The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – review

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the follow up to The Hunger Games. Based on the book of the same name, the story is about rebellion and the effect the media has on people.  The acting is very good with a story that is pretty gripping.  For a sequel it well written with likable characters.

After surviving the 74^th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is told to go on tour with Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, to the other districts.  There they find that their actions from the previous hunger games are causing revolutions to spring up.  In order to make an example of the victors the President decides that the 75^th annual Hunger Games should be between the winners of the past years. Katniss and Peeta must once again fight in the Hunger Games, this time against other victors.

The acting in this movie is pretty good. Jennifer Lawrence is very good and always seems to try to make a character that is believable and likable.  Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks seem to be having a great time with their roles as well; both are over the top in a good way.  The cameos are great and seeing Jeffrey Wright in a role like this after his work in Boardwalk Empire is a fun change of pace. 

The story has a lot of action and is fairly well paced.  The groups of victors form allegiances that make a really interesting friendship dynamic that was missing in the last film. The thing that I found a bit annoying was that Peeta was in constant need of rescue. It gets a little silly how many times he needs to get helped by other people.  It also seems strange that if the President has no problem wiping out an entire district as a metaphoric middle finger to Katniss, you’d think the people would have run him out of town a long time ago.

As a whole, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a good movie.  I would certainly recommend seeing the first movie before this one though.  It’s got a decent story, fun setting, and likable characters.  If you are in the mood for something different in the sci-fi department I recommend seeing this movie.

House at the End of the Street-review

The new 2012 horror movie “House at the End of the Street” is a mixed bag.  On one hand the first half of it is fairly trite and feels like it gave up the goods in the previews.  On the other hand, the second half of the movie gives a different twist that allows for some decent tension.  It still fails on some basic levels.

Sarah, played by Elizabeth Shue, and her daughter Elissa, played by Jennifer Lawrence, move into a big new house.  Their next-door neighbor is the home where a girl killed her parents in their bed.  The boy that lives there begins a relationship with Elissa. As they get closer they find themselves drawn more and more into the mystery of what happened in the house.

Looking at the good aspects of the movie Jennifer Lawrence brings a good performance.  She is a fantastic actress. The writing is not the best for her character but she pulls it off.  The other actor that impressed me was Gil Bellows as the Sheriff. He brings a very likable character to the screen. 

The twist at the end is rather good.  It would have been nice to have more interesting build up to it.  At face value it comes off fairly dull at first.  The film also has a lot of moments where it goes out of focus for no apparent reason.  It’s a very strange choice.

Elizabeth Shue is painfully dull.  The character of the boy next-door Ryan, played by Max Thieriot fills his screen time with far-off stares and dialogue that is a bizarre mix of mopey and dreamy.  It takes you out of the mood considering the situation.  Their lame attempts at acting can only be carried so far by the better actors.

As a whole this movie is pretty so-so.  The first half is fairly crappy and the second half makes up for it with some good tension scenes.  The problem is that there is a not much to make this whole movie a must see.  It’s worth a rental at least.  It’s got some creepy scenes but there are tons of plots holes and lumps of bad acting that weaken it. So if you are dying to see a thriller, than go and see it as a matinee.