That Is Mahogany!
In the post-apocalyptic ruins of North-America, a totalitarian regime controls 12 districts. Each year, the government chooses 2 kids from each district to fight to the death in a game show. It's all fun and games until Katniss Everdeen - our arrow-shooting heroine - becomes the face of a nationwide rebellion.
The Hunger Games
is Gary Ross' adaptation of Suzanne Collins' homonymous book. I already hear the purists yelling at my rating. I've come to appreciate this movie because I keep in mind that it's a book adaptation. And a screenwriter always has to take things off and alter others to keep his feature film understandable, entertaining and under a 3-hour-long limit. Gary Ross worked on the screenplay with Suzanne Collins so the decisions he made were the result of author-approved team effort. I think he did a great job translating the book universe on the silver screen. I especially enjoy how Ross managed to keep the book's first-person point of view. The astounding sound-editing work is a major piece of it. His movie is obviously not perfect. Every so often, little details that I expected to be different are irritating but the overall result is magic. Those little disappointing details are the chariots scene special effects that seem to come straight from '92, or the relationship between Katniss and Peeta that does not resemble the book's, or the creatures of the show's finale. Other than those, the production design is mind-blowing, the original score couldn't have been better, the cast is an accurate melting-pot (exept for the fact that Josh Hutcherson is really smaller than Jennifer Lawrence. That's something I cannot overlook as I find it ridiculously amusing). James Newton Howard composed the brilliant original score
. The Capitol anthem is especially majestic and powerful. It perfectly matches the look of it. The production designer decided to give the Capitol a cold Third-Reich look to illustrate the power and greatness of this regime. The contrast with the poor districts is very well balanced. It turns what could have been a boring futuristic sci-fi story into a retro-looking and realistic anticipation tale. This makes it far more impactful. The plot is a great analysis of our broadcasting society and the probable future of reality TV. If you want to savor the intensity and the immensity of work behind The Hunger Games, I'd suggest you get your hands on the special edition
to watch the impressive making of. From pre-prod to the release, you can witness every step taken to get this movie done. The cast is a clever mix of actors from all horizons: experienced or not, young or older. Donald Sutherland is a convincing sadistic and controlling President Snow. Jennifer Lawrence embodies our favorite braided heroine with such power. Not to mention that she can actually shoot the bow and arrow (that's coming from someone who does archery so I can tell). Lenny Kravitz scores an important role for his acting debut. He is the rebel Capitol stylist. Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks are obviously superb in their interpretation of the alcoholic Games victor and the colorful Effie Trinket. The kids are memorable too (especially Amandla Stenberg who plays the little Rue). Let's not forget The Hunger Games is a story about kids killing kids for the perverse pleasure of wealthy adults. It could have had a questionable taste but it is beautifully directed and ends up being an instant classic. The following book adaptation (Catching Fire) will be released next November. Francis Lawrence took over the direction and I can only hope he stayed true to what Ross had established in terms of universe and camera techniques.
is Gary Ross' adaptation of Suzanne Collins' homonymous book. I already hear the purists yelling at my rating. I've come to appreciate this movie because I keep in mind that it's a book adaptation. And a screenwriter always has to take things off and alter others to keep his feature film understandable, entertaining and under a 3-hour-long limit. Gary Ross worked on the screenplay with Suzanne Collins so the decisions he made were the result of author-approved team effort. I think he did a great job translating the book universe on the silver screen. I especially enjoy how Ross managed to keep the book's first-person point of view. The astounding sound-editing work is a major piece of it. His movie is obviously not perfect. Every so often, little details that I expected to be different are irritating but the overall result is magic. Those little disappointing details are the chariots scene special effects that seem to come straight from '92, or the relationship between Katniss and Peeta that does not resemble the book's, or the creatures of the show's finale. Other than those, the production design is mind-blowing, the original score couldn't have been better, the cast is an accurate melting-pot (exept for the fact that Josh Hutcherson is really smaller than Jennifer Lawrence. That's something I cannot overlook as I find it ridiculously amusing). James Newton Howard composed the brilliant original score. The Capitol anthem is especially majestic and powerful. It perfectly matches the look of it. The production designer decided to give the Capitol a cold Third-Reich look to illustrate the power and greatness of this regime. The contrast with the poor districts is very well balanced. It turns what could have been a boring futuristic sci-fi story into a retro-looking and realistic anticipation tale. This makes it far more impactful. The plot is a great analysis of our broadcasting society and the probable future of reality TV. If you want to savor the intensity and the immensity of work behind The Hunger Games, I'd suggest you get your hands on the special edition
to watch the impressive making of. From pre-prod to the release, you can witness every step taken to get this movie done. The cast is a clever mix of actors from all horizons: experienced or not, young or older. Donald Sutherland is a convincing sadistic and controlling President Snow. Jennifer Lawrence embodies our favorite braided heroine with such power. Not to mention that she can actually shoot the bow and arrow (that's coming from someone who does archery so I can tell). Lenny Kravitz scores an important role for his acting debut. He is the rebel Capitol stylist. Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks are obviously superb in their interpretation of the alcoholic Games victor and the colorful Effie Trinket. The kids are memorable too (especially Amandla Stenberg who plays the little Rue). Let's not forget The Hunger Games is a story about kids killing kids for the perverse pleasure of wealthy adults. It could have had a questionable taste but it is beautifully directed and ends up being an instant classic. The following book adaptation (Catching Fire) will be released next November. Francis Lawrence took over the direction and I can only hope he stayed true to what Ross had established in terms of universe and camera techniques.
back when no 
or 
were released. I was going on a Lawrence marathon (yeah, that's a thing. A biathlon to be exact. It consists of eating bacon and watching Jennifer Lawrence act for 26 hours). When I saw the genius adaptation of 
, my jaw dropped. It dropped because of Debra Granik's direction and vision in portraying rural America. And because of John Hawkes in a tough supporting role. It dropped because of Lawrence's talent as a young untrained actor. Winter's Bone is the story of 17-year-old Ree Dolly who raises her 2 younger siblings and supports her mentally-ill mother in the middle of the Ozarks. The father is a well-known local meth cooker that no one has seen recently. So basically, she has a crappy life but wait! It gets worse. The sheriff shows up and tells her that her dad put up their house as part of his bond. They'll lose it if he doesn't show up for court. She has a week to find her missing dad. I find Winter's Bone mesmerizing with truth. Maybe it's because the set of this independent movie is made of what the crew found there. The houses, the wild, none of this was created by a Hollywood studio. Maybe the locals acting in the movie made it authentic. Maybe the lower-class misery to a background of drug addiction and the family relationships going to hell speaks to me. Yes, you can find it slow sometimes. But guess what! This is real life. I personally enjoy a director who gives time to... Well, time. Time for the plot to flow and make sense. Granik succeeds here in taking time for the story to happen without ever being boring. Lawrence's performance blows my mind. What I see on screen is a person with hardness anchored to her guts. Imagine being Academy-Award nominated for Best Actress before your twenties hand in hand with Natalie Portman or Annette Bening? The local music sets up the atmosphere for you. It could have been too much to have a 
on a movie taking place in the Ozarks but it really is just what it needed. You can even see the 
has already helped and will help so many misfits. Unlike most of the audience, I don't think the characters portrayed in this movie are nuts. I found a lot of myself in both Pat (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who have just been damaged by life. SLP is a simple story about families and the constant struggle it is to maintain relationships. O. Russell focuses on many kinds of relationships. From parenting to friendship, love, or sibling tension: whatever your problem is, you will find an answer in SLP. I adore the O. Russell technique that reveals his actors' talent. The movie was nominated in all 4 acting categories at the Academy Awards which hadn't happened in 31 years. Jacki Weaver does a mean Philadelphian accent. Robert De Niro in the role of a father with affection and addiction issues is captivating. Weirdly enough, Cooper and Lawrence is an on-screen couple that works. I actually forgot that she is too young for the role because she delivers such an intense performance. She is the only one who came back home with a well-deserved Oscar. I was delighted by Cooper's radical mood swings or Lawrence's defying monologue to De Niro's face. It's a pleasure to see Tucker as Pat's friend from the institution and Julia Stiles as Tiffany's control freak of a sister (and now we can all agree that Stiles is a much better dancer than Lawrence). SLP will speak to the common folk because you can relate to the characters. It is about family issues, coping with loss, football, addiction, dancing like '