Movie reviews
The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service.
Conan the Barbarian (Lionsgate)
This blood-saturated 3-D action-adventure — based on the 1930s pulp fiction of Robert E. Howard — offers up a visually dynamic yet exceedingly violent piece of hokum, bereft of positive values. "No mercy" could be its mantra, applying equally to those on screen and off. Pervasive graphic violence — including decapitations, severed limbs and torture — explicit nonmarital sexual activity, considerable upper female and brief rear male nudity, some sexual innuendo, one instance of crude language. (O, R)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (FilmDistrict)
This staid and stale remake of the 1973 made-for-TV horror movie indulges in little bloodletting, but offers no genuine chills, at least after the initial appearance of the evil goblins who live in the basement of a spooky old house, and pursue the young daughter of its new owner. Director Troy Nixey attempts an elegant homage but ends up with a fright-free misfire. Intense action scenes with a bit of gore, cohabitation, fleeting profane and crude language. (A-III, R)
Fright Night (Disney)
A Las Vegas-area teen suspects his new neighbor is a vampire responsible for the sudden disappearance of his boyhood best friend. Initially restrained bloodletting gives way to gore galore in director Craig Gillespie's nocturnal remake of a 1985 horror-comedy mix, peppered with obscenities throughout. Excessive graphic violence, a benign view of teen sexual activity, brief rear nudity, several uses of profanity, pervasive rough and crude language. (O, R)
One Day (Focus)
A turgid screen version of the best-selling romance novel, directed in a plodding style by Lone Scherfig, finds Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in a series of 20 annual episodes, beginning with their college graduation, as they progress from awkward friends to something more. Though their relationship is mature and broadly (if not always straightforwardly) moral, viewers' interest is likely to be fatally depleted by the excessively wordy dialogue of Nicholls' verbose script well before the five-hanky ending. A shadowy glimpse of female frontal nudity, brief rear nudity, implied cohabitation, a single instance of rough language. (A-III, PG-13)
Our Idiot Brother (Weinstein)
Occasionally effective, but sexually errant, satire about a ridiculously naive produce farmer (Paul Rudd) whose habit of guileless truth-telling complicates the driven lives of his three sisters. Though this underplayed comedy scores a few hits on modern mores, its use of nudity and sexual situations to elicit laughs, as well as its mainstreaming of one sibling's lesbian relationship, make it inappropriate for all. Strong sexual content, including graphic aberrant sexual activity, adultery, partial frontal, upper female and rear nudity, implicit acceptance of homosexual behavior, a narcotics theme, about a dozen uses of profanity, much rough and crude language. (O, R)
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D (Dimension)
Writer-director (and series creator) Robert Rodriguez's third sequel to 2001's "Spy Kids" offers the novelty of "Aroma-Scope," giving viewers the chance, via a scratch-and-sniff card, to "smell" the action as they watch (in 3-D) our young heroes — and their parents — fight to save the world. As the family learns to work together to rescue humanity, they discover that time is a precious commodity that must be used wisely. (A-II, PG)
—CNS
Catholic News Service classifications: A-I — general patronage; A-II — adults and adolescents; A-III — adults; L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling; O — morally offensive.
Conan the Barbarian (Lionsgate)
This blood-saturated 3-D action-adventure — based on the 1930s pulp fiction of Robert E. Howard — offers up a visually dynamic yet exceedingly violent piece of hokum, bereft of positive values. "No mercy" could be its mantra, applying equally to those on screen and off. Pervasive graphic violence — including decapitations, severed limbs and torture — explicit nonmarital sexual activity, considerable upper female and brief rear male nudity, some sexual innuendo, one instance of crude language. (O, R)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (FilmDistrict)
This staid and stale remake of the 1973 made-for-TV horror movie indulges in little bloodletting, but offers no genuine chills, at least after the initial appearance of the evil goblins who live in the basement of a spooky old house, and pursue the young daughter of its new owner. Director Troy Nixey attempts an elegant homage but ends up with a fright-free misfire. Intense action scenes with a bit of gore, cohabitation, fleeting profane and crude language. (A-III, R)
Fright Night (Disney)
A Las Vegas-area teen suspects his new neighbor is a vampire responsible for the sudden disappearance of his boyhood best friend. Initially restrained bloodletting gives way to gore galore in director Craig Gillespie's nocturnal remake of a 1985 horror-comedy mix, peppered with obscenities throughout. Excessive graphic violence, a benign view of teen sexual activity, brief rear nudity, several uses of profanity, pervasive rough and crude language. (O, R)
One Day (Focus)
A turgid screen version of the best-selling romance novel, directed in a plodding style by Lone Scherfig, finds Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in a series of 20 annual episodes, beginning with their college graduation, as they progress from awkward friends to something more. Though their relationship is mature and broadly (if not always straightforwardly) moral, viewers' interest is likely to be fatally depleted by the excessively wordy dialogue of Nicholls' verbose script well before the five-hanky ending. A shadowy glimpse of female frontal nudity, brief rear nudity, implied cohabitation, a single instance of rough language. (A-III, PG-13)
Our Idiot Brother (Weinstein)
Occasionally effective, but sexually errant, satire about a ridiculously naive produce farmer (Paul Rudd) whose habit of guileless truth-telling complicates the driven lives of his three sisters. Though this underplayed comedy scores a few hits on modern mores, its use of nudity and sexual situations to elicit laughs, as well as its mainstreaming of one sibling's lesbian relationship, make it inappropriate for all. Strong sexual content, including graphic aberrant sexual activity, adultery, partial frontal, upper female and rear nudity, implicit acceptance of homosexual behavior, a narcotics theme, about a dozen uses of profanity, much rough and crude language. (O, R)
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D (Dimension)
Writer-director (and series creator) Robert Rodriguez's third sequel to 2001's "Spy Kids" offers the novelty of "Aroma-Scope," giving viewers the chance, via a scratch-and-sniff card, to "smell" the action as they watch (in 3-D) our young heroes — and their parents — fight to save the world. As the family learns to work together to rescue humanity, they discover that time is a precious commodity that must be used wisely. (A-II, PG)
—CNS
Catholic News Service classifications: A-I — general patronage; A-II — adults and adolescents; A-III — adults; L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling; O — morally offensive.
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