Before we begin, I must warn you that this post contains more giant picture than any other blog post I have ever made. If the sight of large images of people causes fear, severe amnesia, cramps, baby lumps, or general vomitous confusion, STOP READING NOW. If you are okay with obnoxious pictures placed by a lone Hunger Games blogger just — *sobbing* — trying to make points, please continue…!

I present to you: Cinna. The super awesome *spoiler! don’t read!* secret-double-agent- *end of the long spoiler section* -also-stylist-man-o-combos! I always particularly liked his character in the books. He was the only sane part of the Capitol. He was the calm, normal looking voice of reason for Katniss. While everyone else had crazy hair and body changes, he only had golden eye-liner. And let’s be honest, that was probably just so he could blend in. He was the one who knew everything. He was the one who knew his fate, accepted it, and sacrificed himself. He was awesome. On a side note, I think Lenny Kravitz was a good choice! Weirdly enough, I also pictured him as black in my head. I don’t think the book ever mentioned his skin tone, though. I guess me and Gary Ross think similarly. (If you don’t know who Gary Ross is, he’s the dude directing The Hunger Games. People have asked me that. Get ITK (in the know), guys.) And moving from the normalcy that is Cinna to the opposite end of the spectrum, we have…

Caesar Flickerman, folks! That’s the man with sparkly blue in the picture above. He also has blue hair in the picture, though it may be hard to tell. This one is interesting for me. In a way, I like it, though it’s not at all how I pictured him. I honestly pictured him a bit like a clown. The book says he’s ancient, yet has had so much plastic surgery that his face looks stretched thin. That doesn’t come through at all in the images of Stanley Tucci portraying him so far. At least his hair is the right color. He’s supposed to be a weak, perpetually ecstatic person who’s face is almost stuck in a huge smile. When reading the books, I imagined his personality as that of Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter from the latest Alice in Wonderland. He had the exact weird, perpetually ecstatic, crazed, almost-brainwashed voice and personality that I imaged Caesar having. Even when the Mad Hatter talked seriously, his voice sounded unnatural, as if it wanted to say something happy. He even looked like he was trying to hide his age with so much makeup, and his wardrobe was undeniably Capitol worthy.

Thus, when Stanley Tucci says in interviews that Flickerman “is going to be just as you pictured him,” he’s lying. But he may still be cool! He certainly looks the part of a flashy announcer. Please note my perpetual positive twists — I really do want this film to succeed. But for the entire series to succeed the films need a very strong, deep, relentlessly evil portrayal of…

*Insert Imperial March here* The nefarious President Snow, played by Donald Sutherland. I think he was a fine choice… at least for this movie. President Snow’s character is so much more integral later in the series in ways that make me worry about Donald Sutherland. Really, he’s one of my least favorite of the character choices. He looks too stereotypical of a bad-guy and lacks the deep psychological twist his character had in the books. In a post-Dark Knight age, we demand our truly evil villains be more realistic, more human, more psychologically off. Especially when President Snow was written that way in the series. If you want to know how I pictured President Snow, it was as follows:

I basically took John Malkovich from Dangerous Liaisons (which — on a side point — is a story I absolutely loathe, but his character is great) and imagined Snow acting and looking like that. With bloody lips. If the film makers needed an older Snow, they could have taken the lower image. Why didn’t they listen to me?? Why aren’t Donald Sutherland’s lips bloody? That was his best feature! They’re so important!

There you have it! My preliminary reaction to the characters seen in the trailer. Sure, you could argue Prue and others were seen, but not enough has been shown at this point for me to make a judgment call. If you are wondering, though, I think Prue looks good.

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

Here’s Gale looking at Katniss during one of their wilderness excursions. While the trailer does indicate the film will follow the book very closely, they have to trim or change some things to fit the time. We just have to accept it. The book lists and mentions several of their excursions outside the fence which introduce important story elements. I’d bet Lionsgate combines some of the excursions into one, or else introduces plot points in other areas of the story. My worry about Gale is the fact Liam Hemsworth is playing him. He did a Miley Cyrus movie before this, for crying out loud. I hope he can actually act worth a crap, and he’s not just Lionsgate’s cheap knock-off of the Twilight werewolf guy (ie – just eye-candy for the tweeny girls).

Effie: “Primrose Everdeen!”

Prim looks exactly like I pictured her in my mind. No joke. She also looks relatable to Jennifer Lawrence, so +1 for the casting department. I included Katniss’s reaction in the picture because it almost gave me goosebumps. Jennifer Lawrence is such a good actress. In any of you haven’t seen Winter’s Bone, pick it up. She was nominated for an Oscar (TM or R or whatever).

Next we have the Peeta series. I included this one as a series of shots to show his various looks in one place, as well as to show the emotional differences visible at different points in the trailer. I was honestly worried about Josh Hutcherson from the moment he was cast. He’s fine and all, I got nothin’ against the guy, but I just couldn’t see him as Peeta. Weirdly, I did picture Peeta looking similar to him in my mind, but Josh Hutcherson isn’t even a blonde! However, after this trailer, he has me more convinced than any of the other actors combined. His emotion looking at Katniss after being chosen, his reaction to the country-side wizzing bye, his unsure look at the crowd before he admits his love to *mumble* are perfect.

The Capitol is… not… actually a character. However, it does look… interesting. Honestly, my first reaction was “looks stupid, and… yup, pretty fake”. This was the weak point in the trailer for me. Sure, it looks vast and kind-of cool, but it just looks like something out of the Star Wars prequels, not out of something as amazing as The Hunger Games. By that, I mean it looks vast, clearly computer generated, and lifeless. Reminds me of Coruscant, and not in a good way. To compare, here’s a picture of Coruscant and the Capitol together:

Yup... pretty much Coruscant.

Look for the conclusion to this character dissection in part two…

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

As any good reader of the book series can tell you, the trailer didn’t show any of the games themselves. Personally, I found that to be pretty cool. The trailer ended with the countdown to the games starting and the tributes sprinting towards the cornucopia. EPIC ending. However, there was a reasoning behind this! In a statement released by Lionsgate last week, they said:

“SANTA MONICA, CA (November 14, 2011) – The full trailer for the highly anticipated upcoming film THE HUNGER GAMES…. only shows footage from the first half of the film, chronicling events leading up to but not including the Games themselves.”
This was apparently done “In an attempt to preserve the anticipation and mystery that fans are relishing”.

Veh-hy interesting! Expect a two-part dissection of the trailer coming later this week.

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

My thoughts are, and I quote, “HOLY-MOLY-ME-OH-MAH GIMME MOAR” end-quote. It looks fantastic. Really. What I was most surprised about was how faithful to the story it looks like the film will be. Too often do we get annoying summary films of books that leave out so much that you end up walking out of the theater making excuses to your illiterate friends like “I swear, the original is wayy better than this was! Really!” *cough* The Last Airbender *cough* *cough* Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – no, seriously. That book was the longest of the first four, and the shortest movie. I hadn’t read the fourth book at the time I saw it. It made no sense. It was awful. I was confused. End of example. *cough* The Hunger Games, however, looks like it will really stick to the original book.

One worrisome thing is the rating. The trailer was rated PG. In Canada it was rated G. That worries me. Thankfully, the rating only applies to the trailer, not the film itself. After all, the film is still in post-production, there’s no way it has a rating yet. So why did Lionsgate try for the “G” rating? Down With the Capitol says what they think the reasoning for this is:

The ‘G’ Rating only applies to the film’s trailer– probably a move on Lionsgate’s part to ensure that it can run before as many films as possible (trailers rated above a G are limited as to which kinds of movies they can run with).

So I really don’t think we have much to worry about on this front. But this does bring me to the point of ratings. Anyone who read the book would (or should) say that the film clearly deserves an “R” rating. This isn’t Harry Potter at school. This isn’t some teenage vampire drama. This is a film about children dying of hunger and murdering each other, usually in rather gruesome ways. However, the film will get a PG-13. We can be pretty sure of that. Lionsgate is laying everything on the line with this movie. If Hunger Games does poorly, it’s questionable whether they will be around to make movies for our kids to see (to put it nicely). They need to get the young-adult audience Harry Potter and Twilight captured.

Another thought occurred to me last night: did this trailer make the least bit of sense to anyone who didn’t read the book? I don’t know a single person who saw the trailer who didn’t like it, but did it make any sense. I know for myself, if I randomly saw that trailer at a theater my first reaction would be “what the heck is going on here??” I asked my dad, who saw the trailer and didn’t read the books: he said he thought it looked great, but had to have some parts explained by my mom and sis. All-in-all, I think we can say the trailer was clearly made as fan-service.

If you HAVEN’T seen the trailer yet, what the &*@# is wrong with you?? watch it here!

According to Mockingjay.net, it’s been confirmed that the Hunger Games trailer is going to run at the beginning of Breaking Dawn (you know, that mushy mess of sparkling vampires movie?). Not that you should go see that movie. I fully expect it will be bad. It would be very cool, however, to see this amazing trailer on the big screen!

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

First up, Vanity Fair recently did a photo shoot with the cast of The Hunger Games film. You can see the main image of the entire cast below. You can check out the rest of the photos over at Vanity Fair. The photos are very well done, even if they’re the same scenery as most Vanity fair photo shoots I’ve seen… though I must admit I don’t know what on earth they have to do with The Hunger Games at all. I realize these are just promo photos of the cast in general, not necessarily related to the film. However, these types of shoots always seem pretty pointless. Honestly I’d like some more pictures of the cast looking grimy and bloody and in the environment the characters will actually be in. The photos remind me of Twilight for some reason, and everyone knows how I feel about that series.

Next up is some Peeta information. As you all should know, Josh Hutcherson is playing Peeta in the film. Along with the Vanity Fair photo shoot above, the cast was also interviewed by the magazine and posted some quotes on their site. Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) had some interesting things to say:

JENNIFER LAWRENCE: “Katniss is an incredible character: she’s a hunter but not a killer, a 16-year-old who’s being forced into the arena,” says Lawrence. “These kids are killing one another only because if they don’t they’ll die. It’s heartbreaking.”

Josh Hutcherson gave some interesting thoughts on his portrayal of Peeta. However, I find his interview kind of funny. Maybe that’s mean of me, but I couldn’t help but laugh through the following quote. Particularly how he feels he and Peeta relate.

JOSH HUTCHERSON: “I literally read all three books over the course of five days,” he says. “My mind was blown by how much I felt I was like Peeta… a lot of fight scenes, very physically demanding. Jennifer and I totally hit it off. We’re both crazy people—we don’t hold anything back.”

Moving on.

The Hunger Games Fireside Chat (a pretty good Hunger Games podcast, go check it out!) had a contest to make the best national anthem for the fictional nation of Panem. The winner was one known by the rather obviously human name “Alex Pipes”. A Hunger Games musician named Sam Cushion took the lyrics and made a full audio version of the anthem. You can hear the anthem below. And be sure to go check out Senor Cushion’s bandcamp page, he’s made full albums of orchestral music dedicated to The Hunger Games, and they’re pretty great!

Panem Anthem by samcushion

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

First up, Vanity Fair recently did a photo shoot with the cast of The Hunger Games film. You can see the main image of the entire cast below. You can check out the rest of the photos over at Vanity Fair. The photos are very well done, even if they’re the same scenery as most Vanity fair photo shoots I’ve seen… though I must admit I don’t know what on earth they have to do with The Hunger Games at all. I realize these are just promo photos of the cast in general, not necessarily related to the film. However, these types of shoots always seem pretty pointless. Honestly I’d like some more pictures of the cast looking grimy and bloody and in the environment the characters will actually be in. The photos remind me of Twilight for some reason, and everyone knows how I feel about that series.

Next up is some Peeta information. As you all should know, Josh Hutcherson is playing Peeta in the film. Along with the Vanity Fair photo shoot above, the cast was also interviewed by the magazine and posted some quotes on their site. Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) had some interesting things to say:

JENNIFER LAWRENCE: “Katniss is an incredible character: she’s a hunter but not a killer, a 16-year-old who’s being forced into the arena,” says Lawrence. “These kids are killing one another only because if they don’t they’ll die. It’s heartbreaking.”

Josh Hutcherson gave some interesting thoughts on his portrayal of Peeta. However, I find his interview kind of funny. Maybe that’s mean of me, but I couldn’t help but laugh through the following quote. Particularly how he feels he and Peeta relate.

JOSH HUTCHERSON: “I literally read all three books over the course of five days,” he says. “My mind was blown by how much I felt I was like Peeta… a lot of fight scenes, very physically demanding. Jennifer and I totally hit it off. We’re both crazy people—we don’t hold anything back.”

Moving on.

The Hunger Games Fireside Chat (a pretty good Hunger Games podcast, go check it out!) had a contest to make the best national anthem for the fictional nation of Panem. The winner was one known by the rather obviously human name “Alex Pipes”. A Hunger Games musician named Sam Cushion took the lyrics and made a full audio version of the anthem. You can hear the anthem below. And be sure to go check out Senor Cushion’s bandcamp page, he’s made full albums of orchestral music dedicated to The Hunger Games, and they’re pretty great!

Panem Anthem by samcushion

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.

MOVING AWN – you can find the posters below with links to their various sites of origin.

Yahoo! Movies - "When her younger sister is drafted in the brutal, televised death match called the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place."

MTV - "...as any bona fide "Hunger Games" acolyte will tell you, Peeta boasts plenty of mettle without my meddling. "

Moviefone - "Gale is Katniss Everdeen's (Jennifer Lawrence) best friend, confidant and hunting partner."

Teen.com - "(This is a) SUPER EXCLUSIVE pic of Rue, AKA Katniss’s BFF during the games." -- Yeah... thanks. Worst description ever, Teen.com.

MSN Movies - "Cato hails from District 2 (the one responsible for mining and weapons), and he's been training for the Games for his entire life. One of the "Career" Tributes, he's one of the fiercest competitors of the Games."

IGN - "After winning The Second Quarter Quell and enduring the deaths of his loved ones, Haymitch isolated himself and turned to drink. But in Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, Haymitch finds a pair of tributes with a chance of winning the Hunger Games. "

EW - "(Effie is District 12's) tinny and willfully oblivious handler as they navigate the reaping and Capitol... She’s a wonderful comic turn of a role, with great layers of menace and vulnerability."

Fandango - "(Cinna is) Katniss's stylist, who designs and makes all of her very elaborate outfits for the games... His only distinct feature is a slight touch of gold eyeliner that brings out the gold flecks in his eyes."

Some thoughts about the posters:

1. Everyone is facing to the left except Katniss. I think this is pretty clearly a symbolic choice regarding her character in relation to the other characters/Panem in general.
2. Peeta looks so young. Even more-so than in the set pics released thusfar. I suppose he is supposed to be a teenager, though. Just as long as Gale doesn’t continue to look older/more mature. That guy just rubs me the wrong way… [Note: obvious shipping]
3. Rue is the only one looking down.
4. I always pictured Cato as big. Like, really big. The Hunger Games Wiki describes him as “[a] huge, hulking male tribute from District 2 [who] was not one you wanted to mess with. Nasty, mean, and unrelenting…” I pictured him basically as Thor when I read the book. A giant, obnoxious, cocky, strong muscle-head loser. Instead, here we have a young, trim-looking guy with hair so fuzzy even this random [kind-of fuzzy] cat would be jealous.
5. Haymitch. This is the first snippet we’ve been given regarding how Haymitch Abernathy will look. Wow. He looks even younger than I thought Peeta would. I always pictured him as an old, beat-up drunkard. Given my last post, I know most other fans thought of him like that, too. I’m glad they went with a different look, though. He just looks so young, dapper, and… well-shaven. Especially considering what Woody Harrelson usually looks like. I’m going to assume this is Haymitch’s post-Capitol-arrival look, and not his falling-off-stage-drunk look.
6. I was most excited to see the Rue and Haymitch posters. However, after viewing them all I have to say I am most intrigued by the Effie and Cinna poster. Effie in particular. Effie is such an interesting, annoying character in the books. As Entertainment Weekly describes her, “She is like your most high-strung, possibly dangerous, occasionally endearing relative at intense family gatherings. She needs everything to go just perfect or she could very well snap.” When I see this poster for her, I can’t help but think Helena Bonham Carter – in a good way. I can’t help but see some mish-mash of Bellatrix meets Queen Elizabeth meets the Red Queen. But that’s just me.
7. Cinna’s character has always been one of my favorites. His backstory and motives are so interesting, I honestly think they deserve a novel all their own. When I heard that rocker Lenny Kravitz would be portraying the stylist, my first reaction was honestly “cool!” Down inside, though, I felt a twinge of “uh-oh” welling up. That welling is quite gone by now, and I’m excited to see him as Cinna. Can’t put my finger on why, but I think he’s the perfect choice.

Any thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Sound off!

May the odds be ever odd,
Sam.

MOVING AWN – you can find the posters below with links to their various sites of origin.

Yahoo! Movies - "When her younger sister is drafted in the brutal, televised death match called the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place."

MTV - "...as any bona fide "Hunger Games" acolyte will tell you, Peeta boasts plenty of mettle without my meddling. "

Moviefone - "Gale is Katniss Everdeen's (Jennifer Lawrence) best friend, confidant and hunting partner."

Teen.com - "(This is a) SUPER EXCLUSIVE pic of Rue, AKA Katniss’s BFF during the games." -- Yeah... thanks. Worst description ever, Teen.com.

MSN Movies - "Cato hails from District 2 (the one responsible for mining and weapons), and he's been training for the Games for his entire life. One of the "Career" Tributes, he's one of the fiercest competitors of the Games."

IGN - "After winning The Second Quarter Quell and enduring the deaths of his loved ones, Haymitch isolated himself and turned to drink. But in Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, Haymitch finds a pair of tributes with a chance of winning the Hunger Games. "

EW - "(Effie is District 12's) tinny and willfully oblivious handler as they navigate the reaping and Capitol... She’s a wonderful comic turn of a role, with great layers of menace and vulnerability."

Fandango - "(Cinna is) Katniss's stylist, who designs and makes all of her very elaborate outfits for the games... His only distinct feature is a slight touch of gold eyeliner that brings out the gold flecks in his eyes."

Some thoughts about the posters:

1. Everyone is facing to the left except Katniss. I think this is pretty clearly a symbolic choice regarding her character in relation to the other characters/Panem in general.
2. Peeta looks so young. Even more-so than in the set pics released thusfar. I suppose he is supposed to be a teenager, though. Just as long as Gale doesn’t continue to look older/more mature. That guy just rubs me the wrong way… [Note: obvious shipping]
3. Rue is the only one looking down.
4. I always pictured Cato as big. Like, really big. The Hunger Games Wiki describes him as “[a] huge, hulking male tribute from District 2 [who] was not one you wanted to mess with. Nasty, mean, and unrelenting…” I pictured him basically as Thor when I read the book. A giant, obnoxious, cocky, strong muscle-head loser. Instead, here we have a young, trim-looking guy with hair so fuzzy even this random [kind-of fuzzy] cat would be jealous.
5. Haymitch. This is the first snippet we’ve been given regarding how Haymitch Abernathy will look. Wow. He looks even younger than I thought Peeta would. I always pictured him as an old, beat-up drunkard. Given my last post, I know most other fans thought of him like that, too. I’m glad they went with a different look, though. He just looks so young, dapper, and… well-shaven. Especially considering what Woody Harrelson usually looks like. I’m going to assume this is Haymitch’s post-Capitol-arrival look, and not his falling-off-stage-drunk look.
6. I was most excited to see the Rue and Haymitch posters. However, after viewing them all I have to say I am most intrigued by the Effie and Cinna poster. Effie in particular. Effie is such an interesting, annoying character in the books. As Entertainment Weekly describes her, “She is like your most high-strung, possibly dangerous, occasionally endearing relative at intense family gatherings. She needs everything to go just perfect or she could very well snap.” When I see this poster for her, I can’t help but think Helena Bonham Carter – in a good way. I can’t help but see some mish-mash of Bellatrix meets Queen Elizabeth meets the Red Queen. But that’s just me.
7. Cinna’s character has always been one of my favorites. His backstory and motives are so interesting, I honestly think they deserve a novel all their own. When I heard that rocker Lenny Kravitz would be portraying the stylist, my first reaction was honestly “cool!” Down inside, though, I felt a twinge of “uh-oh” welling up. That welling is quite gone by now, and I’m excited to see him as Cinna. Can’t put my finger on why, but I think he’s the perfect choice.

Any thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Sound off!

May the odds be ever odd,
Sam.