Films of the week

The Hunger Games
Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her younger sister’s place to enter the games and is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy when she’s pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weighs survival against humanity and life against love

Act of Valor
Act of Valor follows a Navy Seal squad on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent and in the process takes down a complex web of terrorist cells determined to strike the US at all costs. The filmmakers had unprecedented naval access resulting in high-octane combat sequences and never-before-seen military operation scenes which are composited from actual events in the lives of the men appearing in the film and their comrades.

We Bought a Zoo
Based on a true story, a widowed father buys a dilapidated zoo in hopes of making a fresh start. Facing enormous odds, he and his children, along with a small but loyal staff, work to get the zoo re-opened.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
For a desperate group of English pensioners, retirement takes an unconventional turn when they abandon their homeland, enticed by advertisements for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a seemingly luxurious sanctuary for “the elderly and beautiful” in Jaipur, India. On arrival, they discover that the hotel falls somewhat short of the romantic idyll promised in the brochure, but they are gradually won over by the ever-optimistic young manager Sonny and tentatively embark on a new adventure, finding that life can begin again when you let go of the past.

•These films are showing at Dagenham Vue, Cook Road, Dagenham Leisure Park, Dagenham (tel. 0871-224 0240).