The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Francis Lawrence knows how to set a scene and he knows how to move a camera. The physical spaces are striking. But the story here is kind of nihilistic and meh. Everybody loses, it seems, and love is dead. It’s also a musical! Several bluegrass/country songs are performed. Jason Schwartzman is really the only one who comes out unscathed here, devouring scenery with impeccable comic relief. Too bad the fascists win, but I guess that’s how it happens in reality, too.