If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
This is no Twilight. It's one of the toughest satires of modern culture I've seen in awhile.
Whereas Palm Springs became a fashionable getaway for Hollywood types in the 1920s, Palm Desert saw its boom later in the mid century era.
The Hunger Games is about reality TV taken to its most terrible end. It is the Roman Colosseum. A massive, deadly distraction that provides an opiate to the masses.
Under the extremely watchful eye of author Suzanne Collins, who stands as a producer and co-writer of The Hunger Games, director Gary Ross kept faithful to the book while cutting it down to fit a movie format.
In years past violence directed towards children was more or less off limits. Now, as this movie proves, they are fair game.
She sits on the ground in a pile of leaves, holds her head in her hands and sobs. It's a devastating moment, but as I sat in the theater screening the film,which premieres March 23rd, all I could think was: "This isn't the Katniss I know."
The Hunger Games is steeped in the languages of reality television and instant celebrity, which young people speak fluently.
The Hunger Games movie is not exactly fun for the whole family, but for most of the family it's just right: challenging, thrilling, intense and well-made.
There's not a whole lot about the world of The Hunger Games that I'd like to see carried into the future. But it's truly refreshing to see a world where gender isn't a restrictive category.
It won't hurt a smart teenager -- and is there another kind? -- to see Winter's Bone. It won't hurt you either.
This film that will keep viewers, even the millions who have read the books and know the outcome, at the edge of their seats. And if the storyline doesn't grab you -- unlikely as that is -- the special effects and the portrayal of the Game arena is enough to intrigue most.
In a way, she's actually the embodiment of the new Republican ideal. She's not the least bit dependent on the government, and the government does virtually nothing for District 12.
The filmmakers chose to shoot the Games in a natural environment. Surprisingly, this only increases the horror of the televised bloodbath. There's something about the forest that's just creepier than anything we can make with our hands.
In September, I wrote about the transition of the generations between actors and how we're at a moment where we can see it happening.
The news that Steven Soderbergh would be performing duties as the second-unit director for Gary Ross' "The Hunger Games" is merely a segue into why the series is indeed far more important than we realize to the long-term health of the industry.
If recent developments are any indication, Hollywood has a genuine desire to roll back the progress clock and turn young female actresses into fairy tale princesses.
