joshuadrake-91275

Well, I have done the first two so I decided to go on and review the other two films in the Hunger Games franchise.

Here is my review of THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1.

The story continues to follow Katniss Everdeen; having twice survived the Hunger Games, Katniss finds herself in District 13. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss reluctantly becomes the symbol of a mass rebellion against the Capitol and fights to save Peeta and a nation moved by her courage.

Now, what I think of this movie. The reason why I am so confused is because I don't hate this movie, but I will say that this might be my least-favorite of the HG movies.

This movie has gotten some unfair hate from critics and fans for " lack of action and for splitting the novel into two separate adaptations.", but it has gotten some nice reviews for the acting.

The acting is strong here again. You have all of the cast members returning including Jennifer Lawrence, who is still attractive as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne. The rest of the cast includes Julianne Moore as President Coin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Evan Ross, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin, Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin and Natalie Dormer, who I think is beautiful and I have recently seen her in the movie "Rush".

The action is sort of lacking in this film because it's in two parts, but this is only the first part so what do you expect? I can't wait for Part 2, it's gonna be packed with action. The music is composed once again by James Newton Howard and the soundtrack is awesome with songs from Coldplay and Imagine Dragons.

The script is not that strong, but it's still okay for this film and I really do like that this film is setting up the epic finale, setting up the end, but I think this movie could have used a lot more action.

The costume and production design is really not horrible either and I give credit to the franchise for being awesome, but it's so messed up that this is the lowest-rated film in this series, as it has a rating of 65% on Rotten Tomatoes and the general consensus is: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 sets up the franchise finale with a penultimate chapter loaded with solid performances and smart political subtext, though it comes up short on the action front." and in it's own way, it is stupid but it's also really not that bad.

The visual effects and action sequences are good as well, so, overall, with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, I both love it and hate it. I like the acting, script, score, soundtrack, visuals, production techniques, but I hate some of the scenes and the lack of action.

6/10.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 Swedish-American mystery thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. This film adaptation was directed by David Fincher and written by Steven Zaillian. Starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.

Mikael Blomkvist is a financial journalist who has been convicted of libel after writing and publishing an article about billionaire financier Hans-Erik Wennerström, that was proved in court to have faulty evidence. After Blomkvist resigns from his position at Millennium Magazine, he is approached by Henrik Vanger for his assistance. Vanger asks him to officially write his memoirs, but to unofficially investigate the dissaperance of his niece, Harriet Vanger, that occurred over 40 years ago. Salander is a ward of the state due to a declaration of incompetence. As Blomkvist begins to investigate the massive Vanger family he realizes he has need for assistance, thus prompting Henrik Vanger to hire Salandar. As the two investigate deeper and deeper into the history of the Vanger family they discover secrets about more than they ever expected.

I liked this movie. The direction by David Fincher was very executed, there were times where I thought that the movie was a little slow or boring but it is David Fincher directing this. The script sticks a little more closer to the original source material that was written by the author Steig Larsson, but the screenplay is written by Steve Zaillian.

The musical score is composed by Trent Renzor and Atticus Ross, who won an Oscar for the 2010 film, "The Social Network", also starred Mara and directed by David Fincher, who also directed another one of my crime thriller favorites, "Seven", starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman and the opening title sequence just blew me away, I could not believe that the title sequence alone told me what kind of film this was going to be and looking at the trailer itself, I remembered what kind of film this was.

The acting is superb. Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist and he does a good job with the role, but he feels like he's acting like James Bond in a few scenes. Stellan Skarsgaard and Yorick van Wagnengian as the antagonists of the two main characters are just creepy. Robin Wright Penn was really good as Erika Berger. I liked the rest of the cast too, especially Joely Richardson and Christopher Plummer.

Now, let me talk about Rooney Mara, who plays the girl with the dragon tattoo herself, Lisbeth Salander. I like Rooney Mara and her sister Kate as actresses and I have not seen Rooney Mara in "The Social Network", but I will say that she was kind of bad in the Freddy Krueger remake as Nancy, but I will defend her and say that she tried. Mara, as Lisbeth, is really good and she's better than Noomi Rapace, who played Lisbeth in the original trilogy, but Rooney Mara, she poured everything into this role, from getting piercings, getting the tattoos put on her, and even kissing James Bond himself, Daniel Craig. She deserved to win that Oscar and I am so upset that she didn't get it.

I would definitely be interested in seeing the other two novels be directed by Fincher and starred Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig as the two main characters, but I still have to read the other two books in the series.

Overall, I'm giving The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a perfect score of 10 out of 10, it does have some things I hated, but I still think this was a really good interesting and entertaining film. This is the definition of an excellent movie adaptation of a very good book directed by one of the greatest directors of all time, David Fincher with an awesome screenplay, musical score and superb acting from everyone including the two powerhouse performances from Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.