The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. It’s ~40 minutes of almost-revolution and ~80 minutes where we watch them shoot commercials. yawn I think there actually is an interesting movie to be made (already made?) about the internal/self-directed marketing for revolutionary movements, but it’s not this one. The first movie is the best. The second one has its moments. The trend is not good. Fingers crossed for a good finale.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I like the world they created, but felt like this one kind of ran out of steam. I take it as a good sign, though, that the games were the least interesting part.
I Am Legend. Ah, dude. This could have been so amazing. The early scene in the dark building has to be one of the most intense film moments ever, because Smith is not a commando and he is scared as shit. It’s also filmed just about perfectly. I love the early gut-clenching mood anxiety, and the exploration of the toll of solitude (see also: Moon, Alien, Solaris). The movie goes off the rails by the end. The CGI-fest is jarring enough, but the shift in tone is really disappointing. But man, 90% is incredible. David Bax puts it well:
There’s more to a movie than how it ends. Take, for example, Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend, which spent an hour building one of the most daring and intense genre blockbusters in years before the third act from some other, dumber movie swooped in and delivered the automatic weaponry and explosions no one was asking for at that point. It’s a shame but it doesn’t obliterate the experience of what came before it.
Mark Larson 