US Weekly has a quick article that says that producers of The Hunger Games wanted no actors or actresses who were in Twilight to appear in any one of the four Hunger Games movies. Apparently Kellan Lutz was desperate to play Gale. The thing is Kellan can't act. Really, with the exception of a couple of Twilight people, none of them can act. Did you see the cast of The Hunger Games? Umm, they have Academy Award nominees in their movie. They have people who actually can act and the movies will be so much better than Twlight. Another thing they have going for them is that The Hunger Games books are actually excellent and move forward and don't just go from side to side like someone twirling their hair for two hundred pages before they make a decision that they will get out of bed. Have you noticed The Hunger Games books are about half as long as a Twilight book but have about ten times the action and drama. If you have not read the books, you really need to. The first movie comes out next month and I promise you when you read the first you will rush to your iPad or Kindle or whatever and download the other two and stay up for 96 hours straight reading them all.
Was instructed by other readers to do this yesterday - didn't, but I will today!
ReplyDeleteYes, listen to Enty, these books are really good reads! Can't wait for the movie!
ReplyDeleteAlright, you guys convinced me. The last time I tried to read a series of books made into a movie was with Harry Potter. I only got through two books (zero movies). I actually really enjoyed the stories but they were too long.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how long the Twilight books are but "about half as long" of any book sounds good to me.
^oh & Hunger Games is interesting to me. Whatever Twilight is, is not.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I saw a trailer for the movie that looked pretty awful.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I also saw trailers for new movies with Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts that were awful too, so maybe it was just spillover effect.
I thought there were 3 movies, as in The Hunger Games trilogy...is there going to be a 4th movie?
ReplyDeleteOr are they splitting the last one?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Enty! LOVE The Hunger Games...such an easy read and truly action-packed! I went from one book to the next without missing a beat. Can't wait to see it next month!
ReplyDeleteYep, I was English major and still a literary snob, but The Hunger Games were really good! I never see movies of books I've read but I'm very much liking the trailers.
ReplyDeleteI'd considered buying "The Hunger Games" until I found out that it's a blatant rip-off of the Japanese novel, "Battle Royale". I *might* read it if a friend lends it to me, but I'm not putting money into the pocket of a plagiarist.
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OMG that is exactly what happened to me. I got the 1st book on Kindle and got the 2nd & 3rd and read them all in 72 hours.
ReplyDelete@ Mango - I am totally getting Battle Royale and read that too.
I went through them very quickly. I must look up Battle Royale.
ReplyDeleteHuh thanks for that tip, indeed Battle Royale did it first, I wonder why this isn't more publicized.
ReplyDeleteI bought the first book on Kindle based on your recommendation as soon as I finished my Lisbeth Salander trilogy (on the last book with 200 pages to go) I am so going to read it. I did notice though that Hunger Games mirrors a Japanese horror movie called, "Battle Royale"
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ReplyDeleteCrap. My old roommate who's blogger account I use apparently took control back and changed her blogger name. Sorry for the deleted posts. I didn't realize she did that until I posted. Had to create a new one. Anyways. Here's what I had said:
ReplyDeleteBattle Royale is a bit different. The Hunger Games was not a blatant rip off of it. There are similiar situations in that its kids fighting to the death, but everything else is pretty different. Don't speculate like an ass until you read them both. If you go by that logic then you have to say that Battle Royle rips off Lord of the Flies because BR basically is a futuristic Lord of the Flies. So basically then, once you've read Lord of the Flies you can't read any of these books. Add The Running Man to that too then. Same premise.
But the MEAT of the stories are all completely different.
Secondly, the movie trailer doesn't do a good job of giving you an idea of what the movie is about if you haven't read the books. My husband saw it during the super bowl and was like "WTF is that about" once I told him, it made sense, but on his own it was confusing.
I loved The Hunger Games so much that I'd finish one and move on to the next immediately.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a lit snob and I couldn't put The Hunger Games down. There's some really interesting socio-political class stuff going on in the books, plus tons more action than Twilight could ever dream of. In addition, Susanne Collins can, oh, actually write a sentence. I think the casting of the film has been done really well. Very excited about the films.
ReplyDeleteI read all 3 Hunger Game Books this fall. I loved them and can't wait to see the movie. I'd like to say that the books were recommended to me by comments on this site.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed both sets of books...why does one have to be put down for me to accept the other one?
ReplyDeleteBoth are good.
Aren't these kids' books or YA books? Everyone raved about Harry Potter but I thought the first one was so awful I stopped reading about 20 pages in. Didn't even attempt the Twilight novels.
ReplyDeleteOMG...LOVED the books. After reading the first book though, there is an ending kinda without too much of a cliffhanger. If you read the 2nd book...it's way too much of a cliffhanger, you need to read the 3rd.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, excellent series...though the end of Mockingjay is a bit confusing and moves so fast, you kinda get lost. You'll have to read a synopsis of the final chapters to really get a full understanding.
With that being said...I cannot wait for the movie.
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ReplyDelete...and @Krab...I'm a young adult and I can tell you you'll love it. It's not as much of a kiddie book as Twilight. There may be young characters, but it's not geared toward kids.
ReplyDeleteI liked Hunger Games way more than Twicrap but as I was reading the HGs I ran to my bookshelf and re-read 1984. Maybe for Hunger Games the movies might actually be better than the books? Either way, beats the hell out of the Twi.
ReplyDeleteLoved Hunger Games & I am well past the "young adult" stage. I finally read it based on CDAN friends' recommendations. Could not put it down. Read it over a long, snowed-in weekend. I was completely invested in the story. Loved it. Hope I love the movie, but they rarely live up to their respective books.
ReplyDeleteI loved the books, although the idea of the tracker jackers on Peeta (in the last book) gave me wild nightmares.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. He is just perfect.
Other than kids chosen to fight to the death, HG is quite different from BR. It's a post-apocalyptic story of sorts.
ReplyDelete@ bnl1016 - I appreciate the name calling. Thank you. Good way to get your point across.
ReplyDelete@Mango - Never mentioned your name once. I was directing it towards everyone in general that reads this thread that immediately disregards one book or the other. msgirl mentioned that BR did it first too so I'll say here that this was not pointed at her either.
ReplyDeleteNor did I really call anyone I name. My point was simply that if you accuse someone as something as heavy as plagiarizing, unless you have read BOTH works you look like an ass. And by "you" I mean anyone.
Sounds exactly like what happened here. Bought Hunger Games for my daughter, read it, instantly downloaded the other two on the iPad and Kindle so both of us could race to the finish. lol
ReplyDeleteThe Hunger Games were some of the best books I've read. Well written & interesting story. I hope the movies live up to the books. Glad they are trying to do them well by hiring people who can actually act.
ReplyDeleteWhat bnl1016 said, especially about Lord of the Flies. Tho read Battle Royale as well cos it's great.
ReplyDeleteI found out about Hunger Games from Lainey of all people, and downloaded the first two a week or so before Mockingjay came out. There are flaws but they are really compelling. Katniss is such a frustrating character but that's a good thing - I don't want to identify with every single female protagonist.
I didn't identify with Bella either. I don't mind the Twilight novels, but they come with such inane tags attached that I haven't read them in two odd years (yes I reread them a few times, it was a charged time in my life).
As for the adaptation of Hunger Games, I'm not at all sure about the casting, I saw the kids in my mind's eye as very very different to the casting.
I can't wait! I thought the books were a tad bit melodramatic (Katniss could get pretty mopey), but the premise was so good, I was hooked from the get to!
ReplyDeleteYes, Battle Royale definitely wasn't the first to do this - it's a fairly common theme in sci-fi/fantasy. And apart from the basic theme, the books are not the same.
ReplyDeleteI *just* finished the third book last weekend and I can not wait to see the film. Looks like the film won't disappoint!
ReplyDeleteEnty is so right. I started to read the first book on my son's Kindle while giving blood one day. I was so invested just after the first chapter and a half. I knew I had to give the Kindle back when I got home so I stopped at the library on the way home to check the book out and I finished it that night. Downloaded the other two books to my blackberry and finished them in the next three days. Can not wait to see the movie!!
ReplyDeleteIsn't he too old to play Gale anyway? The guy they actually got is kinda pushing it as it is.
ReplyDelete@Bnl - Thanks for explaining about Battle Royale. I was a little dismayed when someone pointed something similar out at my book club as why they didn't plan to read Hunger Games.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the Twilight books are longer is because Bella spends so much time talking about how beautiful Edward is or bitching about *something*. I LOATHE Bella.
March 23rd! I can't wait!