Theatrical Review: The Lego Movie 2- The Second Part

Date: Sunday February 10 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 11:55am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: Mike Mitchell
Writers: no many to name...
Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh

Cast:
Emmett/REX Dangervest- Chris Pratt
Lucy/Wildstyle- Elizabeth Banks
Unikitty- Alison Brie
Batman- Will Arnett
Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi- Tiffany Haddish
General Mayhem- Stephanie Beatriz
Mom- Maya Rudolph
Finn- Jadon Sand
Bianca- Brooklynn Prince

Opening Comments

Going to the movies is an experience and a lot of the time, that experience depends on the audience just as much as the movie itself. While this movie wasn't as terrible as a lot of the reviews said, sitting in a great audience made it better than it would have been without. Lego movies are essentially directed towards kids and if they're chatting through the movie and commenting on various lines of dialogue, the filmmakers did their job right. The theater wasn't completely crowded, but there were enough people where it added to the experience. Kinda like the 12th man at a football game-- I'd never personally been to one in person, but they talk about the 12th man a lot. Especially in Seattle where they have a "12" flag waving above the stadium. 

Also there are some spoilers about the first movie coming ahead...

Trailers

As always, there were seven of them... and nearly all of them were kids movies or directed towards this target audience. Nothing that I'm personally excited about, but that's fine. I have my eye on a couple movies this year-- mostly Marvel related, like Captain Marvel and the conclusion of the Avengers franchise. And of couse another Star Wars movie, but that's not until December 

How to train your dragon: the hidden world
I have an idea how this movie/franchise is ultimately going to end, and it's going to be a tearjerker for sure. It was a good franchise, but I'm still not quite over the last movie...

Missing Link
It's about Bigfoot, but his name is Sue and with a guy voiced by Hugh Jackman, they travel to the mountains of Asia to find the Yeti. The animation style screams Wallace & Gromit.

The Secret Life of Pets 2
I still need to see the original... but it's hard to know what to make of what this movie is about because every trailer is different. This one is where the cat tries to teach the cute little poodle how to be a cat. It's funny, how they go into the differences between dogs and cats. 

Toy Story 4
Ok, I lied... or I just forgot about this one. There's a lot of Disney movies coming out this year that I want to see too. Aladdin and Lion King were part of my childhood and in fact among the first movies I saw in theaters. (I don't remember much about what it was like seeing the movie, but I remember my dad took me to see Aladdin- my first theater trip ever). I'm just disappointed that they premiered a trailer at the SuperBowl and they're still using this teaser trailer where it shows all the characters dancing in a circle to Joni Mitchell. I don't know the song, but I noticed "ice cream castles" was a lyric- Prince used that lyric to create a song/album for The Time that was ultimately where their songs from Purple Rain ended up. The title track is really good and the Purple Rain material is good, but the rest of it was very meh... (the song is "Both Sides Now" but it's a more upbeat version than what I'm used to hearing in the one scene in "Love Actually")

Wonder Park
The trailers for this movie are really coming out in full swing now. It's about a park that a young girl makes up and it winds up becoming real and she has to save it with some talking animals. 

Shazam
I'm still not sure what the heck this superhero movie is about. But definitely not one of those second-tier superhero like Iron-Man that's going to launch an entire franchise/universe. It seems like the only thing the DC Universe has gotten right is Wonder Woman... and maybe Aquaman. I haven't seen that one yet, but it made a lot of money and was rated well. 

Detective Pikachu
I'm ready for another trailer cuz I'd seen this one at least twice already... I'm still on the fence about whether or not I like the idea or not. Deadpool doing the voice of Pikachu is still strange to me. I also don't know if this is supposed to be a parody or legit and it's just coming off as a farce. Some of the renderings of the Pokémon are really well done, but others, I'm not really impressed with. Just speaking as a long time fan (20 years in fact!) of the main video game franchise.

The Main Attraction

After hearing some reviews, I didn't really have a lot of hope that this movie would be any good. I remember the first one coming out and liking the idea, but I didn't know if the rest of the franchise can follow suit.
This movie wound up surprising a bit, especially when they start to explain what's really going on behind the scenes. Or should I say in the real world. 

It starts right from where the original movie left off. In reality, it's revealed that Lord Business was the dad and he wanted everything in his Lego Land to follow the instructions and he didn't want his kids touching his things. But he decides to let his son Finn play with the Legos and says his sister should get to play too. 
That's when the Duplos invade Bricksburg and start to take over and life for the denizens change as they know it. Everyone is forced to toughen up... except for Emmett, who pretty much stays the same. 

The crazy thing about what the Bricksburg becomes... it's almost like it became an animated version of the Mad Max universe via Fury Road where they're living in the desert and the vehicles are harsh and everyone is wearing some sort of armor. Even Unikitty, who was the optimistic rainbow of the original movie, has toughened up and it's sad to see. 
Luckily, Emmett is still going about his life as he always has. But he worries that it's not enough for Lucy, who he'd gotten together with after the last movie. She wants him to change and get with the times.

Then the Duplos come in and take a lot of the main characters from the original movie to meet their leader. Almost like they're invaders from outer space and they kidnap Lucy, Metalbeard, Benny the spaceship enthusiast, Batman and Unikitty. 
The leader is voiced by Tiffany Haddish, who probably got this role (well-deserved, by the way) because she was a scene-stealer in the movie Girls Trip. She changes her form constantly and it's more than a little bizarre. All of the hereoes start to buy into her vision, but Lucy is not going for it. Considering she did a whole song and dance number about not being evil, it's hard to fully believe her.

On the other side of things, Emmett tries to get into space to save his friends and he allies with a seemingly cooler version of himself, Rex Dangervest, who apparently has velociraptors as allies. I guess they couldn't resist marrying the two Chris Pratt franchises together and with it being in space, they almost get Guardians of the Galaxy in there too. 

All the while, there's a deadline looming at 5:15, according to Emmett's visions. And the Duplos need to be defeated or else Armomagedon will happen... it doesn't take a genius to figure where this is going, considering the dynamic of the otherworld with Finn and his sister, Bianca. 
There's a lot of twists and turns you don't completely see coming and the bad guys aren't who you think they are. It challenges a lot of the conventions we're used to seeing in movies. Just when you think something is obvious, they flip the script on you. In that respect, it is kinda cool, but it maybe takes a little too long to reach that point. 

But ultimately I think they made the movie to teach a lesson. Telling all the siblings watching the movie to give each other a break and try to play together nicely or else they won't be able to play at all. 
I know I had that issue with my own sister growing up. As is often the case, we got closer when we got older. And we found a lot of common ground whether it's binging YouTube videos or competition shows on Food Network. 
There's also a joke in the movie that's relatable to any parent who's ever stepped on a Lego. 

Like the last movie, there were songs involved too. But there's nothing as catchy as "Everything is Awesome"- although that did make a comeback in a number of ways. There's one song that literally says how the song is going to get stuck inside of your head. Despite the five minutes or so it had in the movie and that it came back for the credits, I managed to not get it in my head... I've gotten some silly crap in my head before. Like those songs they have on the Target ads. Seriously, it's gotten so annoying with these songs. They have nothing to do with the products they're selling and they're nonsense, dime-a-dozen pop songs. "The Middle" came out of that and to me, that's the worst pop song to come out since "Call me maybe"- it's very rhyme-dictionary. I'd say I could write something better, but I literally can't write a song because I listen to too much music. There's too likely that I'd write something and it'd sound exactly like something else I'd heard hundreds of times before. 

Now I'm just side-tracking.
It was nice how they added references to the Batman movie they released last year. And they had a brief cameo of Unikitty's kingdom from her TV series. 
Yeah, they seriously made a kid's show about Unikitty being the princess of a kingdom and there are all these crazy characters and their antics. My sister loves it and I'm oddly a sucker for it too. Even if it makes no sense at all. Speaking of Mad Max, there was a show recently about Unikitty wanting to bring a rainbow to FrownTown, saying that everyone deserves the chance to be happy if only for a second. She and her friends are in this big vehicle. Meanwhile, Master Frown comes up in his own that reminded me of a vehicle in the movie where there's this guy standing at the helm shredding a guitar. Except Master Frown is doing this with keyboards. But they're crossing a desert and the vehicles are fighting each other like chariots in the Coliseum. It's pretty wild. 

I get the intrigue about Mad Max: Fury Road... but the environment and the society... it's not easy to swallow and I'd rather not see it more than once. 

Grade: B+
Not the best movie in the world, but it teaches some good lessons for its younger target audience

Theatrical Review: Mockingjay-Part 1

Date: Sunday November 23, 2014

Time: 12:15pm
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my mom, book-to-movie loving aunt and myself)
Duration: 123 minutes (+3 trailers)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Type: young adult, drama, book-to-movie adaptation, action, sci-fi

Cast:
Returning Players
Katniss Everdeen- Jennifer Lawrence
Peeta Mellark- Josh Hutcherson
Gale- Liam Hemsworth
Plutarach- Philip Seymour Hoffman
Finnick Odair (District 4)- Sam Claflin

Beetee (aka "Volts") (District 3)- Jeffrey Wright
Haymitch- Woody Harrelson
Effie Trinket- Elizabeth Banks
Prim Everdeen- Willow Shields
Caesar Flickerman- Stanley Tucci
President Snow- Donald SutherlandJohanna Mason (District 7)- Jena Malone

Newcomers
District 13 President Coin- Julianne Moore
Katniss's bodyguard Boggs- Mahershala Ali
Propaganda director Cressida- Natalie Dormer
Propaganda crew member Messalla-Evan Ross
Propaganda crew member Castor- Wes Chatham
Propaganda crew member Pollux- Elden Henson
Opening Remarks and Trailers:

We were 3 of 9 people in the entire theater. A group of two sat several seats in front of us and a family of 4 sat across from us. The interaction was few and far between, but there was one point (I'll mention when) when they clapped.
Going in, I guessed we'd have three trailers. One for the last "Hobbit" movie (our next theatrical venture), one for "Insurgence" (book two of Veronica Roth's series) and one for the newest "Avengers" movie...
I had the number right, but the "Hobbit" trailer was replaced by something else. Most likely, because Lionsgate wanted to promote their movies and didn't want to risk the competition.
Seeing as the closest movie in box office numbers this week was "Big Hero 6" at $20M (compared to  $123 million), such a thing does not currently exist.
"The Age of Adaline" was yet another attempt at the cliché: a person is mysteriously granted with the gift of Eternal Youth and they need to navigate their lives accordingly.
The only big difference here is that the hero is a heroine. Blake Likely to be exact. And the focus is on how she spent her eternity not allowing herself to get involved with people because it only leads to heartbreak over the whole "not aging" thing.
So between a tired plot and Blake Likely (do not get the hype around her at all... but that's mostly because she was the only "Sister of the Pants" had nothing in common with... plus her whole storyline where she flirts with a soccer coach and after sleeping with him, she feels bad about herself... as far as I'm concerned, she ASKED for that heartache by pursing a forbidden relationship)

"Insurgence" was nothing but a teaser trailer... that never happened in the book. To me, it looked a dream sequence or another "simulation". Plus I'm still recovering from the last time I saw it-- Tris crying over her mom dying left me an emotional mess 10 minutes after that death scene... the trailer was her chasing after her mom (who I know to be DEAD) in a floating burning building.

Considering my Downey fangirl status, it might sound crazy, me saying this, but this was my first glimpse of the new "Avengers" trailer. While I found it odd that he committed to the next "Captain America" movie [he's just procrastinating more for "Sherlock 3"], it's really reassuring.
No more of me worrying about the reunion of the "Less than Zero" cast mates [since James Spader will be Ultron's voice] giving way to the "nightmare scenario" of deja vu.
Seriously, though, the trailer looks impressive. We get our first glimpses of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Lots of great action sure to come, the characters being pushed to their limits... my knuckles will be white the entire time :P
Write-up:

Other Opening Remarks
For my previous "Hunger Games" reviews, follow the links below... if that kind of thing strikes your fancy:
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/07/71-hunger-games-2012.html
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/11/theatrical-review-hunger-games-catching.html
Now onto business...

Excluding the people who hate on YA novel film adaptations, there are two kinds of critics of this movie:
1) those who believe "Mockingjay" shouldn't have been split into two movies
2) those who believe "nothing happened"

One movie or two?
I will concede the first point.

I expressed my annoyance with "The Deathly Hallows" (in the first half of the book, nothing really did happen, I couldn't wait for it to be over) being split in half... an opinion I later reversed since part 1 was really well done.

The same thing with "Breaking Dawn"... I felt they were copying the Harry Potter thing by doing two movies... I felt like they could have done it in one, but then we'd have to rush through all the new vampires. I also appreciated the "good-bye" treatment in the beginning (set to "Bella's Lullaby") and end (set to Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years").
...hey, I'm a Twi-hard, I love these characters... the very least Harry Potter could have done was erupt into cheers and celebration when Voldermort was finally defeated [you know, like at the end of "Return of the Jedi"]

"Mockingjay", I had the same reservations about... and don't even get me started on the latest announcement about "Allegiant"... why prolong the inevitably painful ending by splitting into two movies? The studio hears money while I hear my insides screaming.

I read "Mockingjay" over two years ago, so I don't remember much about it... other than the beginning, middle (where this movie ended) and the end/epilogue.
So as far as rating it as a book-to-movie adaptation, I'm a little out of my depth :P
but as with the above mentioned links, I strongly recommend reading the books beforehand... otherwise, you're at a disadvantage.
Not just being in the dark about what happens, but forging a relationship with these characters.
You can get caught up in the disbelief that anything happens in this movie, but if you don't know the characters or allow yourselves to get to know them, you might as well be wasting your time.

Story
SPOILERS AHEAD
When President Coin (Julianne Moore) says "the games destroyed her" in the trailers, she really wasn't kidding. Katniss is a mess when we first see her. Refusing to sleep because all of the nightmares. Also still very incensed that Haymitch went back on his word to save Peeta over her.
In fact, she goes on about that for the first half hour of the movie until the President agrees to her "demands"-- rescuing the hostages (Peeta, Johanna and Finnick's girlfriend Annie) at the early opportunity and giving them a full pardon.

Much of the movie is spent making propaganda videos. The trick is visiting some of the districts and capturing Katniss's reactions as they happen. [Haymitch hatches this plan since reading from a script clearly wasn't cutting it] Meanwhile, we see members of District 7 (Johnna's lumber yard district) and 5 (hydroelectric) fight back against the Peacekeepers in response.
We meet four new characters, all refugees from The Capitol. Castor and Pollux (as Greek mythology would suggest) are brothers, but one is an Avox (he had his tongue cut out as punishment). Pollux still manages to charm Katniss with only his smile.
Cressida is tough-as-nails (half her head is shaved and tattooed... that's pretty bad-ass) and very business-like. Up until the final video (where Katniss refused to go on), I found her very accommodating to her.

Outside of Peeta's captivity, the biggest conflict in the film comes from The Capitol. They're presenting Peeta as a "voice of reason," trying to convince the people to stop their revolution. So District 13 isn't exactly a fan of him (or Katniss's condition to give him a full pardon).
And The Capitol is the only place in Panem not broadcasting District 13's videos. So it's up to Beetee (District 3's survivor of the Quarter Quell Hunger Games) to find a way to break past the security system that--ironically--he invented himself.

Team Peeta vs. Team Gale- Part 1

As a member of Team Gale, there were a lot of great moments I enjoyed this movie. Gale getting more screentime than he had in the previous two movies COMBINED. He and Katniss appear to be getting closer, but all the while, she's fixated on saving Peeta.
I love their combined screen time, but in the back of my mind, I knew this wasn't fair to Gale.

As for Peeta... I didn't quite see the transformation he went through during this movie. My mom and aunt talked about him losing weight-- something I didn't see until he was finally rescued. But his face looked increasingly gaunt, as if they were beating him up in addition to using him as a puppet for the Capitol.
Then at one given moment, once the propaganda clips finally reach the Capitol and he sees the destruction of District 12, he comes out of his trance long enough to warn District 13 on an oncoming military assault.

However, come the final three minutes of the movie... after the "big rescue"... Peeta almost kills Katniss in a really traumatic choking scene. Her eyes were visibly bloodshot and after her bodyguard knocks him out, making the screen go completely black, I was terrified the movie would end that way.
Luckily, there was one scene afterwards to help cushion the blow, which it barely does. The final visual we have is Katniss (complete with a neck brace) watches Peeta through the glass having a psychotic episode tied to a bed.

As much as the movies so far have made me more of a fan of Peeta than I was reading the books, I can already feel that old habit coming back-- me spending "Mockingjay"  wishing they just let Peeta die because I felt like he was beyond saving.
Especially going into the climax where they're storming the Capitol and Peeta has another episode that almost gets everyone killed.

I hope the next movie is good enough to spare my feelings and make it easier to accept the inevitable ending. Katniss choosing Peeta and turning her back on Gale because she blamed him for what happened to Prim.

Characters and Other Highlights
Effie Trinket had a tiny role in the book, but I'm really glad they made that adjustment in the movie by giving her a bigger role. The transformation from her being superfluous with her makeup and clothes to trying to bring fashionable accessories to her District 13 jumpsuit... that's worth every minute.
Plus, other than Gale, she's the one friend Katniss feels she has in the wake of this new conflict. Love the scene where she shows Katniss the last sketches Cinna left behind before the Capitol killed him over the Mockingjay dress. Doesn't fully make up for the fact he's gone, but it helped fill that void a bit.

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, once again, steals the show for me. He tells it like it is whether you want it or not and usually, he's very on point.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch is a bittersweet venture in the event of his recent death. But his presence felt like it gave the movie an enhanced sense of professionalism and credibility.
Julianne Moore does well on her first outing in this franchise and by the end, we start to see she may not be as clean cut as we were originally led to believe. Despite Peeta's psychological state, she makes an elaborate speech to the masses to call the rescue mission a success... omitting the negatives for appearances.

Jennifer Lawrence, again, embodies Katniss and all her emotions.

Donald Sutherland has little screentime, but his presence is so poignant that the air goes out of the room. Particularly where he leaves a bed of white roses for Katniss, leaving her unwilling to do a final video.

The previous two were really well done.
Her promo that ends with "Fire is catching. If we burn, you burn with us!" and the fiery mockingjay symbol was so inspiring that we clapped.
Then the scene where she's singing "The Hanging Tree" with the mockingjays whistling in the background... powerful. The song was almost stuck in my head by the time it was all over. (We even hear it in the credits after Lorde's haunting "Yellow Flicker Beat").

A Quick Comment on Politics
I thought this subject matter was poignant when I read it a couple years ago :P
It's a little unnerving when you look beyond the film, beyond the escapism and being absorbed by this fictional world, and find similarities in real life.
Speaking as someone surrounded by people who fear we're approaching socialism...

Final Comments
It's not as if NOTHING happens in this movie. Plenty does happen. My attention didn't falter once the entire 2 hours (and change). But that's because I know and care about the characters.
There were a couple scenes where I was on the edge of my seat or holding my breath. One was the assault on District 13 where Katniss and Prim almost don't get past the closing doors because Prim went back for her cat.
Then of course the scene towards the end where my heart was pounding about the inevitable confrontation between Katniss and Peeta. The moment I let myself relax, seeing his face and how battered he looked, I jumped when he attacked and freaked about the cliff-hanger sure to come.

At the same time, it does suck that the movie had no justified resolution.
The Deathly Hallows had Voldermort stealing the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave
Breaking Dawn had Bella opening her eyes after she became a vampire.

Katniss and Peeta didn't get their reconciliation yet, so that is a bit of a letdown.
And speaking as someone not a fan of psychological thrillers or possession, how they depicted Peeta's state of mind freaked me out a bit.
If I were Team Peeta, I think I'd be an emotional wreck :P

Grade: A-/B+
It's a tough call.
On the one hand, the movie held my attention the entire time and I enjoyed all but 3 minutes of it.
But on the other hand, the cliff-hanger ending was unsatisfying.
Right now, I'm thinking I might wait on getting the DVD until after Part 2 comes out next year

Theatrical Review: The Lego Movie

Date: Sunday, February 9, 2014
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 2:15pm
Party: 3 (mom & sister)

Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Type: animation
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh

Cast:
Emmet- Chris Patt
President Business- Will Ferrell
Wyldstyle- Elizabeth Banks
Batman- Will Arnett
Vitruvius- Morgan Freeman
Good Cop/Bad Cop- Liam Neeson
Unikitty- Alison Brie
The Astronaut- Charlie Day
Superman- Channing Tatum
Green Lantern- Jonah Hill
Wonder Woman- Cobie Smulders
Metal Beard- Nick Offerman
Finn- Jadon Sand

[Opening Remarks]

With all the big movies out right now, all the Oscar contenders, you'd think my first review of the year would be one of them...
WRONG!

My first review goes to an animated movie that as soon as I heard about it, I wrote off. My exact words were:
"They're definitely playing to a younger demographic with this one, between the animation style and the cultural references. I'm a sucker for all those things, but I doubt it's something I'd pay to go see."

Technically, my mom paid for the tickets, but I ended up eating my words. Considering how often I pick out the movie, it seemed only right to let my sister suggest this one. We are suckers for cultural references and goofy animation, after all...

Not to say that I came in with zero expectations, but what little expectations I had... the payout was two-fold.
 [Coming Attractions]

We came in a little later than we should have, so during the remainder of the "Mr. Peabody" preview, we spent most of it trying to find seats.
This was the second showing on a cold Sunday when we were expecting some snow. To which I say, never underestimate the power of kids dying to see an animated movie.

By this point, I'd grown a little tiresome of "Mr. Peabody"... DreamWorks is promoting it like crazy under the tutelage of it being a studio that released the Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda franchises... taking my resentment of the 4th Shrek movie out of the picture, they have done well with the others.
...admittedly, I'm still kinda pissed that Robert Downey Jr. pulled out of this movie because Marvel has kept him too busy to do much else. Not to mention the role went to the dude that insults oranges on the Minute Maid commercials. Yes, I know it's Ty Burrell from "Modern Family." That's just my inside joke .
On the other hand, I guess I can't be too upset. The movie looks so silly that he might have been better off.

Other previews include a teaser of the "Muppets" sequel and the Morgan Freeman narrated IMAX movie, "Island of Lemurs: Madagascar"...
When I saw the title months ago, I was afraid it was an unnecessary reboot of the DreamWorks franchise... but it looks pretty spectacular. All those years of seeing "Zoboomafoo," I had no idea lemurs actually leaped like that :-P

[Review]

Here's the tag-line that'll accompany my postings of this review on social media.
"Shut up... you had me at 'double-decker couch.'"

Seriously, that was the one joke in the first trailer that kept me completely dismissing this movie. Some ideas are just too crazy for me not to appreciate and latch onto. That's the kind of person I am.

For the record, I was a Lego kid... not in the same big way as "The Man Upstairs" (that's an actual character in the movie and I'm not gonna spoil who that is... I'll let Google take care of that), but I did do  some Legos.
Namely, there was a Christmas where I asked for a Lego pirate ship. I don't remember how much help I had with putting it together, but it took a couple months. It looked pretty awesome on our dining room table 8-)

What's kinda amazing about this movie is that it has something for all ages. You have all the bright colors and imagines for the kids. During some action sequences, it's easy to see the amazing 3D animation potential. The jokes rang from so-so to ha-ha funny to even LMAO funny (for me, there were 2-3 scenes that had me laughing that hard).
For the boys, they had an astronaut, a pirate and DC superheroes. For the girls, they had a kick-ass female character called Wyldstyle, who supposedly had issues with picking a name, and Unikitty, who lived in this chaotic realm called Cloudy Cuckoo Land.

And for the adults who got dragged to this movie by their kids, there's some interesting political commentary to take into account as well.

The movie follow everyman, Emmett, a construction worker among 1,000's who follows "the instruction" to a tee. We're led to believe he does the same thing every day because that's just the way it is in Bricksenberg.
By accident, he stumbles across "the piece of resistance," the only thing that can stop Bricksenberg president, President Business from unleashing the dreaded "Kragle" on TACO Tuesday.
(The "Kragle" is actually tube of Krazy Glue with some letters scratched out and the evil plot is encasing the Lego Universe in Krazy Glue so nobody will be able to defy the instructions again).

Emmett is then recruited by blind wizard Virtruvius and his top student, Wyldstyle to save the world. Supposedly because whoever finds "the piece of resistance" must be "The special", a Master Builder, the most important person in the universe.

But they and their allies, which include Batman and Unikitty, quickly learn he might not be the most qualified person. Apparently he'd spent his life following the instructions so well that he has nothing else going for him to set him apart. Plus the "double-decker couch" was the only original idea he could come up with... and everyone else seems to think it's the dumbest idea ever.
On the plus side, it goes make a couple appearances and actually saves their lives in one scene. After head of the Secret Police, Bad Cop sinks their ship, the only wreckage he and the micro-managers left behind was the double-decker couch... in which the heroes hid and eluded capture.

Even as a Marvel fangirl, I couldn't help but love how they used the DC superheroes in this movie. On the comedic side, we had this side-plot of Green Lantern dying to hang out with Superman, who wants nothing to do with him... and when they're captured by the bad guys, they end up in neighboring cells.
It's even funnier that their voices belong to Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, now known for their collaboration on the 21/22 Jump Street films...

Easily, the scene-stealer for me was Batman. It's interesting because he's played by Will Arnett, an actor I don't really take seriously, who plays the character in that phony deep-voice Christian Bale used to ruin the character for me... with him, it just works because this movie needed someone with a dry sense of humor.
There's also a love triangle involving him, his girlfriend Wyldstyle and Emmett... all kinds of hilarity, but the tops is the Star Wars cameo. As if it wasn't funny enough that Batman asks aloud where they'd get a hyperdrive and he gets called on it... he appears to jump ship for a couple minutes, only to come back and ruin a moment Emmett and Wyldstyle are about to have...

And just when you think you know what's going to happen, there are substantial curveballs...

[Political Commentary and (Possibly) Overthinking Things]

The commentary makes this movie out to be a statement against socialism and the utopian model... speaking out against conformity and all that. I've experienced it in "The Giver" and "Fahrenheit 451"... no matter how perfect you can make something, there's always room for anomaly and that one thing can cause a whole system to collapse. President Business spent years doing away with the Master Builders because they're individuals that create new things outside the instructions. No matter what they are, he sees them as a threat because going outside the instructions can only be perceived as chaos.

For a number of reasons, my favorite of the Lego worlds shown in the movie was the Cuckoo one. Batman might not like it ("I hate this place") and President Business did send Bad Cop to destroy it... it's crazy, but everyone was happy and it was just one big nerdgasm, something I can totally appreciate.
At the same time, the demeanor of Unikitty hints that not even that world is paradise. She spends the movie trying to stay positive, trying to keep her other emotions inside until she finally snaps. Kinda reminded me of the Amity section in the "Divergent" series... everyone is pleasant, kind and loving, but deep down their biggest flaw is that they're a little dumb in their being too trusting of other people.

Then I also got to thinking about how I think of Legos. I was never a master builder. I got as far as building that pirate ship with the instructions and I didn't feel up to doing more than that. Either because I wasn't creative enough or I was the kind of kid who preferred coloring between the lines than setting outside of them.
Nowadays, that's not quite as true, but remains an inherent flaw. Deep down, I do crave conformity because it would at least give me a place to fit in, but I have more fun when I write beyond the realm of possibility and listen to music outside the tastes of people in my age group.

[Remaining Comments]

I can't get through the rest of this without addressing the theme song.
In this conformist society, everyone does the same thing every day, everyone watches this show "Where's my Pants?" and everyone listens to the same song "Everything is Awesome!"
...based on the trailers, I was afraid it was going to be a brainwashing anthem of some kind. Instead, it became nothing more than the only song the radio plays and everyone is conditioned to never get tired of it :-P to my relief, they only played it through maybe 3-4 times throughout the entire movie. It might not catch on in household with young children the way "Let it go" has, but it still has that potential.

Taking Batman out of the equation temporarily (gotta face it, he had most of the best lines in the entire movie, lol), the biggest laugh I got out of it was when they finally let the 80's astronaut guy build his spaceship... and he proceeded to shoot everything across the realms while screaming "Spaceship!"
He was having so much fun with it, I couldn't help getting as much a kick out of it as I did :-P

In general, the cast was pretty good. It was more about the characters than the actors. Liam Neeson plays a pretty good Good Cop/Bad Cop character who actually has the two personalities... that is until President Business has his way and :gasp: erases the Good Cop face with a Q-Tip and Nail Polish remover.
Morgan Freeman is great in everything he does.

And Will Ferrell returns to play another pretty good bad guy. I enjoyed his voiceover work in "Mega-Mind"... which to me felt like it got diminished by the fact "Desipicable ME" got a sequel (an amazing sequel at that)... but he plays a pretty good baddie in this one too.
A control-freak dictator on the rise with very pronounced OCD. Seriously, only Will Ferrell could have played this guy... yet another idiot with a sense of entitlement, but yeah... coming out of the movie, I just felt bad that I didn't bother to see the "Anchorman" sequel.
If I'm lucky, my dad will see it in-flight on the way back from a trip overseas and can determine if it's worth picking up a copy... when it comes out.

Grade: B+

[Coming Soon]

#40 on my countdown:

A Universal animated film based on a true story that has a notable impact on my childhood.

Theatrical Review: The Hunger Games- Catching Fire

Date: November 23, 2013
Time: 1:15pm
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my mom & fellow movie-going/book-reading aunt)
Duration: 146 minutes (+2 trailers)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Type: young adult, drama, book-to-movie adaptation, action, sci-fi

Cast:

Returning Players
Katniss Everdeen- Jennifer Lawrence
Peeta Mellark- Josh Hutcherson
Gale- Liam Hemsworth
Haymitch- Woody Harrelson
Effie Trinket- Elizabeth Banks
Cinna- Lenny Kravitz
Prim Everdeen- Willow Shields
Caesar Flickerman- Stanley Tucci
President Snow- Donald Sutherland

Newcomers
Head Gamemaker Plutarach- Philip Seymour Hoffman
Finnick Odair (District 4)- Sam Claflin
Johanna Mason (District 7)- Jena Malone
Beetee (aka "Volts") (District 3)- Jeffrey Wright
Wirress (aka "Nuts") (District 3)- Amanda Plummer
Mags (District 4)- Lynn Cohen

Trailers:

There were two.

First was for yet another YA book series getting adapted to film.
"Divergent" by Veronica Roth is coming to theaters next March.
The book's down to $8 at Wal-Mart, but I have yet to pick up a copy. (But in my defense, I have five other books yet to read... and yeah, after seeing this trailer, now I gotta read it).

So far, I just know it takes place in the future where kids are classified as one of four personality types that go on to define their futures... but I didn't realize our heroine (played by Shailene Woodley) couldn't be classified by the system.

Then there was "I, Frankenstein," which looks like a modern take on the Mary Shelley story with a hint of "Underworld" folklore (seeing as it's done by the same people behind that franchise).

It was a decent crowd, roughly a dozen or so other people in addition to the three of us.

Write-up:

Just to save myself a little bit of typing, for those unfamiliar with the franchise, I'll provide the link to my "Hunger Games" review to recap.
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/07/71-hunger-games-2012.html
Skip down to the "discussion" sub-heading for the basic premise

Spoilers from this point out... but again, I urge newbies to read the book or at least see the first movie before preceding with the second. Otherwise, it might be difficult to follow.

Aside from the addition of more characters and upping the dramatics with the plot, the biggest change is a brand new director.

Francis Lawrence only has a few movie credits to his name from the director's chair, getting his start with music videos for Green Day and Britney Spears. Gary Ross's directing for the previous installment drew a lot of criticism, particularly regarding the shaky camera angles. Based on the fact Lawrence has been signed for the rest of the series, the franchise has themselves a winner.
Kinda like David Yates with the Harry Potter franchise, but books five through seven had a similar feel, so that made sense.

Plot
(I'll try to keep up with the main points without giving away too much)

The story picks up from where the previous movie left off and could be broken into three parts.

The Aftermath & Victory Tour

Settings: District 12, Districts 1-11, The Capitol

Katniss and Peeta are back in District 12 after being crowned co-champions of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss receives a not-so-cordial visit from President Snow. In a passive-aggressive manner, he gives Katniss a "task" to fulfill when she and Peeta are on the Victory Tour: Convince him that their plan of ingesting the poisonous berries in the Games wasn't to defy the Capitol, but because they'd rather die than be without each other. Along with their mentor, Haymitch and their PR person, Effie, Katniss and Peeta set off to visit the other districts with The Capitol as their last stop.

Their first stop: District 11, home to fallen Tributes, Rue and Thresh.
Because Rue was her ally and closest friend in the arena, Katniss decides to give a tearful speech about her. This pledge of good faith earns her the respect of District 11 and, unfortunately, leads to bloodshed. While not at the same magnitude, similar incidents happen throughout the districts, no matter how much Katniss and Peeta "stick to the script." They attempt to remedy the situation by getting engaged. 
Naturally, The Capitol was the most extravagant of the affairs. While there, Katniss makes the acquaintance of the new gamemaker, Plutarch.

Once back in District 12, things only seem to go from bad to worse when a new Head Peacekeeper is appointed. Meanwhile, Plutarch and Snow are scheming for a way to "eliminate" Katniss before uprsings start to happen again... and arrive at a brilliant, albeit horrifying solution.

Every 25 years, a special version of the Hunger Games known as the "Quarter Quell" is held. Notably, they come with their own set of rules and/or changes in protocol. This is to keep things interesting while serving as education for the newest "crop" of tributes.
For the 75th Hunger Games, the "crop" is made up of previous victors... seeing as District 12 has only produced three champions with Katniss being the only female, she has to return.

Preparing for the Quarter Quell

Setting: The Capitol

Regarding the male tribute, Haymitch was drawn out of the bowl, but Peeta volunteered to take his place...

Unlike the previous time around, Katniss and Peeta decide to train as if they were from District 1 or 2, i.e. "Careers." Throughout the trials, they size up the other victors to determine who the best allies would be.
Katniss is put off by the womanizing Finnick and overtly sexual Johanna, but finds kinship with the older, but intelligent, Beetee and Wiress from District 3. She also likes the older woman, Mags, who volunteered to come from District 4 alongside Finnick.

During the interview segment, Katniss shows off Cinna's latest creation: the wedding dress she would have wore to her wedding with Peeta. But when she does the "girl on fire" twirl, it reveals a mockingjay.
Unfortunately, this doesn't end well for Cinna and his demise is the last thing Katniss witnesses before re-entering the arena

Re-entering the Arena

Setting: Somewhere in the tropics

The tributes arrive, finding themselves surrounded by water, which is surrounded by jungle. Bloodshed ensues, Katniss grabs her favored weapon and finds herself with Finnick as an ally, along with Mags.

They quickly found there are multiple horrors waiting for them, both natural and man-made (or man-"taught"). Later on, they meet with Johanna who "retrieved" Wiress and Beetee (who she calls "Nuts" and "Volts") for Katniss. Wiress constantly repeats "tick, tock," something Johanna chalked up to PTSD, but Katniss realized it refers to a set pattern of "horrors" in the arena based on a clock.   

When the tributes come down to a small enough number (only a handful of Careers remaining in addition to Katniss's group), they concoct a plan to off them while sparing themselves direct confrontation.

But not all goes according to plan... and by the end of the movie (which is a cliff-hanger, by the way), Katniss comes to realize there was another plan in place and it puts her at the helm of it.
That plan being... REVOLUTION.

Book-to-Movie and Sequel Chatter

Now that the structured part of this review is over, I can work on the editorial portion.

For starters, the movie was AWESOME. Probably will go on to be in my top 3 theatrical outings this year (or maybe top 5, so I can make room for "Iron-Man 3" and "Now you see me" along with "Thor: The Dark World" and "Star Trek Into Darkness").

Like the "Hunger Games" before it, the adaptation from book to film was on-point. Although I read the book just once over a year ago, I felt like it hit on all the major points and didn't leave too much out. (At this length, they would have been in a lot of trouble if they left out anything huge because there'd simply be no excuse for it).

It's said so often in Hollywood that it's practically cliché by this point... to say that sequels are tricky because they rarely surpass the original. That's especially difficult in franchises like this one that's either adapted from a book series or derives from the sci-fi/fantasy genre.
Having said that, "Catching Fire" is yet another successful sequel. In comparison to some of the other sequels I saw this year, most of which were done particularly well, it's probably the best.

The biggest issue I can draw is that the subject matter of the storyline might be so intense that it lessens the "re-watchability" factor,  just speaking as someone who loves to revisit movies several times :-P
If I were to chart the intensity level, "The Hunger Games" has an oscillating curve that has distinct peaks & troughs (highs and lows). With "Catching Fire," it'd be compare to something you'd find on a Richter scale on the west coast. As soon as the tension dies down, it comes back up within 5 minutes, opposed to having break periods lasting 10-15-20 minutes in its predecessor. Not to mention the violence is more graphic and "personal" this time around. The various dangers in the arena were well done, which made them borderline terrifying at times (I wasn't a fan of the poisonous smoke or the jabberjays that plays into the psychological side of things).

But in other aspects, I think it had a better storyline and the characterization was handled especially well.

Characters and Actors, Old & New

Katniss maintains the "reluctant heroine" archetype throughout the series, but does so in varying capacities.
She was very guarded going into the first movie, unwilling to trust and rely on other people. While trying to convince Snow she isn't out to defy The Capitol, she's become a better actor. This is especially noticeable when she's being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman, more at ease with being herself and playing to the audience the way Peeta had done so easily the last time around.
Even with an Oscar under her belt, Jennifer Lawrence continues to be on her game, living and breathing this role as if she is this character when the cameras aren't on.

Gale reminded me why I preferred him to Peeta going into this phenomenon. But then again, Liam Hemsworth looks so much cuter with dark hair (I don't care for him as a blonde). He continues to struggle with his feelings for Katniss, getting a few kisses in to make his feelings known, but it can't be easy for him sitting on the sidelines while she's forced to keep people believing she and Peeta are an item.

At the same time, though, I'm grown more fond of Peeta this time around.
Right now I'm recollecting how unhappy I was with him while reading the book. He spent the first few chapters in a mood after what Katniss said at the end of the previous book... how she thought this whole thing, including how he felt about her, was an act. The truth was that he meant everything he said and it hurt his feelings that she didn't reciprocate that, let alone believe him.
Not only did they downplay that drama to the point where it was non-existent, but I especially loved whatever relationship the two of them had here. There were a few scenes where Katniss had nightmares and Peeta was there to support her, being there as if he was the only friend she had in the world. Although it does help that they shared a lot of the same experiences.

Woody Harrelson continues to be one of my favorite supporting actors with this second outing as Haymitch, always on hand to provide much needed advice (and tough love) to our favorite District 12 denizens... but not nearly as present and impactful as I found him in the previous film.
Perhaps this was meant to make more room for Effie to shine. Die-hard Panem fans (and IMDB disciples like myself) would notice her character wasn't even referred to by name in "The Hunger Games". She not only ushers Katniss and Peeta throughout the districts for the Victory Tour, but she treats the audience to a myriad of amazing yet confounding outfits. And the fact she gets so close to them and loathes the fact they have to go back into the arena was something that grabbed me about her character this time around (yet I forgot to include it in this entry until a couple hours after I wrote it :-P )

On that particular note, I gotta give my props to the costume department... especially to the people behind the Mockingjay dress. They were careful to only show it from behind in the trailers, but it was spectacular enough to warrant an audible gasp... it doesn't make Cinna's demise any less painful, though :( that was one of the saddest moments in the series for me, up there with when Rue got killed.

Before getting to the other tributes (two in particular), I want to draw attention to Katniss's sister, Prim and how much she's matured. Fans of the series will note the significance, but since the latest Games, she rose to the role of being an assistant healer to her mom... especially notable in the scene where they need to take care of Gale after he receives corporal punishment from the new Head Peacekeeper. She's become a much stronger individual, something Katniss finds admirable, but at the same time, she loathes how the state of things has "hardened" her and taken away her child-like innocence.

One of my favorite aspects of this movie was how they spent more time getting to know the other tributes... how Katniss develops friendships with some of them and how she's uneasy about others. While other tributes kinda dismissed Beetee and Wiress as weirdos, Katniss gravitated towards them, perhaps feeling that their unconventional talents have equal warrant to combat.

I knew Sam Claflin previously as Snow White's Prince William in "Snow White & the Huntsman"... even though he was up against Chris Hemsworth, I thought he was the better looking man of the two.
My mom thought he looked exactly like Jake Abel of "Percy Jackson" fan... and I saw quite a bit of that as well... Finnick's character is very chauvinistic and a little self-absorbed so Katniss didn't care much for him at first, but he proved to be an excellent ally in the field.

Johanna was one character I really disliked in the book on the ground she seemed like a bitch and through Katniss's narration, you felt that she felt sexually threatened by her, in that Johanna was more at ease with showing off her figure in front of Peeta. To that effect, there's a scene in the movie where she strips off her "chariot" outfit in the elevator for Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch to see. (If any men saw this movie, I'll bet they were disappointed it was PG13 and didn't warrant any on-screen nudity here).
My attitude towards her changed in the latter chapters of the book when she became an ally and the announcement of Jena Malone playing her made her one to watch.

Actually, when Johanna wasn't being a flirt, she reminded me a lot of your typical "Real World" housemate, foul-mouthed and copping an attitude about sticking it to the man, which I thought was a cool "modern" twist they threw in. (I had actually never seen any of MTV's reality series, but I've heard things).

And to foreshadow a bit more, I am a week away from covering one of her movies (the one that made me fall in love with her as an actress).

Final Comments

I stayed through the credits to hear some of the songs that were playing. I guessed right that the first was Coldplay and loved the track by Of Monsters and Men... although I doubt that'll be enough to make me want to run out and get it :-P

On paper and on screen, as I previously stated, "Catching Fire" probably will go on to be in my top 5 theatrical features this year. It stays faithful to what made the original great and made it progressively better in all aspects (plot, characterization, conflict, etc.).

Grade: A