Movie Review: Mockingjay

*SPOILERS FOR THE HUNGER GAMES SERIES IN GENERAL*

I was a bit hesitant to see this movie because I really didn't like Mockingjay... or the entire Hunger Games series for that matter.  I felt it was overrated (eh, I still think this...) and at the end, it ran out of steam.  Not to mention, it was devoured by the love triangle, and there were so many unnecessary deaths.  (I have a more detailed rant on the Hunger Games here.)

But this movie BLEW me away.

I think this was the first time where I thought the YA movie was so much better than the YA book. The movie was able to bring back the heart of the story: standing up for what you believe in (to say it in a very broad manner...).  I felt the book (s) lost that message, but this movie totally and completely brought it back.

As for the actors... I'm not a huge fan of Jennifer Lawrence, but she was AMAZING as Katniss in this movie. She gave life to Katniss.   In the previous movies, I didn't think she was anything incredible, but she nailed Katniss in this one. Josh Hutcherson wasn't really on screen most of the time, but when he was, he was pretty awesome as well; I noticed Liam Hemsworth improved a LOT.  Apart from the main ones, the only other noteworthy actor I thought was Donald Sutherland, the evil President Snow. DANG. He KILLED it (pun totally intended).

Watching the movie, I realized how much the book(s) suffered because of Katniss' limited point of view.  I personally love and prefer first person POV.  I have nothing against third person point of view, but it's just a random personal preference.  (Anyways, digressing...) Because of her first POV,  we didn't really get details about the rebellions and the other movements.  There would be one sentence descriptions telling us that there had been a rebellion- but that's if we got lucky.  Most of the time, I was lost swirling through Katniss' scattered thoughts and the terrible love triangle. But in the movie, it included scenes from the actual rebellions and also a lot of the behind the scenes action that Katniss in the book couldn't have possibly seen.  It gave me chills to watch those scenes unfold and to see the passion of these people fighting for justice.

Lastly, there was NO focus on the love triangle.  If there was even the slightest bit of focus, it would mostly be about her relationship with Gale as a friend.  Actually, anything that had to do with relationships in the movie was nothing of the romantic sort (well... except for literally ONE scene).  I loved how the movie explored and emphasized her relationship with the people she was standing for.  This was what the books had lost- and this was what the movie brought back.

I totally recommend people to see the movie.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the second part keeps the messages and heart of the first one. All in all, this one movie (well, 2 part-movie) was able to say what three books couldn't.

Thanks for reading!
 :)

Movie Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Hey guys!

I've never done a movie review before- actually this isn't really a review but more of my general thoughts on the movie ^.^- but I've seen ones for Divergent pop up (I still haven't seen that movie arggggh), so I've decided to try one out. :D

SMALL SPOILERS- nothing too detailed about the movie, and I do reference the book. :D

I'm going to be frank and say that compared to the book, the movie was lackluster.  I'm sorry, but that's just how I saw it.  The movie took out A LOT of the scenes from the book, and even though I know it's impossible for a movie to have everything, I felt it did suffer from the lack of those scenes.  It made me feel like their relationship was rushed, but again, that's sort of inevitable.  I think the main thing was that I was expecting a lot more out of the movie, and while, it was a good movie, it was nothing spectacular. That isn't to say the movie was all bad.  Nope not all.  It was actually pretty good- just on its own, without comparing it to the novel.  

The actors, however, really did an AWESOME job.  I had loved the actress for Hazel ever since I saw her in the Spectacular Now, and she did not disappoint.  She was the perfect Hazel. I had my doubts about the actor for Augustus because a) I've never seen him act before b) he looked way too friendly (like the boy next door type) to play such a pretentious guy and c) the only perfect casting for Augustus is Augustus himself. ;)  However, he blew me away.  I was so impressed with his emotions and his smirk and gosh! He was PERFECT.  Not only that, but the chemistry between them was great.  They WERE Hazel and Augustus, and I shall never again doubt John Green's casting choices :D

With the exception of scenes being taken out (and that ending scene!), the movie-as far as I remember- didn't put anything in or altered anything drastically.  It was really faithful to the novel. They did change the ending scene a teensy bit (no, he still dies- that's never going to change *SOB*), but I actually was okay with it.  :D

So what did you think of the movie? :)