Solid Snake

Talking about D12, as a viewer... I don't give a fuck about D12. A place I barely had any connection to. Had seen very little of, which is worse cuz the design isn't exactly all that memorable.

onebyone

I agree with this, expect I like Kravitz in the role too.

I really enjoyed the and the darker tone it had than the first. The new cast members were good too. Malon and PSH were great as expected, but Sam Claflin was a standout as Finnick Odair as well.

I wish the next one was coming out like in 3 months. It's going to be a longgggg wait.

Giles

I didn't read the book, but yes it would have made more sense to what you suggested, in the movie it just abruptly ended.

In terms of the 2.35 framing of the 4:3 IMAX shot scenes during the 'Games' sequence, some are quite apparent as the image seems way too cramped/cropped.

hanshotfirst1138

Does the digital IMAX change ratios? Why would IMAX be 4:3?

Giles

because portions of the film were shot in native 4:3 'Full' IMAX aspect ratio - floor to ceiling / wall to wall of an almost square screen (think Nolan's last two Dark Knight movies). Of course those scenes would be furthered cropped to 1.78 for IMAX-Digital and 2.35 to standard theatrical exhibition

stingermck

Just saw it and really enjoyed it. More violent than the first, better production, and overall better film. The abrupt ending was great, very Empire/Matrix as stated earlier.

The Bus

Much better than the first, but still occasionally dull and not very deep. And it lacks the action set pieces and special fx I would expect from something comparable in the action or sci-fi department. (For example Prometheus was intensely stupid but it had great atmosphere).

I don't blame the filmmakers, this is all due to the source material.

Decker

I liked it a lot. Very faithful to the book (very!), but still worked well as a movie too. Much better production values and special effects this time around (those CGI effects of the Mutts in the first film? A distant memory now). Cast was pretty spot on : that was exactly how I pictured Finnick to be (and Joanna was pretty close too). Jeffrey Wright is probably over-qualified for a role like Beetee, but he made it work. Loved Elizabeth Banks and Staney Tucci again. Sutherland was better and more menacing this time around; he's a good villain.
I gave it a 4/5. Can't really imagine how they could have made it any better than what they did. The local paper review's headline was something like "Catching Fire is a much better film than it needs to be" and I think that's pretty much exactly right. It's a Quarter Pounder with Cheese made with Kobe beef.

Solid Snake

My favorite thing about the movie was jena Malone. Pissed off crazy girl. Such a turn on.

bluetoast

I read the books and liked this one better than the first. But I still want a movie focused on Haymitch. He did a ton of work behind the scenes in this one and the first one, and it would be cool to see that wheeling and dealing take place, even if it's not explicitly in the books.

johnnysd

I did not really like the first one all that much, but I thought that this movie was terrific.

Dr. DVD

This one did cast a little more light of behind the scenes stuff that couldn't really be known in the books because they were all told from Katniss' POV. One thing that struck was that:

jeffkjoe

It was okaaaaay, c'mon on. First one's better.

A bunch of talking heads either conspiring to do harmful things or preparing to rebel. That's about it.

Oh, and even the hunger games this time were a let down. An old lady competing? Fog? A tidal wave? Tick-tock, tick-tock?

What's everyone so excited about that I'm not seeing?

dolphinboy

I mostly would say that these are my sentiments as well.

I probably liked the first one a bit more, but not by a lot. However, I loved Catching Fire and will see it again in theaters at least one more time.

bunkaroo

Saw this last night. Mediocre at best. I went with some friends who are big fans of the novel and they loved it. I was hoping I'd like this one more based on the reviews. It makes me feel like you have to read the books to like the movies. I've never read them and both movies just seemed very bland and paint-by-numbers to me.

Also, worst character names I've ever heard. Seriously.

Giles

I don't get it either. at two and half hours not a lot happens.

hanshotfirst1138

Plutarch? That's nice and subtle!

DRG

Only thing I didn't get (or missed):

spainlinx0

Well there was that clip in the beginning showing her being on camera while kissing her secret boyfriend. They also explained they couldn't trust that the president wasn't watching her at all times.

Kal-El

Saw it Saturday and I loved it. Never read the books but I think this is one time where that worked to my advantage because I didn't see the ending coming. I've read some reviews compare it to Empire, and while I see where they're coming from, I think it's closer to the book ending of HP & the Goblet of Fire. Having PSH and Woody Harrelson working together was genius. And that scene when Katniss wrapped the coil on her arrow and shot it at the dome as the lightning struck was the stand-up-and-cheer moment that I thought was missing from Man of Steel.

More Jena Malone in the sequel please.

bunkaroo

For some reason the minute I saw PSH I figured he'd be helping her somehow. His "I will see you again" line clinched that for me. Was not surprised at all when the twist occurred.

chaz k

This seems to be a loved it or thought it was boring type movie. I am in the boring crowd, I caught myself notting off a few times half way through. I had the same problem with the first movie, the buildup to the actually games is not bad, but once you get to the games they both fall apart. The "game" part of both movies suck.

bunkaroo

I know it's from the books, but the running from the poison fog my made LOL. And then there's the poison monkeys! Or whatever they were.

DRG

True, but surely somebody could have whispered in her ear or got her into a huddle or something along the way... especially since it seemed like everyone in their alliance was in on it except for her (and possibly Peta), making her a loose cannon as far as their plans went. Hell, she almost got herself killed with the stunt at the end... I'm sure that wasn't part of the plan.

Dr. DVD

While I liked the movie, I have read the books. This movie is illustrating how many adaptations of popular works are kind of lacking when trying to appeal outside of the circle of people who have read the source material.