Mar 21st
The Hunger Games*                                 

(US 2012)

In a Roman-style America of the future, teenagers are entered into reality show-style gladiator contests to the death. One girl volunteers in order to save her sister but also has to fight against a friend who has a crush on her.
Grotesque looking in parts but involving teenage angst drama with a twist, thanks mainly to the central performance of Jennifer Lawrence (even though much of her dialogue is unintelligible), based on another successful series of teen novels. Not badly done, with enough skill to appeal to adults as well.

Written by: Gary Ross, Billy Ray, Suzanne Collins, from her novel.
Producers: Nina Jacobson, Jon Kilik.
Director: Gary Ross.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Willow Shields, Amandla Stenberg.
Photography: Tom Stern.
Music: James Newton Howard.
Production Design: Philip Messina.

+ some Second Unit work was filmed by Steven Soderbergh