Romance
Romance movie reviews
The Vow Review
“For Better or for Worse.” Newlywed’s Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) had their challenges two months after their marriage. The couple survived a horrific car accident, however, Paige suffered head injuries, and experienced personality changes. She had no idea who her husband was, and no recollection of their relationship. Being a dedicated and faithful husband, Leo tried to help his wife, hoping to rebuild their relationship; after all he made a vow. The Vow is a heartfelt love story, inspired by true events.
Rating: 4 1/2
Release Date: May 8, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
See a clip of my review here, along with Journey 2: The Mysterious Island!
Talking Points:
It was amazing to see Leo’s love and dedication to his wife. He did everything he could to spark her memory, though unsuccessful. She only recognized her family, and childhood friends.
Paige had an estranged relationship with her family. She hadn’t seen them in years; they had never even met Leo. It was nice that they reunited after the accident, though her parent’s weren’t supportive of her marriage with Leo.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- Before the accident, Paige and Leo are in the car, and Paige says, “A girl’s guaranteed to get preggers if she does it in a car.” This may spark an interesting parent/child conversation!
- When the couple is dating, they had frequent overnights together. We see them in bed on top of each other.
- After the accident we see the couple strip down to their underwear, and jump into a lake. She also has on a bra.
- The couple kiss passionately.
- We hear a suggestive voicemail.
- In one scene we see Leo, naked, though only his back side.
- After the accident, Paige flirts and kisses her ex-fiance.
Violent Content: Mild
- The accident is shown in slow motion, as Paige goes through the windshield.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
- Words such as, “s–t,” “h–l,” “d–n,” “a–,” and “d–k,” are used about 1 to 3 times each.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
- Character’s are shown drinking alcohol at various parties and social gatherings.
Overall The Vow was an amazing, heartfelt love story. I would recommend this for kids ages 12+. It’s also a great date night movie!!
Rock of Ages Review
“Don’t Stop Believin,” a popular 80’s song by Journey, is one of the constant themes in this film. Sherrie (Julianne Hough), a small-town girl from Oklahoma, moves to L.A with hopes of becoming a famous singer. When she steps off the Greyhound bus to L.A.’s Sunset Strip, Sherrie is welcomed by a some abusive prostitutes and a thug who steals her suitcase. However, things quickly brighten up when she meets Drew (Diego Boneta), an employee at the infamous Bourbon Room; who also has high hopes of becoming a rock star. We not only see the young couple fall madly in love, we also see their struggles and successes, as they try to make it in Hollywood! Rock of Ages is based on a stage musical set in the 1980’s. With the excessive sexual content and drug and alcohol issues, I do not recommend this film for film for kids!
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: October 9, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 18+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Will Kids Like It? No
Talking Points:
Although the movie is sleazy, full of inappropriate sexual scenes; the film tries to highlight the fact that being in a relationship with someone you love, will ultimately make you happier than sleeping around with anyone you meet; as Tom Cruise’s character did. However, the viewers are drenched with the sexual scenes and excessive alcohol use.
As previously mentioned, there are some nice messages to “follow your dreams,” and not give up on your goals and aspirations.
The film has a great cast, to name a few; Tom Cruise, who does an amazing job of playing Stecee Jaxx, a fictional rock star, also Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julianne Hough.
Adults may be entertained by the 80’s tunes, and fun musical scenes. Though the storyline with the young lovers is very cheesy and corny; with poor acting.
Sexual Content: Excessive
- Men are shown grabbing women’s privates at the bar.
- Sherrie temporarily works as a stripper. We see several scenes with the stripper’s erotically pole dancing.
- Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) is shown in two very exotic sexual encounters; in my opinion these were R-rated scenes.
- We see women wearing only their bra and panties; in several suggestive scenes.
- The famous rock star often greets women by grabbing their breasts, and commenting on how firm they are.
- There are several close up scenes with couples passionately kissing.
- There are several suggestive comments and references to oral sex.
Violent Content: Mild
- A character is thrown off the stage.
- One characters slaps another character.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
- The f-word is said once. “Sh-t,” “h—,” “a–,” and “b–ch,” are said several times each.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
- The famous rock star (played by Tom Cruise) is shown repeatedly drinking whiskey out of the bottle. He is often drunk and incoherent.
Will Kids Like It? No
The movie may try to instill a good message, and have a worthy theme, however the messages are skewed by the very inappropriate sexual content. Rock of Ages is NOT a film for kids! Take your youngsters to Madagascar 3, and your teens to The Avengers, they’ll get a lot more out of it
Remember Me Review
“This movie is about death, drinking, smoking and sex,” that’s what I told my husband after I saw it. Then I said, “oh, by the way our daughter is seeing this movie tonight.” Yes, I did let my 13 year old daughter and five of her friends see this adult movie, with their favorite vampire, Robert Pattinson, as the main character.
“Remember Me” is an intense drama, and a love story, about two families struggling with the death of a loved one. Though two completely different circumstances, the outcome is still the same; how to cope with their loss. Luckily for Tyler (Robert Pattinson), and Ally (Emille de Ravin), his girlfriend, they have each other to help with deal their struggles.
Rating: Two out of five buckets
Release Date: June 22, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Talking Points:
This is not only a love story between Ally and Tyler, it’s also a story about the importance of family. Tyler (Robert Pattinson), is a loving, affectionate brother to his 6th grade sister. Both Tyler and Ally have relationship issues with their fathers, but ultimately they both love and respect them, and realize the importance of family.
Sexual Content:
- Ally and Tyler have many passionate sex scenes. There is no nudity, but it’s implied what they’re doing, in bed, under the covers.
- Tyler’s roommate brags about how many women he’s slept with.
- We see a brief clip from “American Pie.” The scene when the father walks in on his son in bed with a girl.
Violent/Disturbing Content:
- The opening scene shows Ally, as an 11 year old girl, waiting for the subway with her mom. Two hoodlums take her mom’s purse, they shoot her mom, while Ally is watching the whole thing, screaming .
- Tyler gets into a big brawl outside a bar, his face gets slammed against a windshield.
- Tyler and Ally’s dad get into a big fight, Tyler is nearly choked to death.
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
- Swearing throughout the whole movie.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Excessive
- Characters drank and smoke throughout the movie.
Overall, this is a PG13 movie (could have been rated R), with an adult subject matter. This movie is not a question of, are you in the Edward or Jacob camp? ( Like in the Twilight movies). This is a movie which happens to have Robert Pattinson in it, but this time he’s not the loving, innocent vampire, that most preteens and teenage girls are dying to see. This time he’s a 21 year old college student with real life issues; he continually smokes, drinks, and get into numerous fights, throughout the movie. This is something parents should know. I would not recommend this for preteens, but could be appropriate for teenage girls (high school girls).
I give it 2 out of 5 buckets. I enjoyed the movie, so did the other moms in the theater. However, my only concern is that the young “Twilight” fans will want to see this movie as well, and it’s not appropriate for them.
Red Riding Hood Review
There’s a girl in a red cloak, though she’s a teenager, and there’s a grandmother and a werewolf. Sound familiar? This is the retelling of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. In this film the werewolf has a whole village distraught as he kills, bites and stabs many innocent victims. However, the person he really wants is a beautiful, young women named Valerie (Amanda Seyfriend). Valerie wears her red cloak proudly, as she tries to figure out, who the werewolf really is. Could it be her love interest, and bad boy Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), could it be Henry (Max Irons), who she’s stuck with in an arranged engagement, or could it be a friend or family member whom she’s always trusted? Valerie tries to figure it all out, while trying to stay alive.
Rating: Two out of five buckets
Release Date: March 11, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
See a clip of my review here!
Talking Points
In this teen version of Little Red Riding Hood, there is a little love saga with Valerie and the boy she wants, and with the boy she’s been arranged to be with. Teens will like the romantic element of the movie.
The movie was not predictable, which I really liked. I had no idea who the werewolf was, until it was revealed at the end of the movie. I won’t give it away.
The thing that bothered me the most were the bad, inadequate actors. It reminded me of actors in a children’s play. However, there were some big names who were great: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman and Julie Christie (the grandmother).
The film had some similarities to Twilight in that the director was the same, and Valerie’s dad (Billy Burke), is the same actor who played Bella’s dad (from Twilight).
Sexual Content: Mild
Some things parents may feel uncomfortable with:
• There are many passionate kisses with Valerie and Peter, the boy with whom she’s in love. In one scene Peter starts to take off her shirt, though we don’t see anything.
• Valerie dreams of having a sexual encounter with Peter. They appear to be naked, though we only see them from their shoulders up.
• Peter dances seductively with another girl, while Valerie dances seductively with another girl…yes a girl!
Violent Content: Mild
Parents may feel uncomfortable with some of the violent scenes in the film, to name a few:
• Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), a werewolf expert whom the villagers contact for help, is a cruel man. He lusts after the village girls, and he tortures a mentally impaired boy. He accuses Valerie of being a witch, and uses her as bait for the werewolf.
• We see the werewolf kill many victims, even biting someone’s hand off.
Crude and Profane Language: None
Overall I felt this was a strange movie; one that I thought that was just okay, not terrible, but not great. There was some romance, drama and mystery, but with all that, I felt the film lacked something…not sure what. Having said that, I interviewed teenage girls (ages 15 to 19) after the movie, who all really liked the film. They thought it was “startling, captivating and mysterious.” It had that Twilight feel about it, I guess I was too busy looking for Edward and Jacob. Appropriate for pre-teens and teens.
Nine Review
“Nine” is based on a 1982 Tony award winning musical. The film is set in Rome in the 1960’s. This is a story about the life of world famous film director Guido Contini. The world awaits his next movie, which is his ninth, and is ready for production, and due to start shooting in days, However, there is a big problem, he doesn’t know what to write about, and has no ideas at all. He turns to the women in his life who have been an inspiration to him; his wife, mistress, leading actress, costume designer, and even his deceased mom. He gradually realizes that his stress and concerns are due to his unhappy and miserable life.
Rating: One out of five buckets
Release Date: September 9, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 18+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Talking Points:
The actors are terrific, with a well-known cast such as Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and more. They all had wonderful Italian accents, and were very good dancers and singers.
The movie should have been rated R, not PG13. I could go on forever listing the reasons why, but I’ll just mention a few.
One scene had a nice message. Contini’s previous movies were all very sexual. When Contini is distressed and confused, he visits a local Catholic cardinal, the cardinal tells him that he’s writing about the wrong things, he say’s, “ You should encourage Italian women to be wives not whores.”
Sexual Content: Excessive
- In most of the musical numbers the women are wearing skimpy lingerie, showing a lot of cleavage.
- There were many sexual, provocative scenes with Contini and his mistress. In one scene Contini tells his mistress to leave the hotel room, and come back pretending she’s with a stranger. When she returns it’s implied they have sex.
- Another musical number shows Contini as a nine year old boy, with some of his friends. They give a prostitute money, and she starts seductively dancing in a skimpy outfit, while they’re watching.
Violent Content: Moderate
- The movie is also disturbing. His mistress attempts suicide. Another scene shows Contini, as a child, being whipped by a priest for his sinful actions.
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
- Characters were drinking throughout the film.
I interviewed some teenagers after the movie. A 14 year old girl said, “What was that rated?” She and her friend thought it was boring and very inappropriate.
My 13 year old daughter didn’t like it at all!!!!! I was very uncomfortable in many of the scenes. My 20 year old niece liked the music, but thought the movie was okay.
Overall, it was a boring, inappropriate movie, with many seductive, uncomfortable scenes for a PG13 rating. I’ll give it one bucket, for the acting and a couple of good musical numbers.