Thursday, October 27, 2011

PREPARE FOR THE QUARTER QUELL: With the film opening now about five months away, it's time for Hunger Games hype to move into full gear. I'm assuming we'll get a full trailer with one of the Thanksgiving/Christmas blockbusters (sadly, likeliest guess? Breaking Dawn: Part One), but today we get 8 character posters, giving us our first look at Effie Trinket, Haymitch Abernathy, Cinna, and Rue. Nothing of Donald Sutherland's President Snow or Stanley Tucci's Caesar Flinkman yet, but for a film targetted at teens, they're surprisingly dark.

15 comments:

  1. Was there really a less dark option?  The books are dark to the core.  There's no light in which they aren't ice cold bullets to the head. 

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  2. (I don't know why "ice cold bullets" are worse than other bullets in the head, but it seemed right at the time.)

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  3. christy in nyc4:10 PM

    <p>I don't know if there's such a thing as surprisingly dark for a movie poster aimed at teens. Most movies are aimed at teens, though, so it's hard to judge. But here's one from the 2007 Transformers movie.
    </p><p> 
    </p><p>I love the Katniss one.
    </p>

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  4. Duvall4:22 PM

    There's no light in which they aren't ice cold bullets to the head. 

    Well, one significant plotline was resolved in a less Whedonesque fashion than you might expect.  So there's that.

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  5. xlynwoodx4:47 PM

    Lenny Kravitz?  Really?

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  6. Maret5:53 PM

    Maybe it's just me, but I don't really love character posters (regardless of film.) It's a portrait. Which is fine. But even with movies based on books that a huge audience is familiar with, a poster should, I think, get you excited about the story you're going to see. Particularly the first Harry Potter movie poster...I remember seeing that and being so excited...way more excited than a poster with just Harry on it.

    These are fine, but don't do anything to get me excited about a movie based on a book I adored. I'm waiting for something to make me feel that way.

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  7. christy in nyc6:41 PM

    That HP one reminds me of my favorite fan-made Hunger Games one.

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  8. Eric J.8:07 PM

    Agreed. While he can be energetic while performing on stage, I've never hear Lenny Kravitz speak in a tone that would be described as anything other than "laconic." (Or, less charitably, "stoned.")

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  9. Joan H.8:21 PM

    Yes, which is why I find myself (surprisingly) psyched by his casting as Cinna.  One would never describe Cinna as hyper in any way.  Here's hoping Lenny can pull it off.

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  10. JosephFinn2:53 AM

    Yeah, but does this have an animatronic half-vampire baby like Breaking Dawn?  (A really small, small part of me is waiting for some person who's only experienced the movies to completely freak out when the baby claws it's way out. Not to mention the Jacob & Baby oddness.  I'm just saying.)

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  11. Anonymous12:38 PM

    I am worried about this movie.  I let my kid (10) read the book, and that was ok because in print his imagination is at least partially in control of the darkness.  I don't know how this movie could be made adequately without being both gory and haunting to watch.  It will be tough to make the call on whether to let him see it, and hard to say no having agreed to the book and to seeing HP7p2.  I set precedent.  May need to start distinguishing now or he's going to think he's entitled to see it.

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  12. Not Guest, me.

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  13. Genevieve2:07 PM

    I let my 11-year-old read it but told him that he would not be able to see the movie yet, for the same reason you said -- it will be gory, haunting, and indelible.  I figure we'll rent it in a couple/few years for him to see.

    Heck, I'm not sure I can sit through the movie.  I loved this book, but I may have to see this one at home in a lighted room where I can walk out from time to time.

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  14. This won't be an issue for me (my 8-year-old is DEFINITELY not seeing or reading these any time soon), but I totally agree with the sentiment.  Heck, I couldn't even look at the poster for Character X without feeling a little sick inside. 

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  15. KCosmo's neighbor9:13 AM

    My 10-year-old daughter and I tore through these books over the summer; she'll be seeing the movie if she has to crawl there in the middle of the night. That being said, she's a bit of a wuss, so she may go so far as to say "Mom...I can't watch this anymore," if things get out of hand. I'm hopeful that the producers/directors have taken the young adult audience into account. Fingers crossed.

    While we were reading the books and describing the plot to my husband, he enlightened us to the Japanese film Battle Royale. If you think Hunger Games is hard core, try to sit through 5 minutes of Battle Royale. Really, I dare you. It was banned in Japan--that's all I'm sayin. Netflix, apparently, did not ban the movie. I think I lasted 3 minutes and all children were far from the TV at the time.

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