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Non-Chick Flicks

A few of my recent favorites

Posted by Lisa Hendey in Reviews on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 7:00 PM

As long as the girls are talking entertainment today, I thought I’d share my “take” on a few of the films I had the chance to watch on my Christmas vacation this year. But you’ll note a trend here—none of these are “chick flicks”. Maybe that’s because I hung out with three “guys” all during the holiday season and I never get to choose the movie in that situation! Please note that all of these are adult films, rated PG-13, and that you can find full reviews and the Bishops’ ratings from the USCCB//CNS here. If you or your family have seen any of the films listed, I’d love to hear what you thought.

War Horse—Probably my favorite of the bunch, I actually had the chance to see this Christmas release a few weeks before it came out. The audience in my screening stood for a prolonged ovation at the screening of this one. I loved the sweeping scenery and the characters in this drama. My only concern was the fact that some parents might think a film with a horse as the main (albeit heroic) character is suitable for children. This one isn’t, due to the violence that might frighten some youngsters.

Mission Impossible—Ghost Protocol—I can’t help myself, I love the Tom Cruise MI films. We saw this one on an IMax screen, which made it even bigger and better. The gadgets, the daring missions, and the amazingly intense action kept me on the edge of my seat. Go see it on the big screen!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows—I really enjoyed this follow up to Robert Downey Jr’s first turn as Sherlock, but could have done without a few of the more “adult” humor scenes that could easily have been dropped from the film. Stay tuned for a likely sequel…

Moneyball —I caught this one on the plane home from my Christmas vacation, which means that I likely saw a “sanitized” film with no adult scenes or bad language. How wonderful would it be if we could see all movies that way? With no objectionable material to take away from the story…If you love baseball, you’ll love Moneyball. But even if you don’t, it’s likely that this story will win your heart.

Have you seen any films lately? I’d especially love to hear from some of our readers with younger children who saw family-friendly movies over the holidays. 

Comments
10
Filed under dvds, movies, reviews

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 
Posted by Anna on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 9:03 PM (EDT):

Re: the Moneyball comment, I’m so mad that the companies who used to sell cleaned-up versions of films were run out of business by the movie studios.  I would buy more movies if I could get the “airline” versions, and you’d think the studios would just want to cater to a larger audience, but apparently not.
The only movie I’ve seen recently was “Megamind”; it was really funny, much better than I expected, and quite clean.  I don’t know why I had low expectations, but I think it’s a fun movie even if you don’t go in expecting it to be just “there.”  We didn’t have our 5 and 2 y-o watch, but I think it’s a good family movie if your kids are old enough for “The Incredibles”-type movies.

 
Posted by Carol Kennedy on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 10:18 PM (EDT):

For the record, Moneyball was a pretty clean movie, no sex or violence (that I can recall) just some colorful language. I agree…well done movie. I am told the book is just as good if not better.

 
Posted by Lisa Hendey on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 11:06 PM (EDT):

Anna, thanks for the tip on Megamind. I haven’t seen that yet. Carol glad you liked Moneyball. I thought Steven Greydanus’ review of it at http://decentfilms.com/reviews/moneyball was spot on…

 
Posted by LauraL on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 11:13 AM (EDT):

After Thanksgiving we took our nieces and nephew to see the new Muppet movie.  It was an enjoyable movie, even if my oldest niece looked at me funny when I was laughing at the jokes!
I recently saw Cowboys & Aliens.  Not one for kids, but I can’t pass up cowboys or aliens and both in one movie!

 
Posted by dk on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 9:35 PM (EDT):

I loved the Muppets movie!  It really was enjoyable for the whole family.  I wish I could find the old TV episodes to watch w/the kids.

 
Posted by LauraL on Thursday, Jan 12, 2012 3:59 PM (EDT):

My sister found the muppet tv show on dvd.  I think she found it at Newbury Comics… at least that’s where we’ve had luck finding used dvds.

 
Posted by Christine on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 4:30 PM (EDT):

My husband and I took our 13 year old daughter and our 17 year old son to The Invention of Hugo Cabret (in 3-D) with discount coupons.  We all enjoyed its creativity.  It is based on the Caldecott winning graphic novel.  It is a tame PG.  I liked it better then War Horse.

 
Posted by Michelle on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 5:03 PM (EDT):

Just a comment about the assumption that your airlines have “cleaned up” versions of movies:  I was flying on Virgin Atlantic this summer and was literally SHOCKED to see that NONE of the movies were cleaned up.  I assumed I could watch a PG-13 movie easily, only to find I really thought it should have been rated R with some of the scenes and language.  I don’t think it’s common practice anymore to clean movies up for airlines when they give each person their own screen.  Important information, before you let a child view something you haven’t seen before!!

 
Posted by Kim on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 5:12 PM (EDT):

As a note about cleaning up movies… I strongly suggest looking into Clearplay.  It is a system where you can eliminate what you want from a movie - cursing, blasphemy, nudity, violence, even dis honoring the flag.  You have to have their DVD player, usually around $75-100, and a service fee where you download the filters onto a USB stick and plug it into the DVD player.  It is well worth it and has totally changed our movie nights - we can watch almost any movie with confidence.  The website is http://www.clearplay.com

 
Posted by Anna on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 11:14 PM (EDT):

Thanks for the tip!  I’ll have to look into that.


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