Unimportant Musings

Well, I'll be damned.

The second Hunger Games movie surprised me. That change of director made all the difference¹. That seizure-inducing shaky cam is gone, and good riddance, and almost everyone and everything was on point. What Finnick lacked in looks was more than compensated for by his characterization and acting, and Joanna just plain rocked, to say nothing of the old faces of Effie, Haymitch, Flickerman, and Snow, all of whom really stepped up their game this time. The movie, with a two-plus-hour running time, also had fantastic pacing; the pre-game hubbub was just as entertaining as the actual games. There were a few hiccups, but nothing deal-breaking. I got my money's worth.

But there's a hole in my memory where that abortion of a third book should be, so I pray they do their own thing and not let themselves be held back by mediocrity to rehash still more mediocrity. The world has enough to deal with. Actually, with the amount of angry skimming I did, I'd fail spectacularly at those cheesy quizzes concerning what went on in that book. Don't dare let Sutherland, Hoffman, and now Moore go to waste. If only Ender's Game, from what I've been hearing, which isn't making me brim with confidence, were half as good, but we can't have all the nice things.

¹Can Francis Lawrence go back and remake the first one?