, what I LOVED about the movie that was made, is that it took you through the emotions that you felt throughout the book. I think the actors they picked are really good. Hmmm.... i am going to have to let that video sit and digest for a minute.... ugh! I really wanna reread the book right now!!!!

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Not a fan of movies or books with an in your face, don't bother thinking about it because there is nothing to think about, type message. But, as stated, target audience here is young adults...despite being only a few years removed from this label, I'm still going to be cranky about it.

The biggest problem with the movie is that they toned it down to get the PG-13 rating, thus defeating the whole point of the book. The whole point if the book is that we as a country view war as a spectator sport. When you get rid of the brutality of the book, you lose the message.

bigbeergeek said:

Why are adults reading "young adult" novels anyway???

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Americans are retards. Yeah, I know...not PC. Sorry about that. But seriously, Americans are retards.