Movie reviews
Act of Valor (Relativity)
Earnest but graphically violent dramatization of the work of the Navy's SEALs unit. Co-directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh employ real-life, necessarily anonymous members of that elite corps to enact a fictional story in which the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative (Roselyn Sanchez) reveals a terrorist plot to smuggle advanced explosives across the Mexican border. Suspenseful action sequences are interspersed with a narrative ramming home macho values and lead up, all too frequently, to unsparingly portrayed bloodletting. Pervasive, often gory violence, including torture, a couple of uses of profanity, about a dozen instances each of rough and crude language. (L, R)
Gone (Summit)
Painfully inept thriller in which a Portland, Ore., waitress (Amanda Seyfried) goes in search of her missing sister (Emily Wickersham), fearing that the same serial killer who abducted her a year previously has returned to kidnap her sibling. Although its main character is forced to pursue justice outside the law --- no evidence of the earlier crime could be discovered, so the police think she's crazy --- there's nothing really wrong with director Heitor Dhalia's flimsy flick. But there's absolutely nothing right about it either. Vigilantism, brief, shadowy partial nudity, an incidental gay situation, a few uses of profanity, at least one instance of the F-word, some crude and crass language. (A-III, PG-13)
Tyler Perry's Good Deeds (Lionsgate)
Less heavy-handed than the eponymous writer and director's other morality plays but considerably slower in pace, this romance --- of sorts --- focuses on a single relationship, and carries a steady reminder that the wealthy and powerful have to work much harder than the less privileged to approach the kingdom of Heaven. Perry plays a computer software tycoon whose well-ordered life is upended by a widowed office-cleaner (Thandie Newton) and her 6-year-old daughter (Jordenn Thompson). An implied premarital relationship, fleeting crass language and sexual banter. (A-III, PG-13)
Wanderlust (Universal)
A young New York couple (Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd) find themselves living in a rural commune where free love, drugs and an absence of boundaries are the order of the day. While the conclusion of director and co-writer David Wain's insubstantial and distasteful comedy affirms the beauty of monogamy, viewers must endure a gauntlet of gross-out humor and relentless lashings of tawdry language before reaching this relatively pleasing wrap-up. Strong sexual content, including full nudity and explicit vulgar dialogue, adultery theme, drug use, occasional profanity, frequent rough and some crude language, an obscene gesture. (O, R)
----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. Full-length reviews: www.catholicnews.com/movies.htm.
Directories
Vida Nueva
Past issues
PayPal Donation
Archdiocese
Member Login
Latest Events
- Healing Mass
General
May 22, 2013 (6:30 PM)
- St. John Eudes Carnival
General
May 24, 2013 (8:00 AM)
- The New Evangelization
General
May 25, 2013 (9:00 AM - 3:30 PM)