I know it is cliche and I try to avoid it as much as possible because I think you sound like a "look how clever and well-rounded I am!" dill-hole when you say it, but in the case of the Hunger Games, the books really really were much better than the films.
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It isn't often that a book completely encapsulates my life and anything that interferes with me turning the pages becomes an annoyance. It isn't often that I would rather open my book back up than play a video game or watch a movie, but this is precisely what happened with this trilogy of books. I remember having a feeling of dread when i was getting close to the end of the second book and couldn't find the third anywhere in my sleepy small town of Krabi, Thailand. Thank goodness for Kindle! (on a side note I, like most humans much prefer an actual book over a kindle screen but it is hard to argue with the benefits of being able to read ANYTHING on it.)
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The movies on the other hand, kind of got on my nerves. Especially the pageantry surrounding the actual games and especially the play-by-play provided by announcers with ridiculous outfits.
In particular I now have a life-long beef with actor Josh Hutcherson, who in my mind was a terrible choice for an already boring character Peeta and nearly every scene that involves him is just irritating AF. Digital Spy website has Peeta named as one of the "12 most annoying characters of all time" in films.
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get outta here! you!
I feel as though one of the only characters that was accurately represented in a "less than cringe" fashion (including Jennifer Lawrence) was Woody Harrelson's portrayal of washed up alcoholic ex-champion Haymitch Abernathy. I've always liked Woody and felt as though he was one of the few good characters in the entire trilogy. Donald Sutherland is an exceptional actor but even he couldn't salvage the cheesy portrayal of President Coriolanus Snow. I really feel as though they missed the bus on this one.
Stanley Tucci plays Caesar Flickerman, an very punch-able irritating character who only exists to explain the plot. The play-by-play provided by him and his absurd hairstyles interrupt the film and provided me with plenty of eye-rolling moments.
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I suppose that director Gary Ross really faced an uphill battle when deciding how to shoot a lot of the scenes because the scenarios that appear in the books are crazy and would have been daunting to represent on screen even if their $80 million budget had been tripled.
I also felt that it was a dirty trick on the part of the studios to turn the 3rd movie into 2 movies in an effort to milk as much money as possible from the audience. The end result of that decision was 2 Mockingjay films with a LOT of filler and both of them were boring. I don't think I even finished watching the last one.
I am quite certain that almost everyone in the world is at least somewhat familiar with the Hunger Games, but seeing as how these books were mass-produced as long as 10 years ago, I would be willing to bet that you can find a copy for damn near nothing. Also, if you are in North America you can always get them for FREE at your local library (do this!)
I don't know how many books I have read in my life and while I suppose these books were primarily aimed at teenagers, I found them to be page-turners and I am pretty sure I devoured them faster than anything else I have ever read. Have you read them? What did you think? Am I being childish or do you agree with me?
Seriously true! That damn book was way better than the movie, I had read the half of the first part and not the movie because most of my pal's considered it a low hit so I skipped watching it.
Sometimes the film does not do the justice to the book.
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Most of the time I tend to agree with Jim Gaffigan when he says
"you know what i liked about the movie instead of the book?...... no reading"
But yeah, in the case of Hunger Games the reading of the book was better than the watching of the films.
I agree!
Honestly, I just tell people to go watch the 2000 film Battle Royale, as it's pretty much the same concept, but just done way fucking better in pretty much every way possible overall. I didn't hate the first two films, but they didn't give me a full hard on or anything like that either. The other films in the series after those two sucked harder than walking in on two homeless dudes eating each others assholes, however.
I don't think i have ever seen Battle Royale. I'll have to check that out.
Please do, it's so much fucking better than The Hunger Games. Plus, you can write your thoughts out on it here and make some money. It's a win-win, slutterbutt :)
Interesting opinion but unfortunately when you're comparing a book and a movie based on a book, one of them is going to be less good. That's my experience and usually the book is better.
In this case I've seen the trilogy but have never read the books. The trilogy had good parts and bad parts. For me Jennifer Lawrence was irritating, I can't get used to her. Peetah should have been played by someone else, I agree. I liked Liam Hemsworth on the other hand.
I don't know if I'm going to read the book but it would be interesting.
I usually delay watching the movie right after reading the book or vice versa because I know I'm going to live one of them less.
I read only the first book and fully agree that it is better than the film. Most of all I liked the constant tension, in which the reader keeps the action going on in the book from beginning to end. In the first film this is not enough. Too there is all superficial, as it seemed to me when viewing.
As for the comparison of the book and the film, the film is very close to the book. There are almost no digressions, which is actually a rarity. The first book is better than the first film definitely due to the atmosphere, which is not fully conveyed in the film.
nicely thought out response pal.
My wife and I didn't even bother to watch the movies. Typically when we read a book, we have a picture in our head of the way it is supposed to be or the way we see it. When the movie doesn't match the picture we have, then it is always going to be disappointing. I wasn't going to read these books, but my wife read them and wanted me to. I am glad she talked me into it. Timeline is another book that the movie did horrible justice to. It is actually one of my favorite books and I just can't handle the movie. Can you think of book that the movie actually lived up to the expectations?
That's a good point about the books vs. the movies. To be honest I don't read a great deal of fiction so I don't really think i have a book vs movie example where movie was better than book. I'll have to ponder this.
Don't hurt yourself, I just wondered. That makes sense though if you mostly read non-fiction. I got thinking the movie Count of Monte Cristo was pretty good. The book just seemed to drag on a bit long. Starship troopers is another one where the movie is nothing at all like the book. I've never seen the Ender's Game movie, and I don't now as though I want to because the book was so fantastic.
one of my favorite books of all time... the other Ender books are great too but the original is the best by far. I do like the one where the Ender story is essentially told again but through the eyes of "Bean". Don't watch the movie... it will only make you mad and was so bad that the original plan to make this a trilogy was scrapped.
I have the other books and I started the second one but I never got around to finishing it. I might have to try again.
With you on this one. I think they wanted to make it more appealing to younger viewers hence the differences
I have not read them but watched the movies except the last one as I was kind of tapped out by the story by then and as you as I think this "we just make 2 movies out of one" thing (same with Harry Potter) is just resulting in a lot of filler scenes. Except I liked both of the last Harry Potter movies.
In general every book I ve read which got made into a movie I enjoyed the book more as sometimes I was really shocked how different I imagined the scene in my head.
I interested your post
God post
Okay, this is cool news for me. I have not watch these movies and I like to read books.
I haven't read the books so can't say for sure, but will check them out
This movie is one of my most favourite movie