Movie v Book "Hunger Games" and "The Secret In Their Eyes"

Here's another chapter in our dialog about whether a movie can ever live up to the book.

This week, I saw "The Hunger Games" based on the book by Suzanne Collins on DVD and "The Secret in Their Eyes" by Eduardo Sacheri.


I read the book, "The Hunger Games" and the rest of the series on my Kindle and I listened to the audiobook version of "The Secret in Their Eyes."

Listening to an audio book is a luxurious experience - the imagery is created by a voice that pronounces each word precisely and adds emotion to the reading.  It's an emotional rollercoaster to hear the narrator's emotion and also feel your own emotional reaction to the story and the words building.

I'm a fan of the Hunger Games series and can't wait to re-read the books and see the upcoming movies.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give both books a rating close to 10.  I'm a fan of both authors and can't wait to read more from them.

On a scale of 1 to 10, the movies will get very different ratings from me.  "The Hunger Games" will get a high rating and "The Secret in Their Eyes" will get a middle of the road ranking.  I have to admit that the "Secret in Their Eyes" as a stand-alone movie is probably marvelous, but after reading the book and seeing how the director and scriptwriter massacred the story line, I can't do the movie justice.  I hated it!!!!

"The Hunger Games" movie almost rivals the book.  It's very, very close, but there are some essentials gaps for me.  SPOILER ALERT:

So, for those who stop reading now because of the spoiler alert, watch the movie, "The Secret in their Eyes" and consider it influenced by the book, but not based on the book, and you'll probably love the movie.  For "The Hunger Games," read the book first and then savor seeing the images on the big screen.  There will be some diffuseness in depth of emotion, but the action is fantastic.

Hope everyone had a fun week reading and watching "The Hunger Games" on DVD.  We'll see what books and movies fire up the screen over the coming months.  OK, now the spoiler (scroll down below Cato's image...):

The biggest gap in the movie for me was the relationship between Peta and Katniss and the complexity and confusion in what Katniss knows to be real and what she isn't sure is real in her feelings.  I don't think the movie captured that completely.  Also, the pivotal scene between Peta and Cato is MISSING from the movie.  That really irked me.  However, I'll definitely watch this movie again and go see the next movie.