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The Hunger Games (2012)
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Filmmaker(s): Gary Ross

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. The world will be watching.

More Games, Less Hunger am seeing this a second time with pre teenagers, close to the target market for the books I assume. I think for them, the film is serviceable and as they see the series the plot complications will be engaging. But it...


Published May 13, 2022
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Seven Psychopaths (2012)
They Won't Take Any Shih Tzu.
Filmmaker(s): Martin McDonagh

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.

Counted Only Two guess this was inevitable. I haven’t yet seen the latest Tarantino faux western, but chose to see this instead. Roughly speaking, it is what used to be called a spoof, before referencing, extending and adding a meta level became permissible. What impresses me...


Published February 18, 2023
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Truly Miss Marple: The Curious Case of Margaret Rutherford (2012)

The true life story of Margaret Rutherford (1892-1972) is in fact much more eccentric than the most famous fictional role she ever played: Miss Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth. Rutherford's version was the very first appearance of Miss Marple on the big screen and it was far removed though from the petite, upper middle-class lady in the detective novels.

Unembellishments you just come to this without the Christie context, you will be appalled. If you come understanding Christie, you will be doubly appalled. Here we have a quirky actress who plays a single quirky character. The character has some appeal in most of the...


Published February 22, 2023
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Dripping in Chocolate (2012)
Filmmaker(s): Mark Joffe

When Detective Bennett O'Mara finds a chocolate wrapper on a strangled girl, it leads him to enigmatic chocolatier Juliana Lovece. Just as this perceptive woman gets under his hardened skin, he suspects she may be at the centre of an increasing murder count.

Drops seem to have run out of quality mystery movies, and am out seeking a second or third tier. This at least had Sydney, and I now live in Australia. Yet another mystery where out of the blue with no warning, the trusted policewoman is...


Published April 14, 2023
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Pitch Perfect (2012)
Get pitch slapped.
Filmmaker(s): Jason Moore

College student Beca knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.

Packaged Energy recall watching ‘Fame’ when it came out. It surely was not the first film that was a performance about a performance with a personal quest overlain. But it was the first in my film life. There have since been hundreds of these where...


Published July 6, 2024
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Total Recall (2012)
What Is Real?

Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.

Women and Buildings was distracted in the decade when this was made, so was not watching films at the pace I had before. In fact, I would likely have avoided it anyway based on the initial press. The recent watching was of the Director’s Cut....


Published July 29, 2024
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Night Across the Street (2012)
Filmmaker(s): Raúl Ruiz

A drama centered on an office worker on the verge of retirement who begins to relive both real and imagined memories.

Prospero’s Poems am an admirer of Ruiz; I’ve selected two of his films for my list of films I believe you should see before you die. It is a very personal list, consisting more or less of the films that have helped build my life....


Published December 15, 2024
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Code Name: Geronimo (2012)

When the rumored whereabouts of Osama bin Laden are revealed, the CIA readies a team of seasoned U.S. Navy SEALs for the mission of a lifetime. Despite inconclusive evidence that bin Laden is inside the compound, and ignoring the possible ramifications of an unannounced attack on Pakistani soil, the Pentagon orders the attack. The SEAL Team bands together to complete their mission of justice in a riveting final showdown.

FUBAR suppose we need to separate this comment into the effectiveness of the movie, how accurately it shows what happened, and some views about the operation completely outside the film. About the film. The script tries to humanise a few of the characters, primarily the guy...


Published March 9, 2025
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Penn & Teller: Fool Us (2011- )
Up to their new tricks.

Illusionists Penn & Teller throw down the gauntlet to aspiring magicians to perform their most mystifying trick - and fool Penn and Teller. Penn & Teller have no prior knowledge of either the performers or the planned trick. They sit in the audience just like everyone else, watching every move the guest magicians make. If any illusionist fools the professionals, they win a five star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's world famous show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

Game Changing think I have seen most of the episodes of this, all out of order. There really is nothing like it in my experience. It is reality TV, while being stage performances. It has several different personalities as focus, but shifts to our focus...


Published August 21, 2024
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The Warped Forest (2011)
Filmmaker(s): Shunichiro Miki

Settle into your chair and be transported to a place both familiar and alien; where a giant shop-girl can barely fit in her store, there's a weird green pod in every bedroom, and terrifying wood nymphs provide a heartbroken woman with the anatomically correct fruit everyone seems to covet. In the end we are left, like Alice, with the Red King's conundrum: are we dreaming them or are they dreaming us?

Nipple Dreams is quirky, erotic from an unusual direction, and quite sad until the end. I see some few summaries on the web, very few, and they get it all wrong. The narrative is not quite non-linear, but needs some untangling. The black and white scenes...


Published August 27, 2025
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