The Hunger Games ☆☆☆☆

I would like to start this review with a brief synopsis of why I have been crazy excited for just over a week now to see this film.

It all began on Mothers Day, my own Mum was kind enough not to be peeved I was having to go to work that day and gave me the first in The Hunger Games trilogy to read on the train. I almost missed my stop I was so engrossed. It took me less than a day to read that first book and I have been incredibly restrained to not have devoured the next two books (trouble with going back to uni is all this studying they expect you to do).

Now I freely admit to owning the Twilight saga in both book and dvd form, and The Hunger Games has been referred to in the same breath frequently by critics and the press. However this is unfair to Suzanne Collins and the movie, both of which are superior (in writing and casting) to the vampire teen love triangle. I can admit when a piece of writing is bad and I know full well in years to come I will be able to read The Hunger Games with the same thrill I did the first time, whereas sometime soon my Twilight books will be relegated to the charity bag.

A brief synopsis then for the uninitiated:
Katniss is a 16 year old girl living in District 12. She has a mother and a younger sister to keep fed after her father was killed in a mining explosion years before. District 12 is the coal district. There are eleven others each with their own purpose, then there is the Capitol.
Many years before there had been an uprising against the Capitol, who inevitably won, and now each year to remind the other districts how lucky they are to be alive (unlike district 13 which was completely destroyed) they hold The Hunger Games. Each year a girl and boy between 12 and 18 from each district compete in these games for fame, wealth, and their lives. Only one will survive.
This is the 74th Hunger Games.
Katniss volunteers to take the place of her sister this year, and along with her co-tribute Peeta will compete for her life live on television for the whole of this new North America to watch.

Onto the review:
The film is fantastic. And I'm not just saying that because I loved the book. It really is a wonderful piece of filmmaking.

I'll start with what all the book lovers will want to know: does it live up to the print? The simple answer is yes, and more besides.
Apart from a couple of niggles (an injury that doesn't occur which I imagine is pretty important to the rest of the trilogy, and a joke that was either left out or cut about giant cakes..) it truly lives up to the message and general feeling of trauma and violation that Suzanne Collins brought to the page.
The violence has been toned down a LOT, there is limited gore, but the brief moments of death you witness are cruel and shocking, perhaps more so because you have not been desensitised.

As for the 'more besides' comment I made, the film has had to deal with transforming a single person narrative into a watchable two and a half hour movie, it could not be done with a narrator or following Katniss' internal monologue, so outside help is required.
The gamemakers are given an on screen presence in the form of a rather interestingly-bearded character called Seneca. Seeing the decisions being made against the players brings another frightening dimension to the story, they are cold and calculating and so much like a TV executive on a reality TV show.
There is also additional commentary by the television presenters Caesar and Claudius (you see the Roman influence?) and you see glimpses of the districts as they watch their televisions.

The casting of this film is near perfect. Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: First Class) is a brilliant actress and she lived up to my expectations of Katniss, she calculates what to do to win but also has so much heart and bravery, you'd want her on your side in a fight for survival. Josh Hutcherson is finally being cast in roles to live up to his potential, you can see him in The Kids Are Alright and has had a healthy career in kids movies from Bridge to Terabithia to Zathura. His Peeta also lived up to my imagination, he is stocky and stoic, but so kind and intelligent, and clearly head over heels for Katniss.

Too briefly we see Gale, played by Liam Hemsworth (Thor's younger brother), but as the friend left behind by Katniss the glimpses seen of District 12 while the games are on are exactly what you imagined would be happening, jealous looks and painful glances of the boy left behind.
Woody Harrelson is perfect as the drunken mentor to Peeta and Katniss, who has struggled with seeing so many children die that he had given up on the tributes before they began. Elizabeth Banks should also be congratulated as she lives up to the simpering shallow image you build of Effie Trinket, the woman who picks the tributes and 'guides' them into being proper ladies and gentlemen.

Lenny Kravitz gets a role as Cinna, Katniss' stylist and friend who works to create a girl that sponsors will want to help and give her a chance to survive. He does well, Cinna does not have much in the way of personality but clearly cares, as Lenny does well to show.

The battles in the arena are thrilling, the fight for survival so intense and you feel like you have been transported back to ancient times watching an arena of victims forced to fight each other as gladiators or mauled to death by wild animals. The other tributes are scary or just plain scared. There is one particular girl who Katniss adopts due to her similarity in age and stature to her little sister.
All in all it is a sick concept, but one not unfamilar to human history. Both the book and film work hard to convey this, and as it has been seventy four years of these games you get the feeling that something has to change.
There is a small love story but nothing in the realm of Twilight, it does not overwhelm the story, but makes you feel so much more for the characters and their fight for survival.

If you have not read the book I'm not sure you need to in order to enjoy the film, in fact you might find it more enjoyable not to do so, I found I was waiting for the next thing to happen rather than relaxing into the story. The next time round I'm sure I'll relax and sit back now I know what has been missed out and added.

The Hunger Games is one of those rare gems that is both a triumph in book adaptation and stand alone filmmaking. The credit must go to whoevers decision it was to ensure Suzanne Collins was also script writer along with Billy Ray and Gary Ross, who also directed. Between them the direction and script worked cohesively without leaving the book in its wake. This is unlike the adaptations of Chocolat or Stardust which, while fantastic films in their own right, are nothing like the original stories.

I look forward to seeing this film again, as I look forward to reading the book again. I only wish they had gotten the cake joke in...

Fame! ☆

Okay so the film doesn't have an exclamation mark in its title but you know, its massively cheesey and I felt it needed one to further its 'we're so friggin happy' stance.

This review is more because I am in need of a creative outlet than actually because the film merits a review, it was released in 2009 and generally bombed with the critics, for good reason.

I'm not actually a fan of the original film, I saw it so long ago I can only really remember the battles with the young keyboardist and his father until at the end the father realises his son is talented and there is a mass blockade of a New York City street of people dancing. There wasn't really much hope of me enjoying this was there?

So its a reboot, it fits with todays media and fame obsessed culture, and also dance obsessed (evident in Strictly's ratings each year).
So the story, if you can call it one, follows a huge group of students from auditions to graduation charting their ups and downs in their quest for 'fame'.

Ok so lets be fair, the dance scenes and the music are pretty fantastic. If I could move like some of the girls on screen I'd be ridiculously happy, and these spots of music and dance happen frequently enough not to be too annoyed about the entire film.
Also the cast are young and pretty with a fair level of acting ability shared out amongst them, the teachers are as you'd expect and include one of my favourite actors Charles S.Dutton who always delights me whenever I put Cookies Fortune in the DVD player.

So much for the positives.
The cast is huge. Too big for you to even begin to care about the individuals because their stories are brushed on so lightly. There are interesting moments between teacher and student but essentially they appear to serve the purpose of showing the kids "this is what happens when you give up on your dreams".
The little love story is weak, the kids are cute an all but when you watch Step Up you feel like there is a proper romance going on (which turned into marriage for stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan). And it is because they have no time to tell the story.

Whoever decided to squeeze four years into 107 minutes and thought the audience would have time to care is frankly an idiot. Director Kevin Tancharoen's CV weaves between dance related movies or documentaties to Mortal Kombat adaptations, he should not have been at the helm of this movie. Alan Parker, director of the original Fame, has an equally interesting mix of genres in his back log, from Bugsy Malone (genius film - I dare you to disagree) to Angela's Ashes he has covered everything possible. Which is perhaps why the original fame gets 2 more stars than its reboot on IMBD because there was a slightly gritty edge.

The New York in the reboot is glossed over, the hard times faced by students hardly touched on except for a few angry outbursts by an actor/rapper whose mother works three jobs and his little sister was killed because of...I'm gonna assume gang related violence because I don't think it ever got explained.

Another thing the film entirely lacks is a star, Irene Cara can live on the royalties of that song (and Flashdance), Naturi Naughton (the Irene Cara of the reboot) has not achieved the same level of success. The songs are forgettable, and unfortunately so is she.

The story is predictable, there is young love, heartbreak, angst, talent, misunderstanding, someone gets ripped off by a bogus film producer, and ultimately a big cheesey ending complete with show choir and ballet performances.

This was a fairly terrible film, and I knew that before watching it so was not suprised. It is a perfectly watchable film if you are in the mood for something akin to Step Up but not as good, or if you enjoyed Brittania High when it was on our screens for a fleeting moment.
The cast are pretty, the music good, and the dancing better. It just doesn't quite live up to its name. FAME!