Rating: PG-13, for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language.
This is an incredibly violent film, which isn’t all that shocking given that its central character is a volatile, immortal mutant with giant metal claws that sprout from his knuckles. Still, The Wolverine really pushes the limits of what you can get away with in a PG-13 film. Hugh Jackman plays X-Men hero Logan/Wolverine for the sixth time here in an adventure that takes the Marvel Comics character to Japan. There, many, many people die in efficient and elegantly choreographed ways. But we see actual blood come from Wolverine himself, when he finds out what it feels like to ache and bleed without instant healing. A breathtaking fight atop a speeding bullet train also results in some peril and serious injury. Older kids who’ve played a lot of video games and/or read a lot of comic books probably won’t be bothered by any of this, but it’s probably too intense for those under tween age.
Rating: PG-13, for mature thematic material, language and sexual content.
For those sophisticated, artsy kids who are into Woody Allen films, this is one of his best in the past decade. Cate Blanchett stars as a Blanche DuBois-type figure who’s forced to leave the high-society comfort of New York to live with her sister in a tiny San Francisco apartment. Flashbacks reveal the stuff that earns the movie a PG-13 rating: frank discussions about infidelity and the financial schemes that destroyed Blanchett’s cushy life. In the present-day scenes, there’s also profanity and major pill popping and vodka guzzling, but nothing terribly startling.
Rating: PG-13, for mature disturbing thematic material involving teen choices — sexuality, drinking and smoking — and for language.
It’s a coming-of-age drama set in London in the early 1960s, so naturally the two young women of the film’s title are going to experiment with drinking, and smoking, and boys. What gives Ginger & Rosa a disturbing undercurrent, though, is the relationship that drives a wedge between these childhood best friends, as Rosa (Alice Englert) becomes romantically entwined with Ginger’s father, a charismatic bohemian played by Alessandro Nivola. Elle Fanning gives the performance of her young life as Ginger, which includes a dramatic breakdown that’s difficult to watch.
