Directed by: Gary David Goldberg Starring: John Cusack, Diane Lane, Christopher Plummer, Stockard Channing Rated: PG-13 for sexual content. Parental Notes: This is a fairly standard romantic comedy. There’s some bawdy material but nothing graphic. Really, the most damage it might do to your children is give them unrealistic expectations in life.
Directed by: Richard Linklater Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Greg Kinnear, Sammi Kraft, Brandon Craggs, Timmy Deters, K.C. Harris, Tyler Patrick Jones Rated: PG-13 for rude behavior, language throughout, some sexuality and thematic elements Parental Notes: This film deserves its PG-13 rating; although it features kids in the 10-13 set as characters, the foul language and rude behavior may be a bit much for some parents to consider this appropriate for their own kids. That said, the underlying messages of the film are good and most kids have heard all this language before.
Directed by: Tim Story Starring: Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffud, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some suggestive content. Parental Notes: This is a fairly standard comic-book movie. It’s not too gory, and there’s little in the way of sexually suggestive content. While the action scenes may be too intense for youngsters, it’s mostly harmless.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin Rated: PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images. Parental Notes: This is a reasonably strong PG-13 film. Although it isn’t terribly graphic, there are several disturbing scenes including one of mob violence and numerous shots of dead bodies at a distance. Youngsters may find it too intense.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan Starring: Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe Rated: PG-13 for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements. Parental Notes: This film is a pretty heavy PG-13, right on the edge of R. There is quite a bit of violence here and some intensely scary moments as well. This is not a film for kids who are easily spooked by bats or boogiemen. That said, preteens who aren
Directed by: Doug Liman Starring: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Vince Vaughn Rated: PG-13 for sequences of violence, intense action, sexual content and brief strong language. Parental Notes: This is a fairly typical action movie; mature preteens and teenagers will probably have a blast watching it.
Directed by: Ron Howard Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko Rated: PG-13 for intense boxing violence and some language. Parental Notes: This film is probably fine for preteens and teens, but youngsters may find the boxing scenes too intense for comfort.
Directed by: George Lucas Starring: Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images. Parental Notes: This is a much darker film than the previous two episodes, and is not for young children. Anakin’s journey to the dark side is disturbing and the final battle he engages in is graphic and includes dismemberment. This is a strong PG-13 film, so take that into consideration when thinking about taking your kids.
Directed by: Breck Eisner Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn, Lambert Wilson, William H. Macy Rated: PG-13 for action violence. Parental Notes: This is standard summer PG-13 fare. The violence is mostly of the big explosions and fast chases sort, with plenty of scattered gunfire, but it’s all in good fun and generally not dark or cruel in tone. There are deaths, but not gruesome ones. This is a good film for preteens and teens who like summer action flicks.
Directed by: John Pasquin Starring: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, Diedrick Bader, Treat Williams, Heather Burns, William Shatner Rated: PG-13 for sexual references and a scene of violence. Parental Notes: This film is fairly innocuous for most preteens. There is a little violence but nothing graphic and some sexual references but nothing all that explicit.