Film: The Hunger Games

GENRE: Action/Drama
RATING: PG-13 for violent images
RUNTIME: 2 hour and 22 minutes
STARRING: Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class)
Josh Hutcherson (The Kids are All Right) Woody Harrelson (Cheers)
DIRECTOR: Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit)
WRITERS: Gary Ross (Big, Dave), Suzanne Collins (newcomer)
Billy Ray (State of Play, Flightplan)
PLOT: A boy and girl from twelve districts have to fight to the death on live television. Action ensues.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 Shaky camera work to minimalize the uncomfortableness of teen on teen violence worked well. I was a little worried when the shaky cam was used in the introduction of District 12 though. Totally unnecessary and didn’t set the right mood. Luckily the camera stabilized.
2 Jennifer Lawrence does a ‘killer’ job as Katniss Everdeen. Great drama, great commitment to the character, great facial expressions. She does the perfect eye roll when she sees someone else stupidly make a fire in the woods. Perfection.
3 I actually read the book before seeing the film this time. I found the film covered almost everything in the book. I guess having the book’s author help write the screenplay helps. A good pace even though the film runs a tad long.
4 While there were small differences between the film and the book, they drastically changed the character of Haymitch. In the book, he’s a complete bastard who only reluctantly helps Katniss when he’s not yelling at her. In the film, he’s pretty much a Katniss fan and somewhat lovable. Don’t know if it’s the script or Woody Harrelson’s take; I was a little disappointed.
5 The film is called The Hunger Games, yet food doesn’t play as big a deal as it should. The book is full of descriptions of the food; the movie barely touches on it. This is unfortunate but not enough to wreck the movie so you should still check it out.

RECOMMENDATION: See it in the theatres
UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Cabin in the Woods

Film: The Lorax

GENRE: Animation/Family
RATING: PG for mild language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 26 minutes
STARRING: Zac Efron (Hairspray, High School Musical)
Danny DeVito (LA Confidential) Ed Helms (The Office)
DIRECTORS: Chris Renaud (Despicable Me)
Kyle Balda (newcomer)
WRITER: Ken Daurio (Horton Hears a Who, Despicable Me)
PLOT: A boy looks for a tree to win over a girl but first he has to hear a story of how they became extinct in the first place.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 The Suess-ified world of Thneedville is very colourful and lively. The art direction is stellar, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from the folks at Despicable Me.
2 Why did they make this movie into a musical? The songs are noisy and unnecessary. Not one of them is memorable. And why did they give The Once-ler an electric guitar? Are they trying to attract the rock crowd? I'm confused and annoyed. Stick with acoustic at least.
3 Minions punching each other is funny, cuddly bears being thrown as footballs, not as funny. The bears were cute. The fish, however were trying to hard. Did not like their high voices.
4 Why did the villain Mr. O’Hare look like Gene Simmons? Was this intentional? I thought he would be providing the voice but instead it was Rob Riggle (The Hangover). Bizarre. Oh, and Taylor Swift is barely in this film. I thought they would justify her presence with a song about trees or something, but she didn't really sing that much. Maybe she was too busy recording music for the upcoming Hunger Games.
5 I haven't seen the original TV cartoon of The Lorax but I have a feeling it's better and shouldn't have been messed with. The makers of this film should have just stuck with their far superior Horton Hears a Who.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for TBS
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Hunger Games

Awards: Oscar Results

So I got 18 out of 24 categories right. Not stellar but at least I did better than last year. The show was a great improvement over last year. I liked the classiness of the titling and editing of the nomination packages. Billy Crystal was pretty darn funny, even if he did bring out lots of his older material. Loved his opening ‘inside the films’ sequence and many of his off-hand comments (Mr. Excitable). I loved his interpretation of what Nick Nolte was thinking; so funny. Too bad his microphone wasn’t working properly for his opening song; he was almost drowned out by the music. Other highlights included Emma Stone’s enthusiasm, Chris Rock’s animation rant and Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis fooling around with cymbals. Here are the winners:

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
THE SHORE
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF
MR.MORRIS LESSERMORE (predicted)
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
SAVING FACE (predicted)
SOUND EDITING
HUGO (predicted)
SOUND MIXING
HUGO (predicted)
ORIGINAL SCORE
THE ARTIST (predicted)
ORIGINAL SONG
MAN OR MUPPET [THE MUPPETS] (predicted)
VISUAL EFFECTS
HUGO
MAKE-UP
THE IRON LADY (predicted)
COSTUME DESIGN
THE ARTIST
ART DIRECTION
HUGO (predicted)
FILM EDITING
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
CINEMATOGRAPHY
HUGO
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
UNDEFEATED (predicted)
ANIMATED FEATURE
RANGO (predicted)
OREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A SEPARATION (predicted)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DESCENDANTS (predicted)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (predicted)
BEST DIRECTOR
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS [THE ARTIST] (predicted)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
OCTAVIA SPENCER [THE HELP] (predicted)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER [BEGINNERS] (predicted)
BEST ACTRESS
MERYL STREEP [THE IRON LADY]
BEST ACTOR
JEAN DUJARDIN [THE ARTIST] (predicted)
BEST PICTURE
THE ARTIST (predicted)

How did you do?

Awards: Oscar Predictions

It’s that time of year again for my fearless Oscar predictions. This year, The Artist has quite the advantage in a lot of categories. I’m glad I saw it before the show so I can vote with ease. However, remember that I’m not predicting who I want to win but who I think the Academy will vote for. From smaller to bigger, here we go:

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
TIME FREAK
(Funny short about a chance meeting with a girl)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR.MORRIS LESSERMORE
(The wonder of reading seems award worthy)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
SAVING FACE
(Reconstructive surgery and acid violence. Sure)

SOUND EDITING
HUGO
(Tech stuff winner this year.)

SOUND MIXING
HUGO
(Hear the ticking of the clocks?)

ORIGINAL SCORE
THE ARTIST
(The music is essential in a silent film like this)

ORIGINAL SONG
MAN OR MUPPET [THE MUPPETS]
(It’s got a 50/50 chance. It’s also funnier)

VISUAL EFFECTS
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
(It’s kind of like rewarding Andy Serkis)

MAKE-UP
THE IRON LADY
(Meryl Streep does quite the transformation)

COSTUME DESIGN
HUGO
(Love the colours and textures in this film)

ART DIRECTION
HUGO
(Visually stunning film. Vibrant and fun.)

FILM EDITING
THE ARTIST
(Usually accompanies the Best Picture winner)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE TREE OF LIFE
(One the most beautifully shot films ever!)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
UNDEFEATED
(Underprivileged kids playing football. Why not?)

ANIMATED FEATURE
RANGO
(Familiarity beats artsy . . . I hope)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A SEPARATION
(Everyone is predicting this one to win)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DESCENDANTS
(It’s gotta win something. Sorry Aaron Sorkin)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
(It’s about time Woody Allen got another award)

BEST DIRECTOR
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS [THE ARTIST]
(What a daring project to direct and succeed)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
OCTAVIA SPENCER [THE HELP]
(She’s the highlight of the film)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER [BEGINNERS]
(Old and gay character? It’s a shoo in)

BEST ACTRESS
VIOLA DAVIS [THE HELP]
(The last scene alone is worthy of this award)

BEST ACTOR
JEAN DUJARDIN [THE ARTIST]
(Remember Roberto Benigni beating Tom Hanks?)

BEST PICTURE
THE ARTIST
(Artsy beats out emotional)

Let’s see how I do on Oscar night this Sunday.