ShareThisA guide to movies from a family perspective:"The Other Boleyn Girl"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Mature high school students and above.-- What you should know: The Philippa Gregory novel about sisters Anne and Mary Boleyn has been turned into a movie starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. The film deals with sexual situations too intense for younger children.-- Language: A handful of mild curses, mainly "Damn you!"-- Sexual situations and nudity: Ranges from sisterly confidences about a wedding night to couples shown in steamy bedroom embraces. In one especially disturbing scene, a man forces himself on a woman, and her face registers physical and emotional pain. Women are shown in the throes of childbirth. There is talk (only) of incest.-- Violence/scary situations: Women are pressed into sexual situations to advance their families. An executioner lops off heads with an ax or sword. You hear that sound and, in one scene, see the bloody body from far above.-- Drug or alcohol use: Wine is consumed."Penelope"-- Rated: PG.-- Suitable for: School-age girls, especially tweens, and above.-- What you should know: In this modern fairy tale, Christina Ricci is a young woman who, thanks to a family curse, was born with the nose and ears of a pig. Her parents hide her away and try to find a suitable match, to break the curse.-- Language: Nothing notable.-- Sexual situations and nudity: In keeping with the rating, all pretty tame. Brief references are made to a tragic coupling centuries ago and to an affair, and a man and woman are shown kissing.-- Violence/scary situations: In a scene that shows the origins of the curse, a servant who had an affair with a blue-blooded man throws herself off a cliff. Men who are horrified by Penelope's face fling themselves out windows but, in general, it's all pretty mild.-- Drug or alcohol use: Several scenes are set in a bar, and adults overindulge in alcohol."Vantage Point"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Teens and older.-- What you should know: An assassination attempt on the president of the United States is seen from eight different vantage points, as the audience learns a little more with each view. Cast includes William Hurt as the president and Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox as Secret Service agents.-- Language: One f-word, plus other milder curses.-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.-- Violence/scary situations: Lots of both, played over and over. Shots are fired at the president. Explosions leave onlookers dead or injured. People are kidnapped, shot and wounded or killed. Car chases are high-speed, extended and reckless. Many people, including a little girl, are in jeopardy.-- Drug or alcohol use: None."The Spiderwick Chronicles"-- Rated: PG.-- Suitable for: Artist Tony DiTerlizzi, co-creator of the source books, suggests ages 8 or 9 and up. He recommends leaving it to the parents' discretion for children younger than that.-- What you should know: The books of the same name have been turned into a movie starring Freddie Highmore as twins Jared and Simon Grace and Sarah Bolger as their older sister, Mallory. When their parents split, they move with their mother to a secluded old estate where they encounter creatures such as goblins, brownies and a dangerous shape-shifting ogre.-- Language: Nothing notable.-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.-- Violence/scary situations: An ogre is scary-looking and, sometimes, -sounding. A child is kidnapped and others are chased, attacked or threatened. One of the twins is angry about being uprooted and his parents' separation.--Drug or alcohol use: None.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
New films from a family perspective
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