#Francis Rivera

[thedalatribune]

© Paolo Dala

When The Warm Light Blankets The World

Light changes a place - from a golden sunrise blanketing the towering spires of Myanmar to a warm pink sunset following hikers to a mountain summit in Norway - our travel memories are wrapped in the light and emotions we experience. Photographers are often a dedicated group, patiently chasing golden hour light - that time of day at sunrise or sunset, when warm light blankets the world and warm, glowing images are created.

Sarah Polger and Francis Rivera 21 Gorgeous Sunrise and Sunset Photos

[mockingjaysnakes]

snowbaird & snowjanus | BTS.

[lulu-cat-princess]

Thomas reminds me of a LOT of another Disney character….

[snowjanuses]

Congrats to Rachel Zegler and the entire TBOSAS cast and crew on their People’s Choice Award wins tonight! A great day to be a TBOSAS fan!

[itskeisy]

The cast and crew of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in London doing presstour 🇬🇧

[xshipper]

Sorry, I was just so nervous and happy, I'm really not good in doing selfies! But hey I got them at the #worldpremiere of #TheHungerGames #tbosas in #Berlin:

Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Josh Andrés Rivera, Sofia Sanchez, Francis Lawrence and the one and only Nina Jacobson who made all this possible.

[stuff-diary]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Movies watched in 2024

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023, USA)

Director: Francis Lawrence

Writers: Michael Lesslie & Michael Arndt (based on the novel by Suzanne Collins)

Mini-review:

I can't believe I waited so long to watch this one, considering The Hunger Games was such a big part of my life and I loved this prequel book. And after finally watching it, I'm so happy with the result. It does a great job as an adaptation, although some of Corilanus' complexity gets lost in translation without the book's internal narration. But most importantly, it's a pretty damn good movie in its own right. It sends a strong message that feels as important as ever in our current political and social landscape, and it does that without ever getting boring. It certainly helps that all the members of this incredible cast give striking performances. On top of that, the soundtrack is entirely unforgettable, with Rachel Zegler serving some serious vocals, as expected. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes proves this franchise has enough fuel to keep going for a long time, and I'm already excited to read/watch the next prequel.

[shangdragonsthief]

Here's my next vid in my Epic Series. The Underworld. Dazai, taking Kouyou's advice, ventures to the Underworld to find the blind Prophet, Jouno. While there, he deals with the souls of all his dead men, including Polites/Kenji and his mother.

[genevieveetguy]

. Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Francis Lawrence (2023)

[goteambrooklyn]

I respect Mattel a lot for how diverse they have made Barbie but they erased “Coloured Francie”. Although the doll didn’t age well due to the name using the word “coloured” (which is now considered a slur in some countries) and using a white doll’s face mould, it’s still important to acknowledge that “Coloured Francie” existed.

“1968 -  Christie, one of the first Black dolls was released.

1969 -  Nurse Julia, one of the first Black celebrity dolls.

1971 -  First articulated doll Live Action Christie.

1980 -  First Black & Hispanic dolls named Barbie were released.

1989 - Pilot 

1991 - Navy admiral 

1993 - Medical sergeant 

1995 - Firefighter

1997 - Paleontologist 

2004 - President 

2008 - President 

2015 - Astronaut

2015 -  Barbie introduces three new body types: curvy, tall and petite.

2017 -  New Ken body types and a range of diverse features including a man bun, cornrows, and freckles.

2019 -  Dolls reflecting permanent physical disabilities, including a doll with a wheelchair and prosthetic leg, are added.”

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

With 2015's Mockingjay – Part 2 the Hunger Games, the story was decidedly over (barring a preposterous Rise of Skywalker-style resurrection or a Forever Purge-like resurgence of the titular games). The only way to keep the franchise going was with a prequel. The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes focuses on the storyline's "villain behind it all", Coriolanus Snow, when he was young and making his way to the top. If a prequel had to be made, this is the way you go. Unfortunately, the characters way back when turn out to be much less interesting than they were when we first met them and the same goes for the Games.

Eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is determined to get his once-wealthy family out of poverty. When Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) assigns Coriolanus to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the District 12 female tribute to the annual Hunger Games, he thinks he’s positioned his student to lose the coveted Plinth Prize scholarship. Instead, Coriolanus displays a type of sympathy that’s uncommon to the people of Panem and his champion becomes a favorite among Panem's people. With the scholarship now within range, will Coriolanus’ sympathy hold up?

While the premise is intriguing, there’s an inherent problem with it. When we met Snow, he was cold, calculating and charismatic, but in a “I love to hate this guy and want to see what’s coming next” kind of way. This younger Snow is sympathetic and innocent. When loss-of-innocence storylines work, it's because a part of you hopes for a happy ending where the protagonist doesn't completely fall from grace. It isn’t a spoiler to tell you that by the time “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ends, Coriolanus is a murderer with no desire to abolish the Hunger Games who only wants to consolidate more power. You know there's no hope and you’re waiting for the movie to catch up. Making that wait feel even longer is Coriolanus's transformation. It takes a long time, until the final act when the change is so abrupt you feel like you missed a scene.

Another flaw with the film are the titular Hunger Games. Katniss volunteered to participate in the 74th annual Hunger Games. Here, we're getting the 10th. In that gap, there have been some significant changes. Part of what makes winning the Plinth Prize scholarship difficult is that people have gotten bored of the gladiatorial bloodbath. You can see why. The arena is just an empty circle with weapons in the center. Even when the battlefield gets an impromptu facelift, it only allows the children to run and hide so the conflict can last even longer. It's nothing like the arenas we saw before, with varied landscapes and threats ranging from venomous insects to monstrous beasts, poisonous rolling mists and more.

Most disappointing about the picture is that you often see what it could've been. Tom Blyth is great, as is Rachel Zegler. There's a doomed bond that forms between them and it grabs your attention. As Snow becomes increasingly sinister, you wonder what will happen to the people he's allowed close, including his classmates and Lucy. It's a shame the film spends so much of its running time following Snow before he becomes corrupt. If the 157 minutes had leaned more towards the darker chapters of his story, we'd have a real winner.

The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is well made, the performances are solid and it has a great concept but the execution is disappointing. For what it does well, I won't say that it feels like an attempt to wring more blood from a stone but this prequel does not feel essential. When you're saying that about the fifth entry in a series, it means you can only recommend it to the most fervent fans, the kind who care more about getting more than anything else. (Theatrical version on the big screen, December 7, 2023)

[mockingjaysnakes]

📍(part 2) filming locations for the ballad of songbirds and snakes.

[awesomefridayca]

Podcast: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes & The Society of the Snow

Greetings programs! This week, we’re diving into the world of the Hunger Games with the new prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and then taking a look at Span’s entry for the Best International Feature award at this year’s Oscars, The Society of the Snow. Join us! Continue reading Untitled

[moviehealthcommunity]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

This is a Movie Health Community evaluation. It is intended to inform people of potential health hazards in movies and does not reflect the quality of the film itself. The information presented here has not been reviewed by any medical professionals.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has several scenes in dimly-lit hallways where the lights give brief flickers off; rather than a quick flash of light, infrequent flashes of darkness happen. The opening shot of the film has some dim lightning in the distance. Machine guns are briefly used in two scenes, with the second instance occurring in bright daylight. One scene has explosions in the background in rapid succession.

During sequences of violence, the cameras shake on occasion. There are a few uses of disorienting spinning shots.

Flashing Lights: 4/10. Motion Sickness: 5/10.

TRIGGER WARNING: One person vomits on-screen within seconds of the start of a violent sequence.

Image ID: a promotional poster for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

[themnmovieman]

Movie Review ~ Ghostlight

Ghostlight Synopsis: When melancholic construction worker Dan finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter, he discovers community and purpose in a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. As the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life, he and his family are forced to confront a personal loss.Stars: Keith Kupferer, Dolly de Leon, Katherine May Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Hana Dworkin,…

[itskeisy]

Happy, Sad, Confused event in NYC