Just got home after a weekend away ending with seeing Hunger Games. I'm horrible on films from favorite movies - VERY nitpicky and VERY hard on them - and I * LOVED* it. Sure, there were things I wish had been made more - but it was already almost 2.5 hrs long. I wish the ending hadn't been so soft, but it was setting up for #2.
I'm glad they added Buttercup, even if they cast her wrong, it was such a sweet touch. . I think leaving Madge out was okay - it helped create more of a bond between Kat and Prim in this movie for moviegoers who didn't read the book - Madge can easily be written in later. I'm glad Snow was more prominent and setting him up for the evil, evil man that he. I missed Haymitch's original introduction to the story line, but still thought Woody did an AWESOME job.
I kept thinking people in the Capital would've had better teeth and to see the old woman who showed up a couple of times to be distracting because I envisioned them all so fixed up with plastic surgery that no one would look old and wrinkly.
I hurt more for the deaths because they were more intense and visual. The curly hair boy in the Cornucopia who died broke my heart....I got all teary eyed for the fifth time. Watching how easily Cato killed the boy who was watching over the stash....shocked me. I think not giving backstory on the mutts was actually for the non-book readers because while it made it more shocking for the characters, it didn't move the story forward - it was just another evil kink thrown into the mix by the game people.
For the first time, that bowl of berries made me feel sorry for a Capital character. He seemed to be wanting to move the games more towards the participants, but was left to kill himself by Snow because Snow is the epitome of evil. The whole process is evil and vile, but Snow is feeding off the vileness..and making it all worse. (Can you tell I really hate Snow?)
I wish more of the time between Gail & Kat had been shown, but I get why they had to remove so much of the history in an already really long movie. I loved the opening sequence of Kat hunting, though. I did miss the internal conflicts for Kat about Peeta. I was okay with the Avoxes not being talked about because, again, not integral to the story and they had to cut some stuff out. But I actually did like how they flashbacks to the bakery told more and more each time, and you watched Kat react more strongly to the memory each time.
While Jennifer Lawrence doesn't look like she can act - man - and she has more than one emotion!!! Watching her with Cinna (and *sigh* I have a bigger crush on Lennie Kravitz now)...just before she goes up in the tube, shaking in utter fright. It was SO good. And yeah - seeing her react to her Mom. brilliant.
So much of the movie was just like what was in my head (except Peeta). I absolutely loved it. Sure, there are things I wish could be different for me, and I'm so glad that I'd read the book before seeing it, but I still loved it. On FB I said, for the second time in recent history, the movie was as good as the book (but a little different). The Help was the other one.
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