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The Hunger Games (2012)
The Hunger Games (2012)
2012 | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Let the games begin!
Contains spoilers, click to show
This was an interesting film, the marketing was excellent and I wanted to see it even though I knew almost nothing about it. I knew it was based upon a novel but I hadn't read it. Jennifer Lawrence plays the lead of Katniss Everdeen and in my review of X-Men: First Class, I put her as the stand out performance of the film. I could see that she had something special, but would she be up to the task of carrying the whole film? Would my prediction about her be right?

The film is about a girl Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteers to fight in the Hunger Games taking the place of her younger sister. Competitors in the games are forced to fight to the death until only one is left standing.

There have been many films about people hunting people from Hard Target (1993) with Jean-Claude Van Damme to Surviving the Game (1994) staring Ice-T. The one that is most similar in style is the Japanese classic Battle Royale (2000). It also has youths forced to fight to the death, but where that film was purely designed for adults to shock and horrify you, Hunger Games is based on a book for teenagers and so is the film.

This was a very good film and for the most part it was beautifully shot. The actors in this are perfectly cast which includes Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Wes Bentley, Paula Malcomson, Amandla Stenberg & Elizabeth Banks. Once again Jennifer Lawrence is outstanding, this time as the lead. Her portrayal of Katniss Everdeen is captivating. She has a great skill in drawing the audience in and making a connection with them. As with her performance in X-Men: First Class, her skill in portraying emotions comes over amazingly.

The film is a great visual treat, with a good story. However as good as the film is, the film makers failed in the transition from book to screen.

Minor Spoilers The book is set from the perspective of Katniss who is telling the story. However this is not the case with the film. It is just a story. The film really loses a lot from changing the format. With the book you get a lot of the history of the Hunger Games and you understand what they are all about. With the film this is missed out and barely covered in a small written intro. All the film needed to do was to have Katniss telling the story at least up until the point where her sister is chosen. Her giving a background narrative over the start of the film would have made a perfect introduction. The way it was done left me as a viewer without the necessary information I felt was needed to create an emotional connection to the characters and the story. Fortunately for me I started to read the book the night before the viewing as I had read that the film was a little vague during the opening scenes. This gave me the background that unfortunately the viewers of the film wouldn't necessarily have.

Minor Spoilers end The intentionally shaky camera shots get a bit too much at times and the lack of blood and carnage is a little too unbelievable and while overall this is a good film, it could have been a great film. If you have already read the book you should enjoy the film more than if you haven't.

8 out of 10 if you haven't read the book 9 out of 10 if you have read the book.
  
LO
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lord of Rage is based on the tale of Goldilocks and is the tale of Nicolai's younger sister Breena. Raised as a princess Breena always knew it would be her duty to marry a man chosen by her father to make an alliance between kingdoms. Everything changes when Elden comes under attack and her parents are killed by the blood sorcerer. On their death beds the king and queen used the last of their magic to send their 4 children to safety. Breena finds herself alone in the forest - lost, terrified and grieving for her family she is tired and hungry when she stumbles across the isolated cottage that Osborn shares with his brothers Bernt and Torben. Osborn is the last of the Ursan beserkers, his village was destroyed in a vampire attack that only his 2 young brothers survived. After years working as a mercenary to provide for them all Osborn wants now is a quiet life and to eventually get revenge on the vampires that took everything from them. The last thing he needs is a beautiful stranger invading his space, particularly one who has been invading his dreams to share passionate kisses. Breena is determined to trace her brothers and discover what happened to their kingdom and she will do whatever it takes to get Osborn to help her achieve her goals.

Overall I enjoyed this more than the first book in the series and I will read on to find out what happened to Breena's other brothers and to see if Nicolai can manage to regain his kingdom.
  
PT
Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits, #1)
Katie McGarry | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.3 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
(This review can also be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry has been one of the books I'd been looking forward to reading even before it came out. I finally caved in and bought the book off of Amazon. I must say that it was money definitely well spent!!

Echo is a senior in high school who goes from being one of the most popular girls to a social outcast almost overnight. There was something that happened to her to make her become a social pariah. It has something to do with the scars on her arms, but she can't remember what happened. Noah is a stoner bad boy who has a bit of a reputation when it comes to girls. He's been around the block when it comes to girls. However, he didn't bargain for Echo. Can Noah help Echo remember?

I love the title of Pushing the Limits. It is a very suitable title especially when it comes to Noah and Echo. Each character must push their limits in this book.

I'm not really big on the cover. In fact, I really don't like it. To me, it's a rather bland cover. Again, this book takes the easy way out by just featuring a photo of Echo and Noah. I do prefer the US cover to this book, but even that one isn't great. Still, don't judge this book by its cover because otherwise you are missing out!

The author definitely got the pacing right with this story. It is not dull at all, but is, in fact, a very thrilling, fast-paced story. The chapters flow into each other very easily. Not once does the pacing slip with Pushing the Limits.

I enjoyed the dialogue between the characters in this story. Even the internal dialogue was very good. The only thing that really annoyed me was how Noah went on about how hot Echo was, how great her body was, etc. I know he's a teenage guy, but come on, he's supposed to be in love with her. It seemed to me, based on his dialogue, that a lot of the times what he was feeling was more lust than love. I also hate how he called Echo "baby" all the time!!! GGGRRR, a few times here and there was enough, but all the time!?!

So yes, this brings me on to the characters. I thought the characters felt very real. They were definitely well thought out. My favourite character was Beth. I loved her sarcasm, and sarcastic characters just seem to win me over all the time! The character of Echo was well planned. She came across as a confused teenager who just wants answers which, I believe, is what the author was trying to portray. Echo is a character who is very easy to relate with and very easy to like. Noah is also a well developed character, but I just found him annoying as stated in the previous paragraph. He came across as way too much of a horn dog for my liking.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry is definitely a well executed and emotional story. The plot is amazing, and the characters feel real. I felt that there was at least one character featured in the story that everyone could relate to.

I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 16+. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this is one of those books that everyone should read before they die!

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry gets a 4.5 out of 5 from me.