“The Hunger Games” – Capitol offense

Dir. Gary Ross
(2012, PG-13, 142 minutes)

How many movies about the systematic murder of children can you think of that are rated PG-13? Now I can name one. The Hunger Games is about a dystopian future where, after an unexplained rebellion, 12 impoverished districts are each forced to send two 12-to-18-year-old “tributes” into a televised death match. When her sister Primrose (Willow Shields) is chosen by lottery, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers in her place to represent district 12.

“The Kids Are All Right” – Daddy issues

Dir. Lisa Cholodenko
(2010, R, 104 min)
★ ★ ★

If Nicole Holofcener had helmed The Kids Are All Right, it might have been a great film. Holofcener, as she showed most recently in her New York-set comedy Please Give, specializes in tricky interpersonal relationships between women and adds subtle layers of subtext to her stories and characters. By contrast, co-writer and director Lisa Cholodenko stays mostly on the surface of her subject, making Kids at first a sitcom, like a truncated version of Modern Family, and then a melodrama of betrayals and heartbreak. It’s a good sitcom and a good melodrama, bolstered by terrific performances and a few scenes of genuine reflection, but sometimes it feels like a missed opportunity.