TV AND FILM

In the cinema 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire review

A shot from the movie

IF YOU’RE NOT AWARE WHO JENNIFER LAWRENCE IS then you need to come out from under that rock you’ve been hiding under and pay attention.

This 23-year-old American Oscar winner is hot property right now, and reason enough to see The Hunger Games’ latest instalment - Catching Fire.

If you missed the first film, the story focuses on The Hunger Games, in a nation called Panem. This country consists of the wealthy Capitol and 12 districts united under the Capitol’s control.

As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol, one boy and one girl from each district are selected to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants (or “tributes”) must fight to the death until only one individual remains.

The second instalment catches up with Hunger Games winners, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).

Based on the best-selling books written by Suzanne Collins, this isn’t your usual teen-fiction series - expect drama, action, explosions and death. More serious and darker than the first delivery of this American futuristic drama, Lawrence and Hutcherson’s chemistry is stronger than ever and Jennifer continues to show how competent she is at playing a heroine.

Part three of the trilogy will be split into two parts, the first of which will be out next year. After this film made nearly $150 million in the first four days of its release, the next part of the franchise is highly anticipated by all the fans.

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Did you tune in?

I’M A CELEBRITY...GET ME OUT OF HERE.

Love it or loathe it, this reality show came back for its thirteenth series on ITV this year. The premise was simple - a broad selection of celebrities were dumped into the Australian jungle, all competing for the chance to revive their careers by completing bush-tucker trials to win meals for camp. 

Sounds unappetising put like that, but this year’s series opened with its best ever ratings yet, drawing in 12 million viewers on a Sunday night.

The show has set the scene for the romance of the celebrity ‘power couple’ Peter Andre and Katie Price and highlighted TV presenter Gillian McKeith’s impressive acting abilities - anyone remember her declarations of being pregnant?

Regardless of this, each series has a Z-list star that shines brighter than the rest. This year’s stand-out camp member clearly had to be Joey Essex, of The Only Way is Essex fame. 

Joey Essex

His ‘Joeyisms’ and one-liners included mispronouncing the word ‘confront’ as ‘confrontate’, asking if it rains in rainforests and his intense fear of wavy hair from the jungle’s humidity.

Most notably, watching Joey being taught how to tell the time by Miss Universe finalist, Amy Willerton made for nail-biting viewing, as the 23-year-old has been avoiding clocks for his whole life until now.     

His over-reactions and comments during the programme made for great viewing; you can’t blame the British public for voting for him to endure the programme’s trials so often.

He was the bookies favourite to be crowned king of the jungle this year, but was pipped to the post by down-to-earth Kian Egan, ex-Westlife member who ultimately won over the audience.

This year, contestants included Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington, TV presenter Matthew Wright and Fresh Prince star Alfonso Ribeiro.

Adding a comedic value to this whole ensemble was the fail-safe Ant and Dec, presenters who never appear to be far from our screens for too long.