Mars, Hunger, Rice
… sounds like an avant garde sequel to Eat, Drink, Man, Woman but anyway.
John Carter is good if not great. Beautiful visuals, definitely liking the Tharks (Willem Dafoe's (voicing of) Tars Tarkas in particular). Too much earth stuff at the beginning (there's a whole horse-chase bit that surely could have been cut) and the need to give a mechanism to the interplanetary travelling didn't do the plot any favours, but certainly a better stab at the pulp genre than Conan turned out to be. Once the film hits Mars it nips along quite nicely there are some good set pieces. Plot holds up better than Avatar.
I saw a trailer for The Hunger Games, the book of which I really should read. It's the big YA sensation at the moment, and the trailer certainly had me, so that's on the list to go and see, along with Avengers and Wrath of the Titans (1). March suddenly a busy month for movies.
Also, in a somewhat offroad plug, I've recently renewed my acquaintance with Evan Dahm's Rice Boy site. Dahm has created a truly bizarre and original fantasy world, and his current project, Vattu, is very beautifully told and thought-provoking (as well as only part-complete to date, to warn you, but regularly updated). Well worth a look.
(1) I did not see the "remake" of Clash of the Titans. However, a friend of mine may be visible standing around in the background of Wrath holding a spear, so there's that.
I quite liked the Hunger Games and will certainly go see it. There's some good ideas and stories being told in YA fiction lately (though I can't help but feel that Battle Royale got there first). Should planning to read turn to actual buying, The Book People have a great deal on at the moment: all three books for a fiver. http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=252934&searchTerm=hunger+games