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WASHINGTON --The 1-800-311-4CCC movie line reviews Pushing Tin for the week of April 30-May 6. Also included on the toll-free line is a review of Babe: Pig in the City, this week's suggested home video for family viewing.
The 800 movie review line is a project of the Catholic Communication Campaign (CCC).
The April 30-May 6 list includes the following theater releases and their classifications according to moral suitability. Movies are evaluated according to artistic merit and moral suitability by the U.S. Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting.
- Pushing Tin Because of brief violence, its theme of infidelity,
fleeting nudity and some profanity and rough language, the U.S. Catholic
Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association
of America rating is R -- restricted.
Pushing Tin is a quirky comedy in which the intense professional rivalry
between air traffic controllers John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton spills over
to threaten their respective marriages (to Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie).
The characters' finely tuned performances poke fun at the macho world of
controllers whose split-second decisions mean life or death in the skies.
- Life -- Because of some violence, mild sexual innuendo, intermittent profanity and recurring rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. In Life, Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence spend six cantankerous decades stuck together on a Mississippi prison farm after being wrongly convicted of murder. The foul-mouthed comedians display some chemistry together but the bittersweet tale is often shapeless in its scattershot focus on racism and injustice.
- Entrapment -- Because of a romanticized view of crime, fleeting
violence and a few instances of rough language and profanity, the U.S.
Catholic Conference classification is A-IV, adults, with reservations. The
Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly
cautioned that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Entrapment is a mindless escapist caper in which a wily insurance
investigator (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) appears to join forces with the
world's craftiest art thief (played by Sean Connery) to nail him red-handed.
The glossy fantasy of double-crossing daredevils is sluggishly directed which
limits the suspense.
- The Matrix -- Because of excessive violence and recurring profanity,
the U.S. Catholic Conference classification, O -- morally offensive. The
Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.
The Matrix is a convoluted sci-fi tale in which a tiny band of cyber rebels
led by Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne do battle with virtually
indestructible humanoid killers from the future. The action movie's violence
is glorified, glamorized and made to look exciting with a dazzling array of
eyepopping special effects.
- Lost & Found -- Because of a few crude sexual references, fleeting
nudity, much toilet humor and an instance of profanity, the U.S. Catholic
Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association
of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned that some
material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Lost & Found is a feeble comedy in which complications arise after restaurant
owner David Spade, infatuated with a French neighbor (played by Sophie
Marceau), secretly steals her dog in order to be the hero when he returns it.
The thin premise with its lame comic antics resembles a stretched-out sitcom.
- Idle Hands -- Because of nasty violence with much gore, pervasive teen drug abuse, crude sexual references, brief nudity, occasional profanity and recurring rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Idle Hands is a gross horror-comedy in which a pot-smoking teen (played by Devon Sawa) cannot control his murderous hand and even after he chops it off the disembodied hand continues its bloody killing spree at the Halloween school dance. The sick humor isn't funny and a tasteless parade of death scenes just adds insult to injury.
The family video of the week is Babe: Pig in the City -- The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-I -- general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G -- general audiences. Babe: Pig in the City is a darker sequel to the charming 1995 original in which the farmer's wife goes to the city with plucky porker Babe (voice of E.G. Daily), but when the matron is wrongly arrested Babe and a gaggle of homeless animals he befriends have to fend for themselves against starvation and nasty humans. The less endearing sequel retains the polite pig's innocence and generosity, but some of the perilous situations may be a bit intense for very young children.
The classifications are A-I - general patronage; A-II - adults and adolescents; A-III - adults; A-IV - adults, with reservations (an A-IV classification designates problematic films that, while not morally offensive in themselves, require caution and some analysis and explanation as a safeguard against wrong interpretations and false conclusions); O - morally offensive.
The movie reviews are produced by the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) Office for Film and Broadcasting, which each week provides full length movie reviews, brief capsules and film classifications of new theater releases.
Reviewers include Henry Herx, Director, and Gerri Pare, Associate Director, of the Film and Broadcasting Office, which is funded by the CCC.
The capsule reviews are available on the World Wide Web. They can be found on two sites: http://www.usccb.org and http://www.CatholicDigest.org/stops/movies/index.html.
Full-length reviews of the above and other movies are available through America Online at the Catholic News Service site on AOL, and can be accessed by AOL members using the keyword, "CNS."