Have you read One Day?  This book is seriously one of my favorite books ever.  EVER!  Yes, it is a little chick-litey but if you are a chick you totally need to read it.  Because it is so good.  When you finish reading it, you will love the characters, you will cry, you will think about them after you are done…it is that good.

And I totally can’t wait for the movie to come out.  They cast the perfect actors in these roles.  Anne Hathaway plays Emma and Jim Sturgess playes Dexter.  I can’t wait!

Hunger Games casting update: Haymitch Abernathy has been cast and it is none other than Woody Harrelson!

Not someone that even crossed my mind when we were casting the Hunger Games for fun, but I’m totally on board with this. Last week it was rumoured that John C Reilly was in talks to play Haymitch but I guess that fell through.

My only hesitations with this is that Woody Harrelson is a bit over dramatic at times and IMO Haymitch is more of an introverted troubled man, and that he’s also fair featured. Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks and Jennifer Lawrence are not the image of who I imagined to live in District 12. In my District 12 the people were darker featured and kind of rustic whereas this casting is more of an Aryan look with delicate features. Am I the only one that interpreted the book that way?

Stacey: Ugh.  I am totally not into this.  Woody is too…wacky to be Haymitch.  I am with you, Tan, that he always seemed like a troubled introvert…but someone you couldn’t help liking.  I don’t get that from Woody.  I am so not into the casting so far in this movie. 

Also recently cast, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman as the Games host (ok, I am kind of into this casting) and Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane, head game maker.

And I am also with you on the features of the people from District 12.  I have mentioned a couple of times that in the book the specifically mentioned that the people from District 12 were dark skinned, dark eyed, dark haired…they are casting people that are literally the exact opposite of that which was described in the book.

(Pic: sportscarzone.com)

Not only is Vin Diesel no longer hot, he is also completely and totally delusional.

Vin to the LA Times:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some Oscar talk around this. I don’t know, maybe I’m just biting off what some guy from Channel 7 thought. But sooner or later, people are gonna say, ‘Wait a minute, just because they are for the working class doesn’t mean they’re not great.’”

Look.  The fun about movies like Fast and the Furious is that the aren’t Oscar contenders.  There is no brain power required to enjoy those movies.  After a long day of work, I can go home and watch one of these movies and thoroughly enjoy them because they are brain candy.

What category does he think they would get nominated in?  Just because they make a lot of money doesn’t mean they are Oscar contenders.

Tanya: Vin Diesel will be nominated for an Oscar around the same time as Lindsay Lohan (read: never).

As much as the Royal Wedding gives me the warm fuzzies, let’s add a little humour to the day. New trailer: 30 Minutes or Less.

This actually looks pretty funny. Jesse Eisenberg is pretty solid and Aziz Ansari is really growing on me. Anyone else watch Parks & Recreation? Aziz probably has one of the best characters on the show. Him and the dude that was the Mayor at 18 (you can tell how often I watch the show and how lazy I am that I’m not even looking it up).

(Pic: dvdblurayreviews.com)

As previously mentioned, Elizabeth Banks was in talks to play Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games trilogy.  Apparently she has been confirmed for this role.  I am totally into this.  I envisioned Parker Posey when reading the books but think that Elizabeth could pull off this role as well.  Also, Districts 3 and 4 have been cast as well as Katniss’s mom.

Apparently, John C Reilly is in talks to play Haymitch.  Not my choice but, really, none of the casting has really been that outstanding.

One thing that has bothered me is that all the people in Katniss’s family are being played by light haired, light skinned, bright eyed people.  Not that you can’t make people look different with some wigs and contacts…think Nikki Reid in Twilight…but it is just so opposite of the description given time and time again for District 12 people.  But what do I know?  I have never made a movie before so whatever.

I am interested to see who they pick for Finnick as well.  I see Alex Pettyfur.  But with his rep lately and two failed movies, I don’t think anyone will take a chance on him.

Tanya: Elizabeth Banks is a good choice for Effie and I gotta say I think John C Reilly is a great choice for Haymitch. I’m on board with that one.

Alex Pettyfer…. I don’t think they’ll want to touch him right now. He’s being a bit of a wild card and when you’re doing a trilogy you’d want someone who won’t walk out on their contract or sh*t all over your series while you’re making it.

IMO, Nikki Reed looked like crap in the first Twilight because her hair and makeup was so budget. While Nikki is a really beautiful dark featured lady, I think they would have done way better to cast someone who actually has the light features of Rosalie. Actually, I think Blake Lively would have been a good Rosalie.

I get goosbumps when I see these previews. 

Stacey.  Me too!  So.  Awesome.  I cannot wait. 

Every time I watch a preview for this movie  I wish I could use my Harry Potter wand to do a memory charm on myself so that I could erase my memory of having read the books so that I could read them all over again.  I read all 6 books right in a row.  And I remember picking up the last book and thinking “Yes.  This is what it has all been about”.  And when I finished the book, closing it and feeling so satisfied, and thinking back in fondness of the characters and their experiences and the tears I cried over their deaths and the happiness I felt knowing what happened to each of them….I would give anything to do that again.  But seeing the previews reminds me of the feelings.  I can’t wait!

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For you Hunger Games people out there.  We have our Prim.  Which, if you have read the books, you understand how important this casting is.  Her name is Willow Shields.  I like this choice.

Maybe they are announcing a new cast member every day?

I can’t wait to find out who will play Haymitch!

Tanya: I’m cool with this casting. She fits the description.

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If you are in to Hunger Games you probably have been eager to find out who the Tributes from each District will be.

So far, we have Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and Gale ( Liam Hemsworth).

I haven’t been blown out of the water by the casting choices yet.  Quite frankly, I have been disappointed.

But today they have released who will play District 11′s tributes, Rue and Thresh.  They are both new comers.  Rue will be played by Amanda Stenberg and Thresh will be Dayo Okeniyi.  Lainey had a link to this awesome Facebook page who has slots for each Tribute and who will be playing them.  Check it out here.

I am down with this district’s casting.  For those who have read the book, you know how important the casting of Rue is.

And in a weird twist…I am starting to feel like the casting of the tributes is mimicking the Games in the book; waiting with baited breath to find out who the next is, making my judgements on them, waiting on them to win me over and deciding on if I will favor them, almost like I am part of the Capitol.

Tanya: Heh, you’re totally right. We ARE just like the people of the Capitol except instead of sending them to compete to the death we’re sending them to compete against our expectations and interpretations of the books. Most of them are bound to lose because we all see things differently in our mind when we read and there’s no way they can please everyone.

I think the casting for Rue and Thresh are OK. Nothing spectacular and not what I had pictured in my head, but I think they both have the look to really pull it off. I guess we’ll see.

I was always under the impression that movies take a long time to make. Especially ones that are set in fantasy worlds where they have to make sets and stuff. The release date for The Hunger Games is next March – less than a year away – and they’re still doing casting of the main characters. Will they have enough time to put in the effort to develop strong scripts, sets, costumes, etc and to do a decent job with special effects and editing? It seems a little rushed to me but I’m admittedly not “in the know” when it comes to movie making.

Only 3 more months!! I am crazy excited for the new Harry Potter.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes out July 15th and we now get a sneak preview of the opening scene. Check it:

Eeeeeee!

Part 2 is going to be soooo good. I’m especially excited to see the action that goes down at Gringots.

Stacey: OMG so excited!  When we go, Tan, I am going to totally dork it up.  I am going to bring my wand that I got from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  And wear my awesome Griffendor scarf.  And bring my butter beer mug.  And eat my chocolate frog that I got from Honeydukes.

Oh, PS.  Someone told me about this new wand that is coming out that doubles as a channel changer.  Check it out.  It is totally awesome.

Tanya: Holy crap, that is awesome. I would totally buy a wand to change my channels with. I would also make up spells for it, but that’s because I’m a huge dork sometimes.

Stacey, your scarf, wand, mug, etc, sounds a little embarrassing, but to be honest I’m actually quite jealous.

(Pic: Just Jared)

It is my general understanding that movie posters are supposed to a) give you a general idea of what the movie is about or b) garner interest in the movie because they are so awesome and/or mysterious.

This is poster for Taylor Lautner’s next movie, Abduction.  A movie who’s plot is “ A thriller centered on a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website.”

Okay, is it just me or did no one else get that from this poster?  All this poster basically does is tell me that Taylor Lautner is in it and that is all.  Is it a comedy?  A drama?  A rom-com?  I can’t tell.  Because all I am seeing is his big, fat head.

But maybe that is what they want.  For everyone to know Taylor is in it.  To get all the Twilight people to go.  I mean, it’s not like it is a bad face or anything its just that it literally tells me nothing about this movie.  If it is a thriller, you can’t tell because he doesn’t look scared or angry or anything.  It just looks like they took a head shot and slapped it on some black background.

Tanya: This is what the movie poster says to me: a young man thinks he is the victim of some sort of injustice and does a bunch of really rash things to try and right the wrong that he feels was done to him. Only in the end he realizes that he was the bad guy all along.

You didn’t get that from his face and the fact that it is black with red text?