It's Just One Movie After the Other

Hey, gang.  I'm back again--surprisingly soon, I know.  I have more news for you (whether you care or not).  As predicted, it's about the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games.

So, evidently, I've been living under a rock or something--

Can fifteen minutes really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance--?

*shoves over-dramatic announcer off my blog*  Not interested, dude.  I don't even have my permit yet.  (Tomorrow, I shall conquer the damn DMV!  ...Second time's the charm, right?  o.e)  

ANYWAY.  So yeah, me living under a rock=me not knowing jack about developments regarding THG the movie.  Evidently, they've already cast everyone and are filming it, and the movie's scheduled for release on March 23, 2012.

Um, okay.  You really think there'd be a bigger buzz around the interwebs.  And The Mortal Instruments' City of Bones isn't getting much hype, either.  The fandoms are disappointing me!!!  

By the way, I think I finally figured out why the world *might* end in 2012.  City of Bones, Part 2 of Breaking Dawn, and The Hunger Games, as well as God-only-knows-what-else-I've-missed--the world is simply going to explode because it can't handle the epic.  Only the loyal fans shall remain (except only the sane Twilight fangirls and fanmoms, please).....  *gets momentarily lost in shimmery golden image of a world, based solely on epic young adult fiction series, rising from the ashes of this politic- and war-strewn world----image interrupted by scene of this new world and, instead of wars with the Middle East, its wars being about Team Gale vs. Team Peeta and Team Edward vs. Team Jacob and Team Fang vs. Team Dylan [MaxRide] and....*  

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  Okay, nevermind with my little distopic fantasy world..... God, that's the scariest thought I've had in a long time.  o.e

Oy.  Back to my original subject, the casting for The Hunger Games.  Now the intelligence shall begin to filter through, I promise.

Our first star is Josh Hutcherson, and he has quite the impressive record for his age; certainly, he has the longest movie career of our three stars.  His notable appearances on the Silver Screen started in 2005, three and four years, respectively, before co-stars Jennifer and Liam.  Some of his roles, in no particular order, are:

• Jess in Bridge to Terabithia, 2007
• Sean in Journey to the Center of the Earth, 2008
• Walter in Zathura:  A Space Adventure, 2005 alongside Kristin Stewart (interesting)
• Carl in RV, 2006, alongside Robin Williams
• Bucky in Kicking & Screaming, 2005
• Laser in The Kids Are All Right, 2010
• and the voice of Markl in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle, 2004, which also featured the voice of Christian Bale as Howl (I must say, I gained a lot of enthusiasm for this kid after I discovered this).

Little Joshie here is now the face of Peeta Mellark.  (So, for those of you who have seen Zathura, does this mean that Bella is Peeta's older sister?  What?!  /shot)

The lovely Jennifer Lawrence busted onto the big screen a year before co-star Liam; before, she played Lauren on The Bill Engvall Show and guest-starred in episodes for a couple of other TV shows.  Since her "big break" as Agnes in The Poker House, 2008, she has become known for her compelling role as Ree in Winter's Bone, 2010, and as the sultry Raven (Mystique) in X-Men:  First Class, 2011.  In what is *obviously* her biggest role yet, she has become our heroine, Katniss Everdeen.

Lastly, we have Liam Hemsworth.  After guest-starring in episodes for about three or four TV shows, he hit the big screen in 2009 with two roles, Spencer in The Knowing, a movie about the apocalypse, and Victor in Triangle.  Since then, his only other claim to fame has been Will in--gag-- The Last Song, 2010.  Not to judge movies by their posters, but based on the posters for those three movies, The Last Song was a pretty big switch for Mr. Morbid.  In keeping with the general "doom-n-gloom" theme of his roles, he has been chosen to play Gale Hawthorne.

With those three addressed, I can now lapse into some concerns I have.  When I set out to write this post, my first impression of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta was "you've got to be kidding me."  But as with most of the posts I write that are meant to have any sort of real-world substance, I did my research.  I was surprised to find myself remembering all the movies Josh actually appeared in.  And he's a good actor with, as I've said before, an impressive roster of titles for someone his age.  He's appeared in movies with a number of well-known stars and held his own.  My only concern (besides the fact that I always pictured Peeta as a blonde and cannot imagine Josh as one) is the fact that Peeta is a romantic.  Personally, I've never seen Josh in any endearing relationship scenes (unless you count the brother scenes in Zathura, and that is a completely different kind of relationship *coughlearnthatHaleycough*).  But his poster once decorated a piece of my wall in the times when I lived for "teen" magazine pull-outs, so he's got a place in my heart.  We'll see how he does.

The name Jennifer Lawrence was remotely familiar to me when I started writing this, and by now I recall her fascinating work with the character Ree in Winter's Bone, a movie that gleaned four nominations for at the 2011 Academy Awards, including for Best Picture.  Impressively, Jennifer Lawrence was also nominated for Best Actress.  For those of you who haven't seen the movie, Ree is (in short) a tough girl who has learned how to take care of herself under difficult circumstances she voluntarily puts herself in for the sake of her family.  Sound familiar?  It should if you've read The Hunger Games.  This chick gets my vote for Katniss. 

At the beginning of my little endeavor here, the name "Liam Hemsworth" was completely foreign to me.  It makes sense--the kid's only been in three major movies since 2009, none of which I've seen (although now I do recall seeing him in the trailer for The Knowing).  Since I haven't seen his movies and I don't really know much about the guy, I withhold judgement until the trailers start coming out.  However, his past movie experience, though slim, creates a "rough-n-tumble-with-a-bit-of-romance" profile, which in my opinion makes him nicely qualified for the role of Gale Hawthorne.

That's all I have for you today, guys.  An hour and fifteen minutes after I started, I'm finished, and I'll no doubt have more to say before I scuttle off to camp on the first of July.

Peace,

~Cara