While there may be the occasional fluke, like last year’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, the relevance of movies to the public has quickly declined over the past two decades as film fanfare lessens. It’s a different world than 25 years ago, in 1999, when the movie industry held pop culture in the palm of its hand. 

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” has achieved something paradoxically spectacular. Since it was slightly unnecessary for the film to be split into two parts, “Part 1” moves extraordinarily...