Posted on December 28, 2004 at 7:51 pm
The Mask had a clever and inventive director, striking design, wildly imaginative special effects, and Jim Carrey, who is something of a wildly imaginative special effect all by himself. ,P> “Son of the Mask” is both watered down and jazzed up, like a kid who’s had way too much sugary bug juice. This semi-sequel (all …
Posted on December 19, 2004 at 7:53 am
C+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Mature High Schooler |
| Profanity: | Some strong and graphic language |
| Nudity/ Sex: | Very explicit sexual references and situations for a PG-13 |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking, drug references |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Comic violence |
| Diversity Issues: | Comic stereotyping |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 2004 |
I am not a huge fan of comedies of excruciation, that genre of movies that draw much of their humor from some poor idiot’s painful and humiliating loss of control. But I can appreciate the way that the best of the category, like this film’s predecessor, Meet the Parents, play into our deepest fears and …
Posted on December 19, 2004 at 3:36 am
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | Kindergarten - 3rd Grade |
| Profanity: | None |
| Nudity/ Sex: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | None |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Mild |
| Diversity Issues: | A theme of the movie |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 2004 |
Hey hey hey! Fat Albert is back. The original Fat Albert was a friend of the young Bill Cosby, who turned his childhood adventures into a popular stand-up routine during his days as a comic. In the 1970’s, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids became a popular animated television show. Fat Albert and his friends …
Posted on December 15, 2004 at 6:18 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | 4th - 6th Grades |
| Profanity: | Some crude words |
| Nudity/ Sex: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | None |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Peril, tension, and violence (mostly off-screen), some graphic images |
| Diversity Issues: | Diverse characters, strong and intelligent children of both genders |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 2004 |
They may horrify tender-hearted parents, but the Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket (pseudonym of Daniel Handler) are wildly popular with school-age kids. “These books are among the most unpleasant in the world,” Snicket warns crisply on the dust jacket for the first three volumes, the basis for this film, “and if you do not …
Continue reading “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”
Posted on December 14, 2004 at 5:49 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Middle School |
| Profanity: | Some strong language |
| Nudity/ Sex: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Smoking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Intense peril and violence, including plane crash and gunfire, characters killed |
| Diversity Issues: | Strong relationships between diverse characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 2004 |
This trim little adventure saga about the survivors of a plane crash in the Mongolian desert doesn’t waste any time assigning heartwarming characteristics or backstories to each member of the group; we barely learn most of their names. This is not a movie about redemption or a tender love story. The characters don’t get to …
