DVD New Releases

Interstellar-Teen Movie Review

“I love you forever and I’m coming back.” That’s what Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) told his 10 year old daughter Murphy as he was leaving for an extremely dangerous and difficult mission. There had been an environmental disaster which wiped out most of the Earth’s food supply. Cooper’s mission was to travel through a wormhole near Saturn, which would lead he and other explorers to a new galaxy, with hopes to save mankind.

Rating: 4 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: March 31, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12 +
Sexual Content: None
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The film is thought provoking and will spark some great parent/child conversations regarding the importance and power of love and family.

Coop accepts the mission through the wormhole to save humanity. Leaving his family was devastating, however the films portrays that love is stronger than anything in the universe.

There is an all-star cast, to name a few; Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Matt Damon and John Lithgow.

The movie is creepy and disturbing in same context as the film, Gravity. While explorers are up in space you constantly wonder if they’ll make it home alive.

Sexual Content: None

Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate

Two astronauts fight in space. One tries to murder the other and cracks the visor of his helmet.
Characters die in explosions, one character died being after being thrown around by a huge wave of water.
There’s not a lot of physical violence, however the storyline is creepy and disturbing. We see people on Earth suffering and scared while trying to get food and shelter.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

The f-word is said once, we also hear, “sh–,” “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” and “h–” sporadically throughout the film.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

We see character’s drinking beer.

Will Teens Like It? Yes

Overall this is an intense and interesting drama. Depending on the child, I feel it’s appropriate for kids ages 12 and up.

Gone Girl- Teen Movie Review

Do you really know someone? Are they happily married or are they pretending to be someone they’re not? Gone Girl is the story about Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy (Rosamund Pike), a married couple approaching their fifth wedding anniversary. Initially their marriage is wonderful, Nick fell in love with “cool Amy” and Amy fell in love with a hard working loving husband. However things change when Nick loses his job and stressful times arise. So on the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Did Nick kill her? Was she kidnapped? Where is Amy? No one knows as the disappearance of Amy becomes a nation wide media hype. Based on the New York Times Best Seller by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl is a suspenseful drama, one that would be disturbing for kids.

Rating: 1 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: January 13, 2015
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will it Appeal to kids? No

Talking Points:

People of all ages have been very excited for the release of Gone Girl due to the popularity of the book. Reading it is one thing, however there are several graphic violent and sexual scenes (see details below) which are very intense and disturbing and would most likely upset kids; pre-teens and younger.

Sexual Content: Excessive

There are several graphic sexual scenes showing oral sex, explicit sexual encounters, publicly and privately, breast nudity and full-frontal male nudity.
There are sexual references regarding oral sex, male/female body parts, incest and masturbation.

Violent Content: Excessive

We see a couple in a sexual encounter, the woman slits the mans throat, killing him. We see massive amounts of blood pouring from his neck.
We see a character use a wine bottle (under her nightgown) to fake an injury, she stains her underwear with red wine.
Amy hits herself in the face with a hammer, bites a lover’s lip drawing blood, and injects a needle in herself and proceeds to spill her blood on the floor.
Amy and Nick get into an argument, he slams her head against a wall. In another scene we see Nick throwing Amy to the floor.

Crude or Profane Language: Excessive

The f-word, “sh-t,” “a–,” “b–ch,” “p—,” “h—,” “p—y,” and “c—” are used throughout the film.

Drugs and Alcohol: Mild

Character’s are shown drinking beer and wine.
We see characters smoking cigarettes.

Will it Appeal to kids? No

Overall Gone Girl is a disturbing, violent and sexual film, one I do not recommend for kids.