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THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES – James Newton Howard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A somewhat belated fifth film in the massively successful Hunger Games franchise, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel set decades before the events of the first four films, which explores the rise to power of Coriolanus Snow, the Donald Sutherland character who would eventually become the dictatorial president of Panem. Here Snow is played by Tom Blyth as an ambitious 18-year-old member of the Panem aristocracy, who is hired to be a mentor for the upcoming 10th Hunger Games, a compulsory televised battle royale in which children from each of Panem’s districts compete to the death. Snow’s mentee is Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from District 12, the same district that Katniss Everdeen would come from 60 years later; problems arise for Snow when he starts to fall in love with Lucy, and then when he discovers that his best friend Sejanus Plinth may be secretly involved with a revolutionary movement intended to topple the government. The film co-stars Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis, and is again directed by Francis Lawrence, who directed the previous three Hunger Games films. Read more…
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART I – James Newton Howard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The third movie in the massively popular Hunger Games franchise based on the novels by Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay is the first part of the epic finale to the story of Katniss Everdeen and her efforts to overthrow the cruel and corrupt government of Panem. It picks up immediately after the events of the second film, Catching Fire, and finds Katniss, having destroyed the hunger games dome built to stage the ‘quarter quell’, being rescued by the rebels and taken to District 13, the stronghold previously thought to be in ruins, but which is actually under the control of rebel leader Alma Coin. Katniss’s actions have instigated an uprising in the other districts, inspiring the ruthless President Snow to retaliate with sadistic military action; not only that, Snow has taken Katniss’s friend Peeta Mullark prisoner, and is using him to spread propaganda against Katniss. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland, is directed by Francis Lawrence, and sees composer James Newton Howard returning for the third time. Read more…
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE – James Newton Howard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Catching Fire is the second film based on the bestselling Hunger Games trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, following on from the smash hit Hunger Games movie last year. Jennifer Lawrence returns to the starring role as Katniss Everdeen, a young woman from a post-apocalyptic America who, along with her compatriot Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), survived their participation in the eponymous games – a gladiatorial-style combat tournament involving children from various impoverished ‘districts’, who fight to the death for the entertainment of the wealthy and decadent inhabitants of the Capital, organized as penance for a popular uprising generations previously. In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta have drawn the ire of the corrupt and sadistic President Snow (Donald Sutherland) for defying the Government and for possibly inciting a potential second uprising within the districts; in response, Snow orders a second, special games called the “quarter quell” in which former winners of the games must compete again, in a nightmarish new battle arena designed to look like the jungle. Read more…
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