Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive material.
This is an extremely violent PG-13 movie. I’m actually kind of amazed that it got a PG-13 rating, but barely any blood results from the pervasive violence and death, so there you have it. Basically, Tom Cruise’s character gets shot in the head over and over again — or he’s devoured by monsters, or he’s hit by a truck — which resets his day, forcing him to relive the same sequence of events with more knowledge and slight tweaks each time. It’s Groundhog Day, with carnage. In the near future, creatures that resemble giant, evil calamari have ravaged our planet. They’re fast-moving, spinning, climbing, flying — they’re totally frightening. Cruise, as a reluctant Army major, and Emily Blunt, as a famously fierce warrior, must team up to manipulate time and stop the assault. Among the elements of the fight is a futuristic storming of the beach at Normandy where massive gunfire, exploding aircraft and general mayhem rule. Director Doug Liman’s film is extremely clever but definitely not suitable for anyone younger than their teens.
Rating: PG-13, for thematic elements, some sexuality and brief strong language.
Teens and tweens familiar with John Green’s best-selling novel about teenage cancer patients in love know exactly what they’re in for: heavy-duty hanky time. But Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort’s characters, Hazel and Augustus, refuse to be defined by the mawkish pop culture clichés of the genre, so they curse a lot and do stupid things and behave like garden-variety teenagers in general. They also — spoiler alert! — lose their virginity to each other in an Amsterdam hotel room, but there’s barely any nudity. And Woodley gets to enjoy the one choice F-bomb you’re allowed with a PG-13 rating. Because of the subject matter alone — and the prospect of death that hovers over everything — this is probably suitable for the same target audience as the young adult book.
Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of action including frenetic gun violence, brief strong language, sensuality and some drug material.
Like Edge of Tomorrow this is an insanely violent PG-13 movie — and, like Edge of Tomorrow there’s very little blood as a result of all that violence, hence the PG-13 rating. This shiny, noisy remake of the groundbreaking 1987 action satire contains a ton of gunfire, both real and simulated. Joel Kinnaman stars as a former police officer in a near-future version of Detroit who nearly dies in an explosion. Instead, corporate scientists rebuild him as half-man, half-robot crime fighter. He has to take down a bunch of bad guys, which leads to some drug material when RoboCop infiltrates a hidden manufacturing warehouse. And Samuel L. Jackson, as a Bill O’Reilly-type TV commentator, gets to spew some amusing profanity — only some of which gets bleeped out.
