Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

Posted on May 21, 2026 at 5:22 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended sci-fi action, peril, and violence, sci-fi weapons, blasters, swords, explosions, very scary monsters
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	May 22, 2026

If the words “Mandalorian” and “Grogu” are unfamiliar to you, but you like sci-fi/action movies with a warm heart and visual imagination plus exciting fight scenes and crazy monsters are more important than “Project Hail Mary”-style scientific authenticity, you will enjoy “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” If you are a fan of the Star Wars universe and have watched every episode of the “Mandalorian” television series, you wil really enjoy “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” I’m somewhere in the middle and I thought it was a lot of fun.

A quick refresher for those who are unfamiliar with this part of the Star Wars universe: Mandalorians are kind of like Jedis (with whom they were once at war), but with a wider range of fighting skills and an honor code rather than The Force. They are a clan-based warrior culture from the planet Mandalore. They share some qualities with ninjas, some with knights, some with Western heroes like the Lone Ranger. They wear armor from an impenetrable metal, including helmets that cover their faces at all times. Having their faces exposed is a very deep dishonor.

The three seasons of the television series take place five years after the Empire has been defeated and the democratic regime called the New Republic is in its early stages. The title character is a Mandalorian bounty hunter named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) who was sent to capture someone who turned out to be an infant of the same species as Yoda. Instead of completing his mission, Din rescues the baby, named Grogu and they have various adventures together. By the time of this movie, Grogu is still quite young, not talking but learning and mastering his powers, including levitation, and they are closely attached.

This film begins with a fight scene as Din takes on and takes out a cell of pro-Empire conspirators and a series of Storm Troopers, filmed like a first person shooter game, introducing newcomers and reminding fans of his extraordinay skills with every possible kind of weapon, plus being able to dodge every one of a barrage of bullets, along with cool gadgets many of which are a part of his armor. Including a jet pack.

“It got messy,” he explains to his boss (Signourney Weaver, fabulous as always). She sighs and gives him a new assignment: the twin siblings of the late giant evil slug, Jabba the Hutt, need Din to rescue their nephew, Jabba’s son, Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White) has been kidnapped, and they’ve agreed that if Rotta is returned to them, they will reveal the location of one of the New Republic’s most wanted criminals.

The ensuing adventures include a variety of different settings, from a “Blade Runner”-style decadent city with a four-armed food truck cook amusingly voiced by Martin Scorsese to some cute, gremlin-like tiny mechanics. Grogu is adorable. The contrast between his solomn expression, extraordinary powers, and childlike perspective — wait until you see him try to hit all the buttons on the navigation console of the spaceship — is charming. And when he tries to hide Din from the bad guys, he does something very smart and also very funny. Note the villians here, more like drug kingpins and petulent but cruel bureaucrats than the powerful and scary Darth Vadar and Darth Maul.

Director and co-screenwriter Jon Favreau gives Din a bit of an Iron Man set-up, with his built-in jet pack and cool built-in gadgets. He balances the heart, humor, and excitement effectively and the action scenes are well staged (please, see it in IMAX) and paced. Pascal somehow makes a character in full-body armor and a face-covering helmet feel human, or humanoid, whatever they are on that planet. It’s not especially memorable, but it is fun.

Parents should know that this is a sci-fi action movie with many fight scenes and scary monsters. There are guns, knives, swords, hand-to-hand fights, robots, and explosions.

Family discussion: Din has to choose whether to save another character knowing he is putting himself at great risk. What would you do and why? Colonel Ward decides to help one enemy to defeat a more dangerous enemy. Do you agree?

If you like this, try: the television series, “Andor” and all of the Star Wars ouvre, especially the first three films

Driver’s Ed

Posted on May 14, 2026 at 5:54 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	MPAA for sexual references, alcohol use, language throughout, brief graphic nudity, and teen drinking
Profanity:	Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Teen drinking, drugs and drug dealing
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril and violence, crotch hits, car crash
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	May 15, 2026

Four high school seniors impulsively “borrow” a driver’s ed car from their school and go off on a journey to Chapel Hill in a movie from director Bobby Farrelly that just about makes up for its predictability with its unpretentiousness. This is a “just go with it” movie, with paper-thin characters and contrived situations, but it invites us to go along for the ride.

Sam Niviola (“White Lotus,” and son of Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola) plays aspiring film-maker Jeremy, who desperately misses his girlfriend, Sam (Lilah Pate), already in college. In French class, the teacher catches him texting her and makes his classmate Evie (Sophie Telegadis) read it aloud. The earnest but ineffectual principal (Molly Shannon), more concerned about her job security than educating students or molding their characters, gives him a week’s detention.

An ineffectual but not earnest substitute driver’s ed teacher with both arms in casts (Kumail Nanjiani) takes Jeremy, Evie, and two other students out for a driving lesson. Don’t bother with the explanation of why four 18-year-olds don’t already have their licenses or how contrived it is that they are four ethnically diverse non-overlapping stereotypes who apparently have been watching each other closely since elementary school and have bite-sized story arcs to resolve their issues. Just go with it.

The other two students are Aparna (Mohana Krishnan), the study-all-the-time girl and Yoshi (Aidan Laprete), the apathetic slacker drug dealer. The appealing young actors all do their best to give some life to these paper-thin characters, but struggle with the lightly sketched emotional scenes. Inexplicably, both in terms of narrative and character, the one person who does not get a moment of confession leading to understanding and connection is Evie, whose reason for not having a driver’s license two years after eligibility is that she used to have friends drive her around but she “divorced” them all. This seems ripe for further examination, and failing to give her any kind of depth except for a palpable long-simmering crush on Jeremy might create more of a sag in the storyline if it wasn’t primarily focused on the incidents along the way.

Those include hitching a ride with a high-spirited couple, transporting a refrigerated truck filled with expensive furs they keep insisting have aphrodisiacal qualities, being chased by a determined cop (Bri Giger) who happens to be the former partner of the high school’s thrown off the force ineffectual (do we see a theme about the grown-ups here?) security guard, an encounter with an armed robber/drug dealer, and, in the film’s brightest performance, a. pre-med student (Marley Aliah) bringing an emotional support dog to comfort some sick kids.

It’s difficult to judge this film harshly because it is so soft-hearted that it is even sympathetic to a gun-toting drug dealer and even gives Jeremy a soft landing when he finally makes it to the campus and gets to talk to Sam. If it shifts his obsession with Sam into another relationship as ridiculously quick as Duckie at the end of “Pretty In Pink,” we cannot help but think a happy ending for everyone is just right.

Parents should know that this movie has teen drinking and drug use and two characters are drug dealers. Characters use very strong and crude language, peril and violence includes an armed robber and car chases and crashes and several crotch punches (no one badly hurt), sexual references and brief nudity and a lot of irresponsible behavior.

Family discussion: How did you/will you learn to drive? Why do you think Evie broke up with her friend group?

If you like this, try: a much better teens taking off for a road trip movie, “Paper Towns” and some of the movies Jeremy is inspired by

Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft – The Tour Live in 3D

Posted on May 7, 2026 at 5:50 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for strong language and suggestive references
Profanity:	Strong language and sexual references in song lyrics
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	May 8, 2026

If you don’t know better, when you see Billie Eilish come on stage by herself in a huge area, looking like she is wearing the clothes she slept in, bopping a bit as she walks around the perimeter of the stage that juts into the audience, you might think she is winging it. There may not be a sequin in sight, no choreography with spangled dancing girls, very few digital effects and just two back-up singers, simply dressed in polo shirts and pleated skirts. But Eilish is in control of every detail including meticulously staged lighting effects, a floating platform (reassuringly, she is tethered to it), and bursts of flame. As we will see, that also includes a powerful connection with every individual in the two gigantic arenas that are the settings for this 3D IMAX documentary concert film co-directed by Oscar-winners James Cameron and — I did say every detail — Eilish herself. She even used a camera to shoot some of the footage.

For a moment, I was annoyed at what I thought was the hands blocking the screen from the row in front of me. Then I realized they were not blocking the screen; they were on it. Cameron, the man behind the “Avatar” franchise, knows how to create a truly immersive experience. Like most concert films, this one has brief interviews with fans expressing their adoration and images audience members happily sobbing as they sing along as well as some backstage moments, in this case mostly with Cameron interviewing his co-director in an atmosphere of utter comfort and respect. One of the movie’s sweetest moments has Eilish looking through her window to see fans camped out below. She holds up a hand-lettered sign telling them she loves them and they of course go wild.

And one of the documentary’s most touching moments is when Eilish, who is in such confident command on stage, tells Cameron that while she loves performing “more than anything,” she was worried that she would not be able to because she was not comfortable in what she thought of as the expected presentation of young women singers (see the above references to sequins and choreography). Learning that she could be not just accepted but cherished for presenting herself as is (she smiles that she does her own hair and make-up, both minimal) is as important to her as the understanding and appreciation her fans find in her music. Over and over we hear them say that it is the generosity and insight in her music that makes them feel seen in a way that gives them hope and self-acceptance.

Early in the film, Eilish receives flowers and a loving note from her brother, Finneas, wishing her well on her first tour without him. That makes it all the more meaningful when he shows up late in the film to join her on stage. The relationship between them as siblings and musicians is a joy to watch, as is seeing Eilish play the audience as though it is a musical instrument. She is a truly remarkable performer. At one point, she lies down on the stage, cautioning her audience to stay as quiet as possible for just a minute so she can create a series of vocal loops requiring astonishing precision in a studio setting, near-unthinkable in live performance.

Her dedication to the fans is endearing, musing about the cuts and scrapes on her hands from trying to be in literal touch with as many as possible, and explaining that she wants to be the kind of performer her younger self would like to have been a fan of. As we are on stage with her, a part of these concerts, we can assure her that she has.

Parent should know that this film begins with a warning that it includes a lot of bright, flashing, and pulsing lights that may create problems for some viewers. Eilish’s lyrics have some strong language and sexual references.

Family discussion: Why did Billie Eilish think she would not be able to be herself on stage? What performers do you most admire and why?

If you like this, try: other concert films including performances by Taylor Swift, The Band, The Talking Heads, the Rolling Stones, and U2.

Swapped

Posted on May 1, 2026 at 8:55 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for action/peril and some scary images
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Characters in peril, scary villain, fire, predators
Diversity Issues:	A metaphorical theme of the film
Date Released to Theaters:	May 1, 2026

“Swapped” is a “Freaky Friday”-style body switch story with lessons of empathy movie, but this time instead of a mother and daughter it is two animals who are at first frustrated and mistrustful and then learn to trust each other.

The setting is a fantasy world with colorful animals. Deer-like creatures who look like they are made out of birch bark have huge antlers made of flowering branches. Ollie, voiced by Oscar-winner Michael B. Jordan, is a cuddly little cub-like creature, a cross between a ground-hog and a teddy bear, from a species called Pookoo. Like his fellow Pookoos, he has an exceptional sense of smell, so vivid they can visualize odors. Unlike his fellow Pookoos, Ollie is curious about the world and in an early scene we see him so determined to explore the world under water that he invents a goggle/breathing mechanism requiring several failures before he figures it out. That scene under water is one of several especially beautiful settings and a lovely way to introduce us to an endearing hero.

Ollie’s grandmother (Táta Vega) tells him their community’s origin myth, with gigantic “walking orchard creatures of wisdom and kindness” called Zoe. They looked like building-sized elephants made out of redwood trees, and they carried special glowing pods that had the power to transform an animal into another species. The evil fire wolf killed some of the Zoe and banished the rest. The animals, no longer able to transform to help them understand each other, became clannish and mistrustful.

Ollie meets a young Javan bird and teachers he how to get the berries that the pookoo give on. His father (Cedric the Entertainer) is furious. The Pookoo consider the Javan their enemies. And then a flock of Javan birds arrive to devour all of the berries. Years later, when Ollie is a young adult, the Pookoo are close to starving. The Pookoo blame Ollie, his father barely speaks to him, and he is crushed with guilt and grief.

And then, he finds a glowing pod and he and a Javan named Ivy (Juno Temple) find themselves in each other’s bodies. They have to learn how to work together to find their way back home , meet a friendly fish who shows them where the glowing pods are (Tracy Morgan) and survive the predators, including the fire wolf and a cave filled with toothy snakes.

The same themes are better explored in films like ‘Hoppers,” “The Wild Robot,” and yes, “Freaky Friday,” but the animation is imaginative and colorful, Temple and Jordan give vibrant, witty performances, and the messages of inclusion and empathy are always welcome.

Parents should know that this film includes some scary predators, including one who is on fire. Characters are in peril, betrayed, and injured. There are two fake-outs when we think that some have been killed. The film also includes some schoolyard language and potty humor.

Family discussion: What human or animal would you like to trade places with? Why was the wolf so angry?

If you like this, try: “Hoppers”

Steal This Story, Please!

Posted on April 30, 2026 at 5:37 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Scenes of real-life violence, people injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	May 1, 2026

Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin popularized the phrase “Speak truth to power” as a foundational tactic of holding authorities accountable and progress toward a more just society. And H.L. Mencken is often credited with the obligation of the journalist: “To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” No one has exemplified that directive with more passion over more time than Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! She has more than earned the exclamation mark at the end of both the name of her organization and the name of this documentary about her life and work reporting the news from the perspective of ordinary people.

As the movie opens, it is 2018 and she is literally chasing after P. Wells Griffith III, then the Trump administration’s climate advisor in his first term, currently Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, at the U.S. Department of State, and one-time a managing director at one of Washington DC’s most powerful K Street “communications” firms working on behalf of the oil industry. He insists that he has to rush to a meeting as she peppers him with questions about what he is doing there. “You weren’t running late when you were just standing there.” He accuses her of harassing him and tells her to set up an interview. But when she tries to follow up with his aide, they literally shut the door in her face.

We then see her asking then-President George H.W. Bush, “What do you say to those who say that you’re a war criminal?” And a provocative question for her, “You’re an activist and journalist. Can you do both?” Stephen Colbert, on “The Colbert Report,” jokingly calls her a communist. Rush Limbaugh, not joking, calls her a radical leftist. And we see her reporting, over decades, from every part of the world where people in power are putting people without power at risk, from Haiti to Gaza and all over the United States. Her reporting helped to free a wrongly imprisoned individual in Louisiana after 38 years. She was beaten and held at gunpoint when Indonesian military fired on civilians at an independence rally in East Timor.

Another journalist admits that some journalists do not ask tough questions because they fear losing access. But Goodman never pulls her punches. Every bit of her is fully committed. She even named her dog after an anti-Nazi group in occupied France.

The archival material from her childhood is illuminating and endearing. When she was growing up, her brother David started a family newspaper, reporting on events in their home. When their mother tried to censor a story about Amy getting a spanking, “he really cried censorship, because he was only eight years old.” The newspaper even had letters to the editor “where the whole family fought about issues,” and one from the Goodman children’s grandfather gently disagreed with David’s position on the war in Vietnam, and David responded, “I love you but your views on the war are stupid.”

Goodman is generally considered left-wing, but that is not entirely fair. Unlike some of her competition, who are selective in framing and choosing stories they report, even to the point of having to pay millions of dollars to settle defamation cases, with “local, independent” reporters who are reciting identical scripts from corporate HQ, Goodman has consistently reported the facts from the perspective nearly all other journalists overlook, the impact of the news on ordinary people. When she gets in trouble, it is not about spin, but about the Rustin and Mencken standards for reporters. This movie is a welcome reminder that it is the irritating, provocative, relentless journalists who are an indispensable foundation for democracy.

Parents should know that this film includes depiction of violence and conflict.

Family discussion: If your family had a newspaper, what stories would it include? What news sources do you think are most trustworthy and why?

If you like this, try: listening to Goodman’s reporting and other documentaries about pioneering journalists, like “Writing With Fire,” “Bad Press,” “The Most Dangerous Man in America,” and “Cover-Up”