The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes | November 17, 2023 | Prequel about President Snow | Francis Lawrence to direct | Given a SAG interim agreement

[WittyUsername]

Interesting how this and Napoleon apparently have the exact same runtime, and are both facing criticism for supposedly being rushed. 

[Noctis]

We were two guys and three girls...all the girls loved it and two of them are ones who can nap in movies but they were really engaged. 

 

 

[ddddeeee]

It was alright. One thing with this franchise is that the supporting cast is going to be spot on. Davis, Schwartzman and even Dinklage are all really fun in this. The last third is a bit of a slog, but it was in the book, too, and the movie, like the previous three, is largely just the book in live action.

 

The first movie remains the most interesting cinematically and as an adaptation.

Edited November 17, 2023 by ddddeeee

[Morieris]

4 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

Interesting how this and Napoleon apparently have the exact same runtime, and are both facing criticism for supposedly being rushed. 

 

As it should be. For something almost kissing 3 hours - pedantry be damned - I checked my watch going "Wait we got to this point in 30 minutes???"

[Youngstar]

54 minutes ago, Morieris said:

 

As it should be. For something almost kissing 3 hours - pedantry be damned - I checked my watch going "Wait we got to this point in 30 minutes???"

They had to cut quite a lot of stuff. th book is about 150 pages longer than Mockingjay, which basically had 4+ hours to tell it's story. Sure there are some new scenes in those movies, but still. A complete adaption would probably need at least 3.5 hours if not 4.

[Morieris]

3 minutes ago, Youngstar said:

They had to cut quite a lot of stuff. th book is about 150 pages longer than Mockingjay, which basically had 4+ hours to tell it's story. Sure there are some new scenes in those movies, but still. A complete adaption would probably need at least 3.5 hours if not 4.

 

Which is fair, but they did such an admirable job with acknowledging the material (mostly). I know we'd be bored watching a student slide into poverty 4 times but there had to have been something to do to let us breathe in the first 2/3rds.

[Claire of Themyscira]

3 hours ago, ddddeeee said:

It was alright. One thing with this franchise is that the supporting cast is going to be spot on. Davis, Schwartzman and even Dinklage are all really fun in this. The last third is a bit of a slog, but it was in the book, too, and the movie, like the previous three, is largely just the book in live action.

 

The first movie remains the most interesting cinematically and as an adaptation.

Always glad to read a review from you, boo. ❤️

[Morieris]

Also damn it, another movie where I love a particular bit of the score but can't find what song on the, well, score, it's from.

 

Spoiler

When Flickerman is about to start commentating the games in the war room -it hasn't started yet - he's telling the students how to act - and the music hypes up. Surprisingly, it's not Happy Hunger Games.

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Morieris

[John Marston]

this was surprisingly good. They actually put effort into making a good movie, The RT score being under The Marvels is shameful

[nguyenkhoi282]

This movie is so good.

[SnokesLegs]

Saw this last night and enjoyed it quite a lot, and as someone who hasn’t read the book, it didn’t feel rushed at all to me. I feel like you’d notice that kind of thing more if you know what they’re rushing through or skipping, but the pacing felt fine to me. I can understand the “two films stitched together” claim, but if I’m honest I’m actually glad it continues the way it does, it made it feel different to the previous films.

 

Great cast too, the guy who played Snow was excellent.

 

Hopefully it made enough for them to make more, I’d be interested to see where it goes from here (although only if Suzanne Collins thinks there’s more story to tell, I’d rather them not go “off book” and do a Fantastic Beasts…).

 

That said, I know it’s a YA series, but the lack of any blood was pretty comical at times, people getting skewered with tridents and throats getting slashed, but not a single drop of blood? 😂

[PlatnumRoyce]

2 hours ago, SnokesLegs said:

Hopefully it made enough for them to make more, I’d be interested to see where it goes from here (although only if Suzanne Collins thinks there’s more story to tell, I’d rather them not go “off book” and do a Fantastic Beasts…).

Fantastic Beasts (2 and 3) read to me as less "off-book" than "pre-book." It sounds like Songbirds is demonstrating the advantage of actually writing the work that then gets adapted instead of trying to pre-adapt a germ of a book idea.

[Lucas]

Finally saw it and I'm joining the team who thinks this is the best in the series (it's pretty good).

[Morieris]

The fact that every conversation I've heard of this ends with "I wonder if it's BO justifies a sequel?"

 

It's okay for movies to stand alone. I'd like a book about the conniving and scheming in the Capitol's upper elite, but it wouldn't make for an interesting movie for audiences.

[Cappoedameron]

I loved this movie, yes there are pacing issues in the third act but those same issues are present in the book. That doesn't negate how great the movie is. Loved many of the choices made. 

 

They won't make any movies of their own, Suzanne has to write the books and then they will adapt them. There's been rumors going around that she is almost done with a Haymitch prequel which I'm totally for.

 

Anyways I loved it and the ending theme gives me just as much chills as it did at the end of Mockingjay Part 1.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Cappoedameron

[Arlborn]

4 minutes ago, Morieris said:

The fact that every conversation I've heard of this ends with "I wonder if it's BO justifies a sequel?"

 

It's okay for movies to stand alone. I'd like a book about the conniving and scheming in the Capitol's upper elite, but it wouldn't make for an interesting movie for audiences.

Well, I understand your point of view, but if I were you I'd take it as a good sign that people are enjoying the movie if they're talking about a possible sequel. That's nice to see.

 

[Cappoedameron]

24 minutes ago, Arlborn said:

Well, I understand your point of view, but if I were you I'd take it as a good sign that people are enjoying the movie if they're talking about a possible sequel. That's nice to see.

 

They already said no sequels because Suzanne needs to write books before they become films.

[Ryan Reynolds]

rewatching the series , it seems like those movies would be considered Oscar contenders in 2023 , with all the award expansions

[titanic2187]

12 minutes ago, Ryan Reynolds said:

rewatching the series , it seems like those movies would be considered Oscar contenders in 2023 , with all the award expansions

award expansion? Oscar already expanded their best picture field to more than five by the time when HG series came out. Best Makeup maybe and not much else. 

[Ryan Reynolds]

6 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

award expansion? Oscar already expanded their best picture field to more than five by the time when HG series came out. Best Makeup maybe and not much else. 

not really, it wasn't 10 nominees until after 2020, it was often only 8, if no movie got enough votes. Now they nominate the top 10, often 2 undeserved nominations for blockbusters now