The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Today I finally had the opportunity to finish watching Catching Fire as the plumbers were fixing stuff in my house....  Let me start by saying:  Wow... just wow.... phenomenal.  I laughed, I cried, I yelled, I hated when it was over, and don't want to wait for the rest of the story!  I have been boycotting reading the books until the movies are over because I don't want to ruin the movies that I love so much.  If the movie is this spectacular, I can't even imagine how amazing the books must be.

Catching Fire is the 2nd movie in the Hunger Games Trilogy.  It was released in 2013 and is based on the Suzanne Collins book of the same name (Catching Fire).  The first movie (The Hunger Games) was released in 2012.  Catching Fire is an American sci-fi, adventure, dystopian film.  The movie is taking place one year after the original Hunger Games movie ended.  Filming began in Atlanta, GA and ended with the majority done in Hawaii.


Lots of returning faces and some new one can be seen in the cast:


Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss (Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, Winter's Bone, X-Men:First Class)
Liam Hemsworth as Gale (Hunger Games, Last Song, Empire State, Expendables 2)
Woody Harrelson as Haymitch (Hunger Games, Cheers, Zombieland, No Country For Old Men, True Detective)
Josh Hutcherson as Peeta (Hunger Games, Bridge to Terabithia, The Kids Are Alright, Epic, Journey to the Center of the Earth)
Donald Sutherland as President Snow (Hunger Games, MASH, Italian Job, Pride & Prejudice, Crossing Lines)
Elizabeth Banks as Effie (Hunger Games, Next Three Days, Pitch Perfect, Modern Family, 30 Rock, Scrubs)
Lenny Kravitz as Cinna (Hunger Games, Precious, Zoolander, The Butler)
Stanley Tucci as Caesar (Terminal, Devil Wears Prada, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Julie & Julia, ER)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch (Capote, Doubt, Charlie Wilson's War, The Master, Moneyball, Mission Impossible III)
Sam Claflin as Finnick (Snow White & the Huntsman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Quiet Ones)
Jena Malone as Johanna (Hatfields & McCoys, Sucker Punch, The Ruins, Into the Wild, Pride & Prejudice)

 

Catching Fire currently ranks as the tenth highest grossing film domestically, and surpassed the sales of the first film.  For Thanksgiving weekend rankings: it was the first 2-D film since 2008 (Dark Knight) to top the box office.  It was the first film since 1983 (The Exocist) to have a female lead that topped the box office.  The film grossed over $864 million worldwide.

In order to get rid of the shaky feeling of the arena scenes from the first movie, Catching Fire's arena scenes were all shot using IMAX cameras.  Reviews of the film have been positive overall.  The final installment of the trilogy: Mockingjay will be released in 2 Parts, with Part 1 being released this November and the 2nd part coming out in November 2015.

Overall I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.  It was nothing short of spectacular.  The characters are done excellently.  The story is enough messed up and relatable.  The Costuming is amazing.  The visual effects are stunning.  It is just an all around wonderful movie.  Don't miss it.  Re-watch value is high! 





You can view the official website here: Catching Fire

Seven Psychopaths

The previews of this movie definitely intrigued me, and then I heard good things about it.  It has an all-star cast bringing in names like Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrel, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
Seven Psychopaths is about a movie script with the same movie being written by Colin Farrel's character who happens to be a dog thief, while also living in the real world and a psycho mob boss coming after them for stealing his dog.  
 I guess I should have known with the movie being British and having Woody Harrelson that this was going to be a weird ass movie haha.  I wouldn't say that it was a BAD movie per se, but it was definitely very strange and jumped around a lot.  As far as weird Colin Farrel movies go, I have to say that I prefer In Bruges to this one, and that movie was really weird, but the story line was really great.  The storyline in this isn't horrible, but it does seem shaky and is missing much flow.  Setting the movie up took about half of the movie.  Towards the end it takes on a different tone and you actually get the culmination of the movie script being written and real life going on.
Although the first half seemed to jump around like an episode of Lost, I got why people ended up with a good review of the movie.  If you can remember all of the jumping around it all gets tied back together and the holes are filled in.  The last half of the movie definitely redeems it and makes me give it a good 3 and a half stars.  If the first half would have been better it would have earned at least 4.  Definitely worth watching, but expect a weird jumpy beginning.  Enjoy!

You can go tot he official site at: Seven Psychopaths