(For Day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a rhyming poem with varying line lengths, so I thought exploring time might be a good theme.)

The stone on which the house in which the chair in which I sit
Has witnessed quite a bit.
While flesh is quick to disappear,
The bedrock lives in centuries;
It waits for ice to yield to sea to yield to continental sheer
And waits for errant meteors or yet another global freeze,
Eroding into dust and grit,
Chipped and thawed and trod and split,
Ground and pressed and layered deep and never asking “what’s the year?”
Giving purchase to the dirt, the firm foundation of the trees,
Until at last, I came to rest
Here.
____________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I love the idea of 65 more than I do 65 itself. I can absolutely picture the pitch meeting for the concept of aliens stumbling upon Earth in prehistoric times and being met by a dinosaur-filled death trap in the same way humans imagine inhospitable exoplanets. But it’s all in the execution, and 65 (named for the number of millions of years ago) somehow makes that thrilling notion feel ho-hum.

Adam Driver is serviceable as the main character Mills, a grieving father who left his sick daughter to pilot a space expedition, only for the ship to crash-land with only him and a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt) surviving. What follows is rather paint-by-numbers as they fight or evade dinosaurs and grow closer in their shared loss. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the plot or effects-heavy action, and it makes for a decent watch; it just never rises above a slightly futuristic Jurassic Park knock-off. Maybe films like Jurassic Park or King Kong have simply made dinosaurs less scary than they should be, at least when viewed from the comfort of our living rooms.

Best line: (Nevine, Mills’ daughter) “I know that you’re leaving. And I know it’s because of me.” (Mills) “No. It’s not because of you, it’s for you.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

(For Day 24 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to borrow a line from an existing poem and take it in a different direction. Since this film has a direct connection to the poem “Lucy Gray” by William Wordsworth, I decided to start with the same opening line and use the same form.)

Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray:
Her story nearly myth.
We had few tales to light our day
Or dreams to bargain with.

Dear Lucy Gray endured the Games,
That much is widely known,
But as to any other claims,
They’re whispered when alone.

I’ve heard details that she was friend
To Coriolanus Snow,
The man who every year will end
Our children as a show.

It makes me worry how a man
Could dull his very heart.
Was Lucy Gray part of his plan?
And did it fall apart?

I cannot say, but still I hear
Of rumors in the night,
That Lucy Gray just may appear
And offer us a light.

I wonder who awaits that more,
The tyrant or the slave.
We all have things we’re waiting for
Along the road we pave.

Such stories make me want to pray
For nigh unlikely things,
To hail another Lucy Gray
And see what change she brings.
________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

While The Maze Runner and Divergent struggled to match its success, there’s something about the world of The Hunger Games that stands out among young adult dystopia franchises. The concept of children being forced to kill each other for entertainment is not without precedent (ahem, Battle Royale), but the journey of Katniss Everdeen from tribute to freedom fighter is a special blend of sci-fi action and frighteningly plausible barbarism, with just the right amount of hope. It’s a testament to Suzanne Collins’s book series and their film adaptations that the world they create is able to sustain a prequel without it feeling like a cheap cash grab. Let’s just be glad it’s not a whole new trilogy.

As advertised, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the origin story of Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical villain played by Donald Sutherland in the original series. Proving that even dictators were young and hot once, “Coryo” is played here by Tom Blyth, who gives the future despot a fitting ambiguity between his tender side with his remaining family (Hunter Schafer, Fionnula Flanagan) and his growing ambition to rise above his peers. At the behest of the inventor of the Hunger Games (Peter Dinklage), the Capitol’s Academy class must serve as mentors for the upcoming Games, with Snow paired with District 12 musician Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler, never quite as compelling as Jennifer Lawrence). Eager to prove himself to the ruthless Head Gamemaker (Viola Davis), Snow conspires to keep Lucy Gray alive for both their sakes.

The first Hunger Games featured the 74^th annual contest, so the pipeline of reaping children and training them into gladiator combat had been efficiently honed over decades by that point. In the prequel, it’s only the 10^th Hunger Games, with the devastating war that prompted their creation still seared into most people’s memories. I found it fascinating to see the process Katniss experienced still in its infancy, with less refined technology and growing pains like defective drones for delivering resources to the arena. Being a tribute was not always glitz and glamor before the fighting began, and there were even vocal critics of the Games’ brutality, such as Snow’s close friend Sejanus (Josh Andrés Rivera).

The plot is broken up into three sections, and it does feel odd that the always thrilling Games make up more of a middle climax, kind of like the bomb testing in Oppenheimer, leaving the rest of the film to be potentially dull by comparison. Thus, it depends how interesting you find subtle treachery and questionable loyalties whether the latter third holds up without the action. I for one did still enjoy Snow’s gradual slide into Machiavellian deceit, as well as the little fan-service references to the other films. As for the ending, I don’t blame anyone for feeling unsatisfied by its open-ended lack of resolution, but the connection to Wordsworth’s “Lucy Gray” helped me appreciate its poetic mystique.

I mulled over how I would rank all the films with this new addition, and it would probably come in fourth, ahead of only Mockingjay – Part 1. (I loved how that film’s great “Hanging Tree” song found its origin in this film too.) That ranking speaks more to the strength of the other three movies since The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes has plenty of merits, including a strong tragic character arc, great actors adding to the story’s gravitas, and welcome development of the history and lore of Panem. It’s certainly the most musical of the series, with Rachel Zegler flexing her singing chops perhaps too often, but I didn’t mind that. It’s hard to say how well the film works for uninitiated audiences, but this ballad is an insightful expansion for franchise fans like me.

Best line: (Lucy Gray Baird, to her captors) “Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.”

Rank:  List-Worthy (joining the rest of the series)

© 2024 S.G. Liput
793 Followers and Counting