ShareThisA guide to movies from a family perspective:
"Australia"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Tweens and above.
-- What you should know: Baz Luhrmann directs Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in a sweeping, old-fashioned movie set in Australia in the late 1930s and early '40s.
-- Language: One crisply delivered f-word and a few stronger versions of "darn" and "heck."
-- Sexual situations and nudity: The most explicit and yet PG-13 scene involves a couple who start kissing, begin to undress each other and end up in bed before the camera cuts away.
-- Violence/scary situations: Men are killed by spears, a woman drowns, a man is trampled during a cattle drive and a prolonged attack by the Japanese leaves a city in fiery ruins and imperils children exiled on an island.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Rum is a favorite, and drinks are tossed back in rowdy bars and served at society functions.
"Four Christmases"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Teens and above.
-- What you should know: Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn play an unmarried couple whose vacation plans are short-circuited and end up visiting their families instead.
-- Language: About a dozen mild expletives or vulgarities.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: A couple is shown leaving a bar bathroom after a romantic interlude, kisses are exchanged, a grandmother talks about "pleasuring" her partner, a man describes his much-older girlfriend as a "very sexual being" and a woman says her husband "knows I slept with the entire water-polo team just like I know he experimented with men." Also, a home pregnancy test is the focus of a game of keep-away.
-- Violence/scary situations: Childish men punch, jump on and otherwise physically abuse their brother. An attempt to install a satellite dish ends badly, with a fall from the roof and destruction inside. A baby's head is accidentally banged against a cabinet, and children and an adult are tossed around in a backyard inflatable playroom.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults consume a variety of alcoholic drinks, although mainly beer and wine.
"Bolt"
-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: Preschoolers and up who can sit through a 96-minute movie.
-- What you should know: This is an animated movie about a dog who appears on a TV show and thinks he really possesses superpowers. He learns otherwise when he accidentally is shipped to New York. In addition to the dog, it features an animated cat, pigeons and scene-stealing hamster.
-- Language: Nothing notable.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.
-- Violence/scary situations: The movie opens with an intense chase scene that turns out to be part of the TV show. Later, however, there are a couple of scenes involving either vehicles that blow up or, especially, a fire that traps Bolt's beloved owner, with the voice of Miley Cyrus. It ends happily, though.
-- Drug or alcohol use: None.
"Twilight"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Teens, especially those familiar with the Stephenie Meyer novel of the same name, and older.
-- What you should know: This is based on the first of four Meyer books about the romance between a vampire and a human girl. It stars Kristen Stewart and instant heartthrob Robert Pattinson.
-- Language: Nothing notable.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: The lead characters engage in some brief but passionate kissing. They cannot go further across the vampire-human divide, although it's evident they want to, as they kiss on her bed. A mother, upon hearing about a boy in her daughter's life, asks if she's being "safe."
-- Violence/scary situations: We see humans fleeing from evil vampires or about to be killed. A teen is followed, lured into a trap, bitten and injured in other ways. Although only the beginning of the scene is shown in a fuzzy background, a vampire is about to be killed by being ripped apart and burned.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink or clutch beer cans, but no teen drinking.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Mature teens and older moviegoers.
-- What you should know: This is based on a novel, designed to impart lessons about prejudice and hatred, about the forbidden friendship between the son of a Nazi commandant and a Jewish boy in a death camp. It has a very powerful but disturbing ending involving children and others being put to death.
-- Language: Nothing notable.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: None, beyond flirting.
-- Violence/scary situations: The movie is set during World War II and Jews are shown being taken away, denigrated, held prisoner, beaten and being sent to their deaths. Smoke from a crematorium is visible. Also, a grandparent dies and family members attend the funeral.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink wine and other alcoholic substances.
"Quantum of Solace"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Mature teens and older.
-- What you should know: This is the second James Bond movie with Daniel Craig, and it's a gritty, action-packed movie with dark themes about betrayal and vengeance. It's grimmer than many of the previous 21 Bond films.
-- Language: One use of "Christ" and stronger versions of "darn" and "heck."
-- Sexual situations and nudity: A woman clutches a sheet to her chest as a man kisses her back, in preparation for an intimate encounter. A woman, nude and face down, is shown, but she's covered in a substance that somewhat obscures her form.
-- Violence/scary situations: A steady stream of both, with chase scenes, car accidents, shootings, falls, a near-rape and fatal fires, along with shots of dead bodies.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults consume a variety of drinks, sometimes to excess.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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