The Hunger Games: Catching Fire—Better Than The First One

 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, directed by Francis Lawrence

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games. It stars Jennifer Lawrence at Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne.

This film takes place after the events of the first film. Katniss and Peeta have won the Hunger Games. They now live in the Victor’s Village in District 12. Because of their stunt with the poisonous berries, Katniss and Peeta have started a rebellion.

Katniss and Peeta at a speaking engagement in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss and Peeta travel to the other districts to say a few words about their competitors in the Hunger Games. When they go to District 11, they go off script and say nice things about Rue. A fight breaks out in the crowd, and a man is killed.

Pretty soon, Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) find out that there will be another Hunger Games. This Hunger Games, however, will only include past victors. Katniss and Peeta are chosen to compete again. (District 12 only had three past victors: Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch.)

Before the Hunger Games start, Katniss and Peeta meet up with their stylists. Katniss’s stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) makes a wedding dress for Katniss. When Katniss twirls around on stage, the dress turns into a different dress. The new dress is a dress that looks like it’s made of fire. Katniss’s nickname is “The Girl on Fire.” Katniss and Peeta did not actually get married; they are just pretending that they did. During the interview with Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), Peeta says that Katniss is pregnant. This is also not true.

Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss and Peeta go through training with the other victors. They meet Finnick Odair (a blond Sam Claflin) and Johanna Mason (a very funny Jena Malone). Finnick is a flirt and seems like a nice guy. Johanna is a very angry young woman who does not want to be competing in the Hunger Games again. Katniss wants to join forces with Mags, Beetie, and Wiress.

Once the Hunger Games start, Katniss and Peeta find out that many of the other competitors want to help them win. At first, Katniss and Peeta are working alone. Later, they run into Finnick and Mags. Mags gets killed. Even later, Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick meet up with Johanna, Beetie, and Wiress. Wiress keeps saying “tick-tock.” At first, everyone thinks she’s speaking nonsense, but then Katniss realizes that Wiress is speaking of a clock. The different obstacles change based on the time of day.

Beetie forms a plan, which involves placing coils in the water. This will electrocute the other tributes. Johanna knocks Katniss out by taking out her tracer. The Hunger Games ends quickly after Katniss shoots the force field, which knocks out the power on the TV screens.

Katniss, Finnick, and Beetie are taken to District 13. After being healed, Katniss receives a visit from Gale, who says that Katniss’s mother and sister are safe in District 13. He says most of the people from District 12 got out and went to District 13. District 13 supposedly does not exist. Katniss gets up and goes into another room where she finds Finnick, Haymitch, and Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) talking. Plutarch is the New Gamekeeper for the Hunger Games. He is secretly working against the Capitol with Finnick and Haymitch. Peeta and Johanna have been taken to the Capitol. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 will deal with Katniss trying to find Peeta.

Jena Malone as Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I really liked The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. My favorite characters are Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), Caesar Flickerman, Finnick Odair, and Johanna Mason. I thought the action was really good as were the special effects. The acting was good, especially Jennifer Laurence’s portrayal of Katniss. There was a lot of humor, courtesy of Johanna Mason.

I would recommend The Hunger Games: Catching Fire to fans of The Hunger Games books, fans of The Hunger Games film, and fans of action /adventure films. I would give The Hunger Games: Catching Fire an A because it was a really good movie.

The Hunger Pains: A Parody— Better Than Nightlight

The Hunger Pains: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon

The Hunger Pains: A Parody is a parody of Susanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. The Hunger Pains: A Parody,is written by The Harvard Lampoon. The Harvard Lampoon is also the author of Nightlight (a parody of Twilight) and Bored of the Rings (a parody of The Lord of the Rings). Having read Nightlight, and not liking it that much, I can say that The Hunger Pains: A Parody is a much better book than Nightlight. While I have not read Bored of the Rings, I would like to read it in the future.

The Harvard Lampoon changes the characters’ names in The Hunger Pains: A Parody. Instead of Katniss Everdeen, the main character’s name is Kantkiss Neverclean. Instead of Peeta Mellark, the love interest’s name is Pita Malarkey. Gale Hawthorne becomes Carol Handsomestein. Effie becomes Effu. Katniss’s sister Prim becomes Prin, which is short for Princess. One of Kantkiss and Pita’s competitors in the Hunger Games is named Archie Nemesis. Archie Nemesis is a play on words; Archie Nemesis is not a very nice character. In fact, he’s a ruthless killer.

Description of Winning The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games used to be an eating contest, but quickly became a fight to the death in which one tribute was named the victor after killing all the other tributes. There is a lot of emphasis on food, especially in the depiction of Pita Malarkey. Pita is obsessed with food, and is always eating something. Pita is also depicted as being needy, whiny, and fat. In The Hunger Games, Peeta suffers a serious leg injury; in The Hunger Pains: A Parody, Pita suffers from a bloody finger.

Kantkiss and Run in a comic book version of The Hunger Pains

Instead of being an alcoholic like he is in The Hunger Games, Haymitch’s character Buttich in The Hunger Pains: A Parody is a gambler. He bets on everything, including the tributes he’s in charge of. He predicts that Pita will die and Kantkiss will die fourth. Rue has been changed to Run, a baby who makes stinky poo. A lot of the characters fart. At Super Fun Day, everyone in the crowd puts their middle finger in the air.

I did not like that Pita dies on the operating table during a breast reduction surgery. I thought it was weird that he came back to life as a chubby puppy with a bagel around its neck. I thought it was weird how Kantkiss fell for Archie Nemesis, even though Archie doesn’t even like her. Archie’s allergy to puppies was pretty interesting. I liked how Kantkiss played with the puppies, but why were there puppies there in the first place? I thought it was disgusting when Pita blew his nose on a hamburger bun and then Buttich ate it and exclaimed that he didn’t know these things had mayonnaise on them.

Overall, I thought The Hunger Pains: A Parody was pretty silly. I laughed out loud many times. Some aspects of The Hunger Games have been taken out or changed. Some parts of The Hunger Pains: A Parody were made up. I would recommend The Hunger Pains: A Parody to fans of The Hunger Games and fans of humor. I would give The Hunger Pains: A Parody a B, because it was good, but not great.