"Hunger Games"

My daughter and I went to see “Hunger Games” last night. My daughter had read the “Hunger Games” series, but I hadn’t and wasn’t as eager to see the movie. I went just to accompany her. I like Woody Harrelson’s acting and I liked the lead actor, Jennifer Lawrence’s acting in “Winter’s Bone,” so I thought I wouldn’t be too bored. I also didn’t like the movie’s premise of kids being forced to kill kids.

Aside from the killing thing, I enjoyed the movie from start to finish. It was well directed by — pause to Google — Gary Ross. I wasn’t familiar with Ross, but I guess he directed “Pleasantville” and “Seabiscuit.” Also the makeup and costumes were fun to look at. I wonder if they’ll get an Oscar nod next year.

The movie dives right into the action without much backstory so I had a lot of questions for my daughter on the way home. The movie takes place in the future and is sort of a 1 percent against the 99 percent. The wealthy 1 percent have an overabundance of food and shelter and the rest of the population have various degrees of scarcity. To punish the descendants of a past uprising, annual “Hunger Games” take place in which two teenagers from 12 districts must participate in a fight to the finish while trying to find food and shelter.