Bird's the word

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Crit

"That didn't suck" is how I began my review of The Hunger Games, almost 20 months ago. Reviews had been weak, and I had really enjoyed the book, and my expectations were low. This time reviews have been enthusiastic, but I thought the middle book of the trilogy was a decline from the first in just about every way, so I didn't know what to expect.

Well, not only does this one not suck, it's pretty terrific, an improvement on the book in pacing and in achieving (for me, anyway) the emotional response necessary to make us want these people not only to live but to carry us forth into the final third (books) or half (film, since as seems de rigueur nowadays for adaptations of trilogies--coincidentally, on that 4/1/12 when I saw The Hunger Games, I also had my first look at the trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2--the third book will be split into two movies).

All the additions to the cast, especially Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer as Beetee and Wiress and Jena Malone as Johanna (yes, the flash-in-the-elevator scene is included, yes, it's very funny, and--spoiler alert--no, we don't get Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch's pov), own their roles, and while I could complain that Paula Malcomson gets less screen time than Ma Everdeen's role in the book promised, that's certainly one reason why the pacing was an improvement over the first film's as well as over the source.

One fine popcorn muncher, that.

Trailers

• Divergent--Pretty sure this isn't a silent film, but the trailer was until the very last instant, when the projection room finally fixed the glitch. Targeted to the audience interested in stories about touch young chicks (Shailene Woodley here) in dystopia.
• I, Frankenstein--Not to be confused with the 2015 treatment of Mary Shelley's story promised on IMDb, this one seems to plop the monster down in the Underworld franchise, or something like it.
• Vampire Academy--A Harry Potter/Clueless mash-up, could be a hoot, or merely hootable.