The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Becoming Jane (Miramax)
Interesting speculative drama, based on only a few known facts, about the bittersweet romance between writer Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) and an Irish lawyer (James McAvoy), and how the experience might have influenced her writings. Julian Jarrold directs with an authentic 18th-century feel, performances are good (with American Hathaway holding her own reasonably well among such British acting pros as Maggie Smith, Julie Walters and Ian Richardson) and though the film is somehow not entirely satisfying it nonetheless holds your interest up to its bittersweet ending. Possibly acceptable for older teens, though with a frisky but nongraphic husband-wife encounter, some prostitutes, an implied premarital encounter, mild innuendo and brief sexual allusions. (A-III, PG-13)
The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal)
This lightning-paced, globe-trotting follow-up to "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy" wraps up Bourne's (Matt Damon) quest to discover his true name and history even as CIA project head orders his immediate termination, but is continually stymied by Bourne's lethal skills at evasion and unexpected help from female CIA operatives. Director Paul Greengrass orchestrates sustained and eye-popping action-excitement throughout while a top-notch cast (including a climactic appearance by Albert Finney) manages to flesh out their characters, resulting in a satisfying if somewhat exhausting thriller. Much intense and fierce violence and intermittent profanity. (A-III, PG-13)
Bratz (Lionsgate)
The sleazily dressed Bratz line of fashion dolls come to life in a fluffy, live-action movie about four empowered Southern California high-schoolers who are good to their parents and classmates, do well in school, follow their dreams, and stand up to the rigid and authority-abusing student body president, all while dressed like professional escorts or trashy music-video girls. Director Sean McNamara swerves from naturalistic drama to cartoon antics, and for all the girls' good works and admirable camaraderie, the Bratz (as they name their singing-dancing girl group) are insufferably self-satisfied hyperconsumers. Much tight and skimpy costuming, two brawls and two instances of crude physical humor. (A-II, PG)
El Cantante (Picturehouse)
Lively but sordid life of Puerto Rican salsa star Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony), who died at 46 of drug-related AIDS in 1993, and his tumultuous relationship with wife Puchi (Jennifer Lopez, exhibiting unaccustomed range), who relates their story in flashback. The stars are good, and co-writer and director Leon Ichaso re-creates the era convincingly in this over-the-decades saga (starting in the 1960s), with a fine musical earful throughout, but the couple's endless fights and the nonstop barrage of expletives are repetitious and ultimately wearying. Pervasive rough language, drug and alcohol abuse, attempted suicide, premarital situations, some nongraphic sexual encounters, innuendo, implied adultery and a brief suggestion of sexual kinkiness, and some skimpy costuming. (L, R)
I Know Who Killed Me (TriStar/360)
Perfectly dreadful thriller about a college student (Lindsay Lohan in a big career misstep) abducted and tortured by a serial killer (who amputates several of her body parts), and how, when she finds herself waking up in a hospital, she must convince everyone she is not the young woman everyone thinks she is. Chris Sivertson's direction, Jeffrey Hammond's ludicrous script, and the level of acting is as crude as a grindhouse movie of the 1970s, with heaps of trashy violence, sex and bad language. Graphic violence and torture, gore, grisly images, pervasive rough language and some profanity, upper female nudity, skimpy costuming, a graphic sex scene, drug and alcohol use, and condom use. (O, R)
Who's Your Caddy? (MGM)
Witless attempt at a comedy about a rap mogul's entry to a South Carolina country club where his late father had been a caddy. Director Ron Paul puts a competent cast through a series of uninspired sequences contrasting raucous hip-hop behavior and sedate, clueless white elites (for some unexplained reason, always male). Skimpy costuming in a brief filming of a hip-hop video, marijuana fed to a horse, some crude language, fleeting use of the n-word, partial female nudity, rear male nudity, and some mild sexual banter and frequent scatological humor. (A-III, PG-13) ---CNS |