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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
(In Theaters Nov. 17)
Every successful film franchise needs a prequel, so the $3 billion dollar “The Hunger Games” series, by Suzanne Collins, gets its own. Francis Lawrence returns to direct “the becoming” of Coriolanus Snow (previously portrayed by Donald Sutherland), who, as a youth struggles to reconcile his ambitions with growing feelings for Hunger Games tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). Snow (played here by Tom Blyth) is a handsome Academy mentor whose job description is to help Lucy engage Panem’s audiences in order to prop up viewership. Viola Davis appears as Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, sporting eyes of different colors and a white-streaked Dr. Frankenstein ’do.
With Davis’s gravelly, creamy voice, she’s chilling and campy when instructing Snow. She keeps him in line by cryptically asking whether he knows the meaning of the games. The PG-13 combat-action occurs within the confines of an arena which Dr. Gaul has booby-trapped with venomous snakes. Since the vipers kill numerous tributes, Lucy is spared from offing the more sympathetic combatants. The PG-13 film attempts to justify its two-hour-35-minute runtime with three chapters entitled, “The Mentor,” “The Prize” and “The Peacekeeper.” Peter Dinklage appears as the Hunger Games’s creator, while Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, and Josh Andrés Rivera have key roles. The film earns a 66% fresh rating—quite the feat considering those familiar with the storyline will anticipate many of its twists and turns. (Lisa Miller)
Passion
(Film Movement Blu-ray/DVD/Digital)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi earned an Oscar nomination for Drive My Car. Several years earlier, his feature debut was a student film made at the University of Tokyo, Passion. However, Passion is like few other student projects of recent times. Elegantly edited, beautifully filmed with many small, marvelous cinematic moments, Passion recalls the work of esteemed art house directors of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The story begins when a group of late 20somethings gather at a Spanish restaurant for a birthday celebration complete with cake, sizzling candles to blow out and an offkey “Happy Birthday!” in English. The reaction to a couple’s wedding announcement brings mixed responses. The friends regroup and regather through the evening in an extended series of conversations on love, marriage, work, cats … think of My Dinner with Andre—and a Bunch of Friends. Passion was a sign of an emerging talent in world cinema. (David Luhrssen)
Thanksgiving
(In Theaters Nov. 17)
This is the third feature-length film adapted from a mock Grindhouse trailer following Robert Rodriguez’s Machete (2010) and Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun (2011). In development since 2010, writer-director Eli Roth was involved in other projects while trying to create a story he felt lived up to the initial concept. Rather than produce a movie appearing to be from the ’80s, Roth imagined that all prints of the initial film were destroyed, leaving him to make a present-day reboot. Gory to the extreme, the R-rated result is kicked off by a Black Friday riot that ends tragically. This prompts a masked killer, known only as “John Carver,” to exact his revenge in Plymouth, MA., where Thanksgiving has deep roots. Carver is intent upon creating a Thanksgiving carving board from the town’s inhabitants. He is tracked by Patrick Dempsey as the town sheriff. Other characters are played by Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Rick Hoffman, Nell Verlaque and Gina Gershon. Let the heartburn begin. (Lisa Miller)
