The Hunger Games (2012) Review

Director: Gary Ross
Writers: Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Drama


2.5 Cookies

I wish that The Hunger Games was a movie that it could never possibly be. In my dreams, it would be just as dark, gritty, and disturbing as the fantastic, wildly popular book of the same name, but because studio movies are all about making money, that could not happen. The studio knows what it's doing - The Hunger Games raked in $155 million in its opening weekend, which makes it the third most successful opening weekend of all time - but all the money comes at a price. The Hunger Games could have been an absolute classic - instead it's overwhelmingly ordinary.

A word I keep hearing to describe the film, and I would have to agree with the adjective, is "fun." Yes, The Hunger Games is fun but that is exactly the problem. A movie about kids killing kids should not be fun. A movie about kids killing kids should make the audience leave the theater feeling like their hearts have been ripped out. Instead the audience leaves with a smile, probably discussing the  "hotness"  of the stars or how pretty the costumes were. In her novel, Suzanne Collins was able to create a horrible sense of despair and fear and develop a story filled with angst and dread. Director Gary Ross,  on no fault of his own besides the fact that he's a hack, fails to convey any of the tones that made Collins' books so powerful. If the book had an MPAA rating, it would be a hard R, which the movie should have been. Instead, the movie is Disney Channel.

Maybe the most disturbing thing about the violence in the movie, or lack thereof, is that by not showing it, it makes it acceptable. By the end of the movie over 20 kids are killed, but the audience won't even care. To ensure maximum profit, The Hunger Games had to be PG-13, but by softening the violence, the whole message of the story is lost.

Now,  Jennifer Lawrence proves that she is a flat out movie star as Katniss and her performance is the best thing about the movie but that is not enough to overcome the poor performance of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. Unfortunately, Hutcherson is not able to carry the weight of such an important role. Liam Hemsworth has about seven minutes of screen time so his performance can barely be judged. Most of the other support is good, but the roles of many characters are drastically cut from what they were in the book. While the movie stays mostly faithful  the novel, small details and minor characters are forgotten, and those details are precisely what made the book so good.

Also, the overall pacing of the film is very weak, there is no character development, and the editing is terrible. The best editing is editing that you can't even notice, but at some points The Hunger Games has more unnecessary cuts than a fast paced music video. I don't know why it's edited the way it is, but I was distracted by it from very early on.

While the movie is entertaining and some of my negativity comes from the incredible high expectations I had,  I  still can't help but think of all the missed opportunities that Ross had to make this a truly special film. I guess we'll have to wait for the sequel and settle on "just ok" for now. You will be entertained though, so if that's all you're looking for, this is probably a safe bet.

Project X, Friends with Kids, Detachment

Project X - 1.5 cookies


It's exactly what you would expect it to be from the trailer: occasionally hilarious, more often than not really stupid. Shot in the same shaky cam style as The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, or the recent Chronicle, Project X is the first comedy to use the hand held camera technique. I do not like it. I gave it a pass in Chronicle because the story and acting was  good enough that the filming did not detract from the movie, but in X, the shaky camera just gives you a head ache.  Plus, the characters are basically ripped straight from the pages of Superbad, except they're not even half as interesting or funny. It looks like the movie was way more fun to make, than it is to watch. Project X does deliver laughs and lets you imagine what it would be like to have a party as insane as the one in the movie, but it's mostly just repetitive and forgettable.

Friends with Kids - 2 cookies


Writer, director, and star Jennifer Westfeldt (Jon Hamm's girlfriend of 10 years), does a decent job writing, a less decent job directing, and even worse job acting, in her new comedy Friends with Kids. She has zero screen presence and her face barely moves, that it's no wonder her first movie in six years is one that she had to write and direct herself. Her performance oozes of television quality, where she has mainly worked throughout her career, and it's only the very talented supporting cast and a few touching scenes that actually makes Friends with Kids a better than bad movie. Adam Scott gets a shot at his first leading man role after a career of support, and he does a pretty solid job coming off as an arrogant jerk, which is what he was aiming for I think. The supporting roles are played by a bunch of people from Bridesmaids, including Jon Hamm himself, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'dowd, and a vastly underused Kristen Wiig. Also, Megan Fox shows up giving a surprisingly good performance, as well as Edward Burns. The end result of Westfeldt's work is a very good effort, that just misses the strike zone, but it's worth a look when it comes out on DVD.

Detachment - 2.5 cookies


Adrien Brody gives the best performance of the year so far (which isn't really saying much, but it's something) in this very dark indie-drama about America's public school system. There are some gripping scenes and the message of the film is strong and painful to absorb, but unfortunately director Tony Kaye's pretentiousness gets in the way of this movie being great. It has to settle on being almost good.  It is very interesting though, and worth a viewing, as it is in theaters now but also available on Video On Demand.

Wanderlust (2012) Review

Director: David Wain
Writer: David Wain and Ken Marino
Genre: Comedy

2.5 cookies

At a time of the year when good comedies are few and far between, Wanderlust is good enough to warrant a trip to the theater. While it's not as good as David Wain's last film, 2008's Role Models, Wanderlust is still extremely hilarious at times and surprisingly touching as well.

Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play recently unemployed New Yorkers who end up living on a small hippy commune in Georgia. While at the commune they make new friends, go through relationship troubles, and eventually learn valuable lessons.

The reason the movie works is the excellent supporting cast featuring a fantastic Justin Theroux, Malin Ackerman, Joe Lo Truglio, and many others. And the fact that Paul Rudd is an absolute comic genius! Jennifer Aniston is pretty awful as an actress, but Rudd completely makes up for it as every line he delivers and facial expression he makes is like a Mike Tyson sucker punch to the funny bone.

One scene where Rudd talks to himself in a mirror is one of the funniest scenes in the last few years and worth the price of admission alone.

It's not the most memorable of the Apatow productions, but it's still a cut above any other comedy in theaters right now.

Oscar Predictions!

Best Picture - The Artist

The Artist has been the front runner for months now and I don't see any reason why that would change.

Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Of the 85 films that have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, 62 of those have also won Best Director. I don't see any reason to go against the odds on this one. Though, if Hazanavicius doesn't win, Martin Scorsese will surely end up with the gold for Hugo.

Best Actor - Jean Dujardin - The Artist

This one is close between Dujardin and George Clooney of The Descendants, but my gut is telling me The Artist is going to rake up the three biggies this year. 

Best Actress - Viola Davis - The Help

Great performances in not so great movies seems to be the theme of the Best Actress category this year. Viola Davis gives a performance of great emotional depths in a movie that doesn't live up to her acting, but is still perfect Oscar bait. I'd be shocked if Davis doesn't win. 

Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer - Beginners

This is the lockiest lock in this years Academy Awards. Plummer will finally win his first Oscar at the age of 82.

Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer - The Help

I personally didn't love this performance, but everyone else seems to. She's almost as much a lock as Plummer is for his award. 

Original Screenplay - Midnight in Paris

Woody should and will finally win his first Oscar since 1987 for writing Hannah and Her Sisters. Does he care? No. Will he be at the show? I wouldn't bet on it. 

Adapted Screenplay - The Descendants

I hate using the term "overrated" to describe films, but that is exactly what The Descendants is. It will win this award though, even though Moneyball should. 

Foreign Language Film - A Separation

Animated Feature - Rango

Animated Short - The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Editing - The Artist

Cinematography - The Tree of Life

Art Direction - Hugo

Costume Design - The Artist

Makeup - The Iron Lady

Original Score - The Artist

Original Song - "Man or Muppet" - The Muppets

Visual Effects - Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Sound Mixing - Hugo

Sound Editing - Hugo

Documentary Feature - Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Documentary Short - Incident in New Baghdad

Live Action Short - Raju

Chronicle (2012) and This Means War (2012)

Chronicle - 3 cookies
A pretty entertaining entry into the "found footage" genre that is frankly getting a little warn out. Chronicle works because of its truly spectacular special effects, a good story, fine performances from an unknown cast, and a running time, that at 83 minutes, doesn't over stay its welcome.

This Means War - 2 cookies
I thought I was going to absolutely hate this movie, and I didn't, so that's a plus. It's actually a pretty funny  buddy comedy with good leading performances by Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. Reese Witherspoon does the best she can do with her shallow role, but all she really has to do is look hot and stand around. There are a few laugh out loud sequences, including a hilarious paint ball scene. Unfortunately, the director McG (stupid name, stupid director) doesn't seem to know how to make an actual film and the final product feels like a two hour music video with good looking movie stars.

Haywire (2012) Review

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Lem Dobbs
Genre: Action


1.5 Cookies

                     The main problem with Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is that there isn’t enough of a story to excuse the lack of action. Also, when there isn’t fighting going on, all you want is for the characters to stop talking and start punching. Soderbergh, who has directed such films as Traffic, Ocean’s 11, and Contagion is a really interesting, occasionally brilliant visual director but with Haywire I felt like he was trying way too hard to be cool, and it makes him look like a fool.

            The incoherent and unnecessarily confusing story deals with a very tough female spy or something named Mallory and her quest to get revenge on Ewan McGregor after he double crosses her and tries to have her killed. Gina Carano, who is an actual Mixed Martial Arts fighter, plays Mallory and this makes sense because she’s good at fighting, but not so good at acting. When she’s beating up Channing Tatum or random police officers, it’s fun to watch but when she has to deliver a line of dialogue instead of a kick, it’s cringe worthy. The plot unfolds in a way that you don’t really know what’s going on until the end, and in this case that is not a good thing. Ewan McGregor, who I usually like, was simply annoying in Haywire, along with most of the other cast members like Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas. It’s hard to act well when you don’t have a good script to work with, I guess.

            There was one sequence that did stand out though, and raises the movie from a 1 cookie rating to a 1.5 cookie rating alone. Michael Fassbender, who I think ranks just a notch below Ryan Gosling on the coolest actors list, has an awesome fight scene with Carano that is so good I wish it was in a better movie so I would want to watch it again. Unfortunately, Fassbender only has about 10 minutes of screen time and the other 80 minutes are dull and repetitive and disorderly. If someone makes a cut of Haywire that edits out everything but the fight scenes, it might make a cool 20 minute short, but the version is theaters now is definitely not worth the price of admission, or the time, or the gas money to get to the theater.