I'm going to watch The Hunger Games tomorrow night with a friend! I'm really excited to see them and a bit nervous that they'll ruin the books. From what I've heard though, they seem to be pretty good about being true to the books for the most part.

My friend saw The Hunger Games already, then she read the books, and she wants to see it again since she's seen the books. I'm happy because I have a ride!

So recently I found this song from Peeta's perspective. A bunch of people are petitioning to get it on the Catching Fire soundtrack.
Arshad's "Girl on Fire.":

... re=related

There's an interview with Jennifer Lawrence about filming the forest fire scene and a lot of that was real fire and falling trees. Which is probably why it looked more realistic than the mutts.

I loved that scene. Definitely more realistic than the mutts. Booky, can you provide a link to that interview? Thanks

Here you go!

I've finally seen the movie on the big screen, and must say that I liked it. I've not read the books, so I can't comment on the faithfulness of the adaptation, but most comments I've heard (here and elsewhere) have been pretty positive on that score.

To answer a question I sometimes ask ("Could you follow the story even if you're not familiar with the source?"), I'd say yes, they did a good job of making it understandable to the newbies in the crowd, like me. I'm sure things were left out and there were nuances I missed, but the overall story seemed pretty clear.

The dystopian aspects of the story were somewhat disturbing - as they should be - the dichotomy between the poor outer districts and the life of luxury in the Capitol; that the spectators feasted while their country's children fought and killed to survive (like the Romans' "bread and circuses"), and - most notably, that the children chosen for the Games displayed nobler character and principles than the audiences.

The fire (especially since it was real) was a much more believable effect than the mutts, as others have noted.

Now to read the books!

Random note from one music buff to another.

I'm a bit of a soundtrack collector, so obviously I was pretty excited to get my hands on the Hunger Games soundtrack the day it came out. Apparently this particular score has a bit of an interesting history, however. Danny Elfman was to be the composer since pretty much forever, but had to drop out late last year and was replaced by James Newton Howard. JNH didn't have tons of time to pull a score together, however, so they got several bits of the score from other sources. So if you have the HG soundtrack and you think you're missing quite a bit, you actually are. Most of the missing songs are available via their original sources on iTunes, and a couple bits were found as background music to the Hunger Games Adventure FB game.

And if that's not confusing enough, there are two tracks on the official soundtrack that aren't actually in the movie at all. One if them is "Katniss Afoot", which was written to be played during the scene when Katniss hunts outside of District 12, but was replaced by a different song by Evgueni Galperine. And the other bit of unused score is "The Countdown" which was supposed to play during the lead up to the Bloodbath but was pulled in favor of other song snippets.

Anyway, it's all pretty fascinating for me and I figured I'd pass along the info to anyone else who as interested in getting as complete of a score as they can. http://www.welcometodistrict12.com/2012 ... meone.html This site wrote up a really nice comprehensive breakdown of each track plus the extra missing tracks, and if you scroll down to the comments I think there's a link to the four "extra" tracks that were found in the FB game.

Enjoy!

I watched the movie before seeing the book and it was generally easy to follow. The only bit I struggled to understand the significance of was why Katniss was leaning against a tree near the bakery. That part was poorly communicated in the movie (not in terms of acting, more in how it was written and the scene was shot).

Okay, just saying, before I get going, that I think I'm a little spoiler happy...I just really don't want to give anything away...

Now my thoughts on Hunger Games!
I'm fairly new to Hunger Games, but in the last month I've read THG, saw the movie exactly a week later, and last week read CF and MJ. I loved it. The story was compelling and definitely page turning. The characters' arcs throughout the three books were subtle, real, and SUPER well developed. I also thought the points of the books, that life really is not something you just play with, also gets across, although I think it can be dangerous to go into it without knowing about it before...does that make sense? Oh, and I thought it was highly effective for it to be in first person present tense. I have some friends that that gets really on their nerves, but how else could you do it? I mean, if it's in the past tense, you know she survives each book...but with the present tense...you really don't know until the end.

Gymfan15, You mentioned where you thought it would be good to cut Mockingjay, if they're planning on doing it two movies. That would be such a cliff hanger ending! I've not watched movies that ever split like that, so maybe they like that cliff hanger endings for such movies. However, I was thinking that maybe

I loved the ending of Mockingjay.

I really liked the movie of Hunger Games. I thought that the shaky cameras were effective, (even if they did give me a headache. ) I think one thing that really helped them get the point across that the HG is awful and killing for fun or entertainment is really wrong was when they did a close up on almost every tribute's face after they've died. It doesn't shy away from the statement: These are kids. And they're dead because of this sick game.

In the movie, I thought everyone did a great job acting and portraying their characters. The guy who played Cato I thought did a wonderful job fleshing out the character for screen from the book. For example, (I don't know if this is a spoiler, but I'll put it in spoiler anyway!) I loved the training scene, the interviews, the fire, Rue, etc. etc. etc.

Another thing they did in the movie that was highly effective in my opinion was how they got Katniss' perspective really well while not being in first person.

Gymfan wrote:

JNH didn't have tons of time to pull a score together, however, so they got several bits of the score from other sources.

That makes sense. I've been listening to the HG soundtrack, and loving it, but I thought it was interesting that the emotional theme was from Peter Pan. Now I feel sad almost every time I hear it.

Gymfan wrote:

Another Reaping, another train ride, another week of training. Even though the circumstances are wildly different, I cannot wait to see the build-up to the Hunger Games again. The Chariot costumes in the Quarter Quell sound particularly stunning; battery-powered embers? Yes please. And who can forget Katniss's wedding dress turning into Mockingjay plumage? It should all be very, very cool to see.

I'm so excited to see the same things!!!

I've got so much more meshed up in my head, but I think you've all had really enough of my rambling for now. =) I really liked it and am looking forward to the other movies.

-Sheroo

Francis Lawrence will be directing "Catching Fire":

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-04 ... s-everdeen

A few more thoughts now that I've read THG and seen the movie again:

I thought it was a good adaptation (especially compared to certain other recent movies ), though there were a few nits that have largely been mentioned in previous posts.

The

I'm not really a fan of the shaky camera work,

The guy sitting behind me jumped and kicked my seat when

I had more opportunity, this time, to think about the dystopian aspects of the story,

The guy sitting behind me jumped and kicked my seat when

Spoiler

the first mutt showed up to attack Peeta

I jumped then as well, but because of the sudden sound, not really because of the visuals.

I had more opportunity, this time, to think about the dystopian aspects of the story,

Spoiler

how a society would require the sacrifice of its children, normally seen as hope and promise for the future.

I've seen fan fiction that seems (I only read the summaries) to treat this only as a game, for entertainment. They have missed the whole point ...

Has anyone listened to the album Songs from District 12 and Beyond? I really liked some of the songs on it. My favorites were probably "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder," "Nothing to Remember," "Safe and Sound," "Dark Days," "One Engine," "Daughter's Lament," "Kingdom Come," "Come Away to the Water," "Run Daddy Run," "Eyes Open," and "Just a Game." Come to think of it, I liked almost every song on it.

I think my favorite book was the first one. I just couldn't put it down after part I. I think the movie was a little slow in the middle, because they kept showing the gamemasters control room. My favorite part was

Please note that this Special Feature will be closing on Thursday, May 31. After that time, discussion can continue in the Books and Movies thread.

Note that once we start receiving more-frequent casting and other information for the next movie, we'll be glad to reopen this thread for further discussion.