Posts Tagged ‘novel’
The Hunger Games: Review
Based on the young adult novel written by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale. This movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic nation known as Panem where it is also divided into districts. Every year a televised battle to the death known as The Hunger Games occurs that pits a boy and a girl (picked from a lottery) from the ages 12 to 18 from each district against each other. The battlefield is vast and the children’s survival skills are put to the test. There can only be one survivor.
I purposely stayed away from reading the books because when I did get to see I wanted to watch it with a clean palette so to speak. Usually everyone always comes out of the movie saying the same thing “The book was way better”. After giving you that small disclaimer I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. It took a premise that had been similarly done before (ex: The Running Man and Battle Royale) and did it on a much bigger scale. I was pleasantly surprised by it and personally cant wait for the rest of the movies to come out. The ONLY thing that made me cringe just a bit was a moment when the “gamemakers” started to manipulate the battle environment and 3 words slipped from my mouth. The Truman Show. It reminded me so much of that movie but a lot less funny. Everything else in the flick was action packed and suspenseful and had a great blend of it being a primitive land but with an obvious futuristic twist. The action sequences were great and smart as well but had ALOT of camera movement. I’m sure it was to hide the child on child violence but it did get a bit annoying at times. Jennifer Lawrence did a really fantastic job as did Josh Hutcherson (which was the real curveball for me). Jennifer is already skyrocketing and look for the same to happen with Josh as well. I give this a big two thumbs up and check it out if you haven’t already!!
The Woman in Black: Review
Starring Daniel Radcliffe as a young lawyer named Arthur Kipps, who is hired to handle the estate of Alice Darblow in a small English town after a horrible accident happens on the property (surrounded by marshlands). Soon enough a “woman in black” is spotted around the town and children being to mysteriously take their own lives. The people there realize that these incidents started to happen as soon as Kipps arrived in town and want him gone. He refuses to abandon the job that he was hired to do. As the days pass, Kipps himself comes face to face with the “woman in black” and now must find out what she is after and why.
This was a very pleasant surprise I must say. I saw Daniel Radcliffe and immediately thought “Aw hell, Harry Potter is in a horror movie” and that’s probably what alot of people thought as well I’m sure but that’s definitely not the case. Radcliffe really shows that he’s able to breakout of his HP legacy and try something fairly new for him (now all he needs is to be cast in a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and he’ll be set). This movie had all the best elements in an old school horror flick. The scares, the suspense and a little bit to be left to the imagination. It’s refreshing to see a horror flick that isn’t all about the blood and gore (not that I dont like those too) all the time. The ending was rather surprising but I do wish it would have ended with a bigger bang. Be that as it may, I recommend viewers that love classic horror to watch it and people that aren’t should definitely give it a chance. You’re sure to enjoy it.
