Looking forward to it. I enjoyed the first one.

This franchise seems to do a better job of appealing outside of the female/teen demo than Twilight as well. I think it might have to do that this is actually a more interesting story with more depth overall, and the fact that it has actors that are good at their jobs.

I like that it has a bit of an edge of social commentary. At least it actually has the intelligence to be about something.

I think it helps that it's not really a "love story" like Twilight was, and also it helps that unlike the male leads in Twilight, female fan girls are not as obnoxious about the male leads in HG.

In the books, Catching Fire seems like a retread simply because the reader has not been exposed to the world outside of the arena or the Games. We are treated to the contrast between the Districts and the Capitol, but we aren't really shown the social and political realities of the HG universe.

Once you reach the third book, the second makes sense and is not viewed the same. I don't feel the books are terribly well written, but the story arc plays out like a masterful game of chess.

It will be interesting to see how the movies play out since they stripped most of the meaning out of the first movie. We were left with a more or less brainless action flick containing a ham-handed attempt at teenage romance ... Hopefully the filmmakers overcome this and provide the socio-political commentary that is the strength of the series. This is one case where the movies have an opportunity to outshine the books.

The chick playing the lead in this is kinda hot.

Yeah I think she's going places, saw an interview with her the other day, she seems pretty cool.

Come on, you guys are acting like she's Oscar material!

I wouldn't go that far.

So what was the meaning of the book? Or of the whole series?

Jamie Alexander is in this?! Awesome!

OR

In spite of the heavy subject matter, the film remains accessible and entertaining.

I'm sold. Thanks!

tix are up for the Smithsonian Udvar Hazy 15/70 presentation - I'll give this a shot, the first movie didn't really wow me, but the new trailers have piqued my interest considerably.

Whatever quality the film itself may be..it'll be a good looking one with the director doing his thing. Though...the trailers seem kind of muted with its visuals. Maybe it gets fancier with the stuff not in the trailer.

up to 96% with 28 reviews (1 negative)

out of curiosity, how much footage WAS filmed in 15/70 film stock?

I have tickets for an IMAX screening at 11 on Thursday. This has some stuff shot in the format, so it's actually legit in some areas.

Was the first film shot with IMAX cameras at all? I remember it hitting the IMAX, but was that just publicity stuff or was any of the film shot that way?

The first one wasn't, they just blew it up to the format for a limited one week run when it opened. I think many exhibitionists wished it had stuck around, as the movie that replaced it, Wrath of the Titans, didn't really generate the interest.

If you've been to a Regal this month, they actually have a short promo for Catching Fire where it shows them operating IMAX cameras.

I'm 36 pages away from finishing this book.

After that figuring out if I want to do just a Midnight showing of 'Catching Fire' or doing the Double Feature.

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I have to say, as much as I enjoyed the book, all of the ads for this have left me wholly uninterested. There's something about the design aesthetic (which, to be fair, was established in the first film) that completely turns me off. It looks tacky and cheap, like this is the TV movie version of these stories.

I thought the first one was impressive for the first half but that the second part looked low rent. This one looks like the arena part will have some decent production.