Carousels and Couture

  Usually I hate watching book-to-movie films after I've already read the book. They never live up to the expectations of the movie in my head. There's only been one movie so far that I find better than the book, and that is the Lord of the Rings.  So, after reading The Hunger Games (you can read my book review here), I watched the movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Stanley Tucci. And... I was very disappointed. NOTE: the rest of the review will contain strong hints and spoilers of what happened in the book and the movie. If you do not wish to be spoiled, it is best to not read on. Of course, for those who've read the book, you'll know that what worked in the story was the narration of the protagonist Katniss, what she was thinking, and her flashbacks. That is always difficult to show in a film so the movie struggled with that. And despite their big budget, I was rather unimpressed with most of the CGI scenes, especially whe...

The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, was a smashing success. It has been on the New York Times bestseller list, among other noteworthy accolades. Lionsgate has picked it up for a first Hunger Games movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, with the possibilities for another 2 sequels. So when I picked up The Hunger Games, I had high expectations. I was not disappointed. The Hunger Games was a riveting book, and I could not put it down for most of the time. It was well-written, with a lot of thought put into the plot. I would have liked to see a little more of the other tributes' personalities, but other than that, I really loved the book. Catching Fire starts off a little slower, and the first few chapters were weak. But it turns out to contain some of my favourite scenes: especially the design of the arena (no spoilers here in case of those who have not read the book yet). Many have reviewed that their favourite book out of the tril...