Hunger Games Posters and Trailer

For anyone who might have missed it (if you're a fan, you probably haven't!) but over the past few weeks we have been very spoilt with posters and a much anticipated trailer for the upcoming Hunger Games film, which I thought I would treat you wish :)

The best thing about both the poster campaign and the trailer is that this is the first real look that we've been given as to what exactly the characters are going to look like, and I don't know about anyone else, but I think this is the aspect that I was most looking forward to.

The Main Cast:

Not much is given away about outfits from these pictures, but I love the fact that Katniss is the only character facing right in these posters. It highlights that she's the main character, and the main pivot of the whole story.

The Supporting Cast:

 I'm getting a little bit tired of "fans" complaining about the fact that Lenny Kravitz is black, and apparently Cinna is "white". To be completely honest, I don't think I ever really came to a conclusion as to what Cinna's ethnicity was, and Chris (who is currently working his way through Catching Fire) shares that thought.
Personally, I think Kravitz is a brilliant casting and looks fantastic in character. I definitely have high hopes for a role that was always going to be a tough one to fill!!

 When I heard that JD's Baby Mama (sorry, I really shouldn't use that nickname, but as a Scrubs fan, I just can't help it!!) was going to play Effie I wasn't really sure how to take it. I was mildly intrigued, that's for sure. In costume, Effie has a very "whoa" factor about her, and I can't help feeling that the costume and make up ages the actress a great deal. I know that Effie is meant to be a very eccentric Capitol-made woman, but I'm not a fan of the get up personally.

Casting Woody Harrelson into this role was just perfect, and the outfit was not in the slightest bit what I was expecting. Like Cinna, I have very high hopes for this casting, and doubt very much that we'll be let down :)

The Tributes:

What tortures me the most about the castings of the tributes (which is nothing against the actors or even the casting) is how young and vulnerable most of them look. The idea of them "fighting to the death" is just crazy-talk.

The Trailer:

This trailer was definitely a huge improvement of the terrible teaser trailer which had left me questioning whether the film would be worth the wait or not. And yes, I am now officially excited.

Of course there were still a few lines that were hammy, and some scenes felt rushed, but I'm just going to have to hope that that was just the end result of bad editing (please?)

I'm not too sure what I think of the green outfits of Katniss and everyone in her district, but I'm not a fan of how she looks at this stage.

Overall, is it March yet???

Disclaimer: All images were taken from the official Hunger Games UK Facebook page.

First Hunger Games Clip

Last weeks MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) were a pretty big deal, especially if you're a Beyonce fan. But, here at Entertained HQ, there was something else that was getting us a wee bit excited.

Yup, you guessed it, we were itching to see the first official footage from the upcoming Hunger Games film. If you haven't had the chance to catch it yet, here it is:

Now, I know that this was a really short clip, and it's really difficult to draw any solid conclusions as to what to expect from the film, but sometimes a sneak peak is just enough to whet your appetite to want more. Nevertheless, my only real issue with the clip was the overall "rawness" of it which left the camera angles and various shots looking a little bit amateurish, whilst the tiny bit of acting led it even further down the path of risking looking like a student film.

But, that's the problem with releasing clips so early into the filming process: it's basically going to be generally unedited or very little editing at least.

On a few opinion websites, I've spotted fans saying that Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) looks "ugly" or "rough", but c'mon now people, of course Katniss is going to look rough. Anyone who has read the books should appreciate why she looks so rough. Heck, in those circumstances, I think most people would!

Overall, no the clip didn't give me goose bumps, and the music wasn't particularly inspiring either, but the film is still "in progress", and we know that there are a fine bunch of actors, supported by a strong crew and of course an excellent story to work off. So, there's still hope that The Hunger Games will blow us away when a fuller trailer appears.

Latest Hunger Game Images

Oh, Director Gary Ross really is spoiling us as of late, not only has this week seen the announcement that there is also a film version of sequel Catching Fire in the pipeline with an actual date for release already in place (November 22, 2013 for anyone who doesn't yet know! And as always, subject to change!) But he's also leaked a couple more screen-shots to whet our appetites over, and oooh are they giving me goose bumps!!

Source: IMDB

A very good point that Chris made the other day, when we first spotted these images on the homepage of IMDb.com was how "normal" the clothing that the characters wear is. Looking at Katniss' rain coat in this clip, for example, it looks like it could have been picked up from Millets on your local high street. Considering the books are set in the future, it's interesting that the clothing isn't far removed from what we wear today, and we both agreed that we liked that.

Source: IMDB

This picture is obviously of much more appeal to me, and other ladies...I guess the bottle of hotness starts now, at least the males only have Katniss, we have to choose between Peeta and Gale, and boy is that a tough contest ;)

Hunger Games Casting Hit or Miss

Yesterday I promised that I would share my opinion on the all important casting for the upcoming Hunger Games films. Having read the books, in the knowledge of who has been cast, I am probably in a very different position to most fans, who have read the books conjured up this image of each character in their heads, and then been forced to accept the castings. I actually checked out the casting when I was roughly half way through the first book, and initially I had huge reservations about some choices, but I'll share my thoughts anyway :)

Katniss Everdeen

Initial Thoughts: It's difficult to say what my initial thoughts regarding what Katniss would look like, are, because even before I started reading the trilogy, I knew who had been cast in the role, purely because I'm one of those film nuts, who has to know what other films actors have done, and since I'd recently seen her in X Men, I already knew that Jennifer Lawrence had been cast in the lead role for this film.

Jennifer Lawrence: On initial appearances, Lawrence doesn't entirely fit the bill, but only because she is more commonly known to be blonde, and I pictured Katniss is being dark-haired. But, as we have seen from the recent posters and teasers, anyone can dye their hair, and she most definitely looks the part.

But, the main reason that I have immense confidence in Lawrence, in playing this role well, was seeing her play Mystique in X Men: First Class, because Mystique showed quite a few personality traits that I felt were perfect for the role of Katniss.

• Feisty


• Passionate


• An innate ability to listen to something, take it in, and then do as she damn pleases


• Vulnerability

What you might know her from:

• Raven/Mystique in X Men: First Class


• Ree in Winters Bone


• Norah in The Beaver

At one point I worried that she wouldn't have any chemistry with her co-star playing Peeta, but then I remembered the unusual chemistry between her and Nicholas Hoult's character in X Men, and I felt a lot different about it.

Peeta Mellark

Initial Thoughts: My first thought of Peeta was of this incredibly vulnerable guy, who I didn't imagine to be that strong, and he was probably a bit geeky looking, especially compared to the character of Gale, who I imagined to be the cooler one.

Josh Hutcherson: The first time I ever encountered Hutcherson in a film, I'd say he was about ten years old, and even though I've seen him in a fair few things since then, I still imagine him as this really young kid, who I could not imagine in this role at all. I'm not saying that I didn't like him as an actor, I just questioned his suitability to the role.

Of course, I've deliberately chosen a picture of him looking really young, but I just wanted to emphasise where I was coming from, and seeing this picture just makes him look like a younger brother. And yes, I know he's older now, but this is the Hutcherson that I had in my head whilst reading the books.

It wasn't until I saw the front cover of Entertainment Weekly, which showed a. how grown up he now is, and b. how beefed up he's gotten for the role, that I really began to see Hutcherson perfectly in this role.

I know that my initial thoughts were that Peeta would be weak and skinny, but Chris pointed out the fact that Peeta is a Baker's son who probably spent his days hefting flour bags all over the place, and kneading dough must do a lot for your arms, so it's no surprise that he would be "well-built". It also made me question why I'd considered him, especially in the first book, to be a vulnerable character, but without giving anything away, I've definitely seen Peeta in a very different light.

What you might know him from: 

• Carl in RV


• Jess in Bridge to Terabithia


• Markl (voice) in Howl's Moving Castle (I LOVE this film!!)


• Walter in Zathura

Gale Hawthorne

Initial Thoughts: Being a hunter, and in effect, the breadwinner of his family, I always imagined that Gale would be well-built and tough. He definitely came across, to me, as a fighter who could most definitely stand up for himself. This is perhaps more evident in the second and third books.

Unfortunately, his brief appearance in the first book didn't really give me much opportunity to get a good idea of what he would look like, until I found out who had been cast, and I started imagining him in the role!

Liam Hemsworth: You might be able to guess from his surname, but playing Gale is the little brother of Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, although I personally don't think that they look anything alike at all. However, the idea that he is Chris' little brother left me in no doubt, in my own mind, that he was the perfect casting.

Personally, I haven't seen Liam in anything, so I can't judge his acting ability, but on appearances alone, he is definitely a good choice. I'm just going to hope that he has his brother's talent for acting too.

What you might know him from:

• Being the younger brother of Chris Hemsworth (Home and Away, Thor, Star Trek) of course


• Dating Miley Cyrus (I think you probably have a good idea who she is!!!)


• Josh Taylor in Neighbours (I had to do research into this character, and I still have no idea who he is. I assume that I wasn't watching Neighbours when he was in it, as I did miss a lot of the show, when it moved over to Channel 5!)

So, as you might be able to tell, despite initial reservations, I am feeling quite satisfied with the main three castings, but we'll have to wait until trailers start filtering around, to get a better idea of how they are going to perform.

What do you think of these three castings? Do you think they were the right choice, or do you think other actors might have been better suited?

Hungry for the Hunger Games

For the past month, I've been reading the Hunger Games trilogy, and to say that I am hooked to these amazing books, is an understatement. I don't even know where to begin, but I do have to say that I am so excited about the upcoming film, and I can not wait until March 2012!!

As you can imagine, I've been on complete overdrive trying to find every little detail I can about the casting and images of them. I'll come to my thoughts on the castings another time, but I wanted to share some of the images that I've managed to find amongst the barrage of fantasty fan fiction-type images.

Teaser Posters:

The only issues that I have with these Katniss posters, is the fact that her hair is all wrong for me. The character was renowned for having this long braid, so her hair being down isn't quite right for me, but I still think that she look absolutely fantastic.

Casting:

 This is more what I'd expected Katniss to look like, with her long braid :D

One word for both of the boys: Yum!

Screen Shots:

The screen shots don't give away that much about the overall feel of the film, but the give enough away to just satisfy a need to know more.