May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

"May the odds be ever in your favor,"

-The Hunger Games: Effie Trinket

I went to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games last night and it did not disappoint! *There will be spoilers coming* Some of my friends did not like what the movie adaption decided to cut, but I found it understandable for some scenes. You need to keep the basic plot line and the director has to make some choices of what to not include. It was already a 2 hr 22min long movie, so any more scenes would have brought it up to 3hours or more. A critic also has to realize that the movie has to be converted from first to third person. I think it was a fine production and I understand the choices that the director had to scrap.

I loved the camera angles, though at times it was a bit confusing and dizzying. They shot it documentary style with a shaking camera and smaller view of the entire scene. I was fine with it since that it made me feel that I was in District 12 or in the Arena and it stayed true to the tone of the books.

The acting was amazing, no actor or actress disappointed me at the slightest. The cast is relatively young and most do not have a lot of experience, yet every emotion was convincing and the lines were well said.

The sound track to the movie is also wonderful -it has a few mainstream artists, but the majority of it is nonmainstream. A huge plus is that The Decemberists are on it, one of my favorite bands. The lyrics all go wonderfully with the movie, though they were not used. I'm glad that they were not though, because I like listening to the score as well.

All in all, I was happy with how it turned out. I wished a few scenes were in it, but I can understand why they were not included. The added scenes with Seneca Crane and President Snow, however, were phenomenal and set up Catching Fire extremely well, along with the scene of District 11.

Only 608 more days until the next movie.

Walk Through the Fire

I touch the fire,

And it freezes me,

I look into it and it's black.
Why can't I feel?

My skin should crack and peel,

I want the fire back.

-Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Walk Through the Fire

Today is the 15th anniversary of Buffy The Vampire Slayer! Originally airing on March 10, 1997. Call me crazy to know this, but I do love this show and its spinoff Angel to pieces.

In honor of this lovely occasion, I am listing my top five favorite Buffy episodes:


5. Fool For Love

Flashbacks are a huge weakness for me. I love any episode with flashbacks, but this was one of my favorites. My favorite character is Angel, but we see tons of flashbacks of him once he is on his own show. This episode shows us Spike's past more in depth, including his human life. We see how Spike transitioned from a sad love-struck poet to the second most feared vampire in history. And we also see the cruelty of Buffy as she dumps the same line on Spike that Cecily gave him so many years ago.

4. Hush

The silent episode. One of the few episodes I loved for season 4.  In this episode, the voices of Sunnydale are stolen by The Gentleman and Buffy must save the day by screaming her head off. The actions of the characters were flawless; it was the subtle things that made this episode great. It revealed how much Xander loved Anya and it introduced Tara to the audience. It also provided a "wtf" moment when Buffy and Riley collide with each other when fighting. To add to the tension, neither could explain why they were there. Only Buffy could have such great moments and include barely any dialogue.

3. Once More with Feeling

Ah the musical episode, self-explanatory. The songs revealed hidden secrets of each of the characters, forcing them out into the open. Since the beginning of season six, everyone was hiding something and this episode revealed it all to the other characters... in style. The songs were skillfully written and the actors didn't have the worst voices. It was a silly plot, a dancing demon (no something isn't right there), but it worked. The songs were catchy, the episode unforgettable, and extremely original. I believe that this episode helped show that current shows like Glee would have good ratings for television audiences.

2. The Gift

A spectacular finale to season 5, one of my favorites. I liked everything about this season in general, especially Glory. Buffy is faced with the age-old question: If you had to choose, would you save one family member you loved or a group of a thousand strangers? Buffy reveals her deep love for her sister as she sacrifices herself. I teared during this part and I know the amazing score did not help. This episode had been foreshadowed in previous seasons with the time of 7:30 displayed on a clock, but I could not imagine our slayer dying (again).

1. Becoming Part I and II

No episode for me beats the two part season 2 finale. It is intense and filled with emotions as Buffy must kill her boyfriend for the fate of the world. She prepared herself mentally to kill the evil Angelus, but she did not realize she would have to kill the souled Angel, who could not remember the recent events. Willow performs her very first spell, restoring Angel's soul. Of course, she does this after the portal is opened and all hell is about to break loose, leaving Buffy with one of the worst decisions she would have to face. This was the very first episode I saw, and was utterly confused at first, until I went back and watched the series from the beginning. I love this episode and the intensity of it so much and the character development for the entire cast. Thank goodness Whedon decided to bring Angel back to have his spin-off, I would have been crushed without more David.


Of course there are many more episodes that I am in love with and this list was hard to make: The Wish, Doppelgangland, Passion, Amends, The Body, Restless, Chosen, Blood Ties, Surprise, Innocence, I Only Have Eyes For You, and so many more are other favorites of mine.