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Mar. 4th, 2012 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Little leery of the marketing hype surrounding the film release of The Hunger Games. Just finished reading the article in EW, which is basically all marketing.
That said, I love the pictures and stills that have been released. Also the soundtrack looks awesome, with Taylor Swift, the Decemberists, The Civil Wars, Miranda Lambert, and Arcade Fire all creating original songs for the film. And it is well cast. It may be the only film I see in movie theaters this year, we'll see. I've admittedly become increasingly picky about watching movies in theaters - because they've become so uncomfortable and expensive. It's cheaper to rent. So, the only films I bother to see are one's that require a large screen to fully appreciate. That said, the only way I'm bothering with The Avengers is if it gets a really good review, considering I waited to netflix both Thor and Captain America - this makes sense. I'm sort of burned out on the whole superhero action flick trope - I'll most likely do the same with Nolan's Dark Knight Rises. But The Hunger Games - I want to see on the big screen, like I did Harry Potter last year.
2. Started The Fault in Our Stars this morning on the subway - and it's good.
Really good. Snarky. And captures depression perfectly. Along with the young adult voice. Loving 16 year old Hazel. But I'm only ten pages in, so...
3. Watching or half watching Awake. Tried it on Saturday and it put me to sleep. The pacing is horrible. This is my problem with procedurals. The pacing. We spend a lot of time with the Detective wandering about interviewing people and looking constipated and confused on the B plot-line, while the A - which is the personal/relationship or gimmick is more interesting and better paced. Also for some reason... Procedural writers just can't write decent dialogue to save their lives - instead they fill it with jargon. Awake has a cool gimmick though and the best parts are in the dueling therapists offices. Issacs with Cherry Jones in the reality in which his son survived vs. Issacs with BD Wong in the reality in which his wife survived and their struggle over which reality should survive and dueling treatment theories. One is confrontational, one is gentle. That dueling shrinks is actually fascinating. As is Issac's performance of a man who never really sleeps, since he lives in literally two worlds. And can't figure out which one is real and more to the point, which one he wants to be real. That story line is suspenseful and interesting but I'm not sure it can last forever...at some point suspension of disbelief will get in the way, like isn't the man going to go insane with no rest? And shouldn't the writers answer some questions? Five years of a series about a guy who lives in two realities can get old. Plus the case and the home life bits, drag and feel a little been there seen that. In short? The writing isn't living up to either the actors or the set-up.
I think I'd like procedurals better if they attracted decent writers. Such as Elmore Leonard's team behind Justified. Pacing is key. If you bore your audience they will drift off...to do other things.
4. Contemplating getting myself Game of Thrones boxed set DVD for my birthday. But here's the thing, I'm not watching the DVDs I have. Do I really need more? I have yet to crack open BSG S1, Veronica Mars S1, or A&E's Pride and Prejudice. What makes me think I'll watch Game of Thrones? Never really been much of a re-watcher or re-reader of things, with few exceptions - such as anything I get insanely obsessed with.
That said, I love the pictures and stills that have been released. Also the soundtrack looks awesome, with Taylor Swift, the Decemberists, The Civil Wars, Miranda Lambert, and Arcade Fire all creating original songs for the film. And it is well cast. It may be the only film I see in movie theaters this year, we'll see. I've admittedly become increasingly picky about watching movies in theaters - because they've become so uncomfortable and expensive. It's cheaper to rent. So, the only films I bother to see are one's that require a large screen to fully appreciate. That said, the only way I'm bothering with The Avengers is if it gets a really good review, considering I waited to netflix both Thor and Captain America - this makes sense. I'm sort of burned out on the whole superhero action flick trope - I'll most likely do the same with Nolan's Dark Knight Rises. But The Hunger Games - I want to see on the big screen, like I did Harry Potter last year.
2. Started The Fault in Our Stars this morning on the subway - and it's good.
Really good. Snarky. And captures depression perfectly. Along with the young adult voice. Loving 16 year old Hazel. But I'm only ten pages in, so...
3. Watching or half watching Awake. Tried it on Saturday and it put me to sleep. The pacing is horrible. This is my problem with procedurals. The pacing. We spend a lot of time with the Detective wandering about interviewing people and looking constipated and confused on the B plot-line, while the A - which is the personal/relationship or gimmick is more interesting and better paced. Also for some reason... Procedural writers just can't write decent dialogue to save their lives - instead they fill it with jargon. Awake has a cool gimmick though and the best parts are in the dueling therapists offices. Issacs with Cherry Jones in the reality in which his son survived vs. Issacs with BD Wong in the reality in which his wife survived and their struggle over which reality should survive and dueling treatment theories. One is confrontational, one is gentle. That dueling shrinks is actually fascinating. As is Issac's performance of a man who never really sleeps, since he lives in literally two worlds. And can't figure out which one is real and more to the point, which one he wants to be real. That story line is suspenseful and interesting but I'm not sure it can last forever...at some point suspension of disbelief will get in the way, like isn't the man going to go insane with no rest? And shouldn't the writers answer some questions? Five years of a series about a guy who lives in two realities can get old. Plus the case and the home life bits, drag and feel a little been there seen that. In short? The writing isn't living up to either the actors or the set-up.
I think I'd like procedurals better if they attracted decent writers. Such as Elmore Leonard's team behind Justified. Pacing is key. If you bore your audience they will drift off...to do other things.
4. Contemplating getting myself Game of Thrones boxed set DVD for my birthday. But here's the thing, I'm not watching the DVDs I have. Do I really need more? I have yet to crack open BSG S1, Veronica Mars S1, or A&E's Pride and Prejudice. What makes me think I'll watch Game of Thrones? Never really been much of a re-watcher or re-reader of things, with few exceptions - such as anything I get insanely obsessed with.
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Date: 2012-03-06 12:40 am (UTC)Actually PG-13 covers a lot of violence - have you ever seen Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom? That was PG-13. It actually created the PG-13 rating.
Right now Hollywood is fighting over the ratings for the documentary film "Bully" but not regarding the violence, regarding the foul language. Hollywood is very odd. Graphic violence is okay. Foul language and nudity not so much.
With The Hunger Games triology...all they have to do is leave a little out...visual violence tends to be more in your face anyhow. They can suggest without necessarily showing it. (I sort of hope they go with suggestion in a few scenes in Hunger Games - I really don't want to watch that kid get ripped apart by the mutations. Eww.) Hunger Games was actually the most violent of the three novels. Most of Mockingjay's violence - was referred to, we didn't really see it.
We heard about what they did to Peeta and Johanna, but it was never shown. We were so deeply in Katniss' pov, that we only saw what she saw and heard.
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Date: 2012-03-06 02:21 pm (UTC)I saw Temple of Doom once, although I think by today's standards it's not really that bad. Thinking about it, though, I suppose you're right and Mockingjay doesn't have all that much violence in it; the setting is dark, and the book feels very heavy because we're in Katniss' POV and for the latter part of the book she's pretty much given up on everything. I'll be interested to see how they handle that in the movie (assuming it gets made).