Betty Draper shooting a bird is the closest to a Katniss icon I have
HUNGER GAMES HUNGER GAMES HUNGER GAMES. oh man you guys, that was so good. SO GOOD. Jennifer Lawrence fucking KILLED it, I can't imagine anyone else embodying Katniss so well. She brought so much to her, especially in the scenes with Prim and Rue (RUUUUE) and she made an already great character even better, flaws and all.
but even better, everybody in that movie was so damn good. Elizabeth Banks was a great Effie, all enthusiasm and hilarious snobbery. Lenny Kravitz silenced all the haters (I hope so, at least) with his quiet, cool Cinna and I couldn't have been happier. I adore Cinna and his relationship with Katniss and I thought he did a great job in their scenes together. Oh god, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was so damn perfect I could cry. I love Haymitch so much and I have so many Haymitch feelings, I could not be happier with him in this movie. His introduction to Katniss and Peeta on the train was just the right amount of drunk and disinterested/disconnected. He's seen off dozens of kids who never came back before, why would he think any different about these two at first? But then he gets to know them, sees Peeta's media savvy and, more importantly, Katniss' determination, ballsiness and skill and he, for the first time since he became a mentor, has hope that one of his kids will survive. And I love love loved that they added that scene where he goes to Seneca to persuade him to change the rules about having two winners along with the other scenes of him persuading sponsors to send Katniss medicine. It's so hard for Haymitch to care about anything and it was really great to see him care about Katniss from an outsider's perspective. (since it was often very hard for her to see that, especially in the first book.)
Speaking of perspectives, I think it's really interesting to see the differences in the book and the movie purely from the changes in perspective. With the book being entirely from Katniss' POV, we often only see her opinion on characters and situations, so it's really fun to get a different view, even if might not always work. Like her relationship with Peeta is a lot more ambiguous on screen, since we don't know that her feelings and kisses are all just for show and that she's confused and sometimes frustrated by Peeta's true intentions. We got that she was angry by Peeta saying he was in love with her right after the interview, but that was the only big thing. (and one of my friends who I saw it with hadn't read the book and he said he definitely did not get that she wasn't interested in him.) I have to assume that all of this will be more apparent in Catching Fire, especially since a lot of the beginning half of that book is about Katniss sucking at pretending to be in love with Peeta.
what else...oh yes, ALL OF MY TEARS FOR RUE. I knew Rue would destroy me, I loved her and I cried when she died in the book and that scene just devastated me in the movie. and when they flashed to District 11? oh god, I was DONE. I love the scene in the book where Katniss receives the bread from them, but it would have been to hard to explain I think, so showing the first signs of rebellion and unrest was a really wonderful touch and it obviously worked, as I totally cried.
Oh also, Cato! I never had many opinions on the Careers, but that final scene with Cato on top of the cornucopia was really fucking good and Cato broke my heart a little with his speech about how he was trained to be a killer just to die. It really drove home how fucked up the Hunger Games are (as if that wasn't already obvious) and it set the tone for the richer districts following in Katniss' footsteps the other books. (sidenote: one thing I'm glad they did kinda change? they didn't make it apparent that the Muttations were the actual tributes and that was so upsetting that I'm okay with them just being giant dog things)
okay last thing: I have to say, I am SO unbelievably thrilled that a movie with such a strong female LEAD character, written by a female author, is going to be such a huge success. It can only mean good things for female authors and strong lead female characters in general. Also, on a more personal note, with these movies being filmed in NC, hopefully people will look at the pretty District 12 mountains and come visit and it will help our tourism industry, which is basically all we have anyway. so basically: YAY HUNGER GAMES MAKING BOATLOADS OF MONEY. \o/
but even better, everybody in that movie was so damn good. Elizabeth Banks was a great Effie, all enthusiasm and hilarious snobbery. Lenny Kravitz silenced all the haters (I hope so, at least) with his quiet, cool Cinna and I couldn't have been happier. I adore Cinna and his relationship with Katniss and I thought he did a great job in their scenes together. Oh god, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was so damn perfect I could cry. I love Haymitch so much and I have so many Haymitch feelings, I could not be happier with him in this movie. His introduction to Katniss and Peeta on the train was just the right amount of drunk and disinterested/disconnected. He's seen off dozens of kids who never came back before, why would he think any different about these two at first? But then he gets to know them, sees Peeta's media savvy and, more importantly, Katniss' determination, ballsiness and skill and he, for the first time since he became a mentor, has hope that one of his kids will survive. And I love love loved that they added that scene where he goes to Seneca to persuade him to change the rules about having two winners along with the other scenes of him persuading sponsors to send Katniss medicine. It's so hard for Haymitch to care about anything and it was really great to see him care about Katniss from an outsider's perspective. (since it was often very hard for her to see that, especially in the first book.)
Speaking of perspectives, I think it's really interesting to see the differences in the book and the movie purely from the changes in perspective. With the book being entirely from Katniss' POV, we often only see her opinion on characters and situations, so it's really fun to get a different view, even if might not always work. Like her relationship with Peeta is a lot more ambiguous on screen, since we don't know that her feelings and kisses are all just for show and that she's confused and sometimes frustrated by Peeta's true intentions. We got that she was angry by Peeta saying he was in love with her right after the interview, but that was the only big thing. (and one of my friends who I saw it with hadn't read the book and he said he definitely did not get that she wasn't interested in him.) I have to assume that all of this will be more apparent in Catching Fire, especially since a lot of the beginning half of that book is about Katniss sucking at pretending to be in love with Peeta.
what else...oh yes, ALL OF MY TEARS FOR RUE. I knew Rue would destroy me, I loved her and I cried when she died in the book and that scene just devastated me in the movie. and when they flashed to District 11? oh god, I was DONE. I love the scene in the book where Katniss receives the bread from them, but it would have been to hard to explain I think, so showing the first signs of rebellion and unrest was a really wonderful touch and it obviously worked, as I totally cried.
Oh also, Cato! I never had many opinions on the Careers, but that final scene with Cato on top of the cornucopia was really fucking good and Cato broke my heart a little with his speech about how he was trained to be a killer just to die. It really drove home how fucked up the Hunger Games are (as if that wasn't already obvious) and it set the tone for the richer districts following in Katniss' footsteps the other books. (sidenote: one thing I'm glad they did kinda change? they didn't make it apparent that the Muttations were the actual tributes and that was so upsetting that I'm okay with them just being giant dog things)
okay last thing: I have to say, I am SO unbelievably thrilled that a movie with such a strong female LEAD character, written by a female author, is going to be such a huge success. It can only mean good things for female authors and strong lead female characters in general. Also, on a more personal note, with these movies being filmed in NC, hopefully people will look at the pretty District 12 mountains and come visit and it will help our tourism industry, which is basically all we have anyway. so basically: YAY HUNGER GAMES MAKING BOATLOADS OF MONEY. \o/