Watching the first Hunger Games film was like watching your geekiest friend finally land his first date. You couldn’t help but feel proud for the guy. He made the dinner reservations with relish, bought a brand new suit, then called the girl just to say hi. He even ran a few prepared jokes by the boys, and you actually laughed once. You always knew he had it in him.*

Creating a film based on a popular young adult book series is a thankless job. Sure, the studio will make millions, but not before everyone whines about all the things the movie did wrong. The books' fans will decry missing plot lines, rushed scenes, and miscast characters. Professional critics will read the book first, then declare the 114-minute movie "too tidy" or "oversimplified" compared to the 384-page novel. A popular film blog will even write an obnoxiously specific post highlighting "27 key things the movie left out." I haven't even mentioned the unfamiliar public, who will sit through two hours of geek-speak, mistake every obscure reference for poor writing, and exit the theater convinced their series-reading friends have wasted weeks of their life on fictional garbage.