The Hunger Games

I just got back from seeing The Hunger Games and would like to say that even though I didn't read the book, I have just as much a right to have an opinion of the movie as anyone else. I assume the people I saw seated in lines on the sidewalk waiting to be seated for showings that were still three hours later probably read the book.

The Hunger Games is about a futuristic society that has an annual event called the reaping where they take a boy and a girl from each of the twelve districts and offer them up in a gladiator type of event where they fight to the death until there is just one survivor. The reason the government does this is to remind their citizens how bad war is, but it's really a punishment since the districts had risen up in civil war 75 years earlier. The event is broadcast for everyone to watch. Before you criticize their society for being barbaric and depraved, you have to remember that we have shows like Jersey Shore.

I was completely entertained during the first half of this movie, but I felt it started to lag a little bit mid way into the competition. This movie has a lot of "Bourne Identity shaky cam shots" which I'm not a fan of. I also didn't care for the giant pit bull monsters that the people running the games could just computer generate and turn into reality.

I really liked Woody Harrrelson in this film. The younger actors had good performances but  I also thought the entire cast was great which included Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, and even Lenny Kravitz. I loved the visuals and the stark contrast between luxurious superficial life at the Capitol and the poorer districts who lived in poverty.

Here are a few things I  learned from watching The Hunger Games:

1) It sucks to be a little 13 year old girl who gets drafted into the Hunger Games.
2) The Hunger Games is like The Truman Show on steroids.
3) When you make the scout sign in an effort to quiet people down, it may actually cause a riot.
4) I also got some great beard ideas for the next time I decide to stop shaving.

I liked The Hunger Games and give it 7.7 stars. I'm sure there will be many critics who consider it to be the next Twilight, but I always seem to enjoy movies that are about people who struggle with an oppressive and intimidating government.

Eagle Eye Review

When I went to see Eagle Eye I wasn't sure what to expect. I had only seen part of the trailer and I just knew it was about two people who were wrongfully accused of crimes they didn't commit and were on the run from the law. I found it was much more complicated than that. Warning: if you haven't seen it yet here come the spoilers.

Many of the scenes reminded me of other movies. The main character played by Shia LaBeouf gets a phone call from a stranger warning him of eminent danger and instructing him what he must do in order to escape. He ignores the advice and ends up in custody and is questioned by a hard nosed official just like The Matrix. The surveillance and spying technology reminded me of Enemy of the State and we've seen the manipulating of traffic lights and equipment in Live Free or Die Hard.

This movie's premise is not original either. This is the same plot from 2001: A Space Odyssey, War Games, I Robot, and Stealth. Half way through the movie we learn that the manipulating lady on the other end of the phone is actually a computer. Aria is a top secret government computer that goes bad and takes matters into her own hands and formulates a complicated assassination plot.

Eagle Eye is action packed and intense but obviously unrealistic. There were some interesting conspiracy theory themes that were appealing and it made me wonder how much big brother watches us and what technology the government really has when it comes to surveillance and spying. Despite the over the top fake details I still enjoyed this movie. It may not be original but it was entertaining. Besides how can you not like a movie where the star of the film plays identical twins? I guess we could add The Parent Trap to the list of previously mentioned movies while we're at it. I give it 6.9 out of 10 stars.