When we talk about modern hits the first thing that comes to mind is Harry Potter, however, I'm not gonna talk about Harry Potter, I'm going to talk about "The Hunger Games", a series which has gained a lot of popularity with little to no advertising.
I went and watched the movie with high expectations, book to movie adaptations seem to be one of the few things that Hollywood is good at these days and they definitely showed it off with this flick. The amazing special effects and great actors really showed off during this.
When it comes to the story itself, it sets itself in a post-modern era, where kids are sent to a game where they kill each other off in order to entertain an audience, this is something risky to bring into film, as there will always be people who find this offensive, however, the movie does a great job at not only portraying the seriousness of all this but also making it entertaining.
If I had to complain about one thing I would complain about the camera work, it is far too shaky in the action scenes, making it almost impossible to see, this takes off some of the value for the action scenes, making them more of a chore rather than a fun experience.
Overall the movie does a really good job entertaining and keeping your attention through the whole movie, I definitely recommend going and watching it. And if you want to read the books as well.
miércoles, 25 de abril de 2012
Cronica: The Hunger games
Given the huge reputation of the "Hunger games" book series, I decided to go to the movie theater myself (along with some friends) and check what the craze was all about. Upon arriving the cinema I noticed that there seemed to be a lack of people, probably because it was Wednesday, nevertheless I decided to go and buy my ticket, the price of 49 pesos seemed small to me, specially since popular movies tend to go for much higher prices. I then went and bought some popcorn and soda, as overpriced as they are, there is a special feeling in buying a "Friends popcorn pack".
We were a bit late so we missed the commercials, we proceeded to take our seats and prepare to finally watch the movie.
The movie started with the main character, Katniss, going out to hunt for animals, the place where she lived, "District 12", is a poor community based around mining, after seeing the main character hunt for a while we get introduced to our main plot point. The hunger games, something like American idol with teenagers killing each other.
Katniss' little sister gets elected for the hunger games despite this being her first year in the "raffle". Katniss then proceeds to volunteer into taking her place as a "tribute". Then the male tribute gets chosen and we are shown for the first but definitely not for the last time a flashback where the male tribute, Peeta throws a piece of bread at Katniss during a storm.
The two youngsters are then taken to a train where they will get transported into the "Capitol" where The Hunger Games will be held. They get advice from their adviser about how to survive and possibly win the games.
We then see the teenagers go into a parade where the rest of the competitors are shown, this scene seemed to mainly serve the purpose of showing off the marvelous special effects for the first time, our main characters wear gorgeous fire dresses which are actually on fire, the suits however prevent them from getting burnt at all.
After seeing the kids train for a while and being briefly introduced to the rest of the competitors from each district, we see a scene where each of the kids show off their special talent in order to get sponsors. Katniss is completely ignored, this makes her mad and she decides to shoot an apple in the crowd's dining desk, this both startles and impresses the crowd, giving her a slight reputation of a soulless woman.
After a bit more dialogue we finally get to the part of the games themselves, as soon as the games start 4 kids are killed for trying to get to the supplies bags, Katniss manages to get one after almost getting shot in the head. She then runs far off to the woods to hide and not encounter anyone. However, she is then found by an alliance made by members from Districts 1, 2 and Peeta himself. They corner her into climbing a tree and then wait until she gets off. Katniss is then adviced by a kid to let a killer wasps Hive into them, with this she manages to scare them away but she gets stinged by a few wasps too.
The little girl form earlier and Katniss form an alliance and manage to blow up all of the evil guys' supplies, we then see some filler flashbacks and running scenes and finally the little girl gets killed, leading Katniss into a killing rage.
In the end, only Katniss, Peeta and Cato (the leader of the evil alliance) are left, Katniss and Peeta find each other and decide to go all romantic on each other in order to get more sponsors and hopefuly provitions that may help them survive. In order to get the kids out of their hiding spot some weird devil dogs are summoned.All 3 kids get to the center of the field, Cato threatens to kill Peeta, and in a twist of events falls off to get eaten by the dogs.
In the end they declare Peeta and Katniss the winners and the movie ends.
We were a bit late so we missed the commercials, we proceeded to take our seats and prepare to finally watch the movie.
The movie started with the main character, Katniss, going out to hunt for animals, the place where she lived, "District 12", is a poor community based around mining, after seeing the main character hunt for a while we get introduced to our main plot point. The hunger games, something like American idol with teenagers killing each other.
Katniss' little sister gets elected for the hunger games despite this being her first year in the "raffle". Katniss then proceeds to volunteer into taking her place as a "tribute". Then the male tribute gets chosen and we are shown for the first but definitely not for the last time a flashback where the male tribute, Peeta throws a piece of bread at Katniss during a storm.
The two youngsters are then taken to a train where they will get transported into the "Capitol" where The Hunger Games will be held. They get advice from their adviser about how to survive and possibly win the games.
We then see the teenagers go into a parade where the rest of the competitors are shown, this scene seemed to mainly serve the purpose of showing off the marvelous special effects for the first time, our main characters wear gorgeous fire dresses which are actually on fire, the suits however prevent them from getting burnt at all.
After seeing the kids train for a while and being briefly introduced to the rest of the competitors from each district, we see a scene where each of the kids show off their special talent in order to get sponsors. Katniss is completely ignored, this makes her mad and she decides to shoot an apple in the crowd's dining desk, this both startles and impresses the crowd, giving her a slight reputation of a soulless woman.
After a bit more dialogue we finally get to the part of the games themselves, as soon as the games start 4 kids are killed for trying to get to the supplies bags, Katniss manages to get one after almost getting shot in the head. She then runs far off to the woods to hide and not encounter anyone. However, she is then found by an alliance made by members from Districts 1, 2 and Peeta himself. They corner her into climbing a tree and then wait until she gets off. Katniss is then adviced by a kid to let a killer wasps Hive into them, with this she manages to scare them away but she gets stinged by a few wasps too.
The little girl form earlier and Katniss form an alliance and manage to blow up all of the evil guys' supplies, we then see some filler flashbacks and running scenes and finally the little girl gets killed, leading Katniss into a killing rage.
In the end, only Katniss, Peeta and Cato (the leader of the evil alliance) are left, Katniss and Peeta find each other and decide to go all romantic on each other in order to get more sponsors and hopefuly provitions that may help them survive. In order to get the kids out of their hiding spot some weird devil dogs are summoned.All 3 kids get to the center of the field, Cato threatens to kill Peeta, and in a twist of events falls off to get eaten by the dogs.
In the end they declare Peeta and Katniss the winners and the movie ends.
lunes, 26 de marzo de 2012
Ponies: now a men's thing.
Whenever anyone hears the words "My Little Pony" they usually think about 22 minute long commercials with terrible dialogue, animation and an overall crappy show. However, if you mention My Little Pony nowadays you will not be frowned upon, but rather you will be welcomed into a community.
I don't know either.
Now, what if I told you that there are tons of men who are 14-30 old, and love the show "My little Pony: Friendship is magic"? You are probably on your way to closing this tab right now, however, if you stay here I will tell you why this show has become so popular.
First of all, the show was created by the famous and renowned Lauren Faust, the same woman behind The Powerpuff girls and Foster's home for imaginary friends, this alone makes curiosity sprout up among people, solely because Faust is a woman who hates the girl cartoons stereotype, and to have her working on My Little Pony is something everyone would want to at least check out. And what do you know, she did an amazing job portraying characters in a way that is enjoyable by both kids and adults.
My Little Wonderland
Now, when we compare this to most modern cartoons we will notice that the production quality is much higher than that of other shows like Fanboy & ChumChum for example. The animation is top notch, every single detail on the character's matter when it comes to the animation, you will never see them move without their manes moving accordingly to their direction and speed.
Lastly, the characters. The old My little Pony had characters that simply changed their personality, they didn't have a definitive one, thus one could never give 2 shits about them. However, these ponies have evoked more emotions than a romantic movie. I could go into full detail for the characters, but I will save that for a later article.
What I'm trying to say is, give this show a try, you will be surprised by how good it can be. hundreds of thousands of people can't be wrong, and they aren't this show is amazing, truly a tribute to old style cartoons while still staying fresh.
Suscribirse a:
Comentarios (Atom)