Movies

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013) does an excellent job adapting Book Two: in the aftermath of Katniss'(Jennifer Lawrence) triumph in the Games and over the Capital’s rules, she’s become a symbol of resistance which makes President Snow (Donald Sutherland) very, very unhappy. So Katniss attempts to step back and become just an ordinary winner, but inevitably Snow and his new gamemaster (Philip Seymour Hoffman) decide the best way to deal with her is a Special All-Star Hunger Game Edition! I’m impressed that even though the book is first-person, the movie works in Snow POV scenes without feeling tacked on; very good. “Fear won’t work as long as they have hope—and Katniss Everdeen gives them hope.”
Deep Throat was, back in my teen years, an (in)famous porn film; INSIDE DEEP THROAT (2005) does a good job looking at how it became the porno that everyone had heard of, which it credits to the concept (Linda Lovelace can only achieve orgasm orally because her clit is in her throat) being so off-the-wall, it made it easy to joke about or discuss (so it made both the Tonight Show monologue and the New York Times). The documentary shows how the original concept for Doctor’s Housecall transformed after director Gerard Damiano saw Lovelace’s oral abilities (“I resisted suggestions to call it The Sword Swallower.”) and the film’s problems with organized crime (which was deeply involved in the porn industry) and government censors (one prosecutor trying to ban it claimed the film would harm women because it implied they could be satisifed with a clitoral orgasm alone). On the downside, it lumps the feminist critiques in with the censors (I’ve heard some good feminist analysis of the film in the past) and the interviewees come across very old fart in grumbling how tacky porn is today. Overall, though, good. “The judge had to have it explained what a clitoris was.”
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN (2011) is the late Dwayne McDuffie’s adaptation of the limited series, chopping out surprisingly little (Superman’s encounter with Bizarro is the biggest loss) in telling how Luthor successfully kills Superman with an overdose of solar energy, leaving Superman rushing to reveal his identity to Lois (“Superman, I will admit you do a great Clark Kent impression.”), thwart the Tyrant Sun, defeat ancient Kryptonian astronauts and try to turn Luthor to the Light Side before the final showdown. With voice actors Ed Asner as Perry, James Denton as Superman, Christina Hendricks as Lois and Anthony LaPaglia as Luthor, a good job, pleasantly and completely unironic about Superman’s heroism. “What is truth? You can’t buy it or hold it in your hand, can you?”