Releases for April 13, 2012

The Hunger Games

By John Mulderig, Catholic News Service

Though presumably targeted – at least in part – at teens, the dystopian adventure “The Hunger Games” involves enough problematic content to give parents pause. Responsible oldsters will want to weigh the matter carefully before giving permission for clamouring kids to attend.

At first glance, the depressing futuristic premise of the piece – inherited from Suzanne Collins’ best-selling trilogy of novels, on the first volume of which the film is based – makes it seem unlikely fare for a youthful audience.

 

In a post-apocalyptic North America, have-not youngsters from oppressed outlying districts are chosen at random to participate in the titular event, a televised survival tournament staged each year for the entertainment of the decadent elite who populate their society’s luxurious capital city. Since combatants are forced to battle one another – and the hostile wilderness environment in which the games are set – until only one remains alive, the fearful ordeal also serves to keep the once-rebellious, now cowed underlings intimidated.

Director and co-writer Gary Ross’ script, penned in collaboration with Collins and Billy Ray, tracks two teens caught up in this gladiatorial horror show. As early scenes reveal, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) was selected in the usual way. Heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), by contrast, altruistically volunteered herself as a substitute after her vulnerable younger sister Primrose’s (Willow Shields) name was drawn.

What follows, as this sympathetic duo confronts their doom, is an effective combination of epic spectacle and emotional drama during which humane values are pitted against Darwinian moral chaos.

Insatiable media coverage, led by smarmy TV host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), and the wildly off-kilter values of the foppish upper crust, embodied by Peeta and Katniss’ nanny-like escort Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), satirically mirror some darker aspects of our own time. (Interestingly, depending on the individual viewer’s politics, the basic allegory can be read either as a critique of overweening big government or of the trampling under of the 99 percent.)

But sensibilities are not spared as the grim contest unfolds: painful injuries brought about by swords, arrows, hatchets and even the creative use of a hornets’ nest are all portrayed unblinkingly. On the upside, foul language is entirely absent, as too is any sensual activity beyond kissing. So, despite the elements listed below, “The Hunger Games” may possibly prove acceptable for mature adolescents.

The film contains considerable, sometimes gory, hand-to-hand and weapons violence and graphic images of bloody wounds. (Adults)

 

Joyful Noise

By John Mulderig, Catholic News Service

Divas duel and a red-state Romeo and Juliet fall for each other in “Joyful Noise”.

Though it gives a pass to an incidental out-of-wedlock fling, and showcases some humour and vocabulary that make it unsuitable for youngsters, writer-director Todd Graff’s otherwise uplifting celebration of traditional values emphasises trust in God and illustrates the positive effects of compassionate and forgiving behaviour.

Set in the small, recession-ravaged fictional burgh of Pacashau, Georgia, this vibrant, faith-driven blend of comedy, drama and music focuses on the sometimes raucous, but ultimately friendly rivalry between Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) and GG Sparrow (Dolly Parton), two leading members of a local church choir.

 

Just as their ensemble is preparing to compete in the higher rounds of the singing competition from which the film takes its title, GG’s husband, Bernie (Kris Kristofferson), the chorus’ long-standing director, suddenly dies. In his place, the pastor (Courtney B Vance) appoints, not GG herself, but her nemesis, Vi Rose.

While the two jostle over whether to alter the group’s repertoire and performing style -despite her enduring love for her late spouse, it’s GG who urges innovation – GG’s free-spirited, mildly prodigal grandson Randy (Jeremy Jordan) returns to town. There he’s promptly wowed by another of the chorale’s stars, Vi Rose’s strictly reared daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer).

Despite his reputation as a wayward kid, and his taste for such dubious musical selections as a rap tune called “I’m ‘n Luv (Wit a Stripper)”, Randy proves himself, in most respects, a model teen. Not only does his relationship with Olivia unfold in a respectful and restrained manner, but he also takes the opportunity to befriend Olivia’s vulnerable brother, Walter (Dexter Darden), whose Asperger’s syndrome renders him an outcast. Additionally, though Randy has a fistfight with a competitor for Olivia’s affections, he later reconciles with the lad in an exemplary manner. (With a kind of Andy Hardy, let’s-put-on-a-show inevitability, all three of the aforementioned characters turn out to have musical gifts that are eventually deployed for the greater glory of God and the exultation of Pacashau’s Divinity Church Choir.)

Though burdened with a difficult lifestyle – she’s effectively separated, against her will, from her absent Army officer husband, Marcus (Jesse L Martin), and works long hours as a nurse – Vi Rose’s faith never falters. She gives eloquent expression to it both in no-nonsense dialogue and in song; her rendition of the traditional spiritual “Fix Me, Jesus” is one of the movie’s emotional highlights.

Catholic viewers may be a bit put off to find Vi Rose, GG et al eventually competing against a choir from “Our Lady of Perpetual Tears”. Whether this conflation of two genuine Marian titles – Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the lesser-known Our Lady of Tears – is intended as a passing satire on Catholic devotions, or merely arises from unfamiliarity with them, is difficult to determine.

In terms of the broad patrimony of Christian faith and Gospel values, however, “Joyful Noise” is unapologetically, unabashedly affirmative to a degree rarely seen in contemporary Hollywood offerings.

The film contains a premarital situation, occasional sexual references and jokes, about a half-dozen crude expressions and some crass language. (Adults)

 

Young Adult

By Kurt Jensen, Catholic News Service

As pretentiously droll as it is condescending, “Young Adult” shows small-town Minnesota life dominated by chain restaurants, a good deal of alcohol abuse, bitter wisecracking and moral drift.

Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, the moderately successful ghost-writer of a young-adult fiction series that’s had its day and is about to come to an end. She’s 37, divorced and unhappy with the direction of her life in Minneapolis.

An unexpected e-mail from the wife of her high school boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), inviting her to a party for their infant daughter, reminds Mavis that 20 years ago, she used to be quite the hot date in Mercury, Minnesota. Indeed, she’d been the prom queen. So what else to do but pack up and head back there to announce, “Buddy Slade and I are meant to be together, and I’m here to take him back.”

The “moral” voice in the mix, providing acerbic counterpoint, is another high school classmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt). Matt was left crippled after the school jocks beat him up because they thought he was gay. Mavis spends as much time with Matt as she does in pursuit of Patrick. But she’s too single-minded – and usually too drunk – to listen to anyone’s advice.

Director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody draw these caricatures in thick crayon, intending the audience to share their patronising attitude toward small-town “failures”.

Deadpan one-liners lighten the dialogue – and certainly all of us have questioned our situation in life two decades out from graduation. But although Mavis sometimes announces she’s depressed, none of the people around her – despite being shown to be intelligent and caring – bother to confront her, either with this or with her alcoholism, nor do they get her the help she so obviously needs.

So there’s no resolution. It’s just a spiral of bad behaviour until Mavis realises she can’t fix her life in Mercury. On the other hand, the experience, it turns out, has been useful for cracking her writer’s block.

The film contains two scenes of implied non-marital sexual activity, fleeting profanity, pervasive rough and brief crass language and sexual banter. (Limited adult audience)