The Catholic Post Recent movies reviewed by CNS on basis of moral suitability

Recent movies reviewed by CNS on basis of moral suitability

By: The Catholic Post - May 4, 2012 - Movie Review

Photo Caption: Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans star in a scene from the movie “Marvel’s The Avengers.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults.

The following movie reviews are supplied by Catholic News Service in conjunction with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Film and Broadcasting.

For full reviews of these films, as well as earlier releases, visit the CNS movie site here.

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Marvel’s The Avengers” (Disney)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Seemingly destined to haul in wads of cash at the box office, this ensemble adventure will not disappoint fans of the comic books on which it’s based, but may prove problematic for the parents of some excited youngsters anxious to ride the juggernaut.
Writer-director Joss Whedon’s script juggles no fewer than six superheroes: Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). Guided by their eye-patched, grizzled leader (Samuel L. Jackson) this dream team confronts a mischievous demigod (Tom Hiddleston) who believes freedom is overrated.
Despite the (relatively mild) adult elements listed below, the film may possibly be suitable for older adolescents. Intense but largely bloodless violence, a few mature references, including to suicide and drug use, and a handful of crass terms.

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“Safe” (Lionsgate)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Wildly violent action flick charting the efforts of a downtrodden cage fighter (Jason Statham) to protect a 12-year-old Chinese math prodigy (Catherine Chan).
Her ability to memorize long sequences of numbers, specifically the elaborately disguised combination to the titular lockbox, makes her the target in a three-way struggle among the Triads (led by James Hong), the Russian mafia (bossed by Sandor Tecsy) and corrupt elements of the New York City Police Department (commanded by Robert John Burke).
A potentially touching story about the young stranger’s random but redeeming presence in the fighter’s life gets trampled underfoot as writer-director Boaz Yakin rushes from one bone-cracking, windpipe-crushing brawl to the next. Excessive graphic violence, brief gruesome images, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, twice that number of rough terms, frequent crude and crass language, and adult references, including to homosexuality.

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The Five-Year Engagement” (Universal)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Romantic comedy tracking a San Francisco sous chef (Jason Segel) and his English fiancee’s (Emily Blunt) struggle to get themselves down the aisle. An impoverished presentation of marriage is the principal, but not the only, problematic aspect of director and co-writer (with Segel) Nicholas Stoller’s film. His picture has its touching moments, and a genuinely uplifting conclusion that shows love trumping materialistic concerns.
But along the way to that acceptable wrap-up, viewers are subjected to coarse, wince-inducing sexual gags. Add to that the dialogue’s excess of foul language and what you’re left with is a thoroughly distasteful slice of stale cinematic wedding cake.
Skewed values, including a benign view of cohabitation; a couple of nongraphic non- and premarital sexual encounters; rear nudity; a few profanities; constant rough language and sexual humor; and frequent crude and crass terms.

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“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” (Columbia)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

Despite many failed attempts to do so, the warmhearted and enthusiastic — but not overly successful — captain (voice of Hugh Grant) of a motley shipload of 19th-century buccaneers still dreams of winning the accolade “Pirate of the Year” in director Peter Lord’s rollicking 3-D animated comedy. While fleeting elements of Gideon Defoe’s script — adapted from his book “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists” — preclude recommendation for all, this historical fantasy, which features humorously revisionist versions of both Charles Darwin (voice of David Tennant) and Queen Victoria (voiced by Imelda Staunton), does teach viewers to place loyalty to friends above worldly ambition.
Freighted with that respectable moral, it should make smooth sailing for teens and their seniors. Very mild action violence, a brief scene involving obscured nudity, a couple of crass terms and a few vaguely sexual references.

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“The Raven” (Relativity)

The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

A serial killer enacts grisly murders described in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, compelling the author (John Cusack) to join forces with a police detective (Luke Evans) to save, among others, his beloved (Alice Eve). Reckoning with the macabre imagination of Baltimore’s most famous literary son — and purporting to explain the mystery surrounding his death in 1849 — is a promising starting point. Yet director James McTeigue doesn’t exhibit adequate storytelling finesse to render the mayhem and melancholia palatable. And injecting enough purple bombast to fill Chesapeake Bay fails to enliven his cadaverous picture, which certainly justifies the titular bird’s associations with death and scavenging.
Frequent and explicit grisly imagery and violence, some profanity, one instance of rough language, much crude and crass talk, several instances of sexual innuendo.

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“Safe” (Lionsgate)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Wildly violent action flick charting the efforts of a downtrodden cage fighter (Jason Statham) to protect a 12-year-old Chinese math prodigy (Catherine Chan). Her ability to memorize long sequences of numbers, specifically the elaborately disguised combination to the titular lockbox, makes her the target in a three-way struggle among the Triads (led by James Hong), the Russian mafia (bossed by Sandor Tecsy) and corrupt elements of the New York City Police Department (commanded by Robert John Burke).
A potentially touching story about the young stranger’s random but redeeming presence in the fighter’s life gets trampled underfoot as writer-director Boaz Yakin rushes from one bone-cracking, windpipe-crushing brawl to the next. Excessive graphic violence, brief gruesome images, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, twice that number of rough terms, frequent crude and crass language, and adult references, including to homosexuality.

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“The Cabin in the Woods” (Lionsgate)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Director and co-writer Drew Goddard begins with an interesting premise: a stereotypical slasher scenario that’s actually being controlled and manipulated from the outside. His plot focuses on a handful of deliberately two-dimensional teens (most prominently Kristen Connolly and Fran Kranz) who retreat to a remote house, only to be pushed toward doom by the surprisingly likable office techs of a nearby laboratory (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford).
When the novelty and comic relief dry up, however, and the nods to older movies become tiresome, all that remains is a picture that ratchets up the gore to torture-porn levels, constantly drops the F-bomb and exploits drug use and sexuality. Pervasive gory violence, a suicide, frequent drug-use, nongraphic nonmarital sexual activity with upper female nudity, some sexual humor, constant rough language, some crude and profane expressions.

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“Chimpanzee” (Disneynature)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.

This endearing wildlife documentary, set in the Ivory Coast’s lush Tai Forest, follows the fortunes of a young chimp named Oscar as he, his devoted mother and the entire extended clan with whom they live become caught up in a turf war with a rival band of simians. Though co-directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield’s narrative — recorded, in mostly jaunty tones, by Tim Allen — veers at times into sentimentality and shameless anthropomorphizing, their expedition nonetheless provides enjoyable viewing for moviegoers of just about every age.
Parents of the tiniest tots take note, however: A significant survival-of-the-fittest plot development may prove too emotionally taxing for the most sensitive youngsters. Scenes of animal combat.

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“Lockout” (Open Road)

Framed for the murder of a fellow operative, a late-21st-century CIA agent (Guy Pearce) is offered a reprieve if he rescues the president’s (Peter Hudson) daughter (Maggie Grace) who’s been taken hostage by rioting prisoners during a goodwill tour of an orbiting penitentiary. Logical lapses are papered over with macho posturing and wisecracks in directors and co-writers James Mather and Stephen St. Leger’s dreary action exercise which features a protagonist who likes his women — the first filly included — to shut up and look pretty.
Constant action violence with occasional gore, a fleeting gruesome image, several instances of sexual humor, including a gag that’s also irreverent, about a half-dozen profanities, at least one use of rough language, numerous crude and crass terms.

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“The Lucky One” (Warner Bros.)

On returning home from the war in Iraq, a Marine (Zac Efron) seeks out the attractive young stranger (Taylor Schilling) whose photograph he accidentally came across in the midst of battle. Convinced the lucky image preserved his life for the remainder of his tour, he’s anxious to thank her. Despite some initial resistance on her part, and to the dismay of her scheming ex-husband (Jay R. Ferguson), the two inevitably fall for each other, cheered on by her wise grandmother (Blythe Danner) and clever-beyond-his-years young son (Riley Thomas Stewart).
Director Scott Hicks confects a serviceable date movie from Catholic author Nicholas Sparks’ novel, with diversion from the jumbo improbabilities at work provided by Hallmark card-perfect settings and some wry observations from granny and junior.
But the generally amiable proceedings are marred by a couple of overheated scenes glamorizing the as-yet unwed leads’ serial bedroom encounters. Benign view and semigraphic portrayal of premarital sexual activity, a reference to out-of-wedlock pregnancy, at least one use of profanity, a handful of crude and crass terms.

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“Think Like A Man” (Screen Gems)

Four couples — Taraji P. Henson and Michael Ealy, Romany Malco and Meagan Good, Terrence J and Regina Hall, Jerry Ferrara and Gabrielle Union — learn lessons about maturity and mutual respect in this sprawling romantic comedy based on comic Steve Harvey’s relationship-advice book “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man.”
Director Tim Story keeps the proceedings light with fast-moving quips and frank talk about how men and women still can’t communicate in an era of seemingly unlimited sexual freedom. Since it implicitly treats premarital sex and the option of cohabitation as a given, however, Keith Merryman and David A. Newman’s script offers no genuine critique of this supposed freedom, such as would necessarily be posed by those adhering to scriptural values.
Unvarnished, earthy, sometimes over the top but never crude, the film does manage to deliver a reassuring — if secular-minded — homily about the confusing process of looking for, and finding, true love. Implied premarital relationships, a scene of marijuana use, fleeting profanity, pervasive crude language and sexual banter, a single use of the N-word.

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“Bully” (Weinstein)

Poignant documentary revealing the victimization of a trio of teens from different parts of the country who have endured verbal and physical abuse from their peers at school and recounting the stories of two other students whose sufferings apparently led them to commit suicide.
Filmmaker Lee Hirsch sheds light on a widespread and enduring social problem and provides a potential starting point for important family discussions. Parents should be aware, however, that in addition to the small-scale brutality on display, the narrative also focuses on the fact that one of those being profiled — a 16-year-old girl — is enduring persecution for being an avowed lesbian. So younger viewers will need sufficient maturity — or guidance — to distinguish between the individual rights of the homosexually oriented and a broader social agenda out of keeping with Scripture and sacred tradition.
Possibly acceptable for older adolescents. Scenes of cruelty and petty violence, adult themes, including suicide and homosexuality, at least one use of the F-word, numerous crude and crass insults.

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“The Three Stooges” (Fox)

The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Most of the ingredients in this updated version of the titular comedy act’s antics are about what you’d expect: A lot of shtick, a little dance, a big live lobster down someone’s pants.
Far less predictable, and most unwelcome, is the assault on the dignity of those in religious life that also characterizes this highly uneven comedy. Raised in an orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy but never adopted, Moe, Curly and Larry (Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso and Sean Hayes, respectively) emerge as true adult innocents, sallying forth into the outside world intent on raising the large sum it will take to keep their home facility from closing.
Such tasteless jokes as a character named Sister Mary-Mengele and a sight gag involving a sexualized young nun figure in a swimsuit derail what the directing team of brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly clearly intended as a sweet-natured tribute to the much-beloved original trio.
Irreverent and occasionally offensive humor directed at clergy and religious, some crude comedy, extensive physically abusive slapstick.

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“American Reunion” (Universal)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Gutter-crawling comedy sequel in which the “American Pie” franchise’s band of boors (including Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott) gather for their high school reunion and continue to obsess about sex. Like the base characters that inhabit it, co-writers and directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg’s endlessly crass flick gets old fast, but never matures. Strong sexual content, including graphic sexual activity, masturbation, full nudity and same-sex kissing; gross scatological humor; several uses of profanity; and pervasive rough and crude language.

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“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” (CBS)

A fish-out-of-water story about a billionaire Arab sheik (Amr Waked) with a seemingly impossible dream: to transport the titular activity — his favorite Scottish pastime — to the Arabian Desert, and thereby build a peace-making bridge between East and West. Helping him in this folly is a glamorous consultant (Emily Blunt) and a skeptical fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor).
Lives are transformed along with nature in director Lasse Hallstrom’s screen version of Paul Torday’s novel, a charming blend of comedy and drama that also promotes the value of religious faith. Brief war violence, partial nudity, implied pre-marital sex, occasional profanity and crude language.

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“Titanic” (Paramount)

Lavish re-creation of the 1912 sea disaster begins with an exploration of the sunken luxury liner today then follows its fateful voyage keyed to the improbable shipboard romance between a first-class passenger (Kate Winslet) and one in steerage (Leonardo DiCaprio) until an iceberg sends the ship and more than 1,500 people to the bottom.
Writer-producer James Cameron reduces the human dimension of the tragedy to a paltry soap opera about two love-struck youths, though the special effects re-creating the human drama aboard the sinking vessel are truly spectacular. Agonizing death scenes on a massive scale, sexual situations, brief nudity and sporadic rough language and profanity.

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“We Have a Pope” (“Habemus Papam”) (Sundance Selects)

The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Gently satiric seriocomedy about a good-hearted but timid cardinal (Michel Piccoli) who reluctantly accepts his election as pope, but then, overcome by the prospective burden of the office, balks before giving his first public blessing. As the world waits, an eminent but nonbelieving psychiatrist (Nanni Moretti) tries to treat the new pontiff, only to have his patient escape the Vatican and seek some form of guidance by wandering the streets of Rome and mingling with the Eternal City’s ordinary citizens. Moretti, who also directed and co-wrote, avoids any mean-spirited attack on the church, though he does dabble in such silliness as cardinals competing against each other in a volleyball tournament. He garners some amusement from the contrast between the shrink’s secular assumptions and the faith-based attitudes prevailing at the Holy See as well from a range of human foibles. But by the time his protagonist goes on the lam, Moretti has clearly run out of inspiration. In Italian. Subtitles.
Much ecclesiastically themed humor that some may find distasteful, at least one use of the F-word, a fleeting reference to sexuality.

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“The Hunger Games” (Lionsgate)

Dystopian adventure tracking two teens (Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson) as they participate in the titular event, a televised survival tournament in which youthful combatants from oppressed outlying districts are forced to battle one another until only one remains alive for the entertainment of their society’s decadent urban elite.
Director and co-writer Gary Ross’ screen version of the first volume in Suzanne Collins’ best-selling trilogy of novels is an effective combination of epic spectacle and emotional drama during which humane values are pitted against Darwinian moral chaos. But sensibilities are not spared in the portrayal of the grim contest, so parents need to weigh carefully whether to allow targeted teens to attend.
Possibly acceptable for mature adolescents. Considerable, sometimes gory, hand-to-hand and weapons violence and graphic images of bloody wounds.

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“Mirror Mirror” (Relativity)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Director Tarsem Singh brings high camp style to his fresh live-action take on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” This go-round, the handsome prince (Armie Hammer) is the center of attention, pursued equally by the evil Queen (Julia Roberts) and her fairest-of-them-all stepdaughter (Lily Collins). When the Queen banishes her competition to the forest, Snow White decides to fight back. With the help of a ragtag band of diminutive warriors, she leads a crusade to gain her kingdom and claim her prince.
The end result is a bit leaden and somewhat charmless for a children’s fairy tale. But remarkable costumes and grand set pieces go a long way to compensate. Mild action violence, some rude humor, one semi-profane utterance.

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“Wrath of the Titans” (Warner Bros.)

Stilted, tedious mythology sequel in which the conflicted demigod Perseus (Sam Worthington) is forced to abandon his quiet life among mortals and intervene in a war that pits his father Zeus (Liam Neeson) against his uncle Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and his half-brother Ares (Edgar Ramirez).
Perseus’ allies in the struggle include an earthly warrior queen (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s shifty son Agenor (Toby Kebbell) and the exiled smithy to the gods, Hephaestus (Bill Nighy).
Boulders fly and monsters die in director Jonathan Liebesman’s 3-D follow-up to 2010’s “Clash of the Titans,” itself a remake of the 1981 cult hit of the same title. But the effects- and action-driven proceedings are all spectacle and no substance. The pagan theologizing to which some of the pompous dialogue is devoted, moreover, may confuse the impressionable. Possibly acceptable for older teens. Pagan religious themes; constant, occasionally bloody, action violence; at least one mildly sexual joke; and a single crass term.

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“October Baby” (Provident/Samuel Goldwyn)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

A college freshman (Rachel Hendrix) plagued by chronic medical problems learns from her devoted parents (Jennifer Price and John Schneider) that they adopted her as an infant after she had survived an attempted abortion. Devastated and bewildered by the revelation, she sets out in search of her birth mother (Shari Rigby), accompanied on her journey by her best friend since childhood (Jason Burkey).
In their feature debut, brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin helm a strongly pro-life message movie whose theme viewers dedicated to the dignity of all human beings will welcome unanimously. Opinions about the aesthetic package in which they wrap their point may be more divided. But adeptly shot bucolic settings and a strong performance by Jasmine Guy as a retired nurse who once worked in the abortion mill where the young heroine was almost killed are undeniable assets.
Mature subject matter, potentially disturbing references.

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“The Deep Blue Sea” (Music Box)

Writer-director Terence Davies’ adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play charts the downward spiral of a lonely wife (Rachel Weisz) into adultery, divorce and suicide. Whenever caught between the devil and you-know-where, she consistently makes bad, selfish decisions. Her kind but distant husband (Simon Russell Beale) refuses to grant her a divorce, while her lover (Tom Hiddleston) — with whom she cohabits, masquerading as a happily married couple — is cruel and vindictive. Mature themes, including suicide and adultery, brief nudity, at least one use of profanity, a few crass references.

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“A Thousand Words” (DreamWorks)

A fast-talking literary agent (Eddie Murphy) finds his marriage (to Kerry Washington) and his career (assisted by Clark Duke) stymied when he gets on the wrong side of a guru (Cliff Curtis) and is cursed. According to the terms of the jinx, each word he speaks causes a leaf to fall from a tree that has magically sprouted in his backyard. Once the branches are bare, he’ll die. Hilarity fails to ensue in director Brian Robbins’ barren comedy, and when screenwriter Steve Koren’s script turns serious, it mixes fruitful messages about marital fidelity and the importance of family life with shady New Age-style spirituality.
Mature content, including scenes of aberrant sensuality within marriage and incidental gay characters, a few uses of profanity, at least one instance of the F-word, considerable crude and crass language, an obscene gesture.

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“21 Jump Street” (Columbia)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Two bungling police partners (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) find their friendship strained when they’re assigned to pose as high school students in an undercover operation designed to bust a drug ring. Co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s big-screen version of the once-popular television series — which first aired on Fox in 1987 — starts out as a good-hearted, albeit relentlessly foul-mouthed, buddy comedy. But, as the vulgarities continue to fly, the desire to be outrageous leads to scenes of gruesome violence and debased sexuality.
Intensely gory gun violence, strong sexual content, including graphically depicted aberrant and nonmarital activity as well as brief rear nudity, drug use, irreverent humor, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, pervasive rough and crude language.

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John Carter” (Disney)

Ambitious and largely successful 3-D adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel propels a 19th-century American (Taylor Kitsch) to the planet Mars, where he becomes embroiled in a war between two city-states and falls in love with a princess (Lynn Collins). Despite an unwieldy and illogical mash-up of now-familiar sci-fi tropes, director Andrew Stanton nicely brings the narrative together in the end. Obstacles along the way include a rather bland star, a protracted running time, and less-than-scintillating dialogue. Yet the epic marries the appeal of a pulp serial with cutting-edge filmmaking techniques.
Likely best for older teens and up. Considerable, sometimes intense, action violence, scenes of cruelty, fleeting toilet humor, at least one use of profanity and several instances of crass language.

Recent movies reviewed by CNS on basis of moral suitability

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