Jackie

Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life-Kids’ Movie Review

Rafe Khatchadorian (Griffin Gluck) is a very creative middle school age boy. He loves to draw cartoons, aliens and spaceships and keeps them in a special art notebook. Though Rafe doesn’t have many friends, he is very close with his younger sister Georgia. However, he and his family are dealing with a tremendous heartbreak. Rafe’s brother (who was also his best friend) had passed away a year before. His father left the family after their loss so his mom (Lauren Graham) is doing her best to raise the kids on her own, and with the help of her goofy boyfriend. Not only is Rafe trying to cope with his family drama he also has a hard time following rules. After getting kicked out of two schools he’s now in a new middle school. So when his rule driven principal takes his art notebook, Rafe retaliates by setting a goal to break every rule in the principal’s handbook…now the adventures and pranks begin. Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life, is comedy based on James Paterson’s young adult novel, Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life.

Rating: 4 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: January 3, 2017
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 9+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The film centers around a middle school boy who breaks the school rules. Rafe is questioning all the unnecessary school rules. The principal is more concerned with his rules and the students’ successful standardized test scores than the students’ well being.
This is a fun and entertaining film though parents don’t want their kids getting any rule breaking ideas; to name a few:
- Rafe sneaks out of his window at night and goes to school to vandalize. Some of Rafe’s pranks include covering the school with colored sticky notes with various drawings and messages. He also turns a trophy case into a fish bowl, draws graffiti on the exterior of the school, and puts neon dye in the principal’s hat.
- Rafe steals his mom’s boyfriend’s credit card number and buys supplies for their vandalizing.
Parents need to be aware of the mature subject matter of losing a loved family member.

Sexual Content: Mild

We see a couple kiss.
There’s discussion of “Expertly drawn boobs.
A student says, “My mom is really hot,” and the principal agrees.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate

A school bully threatens to kick Rafe and knocks his notebook out of his hands.
We see animated characters fighting each other. We see a two-headed alien blowing his heads off with a laser.
Georgia, Rafe’s younger sister who’s not old enough to drive, steals their mom’s boyfriend’s car and intentionally sideswipe’s the car wanting to damage it.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

We hear “sh–,” “F your eye,” “p-ssed,” “sucks,” “butt wipe,” “frickin,’ ” “jerk,” and “stupid.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

We see character’s drinking wine.

Will Kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Overall this is a fun and entertaining film. Having said that, parents need to be aware that the story revolves around a rebellious middle school boy who breaks a lot of school rules. Also, the mature subject matter of losing a loved one.

Deepwater Horizon-Teen Movie Review

On April 20, 2010 Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) says goodbye to his wife (Kate Hudson) and daughter for a 21 day shift on an offshore drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon. Mike is the chief electronics technician on the rig. For Mike it’s just another long shift at work, though he eventually learns this one is a little different. The financial bigwigs are anxious due to the delays in Deepwater’s scheduled oil deliveries. They’re even demanding that safety precautions bypassed to expedite deliveries. Then it happened… due to pressure leaks the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico igniting massive explosions; injuring and killing several crew members. Now Mike and his colleagues risk their lives to help as many crew members as possible. Based on a true story Deepwater Horizon is a well done and thrilling action film.

Rating: 3 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: January 10, 2017
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Deepwater Horizon will spark some interesting and educational parent/child conversations.

Sexual Content: Mild

We see a married couple in bed together kissing passionately. He’s only wearing boxers and she’s wearing a T-shirt and skimpy underwear.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

We see explosions and fires, killing and injuring several crew members.
Men are thrown around and slammed into walls.
While in the shower an explosion erupts and a character is shown covered with blood.
A guy pulls a piece of metal out of his foot.
We see a guy’s leg caught between two rails. Someone snaps his leg to free it.
Someone is impaled by a chunk of debris.
Character’s are bruised, gashed and severley injured.

Crude or Profane Language: Excessive

We hear two f-words, “sh-t,” “h—,” “a–,” “b–ch,” and “b–tard.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

A character drinks a beer.

Will Kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Overall Deepwater Horizon is a well done film of a tragic accident. Parents need to be aware of the disturbing violence and excessive profane language.

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children-Kids’ Movie Review

Most teenage boys don’t believe in monsters, however Jake Portman does, and rightfully so. Jake’s grandfather would often tell him scary ghost stories, which seemed so real to Jake. Jake’s parents thought he was crazy and even made him see a psychiatrist. Though before Jake’s grandfather died he insisted that Jake go to a mysterious island off the coast of Wales and visit the grandfather’s childhood home. So Jake’s father takes him there. On the island Jake discovers Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and learns about the residents’ unique powers. There he finds adventure and danger with his new and peculiar friends. Based on the novel Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.

Rating: 2 and 1/2 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: December 13, 2016
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 15+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Teens Like It? No

Talking Points:

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is not the typical young adult fantasy movie. It’s a very disturbing and creepy film with horror like images.

Sexual Content: Mild

We see a couple kiss and flirt with one another.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

There are scary monsters with sharp teeth and tentacles to grab and entangle those who get close to it.
The monsters are enamored with their victims’ eyeballs. We see dead characters with their eyeballs removed revealing dark sockets.
We see several characters dine on a plateful of eyeballs.
A character has the power to bring the dead back to life. He does so and then makes them fight to their death(again). This is a very disturbing scene.
We see an intense battle in an amusement park between the children and the monsters.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

We hear “g–d–n,” “h–l,” and “d–ned.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

Miss Peregrine smokes a pipe throughout the film.
We see characters’ drinking alcohol at a bar.

Will Most Teens Like It? No

Overall this is a very strange and disturbing film.

The Magnificent Seven-Teen Movie Review

There’s a bad man in the Old West town of Rose Creek and his name is Bartholomew Bogue. Bogue is an evil and greedy man who never hesitates to shoot someone if they’re in his way. When gold was discovered in Rose Creek, Bogue takes control of the small town and terrifies the locals. However, things change when a newly widowed resident, Emma Cullen, hires bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Wahington) to take down Bogue. Chisolm realizes he can’t fight that vicious man alone so he recruits six other men. Now the magnificent seven find themselves in a frightful battle to save the town of Rose Creek. This is a re-make of the 1960’s classic, The Magnificent Seven.

Rating: 1 and 1/2 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: December 20, 2016
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 15+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Will Teens Like It? No

Talking Points:

The film has an all-star cast. To name a few; Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
There are a lot of gory and violent scenes throughout the film. See details below.

Sexual Content: Mild

Most of the woman in the film are prostitutes; wearing revealing outfits.
There is some flirting between characters.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

Hundreds of characters die throughout the film.
Numerous character’s are shot, stabbed and sliced with knives. Others are blown up with explosives.
We see dead bodies covering the ground; bloodied and bruised.
A man’s ear is shot off.
We hear that a character’s mom was raped and his sister’s were killed.
A man cuts open a deer and pulls out it’s liver, we see two men take bites of the organ.
One character is nearly strangled to death; we see him suffer.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

We hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “h–,” and “d–n” throughout the film.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Excessive

Character’s drink alcohol throughout the film.
Character’s are shown smoking cigars and cigarettes.

Will Teens Like It? No

I interviewed a few teens that thought the film was slow in parts, and very depressing.

Overall, The Magnificent Seven is an action packed Western. Parents need to be aware of the violence throughout the film.

Bridget Jones’s Baby-Teen Movie Review

Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger ) is 43 years old and single. She’s always wanted to meet Mr. Right and have a family though that hasn’t happened yet so she’s making the best of her life. She has a wonderful career as a producer for the successful television news magazine Sit-Up Britain, she owns a small flat in London, and she’s finally reached her ideal weight! However, all that changes when Bridget meets a handsome American named Jack (Patrick Dempsey). In a drunken stupor she ends up spending the night with him. Six days later she runs into her former love Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and has a romantic evening with him as well. Three months later when Bridget can’t zip her jeans she discovers that she’s pregnant. Who’s the father…Jack, the handsome American man, or Mark Darcy, her once true love?

Rating: 3 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: December 13, 2016
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: Excessive

We see Bridget in bed with each of her men. We see her wearing only a bra (the camera not showing below her waist).
There are sexual references discussing threesomes, virility, fertility and female body parts.
A group of woman lift up their shirts and we see a message written on each of their bare breasts.
A group of men moon a television camera. We see their exposed butts.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild

During labor, Bridget slugs a character in the face.

Crude or Profane Language: Excessive

We hear the f-word numerous times throughout the film. We also hear “sh-t,” “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” and “h–.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

We see Bridget drinking alcohol before she’s pregnant.
We see a character doing a shot of whiskey.
Characters are shown smoking cigarettes.

Will Teens Like It? Yes

I interviewed three 16 year old girls who loved it. They are fans of Patrick Dempsey.
This is an R rated film which means that kids under 17 need to be accompanied by an adult.

Overall Bridget Jones’s Baby is a fun and entertaining film. Parents need to be aware of the excessive sexual content and profane language throughout the film.