There Are Worse Games To Play

I knew going in that Mockingjay Part 2 was not going to pack the emotional wallop that Part 1 did. That half of the story just doesn’t have the same complexity.

But what this movie lacks in emotional complexity it makes up for in Natalie Dormer gunning mofos down with a machine gun. So it has that going for it.

That isn’t being entirely fair to this movie, which, like most of The Hunger Games lives very much in the general area of feels. The final sequence, which enacts the much maligned epilogue, had me balling. (I actually love  the end of Mockingjay, I think it’s remarkably realistic and emotionally resonant.)

The movie edits around Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death well, which, if I wasn’t looking so hard for it, might go completely unnoticed, and the overall performances are stellar, but that’s not a surprise for this movie.

If Jennifer Lawrence wins an Oscar this year, it will probably be for Joy, and that’s kind of a shame, because she deserve a lot more recognition for Katniss than she gets. This character would have chewed up and eaten just about any other actress, and Lawrence makes her, well, a person. I still want to punch Gale in his stupid handsome perfect Hemsworth face, and Josh Hutcherson is a perfect little golden retriever of a human being. Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks don’t get nearly enough to do, but what they do do is perfect.

I also just want to note that early in the film, as a bunch of characters stand around planning a battle, only two people at that table are white dudes, and most of them are women.

Way to go Hunger Games.

Rankings:

1. The Martian
2. Straight Outta Compton
3. Crimson Peak
4. Bridge of Spies
5. Mockingjay Part 2
6. The Man From UNCLE
7. Spectre
8. Ant-Man
9. Mad Max: Fury Road
10. Inside Out
11. Trainwreck
12. Tomorrowland
13. Jurassic World
14. Ricki And The Flash
15. Avengers: Age of Ultron
16. Minions
17. Fantastic Four
18. Terminator: Genisys
19. Entourage
20. Pitch Perfect 2

Trailers

Not many, but all good.

Alice Through The Looking Glass could be good? I don’t know, I was so disappointed in Alice In Wonderland, but God, that cast, you know?

Deadpool, it’s going to be perfect. It just looks so freaking good. Just so good.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I can’t. I just, I really can’t. We’re a month away, and my heart can barely take it anymore.

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