ShareThisA guide to movies from a family perspective:
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"
-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: School-age and older children who can sit attentively through a 105-minute movie.
-- What you should know: This is the sequel to the 2006 hit with Ben Stiller as a night watchman at a museum. This time, he has a new job but is in Washington trying to keep old and new exhibits that have come alive from wreaking havoc.
-- Language: Two stronger versions of "darn."
-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.
-- Violence/scary situations: Cartoonish, from slaps to the face to the throwing of spears, perilous plane rides and death threats -- a miniature man is held captive in a sandy hourglass.
-- Drug or alcohol use: None.
"Terminator Salvation"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Teens and older.
-- What you should know: This is the fourth film in the franchise that quietly launched in 1984 with director-writer James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Most of the movie is set in 2018, after nuclear war has decimated the landscape, and Christian Bale takes over as John Connor, humanity's hope.
-- Language: About a half-dozen mild expletives.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Almost none, other than a couple of kisses and a naked cyborg discreetly photographed.
-- Violence/scary situations: Pretty much from beginning to end, from a Death Row prisoner being executed to a devastated world with killer machines of all sizes and shapes and lots of noisy explosions, fireballs, crashes, shootings, fights and at least one impaling.
-- Drug or alcohol use: None.
"Angels & Demons"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Mature teens and older.
-- What you should know: Tom Hanks returns as Robert Langdon and reunites with director Ron Howard for another movie based on a Dan Brown novel. This time, Langdon is caught in the aftermath of the kidnapping of four cardinals in Rome, the theft of antimatter and news that an ancient group called the Illuminati has resurfaced at the Vatican.
-- Language: A handful of mild four-letter words.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.
-- Violence/scary situations: This is where the movie earns its rating. A man is killed and his eyeball sliced out, and others are kidnapped, murdered, set on fire, poisoned, killed in an explosion, targeted for drowning, shot to death and branded with a red-hot iron. A sense of peril prevails throughout.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Nothing notable.
"Star Trek"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Moviegoers 9 or 10 and older.
-- What you should know: This sci-fi adventure explains how the core characters came to be. It introduces Kirk as a newborn and then rebellious boy in Iowa, and Spock as a scorned child on his home planet. They quickly turn into young men played by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. In addition to introducing them on their first big mission, the movie shows how other key characters joined the crew.
-- Language: Nine or so mild four-letter words, the sort sometimes heard on TV, plus stronger versions of "butt" or "nonsense."
-- Sexual situations and nudity: A woman is shown in childbirth, a couple canoodle on a bed and others are shown kissing.
-- Violence/scary situations: Characters, including a father, die offscreen or on-, and there are lots of violent fights, explosions, risky maneuvers, near-death moments and scenes of peril.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Characters are shown drinking beer, and a scene set in a bar touches off a brawl.
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Mature tweens and up.
-- What you should know: This is a prequel to the three "X-Men" movies, and it explains how the character of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) came to be. It also introduces many other mutants, including Victor Creed, a/k/a Sabretooth.
-- Language: Some profanity, several uses of "hell" and other mild expletives.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Jackman, briefly, is photographed naked from behind, while on the run, or leaping into a waterfall. He and his girlfriend are seen in bed.
-- Violence/scary situations: This is where the movie earns its rating. You watch countless killings, including the death of a main character. Also features a montage of wartime violence, fiery explosions, fatal shootings or slashings, fights, falls, rage, imprisonment, scary medical experiments and transformations.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Some brief scenes in bars where people are drinking.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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