In deciding what films I can take my son to see at the theater, I can’t do my usual “watch it first” preview that I use when deciding appropriate television content.
So I was wondering whether anyone has a site that reviews films with a parent’s concerns in mind. Especially one that gives a heads up on whether the film is too scary, filled with foul language or containts realistic violence.
Now that the whores in Hollywood are making all the comic book movies PG-13, yet advertising the films like madmen on the Disney Channel, I’d like to know why the film gets a PG-13 rating (there is a pit thread in my hatred of this practice!).
I know there are plenty of sites like this, but all of the ones I have encountered are maintained by fundamentalists.
No disrespect to them, but fears that Harry Potter will force my kid into satanic witchcraft…not on the radar.
Occassionally Doper parents will steer me in the right direction. I kept my boy out of Polar Express after a few Doper parents said it might be too scary for a younger viewer. But sometimes even Dopers don’t want to review the films that a little guy wants to see.
The Office of Film and Broadcasting, of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been doing well-considered movie reviews for many decades now. They often surprise: their list of theTen Best of 1969 included the X-rated Midnight Cowboy.
I like Screen It! because it’s so thorough. It’s careful to point out that, say, this movie has suspenseful music, or that it’s loud, or things like that that aren’t “immoral” but could scare a kid. You’re never in doubt why they rated something like they did, but if you want you can just read the short notes and not get all spoiled - it’s got optional specificity, I guess you’d say. I used reccommend it fairly often as a librarian when I worked in a branch and dealt more with kids.
Thirded. I’m not a parent, but I sometimes go there to “see” a movie without seeing it. They give a pretty thorough and objective rundown of potentially objectionable content (“We see a person stab another person, with lots of blood”; 3 instances of “sh*t,” 2 “asses” (1 with “hole”), 27 “f-words,” etc.), topics in the movie to discuss with your kids (family problems, suicide, drug use), an outline of the plot (avoiding spoilers as much as possible), and so on. For many movies they also give a regular subjective review for adults.
I’m not sure what you get as a subscriber, but all the details of a movie can be found without having to pony up the dough–although you usually have to wait until the second weekend before it posts for everybody. If you don’t mind waiting, then it’s otherwise free.
