This weekend was a big weekend for me. Catching Fire was released in theaters! The Hunger Games is my absolute favorite book series (which, considering I read about 100 books a year, is a pretty big deal), and the movies are in my favorites now too. Last March I anticipated the movie like crazy (http://www.sarahmarieclicks.com/countdown-to-the-hunger-games/) and wrote a movie review when it came out (http://www.sarahmarieclicks.com/hungergames_moviereview/). Well, if I liked the movie last year, I LOVED this one! The movie was brilliant!
What I didn’t like: The one line Katniss said when Haymitch told her “You could live 100 lifetimes and not deserve that boy.” In the book, she responded with something like “I know” and several times during the book, we see that she really acknowledges how truly good Peeta is, and how it’s all genuine. It’s a big part of her story with him, and has a lot to do with how she responds to the conflict that happens in the third book. Instead, annoyingly, in the movie she says something like “Oh come on Haymitch, no decent person ever wins the Hunger Games.” How terrible! This is the exact opposite of how she is supposed to be feeling and I HATE that it’s in the movie. I cannot think of one good reason to change that line and it really disappointed me.
That’s my main complaint. It really was terrific. There were a few scenes I didn’t think were developed as well as possible (the sugar cube scene with Finnick wasn’t quite what I hoped for and I really missed the whispered line between Seeder and Katniss), but those were only complaints based on the book. The movie, taken as a movie, was fantastic!
What I loved: The cinematography was amazing, and I loved the music how it tied in with the last movie. The acting was amazing (Jena Malone’s Johanna was perfect!), the visuals and CGI were basically flawless, and just like in the first movie, I loved the outside perspective of the head Gamemaker and President Snow. I thought it was the best book adaption I’ve ever seen, and it did so well with capturing emotion and evolving a storyline, while still delivering action. Where The Hunger Games is a little slow in parts, and even I tune out a bit (I’ve seen it 12 times), this movie has no moments like that. It’s the perfect length and tells the story the right way, only changing things that are necessary. I didn’t miss anything that was in the book (including Bonnie and Twill), and I thought they made up for those missing moments by cluing us in in better ways (I loved what they changed between Plutarch Heavensbee and Katniss at the dance).
I’ll definitely go see it again, and I’m wildly happy to hear that it is now the biggest 2-D opening of all time, bringing in more money than the first one! Woo hoo!
So, one more thing. I dressed up when I went to the movie. I hope you aren’t surprised. Here’s the pictures…
Here’s my Katniss face!
The whole costume. Not exactly comfortable, but so worth it.
I always collect the magazines, and these “press passes” were given to me by the manager of the theater!
This is my Catching Fire paraphernalia, except for the t-shirts, earrings and bracelets… Obsessed?
I was so happy to have my friends with me (top right photo), and dressing up was so much fun! I took pictures with strangers and got a whole lot of gasps in my wake…
Yeah, it was fun! Literally everywhere I walked I heard “Whoa!” and “Look!” I had two groups of girls come take pictures with me, and tons of other people stopped to tell me that I was awesome. It was seriously funny, and I would do it again. Keeping the stern Katniss face was impossible with jaws dropping everywhere I went, but I sure tried. The manager of the theater came up to me while we were in line (I went with 5 friends, plus Jason of course, and I got there two hours early, and was the 14th person in line), and said that because I’d shown so much dedication, he wanted to give me some of the lightbox movie posters that weren’t being used! Those are the posters that are reversed on the back so that they can hang them up with the light behind it. They’re so cool (picture above)! They also gave us “press passes” and I felt like the coolest person in the world.
It totally made up for being the nerdiest person in the world when we went to Chipotle fully dressed up right before the movie…
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