Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

                                                           Catching Fire Review

The second movie of The Hunger Games series starts out sometime after the first one and from very early on Katniss(Jenifer Lawrence) is warned by President Snow that he doesn't believe her act of her and Peeta(Josh Hutcherson) being in love and if she isn't able to convince him while they're on their victory tour he'll make sure to find a way to destroy her and the people she loves. The victory tour shows Katniss and Peeta how them both surviving and more importantly Katniss herself have become a symbol of hope which is something that doesn't sit well with the capital which leads to Katniss and Peeta having to witness the deaths of people who show their support to them which is rather horrific thing to witness.

In the end Snow isn't convinced that Katniss loves Peeta so he decides to use the fact that this year is the 75th anniversary of the hunger games as an excuse to have all the victors destroyed but most importantly Katniss who is the one that has inspired rebellion in the districts. Since this hunger games is for the victors it's a whole different system with having most of the victors actually knowing each other for years and being friends which really makes them more unit against the capital especially since they're all pissed that they have to compete again.

Some of my favorite victors where Johanna Mason(Jena Malone) who is just so furious at the capital and didn't hide it for a second which was one of things that I loved most about her. There was Finnick Odair(Sam Claflin) who is so extremely charismatic and charming it's pretty much impossible to dislike him but he's also a very good fighter and caring with how he did his best to protect Mags(Lynn Cohen) even though he knew that chances where that she wouldn't survive the games. I also really loved Beetee(Jeffery Wright) and Wiress(Amanda Plummer) who won the games because of their intellect rather than physical strength.

The games in this film were much different from the first because there were a lot more working together rather than just trying to kill each other like the first one was. The deaths in this film where a lot more effective to me because most of the characters that died I actually liked and cared about so it made me cry when they died. It was also clear through out the film that the real enemies weren't the other tributes but rather Snow and the capital and I feel like this made the movies better.

The romantic subplot with Katniss and Peeta  I ended up enjoying a lot more because they were both so set on making sure that the other one survives because they feel that each other is more important then themselves. I overall really love this movie and there's a lot of other things about this movie I loved that I didn't mention in this review but I don't really know how to mention all of them. I thought that the acting and directing where great as well. Please tell me your thoughts on this movie.

Movie Review: The Go Getter

                                                            The Go Getter Review

The Go Getter is about a boy named Mercer (played Lou Taylor Pucci who I had seen previously in The Chumscrubber and Fifty Pills I enjoyed both of those films as well) who after impulsively stealing a car goes on a road trip to find his older brother Arlen who he hasn’t seen since he was 5 but he feels has to tell him that their mother died 8 in half months ago. But the person’s car he stole calls the cell she had previously left in the car and then tells him she won’t file charges as long as he tells her about his trip ( the car owner is played by Zooey Deschanel who I’d seen previously in Almost Famous and 500 Days of Summer). On the trip Mercer discovers Arlen wasn’t a very nice guy which ended up making him hard to find. Also in the beginning and middle part of the film Mercer decides to travel with Joely( played by Jena Malone who’s one of my favorite actresses and I’ve seen her in Donnie Darko, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys, and Saved), a girl that he went to middle school with. After losing his virginity to Joely she ends up having to male friends take along on the trip and since she seems to by having sex with one of them Mercer sees she’s just using him so he goes on without her. A while later he meets up the owner of the car, Kate and they travel together. In the end Mercer is able to relay his message to Arlen and Mercer and Kate go to Louisiana to scatter his mother’s ashes.

I liked this film overall it was odd but most indie films seem to be but I liked the story and the main character. I liked the way the phone calls between Mercer and Kate seemed to tie the film together and relayed background information and developed their unlikely friendship. I felt that the acting overall was good but I think Lou Taylor Pucci was most definitely the best but his character had the most to go through and was on screen the most. I’ll give this film a 4 out of 5 stars.