‘Hunger’ pains

Big and Pleasantville director Gary Ross explores another type of dystopian time shift this Friday with The Hunger Games, his adaptation of the increasing popular series of novels by Suzanne Collins. Set in a fascist future where the state controls the population with fear by choosing one young boy and one young girl from each of twelve subjugated districts to fight to the death on television for the amusement of the rest of the populace. This futuristic gladiator combat is inescapable, but when brave Katniss Everdeen, played by Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence, volunteers to take her little sister’s place in harm’s way, the rules begin to change. On the run in the wilderness with only her male partner, Josh Hutcherson, on her side, Katniss soon realizes that they are fighting against trained warriors who have been working toward this blood-thirsty competition their entire lives. Wes Bentley and Stanley Tucci co-star. Rated PG-13.