Suzanne Collins’ series “The Hunger Games,” which will soon see the release of a major film adaptation, is captivating the minds of teenagers and adults around the world. Collins’ unique style has made for an excellent series, appropriate and entertaining for all ages. But after reading and loving all three books, I have to wonder, are the books simply creative fiction, or are they a prediction for the future?

“The Hunger Games” trilogy is based in a country named Panem, which is located on the ruins of North America. Within the country of Panem there are two types of societies, the tyrannical Capitol and the twelve districts.

The Capitol of Panem is the perfect exhibition of power and sheltered opulence. The citizens are rich, well fed, and stocked with everything nice. But while the Capitol is throwing their big parties and buying expensive goods, the districts surrounding them are working hard to fulfill the Capitol’s every need, leaving them with next to nothing.

The twelve districts of Panem are full of misery, poverty, and food shortages. Each of the districts has an assigned duty by the Capitol, from agriculture to coal mining; they work hard and suffer to provide their designated good. The citizens of the districts live within the tyrannical laws of the Capitol, and if they ever decide to break the law, they are sure to pay. The Capitol strives every day to remind the people of the districts that their reign is supreme, and one of their favorite torture devices is the annual Hunger Games.

Every year the Capitol goes around to each of the districts to select two teenagers to fight ’til the death. With 24 in the beginning, only one will win–well, usually, that is.

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X-Men: First Class had virtually everything going against it in pre-production– series fatigue (it’s the fifth entry in Fox’s X-Men saga), none of the original actors in starring roles, 1960s period costumes–on paper, it seemed like the ultimate studio cash-in, only to be outdone by the inevitable X-Men in Space: Electric Space Boogaloo from Space (in 3D!). Fortunately, it’s nothing of the sort.

Despite many flaws common to the superhero genre, First Class is quite possibly the best film in the series, not because it’s chock full of impressive special effects and action, but because broiling beneath its main characters’ performances are ideas–not just any ideas, but the central political and philosophical questions of the film’s time period whose minutiae our modern pundits still grapple over. This is not so much a review as a jumping-off point for discussion, so beware of spoilers ahead.

First Class focuses on young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Professor X (James McAvoy), at this point known as Erik Lehnshnerr and Charles Xavier, framing their worldviews through their respective experiences of World War II. Magneto is a Holocaust survivor forced to watch his own mother gunned down by Sebastian Shaw (a scenery-chewing Kevin Bacon), while X, though British, lives untouched by the war in New York, comfortable and affluent. As such, Magneto manifests the deep cynicism of Europeans, who decades before the first world war prophesied that civilization would make war a thing of the past, and X embodies the optimism of his young, victorious, prosperous nation.

If the film has one fatal flaw, it’s that McAvoy’s Professor X is a monstrously one-dimensional good guy–perfectly empathetic, perfectly charismatic, perfectly humble. He’s given a few humanizing moments of triviality in the first act, but once the central conflict kicks in, he merely serves as the angelic foil to the deeply tormented, deeply human, and deeply moving Magneto. Michael Fassbender, best known for his brief turn in Inglourious Basterds, deserves an Oscar nomination for his work here. He takes charge of the role with intimidating physicality, harnessing intense emotions into subtle shifts in Magneto’s inevitable path to top-hat-and-cape-wearing, mustache-tweaking evil. Yes, though we know exactly where he’s going, Fassbender injects suspense into the actual mechanics of the transformation; we care about him, sitting mortified but silently cheering when he gets his moment of revenge. (more…)

“Entertainment Weekly,” which (I think) Nikki Finke hilariously and accurately describes as a magazine for waiting rooms, has come up with ten ways to save the movies. Most of the ideas are just warmed over warmed-over ideas we’ve all heard a hundred times before, but #3 caught my eye:

3. Stop killing us with your popcorn.

A 2009 study found that a single medium-size bag of popcorn from the Regal theater chain contained 1,610 calories and 60 grams of saturated fat. Add in a large soda (350 calories) and some Reese’s Pieces (1,200 calories for an eight-ounce box), and you’re taking your life in your hands. John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, insists theaters are just giving moviegoers what they crave. ”When people go to the cinemas, they want to escape — from their diets, too.” Still, popcorn shouldn’t have to come with a warning label. Some theaters, mostly in upscale neighborhoods, have been offering healthier, higher-quality concessions.

Why are Lefties always so eager to strip us of our own personal choices (unless that choice is for taxpayers to fund sucking unborn babies through vacuum tubes)? And this is coming from someone who doesn’t eat junk at the movies. Popcorn and soda at my age goes right to my hips. But is my self-discipline unique? Am I a better person person than the elites looking down on us from Mount EW? Okay, well, most of us are because we believe in liberty, but my point is that if I can control myself, anyone can. And who is EW to control others for their own good. Sorry EW, there’s no such thing as second-hand popcorn calories, so there’s no second way to skin this cat.

How can the same Left in favor of euthanasia have such a thick stick up their backsides over nachos?

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The British government’s decision to ban Michael Savage from entering the UK based on his political viewpoint and opposition to the global domination of Islamic shariah law puts Savage in the same company as Winston Churchill, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the same company as Neville Chamberlain.  Savage, the recipient of the Talkers Magazine 2007 Freedom of Speech Award (Al Franken is a former winner), is an ardent advocate for liberty and freedom and the leading opponent of global Islamofascism.

During the 1930s, Neville Chamberlain pursued a policy of appeasement that brought Europe to its knees before Adolf Hitler.  Even as Hitler planned his domination of the globe, the British Broadcasting Company banned Winston Churchill, Hitler’s leading political opponent, from the radio.  Even after the beginning of World War II, the BBC censored Churchill, considering him too inflammatory in his description of the Germans. (more…)