Two Jews On The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

The revolution is on!…Well not exactly. This is Hollywood after all and they’re all about ‘the money’. We all know that Suzanne Collins’ trilogy is big money. So the powers to be have decided to stretch out the last book, which means you’re going to have to wait 365 days to see the actual revolution. ‘Mockingjay’ Part One is what I’d call ‘foreplay’.

The film begins with Katniss Everdeen (the always wonderful Jennifer Lawrence) waking up in District 13. For those of you who don’t remember, at the end of ‘Catching Fire’ Miss Everdeen was whisked away from the games and taken to this hidden underground city.It’s here, where the Panem’s rebels have carved out their own ordered society. The President of District 13, Alma Coin (the always interesting, Julianne Moore) who’s so much nicer than the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is looking for a human symbol to lead the uprising against the capitol. Alma is not convinced, despite the assurances of Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), that Katniss is the one to inspire the people to revolt. You can’t blame her really. Our heroine spends her time moping over Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who’s being held at the Capitol along with several other tributes. Because of his videos urging the rebels to give up, everyone has marked Peeta a traitor. After Plutarch convinces Katniss that the people need her, she agrees to shoot her own videos to inspire the folks to stand up to the tyranny they’ve experienced for so long. Unfortunately, these videos show a very stiff and extremely dull Katniss. There’s only one thing to do…Take her to District 12, so she can experience first hand, the destruction that the Capitol has wrought. So along with Effie Trinket, (Elizabeth Banks) who’s in shock that her wigs and flamboyant wardrobe have been replaced with head scarves and dull grey overalls, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) and Heavensbee she returns to her home and sees the wasteland it has become. As Katniss walks among the dead rotting bodies, she finally comes alive and the ‘Mockingjay’ is born.
The film directed Francis Lawrence and written by Peter Craig and Danny Strong does have some good moments, but unfortunately I found a great deal of it, slow and even repetitious.

For me ‘Mockingjay’ which opens in theatres Friday November 21, 20014 just doesn’t live up to what I’ve come to expect from this franchise. The most moving moment of the film was at the end, when the credits rolled. ‘Mockingjay’ is dedicated to Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I gave this third installement 31/2 bagels out of 5.

Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts.

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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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