It can be argued that Hunger Games: Catching Fire is more of a war on the outside. On the other hand, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 1) takes after the internal struggle of the first Hunger Games book and movie and runs with it. Mockingjay's first part is a battle of ideas, a battle of propaganda. Whether one side or the other is actually winning is not as important as how they look to the general public. At the center of this war of propaganda is Katniss Everdeen, who now has to fill the role of a revolutionary icon. But as we all know, the icon and the person are seldom the same.
As expected there are some liberties taken with the movie adaptation, which is more or less effective. The majority of the character focus goes to Katniss, leaving the other characters behind. The film is well paced for its length and never gets boring. Jennifer Lawrence gives a great performance, although the rest of the cast is decent as well.
The final chapter in Peter Jackson's Hobbit Trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ends more than a decade of Tolkien-based film productions. While the movie is on a whole is entertaining, I feel the trilogy could have worked better with the original two movie premise.
The movie adapts material not only from the original book, but also from various notes and other supplemental materials published by Tolkien, as well as the expansive appendices to the later Lord of the Rings trilogy. For once, the scale of the adaptation doesn't seem to match the material it has adapted. Those appendices have a LOT of great material that could be used in the ending. In a contrast to the way the adaptation did its business for the first movie (with a nice scene detailing the War of Orcs and Dwarves,) this movie kind of scales it back a bit to tell a more personal story.
One of my more favorite parts of the film is the way the battle progressed, with battle lines and formations taking center stage - this was something we didn't see in the great battles in the previous LOTR trilogy. On the whole, this movie feels like a truncated climax; here's hoping the longer director's cut helps in that aspect.
I have to credit Interstellar for making contemporary science and science fiction cinema inspirational again for many. It's grounded in reality although some aspects take a decidedly science fiction (and even metaphysical) aspect. While it does tell a very ambitious story, the core of Interstellar is a journey that is very personal.
There may be a lot of science fiction films out there, but rarely do we see anything of this scope and ambition in cinema. It's helped by a competent soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and amazing cinematography and visual effects.
The plot has a bunch of interesting twists and turns and may warrant several viewings. It's worth the running time as it paces itself quite well all throughout.
Based on a piece of old Russian literature, Viy has elements of period fantasy and drama, although in the middle of the film's running time, much of the story revolves into scientific and empirical reasoning. It can be said that the latter half of the movie is about analyzing the facts versus merely constructing something fantastical out of them. This is in contrast to earlier adaptations of the text which give a more horror feel.
The special effects are top notch with a mix of practical and CG effects. There's also a certain atmosphere to the movie which I think fits the period setting. It's pretty cool too.
Also Charles Dance is in there somewhere.
There have been a handful of documentaries about the curious phenomenon that is the Brony community. They are male enthusiasts of My Little Pony, a children's television program primarily aimed towards young girls. A Brony Tale is one of the better docus out there about this phenomenon.
The film breaks stereotypes as it portrays Bronies as your average male, 18-30 years old, that happens to enjoy a cartoon about ponies. There are badass bikers, gym buffs, nerds and professionals in the film. It speaks of the universal appeal of the new program and the sophisticated way it treats its characters. It portrays these fans in an even handed way and doesn't try to shoehorn them into a specific type or group.
The film also features Ashleigh Ball, who voices two of the ponies in the show, and her experiences at her first ever Brony convention. She co-produced the film with her friend, who directed it.
Dinosaur 13 begins with the discovery of Sue, one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex specimens ever discovered. The viewers' elation at the monumental scientific discovery is dashed as government and scrupulous individuals step in and stir up some trouble.
What follows is an emotional rollercoaster ride for the next hour and a half as the discoverers of Sue try to keep their precious fossil. It's not just about the fossil; it's a documentary on the battle over the rights to their discovery and the legal morass that sought to determine who it all belongs to. To what extent do we own scientific discovery? Is it for the benefit of everyone or just a few individuals?
It's an enthralling experience, and one that comes highly recommended.
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is the story of an incandescent prodigy and how his struggles to make the internet and its repository of information free caused his ultimate fall.
Even at a young age, Swartz displayed immense talent: he was behind the creation of RSS, Creative Commons, and is one of the co-founders of Reddit.
His activities gave way to activism, as he tried to make information accessible to all, most notably the great repository of knowledge in scientific journals and articles monetized and sealed behind large corporations.
In this age where information and media are reaching a fundamental paradigm shift from copyright to something entirely different, Swartz was a victim of those tied to the old guard, made an example for all to see. But history moves inexorably on, and the internet never forgets.
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