Courageous is a story primarily focused on four men; all of whom are police officers. These men go to work each day facing many challenges and dangerous situations, however at the end of the day their “real” job begins; fatherhood. Each man’s story is different; whether it’s a father who struggles as a single parent, a father who had a child out of wedlock, a father who does not want to parent like his deadbeat dad, or a father like Adam (Alex Kendrick). Adam is a hard working police officer, happily married with two kids. His life dramatically changes one day when tragedy strikes his family. As Adam turns to God for strength and support, he figures out how to handle his heart breaking situation, and how to become a better father, one that God wants him to be. This is an amazing faith filled, inspirational story, one that will have you laughing and crying throughout the movie.

Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: September 30, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 10+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild

See a clip of my review here!

Talking Points:

Even though this film is about fatherhood, it is filled with some wonderful messages for kids, which will spark some great parent/child conversations. When Adam’s family is faced with a crises, Adam turns to God, he later tells his son, “What I want for you is that you seek the Lord, that you trust Him, even if it means you’re standing alone.” This helps his son cope, as he also struggles with their situation.

Adam feels that he’s been a good enough father, but wants to be a great father. He wants to know what God expects of him as a father. So Adam takes the initiative, and writes a resolution expressing his commitment to become the best father he can be. His goal is to always love and protect his kids, and teach them to trust in God. He and his friends have a formal ceremony and commit to their resolution. This is a great for husbands to see.

Since the main characters are police officers, it’s mentioned that crimes are linked to kids without fathers. The film stresses the importance of fathers and the important influence they have on their children’s lives.

There’s another great storyline about Adam’s friend Javier. He was faced with a temptation at work, which would ultimately give him a big promotion. I don’t want to give too much away, but this storyline demonstrates another great lesson about doing the right thing.

With each man’s story and difficult circumstances, they all turn to God. Adam says, “I want to trust Him. I just don’t understand what He is doing.” His pastor replies back by saying, “He doesn’t promise us explanations, but He does promise to walk with us through pain.” Once again, another great conversation with your kids!

The movie does get a little too long; it’s 130 minutes. Though I loved the film, I feel it could have been shortened just a bit.

Sexual Content: Mild

• It’s mentioned that a character had a child out of wedlock, he said that he “hooked up,” with a cheerleader in college, and that he didn’t love her.

Violent Content: Moderate

• Since the film is about police officers, we see some disturbing scenes dealing with gangs and drug dealers. There are many fist fights, shootings, and a lengthy police chase.
• We also see a gang kicking a boy on the ground, we later find out that was an initiation rite.

Crude or Profane Language: None

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

• There are drug dealers in the film, we also see a plastic bag filled with drugs.

This film focuses on fatherhood, though no matter if you’re a mother or a father, our roles as parents are more important than anything else we do. Courageous has many wonderful thought provoking messages for the whole family. However with the mature subject matter, and some intense police scenes, this film may not be for your kids. Depending on the child, I would recommend this film for kids ages 10 and up.

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Contagion is centered around a deadly virus that travels rapidly from host to host, and infects millions of people all over the world. An international team of doctors, employed by the CDC, try to handle this awful outbreak, while we see many victims suffering and struggling to stay alive. This is an intense action packed thriller; you’ll want to wash your hands and not touch a thing after seeing this movie…Don’t forget your hand sanitizer!

Rating: Two out of five popcorn buckets.
Release Date: September 9, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild

See a clip of my review here!

Talking Points:

The film is very interesting. It starts out on Day 2, as we see Beth (Gwyenth Paltrow), coughing while grabbing a handful of peanuts at an airport on her way home from Hong Kong. The movie focusing on people’s hands, and how easily germs are transmitted; whether it’s holding onto a bus railing, touching an elevator button, or even passing a credit card to a waitress. One character says, “We touch our hands to our face 2,000 to 3,000 time a day.” The film concludes with Day 1; a very clever ending.

There is an all-star cast, to name a few; Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law and Kate Winslet. With director Steven Soderbergh and the amazing actors, the film was extremely well done, and so believable. It made you wonder if an outbreak like this could really happen.

While there are many horror films and sci/fi movies that some kids like to see; most likely they will eventually realize that a zombie, or a scary monster will never enter into their lives. However this film could really be frightening and disturbing, especially for hypochondriacs. The subject matter could spark some good parent/child conversations.

Sexual Content: Mild

• In one scene Beth rearranged her flight so she could have a sexual encounter with an old boyfriend in Chicago.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

• We see victims suffer repeatedly throughout the film. They foam at the mouth and have seizures before dying; it was awful to see, this may be disturbing to kids and even some adults.

• Things get out of hand while people are searching for food and medical attention. We see people looting stores, breaking windows, and setting buildings on fire.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

• The f-word is used once. Characters also say; “s&@t,” a%s,” and “d*#n,” throughout the film.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

• We see characters drinking alcohol at a bar.

Even though this was a well done, interesting movie, I found it to be disturbing and a little depressing. With the intense subject matter, I don’t recommend this for kids under the age of 13, however mature teens may find it to be interesting. Don’t be too freaked out by viruses, according to a recent University of Michigan study, they found that kids raised on a farm have fewer allergies than city kids because they’re exposed to more germs which strengthens their immune systems.

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“Charlie St. Cloud” is a PG13 drama starring Zac Efron, as Charlie. For the tween and teenage girls wanting to see Zac Efron, this is not even close to the Troy Bolton from High School Musical. This is the story about Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron). He’s a recent high school graduate, and an experienced sailor, who just received a scholarship to Stanford. One summer night, Charlie and his eleven year old brother, Sam, get into a deadly car accident that kills Sam. Charlie’s life is now changed forever, he gives up sailing, defers college, and he starts working and living at a cemetery. He begins to see clear visions of his brother, and he fulfills his promise that he had once made to Sam; to meet every night at sunset to practice baseball. Five years later Charlie is still interacting with his deceased brother, and trying to cope with his loss, but when he’s reacquainted with Tess, a former high-school classmate, she helps him move on with his life.

Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: August 4, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild

See the trailer here!

Talking Points:

This is a heartfelt story about coping with the loss of a loved one, getting a second chance in life, and it’s also an endearing love story.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. People who like to sail may like the movie, as there are many scenes of Charlie and Tess sailing.

I thought the movie was appropriately rated, PG13

I read that, “This movie was built to appeal to tween and teen girls.” I think that most high school musical fans will want to see this movie, but as I mentioned earlier this is a drama, not a lighthearted movie, one you’d expect Zac Efron to be in. Since the movie is about death, the subject matter is for mature young adults.

There are some confusing parts in the storyline.

Profanity:
Mild. Though Sam, the eleven year old, swears a few times.

Sexual Content: Mild
Charlie and Tess have a romantic encounter in the cemetery. We don’t see much, mainly passionate kisses, but it’s implied that they’ve slept together.

Violent Content: Moderate
The car accident was intense and very sad. On the way home my kids were on edge, thinking of the accident, realizing that could happen to anyone.

Conclusion:

Overall I thought this was an intriguing movie, that held your attention. My twelve year old son did not like it, but my fourteen year old daughter really liked it, but thought some parts were creepy. I interviewed two ten year old girls that said, “Anything with Zac Efron is good, we loved it!” I don’t think they cared about the intense story, only Zac, as did most of the tween girls.

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