Movie Thoughts Archives – Page 22 of 27

There’s No Business like the Hunger Games: Extra Casting Begins, Maybe
ByElizabeth April 16, 2011April 16, 2011
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Sure, sure, the Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD is out now, and everyone is dashing home to watch hours of special features, but here in Western NC, there’s buzz of another kind. Extra casting calls begin today for a movie being called Artemis. Since Artemis, like Katniss Everdeen, is an archer and huntress (and since she’s one ancient deity not licensed by Marvel Comics and thus not getting a film of her own), this is very likely The Hunger Games. It looks like there will be several calls in the region, and I do have friends planning to attend, so I’ll give you the full after-action report on the madness as thousands of people try to be one of a thousand needed extras (who will never be seen on the screen and who will likely be replaced with CGI anyway!)

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It’s On! North Carolina Locations for Hunger Games Filming
ByElizabeth April 6, 2011April 6, 2011
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According to the News in Asheville, North Carolina, the much-anticipated film adaptation of The Hunger Games will be filmed, at least partly, in “Cool, Green Asheville.” Other North Carolina sites purported to be targeted for filming are Charlotte and Shelby. Asheville officials have confirmed some locations around the city are being used for a movie; they won’t say what movie, however, even though the film’s producer has been sighted around town. In case you think this is speculation — the sign at one such location says “Ludus”; for those who may not be Latin-speakers, “ludus” means “game” in the language of ‘Bread and Circuses,’ so that’s probably a good indication that Asheville, or part of it, is District 12.

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Casting Announced for Peeta and Gale in Hunger Games Film
ByElizabeth April 5, 2011April 5, 2011
8 Comments

We’ve been hashing our thoughts about Jennifer Lawrence as the film makers’ choice to play Katniss in the forthcoming cinematic adaptation of The Hunger Games. Now Effie Trinket has reached into the big glass ball (after all, she always chooses the boy after the girl—ladies first!) and selected Lawrence’s co-stars: Peeta Mellark will be played by Josh Hutcherson and Gale Hawthorne by Liam Hemsworth.

Not surprisingly, they are both appealing to the eye, but, like Miss Lawrence, perhaps they will bring far more to their roles than attractively mussed hair and melting stares.

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Deleted Scene to Whet Appetites for Deathly Hallows: Pt. 1 DVD out April 15
ByElizabeth March 29, 2011April 6, 2011
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April 15 is usually a day to strike fear in the hearts of Americans. If the IRS doesn’t scare you (and really, those folks always look like Death Eaters in my imagination), maybe Voldemort will! So the movie folks are releasing the DVD of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on that resonant date. If your tax woes are few (or so bad you need an escape), April 15 is looking like a good movie night (I’m looking forward to the big-screen release of The Conspirator that same day)! In anticipation of the big release, here is a sneak preview of a deleted scene (with embedded version after the jump).

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Taking ‘Shared Text’ Vocabulary to the Movies!
ByElizabeth February 8, 2011February 9, 2011
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“I’ll explain it to you. And I’ll use small words so you’ll be sure to understand.” The Princess Bride

Standardized tests are generally considered so terrifying that only “IRS” could be considered a scarier acronym than “SAT,” but Brian Leaf takes the big test to our favorite movies and gives us a big tub of popcorn to make learning frequently tested vocabulary as fun and effortless as a Saturday matinee. In Name that Movie: A Painless Vocabulary Builder, Leaf uses the approach that he has taken in Defining Twilight, Defining New Moon, Defining Eclipse, and Defining Breaking Dawn: he delves into the stories we already know and love and pulls out the words we ought to know.

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