New films from a family perspective

ShareThis

A guide to movies from a family perspective:"How She Move"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Teens and older.-- What you should know: A teen-age girl turns to step dance as a way to solve problems at home and, ultimately, further her education. A strong female lead is shown dealing with social problems in a positive way.-- Language: Nothing notable.-- Sexual situations and nudity: Characters are sensual, but not overtly sexual, and a kiss is exchanged.-- Violence/scary situations: Although it's not depicted, an unseen character dies of a drug overdose, and two girls engage in a tussle at school.-- Drug or alcohol use: In addition to the overdose death, a hangout for drug users is depicted."Cloverfield"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: High-school students and older.-- What you should know: A preview was attached to "Transformers" in July, inspiring an Internet campaign about the then-untitled movie that proves to be "Godzilla" meets "The Blair Witch Project." A monster attacks New York on the night 20-somethings hold a farewell party for a friend, and they document it all with a camcorder.-- Language: Lots of use of the four-letter s-word.-- Sexual situations and nudity: A woman, in bed with a strategically placed sheet, wakes up after spending the night with a man. When he points a video camera her way, she jokes, "I could just see this ending up on the Internet."-- Violence/scary situations: Lots of both as a monster and smaller parasites attack and landmarks are destroyed and people injured or killed.-- Drug or alcohol use: Partygoers drink beer, wine and other alcohol."27 Dresses"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Mature tweens and older.-- What you should know: Katherine Heigl plays a woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 times. She's secretly in love with her boss, who falls for her sister. If that weren't trouble enough, a nosy newspaper reporter is intrigued by her always-a-bridesmaid life.-- Language: Heigl ducks outside to scream a 12-letter obscenity, although noise drowns out the back half of the word. A dozen mild expletives are used.-- Sexual situations and nudity: Couples kiss passionately and, in one case, spend the night together, although that is not shown. There are jokes about hot sex and wedding-party hookups.-- Violence/scary situations: Mild. A woman falls and bangs her head, another delivers a bracing slap and a car slides off the road in a rainstorm.-- Drug or alcohol use: Lots of booze is consumed."Mad Money"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Tweens and above.-- What you should know: Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes play Federal Reserve Bank employees who plot to steal worn-out money headed for the shredder.-- Language: Scattered mild profanity and at least one exclamation of "Jesus."-- Sexual situations and nudity: A man advises a colleague to "howl at the (rhymes with 'witches')," jokes are made about a stretch of sexual abstinence and couples canoodle.-- Violence/scary situations: Although there is an explosion and a police chase, it's generally mild.-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink beer, champagne and other alcoholic beverages."The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie"-- Rated: G.-- Suitable for: Preschoolers and above.-- What you should know: The animated VeggieTales, first introduced to many families at Christian bookstores, make the jump to the big screen with this story of hapless heroes. You can find religious themes, but it's mainly an adventure, laced with some comedy, about modern-day characters transported to the 17th-century pirate life.-- Language: None.-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.-- Violence/scary situations: A couple of characters are kidnapped and threatened with harm, but no one is killed or seriously hurt.-- Drug or alcohol use: None. Even in a bar, the pirates drink root beer and ginger ale.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)