American Hustle

Cool flick! Very good drama and awesome characters. Probably the most decent, stand-up hero of a guy in the film was Mayor Carmine Polito, the guy who makes the introductions between our heroes and the gangsters. But seriously, his heart was clearly with the people of New Jersey, even though he was willing to cut some corners and make some deals.

Very impressed by Amy Adams. I first really noticed her in Enchanted, where she played a generic Disney princess. Her movements were perfect for the role and she convincingly stepped out of the cartoons. In Hustle, it just looks like she said “C'mon, enough of the respectable women, I wanna play a slut!” Which she does quite well here.

Jennifer Lawrence was, sexually, completely uninteresting in The Hunger Games, but plays a much more interesting, messed up character here.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The second round of The Hunger Games very clearly has more rounds to go after this as the chief bad guy is still at large when the movie ends. It's made clear early on in the film that discontent is rising across the land. Naturally, our heroine doesn't try to provoke hate and discontent against the regime, but hey...

Strong suggestions of 1780s French aristocracy (The Bastille fell in July 1789), with the “beautiful people” appearing like, well, like no one will miss them when the series ends.