Plot: The only one of the popular S.E. Hinton books to be filmed by Disney, this is a bit glossier than the two directed by Francis Ford Coppola (“The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish”), but still a very frank and gritty story about two brothers who have to take care of themselves and each other while their father is on the road. Mason (Jim Metzler) is a senior, a basketball star, dedicated and responsible. Tex (Matt Dillon) is fifteen, unsure of himself, not yet ready to focus on the problems they face. His horse, Rowdy, is the center of his world. As the movie begins, they are out of money, out of food, and the gas has been turned off. It has been four months since they heard from their father, who is traveling with the rodeo. Mason sells their horses to get money for food. Tex is furious, throws things, and wrestles angrily with his brother.

Tex comes home drunk after a party with friends. The next day, his friend’s harsh father, Cole (Ben Johnson), blames Tex, and threatens to call the juvenile authorities to make sure that Mason and Tex have some supervision. Mason tells Tex, “You want to stay off some youth farm somewhere? Start thinking ahead five minutes at a time now and then.”

Mason is under so much pressure that he develops an ulcer. They pick up a hitchhiker on the way back from the hospital, and he turns out to be an escaped prisoner. He points a gun at them and tells them to drive him to the state line. Tex swerves into a ditch, and the hitchhiker is shot by the police.

Pop returns and promises he will stay. He tries to buy Rowdy back, but the people do not want to sell. Tex is angry and bitter. When Mason’s application form for Indiana University arrives, Tex takes it.

Mason is injured in a game. Tex is suspended from school for a prank and overhears Mason say that Pop is not his biological father. Hurt and angry, he gets in the car with a small-time drug dealer friend, on his way to explain a “mix-up” to some tough characters. Tex goes along and gets shot. At the hospital, he fills out Mason’s application, and Mason is accepted. Tex urges Mason to go, knowing that it is best for Mason, and that he can take care of himself.

Discussion: Tex has tougher problems than most kids, but his impulsive approach to dealing with them will seem familiar to many viewers. He knows they have no money to feed the horses, much less themselves, and yet is angry when Mason sells them. When he is angry and hurt, he makes a foolish decision to get in the middle of a fight over a drug deal, saying, “If there is any hassle, they’ll be sorry, because I really feel like making somebody sorry,” one of many incidents of displacement. All around Tex and Mason are the consequences of bad choices — Pop’s, in going to prison and neglecting his sons; Cole’s in being too strict with his children; their own, in picking up the hitchhiker; Lem’s in dealing in drugs to make money; and Lem’s and his girlfriend’s in getting pregnant.

The issue of responsibility is also an important one here. Mason takes on the responsibility of the household, putting enormous pressure on himself. But in “over-parenting,” he keeps too much from Tex, and it is only when Tex has to take some responsibility himself that he can begin to think of other people.Sexual involvement by teenagers is an issue as well. Mason’s advice to Tex (that a boy should keep going until the girl tells him to stop) is worth discussing with both boys and girls. So is Jamie’s ability to make it very clear to Tex that she is not ready to have sex with him.

It is also worth discussing the principal’s comment to Tex: “I hope there’s something you take seriously, because it’s the only thing that’ll save you.”

Questions for Kids:

· Cole and Pop have opposite reactions to the trouble Johnny and Tex get into. Is one more effective? How would you respond?

· Why didn’t Mason apologize for selling the horses?

· Why did Tex take over when Johnny didn’t jump his motorbike over the creek?

· Pop tells Mason to go ahead and explode and clear the air. What do you think about this approach to communication?

· Why did Johnny say it was all right for him to criticize his father, but he didn’t want Tex to do it?

Connections: Matt Dillon also appears in “My Bodyguard.” Older teens will appreciate Francis Ford Coppola’s versions of “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish,” both of which feature a number of future stars.

Activities: Read the novels of S.E. Hinton (who has a brief appearance in this movie as Mrs. Barnes).

I don’t ask for much from summer popcorn movies. Give me some car chases and explosions, some romance, and a nasty villain who meets a nastier end, and I’m happy. I had high hopes for “The Fast and the Furious” to be a classic of this genre, but it turned out to be a major disappointment, not a good bad movie-as-video-game but a bad bad movie-as-brain-numbing-waste-of-celluloid. In fact, it is a bad bad bad bad bad movie.

Paul Walker plays Brian O’Connor, a loner with a fancy racecar who wants to get into the hidden world of street racers, and if you don’t guess that his motivation is more than getting close to Mia, the pretty sister (Jordana Brewster) of the fastest driver of them all, then you have never seen “Point Break,” one of several much better movies that this movie steals from shamelessly. The street racers swoop down to take over a quarter mile stretch for races that last less than 10 seconds, then disperse before the police catch up with them.

Brian challenges Mia’s brother Dom (Vin Diesel) and loses both the race and his car to the jeers of the onlookers. But he rescues Dom from the police and sticks with him through an encounter with a rival gang. Soon, he is a member of Dom’s rag-tag “team,” a family of outcasts that includes brilliant but attention-defecit-mechanic Jesse (Chad Lindberg), brooding Vince (Matt Schulze), and tough girl Letty (Michelle Rodriguez of “Girlfight”). Races and chases in various locales and several product placement moments later, it turns out that neither Dom nor Brian has been telling the truth and that both will have to put what they care about most on the line before it is all over.

This is one of those movies that cannot even fake authenticity. It is not about what is cool or about what the people in the audience think is cool. It is about what people in Hollywood think that the people in the audience think is cool, and it is about as cool as the fake rock music they used to play in “Brady Bunch” episodes when Greg and Marcia went to school dances. There is a lot of posing and attitude, and people say fake-tough and fake-profound things like, “It’s not how you stand by your car — it’s how you race your car” and “It doesn’t matter whether you lose by an inch or a mile – winning’s winning.” Nearly every line is a cliché, spoken without any sense of irony, tribute, or transcendence. There is some flashy photography (but doesn’t it defeat the purpose to make a 10-second race last for a minute onscreen?) and a lot of blasting faux-hip rap music, very fine cars with a button on the dashboard like that thing in “Star Wars” that makes them go into hyperspeed, and sprays of automatic weapon bullets that manage to miss all the main characters. The last fifteen minutes is genuinely, deeply, infuriatingly stupid. Diesel and Rodriguez are talented and watchable, but this movie insists on interfering with our ability to enjoy them. There is more tension and excitement in the one 10-minute “chickie run” segment of “Rebel Without a Cause” than in any race in this movie.

Parents should know that the movie is as close to an R as it can be and remain a PG-13. It is very violent, with shoot-outs that leave one character dead and another seriously wounded. A character takes one risk that appears suicidal. Characters drink and smoke. Corona beer seems to be an especially obvious product placement, and giving someone a beer is a gesture of honor and acceptance. There is a same-sex kiss and some skanky behavior. A woman offers one of the racers a threesome if he wins, then insults him when he does not. A man tells his girlfriend, “You’re my trophy.” Women appear in scanty clothing, including a thong. There is a non-graphic but explicit sexual situation. Characters use very strong language, including the n-word and other racial slurs. We see some gross photographs of an injured man. Characters are in extreme peril, both in racing and in shoot-outs. Robbing and shooting are sympathetically portrayed, and Brian’s ultimate decision is a serious betrayal. And someone needs to get the message to Hollywood that making a couple of the female characters strong and smart does not mean that the rest of them can be sexist bimbos.

Families who see this movie should talk about the way that even outcasts create families, as where Dom presides over a barbecue dinner that is like a cover illustration from Tatooed Biker done by Norman Rockwell. They even say grace. They should also talk about the people who do not tell each other the truth, and those who make the decision to violate the law to make things easier for themselves.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “Point Break.”

Jim Carrey has been brilliant in flamboyant, comic roles and in quieter, subtler roles, but both kinds of acting have come from the same source inside him – the kind of anger that fuels a lot of actors and comedians. He uses his hostility brilliantly. One of his best performances was in “The Truman Show,” because he could draw on his own conflicts about the pressures of being constantly watched and the struggle to maintain a respectable surface despite an increasing passion to be iconoclastic. “The Mask” and “Batman and Robin” gave him roles that expressed both sides of the duality that is the subtext of many of his performances.

For the first time, in “The Majestic,” Carrey opens himself up to draw from a more vulnerable part of himself as he plays a character who literally does not know who he is. It is not a great performance, but it is a moving one, within the context of the story and as an invitation to share some of Carrey’s own journey to a broader maturity as a performer.

“The Majestic” shares this double layer of meaning because it is as much about the movies and the role they play in our lives as it is about the characters and the story. The movie begins in a Hollywood story meeting in the early 1950’s. Before we see anything we hear a group of studio executives (hilarious vocal cameos by some of Hollywood’s top directors) eviscerating a script by casually throwing in every possible movie cliché. As they call out “How about a dog!” and “The kid should be crippled!” the screenwriter sits there, stunned into silence. Finally, he musters up a diplomatic, “That’s….amazing.”

The screenwriter is Pete (Carrey). His first screen credit, a formulaic B-movie, is about to arrive in theaters, and the starlet who appears in it is his girlfriend. A script he really cares about has been accepted for production. He feels like he is on the brink of achieving not only his dreams but the ultimate dream of every American. What could be more of a dream come true than the movies?

But dreams have a way of turning into nightmares. Pete’s life is turned upside down when his name comes up in the investigations into communism in Hollywood being conducted by the House of Representatives. Pete is so upset that he gets drunk, and then he goes for a long drive.

Pete has an accident and his car goes off a bridge. He is washed up on shore and is awakened, in a sly reference to the studio executives’ suggestions, when a dog licks his face. Pete has been so shocked by the accident that he has lost his memory. The dog’s owner takes him back to town, a community so idyllically Norman Rockwell that all the men call him “son” and the waitress at the diner asks “What can I do you for?” and serves him up some delicious scrambled eggs.

Everyone in the town says that Pete looks familiar. And Harry Trimble (Martin Landau) says he knows who Pete is – Trimble’s son, Luke, a war hero reported missing in action. Harry seems so sure that Pete begins to be persuaded. The town has lost many young men in the war, and his return is cause for celebration. Harry is so excited he even pledges to reopen the family business – a movie theater called “The Majestic.”

As Pete tries to figure out who he really is, he meets people from Luke’s past, including his girl, Adele (Laurie Holden). Meanwhile, FBI agents, convinced that Pete’s disappearance is evidence of his participation in a Communist conspiracy, resolves to track him down.

The freedom from a past allows Luke/Pete to think about what his dream really is. Still the screenwriter, he “fills in the blanks” to understand the lives of the people in the town. But in rebuilding The Majestic and connecting to Harry and Adele he achieves a greater authenticity of feeling and spirit than he had before.

Harry says that in a movie the good guy should always win, and this is a movie that Harry would love. It has enough of the guaranteed elements for warming the heart to please both the fictional studio executives in the movie and the real-life ones who got this made. And it presents these homespun values with enough sophistication (and a little bit of “just-kidding” ironic distance) to make it work. It plays with history and gets a little corny, but the movie itself has such a good time with it that the audience does, too.

Parents should know that the movie has brief strong and vulgar language, mild sexual references, a scary accident, and a sad on-screen death. Many characters are mourning sons killed in the war. One returning soldier is disabled and bitter. Pete responds to bad news by getting drunk and he drives while he is drunk.

Families who see this movie should talk about the Red Scare of the 1950’s that blacklisted many Hollywood writers and performers. As recently as 1999, when distinguished director Elia Kazan received a special Oscar, there were protests because he cooperated with the House Committee, as Pete is urged to do here. Some of those called to testify refused to cooperate. What were the different pressures that Pete had to reconcile? What were the priorities that made him decide what he did? How did his ideas about himself change? Why?

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy some of the movies that inspired it, including “Hail the Conquering Hero” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” They should also see some of the other movies about the Red Scare, like “Tail Gunner Joe” and “The Front.”

Dex (Donal Logue) is a fat, irresponsible, pot-smoking slacker with no ambition. But he is so charming that women cannot resist him. And neither can the viewers. Dex may have no ambition, but he has no pretention, either. He has a wonderful command of repartee covering everything from Lao Tzu to Josie and the Pussycats. And he has a system for seducing women that is just about foolproof. As he explains to his friend Dave, there are three rules. First, “Eliminate your desire.” Women cannot let down their defenses as long as they sense that a man is trying to get them into bed. Second, “Do something excellent in their presence, thus demonstrating your sexual worthiness.” Third, “Retreat.” This is the titular “Tao of Steve,” named for Dex’s three polar stars, $6 million man Steve Austin, Hawaii 5-0 cop Steve McGarrett and the greatest Steve of them all, Steve McQueen. Channeling these Steves allows Dex to feel cool. And smoking marijuana every morning and having a lot of one-night stands allows him to feel less purposeless, or maybe it just allows him not to feel very much at all.

Then, he attends his 10th college reunion, where he has sex with a classmate’s wife, makes a date with a student tending the bar, and is re-introduced to Syd (co-screenwriter Greer Goodman). She has come to town to design sets for a production of “Don Giovanni” (Don Juan). Dex begins to think that he might be a little like Don Giovanni, who “slept with thousands of women because he was afraid he wouldn’t be loved by one.” He tells Dave to ignore all of his advice: “I’ve been trying to turn you into me and I’m not sure even I want to be me anymore.”

This is a classic “the love of a good woman inspires a man to grow up at last,” but it is a sweet, funny romantic comedy with appealing characters and witty dialogue. Logue, a character actor in movies like “Steal this Movie,” “The Runaway Bride,” and “The Patriot,” is wonderful. According to the credits, the screenplay is “Based on a story by Duncan North” which is “Based on an idea by Duncan North,” which is “Based on Duncan North.” North appears on the movie’s website answering questions about love and relationships.

Parents should know that the movie has drug use and a lot of drinking and smoking. Dex has an affair with a married woman, the wife of a good friend. Although the resolution of the movie has Dex becoming more mature, the movie makes immaturity (to the point of hedonism) seem very appealing. Dex cites St. Augustine’s famous, “Lord make me chaste — but not yet.” Although it is clear that Dex’s behavior does not make him very happy or proud of himself and it hurts the woman he seduces, teen-agers may come away with the same conclusion.

Families who see this movie should talk about why Dex went from the brilliant and promising student his classmates remember to a philosophy that “doing stuff is overrated.” Talk about his quote: “the sage, because he never does anything, never ruins anything,” and ask whether that is possible. Why is it that Dex’s behavior does not make him happy, and why doesn’t he change? What is he afraid of? Why does he feel differently about Syd? Why does she put up with him? Is Dex right when he says that romance is our national religion?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Next Stop Wonderland.”

Like “Lady and the Tramp,” this story is told from the perspective of dogs, this time two dalmatians, Pongo and Perdita, the cherished pets of Roger and Anita. Anita’s old friend, one of the most notorious villains in movie history, is the aptly named Cruella De Vil. Her henchmen kidnap Perdita’s puppies and eighty-four others so she can make them into a dalmatian fur coat. Pongo and Perdita, with the help of their animal friends, undertake a daring rescue. The puppies are adorable, and the movie is exciting, funny (with a sly poke at television and the kids who watch it), and fun.

Movieline magazine once asked actresses to name the most memorable female villain in the history of the movies — Cruella was at the top of the list. Families who enjoy this movie might also like to see the 1997 live- action version released in 1997, with Glenn Close as Cruella. Close is wonderful, but the movie relies too much on slapstick and the real dogs do not have the personality and range of expression of their animated predecessors. The 2000 sequel, “102 Dalmatians,” also featuring Close, is disappointing.