Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Here's the thing about sequels: they are usually at their best when they are planned and more importantly, when they come at the center of a trilogy.

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," the second installment in "The Hunger Games" series, and the umpteenth edition of Hollywood's colon obsession, shines as an outstanding blockbuster long after the end of the regular blockbuster season.

My Most Anticipated Releases of November 2013

Nebraska

Alexander Payne has been on a hot streak basically since the beginning of his career. After "Sideways" and "The Descendants," "Nebraska" brings the director back to his home city of Omaha for what seems like his turn even further into dramatic territory. Plus, Will Forte has a shot to show his dramatic chops (I know that they are there) and generally awesome person Bob Odenkirk gets a big role [Note: Saul Goodman was supposedly relocated to Omaha at the end of "Breaking Bad." Hmmm...]. For great, little character-driven stories and perfect dark humor, Alexander Payne never disappoints.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I have yet to read any of the novels in the "Hunger Games" series, but I was a big fan of the first movie, which was a thoroughly entertaining dystopian blockbuster. Since I have no background knowledge of the story, I am excited to see where "Catching Fire" brings the story next. Also, this will likely only increase my love for Jennifer Lawrence. Let's just hope that the baboons that I saw in one of the commercials are less ridiculous than the giant mutated dogs from the first installment.

Oldboy

Ever since the moment I heard that Spike Lee was directing a remake of "Oldboy," I had no clue what to make of it. Why mess with Korean perfection? Could anybody ever recreate the pure shock of the octopus or hammer scenes? Still, I can't help but be more curious than angry about this remake. It has a stellar cast (Josh Brolin, Sharlto Copley, Samuel L. Jackson), and its easy to forget that outside of his often annoying media presence, Spike Lee is an incredibly talented director. Let's just hope this is more "Inside Man" than "Miracle at St. Anna."

No Country For Oldboy: Josh Brolin, who looks like he's auditioning to play Bruce Wayne stuck in the pit in "The Dark Knight Rises."

This Ad Just Set Back The Anti-Piracy Movement By A Decade

The piracy debate is a tough one, and it would take me too long to fully explain my stance. So instead, here's a great way to make people not want to go to the movies. Reminding people that going to the movies is paying for an experience is very noble, but why pick "Battleship," a movie based on a board game? Maybe this weekend's "Hunger Games," which broke box office records, could have worked. Or some kind of appeal to the great movies of the past, I'm sure the Academy Awards has more than enough montages to lend. Seriously, "Battleship" is the last thing to make me want to buy a movie ticket and some over-buttered popcorn.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Before I start this review, let's get something out of the way: I have not read "The Hunger Games" or any of the other books in the series. I cannot compare the film adaptation to the original book. Therefore, I will be reviewing "The Hunger Games" as a movie, not an adaptation.

I will admit that I ignored "The Hunger Games" for most of its popularity because I associated it with the tweenage wasteland of "Twilight." "The Hunger Games" does not deserve to be put into that category because the story is much more mature, the characters are more complex, and if the movie is any indication, Suzanne Collins is a much better writer than Stephanie Meyer is. The difference is that Collins seems to write about teenagers from the perspective of an adult, and Meyer with the prose of a fifth grader.