The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

I promised my sister that I wouldn't see The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes without her (we are huge fans of both the books and movies in The Hunger Games franchise) and, even though it was really hard to wait, I am so glad that we were able to see it together last night because we both loved it and couldn't stop talking about it on the drive home!  Eager to restore the former prosperity and honor of his family, Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) volunteers to become a mentor to one of the tributes in the 10th Annual Hunger Games, a scheme devised by Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) and the Academy Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dincklage), who created the games, to increase viewership.  He is assigned Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the female tribute from District 12 who is also a member of a traveling musical group known as the Covey.  He wants her to win in order to claim the prize money given for mentoring the victor in the games so he begins proposing changes, such as introducing the tributes to the Capitol and allowing sponsors to send them supplies during the game, in order to help her.  However, he soon forms a bond with Lucy Gray and will eventually risk everything, even his humanity, to save her.  I loved almost everything about this movie!  The story is so clever and compelling because it traces the genesis of the various elements used in the subsequent Hunger Games as well as Snow's transformation into the tyrannical leader of Panem and it is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book (events that are left out, such as the funerals of Arachne Crane and Felix Ravinstill and Snow's search for a guitar for Lucy Gray, are not really necessary in my opinion).  I loved the production design because the Capitol is clearly rebuilding after the devastation of war but there are definitely glimpses of what it will become and the academy, the zoo, and the arena are exactly like what I pictured when reading the book.  The costumes are so dramatic and I especially loved the academy uniforms, Lucy Gray's dress, and Dr. Gaul's wild outfits.  The use the bluegrass music for Lucy Gray's songs is brilliant (I especially loved "Nothing You Can Take From Me," "Pure as the Driven Snow," and, of course, "The Hanging Tree") and I loved all of the callbacks to the original score.  The cast is perfect because Blyth looks the part and portrays all of Snow's conflicting motivations so well, Zegler has an incredible screen presence and her performance of the songs is a highlight, Jason Schwartzman is an absolute hoot as Lucky Flickerman and looks like he could really be a relative of Stanley Tucci's Caesar Flickerman, and Davis steals the show by chewing up the scenery as the evil Dr. Gaul.  My only complaint is that the third act is a bit rushed but I understand the necessity of it (I've heard that there is a four hour cut in existence).  I think this is the strongest movie in the franchise since Catching Fire and I highly recommend it to fans!