The Hunger Games

For those who read my reviews, odds are that you're pretty familiar with the fact that I despise long movies in general, considering I don't think many of them are worth three fucks of their length. It's also a lesser known fact that I don't really care for action movies much either (I much prefer to see someone get their head chopped off then shot off anyday). So for one to make me as enamored as I am with The Hunger Games...that says something right there about the sheer amazing quality of it.

The premise of The Hunger Games is if you took the lovechild of The Most Dangerous Game and The Lottery and threw it on screen with a bit more of a magical element too it. Every year in the 12 districts of Panem, a boy and girl between the ages of 12-18 are selected to play the games. So 24 kids go in the arena, but only one will come out as the victor, pretty much being promised to be hailed as almost a celebrity of the bloodbath. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence from Hunger Games and the last X-Men) volunteers herself after her younger sister is selected, taking her place and joining fellow contestant Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) as the two kids from their district. Once they have arrived at where the games will begin, they do training for every part of the event, from the looks, to what to say in the interviews, to how to gain sponsors in order to actually survive (fellow noticeable actors such as Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Lenny Kravitz show up in this section). As the games begin, it's a vicious bloodbath that requires Katniss to bank on every skill she has utilized in life so far. Whether it be defending herself from the "Careers" (pretty much the kids who get off on this shit), or using her nuturing instincts to protect a fellow player named Rue (Amandla Stenberg).

The Hunger Games is exciting for all parts of the body that get some type of..fulfillment from movies. The first one being the heart. Though it's far from being anything related to a romantic comedy, The Hunger Games is actually pretty emotive overall. The scenes with Katniss and Peeta hit the right notes, those being ones that let you know there's a strong romance brewing but it doesn't bash you over the head with it as to lose focus from the movie's primary ideas. The death scenes are also quite heartbreaking as well, and for those who have read the book and/or seen the movie...I don't need to mention which one in particular will feel like a knife to the heart.

The brain is also a part of the body that gets some type of stimulation when viewing The Hunger Games because of the way that the society is presented. With the constant needs for high ratings, honoring a sacred tradition, and the shit that gets viewed by people all over the world, it actually makes you question if our own society is that different than the one presented in The Hunger Games. How valuable is a human life in our own society when the main complaint about the media is the lack of restraint that it upholds with its material?

And for everyone wanting a bit of thrills, The Hunger Games easily charges up the pulses of everyone in the theater. Jennifer Lawrence (who for the third time in a row is proving that she's amazing...and a BAMF) will easily be regarded as the next big hero of an action trilogy. Move over Harry Potter, Spider-Man, and anything related to a vampire...Katniss is taking over. The action scenes in this movie are brilliant. Exciting, nerve-wracking, and actually pretty graphic, though not too graphic though considering the PG-13 rating. The scenes alone with the beehive and the killer dogs are scenes that should grab anyone's attention. The Hunger Games will easily become the next big film phenomenon which is deservedly so considering how many right notes The Hunger Games will hit from beginning to end.

3/4



Silent House

I've noticed a pattern in horror movies these days; a failure to provide a solid conclusion. A lot of them keep my interest until the very end where everything just goes straight to Hell. I'm not sure if these movies end this way because of an overzealous attempt to be tricky and surprise the audience or if that particular ending was just the only rabbit in the director's hat. This happens to be the scenario with Silent House, a movie which could have a stronger finish to match the rest of it.

Silent House has a pretty simple premise. Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) is working with her father and her uncle on fixing up their old house in order to sell it. On this day, soon after starting their work, Sarah begins to feel like something just...isn't right. Starting with an odd conversation with an old friend (Julia Taylor Ross), after which soon not being able to locate her father in the house, to finally, realizing that something bad has happened to him and that they are not alone in the house. Marvelous day for Sarah.

One of the most impressive things about Silent House is the way it's shot. I've read many complaints about how shooting it all in one take became tedious and quite obnoxious to watch, but I actually found it to be quite captivating. It really does feel like you're with Sarah the entire time. When she's hiding from someone, you feel like you're hiding from someone as well. When she's tripping or hitting her head on a pipe, you feel like you're hitting your head on a pipe too. When she's running around with her shirt practically hanging off her tits, you feel like...well, probably not.

Elizabeth Olsen holds her own very well in this movie. Not many actresses could have made this character interesting considering you know very little about her, but Olsen does it quite effectively. She's persuasive in the early scenes before any of the terror occurs and she also proves that she can scream with the best of them. Olsen is a star and performances like this one and Martha Marcy May Marlene (say that 5 times fast) should make sure this girl stays on the map.

Now for my biggest problem with the movie; the previously mentioned conclusion. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist, a plastic surgeon, a lawyer, or any other type of profession where you need to have an IQ above how many fingers you have at all. But if I can spot the ending to a movie a mile away, there's a big problem. Silent House just isn't that surprising. The twist can be seen from outer space so at times you're wishing the movie could keep up with what you have obviously discovered. It just seems like Silent House was on the same wavelength as the kid who just couldn't stop eating the glue. Not only does Silent House's ending reak of predictability, the way it's wrapped up is as if the director ran out of film at the very end. Too many questions are left on the side of the road and you're just left feeling disappointed. Silent House had the potential to be great but a lackluster ending reduced it to just being decent. Shame.

2/4