My Review: The Hunger Games (9/10)

"We wish you Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor. "

The Hunger Games have begun and the odds are definitely in director Gary Ross`s favor as he has managed to adapt Suzanne Collins`s bestselling novel really well to the big screen. Ross has delivered a highly entertaining post apocalyptic, sci-fi, action, romantic thriller. Most fans will be satisfied with this film because it is truly entertaining and has a little bit of everything for those people who are looking for action, or for those who are more interested in the romantic story, and so on. It also has a great cast and the lead performance from Jennifer Lawrence is just brilliant. She captures the ideal female heroine who we all want to root for. She is truly the girl on fire. It comes as no surprise since Lawrence blew us all away with her performance in a small independent film called Winter`s Bone. She has already turned into a true star and proves she can have a lead role in what looks to be a very successful trilogy. The rest of the cast is also pretty interesting as you have great actors like Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Toby Jones, and Donald Sutherland, along with young talented actors like Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, and Alexander Ludwig. They`ve really done justice to the characters that were created by Collins, and I can`t forget to mention Lenny Kravitz who was also excellent as Cinna. As good as all these actors were, Jennifer Lawrence was above par and she really delivered the story and brought a lot of heart to her character. A great deal of the success this movie is having can be owed to her remarkable performance as Katniss.

Suzanne Collins has created a very creative new futuristic world with some common elements from the past. The United States doesn`t exist as a country anymore, but it is divided into twelve districts which are all controlled by the Capitol. The name of the country is Panem, and the further away the districts are from the Capitol the poorer its people. The wealthiest families live in the Capitol and in order to control the districts and avoid another uprising they have created the Hunger Games, which consists of selecting two teenagers (one male and another female) from each district and have the 24 teens face off one another until only one survivor remains. They force the entire nation to watch these games and it has become a popular sporting event, kind of like the Roman Empire did with the gladiators, except that the arena is much bigger as they have the wilderness to hide in. This serves as a reminder of what happens when the districts rebel against their capitol and at the same time it keeps the districts fighting amongst themselves so they won`t form any alliances to try to begin a revolution. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in the 12^th District along with her little sister and mother. She is a hunter and is excellent with the arch. Her best friend is Gale (Liam Hemsworth). When the elections for the 74^th Hunger Games take place, Katniss`s younger sister is selected, but she takes her place instead as a tribute. The other member selected from the 12^th District is Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who is very strong and has a secret crush on Katniss. Together they must face the rest of the tributes with the help of their trainer, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the sole Hunger Game winner from their district in its 74 year history. The favorites are always the tributes from the first two districts because they have been raised all their lives to be prepared for these games. Cato (Alexander Ludwig) from the 1^st District and who is sadistic in nature is their biggest threat.

Once the Hunger Games begin the audience is immediately submersed into the story and Katniss`s struggle for survivor. The story is really well told and there are plenty of thrills and suspense for the audience to enjoy. The two and a half hour long movie has such a quick pace that by the end it will seem like you were only in there for an hour. The games are really that interesting and have you at the edge of your seat for almost the entire movie. I really enjoyed the pacing of this film along with the performances. It is hard to get a lot of character development with a movie that has so many things going on and that focuses almost entirely on Katniss, but we really do grow to care for several of these characters that have to face off each other. Of course there is no time to really know all 24 of them, because the story centers on Katniss and Peeta. There is sort of a love triangle going on, but the film really doesn’t delve in too deep with it. We will probably have more of that in the upcoming sequels, but most of the scenes involving Katniss don’t have to be spelled out for us. She delivers such a great performance that we can hear what she`s saying without ever having to say anything. We can read what she`s saying through her eyes alone. When I heard about the story I thought this was going to be a violent film, but it really doesn’t focus on the violence as much as it does on surviving. I really enjoyed every second of this film and it is my favorite film of the year so far.

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My Review: Precious (8/10)

¨Some folks has a lot of things around them that shines for other peoples. I think that maybe some of them was in tunnels. And in that tunnel, the only light they had, was inside of them. And then long after they escape that tunnel, they still be shining for everybody else. ¨

(8/10) Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (yes that is the original title of the film, but we will just abbreviate it to Precious) is a very powerful movie that serves as a social critique on child abuse. This is a very real and raw movie that touches very difficult subject matters that most Hollywood producers would like to stay away from. It shows us another side of life that sometimes we are indifferent towards: those neglected and abused children that only receive hate and abuse from the people that are supposed to care the most for them. The images are really hard to watch and the language is very dirty because the movie deals with rape and verbal abuse. Director and producer, Lee Daniels, recognized he had a very rough childhood himself and received a lot of abuse from his father, so this movie was very personal for him and that is what perhaps gives this a more realistic take on the film. Lee Daniels had already produced other challenging movies such as Monster´s Ball and The Woodsman which both received critical acclaim, although his directorial debut with Shadowboxer didn`t meet the same praise. Geoffrey Fletcher adapted the screenplay after having some success with several short films like the Magic Marker. I really enjoyed this film and it truly opened my eyes on the subject matter. Sometimes we tend to ignore these issues and look the other way so many of the scenes in the movie were really difficult to watch.

The movie begins by introducing us to sixteen year old Precious (played by the newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) who daydreams in school about becoming a famous star and having a hot boyfriend, but the truth of the matter is that she is a very shy, quiet, and overweight girl who sits in the back of the classroom and keeps to herself. She doesn´t know how to read or write, but she is actually quite good at math. The kids at school and in the neighborhood make fun of her and she is constantly teased. When Precious gets home things don`t get better for her since her father sexually abuses her, and her mother Mary (played by Mo`Nique) verbally abuses her as well. Precious already has a two year old daughter named Mongol (short for Mongolic because she has Down syndrome) as a product from the sexual abuse she receives from her father and is pregnant with her second child. Precious has only experienced hurt and pain during her entire life due to the abuse, but someone from school takes an interest for her and convinces her to go to a special school because she shows progress in math. Precious decides to go against her mother`s will. Mary wants her daughter to stay in school for the sole purpose of receiving financial aid since that is her only income because she is too lazy to go find a job. In the meantime at her new school Precious meets Ms. Rain (played by the beautiful Paula Patton (from Mirrors and Déjà Vu) who takes a special interest in her and finally begins to receive something she has never received before, someone that cares for her. One step at a time, Precious begins to learn how to read and write and at the same time finds strength to face her mother.

At first, I found the first few scenes very difficult to watch and didn`t think I would enjoy the movie, but as the movie progressed I really was captivated by the story. I think that by the time Precious gets to the new school and is introduced to her classmates the movie picks up because it mixes humor with drama and it helped the movie tone down a little. Before that point the movie just made you feel depressed and bad for what Precious had to go through. This was Sidibe`s first film and she was great. Her Oscar nomination for best actress was well deserved although I don`t think she will win it. The real star of this film is Mo`Nique, who is absolutely perfect in her role as Mary. She was a true villain every time she was on screen because you really feared for Precious`s life when she was alone with her. Her nomination for best supporting actress was well deserved as well and she is the favorite to win it. Mariah Carey also had a small role as the social worker handling Precious`s case and she also nailed her role. The entire cast was really good and even Lenny Kravitz was believable in his role as a male nurse. What I liked the most about this film is that it didn`t fully rely on the abuse, but it also showed another side of humanity. Ms. Rain really takes an interest in Precious`s life and shows her that there is some good in this world. This might not be a film for everyone, but I absolutely recommend it. I certainly will not complain about my life after seeing everything that Precious had to go through. This film is also nominated for best picture and it probably has an outside chance as Avatar or The Hurt Locker are the heavy favorites. Director Lee Daniels is the first African American director to have his or her film nominated for best picture.