THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Pt. 2' - Thursday 19th November 2015.

On 25th November 2014 I said this : 'And so the third film in the series and the first half of the concluding episode - 'THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Pt. 1' left me feeling underwhelmed I have to say. This film is the meat in the sandwich well & truly, sitting between the spectacle and the bravura of 'Catching Fire' and what will undoubtedly be a climactic all guns blazing epic conclusion that is 'Mockingjay Pt. 2' . . . one year from now with its release on 19th November 2015'. Back then I awarded 'Mockingjay Pt.1' three claps of the clapperboard, and off a US$125M budget went on to gross US$756M at the global Box Office. So on opening night in Australian Odeon's this week I saw the final instalment in this franchise - 'THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Pt. 2', which had it's worldwide Premier in Berlin on 4th November and was released stateside only on 20th November with financial expectations running high.

This film leads on directly from the end of the last film with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutchinson) still strapped to a chair recovering from his torturous treatment back in The Capitol where he was brainwashed to turn against Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and kill her - a fact he is not backward in coming forward with when Prim Everdeen (Willow Shields) reaches out to him in an attempt to determine how his recovery treatment is going. Realising that the connection they once shared Katniss seeks solace in long term friend and suitor Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and they venture to District 2 on the edge of The Capitol with the hope of rallying the resistance against President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and forging an alliance to gain further strength to overthrow The Capitol and everything it stands for, and liberate once and for all the downtrodden citizens of Panem. In the process Katniss is shot, hits the deck, but is saved by her bullet proof vest and wakes up very bruised and battered but safe at the hands of President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Katniss takes her team into District 2, but is ordered not to engage with the resistance but rather be filmed every step of their way for television broadcast to rally the revolution against Snow and The Capitol. Needless to say upon entering The Capitol things don't go quite according to plan when they encounter the streets, buildings and city scape littered with booby traps and all manner of undesirable devices to thwart their progress. As the Team navigate onwards through in to the heart of The Capitol so they are picked off one by one including the leader designate Boggs (Mahersala Ali), then his 2i/c Commander Lyme (Gwendoline Christie) leaving Katniss in charge to now follow through and complete the mission - to kill Snow and restore democracy to Panem.

What follows is a series of set pieces in which Katniss and her remaining revolutionary followers - Gale, Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin), Cressida (Natalie Dormer), Castor (Wes Chatham), Pollux (Elden Henson) and Peeta who remains unhinged whilst still coming to terms with what is truth and what is fiction and his feelings for Katniss which he has only fleeting memories of. They continue their journey inching ever closer to Snow's palatial residence from which he continues to throw deadly obstacles in their way. In the meantime both Snow and Coin continue to broadcast propaganda messages out across the Districts in a show of oneupmanship.

At the gates of Snow's Capitol residence where he has offered sanctuary to the residents of The Capitol realising that the end is near, an attack is launched that takes out the men, women, children, young & old as Katniss and Gale are caught in the cross fire and are so close, but so far away! With Gale captured by the Peacekeepers, Katniss is rendered unconscious by a nearby bomb blast and wakes being nursed by her mother, with Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) looking on.

Katniss is advised that The Capitol was overthrown, Snow deposed and Coin has established herself as the interim President of Panem. Returning to Snow's former residence with calm and peace restored she roams the rooms, halls and grounds of the estate and comes across a handcuffed Snow in the greenhouse. They talk and he instills doubts in her mind about his motives and the interests of Coin. Later Coin wants to meet out justice on Snow and his followers at the hands of Katniss in an extraordinary Hunger Games in which Snow and Katniss are to be participants. Katniss agree to participate on the condition that she can kill Snow, to which Coin agrees.

In the final analysis it doesn't end well for the principle antagonists; Katniss gets her man; Panem enters a period of peace, calm, freedom and democracy; and she lives happily ever after returning to her family home in District 13 overlooking green pastures and clear blue skies for as far as the eye can see.

I saw this film in 3D only because the timing suited me, but it is not necessary and only a few scenes benefit from the clarity and depth of field. The story is everything you would expect and films 1&2 could easily have been rolled into one single offering, and so for me this is just another excuse for a Box Office money grab. Jennifer Lawrence is the standout and carries the film without doubt, and whilst the film looks good, the action set pieces are well delivered, the story is predictable and drawn out. It was good to see Philip Seymour Hoffman once more on the big screen in his last appearance, but I never got the sense that he was taking this role too seriously, unlike what we know he was capable of.

Therefore, in the final analysis, if you have seen the previous three films you should see this final offering to see how it all ends, but don't go into your local theatre expecting anything big. This is an acceptable end to the franchise (so far) and nothing more. It's worth seeing on the big screen, but you don't have to either.



-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Pt. 1 - Tuesday 25th November 2014.

On Tuesday night this week I ventured to my local Multiplex with a couple of movies buddies to see the next instalment in this franchise - the beginning of the end as the final book in the series is split into two movies (a la 'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight'). And so the third film in the series and the first half of the concluding episode - 'THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Pt. 1' left me feeling underwhelmed I have to say. This film is the meat in the sandwich well & truly, sitting between the spectacle and the bravura of 'Catching Fire' and what will undoubtedly be a climactic all guns blazing epic conclusion that is 'Mockingjay Pt. 2' . . . one year from now with its release on 19th November 2015.

Directed once again by Francis Lawrence, we have all the characters we have got to know over the first two films assembled once more, with a couple of new ones thrown in as the action takes us to someplace else. Following on directly from where the last film left us, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) awakens in a hospital bed with vague memories of how she got there and who she left behind . . . the believed dead Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Recovering she learns that she is in District 13 which it had previously been thought was destroyed long ago, but not so apparently. District 13 is overseen by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and is occupied by former military personnel and is housed deep underground. As a result it is relatively safe, secure, and out of sight hidden beneath a dense forest but houses a mass of military weapons, aircraft, and a large community with the necessary infrastructure to support it.

When the Hunger Games Arena was destroyed and the Quarter Quell overturned at the end of 'Catching Fire' our protagonists were carted off in opposite directions - Katniss to District 13 with Gale Hawthorn (Liam Hemsworth), Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair), Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour-Hoffman), and Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) - the latter 'drying out a mile underground'! Heading off to The Capitol captured by President Coriolanus Snow were Mellark and Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) and Annie Cresta (Stef Dawson) wife of Finnick Odair.

President Coin aided by Heavensbee want to use Katniss as their mascot for the uprising against The Capitol and everything that President Snow (Donald Sutherland) stands for. As a symbol of hope, strength, unity and power to spearhead the rebellion, Katniss is crowned 'The Mockingjay' and so a propaganda campaign is launched and broadcast to all other Districts to consolidate the rebellion efforts against The Capitol. Meanwhile The Capitol with its military strength and its own propaganda campaign has outlawed the Mockingjay, and anyone seen or heard supporting it will be punished by death. President Snow has also trashed all other Districts, killed many of their citizens and nearly razed those former dystopian communities to the ground - not much is left.

When Katniss learns via the TV propaganda campaign launched by The Capitol that Peeta and Co. are in fact still alive, a plan is hatched to break them out of there and engineer a cunning escape - if only it were that easy of course! With live pictures beamed frequently over the TV with Peeta on screen being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), Katniss soon realises that her love, Peeta, must have taken leave of his senses, given the anti-rebellion drivel coming out of his mouth! How can this be, horror of horrors! But within no time as Peeta loses weight before our very eyes on the TV screen and has an increasingly gaunt appearance, conclusions are drawn that he has been tortured and forced into submission. Katniss can't believe her eyes or ears, and nor can the rest of the populace!

And so Katniss becomes the poster girl for the rebellion and with Peeta languishing in The Capitol undergoing all manner of psychological torture, her attention becomes somewhat distracted by Gale Hawthorn and the increasingly obvious path of death and destruction that President Snow seems hell bent on. All of this seems to amble along with rousing speeches delivered by Alma Coin intermittently, discoveries of more fractured District communities, snippets of televised propaganda from both sides, and a few moments of action. One of the most 'gripping' scenes comes when The Capitol is bombing District 13 and all are nestled deep below ground in their bunker when Katniss has to go rescue her sister Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) who has gone searching for the family cat with bombs raining down and the time counting down to the automatic closure of the meter thick bomb proof bunker doors - will they all die because of a pesky flea bitten cat . . . probably not!

And that is about as exciting and as tense as it gets! Despite that, I understand completely that this film is setting the scene for the final instalment that is to follow, and that all this posturing lays the foundation for the grand finale and the big conclusion . . . but this lumbers along, it labours, it's pedestrian and it left me wanting more that just setting the framework for a film that I have to wait another 12 months for. Even the late great Philip Seymour-Hoffman to whom this film is dedicated, seemed at odds with some of the dialogue he had to deliver and almost had a constant smirk and cheesy grin on his face that says WTF am I doing here . . . but I guess the pay cheque is good, or maybe, this is what was intended for his character - you can decide!

There is no doubt that this film will be successful. With a budget of about US$125M (a reported US$250M for the two 'Mockingjay' films combined) it has already earned a global box office haul of just a nudge under US$300M at the time of writing this, and saw the biggest opening weekend of any film so far in 2014.



-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE HUNGER GAMES : archive from 5th April 2012.

With 'THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Part 1' about to descend on our screens on 20th November, I dug this archival Review out of where it all began just over two short years ago. Updated to recapture the story and it's success so far, rejog your memory with what has gone before.

Saw 'THE HUNGER GAMES' this week - the much touted, much hyped, much watched antidote to 'The Twilight Saga', and, the 'Harry Potter' series perhaps for the next generation! I went in with fairly low expectations after it got a slating from David & Margaret on their 'Movie Show', but everyone seemed to be raving about it nonetheless! I was pleasantly surprised although the plot meanders a bit and it takes a goodly while to get up to speed.

Directed by Gary Ross and based on the best selling book by Suzanne Collins, there is a strong cast that includes Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland and Liam Hemsworth who all put in a convincing turn but the male & female leads of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) seem to lack any real buy-in from the audience and I struggled to empathise with their characters.

The story is that in a future dystopian world we are taken to a nation called 'Panem' which is divided up into 12 'Districts' and there is the 'Capitol' which oversees the nation. Every year two young teenage kids are selected by lottery (known affectionately as 'The Reaping') to represent their District in the 'Hunger Games' - a fight to the death last man standing competition where there are no holds barred, all manner of obstacles are created to thwart the 24 competitors, and it is survival of the fittest ultimately where only one can remain. These Games are also televised across the nation as a form of entertainment, and they also serve as a reminder of a past rebellion in the nations history that has contributed to the world they now know. The Capitol places great pomp & ceremony on these games almost like it's an Olympic Games and the rich, powerful and mighty residing in the Capitol look down on the downtrodden, poor and inadequate Districts with disdain - these Games are created too to prevent any future uprising amongst the Districts by demoralising their peoples into submission, poverty and no hope.

But of course there is always hope, and our story centres on Katniss who at the last minute takes the place of her younger sister Prim (Willow Shields) who was selected at first in The Reaping. Those that are chosen are known as 'Tributes', and when we have our 24 Tributes so a training programme begins and we get sneak peaks at the back story of certain competitors, but mostly Katniss and Peeta both from District 12, who form an alliance as the story progresses. As for the other 22 Tributes from the other 11 Districts of this future dystopian USA they are just cardboard cut out cannon fodder who ultimately succumb to a grislier ending, although some will put up a fight more than others.

President Snow (Donald Sutherland) rules Panem and presides over The Hunger Games with an ulterior motive in mind and his own hidden agenda. Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) is the Games Master who hosts the televised entertainment component with camped up devilish aplomb, and then there is Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) who acts as a coach and mentor to Katniss and Peeta.

The first two-thirds set the scene, give us some back story and provide the training sequences, the preparations, the teenage angst and anxiety and all the colour of the opening ceremony, before getting down to brass tacks and killing time! And then after being transplanted to their forest 'battlefield' our 24 Tributes have to overcome all manner of natural and man made challenges that will seem them picked off one-by-one until just one remains. There are some twists as the Games nears its final showdown which pave the way for the second instalment, which we know comes in November 2013 in the form of 'THE HUNGER GAMES : CATCHING FIRE'.

Made for US$78M it brought in US$691M at the global Box Office with it too being the biggest selling DVD of 2012 with 7.5 million units sold. The movie picked up 33 award wins and 41 other nominations including the BAFTA Children's Award win for Best Film of 2012, and a Golden Globe nomination for its Best Original Song.

Not great, but not bad either - I hope the invariable sequels do better and deliver something grittier and less polished despite the premise - you can get this film and its sequel 'Catching Fire' on DVD and Bluray now, with 'Mockingjay Part 1' released on 20th November 2014 and 'Mockingjay Part 2' to be released on 19th November 2015.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 20th November 2014.

I am pleased to say that as Australia warms in the late Spring sun with just over a week to go until the official start of Australian Summertime, we are gearing up for a season of big films, that ramped up earlier this month with Chris Nolan's excellent Sci-Fi epic 'Interstellar' (check out my Review dated 11th November). This week we have the third instalment in a quadrilogy of films that seems to have set the standard by which many have otherwise followed of late, and features some dystopian hybrid bird thing as it's mascot, and, this is sure to be big as the franchise counts down now to its 19th November 2015 conclusion. Then the master of cult-classic bizarre and downright weird cinema making gives us his spin on weird cinema making and the people in it, around it and on top of it; and finally another real life drama from New Zealand this time about redemption, purpose and acceptance all brought together around a board game!

Three offerings then, all different but all worthy of your cinema dollar nonetheless. Check out something from this weeks new haul of releases, or any one of the other great films still on general release from weeks gone by, and, when you have drop me a line in the Comments Box below this, or any other Post, and share your thoughts with the world of moviefandom! Enjoy your film experience this week!

THE HUNGER GAMES : MOCKINGJAY Part 1 (Rated M) - the third instalment in the 'Hunger Games' franchise sees the final book carved up into two film offerings (just as with the 'Harry Potter' series and the 'Twilight' series) with Part 2 due for release on 19th November 2015. The first two films in the series cost US$208M to make and grossed worldwide US$1.56B, and the final two films have a combined production budget of US$250M, and doubtless expectations will be very high on many levels. Once again all the usual suspects are back that we have come to know with a few new characters thrown in too, and again we are Directed by Francis Lawrence (no relation!)

The action takes off where 'Catching Fire' left us at the end of last year with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) being plucked from the 'Quaretquell' where she had just blown up the Hunger Games arena. She is whisked off to the mythical previously thought destroyed 'District 13', declared a hero and is made a symbol of hope by the people of the nation, and the figurehead for rebellion against The Capitol. District 13 is headed up by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). Meanwhile Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) was captured by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) who intends to use him as a symbol of hope for the peoples of The Capitol to quash any potential uprising by Katniss and her mounting Rebel army. No doubt this will involve poor Peeta getting tortured, brain-washed and manipulated to turn against Katniss and everything she now stands for . . . or will it? In doing so, with no 'Hunger Games' to fight things out like modern day Gladiators, the war takes to the streets and battle will commence . . . big time! Returning we have Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, the late great Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Elizabeth Banks, and Sam Claflin and various other new names on both sides of The Capitol fence. If the first two films are anything to go by, the action here will be ramped up as we draw closer to a conclusion, the storyline will become darker, and the characters more driven - so buckle-up for the ride!

MAPS TO THE STARS (Rated MA15+) - Canadian Director David Cronenberg who brought us amongst others 'Scanners', 'Videodrome', 'The Naked Lunch' and more recently the excellent 'A History of Violence' and 'Eastern Promises' turns his attention this time to Hollywood, and in so doing pokes a big ugly stick right in its eye! Starring Mia Wasikowska as Agatha Weiss who returns to Hollywood after a spell in a sanatorium has homecoming dreams of meeting rich and famous celebrities. She comes across Julianne Moore as a fading actress (Havana Segrand) trying desperately to re-establish her career, and who is being treated by Agatha's father, a self-help guru Dr. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), and then there is drug addled teen-star son Benjie (Evan Bird) about to start work on yet another tween movie sequel . . . and he's been in rehab since he was nine! Into the mix is Olivia Willams as Christina as wife to Stafford and mother to Agatha and Benji, and Robert Pattinson as Jerome Fontana, an aspiring actor who has a thing for Agatha. This tangled web of intrigue with all manner of phobias, insecurities, anxieties, worries and woes confronting our dysfunctional family sets the scene for modern day horror that only Cronenberg can concoct. Sounds weird, whacky and way out there just like most other Cronenberg offerings - put it on your must-see list!

THE DARK HORSE (Rated M) - a New Zealand tale this one set in Gisborne surrounding recent mental institution escapee Genesis (Cliff Curtis) who is sheltered by gangland brother Ariki (Wayne Hapi) on the proviso that he doesn't come between him, and soon to be inducted into the gang, young nephew Mana (James Rolleston). Needless to say the gang environment is no place for fragile Genesis and young impressionable Mana. Being homeless and feeling hopeless their future hope and possible salvation comes in the form of an upcoming chess championship being staged in Auckland in just six weeks time. Genesis knows a thing or two about the game of chess, and so sets about teaching Mana and his street-smart no-hope mates everything he can over the ensuing weeks to secure their entry into the tournament, and who knows . . . maybe even win it! An emotional well told story set on NZ's meaner streets with all the challenges thrown in that gangs, hardship, homelessness, hopelessness and chess can create! I wonder if there is a chess training montage? You could be very pleasantly surprised by this little film!

Three films then to stir the senses in very different ways. Give it a go this coming week, and check out a new release movie, and then share with us your views.

Movies - catch one this week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-