"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" is a rare prequel that actually works very well as its own standalone movie, while also making what came before even better — very much like "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" did. While /Film's own Jeremy Mathai wasn't so enthusiastic about the film, writing that it "feels caught between its humbler, more character-driven aims and the blockbuster expectations of reinvigorating a brand" in his review, the movie was a giant hit, and gave audiences a new favorite District 12 victor.

Years before Katniss Everdeen's revolution, and even years before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical dictator in charge of Panem, "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" follows Snow as a teenager trying to keep his family's legacy alive. When the 10th annual Hunger Games approach, he is assigned to mentor a tribute from District 12 named Lucy Gray Baird, causing Snow to wrestle with...