Cindy Prascik's Reviews of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 & Secret in Their Eyes

 

 

 

 

Dearest Blog, yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for the depressing double-bill of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 and Secret in Their Eyes. Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers. 

 

 Mama always said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." If I adhered to that advice, I'd have a free day today, but since I wasted yesterday watching these movies, it seems fitting that I waste today writing about them. 

 

First on the docket: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2, the further and final adventures of Katniss Everdeen. Dear Reader(s), let it be noted that I consider myself a fan of the Hunger Games franchise. 

 

It doesn't talk down to its audience, and the folks responsible for bringing it to the screen have done so with genuine regard for quality, rather than just milking a popular franchise for a cash grab. 

 

It's a miserable premise--the sort of thing I'd never watch more than once--but to this point I've given HG full marks for execution. 

 

Sadly, this final installment is a real letdown. For as much as Mockingjay-Part 2 has got going on, it is insufferably slow and dull. Perhaps stretching the final book to two movies was a bad idea, or maybe they've just done a poor job of translating events from page to screen, but I was ready to claw out my eyes long before the halfway point. 

 

The film yadda-yadda-yaddas over at least one thing that seems pretty important, and the ending feels like the author just got bored and turned it over to a 14-year-old fan-fiction writer. On the plus side, James Newton Howard has provided his usual strong score, and there are some nifty effects. 

 

The acting is solid from top to bottom, and Jennifer Lawrence is no less outstanding than when she's fronting something the Academy takes seriously. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 clocks in at an excessive 137 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material." 

 

It's not without its good points, but The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 is, overall, a disappointment. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Mockingjay-Part 2 gets five.

 

Next up: Secret in Their Eyes. A group of law-enforcement professionals presses the law's limits when one of their young daughters is murdered. It's clear, at some point, someone fancied Secret in Their Eyes a legitimate awards contender, The film on which it's based has already collected an Oscar (thanks, Maynard Maynard, for that tidbit!), the cast is mint, and it's a Very Serious Story. 

 

Sadly, it's also a tedious affair in which the twists happen exactly how and when you'd expect, and two-thirds of the decorated principals are embarrassingly bad. 

 

Nicole Kidman is about as expressive as a ventriloquist's dummy, which may be less about her actual acting than it is about her tinkering with her face 'til it no longer moves. On the other end of the spectrum, Julia Roberts flails through the proceedings "as if there were no such thing as overacting." (I have shamelessly poached that glorious insult from an old review of Gary Oldman's performance in Bram Stoker's Dracula!) 

 

Chiwetel Ejiofor is terrific, making it hard to believe he's the only one of the three who doesn't (yet) have an Oscar. 

 

An unnecessary romantic subplot adds nothing, and the movie seems to take it as a matter of personal pride that each storyline reaches the least-satisfying resolution possible. Secret in Their Eyes runs 111 minutes and is rated PG13 for "thematic material involving disturbing violent content, language, and some sexual references." 

 

Secret in Their Eyes has all the pieces of a great bit of cinema, but, unfortunately, it fails to put them together. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Secret in Their Eyes gets four. 

 

If you are visiting the cinema this weekend, and--like me--you weren't lucky enough to get Legend or Spotlight, I suggest you revisit Spectre or The Peanuts Movie, and take a pass on these two downers. 

 

Until next time...

Cindy Prascik's Review of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1

Dearest Blog, since a freakishly icy November morning cost me the cinema last weekend, I am a week late with my review of the latest Hunger Games installment. That means just one thing: prepare for my rambling to be even less relevant than usual!    

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers or, you know, if you've been on the Internet at all this past week.     Katniss Everdeen becomes the face of the Districts' rebellion against the Capitol, but concern for Peeta's safety is chief on her mind.    

Well, dear reader(s), I'm not exactly what you'd call a Hunger Games fangirl. The movies are pretty well done, but, to me, it's a slightly-better-than-average young adult series that was fortunate to land on a shooting star at just the right moment. To its credit, the franchise seems well aware of that, and it utilizes Jennifer Lawrence's formidable talent, screen presence, and star power to their absolute fullest.     

If J-Law is as astonishing as we've come to expect, that takes nothing away from a supporting cast that is, to a person, very, very good, and Mockingjay Part 1 continues the series' tradition of leaving us wanting more of Woody Harrelson's Haymitch, especially.     

This third Hunger Games installment seems even more grim than the first two, which is really saying something when you take into account that the first one was about children killing one another for entertainment. Like the Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I left the theatre knowing I'd never watch Mockingjay again; it's just too miserable. The movie is also...erm...let's just say "deliberately paced" (to be polite) and runs perhaps a tad too long.     

None of that is to say, however, that it isn't interesting or well done; on the contrary, it is both. The story expertly sustains tension, and there are a couple disaster effects that left me holding my breath.    

Most of the film is set in muted greys and blacks and neutrals, effectively conveying the hopelessness felt by the Districts in their fight against the Capitol's oppression, and the ending will definitely leave you anxious for Mockingjay Part 2, coming next Thanksgiving.    

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 clocks in at 123 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, and thematic material."    

The Hunger Games series has yet to prove itself worthy of the hype, but as the genre goes, it's still better than most.    

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 gets six.    

No reviews next weekend, as I'll be making my annual, much-anticipated trek to the Big Apple!    

Until next time..

If you're telling me someone fell for Josh Hutcherson while this guy was standing in front of them, I'm telling you that's the least-believable thing I've EVER seen in a movie!

MOVIE REVIEW: THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1

The worldwide phenomenon of The Hunger Games continues to set the world on fire with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, which finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in District 13 after she literally shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and a nation moved by her courage.

Director: Francis Lawrence 

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Sam Claflin

Release Date: Nov 21, 2014

Rated PG-13 for some Disturbing Images, Intense Sequences of Violence, Intense Sequences of 

Action and Thematic Material

Runtime: 2 hr. 3 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

The Hunger Games: MockingJay, Part 1 represents a lot of issues with long running franchises.  It’s overstuffed but undercooked all the way through.  There are plenty of interesting ideas thrown at the wall but none of them are explored fully or expounded upon.  Instead we get a slog of a movie which seems to be treading water more than actually moving the story forward, making the decision to split this finale into 2 parts even more baffling.  Lawrence delivers solid work as usual but she seems slightly bored with the proceedings from time to time as the film moves from creating a revolutionary symbol to stalling another hour before we get to some actual plot momentum.  There are a few set pieces which are worthwhile but mostly it’s a lot of overly serious sadness, mostly because the story type has changed from the first 2 films.  It’s a common issue with franchises like this, the story demand a larger scope which results in a change in the story’s DNA which isn’t always a good thing.

C+