#also she did a very good job in the hunger games movie

[spicynectarines]

i am tired of the Rachel Zeglar hate like LET HER BE A HATER

[ploppythespaceship]

Uglies - Movie Thoughts

On a whim, I decided to start re-reading the Uglies series a couple months ago -- so imagine my surprise when I found out it was getting a movie! Said movie is now out, and it was interesting to watch with the book being so fresh in my head.

Overall, it's... eh. It's not a complete train wreck, the way most critics seem to want you to think, but it is fairly bland and uninspired. It's a very watered down version of the book. It also has the misfortune of feeling like yet another a Hunger Games wannabe, despite the original book pre-dating that series by several years.

Spoilers for everything under the cut.

What I Liked

Based on reviews, I seem to be in the minority here, but I thought the cast was pretty good. People seem to hate Joey King as Tally, but I thought she was fine. Brianne Tju is easily the best in the cast, stealing the whole damn movie as Shay. Laverne Cox also gives an excellent performance as Cable, though I do think she should not have been given that role for other reasons (which I'll get into later).

I've also seen complaints that the characters aren't ugly enough. They talk about how ugly they are and point out their specific ugly features, when they don't actually appear that ugly. And I think everyone complaining about that is completely missing the point. The "Uglies" aren't actually ugly -- they're just normal people, who've been conditioned to think their imperfect features are hideous.

I was honestly unsure how the Pretties would be visualized -- in fact, I wondered if the book would just be fundamentally unadaptable because of it -- but they did a fairly good job. I think leaning on CGI and unnatural affectations was the right way to go. All the Pretties have this uncanny quality to them that suits the story perfectly.

The overall production design was solid as well. I like how Uglyville is all gray concrete and muted tones, while New Pretty Town is shimmering golds. Then upon reaching the Smoke, all the colors of nature finally come through. I do think that could have pushed that last one a little bit more, but it still works well.

Apart from that, I don't really have much to shout out. It's competently written, well-performed, well put together. I know it doesn't sound like I have much praise, but it is a competent movie.

What I'm Mixed On

By far the biggest change from the book is Peris becoming a Special. And I'm torn on it. On the one hand, it does make him a bigger part of the story -- he's honestly not much more than an inciting incident in the book. It gives him and Tally a unique arc that's probably the strongest through-line in the story. On the other hand, the Specials as a concept are so under-cooked (more on that later) and the actor is so bland that it still doesn't quite land the way it's supposed to.

What I Didn't Like

The pacing of this movie is by far its worst issue. We are flying through this plot. There is no time for anything to breathe, for characters to develop meaningful connections, for the bigger moments to feel earned. Some things do make sense to condense -- Tally's journey to the Smoke would have been incredibly boring without her internal monologue, so condensing most of that into a montage makes sense. But I do feel we lost too much. That's where a lot of Tally's characterization comes out, where we can see her bravery and ingenuity -- none of that comes across in the movie.

A lot of important beats are rushed. Tally agreeing to help Dr. Cable is over in a flash. It feels like Tally's in the Smoke for all of fifteen minutes. Tally and David barely interact, so their relationship has no real stake. Everyone is kidnapped by Special Circumstances, and then rescued immediately after. I almost think a 5-6 episode mini-series would have worked better -- but that might have introduced the opposite problem, where everything takes too long.

The movie also has frequent montages that don't really work. It seems like they were trying to show the passage of time, but it just makes everything feel even shorter.

The beginning of the movie has an exposition problem, as well. It opens with a montage explaining the entire setting... before leading into several scenes that also explain the setting through dialogue. We get fed the same details about the surgery and the Rusties and the flowers at least three times at the start, and it gets grating.

As already mentioned, Tally is pretty severely underwritten. In the book, she has a distinct personality and a unique presence. In the movie, she's just the main character because she happens to be the main character. Her intelligence and resourcefulness are pretty much gone.

I also think changing her motivation for going to the Smoke did her a disservice. In the book, Tally goes to the Smoke so she can have her surgery, and because she's convinced herself that Shay needs her help. In the movie, Dr. Cable tells her that the Smokies have a weapon, and she will be saving lives by helping to find them. I think giving her a more selfless motivation robs her of her character arc. She always comes across as someone trying to help, who wants to best for other people, rather than someone who had to consciously learn that.

The Specials are barely even a presence. I'm not sure they were even directly called Specials. People who hadn't read the book would never realize that there was an entire separate status of person here. You never see their disturbingly beautiful faces or their terrifying strength. Considering how pivotal the Specials are to the overall story, especially in the later books, it's really odd not to see them properly established here.

Like I said, Laverne Cox gives an excellent performance as Dr. Cable... but I think they should have thought twice before casting a trans woman. It's not necessarily that there's a trans woman in the villainous role, but that there's a trans woman in the villainous role who specifically wants to force people to have surgeries to brainwash them. Like... did the optics of that really not occur to anyone? At all? I think Cox could have played David's mother, instead.

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

How could you translate Katniss' internal thoughts to screen?

If you become the screenwriter for the new adaptation, what would you do?

Are there any movies or tv series which have good example of this type of narration?

Thank you 😊

@curiousnonny

Oh tough question @curiousnonny. I've literally been sitting on this one for at least a year because I've been trying to figure out how the heck I would translate more of her internal thoughts to the screen. I will say this...

I have such mixed feelings about what Gary Ross and company decided to do for the films. I get why they did it, but man did it suck at times. What I mean by that is, they turned Katniss and Peeta into The Watson character. By that, I mean that in the original Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson's role was primarily to ask questions and doubt Sherlock's theories in order to give Sherlock a chance to explain what happened and show off his so called "genius."

Haymitch has to explain certain things about the Games to Katniss and Peeta that, in the books, THEY ALREADY KNOW because they live in this world and are not idiots. And the thing is, the movies showed that the film makers DID grasp the concept of how to show us a little and trust the audience to figure out the rest. Gale's thirty second rant in the woods about "What if everyone just stopped watching... It's sick. You root for your favorites and cry when they die" (paraphrase). Movie!Gale tells us something about the Games that we get from Katniss's internal thoughts in the books. And that is that while the districts hate the Games...they partake in them. Katniss tells us about how people in 12 ENGAGE in the betting. It's become a cultural thing so that even though there are people who know the tributes, even though it might one day be you or your sweetheart or your child in the arena, the Games are STILL treated as a form of entertainment on some level...even in the districts. And Katniss knows this, which the movie shows when she tells Gale "That'll never happen" (another paraphrase).

There's also the odds board that we see very briefly in the Capitol. Now we the audience know, just from those handful of seconds, that there's wagering on the Games, without Katniss telling us. More brief scenes like that would help with the world building.

Which leads me to... it works better as a tv series. It's written by a television writer and the story is blocked and paced like a tv series. And I cannot believe that I am saying this, knowing that it winds up being so hated by so many of the fans by the final season, but Game of Thrones the tv series, at least in the first season, did a phenomenal job of translating an entire book to screen. I've only read one book and watched two seasons, so I cannot speak to later seasons/books, but wow. Just... do THAT with The Hunger Games. The added length of a tv series gives you the advantage of more scenes and less of the book being cut out. You have the luxury of included so many of the characters that got cut from the movies, which all of that will naturally bring more of Katniss's thoughts and feelings, and understanding of her world, to the forefront.

But you can't stop there, you need an actress who, at a rather young age, can tell an entire story in just a few facial expressions to play Katniss. Not to bash Jennifer Lawrence because there were some parts of her portrayal of Katniss that were excellent, but I felt like her acting was hit or miss sometimes, and at others her portrayal suffered because of both the script and the editing. Sorry not sorry. So casting is key to bringing her internal thoughts to life through acting.

From there, I hate to say it, but at some point, you do have to trust your audience to be able to pick up on things. I think you do need to include a few flashbacks, but you can slow roll them. Show us Peeta giving her the bread in flashback then cut back to Katniss on stage looking slightly horrified and confused. Peeta's trying to talk to her on the train, return to the flashback and show his mother hitting him. Let current Katniss show just a flicker of guilt followed by slight annoyance and determination. You can even keep the flashback silent, if you want. Peeta's helping clean up drunk, vomit covered Haymitch and tells Katniss that he doesn't need her help and doesn't want the Capitol attendants. In her train compartment, Katniss shows us the whole thing, starting with her Mom being nonresponsive, an emaciated Prim, a picture of her father on the mantle with the black ribbon over it and a picture of the whole family next to it. Ah yes. Audience can now deduce that Katniss's father is gone and Mom's a wreck, the family is falling apart. Then give us the sound. Katniss pawing through the trash, Mrs. Mellark screaming at her, and the gift of the bread. Your audience is smart enough to take it from there.

You'd have to give us the dandelion part later on, too, but I actually think you could work that in somehow during the arena. Have Katniss find some dandelions after the girl from 8 dies. She can stare at them, cut to the flashback of the day after the bread. K&P share a look and then end it. She sees the dandelion. Prim can mention the bread, causing Katniss to look away from the dandelion, maybe ask how Katniss got it, and then Katniss goes into the woods to gather dandelions for her family to eat. Cut back to Katniss in the arena, confusion playing on her face until she remembers she's on camera and drops the mask back down. There is so much that can be done with one second of emotion that quickly changes to something else in this situation, and while they did manage some of that with Jennifer Lawrence, I don't think they used the technique to its full advantage.

The problem is that the movies were inconsistent with how they handled this problem of translating what Katniss tells us/says to us onto the screen. At times, they spoon fed us too much and did it in the form of spoon feeding information to Katniss and Peeta that they would've already known, making our protagonists look like idiots. At other times, like with the bread flashback, they didn't give us enough, so we don't understand the stakes and the significance of that moment. Fix the inconsistencies, and I actually think they were kind of on the right track with the movies, they just didn't follow through completely or effectively.

[ipusingularitae]

I'm feeling that some ppl interpretate the [man hurt → fascist] like we can't hold men and patriarchy accountable for the process. like "oh if you didn't hurt him he wouldn't have descended into fascism in the first place". and i truly need these ppl to give a closer look into the processes and institutions.

bc it's not coincidental that these men go to fascism and conservative spaces and ideologies, it's not something that happens to happen. and i feel like a lot of ppl are blaming marginalized and oppressed groups for feeling enraged and not wanting to be around others that reproduce oppression in the first place, like everything wasn't a consequence of a system that constantly sustains individuality and those behaviors towards them (marginalized groups)

like, it's kinda obvious when you see the bigger picture. but on a smaller level, some responses to, for example, barbie and ken relationship in the recent movie, or snow and lucy gray. yeah it's funny "the boy was heartbroken and became a fascist" at first bc it's so absurd, but then when a bunch of ppl start to take that seriously i get... concerned.

the barbie movie had a clear premise, yes, and the mirroring of the real world to barbieland is there. no, kens shouldn't be invisible and maybe we shouldn't focus on a capitalist and liberal society in the first place, but ken relying on patriarchy isn't supposed to be taken on a simplistic way. if we take the mirroring aspect, the way ken take patriarchy is WAY different than the way women take counterculture movements, especially considering that feminism is about equality and not matriarchy. SO it's not to be taken on a superficial level, there's a reason why men go to patriarchy in the first place bc men does not grow in a women dominant world. the way women use feminism is not the same way ken used patriarchy. feminism should be a movement that also targets capitalism, and so yes (surprise) the approach on the movie was white and neoliberal.

although you can to use your access in information (internet) to go deeper into other ways to approach the topic, the hunger games one makes me much more concerned. because a lot was very clear. other things i think should've been more clear, like the way coriolanus despised lucy and sejanus very much in the book (we know why they didn't make that more obvious tho). but essentially i think there's more discussion to have in more complex ways in this story. bc it shows how one thing is connected to the other, how the stuff do not go alone.

the way he acted towards lucy and his subsequent response to her not complying to what he wanted makes it clear how he didn't descended into conservative ideology from nowhere. since the beginning he felt like the world owned him something, like he deserved more (and I'm not talking ab just his financial situation, although that is linked too). bc his father was a great army man, and they were from a dominant space before the districts dared to rebel, and so he had this thing being reaffirmed all the time - how he didn't had what he was supposed to have, this greatness. and ppl bully him for it, they make fun of him and that makes him feel more wronged. so when lucy gray does not accept what he wanted, when she realizes what their life would be and runs away, he goes to the thing that was there all along. it wasn't a new outside thing, it was present in his life since the beginning, it was there before him, and ppl would say that it's simply human nature so... why wouldn't he go along with it?

i think the barbie movie did a good job when they showed that barbie putting ken aside wasn't right and it came connected with her alienating herself from her existence. but the movie didn't show how everything is connected to the systems and the economic, social and cultural structures, the movie does not try to show how maintaining the system will continue to do harm, or how the hierarchy system it's the problem in itself. it goes so far into saying that "someday maybe the kens will have as much influence as women have in the real world" but does not provide the first step to dismantling the culture that has been fucking everything up since 16th century (at minimum) - again, very white and neoliberal.

but THG saga shows us how everything is linked. and so seeing ppl putting it on a simplistic way makes me very concerned and confused bc... IT'S THERE. and it's not subtext, it's not implied, IT'S THERE. OPEN AND EXPLICT AND WELL EXPLAINED IN 4 BOOKS/MOVIES.

anyway that was a big rant, thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[not-the-blue]

i thought the tbosbas movie was so fun and actually mostly did justice to the book (at least if you've read it before watching), but i did not like that one extra line they gave lucy gray, something like "i don't sing when i'm told, i sing when i have something to say"

because one thing about her character and her relationship to music is, she DOES sing when she's told. it's her JOB to sing. she's definitely not above using singing to her advantage, when snow's convinced her it could help keep her alive. she's not precious about it.

music in the hunger games series specifically is not portrayed as some sort of High Art to be revered. it's very explicitly folk music, sang by workers to pass the time in the mines, to give people something to dance to, to get a crying child to sleep. katniss is not good at it, but she does it, because it's always been part of her life. and it's BECAUSE it's so mundane and widespread that it later drives and symbolizes the revolution, and that's part of why snow hates it so much. that's why he's so carefully written into singing the anthem, carefully practicing it the night before. to him music is a special occasion thing, to be respected. lucy gray sings because it's fun, or to bitch about her ex, or to build an alibi. hell, the birds sing because they're birds.

what i'm saying is thg uses music and specifically folk music in a very specific deliberate way and also it's a really good series i can't believe i was so gatekeepy about it as a teen

[butchbetty]

having read the book right before i saw the movie i really enjoyed it of course, but i have a few issues with the way things were presented;

i feel as though they made coriolanus more sympathetic (to make the movie as a whole more appealing) and gave his character more excuses for his actions by having other characters vocalize what was just his paranoia that motivated him in the book

while i’m on this point i think they made sejanus less sympathetic and didn’t do enough to go into the internal conflict and the moral obligation he was feeling

i was with people who hadn’t read the book and their friendship came off as more genuine with snow having to do what he did out of self-preservation rather than snow manipulating sejanus into trusting him and betraying him by choice

i know since film is a visual medium it was necessary to put lucy gray in the middle of the action and have to fight for herself on a few occasions, but i found it almost hilariously unrealistic how many near death scenarios she escaped

i think the dialogue between coriolanus and lucy gray in part 3 was lacking and came off more as just building up the love story; the two of them finally getting to know each other was a big part of revealing how cynical snow really was and the fundamental differences between them becoming dangerous way before the ending

i also think it would’ve helped narratively to reveal what coriolanus really thought of lucy gray; that he had to convince himself she wasn’t really district in order to respect her and that his romantic feelings were incredibly possessive (but again i think they ignored this to better sell people on their romance)

ultimately, i think the gravity of his betrayal at the very end was undersold. his paranoia sending him after lucy gray making the stakes so high that she feared for her life, and finally him using sejanus’ death as a stepping stone to get to the power and wealth he thought he deserved.

i know that was all pretty negative but there was a lot i loved about this movie!

this film stands as a great addition to the hunger games series and will have great re-watch value in the future

i was going to shout-out one of the actors but it doesn’t seem fair because they all did a great job! they made the story so real and did such a good job bringing the characters to life

the music!!!! i could go on and on!! but my favorite thing about it is they kept all the lyrics from the book and did a great job translating these scenes into film, especially since it was hard at times to picture what hearing her sing was like at those moments

speaking of the auditory storytelling, hearing the jabberjays at the hanging was so haunting it’s definitely what suzanne would’ve wanted

lucy gray’s accent was so cute and had all the charm i imagined it with while reading the book

i like the added line that no one will watch the games if there isn’t a victor; making it even more clear why they don’t just kill 24 kids at random and why they were forced to let katniss and peeta win (it also adds more dramatic irony that if not for this belief snow held katniss and peeta would’ve died in their first hunger games, squashing hopes of rebellion, just like gaul was trying to do by killing all of the tributes!)

overall it’s so great having a visual counterpart to the book since it is so action-packed and uses so many visual descriptions; i think just like the other 3, if you’ve read the book getting to actually see everything unfold is such a treat!

[johanna-swann]

Finally went to see the ballad of songbirds and snakes and my first thoughts were:

Holy shit, part 1 has zero chill. It was the exposition speedrun of the century. You need to know this and this and this and also this. You're gonna need it later. (It was still good, but the pacing was mad fast. Even in the prologue scene.) This is where you notice they had to cut a lot of stuff from the book and get the show on the road.

Part 2 was my least favourite in the book, but it worked really well on film. I found the games part in the book somewhat lacking because Snow's perspective on the events is rather limited. In the movie we got that additional perspective. The combination of not yet advanced technology in the arena, as well as main characters on the inside and the outside made these Hunger Games so real.

Part 3 was more or less the same as in the book. Again, some scenes were cut, but it didn't change much.

Most changes were necessary and I am totally okay with them, but it does change the entire atmosphere. Snow seems much more emotional in the movie (he does what he does anyway) whereas he seemed colder and calculating in the book. Tigris relationship to him is completely changed by the events of the movie, in the book she doesn't know how much her Coryo has changed. Lucy's and Snow's mutual betrayal is much clearer in the movie, in the book it's not entirely clear what happened. But the basic story remains the same.

It's really noticeable how many of the trilogy's crew came back for the prequel. A lot of spinoffs don't match the vibes of the first installment in a franchise, but this was very much a Hunger Games movie.

The casting was amazing. The cast of the trilogy did a great job, too, but not all of them felt 100% perfect for the role. No such doubts here.

Last but not least: They need to ban the German translator of the books from translating songs. The songs were very much not good in the translation, but they worked so so well in English.

[captainimfangirling]

Hunger Games Review

Saw The hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I don't know what the credits are talking about because I thought it was a good movie and I don't consider myself a die hard Hunger Games fan. I enjoyed watching the movies but haven't read the books.

Waning: Minor spoilers

I thought Lucy Gray was gonna be another version of Katniss but she wasn't. She wasn't a fighter like Katniss and would've died if it wasn't for Snow and a bit of luck but I liked that because she was different and refreshing (also the story was about Snow not her). Critics complained it was a musical but actually I liked the songs. I don't even like Rachel Zegler as a person because she's so self entitled but I'll give her credit for her performance in this movie. She did an amazing job. I didn't expect Lucy Gray to have a southern accent and I loved that too because that's different compared to Katniss.

I really enjoyed Tom Blyth performance as young Snow. I read a little bit about the books and I wish the writers for the movie showed how possessive and obsessive Snow was with Lucy Gray like he was in the books. I think it would've been a good way to show that Snow's love for Lucy Gray was toxic and he wasn't just trying to save her life, he was trying to save her so he can have her for himself. It's a selfish kind of love but I still consider it love. Also showing his possessive and obsessive side would explain his personality as he gets older because he becomes very obsessed with power, even possessive to the point of paranoia when his position is threatened. People who haven't read the books now think Snow became evil because of Lucy Gray broke his heart.

[iantimony]

sick and weak shabbosposting

thankfully that is a woe-is-me exaggeration. my therapist last week said she was getting over a cold but was no longer contagious and i, like a fool, believed her!!! woe!!! agony!!! struck down by seasonal cold!!! and yet i persist

listening: about halfway through episode 5 of partizan! so far i have laughed a lot more than i thought i would, the most recent bit that had me cackling was about "donating" their "extra mech" to midnite as "charity". really really good. am keeping up with SSHG episodes, i am very excited for them to watch the first hunger games movie at some point.

reading: we're back on the academic papers. i'm giving a general-audience presentation on my research on monday to other graduate students and needed to make sure that i actually understood the fundamental assumptions that we made about the topic. the good news is i think i do! the bad news is uh oh, gotta make a presentation... some articles i read this week: against access, john lee clark: this was a really really cool article. definitely has made me re-think the way i should be doing captions on images. the poetry of the tactile descriptions of people involved with protactile made me a little emotional. vanishing words, grazia rutherford-swan: i'm not sure how to articulate how i felt about reading this. it's raw and it's good. content warnings for abuse and assault. crying in luke's lobster, byran woods: i am not a public crier and i do not think i will ever be but i am working on being more vulnerable and allowing myself to cry in therapy right now. i think if i were to be a public crier, train station restaurants in NYC are probably the ideal choice, followed closely by airport food courts and library stacks (does this count as public still?)

watching: last weekend i watched the cowboy bebop movie with the boyf!

COMPLETELY unrelated but at this point in writing this post a car driving down the main street my apartment is absolutely BLASTING you're out of touch i'm out of time. incredible. no notes.

anyways i enjoyed the bebop movie! once again they are soooo weird about native americans. it is a little funny to see the like...the way western media others the "far east", but it's japanese media doing that but about native americans? there's something to talk about there that someone more articulate than i can take care of. some of the timeline of this movie didn't quite track to me but it's fairly easy to hand-wave (vincent would have had to have been made immune to the nanomachines BEFORE having ~relations~ with elektra and then lost his memory in some separate incident i guess? or lost it just as time went on? who knows, also the implication of the Sexually Transmitted Nanomachine Vaccine is sooo funny). i really liked the comedy relief old guys getting a job to do!! good movie overall, 9/10.

making: i gave up on intarsia for my stupid vertically striped scarf and instead have cast on [drumroll] three hundred and sixty nine stitches!!! give it up for three hundred and sixty nine stitches!!!! my main worry now is that one 50g skein of each color will not be enough and i'll have to order more and risk the dye lots being crazy different...

anyways, ceramics! last saturday i took a day trip to an art museum and nearby ceramics supply store and got a bunch of underglazes, so i'm excited to try out some of those!

did a carving of an illuminated manuscript-style dragon inspired by this beastie on a mug! obviously he is difficult to photograph because curved object, and also isn't colored in yet so it's a bit difficult to pick out, but i'm hoping some fun and creative glaze application will make this guy really really fun

misc: very thankful that i have a work-from-home friendly schedule right now! wednesday suuuuucked, thursday was a little better, and i feel a little better again today, so hopefully with the weekend to recuperate i'll be good for my presentation on monday!

[nataliescatorccio]

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even know the book existed until it came out on adverts for the movie release in cinemas! I bought the book right there and then as I am a big hunger games fan, but it took me months to be able to read it as life got in the way and have just finished it last night!!!

I fell completely and utterly in love with Lucy and Snow/Lucy (well up until his true colours at the end of the book showed its ugly head)

Was it just me that felt the book near the end started to finish off things very quickly? Like with Senjaus and his plans to rebel Snow follows him and then it all goes to shit right there and then he kills the mayors daughter and the other rebel killed Billy which to me didn't make much sense cause he was charging at someone the rebel didn't even know over anger at killing someone he cared about but the rebel sided with protecting Snow? Unless I misread it?

I love how you were drew into actually quite liking Snow and his relationships even though he did have a kind of dick side even then, I also love his relationship he had with Senjaus in district 12 until he betrayed him like he did anyway it killed me reading that part :/ I hate how he became the Plinths son pretty much after he was killed also even though he was the reason. I feel after the deaths of the other two he may now of gone on the run and settled down for a while at least or maybe even ran off like Lucy did on his own in hopes he'd get away.

Also I wish we'd found out what actually happened between Billy and Lucy? It seemed like it was more than what was said as it seemed it happened much before the hunger games name call out? Do you think the mayors daughter really made her name come out and be put into the games?

i'm glad you finally got the chance to read it, it really is an amazing book! i was definitely just enraptured with lucy. i think the story does an amazing job at showing possibly 'redeeming' qualities in snow to make you root for him at points, but then entirely twisting it at the end so you're reminded who he really is. it's so cleverly done because going into it, you know snow is no good, so it takes a certain kind of special writing to make you forget that at points. you get so caught up in his relationships with both sejanus and lucy that you forget his only loyalty is to himself. while a horrible twist that he almost took sejanus' place as a son, it so perfectly fits who snow was, so much so that you almost want to kick yourself for not seeing it sooner.

i agree it wrapped up quickly at the end, but honestly, i feel like most books do. and i think it had to because it all amounted in a cascade of events which were interlinked, each triggering the other. so yes, while a lot happens, it does sort of making sense that it suddenly all starts to fall apart and does so quickly. it's been a while for me since i last read the books so i have to admit the details are not fresh in my mind, but i don't remember being confused by this scene. i think it's just reacting out of the sudden stress of the moment and the need to cover tracks and simply survive the situation before anyone either a) ran for help or b) turned on them.

i personally don't think there was anymore in the story between lucy gray and billy that we weren't told? i just saw it as a typical first love story, girl loves boy, boy leads girl on for a bit, boy leaves girl for another. lucy gray was incredibly independent, intelligent and hardy, this seemed a contrast to what billy wanted from a girlfriend which was stated as lucy as some girl to take care of him. and then their whole breakup got messier because yes, i really do think the mayor's daughter set up lucy gray's name to be reaped out of jealousy. to me this is the only outcome that would make sense for the mayor jumping to the immediate conclusion that lucy gray killed mayfair, why else would he be so convinced she would enact revenge on his daughter? however, i would love a novel from lucy gray's perspective that could show us a bit more of her life before the games. she's such a magnetic character and i'd always be happy to hear more from her.

[lia-land]

House of Earth and Blood

4.5/5 stars

*Spoilers for House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas.

This book is 4.5 stars overall because I enjoyed the pacing, but the last 10% or so was more like 3 stars.

First, I have no idea what the world building is about, but I still really liked the story (I read this amazing Reddit post for a summary of the world building after finishing the book). I don’t think the world building needed to be this complicated. I would have been just as immersed even with 40% less detail. I don’t know why I had no idea who the Asteri were until the Summit. I just assumed Micah was like Supreme President or something. I didn’t realise there were only 7 Asteri until I read that Reddit post. Or is there 6 now? I gave up on even trying to understand how the situation with the human war overseas fit into everything. No idea what that is about but I’m assuming it will become relevant later. I think a big part of the confusion is from how we’re given so much information all at once, rather than being given it when it’s necessary. For example, when Bryce summoned Aidas like halfway or so through the book and we get told about the hierarchy of Hel and where Aidas fits into it. It was relevant then, instead of being given to us as random information at the beginning of the book. It’s the same level of confusing as the Throne of Glass family trees. I started this book 4 days before my law dissertation was due and the dissertation used less of my brain power than understanding this world building did.

Danika and Connor’s deaths were so well written! The whole part before the two year time skip was brilliant. Same vibe as when a movie has a very long intro and you just don’t know it. I really did not see the deaths coming, especially so early on in the book. SJM did such a good job of setting the characters up. I was so invested in Danika’s life and was even a bit annoyed at how predictable it seemed that Connor and Bryce would be endgame. I was so happy to be wrong.

I was slightly put off when I found out it’s another detective trope, but it was executed well, and then it became another cliche detective/murder mystery that is linked to an illegal drug. Again, I enjoyed it, but it’s been done so many times and I expected more from SJM.

The only part that I was bored was towards the very end during all the fighting scenes with the demons in the city after the portals opened. It also felt a little bit awkward picturing everyone at the Summit watching Bryce fight. I couldn’t stop imagining a Hunger Games situation. Particularly from the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie. The helicopter pages were especially boring and just too action packed for my liking.

I think I would have enjoyed the whole thing about Bryce secretly having starlight a lot more if I hadn’t read Throne of Glass before this series. I’m so bored of SJM making a plot point out of the main character knowing something big that the reader doesn’t. I just don’t think she has ever executed it well (except maybe at the beginning of A Court of War and Ruin if we count that); it always seems too convenient and lazy. I can never get too immersed in SJM’s books because I know that as readers, we never have all the information, so even the near death scenes will never actually end up bad. Personally, it would make my reading experience so much better if she stopped pulling this lazy tactic because she doesn’t want anything truly bad to happen to her characters. Or at least give us all the information and then write a less lazy plot. I think she just didn’t tell us about the light because it would have been too obvious to us at the start that Danika linked Bryce to the Horn somehow and half the murder plot twist would have been diminished. I don’t understand how Bryce didn’t link that together herself since she knew that Danika knew about her light and the Horn needed it. I was so ready to give this book 5 stars until that. If it makes your story too predictable to give readers necessary information at the start, then change your plot because the light and the grinding of the horn to tattoo into Bryce’s skin was far too convenient.

I got the ick so bad when the ancient prime was talking about love being the most powerful thing in the world. If I hear that ‘through love, all is possible’ quote one more time… (update: it does indeed continue to come up in the next two books).

I think this is a rogue opinion but I want more of Prince Aidas. I’m actually really hoping we’ll get another ACOTAR situation and Bryce will end up with Aidas (Update: upon research, it seems like this isn’t actually that unpopular of an opinion). Hunt just reminds me too much of Chaol from ToG and I don’t really care for him. “Sweetheart” is so hard to read and out of character for him. I read a review on Goodreads where someone said they enjoyed Bryce and Hunt when they were interacting with any characters other than each other and that’s exactly how I feel. I am 99.9% sure the Aidas/Bryce pairing isn’t happening but I’ll keep reading for the hope of it. Even until Micah’s death, I was waiting for her to take him up on that dinner offer. I do like Bryce and Hunt together but they’re a boring pairing compared to the other possibilities. Even Bryce and Tharion would be more interesting.

[reelvibes91]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Review

In terms of big IPs, you could not escape the 10s without having atleast been exposed to The Hunger Games franchise. Now we get a prequel that focuses on Coriolanus Snow and what made him into the man he becomes.

There is a lot this film does right so let's begin the journey with that. The first 2/3s of the movie were top notch character building and introduction to the new necessary characters for this story. Lucy Gray Baird is probably my favorite character in the Hunger Games franchise after viewing this movie. They did a good job of presenting a lead who is not heroic and relied on the help of her mentor to survive. Lucy's talented was in the field of music and the film really allowed Rachel Zegler to shine. She has a tremendous singing voice and it helped build her character.

Her chemistry with Tom Blyth was crucial to the films success. You could easily buy into them being from different worlds but also the bond the formed as things progressed. They both had a lot at stake and grew closer through grasping the straws of humanity and not letting themselves go to far. It was an incredibly well structured story.

As great as the first two acts were the final one definitely felt rushed. Which is very odd given the film runs at 2hrs38mins and definitely had the room to create a much more subtle ending. This story takes place 64 years before the events of the Hunger Games films and the story of Katniss Everdeen. By the end of this movie we didn't need that nice little bow tied ending. 64 years is an incredibly long time for things to happen to a person. It's odd to think a man would have the definitive personality of his life time for that amount of time with no growth happening through out. It would have been nice to see smaller cracks in the foundation so we are teased of the man he becomes. We know that man is pure evil but we also know it takes a lot to make a person that way.

After a tremendous start it just lost all momentum because they gave you reason to care about Snow and Lucy but threw it all away in the final act. We know Lucy is not in the main franchise and by the end of the film out of Snows life. We didn't need to see a full reason why. Sometimes interpretation is good in story. Sometimes neatly wrapped endings ruin a story because we know life does not work that way a lot of the time.

The Hunger Games franchise is one I do enjoy and this one is definitely enjoyable if you look past the rushed ending. The first two acts have incredible pacing and chemistry among the talent involved. The cast is phenomenal all the way through. As mentioned Zegler and Blyth as well Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis and others. Had the ending been a little better constructed I would safely say this would have been the best in the franchise. After this movie that title still belongs to Mockingjay.

[destinyc1020]

My Movie Review: "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes"

I just saw The Hunger Games last night! 😁

Overall: I really liked it! 😃👍🏾 Dare I say it, I think I even liked it better than "The Marvels"!

I honestly didn't have any super high expectations for this film, but I knew that I def wanted to check it out. I was happy that it was actually a lot better than I thought it would be!

The Pros:

The storyline was really engaging and had me hooked right from the beginning. 😊

The cast was really good! 👍🏾 I meannnn..... you can't go wrong with Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Jason Schwartzman lol. But the ENTIRE cast was just really solid. Lots of great acting in this imo.

I had seen Rachel Zeigler already in "West Side Story" and thought she did a fine job in that, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that she carried this film very well and did a fine acting job in this film also! 😃 She really has a knack for doing various different accents. And her voice is so pretty! She can sing really well. 👍🏾There was one song she sings in the movie that I really liked and might have to look up. She definitely stood out to me, and I think she's def going places if she plays her cards right.

I had never seen Tom Blyth in a film before, but he did a really great job as well! 😃 I felt like he and Rachel had really great chemistry together, and for a relative "unknown", I thought he carried the film very well.

Hunter did a pretty good job, and it was nice seeing her on the big screen for a change. 😊

What can I say about Viola? I mean.... it's Viola Davis for goodness sakes. She really steals the show here imo, and she makes a pretty good complicated villain. I love villains who are not so cookie-cutter, but are more complex... almost like they're so charming you don't know whether to hate them or actually LIKE them lol 😆 😂 That's exactly the type she was in this film. 👍🏾

Like I said, the entire cast was superb and really played their roles well. There were NO weak links in this cast from what I saw. Everyone pulled their weight imo. 😁👏🏾

The Cons:

The film is a bit long (2 hours 37mins), so if you prefer your movies UNDER 2hrs long, then you may wanna skip this one lol 😆

The graphic nature of CHILDREN killing each other might be a bit gruesome and disturbing to some

The movie didn't explain much in the beginning, so if you've never read the book, you might feel a bit lost at first for a little while

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10

I really liked it! 😃 Very good origin story. It's one of those films that I will need to watch a second time in order to tie everything together. That cliffhanger makes me feel like they will def make a part 2. They just can't leave us hanging like this lol 😆

[unpassive-viewer]

The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (mild spoilers)

Welcome, welcome to the [10th] annual Hunger Games,

Good news everyone, I'm living my best life and back in the depths of my Hunger Games obsession that I'd thought I'd retired at thirteen years old. I saw the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and by golly do I have some opinions.

TL;DR: This was overall a fun film, although WAY too long. By Act 3 I just wanted to go home. Still a good watch, but I could have used an intermission or something.

Staying true to the vibe of the Hunger Games franchise, director Francis Lawrence is back with lots of wide angle shots and close-ups, explosions and rubble. He did a pretty good job of translating young Snow's inner narrative to the screen, although I don't think he totally captured what a sociopath the character was throughout the entire book (which I have indeed read).

The casting, as was the case in the first 4 movies, was pretty much perfect. I liked that the other characters were interesting outside of the Lucy Gray/Snow narrative. Hunter Schafer dominated every single scene she was in. The shot where she, Sajanus and Snow watch Lucy Gray on television? You could've removed Tom Blythe and Josh Andres Rivera and I would not have noticed. She carried.

Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage were equally interesting. I wish Peter Dinklage's character had more screen time, he played his part so well. And as we know, I would lie down on train tracks if Viola Davis asked me to, so that's my opinion on that. Although her red and white outfit was... interesting.

Rachel Zegler was amazing, and her voice was so pretty that I actually did not mind how often they made her sing... (seriously, there was so much singing. An unbelievable amount of singing for a non-Disney princess movie). She and Tom Blythe have wicked chemistry, even when he decides to go full Evil Snow in the second half of the film. The only thing I really couldn't stand was how she couldn't maintain her accent.

I really wish that the second half of the movie had more character interactions outside of the Lucy Gray/Snow dyad. I felt that's where the film got a little dry - I simply did not care about their relationship, regardless of what it meant to Snow's character development. Their interactions in the first half benefitted a lot from those around them, rather than their blossoming interest in one another.

The costume and set design in this film was super interesting. The first film in the Hunger Games trilogy leaned very hard into displaying the Capitol's culture through their clothing, since we got so few glimpses into the citizen's actual lives. I feel this film did that equally well, although I didn't feel it adequately showed the depth of Snow's poverty. Considering this was incredibly important to his character arc, I wish we could've seen more of that.

I also didn't particularly like how obvious the callbacks to the original films were. I think the comments about swamp potatoes could have been scaled back. I also would have appreciated if there was less focus on the hanging tree song. To me there were too many direct ties to the scenes we got in the 74th/75th Hunger Games. Culture changes a lot in sixty years - lyrics change, tunes change, dances change, clothes change. Too much of this film felt like it stopped time between what is technically the next Hunger Games films.

However, the movie did get a lot right in this respect. Specifically, you can see the warping of the Appalachian culture between the 10th and 74th Hunger Games. Lucy Gray's character belonging to a travelling band was a great illustration of the way that the Capitol caged its citizens for nearly 100 years.

Anyways, I watched all of the older films this week and reignited my love for Peeta and Finnick. I still like Catching Fire the most, and I don't think I'll add Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to my annual franchise rewatch. For what it was, though, it was pretty fun. A little part of middle school me was fulfilled, remembering showing up to the original movies on opening day in full costume... (I was a nerd). I miss the fancasts for the other games, the makeup trends, the deep dives into characters on YouTube and the fan-made movies?? Ah, when times were simple.

Anyways, did you see The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? What'd you think? Are you deep into your formerly-retired Hunger Games phase too?

Let me know.

[satanfemme]

(RE: your hunger games post) the casting in the movie is really a crime because they used people that are obviously adults and part of the Oh Shit The Capitol Is EVIL Evil is that they put kids into the hunger games and that’s all lost because Jennifer Lawrence is a model with plucked eyebrows etc SAD!

I was actually contemplating the adult casting and decided I don't think that's the problem, inherently. casting adults is always a bit more moral than making children do labor for you, and wouldn't it be ironic if the "mistreating children is fucked up" movie had a scandal where their child leads were mistreated on set? (and it's not a stretch to make this hypothetical suggestion, the industry of filmmaking is harsh towards children.)

I also noticed, that if you squint, jennifer lawrence can pass as a 16 year old in the movie. specifically from a distance where her perfect "natural" makeup is less discernible, she has a bit of a baby face and her laugh lines are either very subtle or not there at all (if this was because of makeup, I'd consider this element successful)! often what gives away actor's ages are these lines, so it's an important element in making an actor pass as a child, visibly.

her acting is also, as far as I can tell, decent. I have no strong opinions on it but I think book katniss' attitude comes across ok.

I gen think where they fucked up, is that they were afraid to make her look real. not just with the makeup. there's so many shots of district 12 where they highlight the "scary" rednecks living there. (the over-use of shaky cam, and the camera angles they chose made this intention apparent, imo). people who look real and their bodies lived in, with imperfections and wrinkles and messy hair and matte, maybe even dirty, skin. then they cut to the "16 year old" mc, in perfect lighting and a still cam, and she has smooth flawless skin and perfect lip gloss. hairless legs and plucked brows even before the scene where they, in the book, force these traits onto her to sell her as a sex symbol, at 16. it's a hard contrast between the town she's from, and her as an individual. it's impossible to miss that she's fake.

the books scream at you "these are stolen children, being turned into sex symbols before maturity, and being brutally murdered by a corrupt government. and their home is full of good kind people who are misrepresented as savages by the capitol", meanwhile thru 100 different subtle filmmaking techniques, the movie screams, "hey isn't this poor town fucked up and yucky!!!!! btw jennifer lawrence is hot" I don't think jennifer lawrence herself is the crux of the issue, but the decisions that were made around her are.

it's like, I think my point is that in a movie you use things like acting, costuming, and make-up, to turn a human into the character they're supposed to represent. they don't need to be 1:1 with the character irl. like, even if jennifer lawrence wasn't naturally hairy enough, they could've added hair! that is a thing movies can do! it's a job where you're doing play-pretend. jennifer lawrence could've, imo, both looked and acted as a convincing 16 year old, but somewhere along the production decided keeping her sexy was more important than the book's themes.

tl;dr: I agree with you that they fucked up the themes entirely, but don't think casting a child would've inherently fixed the problem. (chances are imo they would've just waxed and plucked the child's body before filming as well, and it'd have the same uncanny effect as what they did with lawrence).

[testosterxne]

i’m going to be tbosas posting for a while lol the movie was so good

really can’t stop thinking about reaper’s memorial in the arena. it was powerful in the book but the movie sold it so well. taking time on that scene during what was otherwise a chaotic and hurried portion of the plot.

one of my favorite things about this story is that it really takes away the idea of there being a chosen one. katniss never was, she was always supported by many others, but there’s still some idea that she specifically MUST lead because it’s HER. tbosas shows so many radical and heroic acts of protest from even the most minor characters.

also the film did a really good job making the violence feel brutal despite the pg13 rating. like.. parts were hard to watch. part of that was because this arena truly is an arena, everything is laid bare in this small space. but goddamn.

also everyone was cast very well and i’m excited we’re getting so much behind the scenes stuff now the strike is over. i’m back in my hunger games phase boys that movie ruled