Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review: Get Your Game On

I'm so glad I saw this movie.  This might be the first movie this year I want to see a second time. 

I think the first place I want to start is the scenario as a whole.  This movie really had far less to do with the Hunger Games and was more of a political drama.  Honestly, I appreciate that more!  After the first movie, I thought the political intrigue of it all was far more interesting than the actual Games. 

I appreciate it because it breaks the standard action movie mold.  If the whole story was The Hunger Games I don't know if it would be enough to capture my interest.  The idea of the games is interesting, but if it were in an isolated world where people one day decided they wanted to just send children off to die for the entertainment of the masses, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting as a world where the government re-enacts a cruel crackdown on subversives forcing the descendants of that uprising to put their children on an altar and sacrifice them to the state.  All the while the rich live like kings, wallow in their own self-importance, and gleefully cheer the slaughter of fellow human beings.

Now that we've been introduced to this world in the first movie, the veil of this guilded age has come off.  This is all about the politics of this world.  It's all about how can the state spin Katness' fame away from the rebellion brewing in the districts and use it for their own propaganda. 

And boy are we along for the ride.  I just love how every act of 'subversion' by Katness is what anyone else would call an act of humanity; and I think that's the point.  Right down to the "peacekeepers" dressing like Stormtroopers for the Galactic Empire to the citizens in the capital who are really just as duped as everyone else. 

I heard someone say that everybody is the hero in their own story.  And I really believe that as well.  Unless someone is just categorically insane, nobody sees themselves as the 'bad guy.'  I clearly understand the motives of everyone involved in this story.  The president is a ruthless dictator, but why does he do it?  He does it to save the country from being swallowed up in another civil war.  If he has to do it through sacrificing kids for the sake of entertainment, then that's what he is going to do.  A few will die so the majority will live.  Feel free to disagree with him and his methods, but that is where he is coming from.  Katness on the other hand has no interest in being a leader, a martyr, or anything else.  She survived the Hunger Games and now she just wants to be left alone.  If the crowd wasn't gaga for fame, or If her struggle didn't inspire others, perhaps she would've had her wish.  The problem is of course that the districts are unhappy by the inequality of their society.  It's hard not to feel their anger and frustration when you see the capital literally making themselves throw up so they can keep stuffing their faces at these over-the-top parties celebrating their obliviousness. 

If you have the opportunity, see this movie.  By far the best one I've seen all year.  But go in informed.  If you haven't seen the first Hunger Games, watch that one first.  This isn't a movie that will even try to catch you up.  But good news!  The first movie is awesome too!

Thor The Dark World Review: Dogs and Cats Living Together... Mass Hysteria!

Once again a huge nerd like me saw a comic book movie and now it's my time to talk about it on the internet.  If I were to give this an honest opinion, I'd say it's not my favorite of the "Avengers" movies, but I liked it a lot more than I did the first Thor movie. 

The plot is interesting enough.  Thor has to stop the dark elves from erasing all reality.  So far, you have my attention.  This mystical energy "Ether" was fun to watch.  It's a lot like the Cosmic Cube from the earlier movie and that actually ties into the stinger at the end.  So, if you go to see this movie, stay through the credits to see the stinger scene. 

Sometimes I wonder if Thor is just not my kind of character.  On one hand, it gives us a great chance to see colorful characters in exotic locations that you just can't do with characters like Iron Man or Captain America.  Thor is just as heroic as any other Marvel superhero if not more so.  But there's just something about how Thor is portrayed that I just don't find intriguing.  This movie was intriguing as we see Thor fight across the 9 realms.  But at no time did I feel like Thor could lose.  Perhaps that is my problem.  I never feel like Thor isn't going to pull through. 

It's kind of like watching Superman take on someone like Toyman.  And that's I guess another problem I had with Malakith: he's not a well-developed character.  We have our exposition dump at the beginning of the movie so we know why he wants to erase the universe.  He feels the universe is a cancer upon the darkness that existed before the creation of the universe.  The darkness was his kingdom and he wants it back.  But in terms of characterization, that's all we get.  He has no defining characteristics other than his single pursuit.  He never interested me as much as Loki.  But we do get lots of Loki in this movie.

The one character I thought we saw too much of was Dr. Erik Selvig played by Stellan Skarsgard.  And when I say "we see too much of him" I'm not referring to his amount of screen time.  Call me a prude all you want, but seeing a 60-year-old man naked as a jaybird wasn't on my bucket list.  And we see it more than once.

The music is good, the action is good, the cinematography is good, the acting is good, it looks good... but for a movie dealing with the possible erasing of all existence, it wasn't as interesting as it should've been.  Would I recommend it... yes.  It's a pretty good movie.  And it does what it sets out to do: it's a perfect lead into the next Avengers movie involving the Infinity Gems and the Infinity Gauntlet. 

It's a good movie.  Just don't have really high expectations.

Why did they make the Collector look like that?