Released: 3/23/12
Viewed: 3/23/12 With: Mom, Rachel, Rachel’s Mom.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
Rated: PG-13

So I know this post is kinda late, but better late than never! :D

So the Hunger Games was AWESOME! and if you haven’t watched it yet, stop reading, and go watch it. NOW! Seriously! Because there may be spoilers ahead!

I really liked in the movie how well they stayed with the main events and details in the book. Now I understand they can only put in so much for a movie, but as always, I’m kinda disappointed they changed a few minor details, such as cutting Madge out entirely, so the Mockingjay thing is a little off. And what was up with the finger pricking at the check in of the Reaping? Thank goodness for this futuristic technology (hopefully) so that nobody catches any DISEASES!

Anyways, I was also really happy with all of the performances by the actors. When I first saw Jennifer Lawrence was casted as Katniss, I wasn’t sure how well it would work out. But she nailed it! Even though I wanted to strangle Katniss in the book half of the time, I thought Jennifer did a pretty good job. And may I say it’s so REFRESHING to see a strong female lead! (I’m looking at you Bella from Twilight!)

Josh Hutcherson did a nice job as well. :) Definitely can’t wait to see him in the upcoming movies.

Liam Hemsworth, ah, :). I was just slightly disappointed that they didn’t show very much of Gale. I mean, I get he wasn’t really there in the action, but I felt that Katniss thought about him a lot more than what they showed.

Another thing I really enjoyed was how INTENSE it was! Come on, I read the books and I was still holding my breath as Prim’s name was called at the Reaping!

The only thing I kind of worry about is how well this movie would come across to viewers who haven’t read the books? I, once again, get that they can only put so much into a movie, but there is so much more detail and backstory in the books!

Overall, I’m very happy with the movie, and super pumped it broke box office records with a $155 million opening weekend, and still did well with a $60 million second weekend. Horray Hunger Games! :)

9.5/10 :)

Moneyball was up for an Oscar for Best Picture this past year, and for good reason!

The Oakland A’s are one of the poorest teams in the league. Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) faces the challenge of replacing three key players with a salary too small to attract anyone obviously good. When he travels to Cleveland to discuss an opportunity to get more players, he meets Peter Brand, a Yale Economics graduate who knows how to value players with statistics. Billy ends up hiring (or buying) Peter from Cleveland, and together they create a team of undervalued players, who set a new record of most games won in a row.

Absolute favorite moment of the movie (spoiler alert!):

The A’s are in the game where they have an 11 point lead, but the opposing team has caught up. Billy is sitting in the weight room with his head in his hands, because he’s afraid he’s jinxed the team by coming to their game. Hatterburg is put up to bat, because he gets on base by walking. However, he swings and hits the ball, dead silence except the crack of the bat, and Billy hears it and looks up.

That moment, is just PRICELESS! AHH! So good! I can’t get over it!

I absolutely loved Jonah Hill’s character. Even though I’ve come to dislike Jonah Hill, he’s still a pretty good actor, and obviously so for getting an Oscar nod for best supporting actor.

It was filmed so well too. Just the way the story is put together, with clips from the past baseball games, looking into Billy Beane’s past, and the present. I can’t get over how well done it was.

What was also pretty cool about the movie was that Matt said he remembered th etime period and the events that happened in the movie. (I didn’t because I was kind of young/didn’t really care about baseball.)

The only thing that kind of bothered me while we watched this was Billy’s daughter sings this song at various points in the movie, that was released in… 2008? The problem is the movie takes place in 2001-2002. :/

Overall, it was a great movie. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

8.5/10 :)

So I jumped into watching this movie on TV about a half hour in. I’ve seen it in theaters before so I figured I can still count it as one watched this year.

Now when I watched this in theaters, I thought it was alright. But watching it the second time around, MAN what a crappy movie! The characters are so awkward, and they’re not developed so well. And the story was slightly confusing in some parts, mostly meaning about Paul Rudd’s character’s legal troubles. I don’t know if I’m just too young to get it all? But I didn’t like it. :/

You would think a movie with such big names (Reese Witherspoonn, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson) would make it better, but, ah, no.

I just thought the entire dialogue was awkward and poorly written, and could’ve been a lot better.

Overall - 4/10.