Sweet November PG-13
Violence:Mild
Sexual Content: Extremely Not Suitable
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
Summary: After Sara (Charlize Theron) consents to helping busy ad executive Nelson (Keanu Reeves) cheat on a driver's license exam, her test is disqualified, leaving Nelson feeling obligated to be her taxi. What he doesn't know is that Sara is evaluating him for her next "experiment."
Convinced that Nelson doesn't have any joy in his life, Sara reveals her true intentions when she invites him to move in and spend November under her tutelage. At the month's end, he will leave a new man - just like Mr. October and the others before him.
At first, Nelson rejects the ludicrous idea; however, after losing his job and his girlfriend, he finds himself on Sara's doorstep. There, he begins his transformation under her direction - with help from her homosexual neighbor and a fatherless boy across the street.
Careful observation reveals that, for all her criticism of Nelson, Sara is just as unwilling to make a commitment, using a serious personal crisis to justify her rejection of his marriage proposal.
Abandoning commitment in favor of physical gratification, Sara's quick fix will likely have short-term effects on Nelson, while leaving a long-lasting impression on young viewers. SEE REVIEW
Recess: School's Out G
Violence: Mild
Sexual Content: Suitable
Language: Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol:Suitable
Summary: Recess: School's Out brings Saturday morning cartoon lettering T.J. Detweiler (Andrew Lawrence's voice) and his elementary chums to the big screen.
As the final seconds of the school year tick to a close, T.J. has big plans for how the gang will spend their summer vacation... until all of his pals shuttle off to camps and the summer suddenly looms ahead of him like an extended detention.
It is only after a pulsating green glow and big-boned, bald guy lurking in front of the school catch his eye that things start to perk up for T.J. Discovering that the auditorium of 3rd Street Elementary has been converted to a sort of mad scientist's headquarters by former Education Minister Phil Benedict (James Woods' voice), whose evil designs include eliminating summer vacation, T.J. goes for help - first to the adults who are not only dim-witted and short-sighted, but incapable of effecting any change.
Coddled by his parents, laughed off by the local police detachment, and dismissed by his own principal, Mr. Prickly (Dabney Coleman's voice), T.J. decides to take things into his own hands. Threatening to publish excerpts from her diary on the Internet, T.J. coerces his older sister into retrieving his absentee friends, and together they plan an attack to take back the school. But when Benedict and his goons capture T.J., the Recess pals realize it will take as many of the student body, staff, and playground toys they can muster to outwit and outmaneuver the evil Benedict.
Recess, set to snappy 60's tunes, squarely places the fate of 3rd Street school and summer vacation in the hands of fourth graders, a rather onerous responsibility even for someone as precocious and trouble savvy as T.J. Detweiler.
Although the film promotes teamwork to overcome formidable odds, its promotion of anti-authority attitudes consigns adults to sit in the corner and poses young viewers with an unsettling question: If you can be at the peak of power and mental prowess, and still enjoy recess, in the fourth grade, why would anyone ever want to grow up?
Hannibal R
Violence:Not Suitable
Sexual Content:Medium
Language:Medium
Drugs/Alcohol: Medium
Summary: Who has not heard of Hannibal the Cannibal? Who has not read Thomas Harris' thriller, "Silence of the Lambs" or seen the film of the same name?
Ten years have passed since the world was first introduced to Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, a brilliant serial killer in "Silence of the Lambs." Well, its sequel "Hannibal" premiered this past weekend, and it is worth the wait.
Hannibal is about Lecter in his prime - enjoying the fine arts, prancing around like a pony in Florence, devouring anyone he wants to devour. Albeit very, very different in tone and style to "Lambs," nevertheless, the film is an excellent sequel and is expected to do as well in box offices, although perhaps not as well on the awards front.
Saving Silverman PG-13
Violence: Not Suitable
Sexual Content: Definitely Not Suitable
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol:Not Suitable
Content: Waste of time and money
Summary: When Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs) begins devoting his life to Judith (Amanda Peet), his two buddies, Wayne (Steve Zahn) and J.D. (Jack Black), bemoan the fact that their fun has dropped to an all-time low. For many years, they had used the more socially capable Darren as a magnet to attract girls. Now, Darren's incredibly controlling girlfriend is ruining their lives, they don't have a hope in the romance department.
However, all of their attempts to interfere with the relationship only lead Judith to demand that Darren abandon his friends. So Wayne and J.D. decide to kidnap her and find Darren a replacement girlfriend - Sandy (Amanda Detmer) who is one of Darren's former high school flames.
Forgetting that Judith is a psychologist with kick boxing experience, capable of putting up a good fight both mentally and physically, the twosome have not reckoned with the challenge of keeping her locked in their basement prison.
Left Behind: The Movie PG-13
Violence: Medium
Sexual Content: Medium
Language: Mild
Drugs/Alcohol:Mild
Summary: Based on the novel that has crossed over markets to become one of the best sellers of all time. Top Hollywood talent and a fantastic cast and crew combine in this story of lives intertwining with their eternal destiny.
The film is set just a bit into the future, and opens with a prequel to the novel. Its hero, hotshot journalist Buck played by Kirk Cameron, is getting a firsthand look at the "Eden" project, a new technology that makes desert sand bloom like the original creation. During the demonstration, a full-scale attack on Israel is commencing.
But that's not the only strange thing happening - a short time later, millions of people disappear without a trace, including the family of the pilot whose plane Buck is on, Rayford Steele played by Brad Johnson. One thing leads to another and this unlikely pair find themselves in search of the same truth - what is happening to the world around them?
Having no answer, they take two separate paths to uncover who and what are behind the peace process and these sinister occurrences.
Evil forces are at work behind the scenes; however, one man rises to power to unite the world in this family story of action, intrigue, drama, and adventure. It's an exciting tale about the afterlife that will leave audiences thinking about and questioning everything. SEE REVIEW
The Million Dollar Hotel PG-13
Violence:Mild
Sexual Content: Not Suitable
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
Summary: Directed by Wim Wenders, "The Million Dollar Hotel" is an exercise in whimsy that steals liberally from Wenders' own Wings of Desire. Though hampered by a confounding, convoluted script penned by Nicholas Klein (who wrote The End of Violence, also directed by Wenders) and U2 singer Bono (who also provides the music), the film has an unabashed romantic tone matched by Wenders' usual flair for visual drama.
In the lonely opening, we crane down from the skyline of desolate downtown Los Angeles to the roof of the titular welfare flophouse, just as Tom (Jeremy Davies) sprints slow-mo to the roof's edge and hurls himself into thin air. From here, we flashback to the death of Tom's best pal, Izzy (Tim Roth), the junkie artist son of a Rupert Murdochesque billionaire (Harris Yulin). Izzy himself leaped to his death from the hotel roof - or was he pushed?
Suspicions swirl in an investigation led by Skinner, a straight-arrow FBI agent who wears a high-tech back brace, and his partner (Donal Logue). All of the media attention to Izzy's possible murder gives the wacky, forgotten, uninsured denizens of the Million Dollar Hotel a shot at the spotlight. It also brings Tom closer to Eloise (Milla Jovovich), a mentally ill resident who doesn't believe she actually exists.
Overall, the film is both sweet and sour - it all depends on how much patience you have. SEE REVIEW
Valentine R
Violence:Definitely Not Suitable
Sexual Content: Definitely Not Suitable
Language:Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Not Suitable
Content: Waste of time
Summary: A group of four precocious college girls make fun of one of their nerdy classmates - a young man - who harbors a serious grudge about it for years afterwards. Finally, having grown into a handsome, self-assured man, he goes back to get his revenge; each year on Valentine's Day, he takes one of them on a murderous date. From the director of Urban Legends, Valentine is a terrifying horror story. SEE REVIEW
The Wedding Planner PG-13
Violence: None
Sexual Content: Not Suitable
Language: Medium
Drugs/Alcohol: None
Content: Not insightful
Summary:Jennifer Lopez plays a peppy career woman who is great at what she does as a wedding planner. She can turn any wedding into the perfect romantic event, except for one when she begins to fall for the groom (Matthew McConaughey). All of her foundations are shaken, and she realizes that her preoccupation with work has made her life void of love. A plot that has run through the mill for years only to be hidden now under the umbrella story line of a wedding planner.
Overall, this film feeds off of the sensitive at heart and leaves no room for intellectual thought.
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