It’s like we’ve exhaustively covered Suzanne Collins in this breathless, comprehensive way. Actually, it’s embarrassing, since we’re mostly (mostly) into hardcore literary fiction. Here’s the Snotty Literati coverage:
The Hunger Games book
The Hunger Games movie
Catching Fire book and movie – combined!
Mockingjay book
We figure you’ve got things to do other than read our relentless coverage; plus, we’re trying to cram in some last minute 2014 reading. Therefore, we’re merely offering you this list:
Top Ten Random Things We Would Like To Draw Your Attention To About Part One (Damn It) Of Mockingjay:
1. Lara could not remember one thing about Mockingjay when sitting down for the movie. Not a single thing. Wait. There’s a girl named Katniss begrudgingly leading the revolution to overthrow The Capitol and there’s a love triangle. It’s all coming back to her in the opening credits.
2. Well, all of this talk about Team Peeta and Team Gale fails to take into account that the real burst of creative dynamism on the silver screen—besides the late and brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman—is crazy Woody Harrelson playing Haymitch. Though not of your typical boy-toy variety (which totally involves robbing the ubiquitous cradle in our case), Harrelson makes every scene he’s in sizzle with energy. Jennifer confesses that she’d probably be afraid to meet him in a dark alley. But he’s amazing. In truth, the entire cast—from Jennifer Lawrence to Stanley Tucci—is noticeably superb.
3. Despite having a little anxiety over Katniss breaking out into song during the film (would this turn into Rent?), Lawrence pulls it off. And the song is pretty good!
4. No one can rock a frock made of thick gray canvas the way Effie can. God bless Effie!
5. The Part One thing means lack of resolution, a slow—maybe more complex—development of plot (albeit a simple plot), and minimal Peeta. But more Philip Seymour Hoffman than anticipated! The film seemed a little too conventional, a little simplistic. Not very risky. Having read the book, maybe it’s unfair to call it predictable, but it needed the spark, the complexity. Julianne Moore might be key to this, but you won’t see it here.
6. We don’t really know why there’s a Part One and Part Two. The Mockingjay installment was one book, not two. Was it Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s untimely death? We sure do miss him and want people to see his other, better movies like The Savages, Capote, Doubt, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Almost Famous. Anyway, back to Mockingjay in two parts. Is it Hollywood greed? Inability for the masses to separate from Katniss and the boys? All, some, or none of those reasons? Who knows? Who really cares? We all want to see Part Two, even though Lara didn’t remember a thing about the book.
7. Here’s the thing. We’re into these movies because we read the books. In fact, we are readers first, and moviegoers second. We don’t know what it would be like to see the movies apart from the literary experience—but the films have done very well in bringing to life the landscape and visuals of the books. They actually seem to get it right, and that’s generally rare.
8. We took our family with us. Lara’s son. Jennifer’s mother.
9. Neither of us read or saw Divergent, and there are no plans to do so in the future.
10. We don’t really have 10 things; but who wants a Top 9 list? No one, that’s who.
Next Up!
We go back to book reviewing with the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction, Deployment by Phil Klay.
See you in the New Year!