Not as Hungry as I'd Like

These four notes are etched into my memory for all time. Not necessarily because of how great this movie is (it isn't all that great), but because this movie was crazy hyped. I felt like there was constant advertising of it. And, I'll admit, I was very excited. That changed when I left the theater.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Hunger Games movie. Catching Fire simply did not live up to the first one. I did enjoy Catching Fire, but I thought it would be more enjoyable. I feel like the story just wasn't as engaging, and the characters seemed a little flat. Not all of the characters were flat though. I thought Elizabeth Banks actually did a fantastic job in this movie as Effie. Josh Hutcherson was also pretty solid just like in the first movie.

I will say that the movie is believably set up for the 3rd installment (I know the third movie is being broken up into two but whatever), so I don't feel like the series is unnecessarily carrying on. I think i've been too harsh on the movie. It definitely has it's moments. Lenny Kravitz? Exactly. Also, the introduction of Philip Seymour Hoffman was a welcome addition. Overall, this was pretty good. Not as good as the first, but close enough.

7/10. Entertaining. I'll watch again if I binge watch the quadrilogy at some point.

White House Fun

White House Down is no Air Force One. It's better. Although the two movies have the same rating on IMDb, WHD (yes I have acrnoymized White House Down to WHD, sue me) doesn't take itself seriously, and knows how to party. If you don't enjoy Roland Emmerich's work then we probably can't watch movie's together.

First and foremost. I like Channing Tatum. If this is what he is like in other movies then I'd be willing to see that one where his fiance forgets him or something. He plays opposite Jamie Foxx perfectly. This movie is like everyone showed up and said "Let's have some fun." Except Maggie Gyllenhaal. Her performance added some unneeded gravitas to the whole affair. But have no fear! Reliable supporting actor Richard Jenkins shows up with snark at maximum level as a congressman.

If this movie shows up on cable tv and you haven't already seen it 10 times, watch it again. This is classic style action movie absurdity. The story is not believable, but the the movie is entertaining. Not much else needs to be said about this one.

8/10, will have to watch again, great action movie

Gatsby! Gatsby! Not Gatsby.

Baz Luhrmann made The Great Gatsby exactly the way everyone should have expected him to make it. Did you see Romeo and Juliet? Moulin Rouge!? What was everyone expecting from this movie? If you were expecting something on the same level as the actual book then I completely understand your disappointment. If you went into this thinking "Hey, this is a Baz Luhrmann movie, I bet it will be visually over the top," then you probably enjoyed it, like I did.

The acting in this is not great. It isn't bad either. Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Carey Mulligan all mailed it in. Although, Ms. Mulligan may not have realized she was mailing it in. Leo and Tobey surely knew that was not their best performance. I really enjoyed two of the performances in this movie: Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, and Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim. Edgerton and Bachchan both were believable with just the right dose of over-the-top for their respective characters.

One more thing. I enjoyed the soundtrack. I think a lot of people didn't think it was a good fit for the story, but I thought it kept the tempo rather well, and was a nice background.

Overall, I'm happy I saw this movie. It's not great, but it is worth seeing. 7/10, which coincidentally is close to it's rating on IMDb.