MY TOP 10 BEST MOVIES OF 2013

MY TOP TEN BEST MOVIES OF 2013

By:

G.P. Manalo

72 movies that I have watched, 10,000+ words worth for reviews, and only 10 will make the list. With only a few days away till’ we welcome 2014 and say our goodbyes to 2013. Today, I take a look back at a pretty strong year for movies by listing my top 10 best movies of 2013.

Before you make any comments like “Where’s 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Saving Mr. Banks, Prisoners, The Butler, Out of the Furnace, Wolf of Wall Street, and other great movies?” . Well, almost all of those movies that came out in the late winter are scheduled for an early 2014 release or maybe they will never be released at all in the country I live in, that or I just miss them in theatres.

Also, this is MY list; I’m not saying that these are the best of the best of 2013. So when you read my list, I’m telling you to feel free to disagree, I would love to hear your list that you think is definitely better than mine. That being said let’s go with the honourable mentions first.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

15. Star Trek Into Darkness

Honestly, I regret giving this film a perfect score, after seeing it in a second viewing a few months later. This is what happens when I’m fresh from drinking the kool-aid and let the inner geek do the whole movie reviewing for a movie like Star Trek Into Darkness. Nonetheless, I still enjoy watching this movie from start to finish. Sure the old Star Trek references beat you in the head too much but I still enjoy it. It had great performances as they give them a more expansive role in the sequel, not to mention from my man, Benedict Cumbebatch. People argue about it being unoriginal but really all the Wrath of Khan references occurred in the last 30 minutes of the film, there were enough twists and turns for it to be different to the original Wrath of Khan.

14. Elysium

Definitely one of the smartest sci-fi movies of the year but with a lot of brawn, as Neil Blomkamp comes back with Elysium packed with great performances, a solid allegory about American health care and classism, and action where he uses the shaky cam very well than other action directors. Will this be nominated at the Oscars like District 9? I doubt it – It’s no tour de force (nor a tour de – farce, geddit?) but it was still a fun movie nonetheless.

13. The Conjuring

In a decade of horror movies saturated by cheap scares, torture porn and found footage movies. The Conjuring gives us a look back at how horror movies used to be giving us genuine scares and disturbing imagery without relying on the cheap gimmicks and gore heavy sequences but instead gives us scenes like the staircase scene, the final scene that is very much paying homage to The Exorcist and many more. This was definitely my favourite horror movie of the year other than the Evil Dead re-make.

12. Frozen

I didn’t know what to expect as I go into this movie (only watching the trailer with Olaf and Sven) until I read and watch the reviews by 10 different film critics. As I watch the film I was very much surprised on how much I enjoy the film so much. Disney has been returning back to form for the past years and It has been a home run for them every time (again, Planes…. Doesn’t need to be mentioned).  This film has that classic Disney feel from the songs and the characters that felt so timeless and at the same time giving us something new as it departs from the formula of a typical Disney Princess film.

11. The World’s End

It is so unfortunate that this film never saw the light of day in the country I live in (though Greenbelt 1 displaying this poster at their cinema hall still gives me hope), this would’ve been a fantastic experience at the theatres with a big screen and a great crowd of people. I am such a huge fan of Edgar Wright's films that I went out to buy this movie on blu-ray and it was definitely one of the best films of the year.

This was originally tied with number 10 but I realized that I had too many ties for the lower half of the list. Like the number 10 spot, it is about the end of the world but with a fresher take as one element adds something to make it feel new and it is the whole alien invasion plot in the middle of a pub crawl. As usual, Edgar Wright breathes life into something and It is an energetic movie from start to finish. It never stops and at the same time a very good blend of both drama and great comedic timing, not to mention great performances from a bigger cast than the usual Nick Frost and Simon Pegg team-up.  

THE ACTUAL TOP 10 LIST:

10. THIS IS THE END

 It is very unfortunate that this movie came out during my un-official hiatus, because this would’ve been a fun movie to review. Like what I said previously in “The World’s End”, this movie adds something to make a fresh apocalyptic movie and that element is the satirical humour behind these celebrities. The movie had me laughing up to the point where my sides started to hurt and people giving me weird looks in the theatre because I’m basically laughing at some f*#%ed up imagery.  The cast was great as a comedic team that I wouldn’t mind seeing more movies with them (hell, I could watch them sitting together in a dinner table for an hour and that would be entertaining).  

9. PACIFIC RIM AND FAST AND THE FURIOUS 6 (A TIE)

Both of these movies had the same thing in common: they offer non-stop larger than life action sequences, have actors that would say lines that’ll make someone like me cringe, a plot that doesn’t make much sense, and tells science to f**k off. Despite those flaws (3/4 that I mentioned at least) that I have mentioned the movie was able to mask those flaws as they breathe life upon it. It’s something that people say that you should leave your brain outside the theatre and just enjoy the pretty colours and explosions, but really I went in not minding it. As I watch both of these movies in theatres, I found myself enjoying this movie like a kid would. They are the best experiences I had in theatre and it definitely deserves the no. 9 spot.  

8. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG AND THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (ANOTHER TIE)

This is my last tie, I swear. It is a rare case for a sequel to be better than its predecessor and these two movies really went full force for their sequels. Again, these movies have something in common and it is that they improve upon their predecessors by a huge step and at the same time be a tremendously made movie.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – after a very underwhelming intro by its predecessor, this film (like I said in my review) takes off the kid gloves and starts doing serious business. The film is on to a new road with director Francis Lawrence, as he expands the world of Panem through its characters and the world itself, well shot action, gives the best performance from the actors, and a very relevant social commentary.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – again, another underwhelming intro by its predecessor but the sequel does improve the first one in many ways (and it stopped doing its best impression of the Star Wars prequels). It’s a very energetic movie, giving us nothing but enjoyable action scenes, great performances and a better expansion and exploration in middle earth. Sure both movies had its fair share of problems but not really enough to bring it down.

                                                     7.    CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

Paul Greengrass has really outdone himself with this film, he does what he does best in this film and it is give us utter intensity from start to finish based upon a very intriguing story to tell. Tom Hanks proves in this movie why he is one of the best actors in the business right now as he sells the terrifying experience of being threatened by Somalian pirates. But it wasn’t just Tom Hanks who stood out in this movie, it is also the actors who played the pirates that sells the terror itself through their raw performance (and appearance, they really look like how pirates should be – hell they make Jack Sparrow look like a supermodel).

6.    DON JON

The reason why I never reviewed this movie is because when I watched this movie the local censorship pretty much cut a lot of stuff in this movie and I left the movie pissed because I barely understood the movie due to its lack of story and character development. I had to see the movie again online a few days ago and it was a very good movie as I went out of it. 

Really, who knew the kid from 10 Things I Hate About You will become not only a great actor but also a great screenwriter and director. I’ve always wanted a movie that tackles the genre of romance seriously (and this film did) because of how the market is overly saturated with idealism (I’m looking at you, Nicholas Sparks). This film shows how different medias can deceive us with the idea of love, giving us one-sided ideas due to our expectations.  It explores that very well in this film. I can’t wait to see what else JGL has under his sleeves as he makes more movies; it was definitely a great directorial debut for JGL.

5. ON THE JOB (LOCAL MOVIE)

Yeah, I’m more surprised than you are that a mainstream Filipino film made it to my Top 5 films of the year. After hearing a lot of rave (not to mention, Philbert Ortiz Dy keep tweeting about it) I went up to see this movie without watching any trailers (it’s by Star Cinema, it is better if you don’t see a trailer at all) and skipping the plot synopsis of the reviews that I have read. Without spoiling anything I could say that this movie is definitely worth your time. It’s probably the best mainstream Filipino movie packed with challenging performances, a very unique structure for the story, not to mention great direction and writing by Erik Matti and Michiko Yamamato. If you are angry about the local mainstream films, you should try this movie out. Hopefully this movie would give a new image to the mainstream industry as they make more movies like this. That’s all I could say about this movie.

4.    THE WAY WAY BACK

The Way Way Back may not be original, it’s pretty much a coming of age film or how most critics say that it is “the summer that changed everything” movie. The film had enough heart and depth to make a great movie out of a template of a coming of age film. Sure, the main kid does come off as a bit of a 25 cent Michael Cera to me but the other performances like Sam Rockwell (who was fun all throughout) and Steve Carrell (playing a more believable asshole-type character than him in Burt Wonderstone) did make It all up.

3.    RUSH

This was another movie that was literally not on my radar until my friend brought up if whether or not I will see and review this movie on its release day. I had my doubts about this movie being released, but when it was I took the opportunity to see this movie.

I’m not much of a F1 buff but I surprisingly enjoyed this movie (it is the only racing game I’m interested in since the track is not just one big circle). For a topic that I have no clue at all, made me invested in the story. For a 2 hour film the pace never felt like I was sitting there for 2 hours because the movie is pretty much a high octane drama; it is very rare that in a rivalry movie, you get to root for both the underdog and the charming asshole (with a heart). Ron Howard was able to give us the idea of how dangerous the sport can be from the way it was filmed and give spectacular and Oscar worthy performances for Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth.

2. GRAVITY

It is very rare that a movie like Gravity would success in many ways through different departments (writing, direction, special effects, etc). In such a simple concept of two astronauts surviving in space makes such a huge impact for just an 80 minute film. Alfonso Cuaron really brought out a lot of greatness from this film, but it was also the two leads that did the same thing too, not to mention the out of this world special effects. The two leads literally did their a-game in this movie and I can totally see the nominations for them. Sandra Bullock was excellent along with George Clooney as they both sell the fears of being in such an impossible scenario. This movie was definitely the best sci-fi film of the year, but it brought a big fight for the number one spot.

1.    THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

There’s a perfectly good reason why I didn’t review this movie and it is that…. It’s very difficult to review. This movie has secrets, secrets that can’t really be brought up. As much as I want to make a quickie review instead that is totally not me to do, not to mention it is pretty half assed. Though I did tweet (by simply saying “see it”) about this movie more times but I don’t think my so-called readers even follow me there. Anyways, I was very much blown away by this movie.

By its well kept secrets, I never had the idea of where the film will bring me, and I was very much surprised on the things that happened in the film. The message and the story Is very powerful for both parents and children. The story was presented uniquely enough to tell and connect three different stories together. yet the story is enhanced by great performances from the cast, making Ryan Gosling not be the Drive character for once, Bradley Cooper has been stepping up lately, Eva Mendes actually having a great role for once, and also Dane Dehaan – that kid is going places that’s all I have to say. This movie came out the same week as my birthday and it definitely made my week (besides the partying).

I hope you enjoyed my Top 10 Best list of 2013, I would love to hear your top 10 as well. It has been a great year for movies, despite the underwhelming summer blockbusters (I’m a superhero geek and I’m surprised this list never had one superhero movie). But with every great list there will always be a Top 10 worst list (with mentions), I will have my 10 worst list later on (that’s gonna be fun). Anyways, do you have a top 10? 5? 35? list of movies of 2013? if you do comment down below.

SERIOUS BUSINESS

MOVIE REVIEW

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (HFR-3D and 2D)

Review By:

G.P. Manalo

Directed by:

Peter Jackson

Starring:

Martin Freeman

Richard Armitage

Sir Ian McKellen

Benedict Cumberbatch

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug picks up right after the first part where Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and the company of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage)  are being chased by a pack of Orcs who are out for their heads. In order to go to the lonely mountains, they must go through the deadly forest, Mirkwood where they encounter giant spiders, cynical elves, and the same orcs hunting them. Once they escape the forest, they continue their journey to the lonely mountains and there they will slay the dragon, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) to re-claim their homeland, Erebor. But as Gandalf leave the company, he discovers a greater threat that will return and wage war on middle earth. 

I was very much on the fence about my thoughts about the film’s enjoyable yet clumsily paced predecessor, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. Passing through a lengthy dinner scene and another hour later for some story exposition, re-introducing an already familiar world and tone changes, the last third of the film did everything that I could’ve wanted from the first two acts of the film and it did give me hope that the second part of the film would follow through my thoughts of the last film’s remaining third act (and it did). Peter Jackson comes back with an energetic upgrade resulting to a satisfying sequel that’ll make you want more as the film end.

If you were underwhelmed by the first movie, prepare for a thrill ride in this film. With its mighty galloping pace, the film serves exhilarating and exciting action scenes with barrels, trees, ground chases (which brought back the classic running montages in the original LOTR films), fight scenes with orcs, spiders, elves and even a terribly large dragon. It departs from that child-like feel the last film did and goes to a more darker and adult route.

I watched this film in two formats which was in 2D and 3D-HFR. Comparing the two formats, I’m very much surprised on how the high frame rate didn’t overly enhance everything like the last film did. The film shows a lot of detail in the live action scenes while scenes with CGI didn’t look much like video game cinematics like the last film did to the trolls and other characters like Azog, landscapes (specifically Rivendell) and the other effects like fire and light. The HFR experience is still gives the feeling of the speedy momentum (that felt like skipping a movie on a Blu-Ray player in 2x speed), though unlike my first experience I got used to it and it didn’t hurt my eyes that much. The HFR felt like it gave emphasis on the swooping environment shots and I can actually tell what’s going on in most of the action scenes more than the 2D experience (mostly around Legolas’s action sequences), though some of the CGI moments that involve a CGI man and a force field still doesn’t look “polished” in most scenes in both formats. There are a lot of great 3D imagery such as spears and arrows flying on your face, swords slashing, barrels floating, a dragon’s snout, a bumblebee that you feel like swatting and somebody’s nose.

There is still a large amount of bickering on the internet whether or not Tolkien’s beloved 300-page novel (with the same name) should be stretched into three parts. In this second part, the book follows the parts of the book where it does involve the company going through Point A, Point B, to Point C meeting characters that goes by name of blargh son of wuzhemberg who has gone through a series of tragedies that led him to be in this kind of place in society. I don’t really blame Peter Jackson to expand some material from the chapters from Laketown and Mirkwood and even added Gandalf’s investigation for the white council. Knowing the fact that those parts of the book are rushed in the book and it did give build up to characters that popped up in the book whom had little time in the books (though I do wish they give Beorn a bit more scenes, especially with a fantastic set like that). Like every second part of the film in trilogies, this one had no beginning and no end; it’s straight to the action and ends in an actual cliff-hanger that would either piss you off, or get you excited…. It was both for me.

Though there were some flaws in the added material, namely it was the character of Tauriel being added in the movie. Sure she was badass from the start as she kills bad guys like a female Legolas and say one liners, but then she starts to fall in love with someone and that ended up giving a love triangle between her, that “guy” and Legolas which was erroneously shoehorned in this story. It’s like they only added her because (she’s a woman) for the sake of having a romance sub-plot in a Hollywood adaptation, it would’ve been cool if they made her the Eowyn of this trilogy like how Thorin is being the Aragorn and the Boromir of this trilogy. Some critics are saying that “more could’ve been less”; having the movie less room to breathe. In my experience, I only noticed the complaint once and it was the fight between the dwarves and Smaug where it was overdone up to the point where Smaug became a Scooby Doo villain, but that was just a minor gripe I had.

The performances are still brilliant, notably Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield gave his best in this film. By the middle half of the film it did feel like the spot light is on him and not Bilbo (knowing the fact that he is the title character), up to the point where it does feel like he is the Aragorn of the film and later on becomes the Boromir of the franchise. Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins is more confident and courageous but also a few shades darker because of the insidious power of the ring after the events of the last film. They gave him a lot of fun scenes but like I said he was in the back seat for a little while until his big scene with Benedict Cumberbatch. Speaking of which, let’s go to the big bad, Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug. Benedict Cumberbatch never ceases to amaze me this year, he is the perfect choice for Smaug especially that menacing voice of his (but he did provide the motion capture for the character). People were complaining of never keeping Smaug’s look a secret, trust me – you haven’t seen anything yet, there’s more to see from the big bad dragon.

Both old and new cast returns, new faces like Lee Pace and Luke Evans grace the screen with a flawless performance and an enjoyable expansion of the character from the book. Though I did feel Beorn was there for a blink of an eye, which sucks because his house was one of the impressively thought out sets I have seen in the franchise by far. Reflecting about the book again, I felt like the introduction of the dwarves to Beorn would be inconsistent for the film knowing the fact that they are in a kind of situation like being chased by Orcs. The other returning character was Orlando Bloom as Legolas, whom I fear would be shoehorned in there for the sake of having a well- known character from the original LOTR films; but he wasn’t and he had a relevant part in the events of this film (it seems logical enough to put him there since his father is in the movie). The dwarves were developed a little bit, giving them little moments to be memorable enough. Last bot not the least, Sir Ian McKellen still delivering fun for a little while, like Bilbo he was in the back seat though he still felt relevant for the writer to expand his side of the story (that felt a bit lacking in the book). 

In the end, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a very enjoyable film from start to finish with a couple of minor setbacks. If the first film was a tiring walk, this on the other hand is a fast gallop, so fast that when you got out of the theatre you couldn’t believe that you were there for three hours. It has very enjoyable action sequences, excellent performances from this humongous cast, beautiful New Zealand sights, special effects and practical sets to look at. I also forgot how much I adored the Howard Shore's score as usual, with new favorites such as the Laketown theme and some dramatic serial-esque theme in other scenes such as the scenes in Mirkwood and the scene where they were being chased by dwarves near Beorn's house and the mysterious tone in Dol Guldur.  I highly recommend you give the HFR experience another shot if you have seen it when you watched the first film and if you haven’t I’d still give it a try. For purists, go in an open mind that this isn’t the perfect adaptation you are looking for and instead enjoy the movie for what it is.

(TL;DR)

THE GOOD:

+ENJOYABLE ACTION SEQUENCES
+BRILLIANT SCORE

+EXCELLENT PERFORMANCES

+A BETTER 3D-HFR EXPERIENCE

+SOME GREAT CHANGES AND EXPANSION DECISIONS OF THE BOOK

THE BAD:

-       UNNECESSARY LOVE TRIANGLE
- SOME UN-POLISHED CGI MOMENTS

-       SOME THINGS SHOULD’VE BEEN TONED DOWN

MY RATING:

4/5 - FOR THE WIN! 

A TWIST IN A FAIRY TALE

MOVIE REVIEW:

FROZEN

Review by:

G.P. Manalo

Starring:

Kristen Bell

Idina Menzel

Josh Gad

Jonathan Groff

Santino Fortana

If there are other things Disney is truly trademarked for besides Mickey Mouse it is the Disney Princesses. For almost 8 decades, Disney has brought magic and wonder through these princesses, even having a tradition out of it. But as years come by the Disney Princess movies have become more different, making their princesses be stronger instead of waiting for their princes to save them.  It wasn’t until 2009 where Disney was slowly forming itself back to the Disney we once known since the animation renaissance. Frozen, somewhat broke 8 decades of tradition in a good way as it put twists to the assumptions and conclusions of the people who have explored this kind of boundary before and at the same time have that same magic and wonder from the Disney animation renaissance. Granted there are still a few flaws that does not put on par with the film.

Frozen tells the story of two sisters, Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel). Elsa was born with supernatural powers where she has the ability to create ice and snow. But when one accident occurred between the two sisters, her parents decided to hide her from the outside world and even her own sister. When Elsa is finally coroneted as the queen of their kingdom, she is forced to come out of hiding and in an unfortunate timing made her lose control of her powers and made their kingdom put to an eternal winter. Anna embarks on a journey with the help of her newly founded friends, Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Sven and a snowman named, Olaf (Josh Gad) to find and reconcile with her sister who has isolated herself to the dangerous Icelands where she built her new kingdom.

An adaptation/re-imagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen has been in talks ever since the 40s and even Walt Disney himself couldn’t seem to have a crack at it. Like most Disney Princesses movies (or Disney movies in general), the source material it is based on is very much loosely based on it (Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid being one of them), As I do my research on The Snow Queen (by research I mean, other sources than Wikipedia), an adaptation about the Snow Queen does seem too “out there” to have a motion picture out of it. Nonetheless, despite its difficulty to bring a property like The Snow Queen, writers Jennifer Lee (of Wreck-It Ralph fame) still puts most of the elements together and tell a good (and kid-friendly) enough story with the material.

Instead this film feels like it is making fun of other Disney Princess films or at least putting a twist to it, almost how the Shrek movies did to the fairy tale characters. One of the notable examples was, Elsa’s characterization, she would’ve been the plotting pointy nosed witch who cursed the land for revenge of shunning her from society but instead made her a misunderstood person, other examples would be the film making fun at how fast the princess falls in love with a prince without knowing who he is, and other things that I shouldn’t be mentioning anymore. The film does a terrific job to put those in-jokes play a huge part in the film’s storytelling.

Granted, the storytelling part is not necessarily perfect when it does have its fair share of flaws; from the first half it does feel clumsy though not as messy when it comes to the exposition. Introducing the characters other than the two leads, felt rushed and some unnecessary elements weren’t really needed for them, the villain on the other hand felt short-handed; the villain was disappointing in this movie due to the lack of screen time and not having the proper introduction for them.  Despite this film being a musical and all they didn't give the villain a song either to shed some light on their motivations. The film was too busy raising some elements from the “Snow Queen” storyline. It could’ve been better if this film was told without elaborating the fact that “this is based on the Snow Queen” because the movie can do better without it. Ironically enough, the film didn’t develop the character of Elsa that well. I left the theatre wanting more from her character (exploring her abilities and back story), you never really get to know her side of the things that much throughout the film, making it a bit difficult to understand more to the character. Despite the first half’s clumsiness, the second half kicks into high gear for a more emotionally driven film, though the ending does ruin it a bit because of how rushed it is.

Speaking of musicals, the music in this film had that touch of a broadway musical. Having some of the cast and crew as veterans of broadway musicals as characters speak through song (which i'd like to call Les Miserables-ing) much like Beauty and the Beast had back then and if you thought the songs in Tangled and Princess and the Frog were a lackluster, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (both being fresh from “The Book of Mormon” fame) gave this film a lot of memorable songs (a lot of people will be singing “Let it go” once they go out of the cinema, that’s for sure). In every song of the film the expressiveness feels dominant in both melody and voice, giving real emotions to the rather obvious lyrics. The music in this film is on the level of Disney classics like Lion King and Beauty and the Beast (both having broadway productions themselves) I can totally see a marquee one day where it will say “Frozen on ice”.

The performances were also amazing in this film, Broadway veteran Idina Menzel stealing the spotlight in most parts of the movie, but it was really Josh Gad's adorable snowman character, Olaf. Him having a role as a comedy relief felt genuine and not forced with modern jokes that feels irrelevant in the timeline. Every time he enters the screen is a scene stealer and you just feel like giggling by his presence. The rest like Kristen Bell's Anna, giving a lot of spunk and empowerment that could shut feminists up while the other supporting cast such as Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk and Jonathan Groff were also great in this film even though their characters were lacking development.

Though the traditional 2D animation is shelved in a generation of 3D animation, the animation in the film gives more finesse when it comes to bringing a world to life in animated form. The animation is just beautiful in this film, people in the past few months have been shredding this movie due to its similarity to the recent Disney Princess Film, Tangled. But we can say the same thing during the renaissance where they recycled animation and designs being similar themselves. The character designs are unique enough, having fun characters that do fit their personalities.

Nowadays, Disney Princess films tried to be that nostalgic film and at the same time thinking forward as it empowers the princesses than just someone who waits for their princes to rescue them, making them doing better things without those princes. Disney's Frozen is a great film, following up to Disney's successes (I'm fully aware Planes came out this year, but I'm still pretending that movie does not exist). Frozen is a film where you truly feel that Disney is coming back to form. The film tells a satisfying enough story with a very creative twist of two sisters of royalty, not to mention this can inspire children/girls to channel their inner strength than waiting for their prince charming and fix their problems. The film is packed with laughs, beautiful imagery and songs that'll get you tapping your feet and be in awe. This is definitely fun for the whole family, I can see two bickering sisters getting along after seeing this movie (somehow, but then again I don’t understand women very well) and when kids do pull you into watching this movie you’ll actually find yourselves having a good time, I should know because I’m a 17-year old boy who pulled my mom into watching this movie with me and she ended up enjoying the heck out of it.

THE GOOD:

+ A SATISFYING RE-IMAGINING OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL

+ NOSTALGIC FEEL OF OLD DISNEY PRINCESS FILMS

+ GREAT CHARACTERS AND PERFORMANCES

+FANTASTIC MUSICAL NUMBERS

+ GORGEOUS ANIMATION

THE BAD:

-       LACKING STORY AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

MY RATING:

4/5 – FOR THE WIN!

TAKING OFF THE KID GLOVES

MOVIE REVIEW:
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

The following images are not by me for they are officially released by Universal Studios

Review By:
G.P. Manalo

Directed by:
Francis Lawrence

Starring:
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Donald Sutherland

Of all the Young Adult novel adaptations, the film adaptation of Suzanne Collin's best-selling Hunger Games series feels different among them (because the love triangle doesn't beat you in the head like most YA novel adaptations do) , it is pretty rare to have success out of a property like the Hunger Games when it is living in a world of a male dominant industry (and when they do have a woman as the lead, she is not the strongest *cough* Twilight *cough*). One of 2012’s biggest surprises was the young-adult novel adaptation of Suzanne Collin’s “The Hunger Games” being a worldwide hit, as it impressed both fans and non-fans of the novel combining over $700M worldwide, though a vast majority still hunger for something more out of the first film. With Gary Ross out of the director’s chair and I am Legend’s Francis Lawrence in, the second instalment of the mega-hit franchise takes a huge upgrade under his helm as it takes off the kid gloves and start doing serious business.

After the events of the first film, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) could never have been more grateful for surviving the 74th Hunger Games after pulling off a Romeo and Juliet-esque stunt and now they must go through a Victory Tour and all of their problems will be done. But what they didn’t know was that their so-called “stunt” has inspired Panem to revolutionize against the Capitol and Katniss becoming their symbol of hope. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is displeased with the idea of a revolution. As much as Snow wants to kill her, he does not want a martyr. After listening to the advice of the new gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) President Snow announced that the 75th year of the games will be “different” as it becomes an “all-star” game where the tributes will be existing victors as they are pitted together once again in the arena for a free-for-all killing spree; Katniss and Peeta found themselves fighting for their lives once again.

This film is a huge improvement of its predecessor. When I say that this movie “take off the kid gloves” (compared to the last film), I really mean it. It’s amazing how the franchise has become more mature as it goes on. This film has less laughs, less mushiness (the romance being more believable than the last film), and goes on a more a darker route. Under the helm of Francis Lawrence he gives the film a more emotional environment, giving more emphasis to the depressing reality of living in a world like Panem. In the first half of the film, it felt like it was some sort of political message to the world we are currently living in. It has a lot to say about how the media are more of a device to distract the masses in seeing the reality they are living in with the private lives of people more famous than them and how manipulative the totalitarian government really is but also how far they can go to retain their power as it gives emphasis on the dystopian theme of both the films and the novels. 

In early reviews, most critics have compared this to The Empire Strikes Back (also known as Star Wars Episode V, just so you know). This being a stronger film than the first one, and some other comparisons such as the big threat, one of the themes of the film (and the book it is based on) is knowing who the real enemy is, meaning the enemies in the games aren't going to be developed more than they were in the first film and instead give the screen time to the real enemy, The Empire The Capitol. Like in the original Star Wars trilogy from The Star Wars (Episode IV), they made you be aware of the threat like them exists but it wasn't until the second film where they really go on full force and start getting their hands dirty. The Capitol (the government atleast) aren’t screwing around anymore, in this film they feel like they’re Nazis; they just go in to houses destroying their belongings, gunning and beating people down unfairly. 

Not to mention the tone does get a bit darker, but not the kind where it feels  "in your face" like most people would call "Nolan knockoffs". The dark tone does benefit for the film's storytelling. The first film was a clunky one but after seeing this movie I’ve learned to appreciate the first one quite a bit because of this film and it is because I get to understand the underlining story more in this film. The first film builds up a lot of things; dropping hints of what’s to come for the future films, building up the world and the list goes on. Catching Fire continues to flesh out the world of Panem, thanks to a bigger budget; the film’s special effects gives it that sci-fi feel that feels absent for the most part of the last film.

The last film was entitled The Hunger Games but ironically that part of the film was the most underwhelming part despite making the build up from the start feel like false advertising towards the end. As I went out of the film, I left the film saying that the games were the best part of the film.  Like what Haymitch said in this movie “Last year’s games was child’s play” and it does show in this film. The games in this movie are bigger and better in this film (in both design and how it will be played), since they’re gonna kill adults now, that means no more “shaky cam” which is another plus from me. Right from the part when Katniss is about to rise to the game floor, my heart was just pulsating because you know that shit is about to go down, and it never stops from the start as every step of the way is another nightmare waiting for them.

Fans of the book will be happy that this film stays true to the source material, as a reader of the books, I’d say that this film is 95% accurate to the book because it does leave a couple of key elements from the book (both having something to do with Haymitch and District 13). As the film ends, mentioning that one “thing” made one part of that ending feels abrupt because it wasn’t properly built up. Granted, this is just a minor complaint. Nonetheless they were still able to tell a perfectly paced adaptation (honestly, it never felt like I was there for 2 hours and 40 minutes).

The performances are also better in this film (not saying the performances in the last film aren’t great at all). Jennifer Lawrence continues to impress me in every film she is in proving that she is not only owning the role of Katniss Everdeen but also being one of the best actresses of this generation. Her character as the focal point of the film is the reason why The Hunger Games franchise is different than other young adult novels and it is that her character is not overbearing. The writing for this film doesn’t beat you in the head that “hey, look at how strong this female character is!”. Her performance brings Katniss’s character to life even more; sure she shoots arrows as perfect as Legolas, but she’s not really that tough as nails type, in performance she shows that she is indeed human and vulnerable, doing everything to protect the ones she holds dearly. The most noticeable improvement was Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, he left me a bad taste in my mouth in the last film, I remember saying that he is in fact replaceable. After seeing him in this movie, I’d take it all back. The script was able to give him more charisma and charm, making him relevant to the storyline and showing what he is capable of as a character, not to mention he shared a better yet believable chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss.

The film has an even bigger cast, having both old and new faces gracing the screen. the one who really stands out among the  cast is the big bad Donald Sutherland. Donald Sutherland as President Snow is illustrated more as the big villain in this movie and he has that sinister presence that felt absent in the last movie and I'm glad they gave him more to do in this film. Woody Harrelson still stands out in most scenes, though I do wish he was developed a bit more, Elizabeth Banks has a bit more to do than going “la-di-da” in the background (which I’m glad because Effie just disappeared in the book and never mentioned again), Lenny Kravitz was good for the little time he had, Liam Hemsworth feels like he took the back seat in the first half of the film making the love triangle around Peeta and Gale feel clunky, while Stanley Tucci continues to steal the show. Among the new faces who did stand out was Sam Clafin as fan-favorite character Finnick Odair. I was very much skeptical at first about the casting choice for him at first, Sam Clafin actually owns the role, he is exactly the way i pictured him to be as i read the book. Others who did stand out and spot-on were Jena Malone’s (whom i'm glad they put her in a good movie) Johanna, and Jeffrey Wright's (who i thought was a deep voiced David Cross at first) Beetee.

In the end, The Hunger Games - Catching Fire is the best film in the series so far and it is definitely the "Empire Strikes Back" of the series, Director Francis Lawrence has given the series a better direction. The film is packed with suspenseful action that will truly start your heart racing as Katniss rise above to the arena, a good social and political commentary about our easily distracted society we are currently living in, great performances and a better look at the world of Panem. Granted, I still think most things in the first half feels rushed and some key elements from the book were left out but that's just me nit-picking and i'd leave that as a minor complaint. I highly recommend you see this movie, if you are a fan of the series you will definitely love this movie as it is accurate to the books this time even if you haven't read the books and enjoyed the movies you will definitely enjoy it nonetheless. But those who thought that the last film was either lacking or terrible, i'd suggest you give this film another chance and see this, surely this film could change your mind about the franchise.

THE GOOD:

+IMPROVES THE FLAWS OF THE FIRST FILM

+ GREAT PERFORMANCES

+A GOOD SOCIAL AND POLITICAL COMMENTARY

+HEART-RACING ACTION SEQUENCES

+BETTER SPECIAL EFFECTS

+ ACCURATE TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL

+PACING 

THE BAD:

-RUSHED MOMENTS

MY RATING:

4.5/5 - FOR THE WIN!