Posts by John Sullivan5

Seriously, such a slickly packaged movie. Olivia Colman absolutely killed it! She’s phenomenal in every single scene—just a total blast to watch.

Huge props to the writers too for deciding to tackle a story about a queen who isn't exactly a household name, diving into all those juicy intrigues during her final years, even if they played fast and loose with the history books!

Great movie! Honestly, I was bawling my eyes out by the end there at AMC Theatres.

And trust me, I wasn't the only guy in the theater losing it. ☕

Mexico is absolutely killing it for me.

But hey, you can't just ignore Russia, France, and obviously America either. 👍

Emily Garcia3 said:In the book, Finnick says exactly what he says in the movie, so it feels like that monologue was lifted almost word-for-word for the film 😁
Maybe that theory gets confirmed when they meet up with that woman, but in the books, Finnick is the first one to start talking about it.

I actually liked having Effie in the movie too, even though she shouldn't really be there according to the book... her commentary honestly just brightened things up for me. 😁

Fair point, I might have just mixed up the timeline regarding when it all comes out, so no biggie if that's the case. 👍

Karen Richardson3 said:Honestly, I’m actually pleasantly surprised here. 🙂

To me, the second installment felt like a bit of a mess in terms of adaptation; you could really feel the influence of the Summit too much. That whole Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle was pushed way too hard into the spotlight, and the fight scenes felt way too polished and "Hollywood," which just missed the mark for me.

So, I went into the third book's adaptation with the same expectations—that they’d throw in random fights for the sake of it and try to reshape Katniss into this fearless warrior who never breaks down.
But man, she *has* to break down. That’s literally the entire point of her character—she’s completely overwhelmed by everything happening, not some untouchable superhero saving the world.

Given how much younger audiences at the local AMC usually complain (you know, saying things are boring or lack action), and considering that a huge chunk of readers don't even like the third book anyway—I assume because they aren't in the arena fighting anymore, which is apparently the only thing people care about?—it's a bold move to risk splitting such a book into two movies.

Still, from my perspective, I really have to thank the director for sticking so closely to the book, which is easily my favorite one in the trilogy.

It actually caught me off guard how emotional some of those scenes were. Hanging Tree was absolutely beautiful 👍, even though I had a totally different melody playing in my head while reading.
If I had to nitpick, maybe they could have explained the inner workings of District 13 a little more clearly, but then again, someone who hasn't read the books wouldn't be able to tell.

The male leads are still my biggest issue, though. In my opinion, the casting was a total swing and a miss. I can tolerate the guy playing Gale as long as he stays quiet, but the second he starts talking, it becomes almost impossible to watch.
And Peeta... 🕺

2 John Sullivan5:
I was expecting them to cut it off right when Peeta starts choking (which is basically where the book ends), but I guess they wanted to include the teaser for the attack on District 2. Honestly, I didn't mind the ending at all—having Coin giving that big speech while cutting back to the broken state of Katniss and Peeta worked really well for me.

As for Finnick, I can't quite recall who uncovered the whole rose and poison thing, but Finnick gave a speech where he was exposing secrets... they might be cutting out that female character you mentioned.

Man, if they had cut it during the choking part, I would've been absolutely livid. 😵 Nah, what they did was pretty effective. Almin's speech paired with Peeta acting mentally unstable while Katniss watches was actually great. But I can't shake the feeling that things would've been better if they sped up the stuff happening in District 2—like, imagine if the final book was entirely focused on the assault on The Capitol and everything that follows.
I just looked it up, and Tigris was a woman. If they cut her, they might also ditch that scene where Gale and Peeta are in her basement talking about who he's going to end up with while she's "sleeping," which would be a huge bummer. We'll see, though. 😁

Now we just gotta survive another year. There's so much potential for some brutal, amazing scenes that this is gonna be a blast to watch.

Potential spoilers ahead, though nothing game-changing for the next movie.

Look, as a massive book nerd, I gotta say—after being absolutely floored by how they handled the last movie (Flame is hands down my favorite in the trilogy too), I walked out of the theater feeling kind of meh.

The biggest issue right out of the gate is how they chopped the book in half. I get it, the whole thing with Peeta is a shocker, and splitting the film works great for people who haven't read the books, but personally? It would’ve been way more impactful if the pacing was just tighter—like, making the attack on District 2 (if I remember correctly) and the moment they shoot Katniss feel much punchier. Instead, we got this totally manufactured climax. In the book, they just tell her Peeta’s safe and Gale was out on a mission, but here they threw in this fake high-stakes moment that felt more like a teaser for the actual action. Also, what was the deal with Finnick uncovering the secret about the white roses and President Snow's bleeding mouth? If memory serves, they found that out from the lady in The Capitol who gives them the coats for the final assault (and if they cut that out of the next part, then seriously 👎). That scene where she sings Hanging Tree also fell flat for me. They really should have dug into the backstory of the song since that was such a standout part of the third book. Plus, the tempo she uses is the exact opposite of how I pictured it (but hey, that's just me—glad some people dug it).
Honestly, throwing Effie into the mix (which doesn't happen at all in the third book until the very end) and giving Alma Coin so much screen time is actually the one decent change they made compared to the book.

For those of you who actually finished the books, where do you think they’ll cut things off?
I'm leaning towards the part where (SPOILER!) Katniss gets shot in District 2.

Megan Campbell6 said:looks awesome
without giving away too much, can someone tell me which character
has to say, she’s a fantastic addition to the cast, I have to admit 😁

(SPOILER!)She's the leader of DISTRICT 13 after She literally shatters The Games forever, Alma Coin. 😉
Honestly, you'll probably figure that out in the first five minutes of the movie anyway, so I doubt it's much of a spoiler. 🙂

Why didn't they give me the Department of the Interior? 🤷

I’ve already got my first move lined up if I ever get the job—renaming the whole thing to the Department of the Interior and Arts! 🙂

Jesse Ortiz71 said:What’s your actual take on this country? Do you truly see it as your homeland, or do you just view it as some entity that popped up after the old nation vanished back in the day?

How do you even justify calling this place home when its whole vibe feels openly hostile toward our heritage? Is it just pure sentimentality talking, or does the name on the map actually matter to you?

Honey, the US didn't just disappear in 2000. — seriously, man, if anything, that’s when things finally started looking up. We learned how to step out toward the West, where we belong, and leave the rest of the region and the North America right where they belong.
Yeah, this is my homeland, and I’m proud of it every single day!

Seriously, guys, what is even going on with these threads?
There's zero chance of any deals like that happening now, or anytime soon for that matter.

Just finished watching it. It’s honestly wild how a movie this good isn't blowing up like some total garbage they're pumping out lately.

This flick deserves a solid 100000/10.🙏

So, I’d heard the hype about this flick for a while, and I finally sat down to give it a go... Usually, I’m the type to hit up the official website first just to see what the deal is... So I head over there and see all this stuff—like it's some raw, found footage of three kids trekking through the mountains... just photos of them hanging out before they headed into the wilderness and all that junk. I figured, hey, why not? Let's watch it. Well, I just finished, and honestly? I'm floored. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be *this* good. Then you realize the whole website was just one big setup, a total trick to make everything feel staged, even though the movie itself feels so incredibly real. That low-budget camera work? It works perfectly. And the acting... man, I don't even know how to describe it. It's just heavy. What are your thoughts?

I gotta admit, my brain is totally blanking on any specific movies right now, but let's take *Vicky Cristina Barcelona* for example. I wouldn't say the ending was a total disaster or anything, but man... I don't know. I just expected something a bit more substantial. Something more? I dunno.

Elizabeth Cruz42 said:It's definitely happening, we just don't have the full rundown yet. But hey, at least we're getting Lady Gaga. 😍

Yeah, right...🙂

I’m definitely going... I just really hope they don't flake out if ticket sales aren't hitting the numbers they want...