I’m not really big on the wilderness-survival genre, but when these movies are done right, I tend to enjoy them quite a bit. We don’t see many from this very small sub-genre, but this coming year already sees two productions on this theme. Only one of them, in my opinion, looks interesting enough to watch on the big screen.
‘The Hunger Games’
I haven’t yet read the book series that this movie is adapted from, but from the looks of this preview, I might have to go out and pick up the first in the trilogy. From the director of ‘Seabiscuit’ and ‘Pleasantville’, the plot is incredibly intriguing and mature for something aimed at younger viewers. It imagines a dystopian future where the powerful and wealthy one percent of the population forces the rest of society into survival death matches on live television. Despite its similarities to ‘Battle Royale’ and ‘The Running Man’, I aim to watch this when hits theaters in March.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgssLmsOa2s&feature=uploademail
‘The Grey’
At this point in Liam Neeson’s career, I just don’t know what to think anymore. The actor has been quite busy in the first decade of the 21st Century with several films, mostly action flicks, but only a few have been worth remembering. Sadly, the best of his movies are the ones where he plays a small role, while those that feature him more prominently are pretty much forgettable. This latest effort seems interesting, but the whole ‘The Call of the Wild’ angle isn’t all that appealing, especially since we already know he’s likely to succeed via some miraculous hidden talent necessary for survival. I like Neeson as an actor, but not the movies he’s been picking lately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqP2o62sZMs
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T.J. Kats
Hunger Games looks very good. The problem with the first book, I’m only done the first two, is that some of the background and dialog is the real “teen” part so hopefully scaling down to fit in a movie some of that will be removed. Once the action picks up it gets much better.
JM
Who’s idea of clever was it to turn ‘Battle Royale’ into PG-13 poser bullshit?
Never mind. I looked it up. It’s an indie studio called Color Force, created by Nina Jacobson, producer of ‘Pearl Harbor,’ after she was fired from Disney. Based on a book that only sold three million copies. From the director of ‘Seabiscuit,’ and the screenwriter of ‘Hart’s War.’
Good luck with that.
JM
‘The Grey’ looks like a reboot of ‘The Edge.’
They should have thrown some money at Mamet to boff the dialogue.
The only thing this has working for it is the rawness of Liam Neeson’s emotion, on account of Dead Wife Syndrome.
That, and the glass-knuckle fisting of wolves.