Western
Western movie reviews
The Dark Tower-Kids Movie Review
Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), a pre-teen boy, has very bad dreams at night. They’re so vivid and seem so real that when he wakes up he draws images of what he’s seen and puts them on a cork board in his room. He wants to figure out what these nightly terrors mean. His dreams are about a man in black who uses kids to try to destroy the world. There’s a Gunslinger who tries to stop him. Jake eventually realizes that his dreams are real; he meets the Gunslinger, Roland (Idris Elba), and he learns about the Dark Tower that protects the universe from monsters. He also learns that Walter (Matthew McConaughey), also known as the Man in Black, hopes to destroy the tower. The battle between good and evil begins as Jake and Roland try to save the world from the evil Man in Black. The Dark Tower is based on Stephen King’s Dark Tower book series.
Rating: 3 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: October 31, 2017
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 14+
Sexual Content: None
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? No
Talking Points:
Sexual Content: None
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
- There’s a lot of guns and shooting. A boy learns to shoot a gun.
- Boys fight at school; punching and hitting one another.
- Character’s are shown stabbing with knives and hitting with heavy objects..
- A chunk of glass goes through a character’s hand. We see a lot of blood.
- There are explosions and earthquakes.
- We see drawings of scary and disturbing images.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- We hear “sh-t,” and “h–l.”
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- A character takes a handful of painkillers.
Will Kids Like It? No
Overall The Dark Tower is a dark sci/fi film. Parents need to be aware of the excessive violence throughout the 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.
Runner Runner-Teen Movie Review
Princeton University student Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) lost his tuition money through a corrupt online poker site. When Richie discovered that the owner, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) hosts the site from Costa Rica, he traveled there hoping to get his money back. Richie not only succeeded in getting his money, he became enthralled with Ivan’s powerful world of material things and beautiful women, and even became Ivan’s righthand man. Initially life in Costo Rica was great for this young college student, however things changed when an FBI agent kidnaped Richie to bring down Ivan Block…the gambling mogul.
Rating: 2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: January 7, 2014
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17 +
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol: Excessive
Will It Appeal to Teens? Yes
Talking Points:
Runner Runner is an interesting and captivating story. It will spark a great parent/child conversation regarding the negative effects of online gambling.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- We see a brief clip of a married man having sex with several women.
- We see women in skimpy outfits, with men touching and fondling them.
- There is a brief scene of a couple having a sexual encounter.
- There were several sexual references as well.
Violent Content: Moderate
- Richie is punched and beaten by cops, thugs and FBI agents.
- Two men were covered with chicken broth, then thrown into a lake filled with crocodiles. One was eaten, the other was shown bruised and bloodied.
Crude or Profane Language: Excesesive
- The f-word was said continuously throughout the film, we also heard, “a–,” “b-tard,” “p—y” and “h–.”
Drugs and Alcohol: Excessive
- We see college kids drinking beer.
- We see character’s drinking a lot of alcohol throughout the film.
Will It Appeal to Teens? Yes
Overall this an interesting movie, one that may appeal to teenagers. Having said that, it’s an R rated film, which means kids under the age of 16 need to be accompanied by an adult. Parents need to be aware of the inappropriate contents listed above.
The Lone Ranger-Teen Movie Review
The Lone Ranger riding his horse Silver with the William Tell Overture playing in the background…sound familiar? The Lone Ranger is based on the popular Western from the 1930’s radio show, which eventually became a popular TV program in the 40’a and 50’s. In the movie, Tonto (Johnny Depp), an American Indian spirit warrior, tells the untold tales of how John Reid (Armie Hammer) becomes a man of justice, a legend, and a hero… a man known as the Lone Ranger.
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: December 17, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will it Appeal to Teenagers? Yes
Talking Points:
The Lone Ranger is an iconic figure known as a righteous man of character. Since the popular TV show in the 40’s and 50’s, he’s stood for justice and doing the right thing.
The last battle in the film was exciting and moving; with the Lone Ranger riding his horse while the William Tell Overture was playing in the background. Fans will love that scene.
Since this film is produced by Walt Disney Picture, and remembering the popular western on TV, people may assume that this is a kids movie. However, parents need to be aware of the excessive and disturbing violence. Having said that, there are also some funny, slapstick violent scenes woven throughout the film.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Tonto is a regular at a house of ill-repute.
- We see women wearing low cut dresses.
Violent Content: Excessive
- We see hundreds of gruesome deaths; characters are killed by gun shots, stabbed and blown up by explosions.
- We see a man coughing up blood, then an evil character stabs him to death.
- A large log falls on two guys heads, killing them both.
- We see scorpions crawl on two character’s faces; their bodies are buried in the sand, and only their heads are exposed.
- Character’s brawl, we see their scars and bloody wounds.
- Characters are thrown off trains.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- We hear “d-mn,” and “h–.”
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- We see character’s drinking in a bar, some very drunk.
- One character continually drank whiskey out of the bottle.
Will it Appeal to Teenagers? Yes
Overall The Lone Ranger is a wonderful action packed film with a great storyline and great characters. However, parents need to be aware of the excessive and disturbing violence throughout the film. Depending on the kid, I recommend this for kids ages 12 and up.
Rango Review
Who knew that a chameleon could have an identity crisis? Well, in this animated western comedy we meet a pet chameleon (voice of Johnny Depp), who feels like an outsider. Initially, he has lived his life in a terrarium, but always fantasized about becoming a hero. When he eventually gets out of the tank, he ends up in a gritty, western town called Dirt. In this town he becomes the hero he always wanted to be. He’s made the local sheriff, and decides that his name is Rango. However, Rango eventually realizes that it’s easier to dream about being a hero, than actually be one; as he tries to save this western town from their local outlaw, Rattlesnake Jake.
Rating: One out of five buckets
Release Date: March 4, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Not Recommended
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points
Rango is directed by the same director as The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In most animated films the creatures are cute and lovable, not in Rango. The creatures are disgusting with brown, decayed teeth, and leathery skin, which many kids will be scared of, and frankly, it’s not at all pleasant to watch for anyone. There are some saloon scenes where these creatures are smoking cigars and drinking. It’s implied that one guy passed out from being drunk
There is a lot of potty humor, which I typically don’t mind, however in this movie the humor is targeted towards adults and not kids. Some of the jokes are about enlarged prostates, laxatives and mammograms, which I feel most kids won’t even understand.
If I have to find a redeeming quality I would say there is a nice message that everyone needs to believe in something.
Sexual Content: Mild
In the beginning of the movie Rango is staging a play in his terrarium, which he typically loved to do. In his plays there is a headless and shirtless Barbie torso. He points to her chest and says, “Are those real?”
Violent Content: Excessive
The movie is set in an old western town. It’s a creepy, scary setting especially for a PG animated film. There are many scary scenes, but I’ll just mention one scene.
• Rattlesnake Jake grabs a girl, whom Rango likes, the snake licks her and says in a creepy voice, “I want to watch you die.”
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
• There is swearing in this animated film. Words such as “h**l”, “d$%m”, and “a@#” are said.
Overall I didn’t like this movie. It was an animated film, which I associate with kids, that was not geared towards kids. Parents were uncomfortable in the theater, some even took their kids and walked out. Which I would have done if I wasn’t reviewing the film.