Passengers 2016 7+ out of 10

Passengers  2016  7+ out of 10

Passengers is about a space flight to a distant planet that will take 120 years.   Something goes wrong and Jim Preston wakes up 90 years too early. 

It is basically a last man on earth movie abroad a spaceship.  Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt )--can't get his hibernation chamber to work again to go back to sleep.  He is basically doomed to live the rest of his life alone and die before the ship reaches it's destination.    The first part of the film plays out like a more subtle version of the TV show Last Man on Earth.  Jim comes to terms with his dilemma and tries to make the best of it.  Swimming in the pool and doing a space walk and at least he has the cool bartender robot to hang out with.  But after a year alone Jim is all bearded and has gone a little crazy.   He nearly kills himself as a result of his loneliness -and then sits down with the bartender in a scene that reminded me of Jack Nicholson hanging out with the ghost bartender in The Shining.

Of course the smart thing to do would be to try and find someone on board the ship to wake up that could help him get back to sleep--but instead he has fallen in love with a girl named Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence) and decides against his better judgment to wake her up instead.  What lonely guy on a spaceship --wouldn't want to be alone with Jennifer Lawrence?   She like him at first searches for answers and then of course they eventually start to accept their fate and begin to fall for each other. Then of course his secret about waking her up is revealed and let's just say things between them go a little sour.   (Queue the third act)

The ship takes on more damage and Laurence Fishbourne  wakes up from a malfunction in his chamber.  His character Gus is a part of the crew.  They all team up and fight to save the ship as the ship is slowly tearing itself apart from major damage.  You will have to watch the movie yourself to see how that turns out.

A movie like this relies on the main two characters to have great chemistry. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence have just that on screen together and basically make what could be boring scenes to some people interesting.   It is a simple sci-fi movie that I believe was well written and decently paced.  The story was good. The acting was good and the visuals were excellent.  It was an enjoyable movie that I think got more bad reviews than it deserved.   I think maybe the expectations of what the film was going to be may have contributed to that.  I enjoyed it for what it was and give it a 7+ out of 10.   

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2013 4 out of 10

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire  2013  4 out of 10

A Minority Report: (I wish I was watching that movie instead of this one)....What I mean is an opinion from the minority.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was a major disappointment for me.  

Catching Fire meandered  across the screen like a slug slowly making its way to a different section of the garden (Turbo the snail it wasn’t) .   My first attempt at viewing it I fell asleep about 15 minutes into the film.   When I watched the rest of the movie the next day it didn’t hold my attention much better.  The movie took forever to get to the actual Hunger Games (which felt completely forced to me).  The whole concept of another games pitting the previous victors against each other made no logical sense if the government was concerned about Katniss becoming a figure to rally a rebellion around.   If the President really wanted to get things under control he would have killed Katniss off  and pulled a Running Man showing her basking on some tropical island like the previous winners….(Running Man fans will get this reference).  Instead they continue to give her a platform where she can become this figure of rebellion

The movie unfolds in predictable fashion with a less than exciting Games once we actually get to them.   The cheesiness of the other previous winners made me immediately think once again of the Running Man -  (about halfway through the movie I wished I had been watching a remake off that movie instead )  The games themselves despite a few good moments once they first begin quickly get bogged down.  There is a lot more sitting around in the forest  and running away from acid rain  rather than quality action scenes.   I’ve just seen and read a lot better sci-fi than The Hunger Games and I’m just not really impressed with the series after 2 films. 

Bored

I was literally checking e-mail and thinking about finishing up some yard work in the backyard as I waited for the movie to end.   I’m well aware that I’m in the minority  concerning this movie (since it killed at the box office)  but that doesn’t change how I feel about it.  I had just finished watching an episode of Agents of Shield a half an hour before I had started with Catching Fire and I would rather watch another episode of that show (or any other action TV show)  than sit through another Hunger Games movie.   The end itself was okay , if you hadn’t already figured out that is where the movie was going,  which I had very early in the movie.   I would have to say that this ranks up there with Mission Impossible 2 as far as big budget disappointments for me.

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Hunger Games 2012 6 out of 10

The Hunger Games  2012   6 out of 10

I found The Hunger Games to be a little underwhelming. I put off seeing it in the theaters because I felt it was a theme that I've seen before in a more exciting format.   I did a  little blog about the movies that came before it that obviously influenced the writter of the book series.   After seeing it I found it too be interesting obviously in it subject , but a little to slow for my tastes.  I can see where it made an interesting book--but I didn't feel like it translated into an exciting movie on screen.   I liked Running Man better....I liked Battle Royale better.....The Hunger Games felt more like a pilot for a TV Series to me slowly developing its characters and taking forever to get to the actual Games and then once it did the Games themselves didn't entertain me as much as I had hoped them to.    There was a lot of hiding in trees and dropping bee hives on people as they ran around Lord of the Flies style in the forest.