The Weekly Planet - The Hunger Games - Caravan Of Garbage

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

In the early 2010's every single dystopian young adult fantasy novel got a chance at a movie adaptation. Most either bombed at the box office or experienced a mild success before completely disappearing. One of the rare exceptions was The Hunger Games series, which exploded into cinemas in 2012 bringing Jennifer Lawrence mainsteam success. The concept is simple. Put a bunch of kids in an arena and have them kill each other. No wonder everybody loved it. Thanks for watching our Caravan Of Garbage reviewSUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNHelp support the show and get early episodes ► https://bigsandwich.co/Patreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies The Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors. Like when our estrogen levels drop during menopause, causing the risk of heart disease to go up. Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction

that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. Welcome back, everybody, to Caravan of Garbage, where this four weeks coming. Oh, yep. We're going to be doing the three and a bit Hunger Games movies.

Oh, did they Harry Potter this series? They Harry Potter'd the last one, yeah. Because there were three books? Is that what we're going with? Initially, there were three books, yes. But of course, we're getting the prequel movie. Initially, there was just one book, the Bible. Yeah, sure, that's right. Was that the first book? Yep.

I thought it was that book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I hate that book, Mason. Oh, yeah? I know it's about colours and patterns and repetition for, like, very young children, but fuck that book. I don't know what you're talking about. I was just going along with it. I don't know what any shapes are.

It's time to reveal that. I don't know what you're talking about. I was just going along with it. I don't know what any shapes are. It's time to reveal that. I don't know what's going on. Well, I don't feel like you do very well in the 75th Hunger Games, Mason. I think I do great at the Hunger Games. I'd simply defeat all my opponents with skill and vigor very early on. Well, that was my question. And everybody would love me, and they'd send me little gifts in little parachutes. I wouldn't even need them.

I'd just be like, thanks, on principle, thank you, but I don't need this because I defeated everyone. I'll just stick around in this arena. I'm having a lovely time. Whose personality are you adopting for this? Because you obviously couldn't use your own. Yeah, that's very true. Because, you know, nobody likes their YouTuber personality.

No, absolutely not. People barely tolerate it on YouTube, let alone in a real-world scenario. In a real game of death. Yeah. I don't know. I'd have to. Look, you know what?

I'd figure it out on the day. You probably would. I wouldn't need Lenny Kravitz and bloody Woody Harrelson. I'd just be like, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. I'm just going to spend the preparation time just sort of eating all this nice food and what have you. And then I'll just knock me in there.

I'll come up with personality. Okay. I'll knock off a few guys real quick. Yeah, yeah. Be great. Be easy. Cool outfit. Yes. Yeah. I'd run into the woods and fall off a cliff it's also a good option yeah yeah yeah it's not an option it's just what would happen to me understand i'm not choosing that yeah i would probably i'll look to be real james i would probably attempt to cross a

river and just like at the at the bank of the river, I'd just like break an ankle. Oh, okay. And then I'd be done. Yeah, sure. I'd drown, I think. Yeah. Or you'd have one wet foot. Oh, my God. Guys, please. I know you're drawing various machetes and bows and arrows at me right now,

but I got one wet sock. I'm going to deal with that first, all right? Just let me get the one wet sock off. Exactly. Anyways, please leave a like because this week we are talking about The Hunger Games from 2012. Is this the 75th Hunger Games? I can't remember.

I wrote it somewhere in here. We'll come across it again. I mean, we're doing this obviously because, you know, upcoming is the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Is that what it's called? The prequel? Younger Games. Oh, nice.

Because they're all younger. And the trailer for that starts with Jason Schwartzman going, it's me, I'm the guy. I'm the first host of The Hunger Games. That's bad writing. I agree. What do you mean the first host? What do you think is going to happen to you?

Also, isn't he Stanley Tucci in the future? I think it's a different guy because it's like 70,000 years. I don't know how time works in this universe, which is our universe. Anyways, what I think is fascinating about this one is that it set itself apart from so many other teen movies of this era. There are exceptions that did really well, obviously, like Harry Potter. Not Another Teen Movie.

Not Another Teen Movie, that's a good one. American Pie. American Pie. American Pie Band Camp. Yes, yes, yes. American Pie Stifler's Mom's Adventure or whatever they're called. Sure, yeah. Twilight, which we've looked at, et cetera.

But what do you think makes this better than like Divergent or The Host or Mortal Instruments City of Bones? Well, I've seen this one, so that's number one. Sure. And I haven't seen most of the others, I'm pretty sure. But I would say this is a guess. Good production values? Yep.

It looks great. I'll give you that. A lot of those other ones look good. I think it's not a complicated concept. Sure, okay. It's a tried and true, let's all kill each other in an arena. And I suspect also the subsequent ones also stick to that, whereas a lot of the other ones.

Some of them do. I think there's one called The Maze Runner. And having not seen any of those, I'm pretty confident they run out of mazes by about movie one and a half. I'd love to do The Maze Runner, actually. Oh, you think you'd knock it out of the park? No, no, no, no, I'd fall off a cliff. I mean, talk about the movies.

Oh, I see, right. Are they good? I liked the first one. I haven't seen the other ones, but I'd love to come back to them, yeah. Okay, well, when they do a Maze Runner prequel, just walking down a hall, it's called. These teens, they keep getting through this.

I don't understand. What if we put some dance some i'm the host of the first maze runner and i think we should put some corners in yeah anyway what do you think about people's names that are slightly misspelled like hey mitch i love it james yeah it's the future it's the future that's what would happen you Yeah. When they love their world building, I think they really sell like the grubby outer suburbs or whatever you want to call it. Districts. Sure enough.

Districts. No, I like to think of the outer suburbs like Frankston. Exactly. Frankston's on the up. You need to back off, all right? Yeah, I know it is. But I also love, in contrast to this, and I think this is on purpose,

the gaudy aesthetic of the inner suburbs. No, I think it's just an accident. I think they just ran out of money when they got to the outer districts and they're like, dress them all in sackcloth and rags. We blew all the money on funny hairstyles and wigs and satiny suit jackets. Here's a question for you, James. Sure.

Throughout the series, do we ever see Stanley Tucci with his hair down? Because I think that would be simply stunning. Because he's got a beautiful, he's got that beautiful blue bun on the top. Top knot, yeah. So clearly he's got a lot of hair going on. Does it ever come down? I think it's a wig. I mean, it's obviously a wig, but I think it's an in-universe wig also.

Oh, I see, right. Yeah, yeah. But could it still come down? Yeah. Let's think about it, though. Okay, well, let me ask you something. Okay. Would you watch a show, a real-world show, which is Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones just doing anything?

Yes, I would. I absolutely would. They could be touring Europe or they could be sitting in a barn. I don't care. I would 100% watch that show. But they have to wear those gaudy outfits. Okay, sure. It has to be like two to three hours of hair and makeup.

And then they just show up and they're like, yeah, I was on that show, Detectorous. Really good. Yeah, it's got Gareth from The Office. I liked it. Yeah, it's a fun show. Real nice. Yeah. It's about friendship.

Yeah. It's about finding treasure, but the real treasure is fucking mates or whatever. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not fucking mates. Maybe. Maybe. I don't think I watched the Christmas special.

Yeah, and then Stanley Tucci could be like, yeah, I was in a couple of Transformers. I don't know what happened. It was all blue screen. I don't know. Yeah, I'd watch that. Absolutely. Do we need to recap the plot of The Hunger Games?

Okay, let's do it. Oh, people also say it's just battle. Oh, it's Battle Royale. Battle Royale. Sure. It's a million things. Yeah. This has been done

a thousand times but anyway go on alright it's the future of our earth probably and the world's been broken up into districts

America has what's it called Panera Panera Bread it's called Panera Bread Panera Bread yeah and Chris Hemsworth's brother's like I'm not having this

that's right I'm gonna be in some of this movie yeah but anyway the districts they rebelled back in the day. Yeah. And then as punishment, the main centre city is like, we're going to hold Hunger Games every 100 years.

Yep. No, every year. Nice. 100 years? Every 100 years. I don't think that would be very effective. So the thing about this is. The Hunger Games is basically they get a couple of kids from every suburb,

12 or so, and they put them in an arena and the winner gets like a cool hat and stuff. Nice. And the winner's Frankston. Yeah. Never. Anyway, go on. They seem wholly unprepared.

And I know they don't have a lot of resources. But like, I think it's interesting that some districts are just like beautiful, noble children and then some districts just psychos. Yeah, but the way it works is the more inner suburbs, the more inner you are, you get resources to train. You're not technically supposed to. Okay. And they also have the money and the time and the gaudy outfits. So that's how it basically works.

It might be an accident, but it's kind of like a class divide. What? Yeah. Interesting. Not like a school. I but it's kind of like a class divide. What? Yeah. Interesting. Not like a school. I thought in the future it would all be equal. Yeah, I mean, probably. But in this example, no.

Oh, wow, okay. Yeah. So, you know, archery got big again off the back of this, right? Absolutely, it would have, yeah. So, apparently, because of Katniss Everdeen, played wonderfully by Jennifer Lawrence, by the way, I think she does a really good job. This is according to a Washington Post article from 2012. That USA Archery, the national association focused on the sport,

saw a 161% growth in its Facebook fans over the 15 months after this movie. Because of Katniss. Some people would say, what about Hawkeye from the Avengers? But no one's looking at the Avengers and going, yeah, that guy. Absolutely. I mean, I guess he's the most achievable in terms of abilities. There'd be a thousand percent increase in fatalities of people attempting to build their own Iron Man suits.

Yeah. Rocket boots flinging them out of their shed into a ditch or whatever. Exactly, yeah. Do you think there was an increase in sales of those comedy arrows that go through your head but they're not actually going through your head? It's just a little band goes across your head. 100%, mate. That's right.

I love all of that, yeah. Do you think there was an increase in people taking on elaborate cake-making skills and painting themselves into rocks? Yes. That, what an incredible thing to put in a movie. Right? My God.

Also, 90% of his body's just under some leaves. Just put the rest of your body under some leaves peter i laugh i laugh when i say it mason it's really funny yeah uh how did he even and as soon as she shows up he's just like all right i'm up and he just days of work how long does that even take and he's been stabbed or whatever yeah he's been stabbed did he did he put the makeup on and then sort of hunkered down for the night or Or do you think he laid down and then he put the make-up on? He would have laid down, I think, because he was really plastered into it. He was very plastered.

Lucky they let him bring in a trowel. Yeah, you're not wrong, yeah. Here's something I think this movie does well, though, aside from that incredible scene, is that it's really good at ratcheting up the tension leading up to the Hunger Games. Kind of disorientated. Lenny Kravitz is like, have a good time or whatever.

Sure, yeah. And just that. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost.

FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH, the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one

is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. Attention and then like the sound design when the arena kind of opens up and everybody's running wild and stabbing each other. All good stuff, Mason. I love all of that. Sure, sure, sure. I think some would say, though, it took a really long time to get to that, didn't it? Sure. Those of us with shorter attention spans were like, geez, there's a lot of setting up and trying on different outfits isn't there.

There's a lot of little trips on trains isn't there. Yeah, yes, but I think you need that to establish the universe and the characters and all of that. And you look at Jack Quaid and you go, Jack Quaid, you fucking dog. Right. You know? Jack Quaid's in this. I have a complete inability to recognise people

until they're in like five major productions. I had seen this before, but I had no idea he was in this. Yeah. I have a complete inability to recognize people until they're in like five major productions. Sure, yeah. I had seen this before, but I had no idea he was in this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he wasn't the Jack Quaid that we know now, obviously. Oh, that's true. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of dogs, though,

I think if there's one part where this movie really falls down. I've got one, and I think it's a different one, but all right. Mine's the mutant muscular dogs that show up at the end. Right. I don't get that, right? Because, say, you're down to three or four members of your Hunger Games event, your arena, and then they're like, release the mutant dogs. What if they kill everybody?

Do the dogs win? I mean, that's a great question, and it can only be answered by because of the plot. It's the same reason Squid Game works in the show and not necessarily in real life because what if everybody fell over in that first game what if everybody you know the thing where the little the thing turns and it looks at you what if everyone just fell over yeah and there were no people to go to the next game well i guess you've made all the games for nothing

that's right you've baked all that honeycomb for nothing that's right oh my god but if you work there you get to take a bunch home you get to take as home you get to take home as much as you wanted oh my god oh i've been a sugar coma for weeks i love honeycomb it's my favorite thing racing but i think though the version of the dogs that they do here is better than in the books oh by the way it's the 74th hunger games the next one's the 75th that's why Katniss has to come back. It's a whole thing. We'll talk about it next week if we don't die. So in the book, they're reanimated contestants who have died, and they mutate them into, like, dog creatures. So I think it's better than that.

But I also think don't do the dogs. Would you have preferred just regular zombies? No, just don't do dogs. Don't do dogs. Okay, right. You don't need it. Yeah, okay. It's fine.

I mean, the thing that I would be critical about this, and obviously the plot, but it's that it's very convenient and handy that Katniss never has to make any difficult decisions to kill anyone who's a good person. That's true. All she has to do is kill psychos. Like, the game would go completely differently

if in that opening skirmish, like, all the psychos wounded each other so severely that they all just died off over the course of the next couple of days, and then the psychos wounded each other so severely that they all just died off over the course of the next couple of days. And then the rest of the movie is just Katniss like stalking

and slaughtering 12-year-old girls who never wanted to be there in the first place. And she's like, yeah, but my district would get a lot of bread for this.

Bang. Bang. Oh, she found a gun? She found a gun, yeah. Lenny Kravitz told her it was under a rock or whatever. Yeah, that's right.

But yeah, it's always just like, you know, she makes friends with a little girl, and then the little girl is killed by a psycho, and then she's like, well, I hope I don't... That was handy, wasn't it? Yeah. Very convenient. I hope I don't have to make any tough decisions.

I don't. Don't worry about it. That's right. Yeah, Liam Hemsworth would be upset, wouldn't he? Probably. Does she have to make more difficult decisions in later movies? Yeah, but it's more, like, philosophical than literal, I think. Yeah, right. Or do I have to kill more difficult decisions in later movies yeah but it's more like philosophical than literal i think a lot of it or do i have to kill donald sutherland yes and the answer is no she kills julianne moore spoiler alert for the fourth one we'll be coming

back look i tell you one thing if we're alive oh i think one thing that this does do is it really makes you want to get those guys all those all those richie riches with their stupid powdered wigs and their stupid makeup and their stupid cultivated facial hair. Don't look at any old photos of me. Don't do it. Don't look at any of them on social media. But, God, you just want to see them get wrecked. You just want them to get poisoned and narrowed

and all sorts of stuff. Oh, my God. I mean, maybe not Elizabeth Banks, but probably. Yeah, why not? I mean, she's there. She's there. You know. Anyways, you know what it's time for? What's it time for? The Hung Trivia. This is the trivia section

of the show. Here we go. Whilst horsing around on set, Jennifer Lawrence accidentally kicked Josh Hutchinson in the head, knocking him out and resulting in a concussion. Whoa, that's Peter? That's Peter. Okay. Well, they probably just took advantage of that. The scene with the makeup's probably not in the book.

She knocked him out and they just went, you know, fun prank. Let's roll him into a ditch and put some weird makeup on him. Bit of fun. Bit of fun. The George Clooney School of Onset Pranks, it lives. It lives on. No doubt. Woody Harrelson is a beast.

What is Jennifer Lawrence part horse? Roundhouse kicking people in the head. She seems like a kind of horse girl energy. You get a bit of that? That's not a criticism. That's a compliment. Yeah, but I know. But I don't think that gives you the ability.

No? No, I don't think. I thought that's how it works. I don't think skill at equestrian pursuits enables you to kick people in the head horse style. Okay, that might be true. We might look it up after the show. Okay. But anyways, Woody Harrelson is a vegan in real life, so in the scenes where Haymitch

is seen eating, he's either eating a dessert or vegetables or just drinks. That's pretty cool. I agree. During a New York Magazine interview, Wes Bentley said that the extremely unusual beard he wore as Seneca was styled from his own real beard, not created from applied pieces or extra hair. Well, there you go. Very impressive.

Unlike Woody Harrelson, his stupid wig, am I right? That barefoot bastard. Put some shoes on, you animal. Put some shoes on, clean up your act. Tuck your shirt in. Tuck your shirt in, mate. God. Jennifer Lawrence is actually left-handed in real life.

Left-handed in real life. Are you? Yeah. Yuck. But in the movie it appears. It is yuck. But in the movie it appears that she's right-handed because she had to learn to do everything with her right hand,

including shooting with a bow and arrow. Well, that's what you have to do when you're a left-hander. But why not just be, like, left-handed? It's fine, right? Yeah, I don't think anybody would know. Didn't they switch Ron Perlman for Hellboy? Like, they. No, they were going to, I think.

Okay. But then he learned to do, because Hellboy's- This is left-hand erasure. It is, isn't it? Yeah, because Hellboy has a right hand of doom. So they were like, well, how's he going to fire a gun with his left hand? But he learned to do it. He learned to use his other hand.

Because he was paid a lot of money. To hold a gun, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think the answer there is, if Katniss is right-handed in the book, the fans would notice. Fair enough. Second unit director Steven Sodenberg. Steven Sodenberg? Sodenberg.

Is he related to Steven Soderberg? Yeah, I'm going to say that again. Okay. And then I'm going to edit it all out. The second unit director was actually Steven Sodenberg. Is it Sodenberg? The Ocean's Eleven guy. Yeah, what is it?

Steven Soderberg. Okay. Like soda, like a soda pop. That's not how it looks. Well, maybe it Yeah, what is it? Steven Soderbergh. Okay. Like soda. Like a soda pop. That's not how it looks. Well, maybe it's a different guy then. No, it's not. Okay.

Steven Soderbergh shot much of the District 11 riot scenes because he's friends with the director. Steven Soderbergh, director of Ocean's Eleven. Yeah, and 12. Remake, not the original. No. Not the original. Yuck.

We have a video. Yuck. Any some other names who went for the role? Emma Roberts. Oh, Steven Soderbergh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. No, Mason. Katniss M. Emma. Emma Roberts. Chloe have a video. Yuck. And here's some other names who went for the role. Emma Roberts. Oh, Steven Soderbergh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. No, Mason.

Katniss M. Emma Roberts. Chloe Grace Moretz. Mary Mouser. Hayley Steinfeld. Mary Mouser? Yeah. Abigail Breslin.

Lindsay Fonseca. Saoirse Ronan. Emily Browning. Australia's own. Oh, yeah. Brie Larson. And Shailene Woodley. Some of these people got their own teen dystopian movies, didn't they?

They did, didn't they? Yeah, there's a few of them in here. Listen, you weren't right for this role, but we've got. Some of these people got their own teen dystopian movies, didn't they? There's a few of them in here. Listen, you weren't right for this role, but we've got so many. Just pick one and you can have it, honestly. This is the big one. We're very concerned about the quality of that one. Any of those others, just say it. Yeah, we don't care.

Do it in your own backyard. We don't care. We won't finish it. We might do two. That's right. More likely one. Yeah, yeah. Divergent?

What's that one about? I don't know. You can have it. Just make up your own meaning for it. Now to talk return on this. My goodness, Mason. On a budget of $78 million, it made $694. Huge hit, Mason.

That's a big return. Absolutely. And I think we should do a section every week called Getting Paid. Because I think it's interesting to know how much Jennifer Lawrence gets paid for each of these movies. So for this one, she was paid the high, high fee of $500,000. That's low. But she gets, well. I mean, it's not low.

It's low for this. We're in Hollywood mode right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Considering what it made. But there's going to be a big update in the following weeks, Mason. Yeah, right. So next week we're coming back to The Hunger Games. Do another Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence.

I'm still so hungry. Hunger Games 2, ooh, a bit peckish. Yeah, a bit peckish. Still a bit peckish on account of the inequality. Yeah, which may have been an accident. I don't know whether they meant to put that in. Might have been, yeah. Who knows?

But if you do want to see that early, you can actually head over to bigsandwich.co where all the caravan of garbage has got there early. Ben and Lawrence, they get the edit done. They do a good job, don't they, Mason? They do a good job. Yeah. Are you trying to convince yourself it sounds like that's what was happening?

You were doing a big thumbs down. I was not. I was doing thumbs right in the middle, and then afterwards I would have turned them to thumbs up. I don't believe you. Well. Anyways, they got there early, but there's also bonus movie commentaries. There's video game Let's Plays.

There's bonus podcasts. Our podcast, The Weekly Planet, where we talk movies and comics and TV shows, that actually comes out there on Sunday as opposed to Monday. If you do want to check that out, that's on YouTube, Spotify, and all of that. Or you can just subscribe here for whatever's happening when it happens.

Videos. Videos. Rarely anything else. Yeah, that's exclusively. There's some shorts, and occasionally I'll do a post that's like, there's a new video you can check out or whatever. But yeah, it's videos mostly.

And people are like, we're not here at YouTube for that. Yeah. Words. Ironically, I'm typing words right now. I don't like it. No. But it's just to teach you a lesson about posts. We don't like them.

All right. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you in the next one. Grab that gem, you guys. We'll see you later. And may the odds be forever. how would you survive the hunger games you know that's a great you know mason and eyes method yeah be the best yeah bearing in mind you can't do that no yeah you're already doing it yeah that's right yeah yeah what would you what would your um murder weapon of choice to kill a

bunch of kids yeah what. What would it be? We're going to call the police on all of you. All right, goodbye. As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors, like high blood pressure developed during pregnancy,

which can put us two times more at risk of heart disease or stroke. Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies

on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.