The Hunger Games - WKTV Journal

By Julie Beukema, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch

Are you young at heart? Although marketed for teens, I argue that any age group will highly appreciate The Hunger Games, an adventurous tale. I can guarantee that most teens in your life have at least heard of it. Thus reading it yourself could provide not only hours of entertainment, but also open a door to great discussion with those teens.

The Hunger Games tells the story of a post-apocalyptic United States. The United States government has collapsed for many reasons, including drought and war. Those who survived are now governed by a bureaucracy known as Panem and have been divided up into 12 Districts and a Capitol. Each district is required to provide a Tribute of one boy and one girl who are forced to fight to the death in an annual televised contest known as The Hunger Games.

Katniss, a 16-year-old girl from one of the poorest Districts, District 11, offers to be the female tribute in place of her younger, weaker sister. What follows is a tale of compassion and survival guaranteed to grip readers and to provide many points for discussion.

Star Wars: Episode VII is almost here! Some interesting fan theories are at the end – one including these two characters…

By: Katelyn Kohane

“Your mission should you choose to accept it…” is to continue reading to see what movies and television I have caught up on since San Diego Comic-Con.

After attending Comic-Con this past summer, I’ve found myself watching more movies and TV shows than normal.

Bill Murray in Rock the Kasbah at Comic-Con in Hall H.

I saw Rock the Kasbah with Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, and Kate Hudson. If you remember from a prior installment, I was in Hall H for that movie and was about 10 feet from Bill Murray! Rock the Kasbah is based on real events in Afghanistan. A music producer, played by Bill Murray, found a girl who had a beautiful voice and because of her culture could not share that gift. Bill Murray, her producer, was able to get her on Rising Star and she won. I loved the movie.

A few movies have broken records this year, with two of them being Furious 7 and Jurassic World. Also of particular notice is Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, which crashed the Internet in 88 seconds when their first trailer aired. The Force Awakens is also expected to break records at the Box Office, having already shattered pre-sale records.

A few other movies I saw this year were Pixels, Black Mass, Everest, and The Martian. I also saw Spectre. Daniel Craig is one of my favorite James Bond actors. I really enjoyed Skyfall, but I thought Spectre was even better.

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is also out in theaters now. I am a big Hunger Games Fan and Finnick Odair is my favorite character. He is the victor from District 4 who wields the fishing spear as his weapon of choice, and in Catching Fire—the second film—he becomes allies with Katniss and Petta. Mockingjay Part 2 follows Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and her allies during the rebellion against President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capitol. Katniss has some familiar allies like Haymitch, Finnick and Plutarch.

As we left Mockingjay Part 1, Peeta, Johanna, and Annie had been taken hostage by the Capitol. In Part 2, Gale, Boggs and a few others have rescued Petta, Johanna, and Annie. Finnick and Annie get married and Prim becomes a doctor. Katniss, Gale, Boggs, Finnick, and Petta storm the Capitol along with the help of the rebels and District 13. The final chapter in the saga makes some changes from the book, but I think they changed it for the better.

Supergirl coming in October — Supergirl is here!

I have also been watching some of the TV shows that I heard about from Comic-Con. I’ve been watching Blindspot, The Player, and Supergirl. Blindspot follows the FBI team Kurt Weller, Reade, Zapata, Patterson, and Mayfair as they figure out Jane Doe’s (Jamie Alexander) tattoos to figure out a corrupt world. Jane has also lost her memory, making the mystery that much harder to solve. They had a neat episode where one Jane’s tattoos was shaped like a Petoskey stone and led them to Michigan to catch the bad guy.

The Player is about a corrupt Las Vegas where the House has recruited Alex Kane (Phillip Winchester) to help solve cases in and around Las Vegas with Wesley Snipes and Chastity Wakefield. I loved the show. Unfortunately the network has canceled it mid-season. They should have given it more time!

Supergirl is going strong. The network has gone ahead and said to keep going with a full season. It’s been exciting so far. It is different from Smallville, another of my favorite TV shows which follows a young Clark Kent/Superman. Supergirl sort of continues from that since she and Clark Kent are cousins. In her show, Supergirl played by Melissa Benoist, has had to save her sister from a plane crash. We do see some familiar names such as James Olsen and Lucy Lane. James Olsen, who was one of Clark Kent’s good friends, also becomes good friends with Kara Danvers/Supergirl. So far in the show we have met Maxwell Lord and Red Tornado.

First two rows: Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. Bottom left: Gal Gadot, bottom center: Jesse Eisenberg, and bottom right: Amy Adams.

Coming soon to theaters are Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Deadpool, Captian America: Civil War, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Point Break, and Suicide Squad.

Don’t forget next week, December 18th, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens comes to theaters. I already have my tickets. I have also read that fans are already lining up at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles waiting for opening day.

Let’s have a little fun since Star Wars finally opens this next week. Let’s dive into some theories on the upcoming film. If you don’t want any theories… STOP READING NOW!

I have watched every trailer and every TV spot and read some of the different theories. One big theory is that Rey and Kylo Ren are the Solo twins. Another is that Luke has turned to the Dark Side. We know that Simon Pegg has a mysterious role, so be on the look out for that. Hopefully, no more Jar Jar Binks. And a possibility that a major character, possibly Chewbacca, might die. But I guess I’ll have to wait and see until next week.

I’ll see you at the movie, and signing off until next time, “May The Force Be With You.”

Katie works in the film industry as a camera operator and has worked on films like ‘All You Can Dream’, ‘Set Up’ and a TV show called ‘American Fallen Soldier.’ She loves helping WKTV with the Citizen Journalism team and working as a tech at Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Katie loves working in the film industry and loves watching movies just as much!