War

Star Wars: The Force Awakens-Kids’ Movie Review

As you may know, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set in a galaxy far far away. It’s been thirty years since the defeat of the Galactic Empire and now the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. However, when a defector named Finn lands on a desert planet and meets a rugged scavenger girl named Rey (Daisy Ridley), things change. Rey’s recently found droid contains a top-secret map, so now Finn and Rey, along with Han Solo (Harrison Ford), work together to defeat the First Order and find Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi.

Rating: 4 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: April 5, 2016
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 11+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not only an action packed adventure movie, it may also spark some great parent/child conversations regarding redemption, faith and family.

Sexual Content: Mild

Flirting amongst two couples.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

Numerous characters die. There are battles and explosions.
There are scary creatures who try to eat people.
X-wings and enemy fighters are blown up and crash into planets below.
There are deaths and injuries from light sabers.
Characters are thrown around, fall from extreme heights, and injured from brutal fistfights.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

“D-nm,” and “h—l,” are said.

Drug and Alcohol Content: None

Will kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Overall Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a wonderful sci-fi film; one that Star Wars fans will most likely enjoy.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2-Teen Movie Review

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is known as the Mockingjay…she’s the face of the revolution and a symbol of hope. After living under the horrific conditions of the totalitarian ruled country of Panem, Katniss and her closest friends; Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and Finnick team up to accomplish the courageous mission they’ve always hoped to do…assassinate their cruel and evil dictator, President Snow (Donald Sutherland). They face many challenging obstacles as they attempt to free millions of innocent victims from the corrupt government of Panem. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 is the fourth film in a trilogy book series by Suzanne Collins.

Rating: 4 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: March 22, 2016
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Katniss is determined to kill President Snow, she and her friends sacrifice their lives to improve the lives of millions of people.
Among all the violence in the war-torn area of Panem, there is a sweet love story between Katniss and Peeta. Peeta was tortured and corrupted by the government, which turned him against Katniss. She cares for him and teaches him what’s real.

Sexual Content: Mild

We see character’s kissing.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

Katniss and her group are in several life threatening situations. In one scene they are underground and a pool of oil comes pouring out at them.
Katniss’ team is attacked and eaten alive by frightening zombie type creatures.
We see numerous characters being shot, stabbed and blown up.
There are several scenes that are hard to watch. One in particular when President Snow corals a massive group of people outside the Capitol. He kills them by setting off bombs. Initially we hear screaming children, then we see dead bodies everywhere, woman and children…which was very disturbing.
We see bloody wounds and bruises on Katniss’ neck and stomach.

Crude or Profane Language: None

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

We see character’s drinking champagne at a party.
Katniss is given a morphine drip. Another character takes the tube out of Katniss’ arm and sticks it in her own…admitting she’s been looking for drugs.

Will Teens Like It? Yes

Overall The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is a very dark and violent film. Parents need to be aware of the excessive violence throughout the film. Depending on the child, this is appropriate for kids ages 13 and up.

Max-Kids’ Movie Review

“A dog is man’s best friend;” is a very familiar adage. Max is a very loyal dog that helped the US Marines in Afghanistan. His master and best friend, Kyle, died during the war, so Max returns to the U.S. and is adopted by his Kyle’s family. Though the dog suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he immediately develops a special bond with Justin; Kyle’s younger brother. Now Justin and Max become the best of friends, and this war-time hero dog not only gives Justin several kisses a day, he even helps him solve some local crimes. Max is an action-packed movie; one for the whole family.

Rating: 4 and 1/2 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: October 27, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 8+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The message of doing the right thing is woven throughout the film, and will spark some good parent/child conversations. Justin’s dad says a hero is someone who always tells the truth.
The film is a little corny in parts. It seemed like an ABC family movie on TV. Having said that kids will like the characters and the action in the film.

Sexual Content: Mild

A couple briefly kiss.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate

Kyle is shown dead after an explosion while fighting in Afghanistan.
We see a truck full of weapons veer off the road and burst into flames.
The bad guys chase Max, Justin, and his friends. They shoot at the boys and Max several times.
Justin’s dad is held captive at gunpoint. He punches the villain and slam’s the man’s arm in a truck door.
Max jumps on a man who attacks Justin, and then Max and the man fall off a bridge.
Max and two vicious dogs roll around and get into some brutal fights.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

We hear “d–ned.

Drug and Alcohol Content:

We see character’s drinking beer.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

I interviewed a 13 year-old boy and 15 year-old girl who both loved the movie. They thought it was very exciting; while sitting at the edge of their seats.

Overall Max is an action packed adventurous film. Depending on the child, I recommend this for kids ages 8 and up.

American Sniper-Teen Movie Review

“God, country and family,” that’s what Chris Kyle (Bradely Cooper) believes in. Chris is a 30 year old rodeo cowboy living in Texas. His life drastically changes the day he sees the television coverage of the terrorist attacks on the U. S. embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Feeling a strong need to serve his country, he immediately enlists to become a U. S Navy SEAL. Continue reading →

The Interview-Teen Movie Review

They interview entertainers, the Who’s Who in showbiz. Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapport (Seth Rogen) are the guys behind the popular TV talk show, “Skylark Tonight.” However, things aren’t going so well, Aaron wants to be known as a reputable and legitimate journalist, not just a fluff reporter. He wants to spice things up a little…maybe interview authors, activists and even politicians. So that’s what they do…spice things up. When they find out that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un (Randall Park), is a huge fan of the show, they set up an interview. However when the CIA gets involved, Dave and Aaron are asked to do more than interview him…they’re asked to assassinate him. So now the action begins as the “Skylark Tonight” guys head to Korea, not only to change their show, but to change the world!

Rating: 1 and 1/2 popcorn buckets out of 5
Release Date: February 17, 2014
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Considering the film is centered around the assassination of North Korea’s leader, The Interview has caused a lot of controversy. The film’s release was almost cancelled, and is currently still not being shown in a lot of theaters. This may spark an interesting parent/child conversation regarding freedom of speech.

The raunchy and crude humor is similar to that of Neighbors, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin...some of Seth Rogan’s previous films.

Sexual Content: Excessive

Aaron meets Kim’s harem, who are only wearing skimpy lingerie. In a brief scene, some of them are shown topless. We also see two of the woman kissing, while playing spin the bottle.
Aaron has a sexual encounter with a North Korean woman. They are clothed, though we see explicit sexual movements.
We hear many sexual references and conversations throughout the film. Some topics include; masturbation, porn, erections, Nicki Minaj’s vagina and Eminem coming out as gay.
A man dies from poison, he vomits and excretions splash all over…this was disgusting.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

In a North Korean TV studio Aaron gets into a fight. His head is pounded into tables, his fingers are bitten off and he bites off someone’s fingers as well. We see blood gushing out all over the place.
Several characters die as they’re are shot by machine guns.
President Kim shoots a bodyguard.
A character’s head catches fire, we see this in slow motion, then his helicopter is blown up.

Crude or Profane Language: Excessive

The f-word is said continuously throughout the film. We also hear “d–k,” “a–,” “h–,” “p—y,” “b–ch,” “b–tard” and I’m sure there are other words I missed.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

There are party scenes that involve alcohol and marijuana.
Character’s take Ecstasy and they make reference to cocaine.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

I interviewed several teenage boys who thought the film was funny and entertaining. I also interviewed an 18 year old girl who didn’t like the movie at all.

This is a silly and rauncy, Seth Rogan R-rated comedy… not appropriate for kids.