The Hunger Games has made 250 million in two weeks. 'Nuff said.

Did you not like the book? I haven't read it but saw the film last night. I enjoyed it.

Never read it but the film was awful. Worst FX in a major release film in a decade. Plot was so on the nose. It really is written without the slightest subtly or nuance. Lawrence is the only redeeming part.

Grade: C-

Moral: most people simply can't tell the difference between a good and awful film.

Oh brother

I'm a snob and proud of it.

Radio Flyer

While the film was entertaining, I must defer to Ebert on the film's ending.

Good lord. Just...

Really liked 21 Jump Street. I thought it was fairly slow/chuckle-worthy for maybe the first 10 minutes, then it took off and had me laughing the entire way. Both leads were funny, and I really liked Ice Cube as the boss.

Clovis is right. Unfortunately, the majority of movie goers think of film as a trip to Burger King when they're stuffed and too lazy to prepare a decent meal. They're bored and want to be distracted. If a film does that, to them, it is successful.

As I try and teach adults in school that film is art, the looks of befuddlement I get are staggering.

They don't want film to provoke, challenge or motivate them. They want it to be as innocuous as a benign sit-com - something to wash over them and stuff their brains, like a Whopper stuffs their bellies, so they don't have to think or interpret anything. They want to be passive receptors and resent any film they don't already know the recycled plot points to.

Not true, I loved Inception. Made me reflect upon what I saw for a week.

However, with THG it's a feel good story about a kid whom defies the government games and comes out ahead. A lot of angry Americans out there who thinks they can relate.

I'm jk. It was a good film, one that should be watched at least once. Not super amazing but nor does it deserve some of the most ridiculous nitpicking.

So what do we call those types of movies? If The Hunger Games is not a successful movie (by the BK analogy measure), then what is it? A successful.....______?

Dom,

Well I agree with you, but there are also plenty of film-goers who enjoy junk films as well as art films. Both have value.

Edit for Solo,

I wouldn't classify THG as a junk film. It's certainly no Drive, but even if it was classified as a junk film, I don't think that lessens its value. I mean, I dare not think our resident film snobs would dare to put THG in the same category as, say, Transformers.

Calm down, OK hunger games wasnt a great movie, but it was good, and better than 90% of blockbusters


I'm with Stephen King in considering movies like food. A great dish is fine, but sometimes you just want a greasy hamburger.

I don't get the love Lawrence gets. Her performance was pretty mediocre. Granted it was a huge step up from xmen but I don't see how she can carry the movie for anyone that didn't enjoy the rest of the film.

It's a successful franchise. For it to surpass domestic totals compared to HP or Twiilight means a lot for an indie studio such as LGF.

Ian, have you seen winters bone? I think most itt are using winters bone as a template.

I mean I love The Seven Samurai and Black Narcissus, but I also love Trancers, Eight Legged Freaks, and The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren

....filler.

It is yet another in the long line of films which will be instantly forgotten, never to be mentioned again in a couple years. There will be no critical or scholarly analysis. It will make no lists. It will have no cultural impact whatsoever. Everyone will see it but it will influence nobody and play no part in the art form. It is the artistic equivalent of a pure business investment. Invest as little money and effort as possible for maximum returns. All else is meaningless.

There was some artistry in this movie (it just was relatively poorly balanced) and it will have some cultural impact.

Imho

Watching Mary Poppins right now.

A+

I know nothing about the books but a quick wikipedia search tells me they are among the most popular and financially successful of the last 5 years. This means the producers of the film knew it would be a success no matter what they did which explains the awful special effects. They simply knew that the average audience member would not care that the film looks like it was made 15 years ago therefore why invest in it. Its basic business; dont invest money you dont have to in order to make the same profit. This is how THG was made.

DB, as I've often said, there is nothing wrong with "junk" movies. I love Armageddon. And i'm a big fan of grindhouse movies of the 60s and 70s.

What I'm saying is, that in this country, the vast majority of movie goers watch only junk movies and don't understand the point of something better.

All they eat is junk food. So naturally, when someone takes them to a five-star restaurant, they invariably don't like what is served to them.

When I teach Media and Film and other like classes, the adults NEVER have even heard of filmmakers like Kubrick or Lean or Wilder. They have never heard of TV shows like Mad Men or Justified. Not never watched it - never heard of it. And these are populist, popular shows. I thought!

When I have to use a film as an example in class that everyone has seen, the only one I can consistently choose is Wizard of Oz. Sometimes Titanic. In three years of teaching this class (that only lasts five weeks), only 1 in 10 of the students have seen The Godfather or Psycho. hell, a good third of them have never even heard of The Godfather or Citizen Kane.

And it's just not film. When teaching art, they have never heard of Jackson Pollock or Andy Warhol, and only a handful of them can identify a photo of Michelangelo's David or Da Vincin's The Last Supper. When teaching literature/drama, I've only had 2 students in three years acknowledge they had heard of James Joyce and Joseph Conrad. No one had ever read or heard of Waiting For Godot or even something as American as Kerouac's On The Road. Hell, only a quarter of all my students have even bothered reading a Stephen King or John Grisham book.

Culturally, America is dying. It's shocking. A classical education is no longer the norm. Ask the average American who Emanuel Kant was, or what did Watson and Crick discover, and you'll get a blank stare. Hell, I'd wager with anyone here that if they went to their street corner for an hour and asked everyone who passed by who those three people were, that NOT ONE would be able to tell you.

lol...I just made a min-rant. Yay me.

me some Mary Poppins. I can sing most of the songs word-for-word, true story. We had the record.

American Reunion

Way better than I expected

Decent storyline

Just about the whole cast back

Great ending

Never heard of Stanley Kubrick, "The Godfather", James Joyce, Watson & Crick? How is this possible?

I sincerely hope this ignorance isn't as widespread as you think.

It's amazing to me, too...but it is.

I show my students the most famous works from Monet, Picasso, and van Gogh, and maybe one in twenty know what the are. And these aren't kids - these are mostly adults between the ages of 20 and 60.

They also, for the most part, can't name the three branches of government or identify by photo the President of Iran, the U.S. Attorney General or the Vice President of the United States!

This deserves its own thread