The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes (Francis Lawrence, November 17,2023) Movie • Page 7

Debra Zane. I believe she’s done every Hunger Game movie

 

In betting odds she has to be an early favourite for the casting Oscar so far!!

 

Great casting

 

Ok I’ll probably watch it now lol

 

so…just finished reading Ballad. Holy shit what a story. I really need to watch the movie now.

I’m just floored with how different this read than the og series—seemed written much more for adults, better written in general IMO—and it was very enthralling being inside Snow’s head. There were moments of humanity spread throughout but it could never quite overtake his…I don’t know what the right word is. Self centeredness? Just a brutal read to kind of see love and coming of age through the eyes of a psychopath. And what an interesting way to end it too.
Very abrupt. Makes you feel robbed that a character and her legacy won’t get the due they deserve in this world.

It also makes me wish we had a Snow POV book from the OG series now, because I’d love to be in his head hearing Deep in the Meadow and Hanging Tree again.

Gotta watch the movie and then dig into Sunrise now. Really hoping to see if any of these characters make a come back.

 

Also going back and reading some of your guys comments on the movie now is funny because it sounds like they stay true to the books a lot with the characters and such. Like someone said Rachel Ziegler gives off theater kid vibes and in the book that’s just entirely what the character is haha. Same with Dinklidge’s character being overly serious and such. And Jason Schartzman as well, his character in the book is so bafoonish and it sounds like he nailed it

 

Alright watched the movie and yeah the book is way better. Should have been done as a 3-5 episode miniseries imo. The movie isn’t terrible, but man does it rush through some stuff and erase some characters and change some other things that just make it not as good as it could have been if fully fleshed out

 

May the odds be ever in her favour.

(sorry, had to)

 

Love reading people’s first reactions to the books. What did you think of the final section? I loved the book up until that peacekeeper section.

I wonder if part of it feeling more adult is because the original fans / og target audience are now grown up / no longer young adults? Not sure, just a thought.

 

I actually really loved Part 3 tbh. It was a really interesting choice to have the abrupt change in pace and action in the story and almost have a fresh start for part 3. And by the time we got to the shooting in the shed, from that scene on there was a growing tension that had me on the edge of my seat by the time we got to the lake and the climax. That whole part was probably the part that suffered most from this being a movie rather than a miniseries TBH.

 

Based just on the movie, not the book, my favorite section was the third act, though I also liked the first act a lot. Weirdly my least favorite act in the movie by far was the middle with the actual game, lol.

 

I think movie wise, I liked the games a bit more than part 1, but I do wonder how much of that is tainted by having just read the book lol. In the book I agree—parts 1 and 3 are more interesting than part 2 for sure. Part 1 felt rushed compared to the book imo