Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Hunger Games (2012) in Movies

Sep 20, 2020 (Updated Nov 26, 2020)  
The Hunger Games (2012)
The Hunger Games (2012)
2012 | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
One of the most clueless things I've ever seen, as painstakingly unintelligent as it is one-dimensional and blunt. My problem isn't so much that every YA movie from then until at least 2018 cribbed from it (and for the most part, did it better lol) mercilessly until they left nothing left to this one but its picked-clean carcass - but moreso with the fact that it does only a couple steps above the bare minimum. How awesome would this have been as a Battle Royale-style, anti-fascist bloodbath where a bunch of kids are picked at random and exposed to both the elements and a shit-ton of weapons in a 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸-esque battlefield commentated by a flamboyant Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones? But no, fuck that right? Instead we get a garbage-looking, shakycam exercise in going through the motions with bad characters and toothless action (wasps? most of the characters dying offscreen? are you kidding me?). Plus we're treated to another awful forced romance, dull-arrowed swipes at classism which amount to nothing more than overtly-obvious visual signifiers with nothing to actually chew on (I assume out of cowardice - which makes it worse), and one of the most infamous cases of vaguely misogynistic attempts at a 'strong female lead' by making her mean and stripped of any actual personality. Somehow it doesn't really drag, but it's pretty viciously unexciting. There's some real bite to the scenes where Katniss's every expression let alone word is picked apart by a capricious crowd and disingenuous MC, and Haymitch painfully watching the rich children play with the toy sword - though not only does it refuse to dive into the treasure trove of possible commentary it sets up, but I actually have to apologize to the (worlds better) 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 for goofing on its idiotic politics because this is somehow even dumber. "We want to make sure there's never another uprising again, show we're a gracious + caring government, and entertain the public all at once. How do we do that? Well we'll just start abducting and killing children at random on national television of course!" Lmfao. Doesn't lean into anything that could have made this enjoyable, and there's a lot - so they had to have *tried* to make it this flat. Also one of those movies that only knows how to express its limited emotion through unbearable "everything sucks" world-building. Great... that would be another thing entirely if it even earned the right to do that, which naturally this doesn't. Cheesy and unintentionally funny.
  
    Jobpedia

    Jobpedia

    Business and Social Networking

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Are you trying to find the best part-time, temp job, freelance, or internship? Are you trying to...

    Bardsung

    Bardsung

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    You begin with a single tile and a destination. What unfolds is a branching, labyrinthine dungeon of...

    Junk Jack

    Junk Jack

    Games and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    * Chosen by the AppStore as one of the #BestOf2013 crafting games in 9 countries! * Welcome to Junk...

    Agemonia

    Agemonia

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    Agemonia, an enchanted world brimming with magic, is experiencing its greatest upheaval. Earth...

Jamaica: The Crew
Jamaica: The Crew
2017 | Nautical, Pirates, Racing
In the expansion review series, we take a look at a game expansion to discuss whether it is a necessary purchase/addition to one’s collection.

This breakdown is for the expansion for the popular pirate game Jamaica called The Crew. It is sold in a box in similar size to Jamaica’s main box, just a bit thinner.


This expansion will add a bevvy of new pirate characters to the game that can be recruited once a player pays the full amount at a port town (if you are unaware of the Jamaica base rules, read our review here). The red bottle of rum token in The Crew’s box acts as the main recruitment pawn by allowing any pirate adjacent to it to be recruited. The bottle may also be moved by paying one gold doubloon per space moved. Once recruited the pirate will command a space on one of the recruiting player’s ship’s hold and be treated like any other resource. Each recruited crewperson, however, will also furnish the player with special abilities and bonus points at the end of the game (more bonus points for crossing the finish line, less otherwise).
Should all owners of Jamaica run out and also grab The Crew in order to enjoy Jamaica? Maybe. Jamaica may evolve into a game that can become “samey” with many plays. Adding The Crew will inject a whole new aspect of play and various levels of new strategies to be applied. Having another resource to manage during the game may become more stressful, but those same resources, this time in the form of crewpersons, provide bonuses that range from helpful to immediate victory after special conditions are met.

Official recommendation: I love the base game of Jamaica. I never really thought I would NEED an expansion for it. In fact, I only picked this up because it was on sale and I saw many players enjoyed it. When I added it to my game my eyes were opened, and Jamaica became a new beast altogether for us. I say that if your games of Jamaica are becoming less and less enjoyable, then you should definitely grab a copy of The Crew. My only gripe is the box art. Why is it a book now instead of continuing with the treasure chest theme? It’s brown and has the Jamaica logo on it, but that’s where the similarities end. I wish they looked better together, that’s all I am saying.