I thought there was too much emphasis on the reality TV aspect in the sense they didn't make it clear that most of the districts have to be forced to watch. I did like them filling out the sponsor story a bit since in the book you don't learn about how much Haymitch and Peeta's strategy is developed or learn about why he aligns with the Careers.

And I thought the relationships in the movie were pretty unclear. I am almost finished listening to the audiobook now and Katniss says quite clearly that she does not think of Gale romantically (now, she might be lying to herself of course, but she is quite emphatic and he pretty much disappears after the opening). One thing that struck me listening is that the book is divided into equal thirds, with the two divisions revolving around "Peeta" revelations: the first section ends on his interview and the second begins with her reaction to the "she came with me" bombshell; the second ends with the two tributes announcement and her shouting his name, with the third part beginning with her guessing what strategies Peeta had been using to help her.

Also surprising on re-read? How little violence there is. Almost no deaths are described in any detail. I know Cato's is, but nothing else. The worst part so far has been the description of Peeta's wound.

It really is made obvious to non-readers that Katniss only shows affection for Peeta after it's clear it will help her. A real romance doesn't require a post-it instructing one to kiss the other. Additionally, there are multiple incidents throughout demonstrating that she doesn't really trust him like she presumably trusts Gale.

In terms of violence/death, the tracker jacker attack was really horrific, and the District 11 riot was hard to watch.

I think what threw me, bon, was when she caught him with the berries -- her reaction seemed genuine there. She even burst into tears. I didn't get the impression before that that she was a good enough actor to do that on the spur of the moment.

I thought they played the Gale aspect well -- in the book, it was really clear to me she didn't think of him romantically, and in the movie it was clear (to me) that in her eyes they were simply good friends, but he was pining.

I think the books make that clear, too.

As far as the show aspects go, the movie spent time in the studio, which the book really didn't, so I felt that angle much more.

The other thing that was clear to me from the first book and certainly spelled out in detail in the third book! was that Katniss was fairly ambivalent about having kids period. Romance seemed almost furthest from her mind. From my recollection, she never was one to dream about having a husband and kids. She was focused on survival and taking care of her sister.

The 1st book gave me the distinct impression that her relationship with Peeta was essentially one of "trauma brought us closer together" - so that she didn't kind of hate him anymore and didn't treat him with obvious suspicion, but it wasn't even close to a full blown romance either.

I didn't realize Anne Hathaway was playing Fantine in the movie version of Les Miz.

The thing that the movie definitely DID NOT do was was show what the big beastie dogs were - in the book aren't they somehow genetically mutated versions of the dead tributes? They come out of nowhere in the movie and are just stupid. I loved the movie but the last few minutes of the actual games made very little sense.

I agree with this 100%

I don't understand how they came out of nowhere, java, any more than any other obstacle that the Gamesmaster had thrown against them, like fireballs or trees. Those were also manifested from nothing. Did that make no sense to you too?

Bon, or anyone else who hasn't read the books, did you find the muttations confusing in any way? At core they need to be scary monsters that come out of nowhere (like, that's part of the point) and present a savage threat to the Tributes, and I thought they pulled that off well, even if they didn't seem to be remade from falled Tributes.

Also, from the book, I thought it was unclear what they were, because Katniss is fevered when she first sees them, and she's unclear. But I could be remembering that entirely wrong.