may the odds be ever in your favor
I JUST GOT BACK FROM SEEING HUNGER GAMES AND I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT.
But no seriously: it was awesome. IT WAS SUCH A CLOSE ADAPTATION IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY. Or more accurately, it makes me want to turn on a Harry Potter movie and then blast Adele while watching it: WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. No, no. Not comparing. I'm not comparing them. But honestly, I feel like they lifted the vast majority of the movie right from the book and it was GLORIOUS. Even the little bits they added felt natural and unobtrusive and were short and sparingly used.
Woody was a better Haymitch than I expected but Mark Sheppard is so ingrained in my head that it still didn't feel quite right. Honestly? I felt like he was doing Haymitch-by-way-of-Sawyer-from-Lost. BUT EVERYONE WAS SO PERFECT BESIDES THAT. (STANLEY TUCCIIIIIII.)
I feel like my biggest problem was with the CGI. There were some scenes where I felt the green screen work was SUPER OBVIOUS. And with a movie of this scale, I don't feel like that should be an issue. Some of the Capitol stuff was a little too low-res CGI for me, but whatever. Overall, that's not a big gripe.
One of the coworkers I went with griped about some of the really tight shots and quick editing, but I freaking loved it. And the music! Between the editing and the composition of shots and the music (and lack thereof - omg we spent an entire class on the purposeful lack of music in film and how it can be more powerful than a good score) I wanted to go back to UD and take another film class. Let me analyze you, Hunger Games!
tl;dr - I loved it. I thought it was fantastically well done. I desperately want the people who are making Ender's Game to watch it and learn from it: it is possible to make a violent movie with children without making the violence gratuitous.
But no seriously: it was awesome. IT WAS SUCH A CLOSE ADAPTATION IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY. Or more accurately, it makes me want to turn on a Harry Potter movie and then blast Adele while watching it: WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. No, no. Not comparing. I'm not comparing them. But honestly, I feel like they lifted the vast majority of the movie right from the book and it was GLORIOUS. Even the little bits they added felt natural and unobtrusive and were short and sparingly used.
Woody was a better Haymitch than I expected but Mark Sheppard is so ingrained in my head that it still didn't feel quite right. Honestly? I felt like he was doing Haymitch-by-way-of-Sawyer-from-Lost. BUT EVERYONE WAS SO PERFECT BESIDES THAT. (STANLEY TUCCIIIIIII.)
I feel like my biggest problem was with the CGI. There were some scenes where I felt the green screen work was SUPER OBVIOUS. And with a movie of this scale, I don't feel like that should be an issue. Some of the Capitol stuff was a little too low-res CGI for me, but whatever. Overall, that's not a big gripe.
One of the coworkers I went with griped about some of the really tight shots and quick editing, but I freaking loved it. And the music! Between the editing and the composition of shots and the music (and lack thereof - omg we spent an entire class on the purposeful lack of music in film and how it can be more powerful than a good score) I wanted to go back to UD and take another film class. Let me analyze you, Hunger Games!
tl;dr - I loved it. I thought it was fantastically well done. I desperately want the people who are making Ender's Game to watch it and learn from it: it is possible to make a violent movie with children without making the violence gratuitous.