Super 8 and The Hunger Games

As my tastes (music, clothes) seem to be permanently stuck in the late '70's, a guy at work insisted that I watch Super 8. Oh my goodness!! What a delight!! This goes on my very short list of fav movies I've seen this year. The film is set in 1979 (a very good year, I might add) in a small industrial (back when there we actually jobs in small towns) town in Ohio. I normally don't care so much for special effects; they tend to dominate a movie and any hope of a plot is a pipe dream. The special effects in Super 8 know their place. They merely serve to enhance a great cast, clever plot, and there is such attention to detail that  it's as if it was actually filmed in 1979. I could watch this movie over and over. Apparently, J. J. Abrams is known for his use of lens flare. He's gotten a bit of flack and some goofy parody YouTube videos, but I actually like it. As you can kind of tell in the above picture, it added to the old timey feel and a sort of a play on the title. It is, after all, a movie.

I also watched The Hunger Games. Blah. Yawn. It really didn't appeal to me. The dialogue and characters were so flat. Don't get me wrong - Jennifer Lawrence can act. She's making a silk purse out of a sow's ear here. It just didn't make sense to me that the games would be of such interest if they were held every year. Wouldn't every 4 or 5 make more sense? Do the math - if 2 people are chosen every year from a district, that means 20 kids would die in just 10 years. It also didn't make sense to me that raw materials would be produced by the districts and then used by the capital. Uh…doesn't someone have to convert these raw materials into useable goods? Everyone who works in the capital - folks who prepare the elaborate meals - the guards - train personnel all live in the capital? All the talk about getting sponsors ended up only being marginally important, as it turned out you just needed a little help from your appointed handler. I would think the finale shot entirely in the dark would kill the ratings.