Have fun on your honeymoon, man. You deserve it!!! We will all be here waiting when you get back. 😊

Congratulations on your marriage You two deserve all the happiness

As a huge fan of the book, I was missing a few scenes I really liked(that added some connection to some of the other characters as well as the third act) and Snows inner monologue is missed, but overall a fantastic movie. Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth killed it in their roles. (Everyone else as well) 4.5/5

@bibek12332

6 ай бұрын

I liked this movie aswell not as much as you but i haven't read the book Maybe my perspective would be different had i read the book

@youngstar312

6 ай бұрын

@@bibek12332 yeah. In some scenes I was kinda adding snows inner thoughts or details from the book in my mind, so it was way easier to connect to characters etc. That boosts my rating of course, but I can't really separate the 2(book and movie).

@bibek12332

6 ай бұрын

@@youngstar312 sure The same happened to me when i watched harry potter after reading the books Alot of people didn't like the goblet of fire but i loved the hell out of it So i get it haha

@nightfall902

6 ай бұрын

I get it, but I wasn't a big fan of the book. At a little over 500 pages it was a quick read. It's been 8 years since the last book. It's a sequel, so we know where it's going from the start (no surprises). I feel like it diminishes a good villain. It almost feels as if the book were written with the intent of it being made into a movie. If I had read this as the first book in the series, I might not have been so eager to move on to the others. It was an okay book, but in my opinion (just my opinion) it's not as strong as the others. I haven't seen the movie and will probably wait for it to hit streaming.

@thefilmeffect6089

6 ай бұрын

What is up with the third act? I’ve been hearing so many say that the movie is ok until the third act. I don’t care about spoilers. Is it rushed?

I really enjoyed this. The first two thirds are wonderfully executed… the last third is a little uneven but I think it ultimately sticks the landing.

@calsaver

6 ай бұрын

I agree

@kokconsulting2

6 ай бұрын

Congrats you two

@ikexbankai

6 ай бұрын

Same

@evanbalfour1743

6 ай бұрын

Perfectly summed up

@evantornquist7673

5 ай бұрын

Perfectly agree

Congratulations to you both. Honor to have met you back in the Schmoedown Live days.

I think they did a good job since it was a really hard book to adapt to the big screen, if I were to choose between this and having two separate movies, one of which extremly watered down, like mockinkay, i would choose this

I found this to be one of the most narratively satisfying films I've ever seen. Knowing the kind of character Snow is in the original trilogy I was watching Tom Blyth's performance under a microscope paying close attention to all of his acting choices to see if this is indeed the same evil president he later becomes and when that moment finally came I was so impressed. I thought this film was so very well written to the point where every little detail in this makes sense when you see this leads into the original movies cuz it completely changes the way you see President Snow as a character, right down to reason why he hates Katniss so much. That's how I felt watching this, I was honestly blown away by how this retroactively improved this original films for me. But this is just a film and honeymoons are more important so I hope y'all are enjoying it to the max and live out your happiest lives together!

Have fun on your honeymoon. I just wanted to pop in and say the 3rd act of the book (it's written in three parts) is also written really fast paced and when you realize the entirety of the book is from July 4th to right before Sept 1st it's crazy. I was worried how pacing was going to go and I've seen just from commercials it feels like they cut A LOT of important dialogue.

@rosamariabest6069

6 ай бұрын

I found myself rereading the last couple of chapters to figure out what I missed since things came out of nowhere.

@jennahunt6861

6 ай бұрын

​@rosamariabest6069 same but I think it was intentional, Collins has no issues writing and I think it was kind of to show how he was losing it almost.

I missed the charts with Dan this week

I got a chance to see a preview screening. I had real trouble following anyone's motivations in the last act. I was continually asking "What are they doing?" "Why did they do that?"

The film added so much to the world of panem we didn’t know, I loved it for that

I loved viola davis performance. She did amazing.

I just saw it and thought it was wonderful. It kept me interested in the characters. It was really interesting to see how someone can evolve to a villain. Was it always in him?

@awsomerobyn2603

6 ай бұрын

I also think that this movie had better fight scenes. They used a similar technique to the first movie in terms of the camera being very mobile and creating like a sense of urgency and chaos. I also much preferred the choreography of the fights, it was less just slash slash and more of actual moment as if people are really trying their hardest to stay alive.

@lysfranc8782

6 ай бұрын

Didn’t read the book but I think Snow had this violence inside him and this calm and kind heart. He grew up without parental figure but two close relatives. One told him to be like his father and the other not to be! I see Snow as a teenager who wanted to please everyone and be accepted but in the end he can’t and had to chose a side.

Congratulations on your wedding but also, grab a copy of the book - I read it with my wife when I was newly married. It’s a really great read.

Dan. I’m especially your same age, 40, have a similar tastes in entertainment, have an uncle that influenced our movies (he took me to my first midnight premiere which was Batman Returns), and am also on my honeymoon currently. Hope you guys are having a blast. I can see how great you are together.

Ooh, late spring is a lovely time to visit our neighbours (I’m Australian)! I hope you’re both having a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoying beautiful NZ.

Congratulations!!! All the best to you and Mara, and have a magnificent time in Aotearoa!

I loved Rachel Ziegler in this movie ❤ and she actually sings 🤯she did an awesome job.

Amazing how time flies. Enjoy the break. Love and congratulations to you and Mara. The wedding photos were lovely.

i agree the movie seems to juggle too many things, I especially wanted to see more of snow's descent, but I'm content with what we have. so rare to see YA in cinema these days though, I'm going to see it in theatres at least another time!

Looking forward to the Charts for this past weekend. Curious about your take on where things landed.

Congratulations to you both! Hope you have a great time!

I very rarely comment on KZread videos in general, but after watching you over 3 separate channels/iterations for many years I just want to say firstly thank you, but also congratulations on your wedding and I hope both enjoy your well earnt honeymoon :)

Finding out who wrote the script for this film explains the problems it had for me. It definitely felt like a predominantly script issue

Lived in New Zealand for two and a half years and miss it very much! Hope you two have a great time there 😊

Brilliant video Dan, have an amazing time in New Zealand!

Have a great honeymoon! I was really glad that I read the book before I went to see this movie. I could tell they were hitting all the necessary story points, but they were truly jumping from plot point to plot point, not giving moments room to breathe. There was context missing for some scenes and details missing that I think would have been helpful to have. This could have easily been two movies, especially as this book was longer than The Mockingjay, and that book got the two-movie treatment.

@delacroixii

6 ай бұрын

So the people who did not read the book are doomed? No wonder the movie is failing.

@tessastewart6792

6 ай бұрын

@@delacroixii No, if you hadn't read the book you could still easily follow this film if you're paying attention. I went with three others who had not read it and the only one who couldn't understand some of it had not seen any of the series or read any of the books. the film is okay, but for a story requiring as very delicate and intricate balancing of tone, it missed the mark slightly.

Oooh you're in Aotearoa! I hope you and Mara have an awesome time!! And I hope you get the chance to visit Hobbiton. 😃

Congratulations Dan, I wish you the happiest life as a married man ! Thank you for your reviews! You are really good at reviewing movies, you are a natural. Greetings from Spain.

Congratulations on your marriage! Been following you since 2014 on ScreenJunkies. You're one of the best in the game.

Congratulations🎉 I've just seen it, it indeed looks as if they were 'afraid' to leave things out or rearrange might be a better description. But I did enjoy it, visually it was a good watch. I do wonder, here they have marathons with first the 4-katniss and the this one🤔 Emotion-wise not a rollercoaster I would like to be on, from freedom and hapiness to what started it😊

Love your summer prediction video... Will you be doing a winter \ Xmas time prediction?.. please

Not sure where in New Zealand you are, but if you're on the south island at all and near Geraldine (a small town near the center of the island), there's a really cute, old movie theater there that I think you'd enjoy. I loved going there during the year I spent in NZ.

Congratultations! I am from New Zealand, such a beautiful country, did anyone recognize you??

I think I'm in the minority here but, I actually liked this film better than the previous ones. I think Blyth did an excellent job, there are a few scenes where he conveys a lot just with a look, and even his physicality changes at the end of the film. Zegler was ok, but I have to say, her singing did to me what it did to the Capitol people. It was truly amaing and that made her character work for me. Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage are absolute scene stealers and the overall look of the film was pretty amazing. 4/5 in my opinion, I will be watching again. PS: I haven't read a single book, so there's that.

Take your time. You both deserve it. I'd love to get your take on the new Scott Pilgrim show when you come back (no rush, this weekend will be fine /s :)

Bro guy can fall in love with a girl just by seeing her 100 feet away. We didnt need more time of them together for the romans to feel real!

Sorry the weather is crap this weekend here in NZ, Dan. Hope you & Mara enjoy the country. Bypass Auckland as soon as you can, it's just a city. The South Island is where you want to go. Maybe a quick stop at Hobbiton in Matamata, and Weta Workshop in Miramar, Wellington, on the way down

I just watched it. Made me think and I believed in the sets/acting/etc. I don't regret going to see it. Good review.

I traveled to NZ in March of this year. A beautiful place to spend time. Make sure to hike!!

Good morning Dan, you do great work! This one I wanna see! Lets see how it turns out

The problems with this movie can be traced right back to the source material. It is an extremely close adaptation of the book, nothing is left out. I feel like a better adaptation would've played a little more loosely with it, combining/cutting characters, shuffling the timeline, etc. Also the runtime absolutely should've been cut down.

@youngstar312

6 ай бұрын

Nothing is left out? There is quite a lot of stuff left out imo. (I still loved it, but yeah)

Omg! Congrats Dan!! I am also in New Zealand right now for the first time! Hope you are enjoying your time! Kia Ora :)

Please share pics - would love to see some LOTR filming sites while you were at NZ!

Kia ora, Dan! I hope you are both having a good time here in NZ, even if the weather is a bit ordinary.

Congratulations to you and Mara, Dan. Great choice to head to New Zealand. Have a wonderful honeymoon!

Dan I gotta know how much time you spend on the thumbnail because it perfectly summarizes the review

Michael Ardnt has also previously written Catching Fire, Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3. I respect him highly and will judge the movie for myself. (And I know someone who is a major Hunger Games fan who can't wait to watch this movie)

Ah, New Zealand! Hope you're having a blast. I'm about to go ahead the movie myself, but checked this out first. I'm not surprised, really. The book seemed like it used every excuse to tie in to the main series, but not very organically. It makes me wonder if Collins wrote it due to pressure from her agent/publisher.

Have a great time on the honeymoon, congratulation to you both again. Thank you for posting!

The first part was rushed. It failed to show the increasing development of Snow's attachment and feelings to Lucy. It came across as snow looking at lucy as simply a school project that he needs to work on in order to get better credits.. Plus the movie failed to show us snow's struggle between good and evil.

Thank you Sir. Saved me and my Wife (also got married this year) from wasting one of our date nights on this, even on your Honeymoon! It is this dedication and genuine care for your fans that puts you head and shoulders above your peers, as well as your always fair and insightful analysis! Congratulations, wishing you both a lifetime of health and hapiness!

@jpgrennan

6 ай бұрын

I really liked it 🤷‍♂️

@vjc25

6 ай бұрын

@@jpgrennanMe too

@btmn80085

6 ай бұрын

If you liked hunger games you'll really enjoy it

@clarar2547

6 ай бұрын

I mean I disagree with Dan’s review. This movie held my attention from beginning to end and thought the romance was good.

@emiliepaulsen2488

6 ай бұрын

@@btmn80085no not really. I’m a HUGE fan of the series, but I really thought it was disappointing

New Zealand?! Photos, we want to see photos! Enjoy your stay and congrats!

Congratulations Dan, hope you get a pic at the shire!

I think the biggest problem was that they tried to fit a 517 page book into a two hour film as well as the book heavily relying on snows inner monologue to explain his motives and the complexities of his choices and to move the story along which just doesn’t transfer well into cinema. For what they had to work with I enjoyed the movie but definitely could have been improved with a bit more time, better pacing and a different adaptation approach by the screen writers

New Zealand...any plans to visit Hobbiton or the plains / mountains where LOTR was shot?

This was my first Hunger Games movie and honestly I thought it was a pretty cool introduction overall for me

Hey Dan, thanks for taking time from your honey moon to give us your review! I hope y'all having a great time, congrats on the wedding!

We can wait for a break down of The Marvels and The Strike, enjoy your vacation/honeymoon Dan!

Dude, Congratulations, I wish you both all the best, and many many happy years together. Enjoy your honeymoon.

Going in having ZERO expectations I was very tickled and pleasantly surprised ❤

I’m sorry but I don’t think the hunger games can be relevant like it once was. The world has moved on, ironically to a place more like it. I understand financially there are likely some wins to be made, which is personally why I think this exists at all, but I feel we are already starting at dwindling returns here not heading there. This is an uneventful cash grab that if anything just dilutes the impact of the brand.

oooh, you're in New Zealand? how outstanding! wish you and Mara the best of times!

I had a feeling this movie would be more for the book fans than for non-book fans. The book is so so long and I think it's going to have a bit of the same problems that movie adaptations of huge books. It's similar to Dune for me in that reading the book and watching the movie will help you understand the story better than if you just did one or the other. But it's pretty rare that someone has time to do both for every book and movie pairing, so I can't expect everyone to. I know I'll be able to fill in the narrative gaps in a way that non-book readers can't and I'll probably benefit from that.

@jrlombardi5251

6 ай бұрын

as usual, book readers complained more than non-book readers

@Kille483

6 ай бұрын

@@jrlombardi5251agree

Dan, as a new Zealander, if you are in Christchurch can I recommend Slick Burgers for a meal. Local knowledge! It's one of those, doesn't look good but all the locals love it place. And Alice's cinema for its beauty

I liked the movie. I thought the third part was great and I think it ended up being my favorite part of the movie. I think they pulled off a great ending. I think we'll be seeing more of Tom Blythe. He did a great job. The entire cast was fantastic.

CONGRATS DAN!!!!!

Wow a video on your honeymoon! That’s dedication. Enjoy NZ! It’s one of my favorite places on middle earth.

Congratulations on your nuptials! God bless you both.

Can't wait for the charts for these last 2 weeks 😂

Congrats Dan! The best out there

Congratulations again, Dan!!! 🎉 Oh Wow. You all are in New Zealand for your honeymoon??? I’m in Auckland with some college bodies for vacation. We return to the USA in a couple of days. I visited the Hobbiton Movie Set the other day.

The book would have been better with alternating chapters - one from Snow's point of view and one from Lucy's.

Congrats Dan!

Congrats dude! 🎉

I’m reading the book now. As I’ve been reading I was thinking it would be a tough book to adapt to film, so I’m not at all surprised it didn’t turn out great. It’s kind of a shame though since the first Hunger Games movie was adapted very well.

@choiwaynekiet

6 ай бұрын

Especially with the second movie and book being the best in the series. It was the peak of the story telling and made me excited to see where the story leads. The first book was decent and made me want to continue reading and movie was only OK and it made me want to see the second one. The third book was starting to feel like the author ran out of ideas. and just wanted to start off killing characters to try and generate conflict that did not need to be there. Killing the sister came out of left field and made no sense to the story. Katniss being all mopey did not help either. This movie was bad. The movie started out not bad at all, but halfway through the movie it went from bad to incomprehensible. The ending was rushed, and it felt like there was no clear character motivations at all. Rachel Zegler made the movie even worse with her trying to do a southern drawl and it was not good at all. It sounded like a caricature of the southern accent.

@jpgrennan

6 ай бұрын

It turned out really good imo

@theduke7616

6 ай бұрын

I read the book first and I wasn't sure that they would even make a movie out of it. I went into the movie with very low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised with the first two parts. The third part was what I feared. The best movie would have focused on the first two parts and then would have written a new short ending to wrap it up instead of the third part. Of course, fans of the book would have hated it, so it was a no win situation for the director.

Congratulations Dan!

Having now read the book, I am really intrigued to see what stays and what gets cut. So much of this book about the assertion of control over a populace and an "eternal war". The first series to me meanwhile was more about propaganda and to a lesser extent revolution.

Lucky. I really wanna visit New Zealand in the future

I'm a fan of the book trilogy, liked the movies well enough, but I wasn't able to get into the book version of TBOS&S. I'm curious to see if I enjoy the movie so I will eventually check it out.

Hope you have (had?) a great honeymoon, Dan! I'm Auckland NZ-based so it's cool to hear you're over - hope you make the visit to some of the smaller cinemas we have like The Academy, Capitol and Hollywood Avondale. They have some great classic movies on year-round, so check 'em out if you find the time. Great review, but can't say I've seen the other movies - good to know I can give this one a pass if I want to start watching them from scratch.

I thought it was fucking phenomenal, I really liked the first hunger games, the next few not as much, so wasn't expecting much but man the acting in this was outstanding, the story arcs, the turns the twists the set ups and payoffs.

@dantikks

6 ай бұрын

it's interesting to see how diverse the reactions are to this movie, i enjoyed the originals hugely but this one dropped off in my opinion

Oh hey Dan, I'm in Wellington! Welcome to Aotearoa New Zealand, hope you both have an awesome honeymoon here! :D

Huge Congrats!

I think the big difficulty for this movie is that unlike Katniss, Snow is fundamentally a phony person. The whole draw of the book's story is contrasting Snow's actual motives with what the people he interacts with assume his motives are. He doesn't start out evil per se, but is always fundamentally self-serving & does whatever he thinks will win him favor with powerful people & let him regain his rightful place & one of the elite powerful class. A lot of viewers are coming away with the idea Snow was a rebel sympathizer until he chickened out, so I don't think the movie captured this at all. I think there were ways to do this without the inner monologue, like have more open conversations with Tigris, though that still gives you a 3rd act issue since he isn't with her there.

Were there no Sutherlands available?

Congratulations Dan! Happy honeymoon

Congratulations on your wedding Dan🎉❤have fun on your honeymoon

Congrats on the marriage!!!! Hope you're having a blast in NZ!

Where in New Zealand did you go? Hopefully you get to see Hobbiton!

Just saw it. That was a quick 2h40m. I agree they needed a better way to adapt the book. Some changes made sense, but some felt like shortcuts that may hurt people’s experience who hadn’t read the book.

I guess the young adult novels require an unnecessary romance plot, which in this case hurts the story regarding what were truly the main character motivations throghout the movie. I was expecting the final part to be more definitive about that but it was more confusing. But still I had a good time watching it, they didn't top the original trilogy but it was a decent film.

@knallfroosch

6 ай бұрын

I think the romance was actually a big part of Snow´s conflict, hence why I think it should´ve been fleshed out better. It´s like, he was so ready to leave with her but right in the end, he made a U-turn and turned into what we knew him as

@diegoabche

6 ай бұрын

@@knallfroosch yeah, in theory how you describe it makes sense. But I didn't feel it was well executed. Like mostly the priority was her and then occasionally the film remembered he was Snow and had to do something Snowey

Congratulations on the marriage, have a great time at the honeymoon, and no worries about taking time off for it all - we'll be here!

My audience applauded at the end. I enjoyed it very much.

This long-time Kiwi fan wishes you well!

Congratulations To you both! Enjoy the honeymoon! 🎉

Congratulations!!

Welcome to NZ! Make sure you try a steak & cheese pie 😁

I’d be interested in seeing a travel vlog about NZ if you go visit the LOTR filming locations. My fiancée and I are also planning to go there for elopement and honeymoon.

Fascinating to hear this prequel tried to expand an already convoluted concept. Maybe it is best to let it rest Hope you, and your wife are having a fantastic time in New Zealand 😊

@mw8157

6 ай бұрын

I don't think it's convoluted. The movie actually tries to give a very simple explanation to it: it's just pure sadism.

@kadosho02

6 ай бұрын

@@mw8157 I agree. This series is difficult for anyone to get into. It is twisted, dark, and messed up to think about Somehow it became a film. It must have fans. But yikes

@mw8157

6 ай бұрын

@@kadosho02 I can't tell if you're being sarcastic lol. I just think the series shows how horror can become entertainment for the sake of just being entertaining. It's not a new thing and it has been done before but I like the series because I like the futuristic meets Roman empire setting tbh.

@kadosho02

6 ай бұрын

@@mw8157 I read some of the first book in the series, tried the film. Just was not for me. Not trying to be sarcastic. This series is not on my radar to be honest