Mockingjay - The Hunger Games Book 3

I have so much to say about Mockingjay that I'm not quite sure where to start.  I have already shared some of my reservations or misgivings about this series in my post on The Hunger Games and I have raved about how much I liked Catching Fire.  So, what do I share about Mockingjay?  I supposed I shall start by summarizing and go from there.


***SPOILER ALERT*** In this post I am assuming 1) that you have already read these books and 2) that you have already read my previous posts on this series. If you haven't read the book, consider yourself warned, if you haven't read my previous posts, go here.


Mockingjay picks up a few days after Catching Fire ended.  Katniss is with her mom and sister in District 13, but she is still very distraught.  Peeta is in the hands of the Capitol.  The president of district 13 wants her to become the face of the rebellion, but Katniss is unsure if she supports it.  She doesn't like the Capitol, but the rebels did lie to her and leave Peeta in the arena to be captured.  That doesn't really endear them to her.  Then she sees Peeta on Capitol TV telling the rebels to stop fighting and give up.  Katniss knows that he is saying this because he is being forced to, but

Catching Fire - The Hunger Games Book 2

So, building on my last post, today we shall be talking about book two of the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire.  By far, this was my favorite book in the series.  I feel like the first one set the stage and the second one was the climax of everything and then the third.... well, we'll talk about that one later.  I'm going to focus on analyzing the story and talking about what I think about style, character development, etc.  I already spent a decent amount of time digging into the deeper meanings and such in my post on the first book.  If you haven't already, I highly suggest reading it before you jump into this one, as this one will build on the other a little bit.


***SPOILER ALERT*** I will be discussing the book as if I am talking to someone who has already read it, thus I might give away important plot points, so if you haven't read it yet, consider yourself warned.


Picking up right where the Hunger Games left off, with Peeta and Katniss returning home as victors, we watch as new drama and difficulties unfold for Katniss.  She and Peeta are barely speaking since he found out that her lovey-dovey act in the arena was just that - an act.  She and Gale rarely see each other since she still has to keep up the idea that she and Peeta are in love and Gale is now working in the coal mines.  In short, Katniss' life is now pretty miserable.  Before the hunger games, Gale was her

Gulliver's Travels

So, for my Critical Thinking class, we had to read Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.  Quite honestly, I'm not even sure where to start when it comes to reviewing it.  It was interesting I guess and I did learn a lot about thinking critically, but the book itself was so crass and gross that I had a hard time reading it.  I mean really, do we need to read about Gulliver's bodily functions and how many times he was "raped"?  Seriously!  Those things are not important to the storyline, nor did they serve much of a purpose when it came to critical thinking.  Man, I am so glad that book is over!
As far as ratings go, I give it 1 for language, 1 for violence and a 3 for sexual content.
Contrary to the connotation that our culture has given to this story, it is not for children.

TRON

For computer people, this movie is hilarious. For us normal people... actually, it was pretty funny for us too, but in a different way. TRON was made in 1982 and is about a guy named Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) getting sucked into a computer. Pretty interesting. And funny. For computer people who know what they are talking about when they say things like "bit" and "memory chip" and other more complicated technical terms, this movie is funny because they understand how ridiculous the notion is that someone could get sucked into a computer. For the rest of us, its funny 'cause of how old it is.

But seriously, I actually really enjoyed watching this movie. The story was enjoyable and the effects were fantastic for how old it is.

As far as rating goes, I'm going to give the story a 3.5 out of 5. It's pretty predictable. How well it's made gets a 4 out of 5. For the era it was made in, the effects are phenomenal.

Sexual content gets a 5. There wasn't any. 

Violence gets a 4. There's less violence then you would see in the fake wrestling on TV, and its of the same caliber. They're throwing frisbees around and there's a shocker stick used as a weapon. 

Language gets 4. There wasn't much, but there was some. 

Overall I'm giving this movie a 4 out of 5. As far as age goes, this is a great family movie. It's clean and tame enough for the kids, and yet has enough amusing moments that it is enjoyable for the parents.