The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Katniss Everdeen makes her way back to screen after the disastrous end to the Quarter Quell. She finds herself deep beneath the ground in District 13th with the rebels. Advised by the rebel President Coin and cajoled by her friends and advisers, she reluctantly agrees to become the face of the revolution. Thanks to being a movie you are spared the whiny inner dialog of Ms. Everdeen. But the movie makes up for that with its boring pacing and uneventful screenplay. A book that easily could have fit in a single movie is dragged across two films with no real reason other than greed. The only saving grace is that you got to see Philip Seymour Hoffman one more time.

Rating:: * +

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

The Hunger Games

The Suzanne Collins bestseller makes its way to the big screen with much fanfare and a close following from teenagers and adults alike. Set in a murky future where a nation is split in to Districts and ruled by the fist from the Capitol. To show its power, the Capitol picks two young ones from every district and have them to duke it out to the death on live television a la Battle Royal style. The only difference in the year in question is that a young girl, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers in stead of her younger sister. She travels to the Capitol to take part in the bloodbath along with her male counterpart, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) leading to a much predictable climax leaving open a call to revolution against the Capitol. If only Ms. Collins had left out soon to form romantic triangle there might have been some hope for this trilogy. However the only good thing that might come out from the film is a propensity for some teenage girls to emulate Katniss and not some lame ass Disney princess!

Rating: * +

Land of the Blind

A political satire set in a unnamed democratic country ruled by a fascist president, opens with a young impressionable guard Joe (Ralph Fiennes) taken in by the ideas of a political prisoner (Donald Sutherland). The words and the country's downward spiral spurs Joe into action only for him to discover that power does indeed corrupt. A tightly scripted movie that emanates crisscrossing echoes of past and current political climates.

Rating: * * *