The Hunger Games Blu Ray

We had planned to go see The Hunger Games at the theatre but no one was available to watch the kids so we skipped it and waited for the DVD release.  We did not get all crazy and go pick it up at midnight  last night or anything like that.  The dog needed out this morning so I went and picked it up with the few groceries we needed for the coming week.  The kids were still asleep so it was the perfect time to watch the movie.

 Both of us have read all three of the Hunger Games books.  It started with Stacey and then she got me to read them.  In contrast to the Twilight series, I probably would have read the Hunger Games without any recommendations; it would have just been a matter of "when".  Regardless, I am glad that I read the books because I did enjoy them quite a bit and will read them again sometime. 

I was a little concerned about the film adaptation because I recalled the film adaptations of other books such as Eragon.  I enjoyed not only the book Eragon but the entire Inheritance series.  The film adaptation of Eragon had a really good cast but it was a definite dud as far as adaptations go.  The film was quite a bit different from the book and had some glaring omissions.  I would have liked to have seen a series of films but I am sure that there will be no further movies. 

How was the film adaptation of the Hunger Games?  I thought it was excellent.  There are some differences from the book but nothing near as drastic as Eragon.  The world of PanEm is represented in very good detail and does not look like a set or some corny stage props.  The cast was terrific and very appropriate for the descriptions in the novels.  The only question I had was about the appearance of Haymitch because I thought he was supposed to be older.  Stacey pointed out that he is probably the right age but is supposed to look older due to all of his drinking.  The movie has a nice pace and I never felt bored while watching.  Finally, the violence is there but it is done in a non-grotesque manner and does not glorify it either. 

In a nutshell - THUMBS UP!     

 

   

...Then Again, Maybe Not?

Well, here it is Friday and I have no idea if we are going to see The Hunger Games in the nearby theatre.  I assumed it would be a done deal after my wife blazed through the books in a week.  She likes to read and does read quite a bit but it is often sporadic.  When something holds her interest and I find her nose buried in a book I try to find all of the books in that series and get them.  Besides, it gives me another reason to visit the bookstore and I could always go for that.

The trailer for the first movie in The Hunger Games trilogy has been showing recently.  I posed the trailer in my last post.  The trailer looks pretty decent to me and has piqued my interest.  I still have a little under 200 pages left to read but I would see it whether or not I am finished reading the book.  She watched the trailer and said it looked pretty good but after a few days she said something that was totally unexpected - "I don't know if I want to see the movie because they'll just ruin the book".  I admit that I was a little surprised by this revelation.  My surprise came from my misconception that people that are not fans of role playing games, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and other assorted geekery did not generally worry about such things.  Lesson learned :-).

I know the book vs. movie debate - maybe better called original vs. adaptation - has been discussed before by many other people.  I am not trying to start up that debate again.  FYI, I do generally prefer the book or original when it comes to film adaptations.  Even though I usually prefer the book or original source I can enjoy other adaptations and see the merit (if any) in some of them.  I started this post just to comment on our indecision on seeing The Hunger Games today but I started thinking about the whole original source vs. adaptation debate.  To sum it up, some assorted thoughts on the subject are included below...

Chronicles of Narnia: I read these as a child and have recently bought new copies.  I own the audio adaptations by the BBC (iirc?) and those are amazing to listen to with the different voices and sound effects.  I thought the film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was done really well.  I believed that Narnia was going to get the proper treatment it deserves.  The second movie was not bad but it seems to be missing the charm of the books.  I have yet to see the third movie. 

Resident Evil: It seems to be in a special spot of admiration with me.  I have played most of the games and enjoyed them.  I have read all of the novelizations and enjoyed them.  I own the first 4 movies on DVD and will in all probability buy the fifth one.  I have heard some the desire the movie to be a walk through of one of the games.  I think that is a bad decision.  I can separate the games, books, and films into separate story lines and enjoy them all so I do.

Spider Man: My uncle had issues with the Spider Man movies right from the start.  The organic web shooters bothered him because he remembered Spider Man changing the formula of his webs to win in certain circumstances.  I enjoyed the first two movies and thought the third stunk.  I viewed Peter Parker as the "everyman superhero" so the organic web shooters made sense to me.

Stephen King's MISERY: The book was fabulous and did an amazing job of describing the feelings and emotions of Paul Sheldon during his captivity.  The movie was really good also but one area I felt where it exceeded the book was in the ending.  When the server looks at him and says, "I'm your number one fan" you can almost feel the anxiety from the character on the screen.

WATCHMEN: People seem to either love or hate this one.  I did and still do enjoy it tremendously.  Regardless of what is said otherwise, I believe the ending in the movie is better.  I am ready for the flames on this one...lol.

Maybe I will follow up on this later...

Friday Night Movie Prediction...

I have seen the books at Wal-Mart for months but never picked them up.  My wife started reading them this last weekend; already 20 pages away from finishing the second book.  I started reading the first book and I predict that I will be seeing this movie Friday.

John Carter Trailer

I was pretty excited about a John Carter movie when I initially heard about the upcoming feature.  Then I was pretty disappointed to heard that it would be a Disney production.  Then I happened to see this trailer recently and I am ready to see this NOW!