Two Jews On The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Once more we return to the 12th district in the dystopian world of Panem, ruled by the super evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

The film begins as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games, along with her best friend and fake soul man, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) are about to go out on a ‘Victors Tour’

Life is good for both Katniss and Peeta…They live in comfortable houses, have all the food they could possibly want, nice clothing and are the ‘darlings’ of Panem.

Of course, there is a price for all of these goodies…They have to keep up the charade of being madly in love with one another.

This proves extremely difficult for Katniss, since, as we all know, her true love is, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) who now works in the 12th district’s mines.

That’s not the only thing difficult for Katniss. She’s haunted by all the people she was forced to kill in the Games and it’s hard for her to hide this…All you have to do is look in her eys and you know, this is one pissed off lady.

It’s especially obvious to President Snow who pays Katniss a visit in her new home. He lets Katniss know, that he’s watching her and she better not screw up…Which translates to..If you don’t go along with the program, I’ll kill everyone you’ve ever loved.

Lucky for Katniss, Haymitch Abernathy (the wonderful Woody Harrelson) and Effie Trinket, (the also wonderful, Elizabeth Banks) is by her side as she and Peeta set out to visit all of the districts.

Along the way, Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering…and so does Snow, who blames Katniss and decides this lady must die. The question is…How to do this, without upsetting her many, many fans.

Thanks to Snow’s new Games director, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) they come up with The Quarter Quell, aka The 75th Annual Hunger Games, where all the past Victors have to fight for their life once more.

Little did Snow realize, that this event would change Panem forever.

‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ is directed by Francis Lawrence (no relation to Jennifer) and he did a killer job. I absolutely loved this film and enjoyed it so much more than the first one.

It’s filled with surprises, excitement and great performances by the supporting cast, including fellow Victors…Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen (the oldest Victor to fight), Sam Clafin. Lenny Kravitz as Katniss costume designer, Cinna is back as well.

Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn wrote the screenplay based on the novel ‘Catching Fire’ by Suzanne Collins.

I gave ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ five bagels out of five. I promise you, fans of the books will not be disappointed.

Check out our video for John’s bagel rating. HINT: It was definitely very different than mine.

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Joan and John Schwartz

Joan and John Schwartz are ex New Yorkers, living in Los Angeles. They are married and see a lot of films. They usually disagree but always tell it like it is. John is most famous for creating the cult classic films Faces of Death. He has also written for various prime time series and has written movies for both Showtime and HBO. In the world of reality television John has produced, written and directed over 450 segments for various magazine shows He has also written and Executive Produced several Prime-Time Specials. Joan has appeared on the New York Stage on and off Broadway…and has been in several Los Angeles theater productions as well.. Joan has been in several low budget films and at present she is busy writing screenplays with her husband, John.

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