Let the 74th annual Hunger Games begin…

Another listy post, but this time on the Hunger Games movie. I went to the midnight showing in my local cinema on Thursday night, and I swear to Josh (Anyone see what I did there?), it was Finnickin awesome! (And again!) I had my tickets booked over a month in advance, and I’ve been counting down since Christmas, so if I say so myself, I’m a superfan. #Fangirlmoment. (Hashtags are my new thing)

It wasn’t the book, it was the film. I don’t understand people who go to see an adaption, and complain about how it wasn’t exactly the same as the book. It’s not the book, it’s the movie. It’s going to be different, of that there can be no doubt. But this movie was brilliant. It was Cinnasational, Glimmerous, Clovely, and any other puns you care to imagine.

So here’s what I though of it:

Fodder for angry whisper conversations in the cinema (What they left out)

    • There was no 3 days of Katniss dehydration. She found water straight away!
    • Marvel got shot in the neck and drowned in his own blood, not in the chest!
    • The wolf mutts at the end were not wolf mutts. They were just large dogs. They weren’t tribute like in the slightest!
    • Madge was completely cut out! Katniss gets the Mockingjay pin at the Hob. (But that actually worked very well)
    • Plutarch did not fall in the punch. I was devastated!
    • The cornucopia was a disgrace. It was silver. Silver?! It was meant to be gold!
    • Clove’s death was all wrong. There was no rock, she got smashed against a wall!
    • Rue found Katniss! It’s meant to be the other way around!
    • Cato didn’t kill Thresh in the movie! Thresh gets killed by Mutts!
    • The cave scene was shortened to 1 night. It was 3 days in the books!
    • The D8 girl died instantly! Peeta was meant to go back and kill her! That’s a major reason for Katniss not trusting him!
    • There was no lake in the movie. No Lake!
    • Buttercup was a disgrace! Disgrace! She was black and white! Black and white!?
    • The “pyramid” of supplies was only 5 foot high!
    • There was no lamb stew. No lamb stew!?
    • There was no bread from D11!
    • Peeta’s leg healed straight away. There was no blood poisoning etc…
    • There was no recap of the games after.
    • There was no victory chair.
    • There was only one crown, and it DIDN’T split in half!
    • There was no cookies from Mr Mellark.
    • There was no Lavinia scene or explanation.
    • Not one Avox was introduced or explained.

Things people who only see the movie will be woefully ignorant about…

  • Peeta only has one leg.
  • Who Madge is.
  • There is no Cato+Glimmer.
  • The cornucopia is gold.
  • D4 is a career district.
  • The true horror of the mutts.
  • Why the bread scene has significance.

Quotes they left out (This was devastating!)

  • “Here to finish me off sweetheart?”
  • “If you put enough pressure on coal, it turns into pearls!”
  • “Yeah that’s real funny. Only not to us”
  • “Up up up, it’s going to be a big big big day!”
  • “Did I actually get a pair of fighters this year?”
  • “Want to blow lover boy one last kiss?”

Things I did whilst watching the Hunger Games…

  •  Saluted at Rue’s death and at the reaping. (Me and my friend Ashling were the only ones in the cinema who did. As if we cared).
  •  Squeaked at the Lionsgate logo.
  •   Mouthed along to all the bits from every trailer.
  •   Got madly excited when CHCF came on-screen.
  •   Refused to go to the toilet, despite needing it the whole way through!
  •  Laughed at bits that weren’t funny *cough*the beard*cough*
  •   Wore my mockingjay pin, and Girl On Fire t-shirt.
  •  Screamed at the fire bit and the mutts.
  •  Shouted at people who said “omg the dog bit was scary”. THEY’RE NOT DOGS OK?!
  •  Felt sad because it’s 607 days until Catching Fire. *sob*
  •  Said “simply MARVELous” every time Marvel came on-screen.
  • Sighed at my non THG friend who cried at Glimmer’s death because “She was so pretty!” (It was disgraceful!)
  • Said “Omigosh it’s ….” whenever a character came on-screen for the first time.

Things they added in that really worked…

  • Seneca Crane’s beard. ‘Nuf said
  • The riots in D11.
  • Effie and Haymitch’s awesome one liners.
  • The Gamemaker scenes.
  • The control room.
  • Seneca Crane and President Snow’s chats in the rose garden. (Also many funny one liners)
  • Caesar Flickerman’s show theme song and opening.
  • The hallucination scene.
  •  CHCF (I’m not going to say what that stands for). He’s the D4 tribute, with possibly the most awesome hair ever. (He’s a 12-year-old with an afro. ‘Nuf said)

Absolutely Marvelous (har har har) one liners…

  • “That is mahogany!” ~ Effie Trinket.
  • “They can’t have desert. You guys can!” ~ Effie Trinket.
  • “Just accept  your imminent death” ~Haymitch Abernathy.
  •  “She shot an arrow at your head. No, she shot an arrow at a pig! A pig that was beside your head.” ~President Snow and Seneca Crane.
  • “Everybody likes an underdog. I don’t” ~ Seneca Crane and President Snow.
  • “MANNERS!” ~ Effie Trinket.

The characters…

  • Jenifer Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen.
  • Josh Hutcherson was Peeta for the first half of the movie, but then not so much.
  • Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson were the perfect actors for Effie and Haymitch.
  • Willow Shields is Prim.
  • Amadla Stenberg is Rue.
  • Liam Hemsworth is not Gale. I’m sorry, but it’s true.
  • All the tributes were perfect. Especially Alexander Ludwig as Cato.
  • I originally thought Isabelle Furham was a bit young to play Clove, but I was wrong. Very wrong. She’s perfect!

Ok, so that’s my Hunger Games reaction! I realise it was suitable fangirly, but that’s how it happened.

So until next time, just remember:

The Hunger Games is absolutely amazing, and Jazz hands make everything better!

Turning Fanatic…

I am officially a hypocrite. Well, kind of…

Why am I a hypocrite?

Well my mocks are finished (Whoop!) and I am officially in reading mode. On Friday night, I read the latest Timeriders book, “Gates of Rome”, by Alex Scarrow, and I started rereading (for the third time) the first Hunger Games book, by Suzanne Collins. Yesterday, I finished “The Hunger Games”, and also read “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay”, the second and third Hunger games books, also by Suzanne Collins. Today, I started reading Department 19, by Will Hill.

So why is this hypocritical?

 Because I am now vaguely obsessed with the Hunger Games.

As many of you probably know, The Hunger Games movie, is coming out on the 23rd of March. I have a countdown calendar made. This morning, I wasted the end of my Christmas Amazon vouchers, ordering the companion guides to the series. I spent the morning on YouTube, watching the trailers, and interviews with the cast. I even (don’t judge me!) considered applying for a part in the second movie, which led to looking up casting directors and headshots. Then I came to my senses.

This is really worrying to me, as in a previous post, I slated my friend for being obsessed with one of the actors in the film. While I’m not quite obsessed with any of the cast yet, at this rate, it can’t be long.

But it’s not that I’m obsessed in a bad way. I just want to make sure that the films do justice to the books. It would kill me, and probably many others, of the films were a let down, or didn’t live up to the books, or the hype. Because there is a lot of hype.

In fact, it would be almost impossible for them to be as good as everyone’s saying they will be. It will probably turn out to be like the Harry Potter movies, no matter how good they turn out to be, everyone will complain anyway, and say they’re an insult to the books.

What I’m saying is, I don’t want the books to be tainted, because of a bad movie. I don’t want to be reading the books, and suddenly start imagining the actors/actresses. I want the books to be my experience, to be my images, because the books belong to the readers. To the reader’s imagination. It’s for the readers to decide what the books look like, what the characters look like, and that shouldn’t be taken away.

For instance, my favourite character in the books, is Johanna Mason. She’s not in the first movie (I think), well she wasn’t in the first book, just mentioned. But she is in the second and third. And I swear, if whoever plays her in the movies, doesn’t do her justice, I will write a strongly worded post about it, and maybe write a letter. Yes that’s right, I’ll be that angry!

So I’m saying this now, if I ever write a bestseller, that earns me millions of millions of euros, there probably won’t be a movie. I’m sorry, but it’s my decision. If (when) I am actually in this situation, I can guarantee this post will come back to haunt me. Because I will be in this situation. I will. I will…

So I’m going to take a lie down now, and wait for this fit of fanaticalniss (spell check tells me that’s not a word, but I’m using it anyway) to wear off.

So until next time just remember:

I am officially a hypocrite, and Jazz hands make everything better.