Hunger Games

So I went and saw The Hunger Games not once, but twice on opening day. Now, before you go "Oh my gosh another obsessed fan-girl" and stop reading, hear me out. Mom and I bought our tickets for the midnight showing at the beginning of the month. We always go to see these types of movies together, and she never let me see Harry Potter at midnight so she said we'd see Hunger Games then. Earlier this week, Mackay asked me if Neil and I wanted to go see it Friday night with him and his friends, and I jumped at the chance to 1) go to the movies with Neil, which is always great, 2) have Neil see that movie so I'd be able to analyze it with him, 3) spend time with Mackay and his friends, which is usually fun. Also, I'm an mildly obsessed fan-girl who loved the movie :D

As requested, I've made this currently-not-but-may-become-Hunger-Games-fan friendly :D Unfortunately, I'm not sure what qualifies as a true spoiler, so I've just put things having to do with MAJOR points (by the way, they all die at the end xP) in the spoiler section. Little details are slightly spoiled in the "non-spoiler" part, but nothing I think someone would get angry at me for. 

Non-major-spoiler part-

• I really enjoyed the camera work in the film. I've heard people complaining about the shakiness of several shots, but I think that just added to the urgency and panic of those scenes. A friend of mine said "I can barely tell what's going on," but in certain parts of the movie, that's how it was for Katniss as well. I also really enjoy what they did after the tracker jacker stings. 
• There wasn't as much gore as the book called for, but it wasn't taken out completely. They balanced not being bloody in order to get a PG-13 rating well with not being total wimps xP
• The casting was amazing. I wasn't too impressed with Donald Sutherland as President Snow. He played his part well, don't get me wrong. He just looked too much like a giant teddy bear. But I was really nervous about Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, and he blew my mind. Amandla Stenberg (Rue) was adorable, and her acting was awesome.  Alexander Ludwig (Cato) actually looked a lot like my middle school bully. I liked him in that role :P Isabelle Fuhrman (Clove) was wonderful in her star scene at the feast. She was just infuriating and creepy and I loved it. And Dayo Okeniyi (Thresh)? Amazing. Absolutely amazing. As for the main characters, they all did really well. I loved how Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) interacted with Prim and Rue. I really liked Woody Harrelson (Haymitch), although Neil disagrees on me with this :P

SPOILER

• I felt like Rue's death was handled extremely well. It was dramatic and heart-breaking. Them showing District 11's response made it all the more painful. I cried both times it happened. 
• Cato's monologue at the end was BRILLIANT. It made him and all the other Careers seem way more human than they did previously. 
• Something else that was brilliant- Seneca being locked in the room with the nightlock berries. I can't even describe how beautiful it was. 
• Movie-specific spoiler: The mutts were done awesomely. Maybe not the way they looked, but the way they came out. With Katniss lowering her bow in supposed safety and then BAM. I was sleepy at the midnight showing and nearly ended up on my mom's lap when I jumped. I made Neil take his arm away from me when I saw it with him so I didn't hurt him xD A girl a few rows ahead of us screamed :P
• Not spoiling the movie specifically anymore xP The mutts... they weren't right, but I couldn't be happier about that. The way they were described in the book creeped me out. "What wolf waves the rest of the pack forward with its front paw as though it had a wrist?" That. Sentence. Scares. The. Crap. Out. Of. Me. But in the movie they were just like giant pit bulls. 

END SPOILER

Go see it. NOW. :D