“Tangled”: A 3-D, animated riff on the Rapunzel fairy tale, “Tangled” is a sure bet for kids 6 and older – funny in both dialogue and physical humor, handsomely made, and with inspired musical comedy moments. The talk bristles with today's slang, yet somehow works in a medieval setting. A sorceress (voice of Donna Murphy) steals the baby princess Rapunzel from the castle and locks the infant in a tower. Rapunzel grows up believing the sorceress is her overprotective mother and doesn't realize that her magically resplendent 600-foot-long tresses keep the sorceress looking young. When Rapunzel nears 18 (now voiced by Mandy Moore) and her “mother” is away one day, Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), a thief on the run, scales the tower to hide, having just stolen a crown from the palace. Rapunzel bops him on the head with a skillet, but he's secretly smitten and takes her to see a bit of the real world. Maximus, a royal horse, is still on Flynn's trail for the theft. Man and horse soon realize they must save Rapunzel from the sorceress.
Rapunzel and Flynn nearly drown in one scene, but most of the action sequences are not scary and played for comedy. That goes for the sorceress and her band of goons, too. The muted 3-D effects won't overwhelm most kids 6 and older.
“Yogi Bear”: Ages 3 to 8 may be amused by the slapstick gags in this labored farce; parents will just nap. The film clumsily blends live-action footage, computer animation and 3-D. The result looks dark and dreary, with washed-out colors. Stalwart Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh), in charge of Jellystone Park, hates how Yogi Bear (voice of Dan Aykroyd) and his sidekick Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake) try to steal visitors' “pic-uh-nic” baskets. But Smith and bears join forces to stop the closure of Jellystone to make way for developers. Yogi nearly gets smashed because of his crazy inventions, but he always recovers quickly. An accidental setting-off of fireworks seems dangerous, but only destroys property. Someone uses the phrase “screwing up,” and there is a bit of toilet humor.
“Another Year”: This utterly un-Hollywood film unfolds at a leisurely pace and is very much worth the attention of teen cinema buffs. Innovative British writer/director Mike Leigh (Oscar-nominated for original screenplay) takes a look at Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), a happily married couple who are so kindhearted that miserable people are forever drawn to their easygoing warmth and they haven't the heart to turn anyone away. The movie follows Gerri, Tom, and their needy circle of friends and family through a full year. Themes that deal with adult loneliness and depression may be too intense for some younger teens. Characters drink to excess and smoke. One estranged relative is apparently a criminal and quite threatening in his demeanor. The dialogue includes occasional profanity.
“The Rite”: High-schoolers who find occult thrillers fascinating on multiple levels may be drawn into this film about a skeptical American seminarian who doubts his own faith. He is sent to Rome to train as an exorcist. The film's violent episodes are not excessively graphic, but they are disturbing enough to make it problematic for some middle-schoolers. Though it incorporates all the cliches of the genre, “The Rite” also benefits from fresh, intelligent writing and an excellent cast that underplays the lurid aspects of the story. Exorcism scenes show a young pregnant woman (who we learn was raped by her father) contorting and writhing and spitting out iron nails. A boy who has nightmares about a demon mule has hoof marks and bite marks on his torso. The film implies a fatal hemorrhage later on. The faces of characters possessed by demons go through veiny transformations. The script includes occasional midrange profanity. A couple of lethal crashes are depicted.
“The Green Hornet”: This superhero adaptation has moments of high hilarity, but runs on too long, and loses its specialness in endless generic car chases, despite the iconic, weaponized classic Chrysler Imperial the Green Hornet drives. Even so, high-schoolers may find the movie highly entertaining. Star Seth Rogen co-wrote the script, so it isn't surprising that he's given the story a bad-boy edge, making the film too full of sexual innuendo and profanity for many middle-schoolers. In this new 3-D version, Britt Reid (Rogen) inherits his father's newspaper ane employee Kato (Jay Chou), an engineering genius. Britt decides to form a duo with Kato as masked crimestoppers; the Green Hornet and his sidekick run afoul of a local crime boss (Christoph Waltz) and the body count rises. The profanity-peppered dialogue (midrange, not ultra strong), the portrayal of boozy nights out, and the implication that Britt has serial one-night stands and a sex-obsessed nature all make this more for high-schoolers. The mayhem has a comic tilt, but can also be quite intense, with point-blank shootings and some head-banging fights.
“The Dilemma”: Teens who appreciate sagas of adults embroiled in comic crises may gravitate toward this farce about an immature man struggling with a moral question. But teens who see “The Dilemma” will also notice that the movie bounces off different themes like a billiard ball, and veers wildly in tone. Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) are friends since college and business partners. Then Ronny witnesses Nick's wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) having a tryst with a hunky lover (Channing Tatum). He agonizes over whether to tell Nick, and starts acting so bizarrely he throws himself and everyone else for a loop. A theme about marital infidelity, steamy kissing scenes, and a nonexplicit sexual situation with implied nudity all earn the PG-13. Characters use crude, but not exactly obscene, sexual slang and occasional mild profanity. The movie also features a couple of fistfights, and some drinking.
“True Grit”: A new adaptation of Charles Portis' novel (not a remake of the 1969 John Wayne movie), this “True Grit” is breathtaking. Yet it is problematic for middle-schoolers because of the grim lawlessness it portrays, including gun and knife violence, hangings, fights, casual (if fairly mild) mistreatment of Native American children, and harsh treatment of animals. The mayhem is certainly intense and graphic enough for an R. For older teens and adults, however, this “True Grit” is a brilliantly spun yarn. It is the post-Civil War frontier. Formidable 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) comes to Fort Smith, Ark., to hire a lawman to kill the rogue (a scary Josh Brolin), who murdered her father. She lands drunk-and-disorderly Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and comic/heroic Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon). The three set off on an odd, epic quest. This has intense bursts of violence and haunting images of death, both human and animal. It also shows drinking and smoking and includes some sexual innuendo, such as LaBoeuf admitting he thought of kissing the under-age Mattie as she slept.
“Sanctum”: The one thing you can say about “Sanctum” is that the in-your-face 3-D format in which it was shot has the effect of making you feel like you're trapped in an enormous, flooding cave with the characters. Alas, the clunky dialogue and painful predictability of the story do not improve in 3-D. Shot in Australia with a largely Australian cast (sometimes using unfamiliar Australian slang), “Sanctum” is the story of a caving expedition to a never-explored cavern in New Guinea. Then a storm hits on the surface and causes the cave to flood. Footage of team members scuba diving through the cave in search of an exit are harrowing, as are the several drownings and other fatal injuries. The 3-D cameras surely increase the feelings of claustrophobia and danger. Though “Sanctum” is a relatively mild R, the script is full of strong profanity. As the situation worsens, we see severe injuries and several drownings. The dead bodies also tend to reappear later on, washed along by an underground river. In a couple of instances, mortally wounded, suffering characters are “helped” to die.
“No Strings Attached”: Ashton Kutcher finally exhibits some subtlety and emotional depth in his acting in this romantic comedy. Alas, the sexual content makes the movie questionable for most teens under 17. Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Kutcher) met as adolescents, when she rebuffed his advances. As young adults, they meet again, fall into bed for a one-night stand, then decide to continue the relationship as a sex-only fling with no attachments. It is the softhearted Adam who first finds his arrangement with Emma unsatisfactory. The acting and repartee in “No Strings Attached” proves quite satisfying, as is the gradually increasing emotional intensity. The sexual situations, though not frequent or with nudity, are quite explicitly played. Characters also drink, make condom jokes and drug references, and use strong profanity. The movie deals intelligently with the idea that most people can't have long-term sexual relationships without an emotional anchor.
“The Mechanic”: Teens 17 and older who love to observe the always-watchable Jason Statham do his tough-guy thing won't be disappointed in “The Mechanic,” in which he plays a by-the-book hit man caught up in a scheme not of his making. Arthur (Statham) usually takes his orders from the genial Harry (Donald Sutherland). Then one day the head guy (Tony Goldwyn) at the murky organization for which Arthur and Harry both work (a crime syndicate? the CIA?) tells Arthur he must kill Harry, who has become a loose cannon. Victims die by drowning, strangulation, stabbing, point-blank gunfire, beating, and the inevitable explosions. The deaths are not as graphic as in some R-rated actions films, but they are still bloody. The script contains strong profanity and a couple of very explicit sexual situations with partial nudity, one between actual characters and one a porn video. Characters also smoke and drink.
“Blue Valentine”: College-age teens 17 and older who appreciate fine, brave acting and raw yet poetic drama will be drawn to this sad but rivetingly told story of the disintegration of a marriage. “Blue Valentine” is a very adult film about two people (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) who enter into wedlock with little thought. The film starts with their unhappy present-day life, but takes recurring flashbacks to show how they met and fell in love. Then their lives unravel. The film earns its strong R rating for explicit sexual situations with partial nudity, and for characters engaging in heavy drinking, smoking and strong profanity. A couple of scenes depict fist fights and shoving matches. The toughest moments take place at an abortion clinic, where we see Cindy about to have her pregnancy terminated. Spoiler alert: She changes her mind and they stop the procedure safely. We learn in her interview with a nurse that she became sexually active and promiscuous at a very young age.
“The King's Speech”: Bizarrely rated R for a few brief bursts of profanity in scenes involving speech therapy, this marvelous film deserves a wide audience that includes teens, especially those who prefer human stories over special effects. It tells a fascinating and moving fact-based story about Britain's King George VI (Colin Firth), who comes to the throne after his older brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) abdicates in 1936 to marry his American mistress. But George VI has a terrible stutter and dreads public speaking, so his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) prods him to see an eccentric speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush). The strong profanity (including nonsexual use of the F-word) occurs only in some speech therapy scenes. The film has vague sexual references, plus a lot of smoking and some drinking.
“The Fighter”: Teens 17 and older may gravitate toward this true-story tale of estranged, then reconciled blue-collar boxing brothers from Lowell. Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) wants to get his one-time promising welterweight boxing career back on track. His half-brother Dicky (Christian Bale), is his trainer. Then there's the brothers' tough mother (Melissa Leo), who ignores Dicky's addiction and thinks she knows everything about boxing. Charlene (Amy Adams) tries to get Mickey out of his family's clutches. “The Fighter” earns its R with drug abuse, drinking, smoking, steaming profanity, a lone sexual situation, graphic boxing scenes and some outside-the-ring nonlethal violence.
“Black Swan”: A ballet dancer's life is unstead in this gripping, stylishly wrought, rather lurid thriller. Not for under-17s, the film includes explicit sexual situations and language. Director Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler”) and his terrific star Natalie Portman examine the obsessive pursuit of perfection and how it can stunt a person in other aspects of life. Nina (Natalie Portman) is a naive woman-child who dances with a major New York City company, but she's not a star. A naive woman-child, she lives a cloistered existence with her controlling mother (Barbara Hershey), a former dancer. Nina's lifelong psychological troubles (including bulimia and a tendency to scratch and cut herself) are triggered when she's cast in “Swan Lake” as both the innocent White Swan and the demonic Black Swan. The arrival of a potential competitor (Mila Kunis), plus her own anxieties, drive Nina to the edge. Moments of violence and implied self-injury are intense and somewhat bloody, but not highly graphic. Characters drink, use recreational drugs and smoke. There is very strong profanity and crude sexual slang.
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