The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)

If you’re looking for an action-packed, entertaining blockbuster, you won’t find it in the final Hunger Games instalment. The atmosphere here is dour and soaked in dread; fitting, really, given we’re observing the final days of a bloody revolution. Constricted by the expectations of her role as an icon – much like the actress playing…

Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games - Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)

Mockingjay – Part 1 is unsatisfactory not simply because it’s telling half a story, but because its ideas are given neither sufficient depth nor a sufficiently engaging narrative to wrap around them. Much like fellow threequel Matrix Revolutions, it trades the diverse visual palette of its predecessors for drab bunkers and ruins painted in endless…

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Cinematic adaptations of popular young adult fantasy series may be guaranteed to rake in the profits, but they’re also guaranteed to bring in the same exact complaints from the fandom every damn time. Specifically, rabid fans of the original novels – whether it’s Twilight, Lord of the Rings or The Hunger Games – always take…

Double Feature: The Exorcist (1973) and Don’t Look Now (1973)

(Double Feature is a series of “double length” (400-word) posts where I’ll discuss two related pop culture artifacts) William Friedkin’s The Exorcist and Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now have a great deal in common: both are supernatural horror films released in 1973, both now regarded as genuine classics. They’re each impeccably directed and feature rightfully…