Today's Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

It's been (quite!) a while, but I finally got around to visit another press screening for MS and post the result here:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158000/the_hunger_games_mockingjay_-_part_1_-_recensie

This film series doesn't seem to get any worse, despite all the young adult franchise trademarks trying to put a dent in its reputation. Splitting a book into two movies was obviously a financial move on the studio's part, and undoubtedly will pay off big time. However, that doesn't hinder the movie from being a solid piece of work, despite not being a whole story. It's best compared to the first installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which underwent a similar theatrical treatment and enjoys equally similar themes in its story of teenagers on the run for a ruthless government. Plus, it's on the same level of quality. Character development is at an all-time high in Mockingjay - Part 1, thanks to a plot that doesn't leave much room, or need, for big bombastic action scenes or endless droning about which bland boy Katniss likes to kiss most, though there's still a few of those interspersed here and there. Politics and intrigue are thriving, as Katniss finds herself in the company of new allies who are not all that different from the Capitol regime she just escaped, in their unrelenting zealousness to bring the dictatorship down. Thanks to the talented cast - mainly, Jennifer Lawrence and all the experienced veterans featured in way too small parts: the rest of the younger cast leaves less of an impression, as before - and a director who once again shows he knows what he's doing, the movie forms a compelling continuation of Catching Fire as well as a great set-up for the finale. It comes complete with a cliffhanger that makes you want to check out the ending at the earliest opportunity. Which unfortunately you won't get for another year's time. Job well done, then.

And boy, did I have fun this last week mocking people for having seen this much anticipated film a week earlier than everybody else. One of the most appealing aspects of press screenings but not one of the most laudable character traits of those who visit them, I'll freely admit.

Today's Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I had the privilege of reviewing the next installment for The Hunger Games last week, and here's the result as posted on MovieScene today:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/151677/the_hunger_games_catching_fire_-_recensie

It got edited down a bit due to length, as is usual for my MS reviews. Some of the sentences don't run as smoothly as my original intention was, but you get the gist: I was quite positive about the film. It was a worthy successor to the first film and in many ways surpassed it. Nor was the much dreaded love triangle, though still present, as much as an obstacle for the flow of the film and the attention of the audience as I initially feared. Though still not perfect, Catching Fire did about everything The Hunger Games did, except bigger and to more gripping results.

This was also my first major press viewing. Whereas most of the ones I attended so far drew crowds of no more than 20 people, this particular screening witnessed at least 80 attendees from all over the country. It was a more formal showing too, complete with security taking the audience's cell phones in custody to prevent potential illegal copying. They didn't find one on me, much to their surprise and my entertainment. Furthermore, the distributor tried to bribe us with copies of the book and a neat little mockingjay brooch. Considering my 8/10 rating, they might as well have succeeded. I'm currently reading that book, which is odd, since I haven't read the first novel and I usually refrain from reading Dutch translations from books originally written in the English language. Maybe it's simply a good read, even though I preferred the movie (which follows the original text fairly closely I must add). To top it all, the screening was held at my actual job location, so I surprised and frustrated my colleagues, hard at work at that time, by appearing on the job only to disappear into the theatre to watch a film they all desperately wanted to see for themselves. And of course I bragged about it the rest of the week, for such is my nature. All in all, I much enjoyed this first big shot press screening of mine and I sure hope more will follow (though sadly I just lost out on the second Hobbit film).

It seems the odds where in my favor on this one.

Constantine

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Fascinating mix of horror and action, based on the DC comic book series Hellblazer. Keanu Reeves stars as John Constantine, a cynical, rude chain smoking exorcist who has had the misfortune of having the ability to see the angels and demons secretly roaming our world all around us since childhood. Despite having dispatched scores of demons back to hell, he's on his last legs suffering from terminal lung cancer, soon doomed to a final one-way trip to the underworld. Reeves is reunited with Rachel Weisz (they starred opposite each other in Chain Reaction (1996), who plays a detective investigating the apparent suicide of her mentally ill Catholic twin sister. She soon finds out it was a part of a much larger plot that might involve the sudden End of Days as the son of Satan means to overthrow his father's reign and release hell on Earth. Despite the two of them not getting along, Constantine is forced to team up with her to stop this imminent Apocalypse, but finds himself being hindered by both angels and demons alike, all with their own agenda, including a androgynous deranged Gabriel (Tilda Swinton). Though visually impressive – especially the hellish version of Los Angeles – and containing a bunch of solid action and horror scenes, the weird potpourri of historical and Apocalyptic elements and Biblical role-reversals has to be taken with quite a grain of salt. Reeves also falls back into his already firmly established Messiah routine (and it wouldn't be the last time), while Weisz clearly proves who is the better actor of the two. A sequel has been in the works for years, but always fails to materialize beyond mere planning.

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton

Directed by Francis Lawrence

USA: Warner Bros., 2005