Rating: PG-13, for innuendo and language.
The sequel to the 2012 surprise hit Pitch Perfect finds the college a cappella group the Barden Bellas fighting to maintain their national championship status after an on-stage wardrobe malfunction in front of President Obama and the first lady. (We don’t actually see the embarrassing costume split Rebel Wilson’s Fat Amy suffers, but other characters discuss it in vivid detail.) As in the first film, John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks (who also directs this time) provide a running commentary on the various singing competitions, which includes plenty of satirically inappropriate racist and sexist remarks. There is the implication that some characters have had sex, some heavy-duty (but broadly comic) make-out sessions as well as some language and general mean-girl trash talk. Still, Pitch Perfect 2, like its extremely similar predecessor, ultimately is about female solidarity and finding your own voice. Fine for tweens and older.
Rating: PG-13, for mature thematic material, and brief language including a sexual reference.
Julianne Moore won a long-overdue Academy Award for her starring role as a brilliant linguistics professor suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s. She gives a heartbreaking performance in this drama, and the terrifying way in which the disease strips her character of her ability to communicate and connect with others is tough to watch. Alice starts forgetting words, losing items and becoming disoriented. A visit to a neurologist provides her with a diagnosis, and it isn’t long before the bottom drops out from underneath her. Besides the disturbing subject matter, there’s a bit of language here, including an argument between grown children which features some vague sexual references. But if you have a loved one who’s struggling with this cruel affliction, Still Alice might provide a bit of comfort and enlightenment for tween viewers and older.
