Ed's Review Dot Com

Color Force, Lionsgate, Studio Babelsberg,

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland

At the end of Part One, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) was back, but severely affected by this time in the capital where he was brainwashed. He jumped at Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and tried to strangle her leaving her in the hospital severely injured. But as we pick it up, she’s recovering and the rebel alliance is planning to bring all the districts together to take on the capitol and President Snow (Donald Sutherland). The want to leave Katniss out of it, but you know she’s going to do her own thing and sets off on her own secret mission to assassinate President Snow. This is a fight to the finish with a war designed to determine the outcome of a free democratic Panem once and for all. But the odds are not so good.

THis is a very fitting finish to this series of films, and it’s sad to see it end. Jennifer Lawrence has grown so much through these films and it opened so many new avenues for her. She deserves all the praise she gets. This is filled with so many big stars, but we don’t even notice as they are all so well familiar to us at this point. This is one hell of a story, and the production values are out of this world. This one, however, if filled with nitty-gritty down and dirty fighting less so much of the super glitzy special effects that the other ones had, but still the scenes of the capitol are very awesome. Some of the traps that the defenders of Panem have set are amazing to watch. There’s plenty of action, lots of excitement, and explosions galore! The only negative I could think of is that as it wraps up, there are a couple “surprises” thrown in that are so predictable, that probably any of us could have written the screenplay to wrap this up. But that’s okay, we still enjoy watching it. This is a must see film, and a superb ending to what is one of the classic series of all time. See it!

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Color Force, Lionsgate,

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman

At the end of Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) brought the special games, with all the former champions, to a sudden halt when she shot an arrow into the force field. The last we saw them, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) was missing and presumed dead, and Katniss had been rescued by the rebels and taken to their secret hideaway. This is where this story begins. Katniss is now being persuaded to become “The Mockingjay” who is the image of the revolution. The capitol has hit the area’s very hard, and District 13 was completely destroyed as punishment. The government has no qualms with killing innocent women and children. But when they find out that Peeta is alive, and seems to have turned his back on the revolution, now acting as a pawn for President Snow (Donald Sutherland), Katniss agrees to be the Mockingjay under the condition that somehow at the first available window, they will rescue Peeta.

As all the major adventure stories have done, Lionsgate has determined to split this film into two separate movies. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t do that considering that they’ll double the income by breaking into two movies. This really irked a lot of people, and brought a lot of criticism, but I think it was a good choice. I wish they could have filmed it all at once, though, since it is a guaranteed hit, so that they didn’t have to wait a whole year for Part 2! Many have criticized this film as dull and boring, but I found that not to be true. There is some decent action sequences here, although, of course, there are no more hunger games. Now it’s a real life fight for survival. But there is a lot of background info and story building here, and a lot of effort is put into developing Katniss’ commitment to the revolution, and her and Peeta’s relationship. She is learning a lot about herself as well. I found the film to be very well done, and the settings are spectacular looking. The character’s are well developed by now, and we get to further refine their character. I totally enjoyed this film, and am anxious for the finale.

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Color Force, Lionsgate,

Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Jena Malone, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Amanda Plummer, Jeffrey Wright, Lenny Kravitz, Sam Claflin

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) were winners of the 74th Hunger Games, and are setting out on their victory tour to each of the districts. But President Snow (Donald Sutherland) pays a visit to Katniss and threatens her with harm to everyone she loves if she doesn’t play along and convince the people that resistance is futile, as the people are starting to rise up with hope against the government. When Katniss and Peeta fail, Snow announces that because it’s the 75th anniversary, he’s allowed to change the rules as he is every 25th anniversary. He declares that all former winners will complete in a tournament of champions in an attempt to kill Katniss and Peeta along with all the other champions.

This is the second installment of the Hunger Games, and it is not as good as the first film, for sure, but I really enjoyed it very much. The party who attended this with me was seriously disappointed in this film, as the first half they felt was very, very slow and boring. That may be true, but I found it slow and very interesting. I enjoyed the politics and the attention to detail of life in the districts and the nuances of the plots both for and against the government. As a result though, the action really doesn’t go anywhere until the games actually start. Then the excitement is very intense. I can see why some people felt that this was not as good, but as I said, I really did enjoy it. The island where the games were held was very impressive, and the details of the challenges were very intricate. All in all, it’s a very worthy successor to the original. I enjoyed this film, and recommend you catch it on the big screen if possible.

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Weinstein Company, The, Ghoulardi Film Company, Annapurna Pictures,

Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Ambyr Childers, Rami Malek, Jesse Plemons, Kevin J. O’Connor, Christopher Evan Welch, Madisen Beaty,

This is the story of a returning WWII Naval veteran Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) who is not adjusting well to civilian life. He’s suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome although they really didn’t understand it back in those days. He is floating from day to day, drinking heavily, not really getting by. He runs into a religious cult headed by “The Master” Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams) and joins in with them. Dodd takes a special liking to him and he becomes one of the chosen followers, but all the pressure is a bit too much for Freddie to handle.

I really have a hard time placing a rating on this film For the most part, I didn’t really care for it a lot. But at the same time, I have to truly say it was masterfully done. Dodd’s character played by Hoffman is quite unlikeable, but it’s very well done. This reminds me of another of his films, the biography of Truman Capote “Capote” from 2006 which was another truly masterful award winning portrayal of a character I just didn’t like. Freddie on the other hand, is simple a jerk. He’s so unlikable, and is just an annoying loser. This also reminds me of Joaquin Phoenix’s film “I’m Still Here (2010) [Click here for Ed’s review] which was also a decent portrayal of an unlikable guy. So basically the cult isn’t really evil, and we don’t like any of the people in the movie, so you find yourself wondering why you’re spending the time watching something you’re not really enjoying. But like watching ballet or opera, it’s cultural, so you feel like you have to sit there and smile and nod or you’ll look like an uncouth ass. This is the way I felt in this movie, so I’m rating it a down the middle three stars because I appreciate the craft and the wonderful acting, but just didn’t care a whit about the story. I hope this all makes sense. I’m sure there are some people out there who got this, and loved The Master, but I wasn’t one of those. It was a little too pompous for my taste.

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Sony Pictures [United States],

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Diamond, Brent Jennings, Ken Medlock, Tammy Blanchard, Glenn Morshower, Kathryn Morris

This is the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team in 2002 when he was faced with the lowest pool of money in professional baseball, but expected to put together a team. He met young college grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and immediately hired him when he was told his theory of how to put together a team on a budget. Facing harsh criticism, both from the insiders of baseball, and from the fans and media, they used a computer model to develop a team of under-rated players that they could afford, and in the process had a shot at securing the longest winning streak in baseball, after a lot of resistance, especially from manager Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman).

If you are a baseball fan, then you have to see this film! I have been waiting for quite a while to see it. This is a true story, and it’s a typical sports amazing achievement film, but it’s a really good look into baseball, and the problems of the “have-not” teams. Baseball has always had a serious problem, which I think is the cause of their great fall from grace as “America’s National Game”. Baseball never figured out how to even the field, with a couple teams from HUGE cities with a giant payroll competing with tiny teams that love the sport, but have a fraction of the money to spend. I spent my childhood as a Pirates fan, but got really tired of one of the greatest farm systems finding all the superstars and developing them for the Yankees, and a couple other big teams that always stole them. The few successful years they had was due to the great scouts and farm system finding excellent players for a year or two until someone with deep pockets would take them away.

This movie is the story of a system that reminded me a lot of horse racing. The very best horse handicapper is the public. The favorite wins way more than it loses. Sure bets at 6-5 and less go off every day. In order to be successful in the horse racing business, it’s finding the horses that are undervalued and underrated. You have to study hard, and find that one or two races a day where there is a horse with a decent chance to win that somehow people have overlooked. That’s the secret. Well, the same is true with baseball. Some of the players are undervalued and underrated, and this mathematical formula helped to take all the emotion out of it. (This guy has a funny swing, or the way he throws the ball looks off, or he looks like a doofus), and uses the stats and rates him based upon things the other teams never looked at. It also requires a carnival barkers skill at scamming the other teams to make them think you’re doing them a favor by taking their unwanted players.

Brad Pitt did an excellent job in this movie. This is a perfect role for him, and I think he pulled it off. I know Jonah Hill was also very proud of this role as well. He played a very serious dramatic role, and got to show off his new svelte physique. Not only did he pull off a serious role, (no Superbad nonsense here at all), but he did an excellent job. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also very good as the manager who just can’t get what these dudes are thinking. It’s a small role for him, but as usual, he was spot on. Basically this is a very interesting movie, and the time passes very quickly and it’s over before you’d like it to be. It’s got a fair amount of baseball action, that is easy to watch, but also has some great dialog and dramatic scenes that are also very well done. I enjoyed this movie all around, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the genre, or those who just love to look at Brad Pitt.

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