The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)

The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 2 is the final of this series of mega-popular films/books about children who murder each other for our entertainment.

This final installment of the series has Katniss fighting for the mind and soul of her great love, combating the evil Capitol as a rebellion leader, and doing her level best to bring peace to the kingdom.

Also, making googly eyes at two boys but struggling to actually figure out which one she wants to blow. It’s a tough book for Katniss, but shows her finally actually come into her own as a hero and start fighting the good fight.

This final film of the series maintains the same director, Francis Lawrence, as Catching Fire and Part One of Mockingjay. I really like Lawrence, and while he’s not always perfect, he has a visual style that rocks and can direct a solid action scene.
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Independence Day 2 (2015)

Big, city-engulfing explosions may be all the rage these days, what with the Avengers, the Transformers, and even Superman himself not shying away from some large-scale collateral damage, but the trend was started by a big dumb sci-fi back in the 90s, starring a young Will Smith who was charming and not preoccupied with launching his son’s career.

Independence Day was the highest-grossing film of 1996, earning $817 million worldwide, something that was unheard of those days. After the phenomenal success, Twentieth Century Fox handed writer Dean Devlin all the money ever to turn in a sequel. Devlin completed a draft, but didn’t submit it to Fox because he felt it didn’t live up to the original. Considering the original was a loud, Hollywoodized War of the Worlds ripoff, I wonder just how bad the script was.

Anyway, good news for everyone who isn’t tired of movies about aliens attacking big cities — director Ronald Emmerich is on board for a sequel. Two sequels, actually. Shot back-to-back ala Lord of the Rings.

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