Hungry Mad Men

Our showing of The Hunger Games last night was fun. N and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went to the theater and said hi to his coworkers. We had snagged some extra tickets for N’s parents so they joined us too.

Back when the mania over the books was going on I read them to see what everyone was talking about. I thought the first book was by far the best, with book two being okay but with three being a hot mess. But I thought even the first book had some issues, particularly with the ending. But the setting and the survival-thriller aspects of the story were engrossing and I thought it was a fun read.

The movie wisely emphasizes the best part of the story and leaves out some of the more mystifying details. The best parts like the characterization of Rue are taken directly from the book while they leave out bits that seemed odd in the book like the faces of the dead kids being incorporated onto the mutant dogs.

The production design is great but the best thing about the movie is Jennifer Lawrence’s performance. She is great. I’ve liked her ever since we saw her in Winter’s Bone at Sundance a few years ago.

In Winter’s Bone she plays a no-nonsense Ozak mountain girl who has to track down her deadbeat drug-dealer father in order to keep her family together. It’s a great movie (with mature themes) and in hindsight it seems like it was an 100-minute audition tape for Lawrence’s part in The Hunger Games.

So yeah, even if you haven’t read the books I think it’s worth seeing The Hunger Games.

I hope you have a nice weekend. Ours is going to be pretty low-key. The highlight will probably be watching two hours of Mad Men.

And on that note, an Nintendo-style Mad Men game just for you:

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