The Hunger Games - Catching Fire

Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever. Written by Bianca Capetillo

Rated PG-13   146 minutes

Of course I loved this movie - I was a big fan of the books by Suzanne Collins and couldn't wait to seem them brought to life.  And bring them to life they did!!!

 If I had one complaint; it seemed far too long between movies.  Hunger Games was released in March of 2012, but it seems like it was forever ago!  I have since read the Divergent Trilogy, so let's just say I had trouble keeping my dystopian storylines straight..

Jennifer Lawrence, now an Oscar winning actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, is all grown up now.  What a difference One Year and One Oscar make:

Hunger Games Premier - 2012

Hunger Games: Catching Fire Premier - 2013

 

 

As expected, the special effects were crazy good - and Effie's wardrobe was over the top.  I love Effie:
 

There were plenty of scary moments - those damn Baboon/Monkeys are just the worst.  I am sure they are somehow related to those flying monkeys from Oz that I hated so much.  Scariest things ever!  

I loved the casting of Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of my all time favorite actors) as Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee.  He did not disappoint.

Favorite Line of the Movie:

"You are going to smile & read the cards Effie gives you & we will all live happily ever after."~ Haymitch Abernathy to Peeta and Katniss before their big speech.

If only they would have listened....

The Dallas Buyers Club

 

The story of Texas electrician Ron Woodroof and his battle with the medical establishment and pharmaceutical companies after being diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1986, and his search for alternative treatments that helped establish a way in which fellow HIV-positive people could join for access to his supplies.     - Written by Focus Features

 

 Rated R   - 117 minutes 

You may not know much about "The Dallas Buyers Club", but I bet you remember seeing this:

 

Matthew McConaughey's dramatic weight loss for his role in this movie was only one example of how far he will go.  When McConaughey takes on a role, he lives it, breathes it, becomes it.  He was so believable in this movie, I call it his "role of a lifetime."

I say the same for Mr. Jared Leto - who so convincingly played AIDS patient "Rayon", it took several scenes before I realized it was him:

 

 

 On The Red Carpet "Dallas Buyers Club"

 

The official trailer for The Dallas Buyers Club:

The physical transformation of Woodroof is not the biggest transformation.   What really resonated with me was the emotional transformation McConaughey so convincingly expressed.  In our introduction to this man, we see him  snorting cocaine and having sex with two women in a rodeo bullpen (yes - that's exactly what I said).  Half-way through the film, we cheer as he sticks up for his new homosexual business partner in a Piggly Wiggly.

Please know, he was a homophobic STRAIGHT cowboy, suddenly forced to interact with mostly homosexual people who were in desperate need of the same medications he wanted.  What he thought was a business to save his life, quickly became so much more.

This movie is supposed to be about a man given 30 days to live - unexpectedly learning he has HIV.  What this movie is really about is a man who was not ever really living.  He had surrounded himself with women only interested in his drugs and money, and with men only interested in his rodeo stories and his partying lifestyle.  Once word of his illness got out, he had no one.  

 The love and compassion he experienced with this new "family" and how he began to love them back -  was in my opinion the most relevant years of his life.  He was given 30 days to live, but he beat the odds and lived over five years longer.

In a movie that was about dying, he taught us more about living.  About acceptance and perseverance. About making your own destiny and never, ever taking no for an answer.

"I've got one life - I want it to mean something." ~Ron Woodruff 

 

 

Thanks, Mr. Woodruff.  Your life meant something to me.

Oscar Buzz:  

Best Picture
Actor - Matthew McConaughey

Supporting Actor - Jared Leto

Oscar Buzz - Let the Games Begin

Up until November each year, the highlight of my week is updating my Oscar predictions - adding the movies I saw that week - checking DVD release dates, updating screening RSVP's.  Once I flip that damn October calendar, what once was the "highlight" is now my BIGGEST FEAR.  You see - I live in Missouri.  Rural Missouri.  So if by chance I miss a first run for a movie - it is difficult to catch up.  

Case in point, my current chase - Blue Jasmine:

It was in Kansas City a couple of weeks ago, so it was on my radar.  Now that I have time to actually go see it, I can't find it anywhere.  I have gotten myself so worked up, I had to start drinking wine every night to calm down. (OK - I do that anyway, I'm just saying....)

Because I didn't have any screenings this week, and because I am still traumatized by my screening last week of 12 Years A Slave...

....I thought I would check out a couple of movies that are getting a bit of Oscar buzz - ones I somehow missed in the first run.  The first movie I watched was "Before Midnight" starring Ethan Hawke.  Why is it getting buzz? Don't ask me.  I hated it.  It was the most boring movie I have seen since I tried to get through The Tree of Life a couple of years ago.  But here's the trailer anyway:

And that is all you will get.  This couple talking and talking and talking and talking....unless something big happened during my nap (I must have dozed off three times before giving up).  I had a journalist/facebook friend tell me he loved it,  so I am obviously missing something here - but my opinion:  Snoozefest.

Not one to give up too quickly, I moved on to Missed Movie #2:  The Place Beyond The Pines.  I heard alot of negative reviews about Gosling and this film, so I thought the buzz would quiet down, but it's still there in my ear - so I thought I would give it a shot.  And I am SOOO glad I did.

What a great movie.  What a great role for Gosling - I thought he played it with perfection. One critique - Eva Mendez did not pull off her "haggard middle aged woman look" very well.  Surely Hollywood can do better!  I started the movie at 10:30pm - way past my bedtime mind you - and I was riveted.  Loved it - recommend it - still thinking about it today.  Is it Oscar worthy? Not with the current competition - but I am glad I got to see it and I can check it off my list.

Now let's talk about those Oscar contenders, shall we?

Certain to Make the List: (from the people in the know - indiewire.com)

• 12 Years a Slave Click here to read my review
• Gravity Click here to see my review
• Captain Phillips Click here to see my review
• Saving Mr. Banks

Huge Possibilities:

• American Hustle
• Wolf of Wall Street

Maybe/Maybe Not:

• Nebraska
• Her
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Blue Jasmine
• The Butler (What the heck?  I never wrote my review?!?!  Stay tuned!!)
• August Osage County

The Competition May Be Too Stiff:

• Dallas Buyers Club
• Fruitvale Station  Click here to see my review
• Prisoners Click here to see my review
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

My Top Five predictions (so far, based only on movies I have seen):

• 12 Years A Slave (And the Oscar goes to! My final answer.  Best Picture of the Year) 
• Captain Phillips
• Fruitvale Station
• The Butler
• Gravity (this is a very soft 5th place.  It was a great movie as far as the MAKING OF A MOVIE, but it doesn't hold a candle to the other four in regards to the stories being told and the talented cast involved.)

I considered posting all these trailers, but I have instead decided to post them to my Take2reviewchick Facebook Page over the next week.  I will also tweet them.  So please like my page on facebook, follow me on twitter @take2review  and let me know what movies you are loving this Awards Season!

And please - if there is a movie you are DYING to see - let me know!  Who knows, maybe we can take in a screening together if you are in the KC area!

Happy Movie Watching!

And the Oscar goes to.....12 Years A Slave

That's right.  I am calling it.  And yes, I know it is only November. 

"Based on an incredible true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender), as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) will forever alter his life. Written by Fox Searchlight"

Rated R for violence/cruelty, some nudity and brief sexuality

When I was asked for my one or two word reaction to this film, all I could think to say was "Ashamed.  I feel ashamed."  Definitely one of the most difficult movies I have ever sat through.  Certainly the most important one.

I can not even fathom the helplessness Solomon Northup (bravely portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor) must have felt.  Nor can I imagine how an African American actor was able to hold his feelings in check while acting out this horrific chain of events.

This is what movie making is all about - this is why it is such a big part of my life.  These movies, based on true life events - especially a historical movie such as this needs to be the lens through which we teach our children.  One has to agree - if a teenager is forced to study and report on slavery after watching this movie, he will be much more aware of the hatred and flith than had he read about it in a textbook.

This brilliant cast - Fassbender, Cumberbatch, N'yongo, Pitt, the list goes on and on -  they all did an amazing job of telling this story.  There was never room for romanticizing or making excuses.  It is as it was.  Horrible.  Disgusting.  Heartbreaking.

But it is also a testament to the human spirit and what we can endure if we have no choice.  These people in his story - these are true heroes. 

Steve McQueen deserves to win an Oscar for this authentic movie - I only wish Solomon Northup were still here to receive the standing ovation he deserves.  And so much more.