Only two films of notable existence are available for your “viewing pleasure” this week. Again it would appear the film industry is running scared of going up against the sequel to one of the biggest films of 2012 in The Hunger Games. The other film would appear to be a quaint little gangster comedy.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Catching Fire begins after Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) returns home the victor of the 74th Annual Hunger Games, not having any time to relax herself and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are forced, as winners, to embark on a victor’s tour around each district. Katniss soon realises something is not quite right, she can feel a rebellion simmering amongst the people but the capitol and it’s president Snow are still very much in charge. As Snow starts to plot the 75th Annual Hunger Games it becomes all too clear he is out for revenge, could this be the competition to finally change Panem forever?
Finally the year long wait is over for the 2nd part of the Hunger Games trilogy, after the major success of the trilogy of books, this film is highly anticipated amongst adults and youngsters alike. Being a huge fan of the books myself, I was fairly disappointed with the first of the films last year, something was missing and I think most of the adult audience felt the same, whereas amongst the younger crowd the film was a major hit. With the return of all the major actors of the 1st such as Lawrence, Hutcherson, Harrelson, Sutherland to name but a few we can guarantee which film will be smashing the box office receipts this weekend. I’m holding my breath on whether this will fulfil the entertainment value of the book but I can guarantee it’ll certainly be a talking point for many a fan for the weeks to come.
SEE IF YOU LIKED: The Hunger Games, Battle Royale
The Family
After Mafia Boss, Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro), decides to snitch on the mob, himself and his family are relocated to a sleepy little French town under the witness protection programme. All is however not plain sailing as “The Family” struggle to cope with dealing with their problems and decide to resort to old habits in order to remedy any issues they come across. Chaos soon arises as their former Mafia “family” try to track them down and scores are settled in the most unlikely of settings.
The Family is a dark comedy delivered to us by Luc Besson, producer of Taken. Seeing Robert De Niro reprising the kind of role, which quite frankly made him a household name, as a gangster is what I live to see, any other role he has taken on is just a major disappointment. Teaming up with Michelle Pfeiffer as his wife and academy award winner Tommy Lee Jones as Agent Stansfields, the poor sucker whose job it is to make sure they keep on the straight and narrow is pure genius for the makers of this film. Not only are they veterans in the game but certainly deliver on the comedy front too. Whilst not being a deep and meaningful film you can sink your teeth into it’ll certainly fill you Sunday afternoon if you have nothing better to do.
SEE IF YOU LIKED: The Town.
MY PICK OF THE WEEK: HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE.
By Zehra Phelan