Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

November 19, 2014November 19, 20141 Comment

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

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Rated:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images and thematic material

Directed By:

Francis Lawrence

Based on the Book By:

Suzanne Collins

Cast:

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Sam Claflin, Julianne Moore and more.

Find the rest on IMDB here.

IMDB Movie Synopsis:

When Katniss destroys the games, she goes to District 13 after District 12 is destroyed. She meets President Coin who convinces her to be the symbol of rebellion, while trying to save Peeta from the Capitol.

My Review:

Here’s the thing about Mockingjay. Its my least favorite book in the entire trilogy. I read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire about a month before Mockingjay came out. I remember reading the first two and just being absolutely blown away by it and then just feeling disappointed by Mockingjay. So much potential there but it just felt kind of sloppy, rushed, weird.

BUT, that being said…I was really looking forward to this movie. I liked the first movie well enough but the second movie just completely blew my mind and so I was really looking forward to this one. I went to the premiere and was on a complete high from the red carpet and went into the theater really excited for this movie.

One thing that really impressed me is that Francis Lawrence continues the trueness to the book that he showed us in Catching Fire. I knew what was happening next at every turn because it just felt so true to the book. Scenes that I wanted to happen, lines I wanted to hear, that sort of thing, were all there. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that actual lines from the book were said. That always means a lot to me because the worlds that we show in these movies were created by the words of the author and to use those words in the movie, it means a lot. Those words are important to the reader. We quote those books. So hearing them said by these actors that do SUCH a great job is just fantastic.

I loved that a lot of my favorite scenes were in the movie. I don’t want to say which ones because this is spoiler free but I really loved that the scenes that stood out to me in the books are the ones that ended up on screen.

Julianne Moore as Coin? Loved it. She had a nice balance of kind of weird and untrusting and at the same time, a passion for the rebellion and a control over the people she governs. She really brought that character to life. Natalie Dormer as Cressida? UGH. Love. She’s amazing. I cant wait to see more of her in Part 2.

Sad face every time that Philip Seymour Hoffman came on screen. KILLED me. There is so much of him in this movie, and I just loved it.

Jennifer Lawrence. Liam. Josh. Elizabeth. Donald. Sam. All of them are just so great.

I love where they cut it. Its great. Its kind of what the fandom expected but just a bit more and that’s what I loved. Because they probably assumed the fandom would know where they would logically cut it, it was really cool to see them twist it a bit. Still completely true to the book but just a fantastic end to the movie until we get Part 2. Can we get Part 2 now?

They added SO much action to it. Action that already existed but it really stood out on screen. It felt so real and frightening. The movie was pretty long but it didn’t feel that way because the action of it kept you wrapped up in it the whole time. It was so great to see Katniss really fight, and to see others fighting beside her, especially Gale. We don’t see much of Gale in the first two movies because she ends up in the Games both times so it was great to see more of him. I LOVE Gale as a character, and his passion for the rebellion, no matter the cost, so I loved seeing him fight and stand up for his rights and his thoughts.

There were two added scenes and I loved both of them. I can’t say much more than that. One was completely made up but stayed true to the events taking the place in the novel. Let’s just say my friend, who is a District 7 girl, was like “Yes! District 7! That’s my district!” in the theater last night. It was a really epic addition. The other addition was something that most definitely takes place in the novel but is kind of off screen because Katniss is not involved so therefore we have no perspective on it. I loved that they added it, it was just SO great, and intense and caused me lots of anxiety, even though I’ve read the book a bunch of times and know how it ends.

All in all, I’m massively impressed with this adaptation. Francis really knows what he’s doing. They capture the soul and essence of this book, stay true to the story and the characters but really bring it to life on screen. They take something that is so small in the books and blow it up into a huge, significant and beautiful scene on screen and I was really impressed by that. The performances by all the actors were incredible and I seriously can’t wait to see the second part. I think the movie gave the opportunity to straighten out those things that were messy in the book and I’m eagerly looking forward to the epic finale next fall!

OH! One last thing: my favorite part of the entire film was Jennifer Lawrence singing “The Hanging Tree”. It was SO flippin epic. It gave me total chills, all up and down my body. I need that song in my life. I was really just blown away with how they did that scene. Ugh. Perfection!

Rating:

5 out of 5 stars

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 White Carpet Premiere in Los Angeles!

November 18, 2014November 18, 20145 Comments

Hello everyone!

Sorry that I’ve basically been out of touch the last few days. I’ve been lax on both blogging and writing for NaNo (uh oh!) because I’ve been busy with work AND the premiere for Mockingjay Part 1!

The premiere was yesterday in Los Angeles, order CA at the Nokia Theater at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles. This is where they’ve had all the premieres for the movies in this trilogy so far and I think its a great place to have it. As soon as the date was announced, I put in the request for the day off and eagerly awaited the premiere.

Now, the plan was this: show up in the morning and take a chill approach to the premiere. I wasn’t down for the stress, though stress is a part of premieres, always, and I had seen pretty much everyone that I had wanted to see last year at the Catching Fire premiere. I knew I’d have to go the night before to get in line but I just didn’t feel like it. Plus, my dad was in the hospital due to some heart issues (he’s okay!) so it was just a bunch of mess.

Well, my good friend, Jade (who you might recognize from Teens React on YouTube) went the night before, and let me know that she could save us a spot in line because she’s awesome and because we’ve helped save her spot at events before :) So I was going to get some sleep and then head to the premiere in the early morning.

I didn’t get ANY sleep at all. I couldn’t sleep. It was way too early for me. Oh well. We packed our things up and headed down to Nokia.

This is me in line at about 5:30 am. Jade was first in line! Even when I don’t try and be first in line, I end up first in line. I have no idea how this happens.

We spent the day hanging out and snacking and talking books and such. I kept trying to nap but it just didn’t happen. I was running on adrenaline basically.

I was really disappointed in SPEC this year. SPEC runs all (well, most) of the red carpet premieres and Charles, the main man, and his guys usually run a really great show but yesterday was just sloppy and disorganized. There was almost NO communication at all and they have this really stupid promotion going on so even if you waited all day in line (like we did), you still had to go in after about 200 people that were part of this promotion. It was ridiculous and frustrating. They were SO disorganized. I couldn’t even believe it. I’m up for a fan camp again, because that was just sloppy as hell.

We finally got let in and headed toward the bleachers where the fans were set up. I ended up in the second row with my friends, which wasn’t a bad spot. The carpet was set up, and it looked cool but honestly? Not nearly as cool as it did last year.

I was helping out debut author, Tonya Kuper, while I was at it though. Her novel, which is published by Entangled Teen, is coming out next week and I helped by passing out postcards to promote it! I thought she’d get a kick out of this!

The Mockingjays on the carpet were super cool though. The carpet was half white carpet and half white tile. I kept waiting for someone to just take an epic spill.

At first, the security wasn’t going to let us stand at the barricade. We stood at once point and they sent us back to our seats. I was VERY VERY frustrated. I wouldn’t wait in line, with no sleep, if I wanted to just wave to them from the bleachers. It made no sense. Some of the stars started coming closer so we all kind of went back up to the barricade and the SPEC guys were like, fine, just behave. Easy cheesy. At least in my opinion.

Getting ready for the stars.

The first person I saw was Joey Graceffa, who is on YouTube. I admit, my knowledge of YouTubers is pretty much nonexistent so I didn’t know who he was BUT my friends Sylvia and Cassie were SO super stoked so I had to take a picture too haha.

This little guy, Emjay Anthony, is going to be playing Hector in the Insurgent movie. I had to get a picture of him because we all know how I feel about the Divergent trilogy <3

We were waiting for more people to come when Jade suddenly said “Is that Mark Hoppus?!” and it was, completely with mohawk (not pictured). I FREAKED out because come on, Blink 182! No one seemed to know who he was, so Jade and I started yelling at him to come over. He just kind of smiled and we were like, agh, no Mark, come back! So he came over and took pictures with us. I’ve already met Travis Barker so I’m SO stoked to have met Mark. I just need Tom!

I had no idea who he was until I googled the premiere and figured it out haha. His name is Cody Johns and he’s a really really small actor, though he was in I Am Number Four as one of John’s friends in the very beginning. I just thought he was SO super cute. I’m terrible haha. Also my friend Sylvia’s face in the background haha.

Me and Erica Bierman, who plays President Snow’s daughter in the films. She was SO sweet and she fangirled HARD over Jade because she watches YouTube. It was actually quite adorable.

So, last year, I was devastated when I could not meet Suzanne Collins. She signed for very few people before leaving. This time, she took her time, took pictures and signed for people and just seriously made my whole day. Its all about her! She created this! I was also in a weird spot that got a ton of weird light. My first picture with her was all LIGHT and she noticed, and put her hand up to block it and we got this beauty!

Me and the beautiful Jena Malone, who plays Johanna Mason in the film, and quite well.

See what I mean about that light haha. Stef Dawson, who plays Annie Cresta. She’s seriously SO fabulous and amazing. SO adorable.

Me and Meta Golding, who plays Enobaria. She also is in the newer version of The Tomorrow People, which I am obsessed with (RIP), so I have to go back and figure out who she is!

Stef and Meta were SO happy to see each other. It was adorable.

Wes Chatham, who plays Castor, part of Katniss’s camera crew. He was SO nice and his wife was adorably pregnant. I wanted to rub her belly, which, you know, is not creepy in the slightest. I had Sylvia’s book and asked him to sign it and Jade is like “because she’s in the bathroom!” so he signed it to her, personally, and asked why she was in the bathroom. All in her book. It was adorable.

Me and the super legend, Donald Sutherland. His voice is even more awesome in person.

AW. Such a sweetheart in Nina Jacobson who is the producer for The Hunger Games movies :)

Then Jennifer Lawrence came by. I loved seeing her this time because I was actually at the barricade this time AND she seemed much happier than at Catching Fire, where she was freezing and SICK. She is awesome because even though she doesn’t take pictures with people, she tries to sign for each and every fan which is just incredible. I did try to some selfies while she was signing my book and I got some blurry, creeper ones haha.

Julianne Moore came in. She’s a new addition to the cast, playing District 13’s president, Alma Coin. She didn’t stop to take pictures BUT she signed my book so that was awesome, and I managed to get some pictures of her as well.

AW. My beautiful and darling Sam Claflin. He’s such a doll, and so good to fans. He plays my favorite character of the whole trilogy, Finnick Odair. I got to meet him last year but I was more than happy to do it again.

Liam was another one that wasn’t taking pictures but I didn’t mind because, like Jen, he wanted to try and sign for as many fans as possible. I got a few pictures of him as he signed for people. A lot of people aren’t much into his new bearded look but I thought it looked fantastic on him.

AGH! Elizabeth Banks! I was SO excited because I wasn’t able to get her at all last year, not her autograph or anything! She stopped to sign my book, and I was going to just take pictures of her signing, like I did with Jen but she saw and leaned in and I got to take a picture with her. Made my whole night. She is SERIOUSLY perfect as Effie.

In consistency with the others, Josh Hutcherson also didn’t take pictures with fans in order to sign for as many as possible. However, I was getting pictures of him anyway, and then Jade asked him for a picture because she had never gotten one, even though she’s been to all three premieres so far. Sylvia and I both saw the opportunity and jumped right in.

I also jumped in for a picture with Jeffrey Wright with Jade.

He also signed my book too but I didn’t get a chance to take a picture and totally jumped into this one haha.

I got to see Lea Thompson again too! I saw her months ago at the Vampire Academy premiere but I was stoked to see her again. She’s from one of my favorite movies of all time, Back to the Future, and now she’s on Switched at Birth (which I’m massively addicted to) and Dancing with the Stars. She is also the mommy of my future girlfriend, Zoey Deutch <3

The last person that went on the carpet was Natalie Dormer, who you probably know from Game of Thrones as Margery, and who is playing Cressida in Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2. I wanted her SOOOO bad, she was my number one goal but she blew past because she had to go into the movie. I’m determined to get her at the Part 2 premiere!

After the carpet was over, we were instructed to sit down and then we would receive our tickets to go in and see the movie!

My friends and I with our tickets!

The movie was ABSOLUTELY fabulous and I can’t wait to share more about it once I write my review (check for that tomorrow!). I had a blast at the premiere. I was tired and hungry for sure. I thought the organization of the event was terrible. Even after the carpet, it was just ridiculous. I could barely get into the theater, and we just made it in as soon as the movie started. Then getting our phones after the movie and everything…it just a wicked mess. I hope they clean that up next year and either come up with a better system OR do a fan camp again (please!).

If you’d like to see all the pictures of the day at the premiere, click this link and you can check them out on the official What a Nerd Girl Says FB page!

Til next year, Mockingjay Part 2!

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Tuesday Top Ten-Movies to Look Forward to in 2014

January 21, 2014January 21, 20144 Comments

Hello everybody! How are we doing this week? We’re now a few weeks into the year, approved and a new year brings so much: new year, pills new goals, new you, new books, new movies!

I get excited every year around new year because I think…oh all those movies I’ve been waiting for are now closer than ever!

There are a TON of great movies hitting the theaters this year, and I’m excited for them. Here are my top ten:

10. The Giver

August 15th

I’m not going to lie, this movie makes me incredibly nervous. I love this book. This book was the first dystopian novel that I ever really read and that was when I was twelve years old. This novel has definitely stuck with me, and I’m hoping that when it hits the big screen, it’ll be as beautifully filmed as it was written. The fact that there are all these big names makes me nervous because none of the people who are being cast seem to fit what I’ve imagined. I’m also not happy that Taylor Swift has any part of this movie. I mean, I can’t even handle my disappointment in that. But I’m holding out hope that despite that, and despite the most random of an ensemble cast, it’ll be the script from a beautiful book that makes this a great movie.

9. Maleficent

May 30th

It seems to be the hippest thing now to do fairy tale retellings now. And I’m totally okay with that. I love Disney movies, and have loved them since I was a kid. All these retellings just make it so that I can enjoy those favorite stories again and again as an adult, in a new way. I’m not an Angelina Jolie fan, honestly, she kind of bothers me. I was telling my friend that if she wasn’t such a good mom (or at least she appears to be), I would probably really dislike her. However, I think she’s an absolutely perfect pick to play the scary Sleeping Beauty villain and I think it’ll be a great movie. It already looks super great, and I’m really really really looking forward to it. The teaser trailer is just enough to make me want to watch.

8. Love Rosie

No Release Date…Yet

I literally have such little knowledge on this movie, its ridiculous. I know that its based off a book, but most movies are, so that wasn’t hard to conclude. But it has two of my favorite people in the world in the movie: Lily Collins and Sam Claflin. Both of whom I’ve met too! Which I just thought of and totally made me happy. But this was being filmed around the promotion time for City of Bones so it came on my radar and I’m excited to see it. There is no real release date for it because I think its super indie but I definitely want to see it, and hopefully read it, as well. I think Lily Collins is a great actress who hasn’t quite caught her break yet, and I adore Sam, who ROCKED Finnick in Catching Fire. Its bound to be a good movie, in my head.

7. X-Men: Days of Future Past

May 23rd

I wasn’t a huge fan of the “original” XMen trilogy. The first one was decent and the other two were just a yawn. They just didn’t impress me much. So when the prequel came out, I honestly didn’t have a huge desire to see that at all. Eventually I did watch it and I was blown away. I think the prequel was infinitely better than the original trilogy and I loved the cast immensely: James Mcavoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones and so on. I loved it so much. I would say they made one mistake in casting someone else for Banshee instead of sticking with their original choice of Robbie Sheehan. But that’s just because I’m biased and love Robbie. But because that first movie was absolutely incredible, I am DEFINITELY looking forward to the sequel. I think its going to be just as good, maybe better, and they got rid of Rogue and I’m SO okay with that.

6. The Maze Runner

September 19th

I really am looking forward to seeing this movie for several reasons. First off, I adore Dylan O’Brien. I wish that Teen Wolf would have grabbed me more than it did because he is SO great. So being able to see him as the main character of TMR is something I’m very excited about it. I’m also excited because it really was a good book. James Dashner is a great writer, and The Maze Runner is an incredible novel. Its also a really weird, bizarre novel, which leads to another reason I’m looking forward to seeing this movie: maybe things will make a little more sense to me when I can actually see them. Maybe seeing the maze and the Grievers and all that. I also think that its a very action-y book so it’ll work really well on the big screen. Thomas and his fellow Runners are constantly risking their lives to find a way out and I think that will translate SUPER well onto film.

5. The Fault in Our Stars

June 6th

Despite the fact that the fans of The Fault in Our Stars is kind of starting to get on my nerves and I’m starting to push more indie, unknown or underrated authors now, instead of just always John Green, I am looking forward to this movie. I enjoy John Green’s books and I did really like TFiOS a lot so I’m eager to see this movie. I also have a soft spot for Ansel, and I swear, it has nothing to do with his abs ;) I’m also excited because Ansel and Shailene will play brother and sister in another highly anticipated movie this year (look below!) and so I’m eager to see how they do both of them. They obviously have a chemistry on screen enough to be in two different movies together. I wish my favorites of John Green, like An Abundance of Katherines or Will Grayson, Will Grayson, on the big screen but there’s no way it’ll ever happen. So this is the next best thing. Let’s see how well they translated this book to the work of film.

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

November 21st

Duh. I mean, do I really need to go into detail with this? When I first saw The Hunger Games, I definitely enjoyed it. Its a great movie, but it wasn’t…perfect, you know? There were things wrong with it, and I liked it but it wasn’t a huge favorite. When I saw Catching Fire though, it blew my mind. Its not perfect because a movie will hardly ever be as perfect as the book but it was pretty damn close. I wanted to stand up and tackle Francis Lawrence and all the brains behind CF with hugs and kisses because it was SO SO good. I was only partly looking forward to CF because HG was just okay. Now I’m dying to see Mockingjay because I have high hopes for it. I honestly think its going to be just amazing, and the casting they have been doing for it is great and I want to do fan camp again. The whole Catching Fire experience pulled me so much back into The Hunger Games world and I’m dying to see the first part of the finale. I still don’t know why its split into two parts but whatever. Let’s just enjoy it.

3. Vampire Academy

February 7th

This is only a few weeks away which makes me incredibly excited. I just read the books within the last six months but they have quickly become favorites of mine. The title and the idea of it sounded awful but Richelle Mead blew me away. Its an incredible series so I can’t wait to see it on the big screen. I’m so freakin excited. Plus I have huge crushes on both Zoey Deutch and Danila Kozlovsky and I want to see their chemistry as Rose and Dimitri. I am a bit nervous because it seems very “mean girls” but then I see a clip or a still of Zoey kicking ass and I get excited all over again. She’s super beautiful and perfect for the casting of Rose and I think its going to be a really fun movie. And I hope to get my butt down to the premiere so I can fangirl again and again over Zoey and Danila.

2. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

December 17th

I wasn’t overly impressed with The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug but I still feel like I need to go back and re-read the book and then rewatch the movie so I can really see whether I like it or not. It just didn’t effect me as much as the first one did. That one was just so amazing to me, the fight scenes and the elves, and Rivendell and the riddle scene with Gollum. Agh. But I’m hoping with the conclusion, it’ll comes together nicely. The end of The Hobbit is great, and a whole lot goes down so I’m ready to see that. I’m ready to see Smaug destroy the town, and I’m ready for Bard and I’m ready for Thorin to kind of go crazy and I’m ready for Bilbo to become an even bigger badass than he already was. I have some seriously high hopes for this movie (I mean, it is number 2 on the list) so I hope I am not disappointed.

1. Divergent

March 21st

I can hardly contain my excitement for this movie. When they first started casting for it, I admit, I was nervous. I was not a fan of Shailene Woodley. All I had ever seen her in was The Secret Life of An American Teenager and…no, just no. But the more I saw her transformation into Tris, the more I felt comfortable with her as Tris. Then I saw The Spectacular Now with my boyfriend at a special screening and it was SO good, and she really impressed me. She did such a great job. That, combined with the casting of Theo James as Four, made me more excited about the movie. I mean, have you seen Theo James. I need a bucket of cold water to the face every time I see him. Since then, we’ve gotten a TON of stills, really amazing trailers and I am just so excited for this movie. Once I saw the first full length trailer, I really thought, “wow, this could be good”. I love these books, I feel like I’m one of a small group that absolutely loved the ending and I can’t wait to see my favorite Divergent characters come to life in March. And to hopefully be at that premiere because, come on, its Divergent!

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So there you have it! My Top Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2014! Check in next week to see my top Ten reasons why I want to be an author :)

What are some movies that you are looking forward to in 2014? Share in the comments!

Fictional Crush of the Week-Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games Trilogy

November 23, 2013November 21, 20137 Comments

In spirit with the rest of my posts this week, check I’m keeping The Hunger Games and Catching Fire trend going by featuring one of my favorite fictional crushes, this Peeta Mellark. By the time this posts, I’ll have seen it twice, and I know I’ll go to see it more times than that. It was a brilliant movie, Peeta is amazing and Josh captures Peeta SO perfectly.

As always, all Fictional Crushes of the Week will have spoilers. Sorry :(

Character Name:

Peeta Mellark

Book or Series They Appear In:

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Author/Creator:

Suzanne Collins

Played By:

Josh Hutcherson

Who They Are:

Peeta Mellark is the secondary main character of The Hunger Games Trilogy, the counterpart to Katniss Everdeen. He is a boy from District 12, the son of the baker, and is reaped into the 74th Hunger Games with Katniss. He has a very open and genuine attitude, and we find out in book one, that he is in love with Katniss and has been for years. He doesn’t have the survival and hunting skills that Katniss has but is incredibly intelligent, and clever, and has a way of being so genuine and sneaky at the same time. He’s caring, and sweet, and the most loving, most deserving character of all the characters in this trilogy.

Why I Am Crushing On Them:

Why would anyone crush on Peeta Mellark? Peeta is the PERFECT boyfriend in that there is literally no boy in the entire world who will ever be even close to what Peeta is to Katniss. There’s just now way. He’s kind and gentle and incredibly intelligent and he’s so loving and genuine and he is so sacrificing and real. He’s the best person in the books, which people recognize over and over again. He knows how to handle every person that comes his way. He knows Katniss and his parents and Haymitch and Effie and his prep team, and the other tributes, and everyone. He knows how to open himself up to all of them, and to gain their trust, but in such a real way. He’s not sneaky. He makes clever moves but they’re never to harm, only to help.

Plus does anyone love anyone else the way Peeta loves Katniss? Honestly? I think not. He genuinely loves her and it takes more than being hijacked by tracker jacker venom to keep him from loving her. Sure, it makes it quite difficult but eventually his love for her survives, and they survive together. Its beautiful. He’s perfection in the form of a male lead character, and I think that’s why Katniss has a hard time with him, because he’s so GOOD, and she doesn’t feel like she deserves him. Hell, no one deserves him. But it doesn’t stop him from being this week’s crush :)

Notable Quotes:

“If you die, and I live, there’s no life for me at all back in District Twelve. You’re my whole life. I would never be happy again.”“It’s not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I’m okay once I realize you’re here.”

“I’m more than just a piece in their Games.”

“So after, when he whispers,” You love me. Real or not real?”
I tell him, “Real.”

“I just don’t want them to change me, if I’m going to die I still want to be me.”

“She has no idea. The effect she can have.”

“I remember everything about you. You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention.”

“I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you.”

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever.”

“So that day, in music assembly, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She stood you up on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I swear, every bird outside the windows fell silent…and right when your song ended, I knew – just like your mother – I was a goner.”

“Actually I painted a picture of Rue. How she looked after Katniss has covered her in flowers. I just wanted to hold them accountable, if only for a moment. For killing that little girl.”

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Hope you enjoyed this week’s Fictional Crush and that you’ll be back next week for more!

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere-Day 3!

November 19, 20135 Comments

Finally! The day I’ve been waiting for!

It was an absolutely EPIC day and I am so excited to share it with you guys.

Day #3:

5 am: My friend Jade wakes me up. Its time to put all the stuff away, link and get packed up to leave. 5 am is incredibly too early to think about this sort of thing, but somehow I manage to get it done!

6 am: The security guys come around to give us our numbers for the red carpet. I was number 104, which wasn’t too bad actually! We were instructed to come back at 3:30, which was great, because we were all so tired!

I love that you can see my ticket (the yellow one) from the City of Bones red carpet. I was #2 for that one and was proud of that, and I like keeping it in my phone!

7 am to 2 pm: Sleeping. Eating. Showering. The basic needs of a human being that were ignored in the last two days.

2:40 pm: Arrive in line for the red carpet. Getting really excited because its finally almost time!

3 pm: Get a call about a job interview for Barnes and Noble. This is completely unrelated to anything to do with Catching Fire, but I was insanely excited, and it put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

3:30 pm: Head into the fan section. Second row behind the barricade which honestly isn’t that bad. Sure, I would have liked to have been right up against it, but beggars can’t be choosers. And usually the people in the front row are nice. Its a little bit of a give and take. Fandom love

4 pm: Realize the people in front of us are NOT fandom love people, and are kind of rude. Whatever. Time to do some awesome work, and get my poster signed.

5:30 pm to 8 pm: RED CARPET!!!!!

I saw SO many people.

It was nearly impossible to get pictures with anyone, mostly because the people in front of me, were not really nice. BUT I got my poster signed by SO many people on the carpet, including: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland, Bruce Bundy, Stanley Tucci, Stef Dawson, Bruno Gunn, Maria Howell, Amanda Plummer, Megan Hayes and Trish Summerville.

Don’t ask me which signature belongs to who. I know some of them but most of them, I have NO idea. It was chaos on the red carpet, haha, but the good kind of chaos!

I also, sadly, didn’t take a lot of pictures either because it was SO hard to! But I was glad to get my poster signed. I did get a few pictures! I think I was too busy trying to get autographs and ogling celebrities to actually take pictures with them!

The back of Liam Hemsworth’s head. I couldn’t get one of him turned around!

Bruno Gunn who plays tribute/victor Brutus

I also saw other celebrities like Sarah Hyland, Joe Jonas, and even some Laker players, like Xavier Henry and Steve Blake!

Laker player Xavier Henry!

There were also some past tributes from the first movie that hit the red carpet too, like Dayo Okeniyi (Thresh), Isabelle Fuhrman (Clove), and Jacqueline Emerson (Foxface). Even though they all die in the first movie, they’re part of the family, and they’re part of the beginning of this beautiful movie experience.

Oh and I got an extra poster signed by Francis Lawrence, the director, and Jena Malone, Sam Claflin and Stephanie Leigh Schlund. I think a giveaway may be in order *wink wink*

8:30 pm: MOVIE TIME!!!!!!!!!! We get free popcorn and drinks and head into the most ginormous theater in the history of all theaters. Seriously. Its huge. Not really in a good way. I like small theaters, for sure. This place was…uncomfortably big haha. BUT I was lucky to see the movie early so its all good.

11 pm: Get out of the movie. I have literally cried from happiness, from heartbreak, from laughter. This movie is absolutely brilliant. I won’t say more than that because I’m doing a review but ohmygod, the movie was SO good. So happy and satisfied, I can barely handle it.

12:30 am: Finally make it home. Am so happy to see my house, to see my own bed, and especially to see my boyfriend. I am so excited for all of this, I literally fall asleep without even trying.

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Thank you for following me all weekend, in the journey of the Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere.

If you’d like to see ALLLLLLL the pictures from this weekend (all 114 of them), please check them out on the official blog Facebook here.

Watch out for my spoiler free review soon!

Happy Hunger Games!

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere Diary-Day Two

November 18, 2013November 17, 2013Leave a comment

Hey everyone! Guess what? Day #2 of the CF Fan Camp is coming to close and I’m gonna write my fan camp diary for you again! Okay, physician I’m not going to lie. Its actually only 7 pm, adiposity which means I won’t get to bed for another, advice hmmm, at least five hours.

So this will probably eventually be longer as the rest of the night unfolds. But for now, this is my exciting day!

Enjoy!

Day Two

8 am: I woke up, and I felt like I had been hit over the head with a brick. I actually kind of forgot where I was, until I remembered and I was like OHMYGOD.

9 am: Charging my phone. This is not exciting, but this is a huge part of the day haha. I spend a lot of time at fan camp charging things.

10:30 am: Corner Bakery comes to bring us breakfast. It sadly reminds me WAY too much of Panera, and I’m like, NO. LOL. We get in line to get some swag, because, remember, my young padawans, free swag is the best thing ever.

We got TimeWarner Cable iphone cases and bags, and even better, we got Catching Firek shirts. I’m pretty low on the wallet side and haven’t able to spend too much money at Hot Topic, so I was so excited to get a free shirt. No lie.

10:31 am: I molest Katniss Everdeen. Sort of. She kind of enjoys it.

11:30 am: Lining up for the cast signings. We had no idea who was coming but I was banking on my boy, Sam Claflin to show up.

12 pm: Sam Claflin (Finnick), Jena Malone (Johanna) and Jeffrey Wright (Beetee) show up. Pretty much die of happiness because I really wanted to meet Sam. I was close in the front of the line, so I knew I would make it through fairly easily.

12:20 pm: I meet Sam Claflin. This was pretty much the BEST moment of the day. Finnick Odair is easily my favorite character, and its not just because he is hot. He has so much to his character, and there’s depth to him that you don’t normally see because of his looks. I adore Finnick. Plus he’s got his badass tridents, and he saves Peeta’s life.

We totally talked about Disneyland; he went for the first time yesterday. I told him it was my favorite place in the world and he asked me what my favorite ride was, and I say Winnie the Pooh. He was like, “I didn’t go on that!” and I was like, “Oh no! You should have!” and he laughed. We’ll be announcing our engagement any day now ;)

12:21 pm: Met Jena Malone and Jeffrey Wright. Both SO nice, and signed my poster. I wasn’t able to get pictures with them, sadly but they were really awesome, and I’m glad I was able to meet both of them.

1:00 pm: Josh Hutcherson, aka the beautiful Peeta Mellark, shows up. Pretty much die of excitement.

1:15 pm: They start putting up the epic Mockingjay for the red carpet. They eventually lit it up for a bit but I missed it. Because I wasn’t pay attention. That was my bad. But it still looks cool without the flames!

1:40 pm: Josh leaves when there is only ten people in front of me and my friends. Pretty much die of sadness. Resolve that I WILL see him on the red carpet tomorrow, and it’ll be amazing. There are no losers in fan camp!

2:00 pm: Francis Lawrence, director of Catching Fire, hits the signing table! I was happy to meet him, of course, and I can’t wait to see the movie, and to see how he takes the helm. The previews for this movie make it look simply brilliant and he’s the brains behind the operation.

3 pm: We had heard rumors that Jennifer Lawrence was going to show up. Attempt to start a “just-in-case” line. Totally get yelled at. Not really. The security is usually provided by SEM at movie premieres and they are seriously amazing people, like Charles, who is the head.

4 pm: Try to do another “just-in-case” line. It fails again, and so I start playing Pokemon Blue because…well, why not? I should be reading. I have two books that I need to review really soon but this place is so distracting and awesome.

6:00 pm: Dinner. The first real meal I’ve had since eating at iHop yesterday. I had a cheddar cheese cup o’noodles, which was the first time I had had one. It was really weird. No lie. I was like, what IS this? I liked it haha and when you’re hungry, its the best meal ever.

6:30 pm: Practically tackled this lady who was handing pieces of the red carpet that they have already set up. I am a sucker for souvenirs and mementos so I knew I had to have one!

6:45 pm: Realized, as I was writing this post, I keep switching from 1 pm to 1:00 pm. I should keep some consistencies. I’ll blame it on the fact that the only real food I had today was a Cup o’Noodles and let’s face it, that’s probably not considered real food. Sad face.

8:00 pm: We find out what is going to happen tomorrow. This is not exciting. I have no idea why I’m sharing this with you. I mean, do you really want to know the 411 of lining up for a red carpet premiere? Its really boring. Moving on…

8:30 pm: The Laker game finished, and the Lakers won. This is exciting because the Lakers aren’t that good and Kobe Bryant is out, and it kind of sucks. It was kind of funny though to take a bunch of our stuff back to our car, in the middle of the Laker crowd. I’m not sure they knew what to do with that.

830-1030 pm: I have been on my computer for awhile haha. After discovering free wi-fi, I realized I now had unlimited access to facebook, and tumblr and twitter, and well, it was straight up trouble.

Somewhere Between 830 and 11 pm: Uno and too much giggling ensues

10:30 pm: Literally spend two whole minutes of non-stop laughing as Sylvia attempts to take a picture of me in my Hunger Games shirt. This is the fail picture (of many) that was the road to the semi-decent one above.

Bedtime: I go to bed. I’m so exciting, huh? Tomorrow is the premiere!

* * * * * *

I hope you enjoyed this recap of Day #2. Tomorrow is Day #3, which is movie premiere day! Its going to be amazing!

Happy Hunger Games!

What A Nerd Girl Says

Nerd Life is Just So Much Better Than Regular Life

Tag: Josh Hutcherson

Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Rated:

Directed By:

Based on the Book By:

Cast:

IMDB Movie Synopsis:

My Review:

Rating:

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 White Carpet Premiere in Los Angeles!

Tuesday Top Ten-Movies to Look Forward to in 2014

10. The Giver

9. Maleficent

8. Love Rosie

7. X-Men: Days of Future Past

6. The Maze Runner

5. The Fault in Our Stars

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

3. Vampire Academy

2. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

1. Divergent

Fictional Crush of the Week-Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games Trilogy

Character Name:

Book or Series They Appear In:

Author/Creator:

Played By:

Who They Are:

Why I Am Crushing On Them:

Notable Quotes:

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere-Day 3!

Day #3:

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere Diary-Day Two

Day Two