THE HUNGER GAMES : THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES - Tuesday 5th December 2023.

I finally got around to seeing the M Rated 'THE HUNGER GAMES : THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES' at my local multiplex this week following its release in the US and here in Australia on 16th November. This American dystopian science fiction action film is Directed by Francis Lawrence, is based on the 2020 novel 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' by Suzanne Collins, serves as a prequel to 2012 film 'The Hunger Games' and is the fifth instalment in 'The Hunger Games' film series. Francis Lawrence Directed the last three films in the franchise with 'Catching Fire' in 2013 and 'Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2' in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Those first four films in the series grossed close to US$3B at the global Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$493M making this eventual prequel a no brainer. This film has so far grossed US$247M off the back of a production budget of US$100M and has generated mixed reviews. 

The film opens up in 'The Dark Days' three years before the first Hunger Games where a young Coriolanus Snow and his older cousin Tigris scavenge the war torn streets of Panem under cover of darkness for scraps of food. Returning home later that evening the pair are greeted by their Grandma'am (Fionnula Flanagan) who tells them that their father Crassus Snow has died. Fast forward thirteen years and Coriolanus (Tom Blyth), now eighteen-years-old, is one of twenty-four Academy students selected to mentor a tribute in the 10th Annual Hunger Games. Coriolanus determines to restore his family's prosperity by earning the Plinth Prize scholarship to Panem University. Games creator and Academy dean, Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) advises mentors to focus on entertaining viewers rather than tributes winning the Games, as viewership has waned over recent years, and for the Games to survive it needs to re-establish a strong audience. 

During the reaping ceremony, in which Coriolanus is assigned to mentor the District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), she first slips a snake into Mayor Lipp's daughter Mayfair's dress and then charms Capitol viewers by breaking into song. Coriolanus earns Lucy Gray's trust, by riding with her to the Capitol Zoo in a train carriage with the other chosen tributes, and helps her win Capitol citizens' sympathy, much to Highbottom's chagrin, as he paired Coriolanus with a District 12 tribute so he would fail. 

Coriolanus proposes a sponsorship scheme to Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), where Capitol viewers donate supplies to tributes via their mentors during the Games to increase viewership. Coriolanus' classmate, Clemensia Dovecote (Ashley Liao), takes the credit for the scheme. Gaul meanwhile has placed the proposal document into a tank of genetically modified snakes that do not attack familiar scents. Gaul has Clemensia retrieve it. Not recognising Clemensia's scent, the snakes critically wound her, but Gaul's assistants are on hand to administer an anti-venom, thus confirming it was Coriolanus' proposal all along.

During a Games-arena tour the day before the games are due to commence, several rebel bombs explode causing much damage to the arena and killing several mentors including the President's son, Felix Ravinstill, and tributes. Lucy Gray saves Coriolanus when he is pinned under falling debris, and so as a gesture of thanks he gifts her deadly rat poison to use as a weapon, contained in his mothers silver make-up compact. 

The Games begin the next day as planned, with Host Lucretius 'Lucky' Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman) presiding over the event. Several tributes perish in the initial bloodbath. Lucy Gray is able to escape through an explosion-caused hole in the ground hiding in a service tunnel beneath with fellow District 12 tribute Jessup (Nick Benson). Coriolanus' wealthy friend and fellow mentor, Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andres Rivera), resenting the Games' cruelty and everything it stands for, sneaks into the arena and mourns next to his fallen tribute Marcus, a former District 2 classmate. Gaul persuades Coriolanus to retrieve Sejanus from the arena. When tributes turn on them, Coriolanus kills one by clubbing him to death.

To avenge Felix's death, Gaul releases her snakes into the arena, killing every tribute except Lucy Gray, as Coriolanus had secretly put a handkerchief containing her scent into the snake tank. Gaul refuses to declare her the victor until Capitol viewers pressure her into doing so. After the victory celebration, Highbottom confronts Coriolanus with the handkerchief and poison and sentences him to serve twenty years as a Peacekeeper for cheating. Sejanus is similarly punished for entering the arena. Coriolanus bribes an enrolment officer to transfer him to District 12, where he and Sejanus begin their Peacekeeper training.

Coriolanus and Sejanus visit the Hob bar where Lucy Gray performs with the Covey, a nomadic band, and they rekindle their friendship in secret. Coriolanus overhears Sejanus helping rebels planning to escape, and so he uses a jabberjay to record Sejanus' voice and sends it to Gaul. Coriolanus finds Sejanus talking to rebel Spruce (George Somner), Lucy Gray's old boyfriend Billy Taupe (Dakota Shapiro), and his girlfriend Mayfair Lipp (Isobel Jesper Jones), leading to an argument. Coriolanus fatally shoots Mayfair and Spruce kills Billy. Sejanus and Spruce are subsequently hanged for treason while Lucy Gray and Coriolanus escape. However, in the meantime Coriolanus has passed an intelligence and aptitude test with flying colours and is offered a transfer to District 2 for Officer training by Commander Hoff (Burn Gorman) and reluctantly accepts. 

Despite his offer for fast track promotion, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray flee north and decide to rest up overnight in a lakeside cabin. There, Coriolanus finds Spruce's weapons stash concealed under the floorboards. Lucy Gray runs away after realising Coriolanus betrayed Sejanus. As Coriolanus pursues her, a snake set in a trap bites him. Disoriented, he shoots his rifle blindly after hearing jabberjays mimicking Lucy Gray's voice. Coriolanus is unsure if she was shot after her footprints in the mud disappear on a path, leaving her fate a mystery.

Coriolanus returns to the Capitol, where Gaul reveals she had him honourably discharged and enrols him at the University. Sejanus' parents, who remain unaware he caused their son's death, make him an heir, so restoring the Snows' wealth. Coriolanus visits Highbottom, who confesses the Games were never intended to be reality. It was merely his idea one night heavily under the influence of alcohol that Crassus had stolen, and he set Coriolanus up as revenge for the bloodshed he indirectly caused. Coriolanus kills Highbottom by slipping rat poison into his vials of morphling, which he knocks back when Coriolanus has left, and is dead within minutes. Gaul later trains Coriolanus as a Gamemaker, so setting him up on his eventual rise to power.

For me 'The Hunger Games : The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' failed to ignite the interest, the level of excitement or the sense of urgency that the four original films in the franchise were able to capture, and at the longest run time of 156 minutes in the franchise outstays its welcome somewhat. That said Tom Blyth as the smiling assassin Snow, Rachel Zegler as mentee and love interest Lucy Gray, ably supported by a strong ensemble cast including Davis, Dinklage and Schwartzman do elevate this film above the also-ran, but, I can't help thinking that this young dystopian musical action drama film is enough to bridge the gap between the younger Snow and his older self as portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the original film series, so lets hope this puts an end to this franchise, particularly considering this is the most underperforming film at the Box Office in the series, and by a country mile!

'The Hunger Games : The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 16th November 2023

The 68th Cork International Film Festival runs this year from Thursday 9th through until Sunday 26th November. Established in 1956, the festival presents Ireland’s most exciting, diverse, and ambitious annual film festival, connecting and stimulating audiences and artists through a carefully curated selection of the best films, to create a unique shared cultural experience, rooted in Cork, open to the world. It is Ireland’s first and largest film festival and one of Cork’s most significant and popular annual cultural events. Cork International Film Festival is a local, national and international celebration of cinema, running annually in venues and online in November. Award-winning films from the international film festival circuit, new discoveries and cinema classics are selected to be premiered in cinemas in Cork and screened online via the Festival Digital Platform, available to viewers nationwide. 

This years Opening Night Gala presentation is 'Poor Things' Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Jerrod Carmichael and Ramy Youssef and tells the incredible story about the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter. The Closing Night film is 'The Holdovers' Directed by Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa about a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school who remains on campus during the Christmas break in the 1970's to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go.

The Festival presents twelve awards, including the CIFF Best New Irish Feature Award, Spirit of the Festival Award, Award for Cinematic Documentary, and two Audience Awards (for features and shorts). Its awards for Grand Prix Irish Short, Grand Prix International Short and Grand Prix Documentary Short Award are Academy Award qualifying, ensuring that the winners in Cork automatically join the Oscars long-list.

Those films competing for the Best New Irish Feature Award are :-

* 'So This Is Christmas' - Directed by Ken Wardrop this film illuminates the challenges often unseen beyond the toys, trees and tinsel, where characters in a small Irish village reflect on their difficult relationships with Christmas.

* 'One Night in Millstreet' - Directed by Andrew Gallimore. The St. Patrick’s weekend of 1995 witnessed an extraordinary thing, a world championship boxing match deep in the countryside of County Cork, between Super Middleweight Champion, Chris Eubank, and the hungry challenger from Cabra, Steve Collins. World Premiere.

* 'All You Need Is Death' - Directed by Paul Duane. Young couple Anna and Aleks collect folk ballads, the rarer the better, and the more money they can sell them for. Following a tip from a fellow collector, they secretly record a song so ancient that it is in a forgotten dialect. But once they begin to translate the song, they discover the terrifying reason why it was never meant to be passed on.

* 'Prospect House' - Directed by Paul Mercier. A group of protesters film a period re-enactment in a dilapidated 18th century house in a last ditch effort to save it from demolition.

* 'The Days of Trees' - Directed by Alan Gilsenan. An intimate beautifully wrought and deftly handled meditation on trauma, offering hope and insight.

The Spirit of the Festival Award comprises the following films :-

* 'The Girls Are Alright' - from Spain and Directed, Written, Co-Produced and starring Itsaso Arana. Four actresses and a writer spending a week in a secluded country house rehearsing a period play, chatting, and getting artistic inspiration from their own lives.

* 'Embryo Larva Butterfly - from Greece and Directed and Written by Kyros Papavassiliou. Penelope and Isidoro navigate their relationship in a world where time is non-linear, and past, present and future skip back and forth arbitrarily every time they wake.

* 'Animal' - from Greece, France and Poland and Directed by Sofia Exarchou. The team of dancers, singers and entertainers in an all inclusive tourist resort prepare for the upcoming season and we slowly get to know all the characters, including Kaila, natural leader of the group. As the summer heats up the make-up and facades begin to melt.

* 'Excursion' - from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, France, Norway and Directed by Una Gunjak. Iman is an ordinary teenage girl from Sarajevo that falls for an older boy and, in order to protect their half-imaginary relationship, comes up with a little white lie that spirals out of control.

* 'Negu Hurbilak' - from Spain and Directed by Colectivo Negu. At the end of the Basque conflict in 2011, when the ETA announces their ceasefire, a young woman goes on the run to escape political persecution, hoping to cross the border. She arrives at a quiet border village, Zubieta - a place where time appears to stand still, and she waits, as all the while the weight of her situation hangs around her.

* 'Camping du Lac' - from Belgium and France and Directed and starring Eleonore Saintagnan. Following her car breakdown in the middle of France, Eleonore has to make a stop at the mostly abandoned campsite with mobile homes and a view of a lovely lake. During her stay encounters interesting characters and searches for the mysterious lake monster.

For the full details of the other awards being presented; the remaining documentary, feature and short film strands being showcased; and a whole bunch of other good stuff, you can go the official website at : https://corkfilmfest.org/

So turning the attention then back to this weeks six new movies gracing a big screen Odeon close to home, we kick off with an offering from a second time Director about a young Oxford University student who becomes infatuated with his aristocratic schoolmate and his wealthy but eccentric family. This is followed by a prelude to a hugely popular and successful film franchise that sees a young Coriolanus Snow mentoring and developing feelings for the female District 12 tribute during the 10th fight to the death for the teenage tributes from each of the twelve Districts. Next up we have slasher horror film that following a Black Friday riot which ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer goes on a murderous rampage in Plymouth, Massachusetts - the birthplace of the infamous holiday. Then we turn to a French full-bodied RomCom that tells the story of a fifty year old divorced bear-with-a-sorehead who runs a small rural wine shop, and despite numerous obstacles, finds true love in unexpected quarters thanks to a woman with her own set of issues. Moving on we have a Danish/Swedish documentary in which the filmmakers examine both humanity's obsession with the camera's image and its social consequences, from the first camera to the 45 billion existing worldwide today; before closing out the week with an Aussie doco that takes us into the world of this prominent Australian artist and peels back the layers of his intimate journey.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'SALTBURN' (Rated MA15+) - is a psychological thriller drama film Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Emerald Fennel in her second feature film outing following the highly acclaimed 'Promising Young Woman' in 2020 which reaped 116 award wins and another 193 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Telluride Film Festival in late August and is set for release in the US, the UK and here in Australia from this week having so far generated mostly favourable reviews. 

Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family's sprawling estate, for a Summer never to be forgotten. Also starring Rosamund Pike as Elsbeth Catton and Richard E. Grant as Sir James Catton - Felix's mother and father respectively, and Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan and Paul Thys. 

'THE HUNGER GAMES : THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES' (Rated M) - this American dystopian science fiction action film Directed by Francis Lawrence, is based on the 2020 novel 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' by Suzanne Collins, serves as a prequel to 2012 film 'The Hunger Games' and is the fifth instalment in 'The Hunger Games' film series. Francis Lawrence Directed the last three films in the franchise with 'Catching Fire' in 2013 and 'Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2' in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Those first four films in the series grossed close to US$3B at the global Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$493M making this eventual prequel a no brainer. Set 64 years before the events of the first film, we here follow the events that eventually lead a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blythe) on the path to becoming the tyrannical leader of Panem (played by Donald Sutherland in the original films), including his relationship with the Hunger Games tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) from the impoverished District 12 during the year of the 10th Hunger Games. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and political savvy, they race against time to ultimately reveal who's a songbird and who's a snake. Also starring Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman and Viola Davis, the film is released in the US this week also, having cost US$100M to produce.

'THANKSGIVING' (Rated R18+) - is an American slasher horror film Directed by Eli Roth, and based on a story and the mock trailer that Roth created for the 'Grindhouse' film Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino in 2007. Roth who is no stranger to the genre also Directed such other features including his debut with 'Cabin Fever' in 2002 then 'Hostel' and 'Hostel : Part II' in 2005 and 2007 respectively, 'Knock Knock' in 2015, 'Death Wish' in 2018, and the documentary 'Fin' in 2021. Here then, after a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious serial killer, known only as 'John Carver', comes to Plymouth, Massachusetts, with the intention of creating a Thanksgiving carving board out of the town's inhabitants. The films stars Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim and Gina Gershon and is released in the US this week too.

'LA DEGUSTATION' (Rated M) - aka 'The Tasting' is a French comedy romantic drama film Written and Directed by Ivan Calberac whose previous feature film making credits take in his debut in 2002 with 'Irene', then 'Cheating Love' in 2006, 'Alternate Weeks (and Half the Vacation)' in 2009, 'The Student and Mr. Henri' in 2015 and 'Venice is not in Italy' in 2019. Jacques Dennemont (Bernard Campen) is divorced and runs a small wine shop, on the verge of bankruptcy. Hortense Le Bris (Isabelle Carre), determined not to end up single and an old maid walks into his store one day and decides to sign up for a tastings workshop. This film was released in its native France at the end of August 2022, and only now does it get a release in Australia having so far grossed US$2.2M at the Box Office. 

'FANTASTIC MACHINE' (Rated M) - is a Danish and Swedish documentary film Written, Produced and Directed by Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck that charts the history of the first camera to forty-five billion (and counting) cameras worldwide today. Here the film makers explore, explain and expose how our unchecked obsession with image has grown to change our human behaviour. From Camera Obscura and the Lumieres Brothers all the way to Youtube and the world of social media, the film chronicles how we went from capturing the image of a backyard to a multi-billion- euro content industry in just 200 years. After doing the rounds across the worldwide festivals circuit and collecting three award wins (including Berlin and Sundance) plus another eight nominations, the films goes on limited release here in Australia this week. 

'BROMLEY : LIGHT AFTER DARK' (Rated M) - this Australian documentary film is Directed by Sean McDonald in his Directorial debut. David Bromley found that art appeased the voices in his head and helped him find beauty in the world. So he made the life-changing decision to commit his whole being to something meaningful. This feature doco takes us into the world of this prominent Australian artist. With intimate access, we peel away the layers of anxiety, phobias and suicide survival, whilst embracing the humour, energy, and love that is ever-present in the Bromley world. The Director has here documented David and his wife Yuge for over five years, leading to this incredibly intimate and unique documentary on one of Australia’s most prolific and iconic artists.

With six new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-