Movie Reviews

The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service.

The Apparition (Warner Bros.)
Mostly bloodless, in both a good and bad sense, writer-director Todd Lincoln's derivative house of horrors tale — his feature debut — avoids offending but fails to engage. An otherworldly entity unleashed in a parapsychology experiment returns to haunt one of the participants (Sebastian Stan) and his live-in girlfriend (Ashley Greene) who knows nothing of her partner's past dabbling in the occult. Grownups will easily dismiss metaphysical gobbledygook of the H.P. Lovecraft variety spouted by another survivor of the seance (Tom Felton). But sometimes inept dialogue and generic characters behaving in unlikely ways blunt any potential impact. Minimal violence and gore, cohabitation, a brief, nongraphic bedroom scene, blurred upper female and partial nudity, a couple of crude words, at least one crass term and fleeting innuendo. (A-III, PG-13)

The Awakening (Cohen Media Group)
Things go bump in the night — and during the day — in first-time director Nick Murphy's old-fashioned but stylish horror movie set in a remote country manse-turned-boys'-boarding-school in the early 1920s. At the behest of one of its teachers (Dominic West), a professional ghost hunter (Rebecca Hall) who denies the existence of the supernatural in any form investigates the mysterious death of a student there — a tragedy his frightened classmates blame on a specter. She is assisted by the establishment's sympathetic matron (Imelda Staunton) and by a pale, withdrawn lad (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) who, unlike all his peers, has not gone home for vacation. What ensues is a mildly scary game of cat and mouse during which the skeptic uncovers her own personal demons. Some bloody violence, an attempted rape, a nongraphic nonmarital sexual encounter, brief upper female and rear nudity in a nonsexual context. (A-III, R)

Hit and Run (Open Road)
Pretentiously droll and ostentatiously vulgar road-trip comedy. Dax Shepard, who wrote the screenplay and co-directed with David Palmer, plays a sensitive former getaway car driver for a group of bank robbers who is now in the witness protection program. When his girlfriend (Kristen Bell) lands a job teaching college, she has just two days to travel the 500 miles to Los Angeles so she can accept. The pair is eventually pursued on their high-speed journey by her possessive ex-boyfriend (Michael Rosenbaum), the ex's brother (Jess Rowland), a lovelorn gay sheriff's deputy, a bumbling federal marshal (Tom Arnold) and the thieves (led by Bradley Cooper) with whom Shepard's character used to work. Bloody violence and gunplay, strong sexual content — including implied aberrant behavior and cohabitation, full male and female nudity and references to rape and homosexual activity — marijuana use, a few instances of profanity, pervasive rough language. (O, R)

Lawless (Weinstein)
Morally tangled period piece, set in Prohibition-era Virginia, charts the violent adventures of three bootlegging brothers (Shia LaBeouf, Jason Clarke and Tom Hardy) as they battle a corrupt and sadistic special deputy (Guy Pearce) who's out to lay down his own version of the law — by any means necessary. Though the siblings resort to force only in retaliation, and eventually cease and desist, director John Hillcoat's adaptation of Matt Bondurant's 2008 fact-based novel "The Wettest County in the World" tends to glamorize the mayhem they wreak. As scripted by Nick Cave, the film does the same for a premarital bedroom encounter. Unsuitable for all but the most mature and discerning viewers. Strong, often gory violence, including torture, mutilation and beatings, semi-graphic premarital sexual activity, upper female nudity, numerous uses of profanity, many rough and crude terms, some crass language. (L, R)

The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (Kenn Viselman Presents)
This interactive film featuring full-bodied puppets that prompt children to dance and sing is the vision of producer Kenn Viselman, creator of the "Teletubbies" TV series; it's directed by Matthew Diamond. Three friends plan a surprise birthday party. But the presents — five magical balloons — go missing. The pals must work together to find the lost items before the party starts. Harmless and wholesome fun, suitable for the very youngest of moviegoers. (A-I,)

The Possession (Lionsgate)
A seemingly innocuous wooden box purchased at a yard sale contains an evil spirit that takes possession of a young girl (Natasha Calis), blighting her life and those of her recently divorced parents (Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick). Director Ole Bornedal initially achieves above-average results with this mostly gore-free chiller. But returns diminish as his film approaches its overwrought climax. A strong pro-marriage message and the respectful treatment of the Jewish faith by which the afflicted lass is to be exorcised remain pluses nonetheless. Some violent and potentially disturbing images, a premarital situation, at least one use each of profanity and crude language, brief sexual references. (A-III, PG-13)

Premium Rush (Columbia)
A daredevil Manhattan bicycle messenger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets more than he bargained for when he picks up an envelope his girlfriend's (Dania Ramirez) roommate (Jamie Chung) wants to have delivered to Chinatown post haste and finds that — for reasons he can't initially fathom — its contents have him on the run from a half-crazed rogue cop (Michael Shannon). Director and co-writer David Koepp serves up some fluid and suspenseful chase scenes. But the recklessness of the couriers' lifestyle is irresponsibly glamorized as a thrilling alternative to the boredom of office work — our hero is dodging a legal career — while the gritty dialogue catches viewers in a slipstream of unrelieved vulgarity. Scenes of violence, including beatings and torture, about 20 instances of profanity, at least one use of the F-word, pervasive crude and crass language, obscene gestures. (L, PG-13)

2016: Obama's America (Rocky Mountain)
Engaging political documentary in which filmmakers Dinesh D'Souza and John Sullivan set out to answer the question, "What does Barack Obama believe?" In bringing his 2010 best-seller "The Roots of Obama's Rage," to the screen, right-leaning scholar D'Souza, who also narrates, uses the 44th president's own memoir as his starting point for a globetrotting journey in search of the chief executive's intellectual roots. The fairly slickly produced movie that results offers a studied — if obviously partisan — analysis of the president's early life and influences. Though the conclusions drawn from this examination are both radical and questionable, the shy and likable D'Souza's tone is never uncharitable. Still, most viewers are likely to come away from his film holding precisely the same view of the president they did going into it. Adult themes and a single expression that could be construed as profane. (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. Full-length reviews: www.catholicnews.com/movies.htm.