Tags: midnight showing

The Hunger Games: Initial Reactions

Posted by Gretchen on Posted in Dear Diary Tagged , , ,

First off, I got less than four hours of sleep last night, so you’ll have to forgive me if it seems like I’m pumped full of tracker jacker venom as I type this.

Secondly, as you already know I went to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games last night. I had all the best intentions to nap between work and getting to the theatre which, of course, didn’t happen. Instead, I paced around my house, braiding and re-braiding my hair for a few hours.

Team Peeta

Oh, and I also did my Girl on Fire makeup, natch.

We got to Tysons just before 10, which my fellow Tributes Sean and Erin were not super excited about. It ended up being a good call though, because instead of being greeted with a long line of anxious moviegoers, we walked into an essentially empty lobby. At first, I felt really sheepish. Where were the legions of squealing teenagers? After talking to an employee what the deal was, however, we realized that they had been letting people in as they arrived. We walked in to our theatre (okay, okay, so maybe I ran… sprinted… whatever) just in time to snag the last three non-front-section seats that were together.


A good boyfriend supports your dreams… of regressing to your 14-year-old self.

I have a love-hate relationship with midnight premieres. On the one hand, I am totally That Girl, the one who needs to see the movie OMGASAP! But there are always some unfortunate side-effects of choosing to see an incredibly popular movie with a theatre full of puberty-ridden teenagers. Sometimes it’s fun, like pretty much any time before the movie actually starts. But once the opening credits start rolling, I swear, you need to shut your mouth hole or I will punch you in the throat.

Naturally, the most annoying ones in attendance always end up either directly in front of or behind me. I misled myself and got my hopes up last night, because the entire theatre was ahush and enraptured as soon as the movie started. Of course, as soon as Josh Hutcherson made his first appearance I knew I had spoken too soon. (“Heeheeheehee, he’s so cute! LOL OMG SHHHHHH!”). But hey, it’s not like I won’t be seeing it again. (Duh.) I’ll just have to select a pre-noon movie time (while the legions are still curled up under their comforters) next time to avoid as much inappropriately-timed laughter as possible.

Okay, so now for the the down and dirty of it. My overall take on the movie?

So excited for The Hunger Games!

It. Was. Awesome.

I am going to bite my tongue (er, fingers?) and not give an in-depth review of the movie yet, since it technically only opens today and most of you haven’t seen it yet. That said, I do have a lot of thoughts on it and can’t wait to hear what you all think! I will say this much: I was not disappointed, and I support all of the (for the most part, insignificant) deviations and changes from the book. There was really only one part/aspect that gave me a little pause, but I’m already over it. I also don’t think you need to have read the book in order to A) understand what’s happening or B) enjoy it.

UGH. It was so awesome, I can’t even stand it. I cried no less than four separate times, and was essentially in a heightened emotional state for the entire 2.5 hours. Combine that with the aforementioned few hours of sleep that I got (yes, I am at work today), and I am a total zombie right now. But do you even need to ask? OF COURSE it was worth it. 🙂

I CAN HAZ COFFEE AND GOES AGAIN?!

Have a great weekend, everyone! And Happy Hunger Games! Friday!

The End of an Era

Posted by Gretchen on Posted in Dear Diary Tagged , , , ,

First off, thank you all so, so much for your supportive and encourage comments in response to my doldrum-dwelling, pity-party post yesterday (alliteration FTW!) Yesterday was indeed a much better day, and I know it’s mostly due to the fact that you guys are all so awesome.

Of course, in terms of lifting my spirits, it didn’t exactly hurt that this happened:

I know. Sometimes I shock even myself with my coolness. 😉

That’s right. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 midnight showing. It happened.

Fair warning: I was petrified about them forcing me to put my DSLR back in my car (like I’ve had happen at the movies before) so I didn’t bring it with me, even though once I got there tons of people had huge cameras and nobody seemed to care. Sigh. So that’s the explanation for the poor-quality iPhone pictures that follow. Ah well.

My fellow nerds were out in full-force, and it was glorious.

While I went the subtle route and merely donned a Gryffindor track jacket I procured from Hot Topic roughly 6 billion years ago (on which I received many compliments, thankyouthankyou) and a scar (natch), some people really went all out. I couldn’t get pictures of all the creative costumes since I already felt like a creeper (what with being at least 5 years older than everyone around me, as well as lurking by myself, haha) but there were some really great ones! Lots of people went the traditional route with the school robes, wizarding gear, etc, but there were plenty of people dressed in pillowcases who came as house elves (cute!) and a few Golden Snitches hovering about too. I also had a very interesting encounter with a Luna Lovegood in the bathroom — she pulled a Gnargle out of my hair. Quite considerate of her.

I got to Tysons around 8 PM, for which my brother teased my mercilessly but I was grateful. I only waited in line for a little over an hour before they let us into the theatre!

I got a boss seat, too. Huzzah! Granted, I still had 3 hours to kill at this point, but at least I could do it in comfort. Much, much better than the huge cluster that happened at the last movie’s midnight showing.

So I made myself comfortable and yes, I did go for the full movie experience with popcorn and a diet sodie. I am not ashamed! Can you believe that’s a MEDIUM soda though? Whoosh.

I did a little light reading…

I had brought a veritable cornucopia of entertainment for myself, including a book, shows loaded on my iPhone, etc, but I didn’t actually end up dipping into anything other than the magazine. It was fun just observing the other fans (I felt SUPER old. Teenagers were EVERYWHERE.) and texting my fellow fanatical Harry Potter friend, Jeff, who was up in Maryland, things like:

Me, 11:47 PM: I am actually starting to hyperventilate.
Jeff: I’ll ask Madame Pomfrey to stop by.

Because yes, in fact, we are that cool. (If you don’t get the reference, well, that sounds like a personal problem that needs to rapidly be rectified.)

The group of teenage girls sitting next to me were pretty entertaining, actually. Though a little on the evil side, it would seem. After all, this was happening:

Which resulted in them all getting branded with the Dark Mark:

I politely declined, of course. I ain’t no Death Eater, yo!

The time actually passed very quickly, and before I could say “Deluminate!” the lights were down and it was time to don my 3D glasses and get the party started!

I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because I know that there are people reading this who haven’t read the books. So if you saw the movie, be sure to keep your comments spoiler-free! That being said, I will sum up my opinion of this film in one word:

Perfection.

Was it different than the book? Of course it was.

Were there things left out that would have been nice to have included? Of course there were.

Would I change a thing? No.

It was perfect. It was the most exhilarating, emotional, action-packed 2 hours I’ve had in a while, and I loved every second of it. I laughed, I cheered (always the best part of seeing a midnight showing), I cried (um, duh.)

It was so good. So, so good. So good, in fact, that I felt drunk when the credits started to roll. Drunk on Harry Potter. Sounds about right.

On my drive home, I did get fairly somber though. The entire ride was spent thinking about the movie I had just seen, and how it really felt like the end of an era. I’m sure that this won’t really be the last thing Harry Potter-related to ever be released, but it is the last movie of the original saga, and that means something to me. It’s okay if you think that’s cheesy. I embrace my cheesiness with pride, as all true Potterfiles should.

I envision many, many more viewings to come. I want to be there to witness other people drawing this epic adventure to a close, to soak in every last detail, to give justice to the story that has been my constant companion and the character that has been my friend as I’ve grown.

Mischief managed.