Movies
A pleasant fantasy aimed at somewhat younger viewers, but with enough appeal to keep the rest of the audience entertained. It may have helped that I never read the source material (or watched/played any of its adaptations), which is why it all felt just a little fresher than it might for others more familiar with the original book. Momoa doing Johnnie Depp isn't the best idea, but other than that this was a pretty solid fantasy film. The fantastical bits are lush, the pacing is solid even though the runtime is a tad long, and Barkley and O'Dowd deliver good performances. Simple but fun entertainment, which is what I'd hoped to see.Read all
Somewhat basic political thriller/action flick that scores extra points on style. While not truly overwhelming, the solemn, strict and sleek visuals give the film a little extra. The plot is pretty predictable, with a bunch of "surprise twists" near the end, luckily that's not all the film was gunning for.
I don't think they needed to make a new Hunger Games film, but considering how popular the series was, I'm not surprised they made one anyway. Without Lawrence, it's an even weaker film, with some extra lore I simply couldn't care about. I can only hope this isn't the start of something new, but a random one-off. This prequel tells a different story from the main series, but the HG universe isn't interesting enough for that. It also feels slightly more childish compared to the first film, though that may just be my memory acting up. The budget is there, so there are some semi-impressive scenes, but it's not enough to save this film.Read all
A feeble finale to the series. There isn't much left from the Battle Royale-like concept and children staging a revolution isn't that good a replacement. The acting is pretty poor, the film is way too serious and even though the budget was clearly sizeable, it just doesn't look that spectacular. Disappointing.