Cop Out

Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis star in a scene from the crime comedy “Cop Out.” The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Warner Bros.) By John Mulderig Catholic News Service This vulgar buddy comedy follows two unconventional New York police detectives (Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan) as they try to recover the valuable baseball card Willis’ character was planning to sell to finance his daughter’s wedding but which was stolen by a petty thief (Seann William Scott), and passed on to a memorabilia-obsessed drug lord (Guillermo Diaz). As penned by Robb and Mark Cullen and directed by Kevin Smith, foul-mouthed dialogue and bullet-riddled action sequences drown out the mostly smile-free script’s faint messages about marital trust and self-sacrificing parental love. Considerable, sometimes gory, action violence; a scene of torture; pervasive rough and crude language; about a dozen uses of profanity; and much sexual and scatological humor. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

The Crazies

Brett Rickaby, Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell star in a scene from the movie “The Crazies.” The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.(CNS photo/Overture Films) By John Mulderig Catholic News Service A small-town sheriff (Timothy Olyphant), his deputy (Joe Anderson), the sheriff’s doctor wife (Radha Mitchell) and her office assistant (Danielle Panabaker) fend off their neighbors who have been transformed into homicidal maniacs by an environmental accident affecting the local water supply while also struggling to evade capture by Army troops bent on quelling the outbreak at any cost. A potentially thought-provoking parable about ecological irresponsibility and military excess in an emergency is lost amid the bloodletting in director Breck Eisner’s relatively lavish updating of George A. Romero’s low-budget 1973 horror exercise. Excessive gory violence, some gruesome images, at least a half-dozen uses of profanity, pervasive rough and much crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Shutter Island

Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio star in a scene from the movie “Shutter Island.” The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -restricted. Under 17 requires a ccompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS/Paramount Pictures) By John P. McCarthy Catholic News Service Prolix psychological thriller set in 1954 follows a U.S. marshal (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner (Mark Ruffalo) to a storm-swept island in Boston Harbor on which an asylum for the criminally insane becomes the venue for elaborately staged hysterics borne of trauma and guilt. Adapted from a Dennis Lehane novel, the picture amounts to a genre exercise for director Martin Scorsese, and affords DiCaprio and other respectable actors the chance to declaim excessively coarse dialogue in service of an overblown mystery. Pervasive rough, crude and crass language; frequent profanity; a number of sexual references and discussions of violent acts; many potentially disturbing images of corpses in a concentration camp setting and in connection with an act of infanticide; a number of fairly graphic episodes of gun violence; and an instance of partially obscured frontal male nudity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

By John Mulderig Catholic News Service A mildly troubled New York high school student (Logan Lerman) discovers his true identity as a demigod - offspring of the Greek sea god Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) and a human mother (Catherine Keener) - and embarks on a quest to prevent a war among the deities of Mount Olympus, assisted by a semi-divine teen girl warrior (Alexandra Daddario) and a courageous but untested adolescent satyr (Brandon T. Jackson). Director Chris Columbus’ glossy but shallow screen version of the first in novelist Rick Riordan’s best-selling series of children’s novels relies on some slick special effects to keep the adventure moving forward, though the titular hero’s transformation from a 12- to a 17-year-old introduces elements unsuitable for some of the book’s younger fans, while parents who see the tale’s mythological premise as more than a literary device will hesitate to allow impressionable youngsters to view it. Pagan themes, brief domestic discord, a few instances of sexual innuendo, a couple of crass terms. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II - adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG - parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Valentine’s Day

Jennifer Garner stars in a scene from the romantic comedy "Valentine's Day." The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (CNS photo/New Line) By John Mulderig Catholic News Service Ensemble romantic comedy, directed by Garry Marshall, charting the amorous ups and downs of a series of interconnected Los Angelinos over the titular holiday, including a newly engaged florist (Ashton Kutcher) and his live-in fiancee (Jessica Alba), a teacher (Jennifer Garner) and her doctor beau (Patrick Dempsey), a long-married couple (Shirley MacLaine and Hector Elizondo) preparing to renew their vows, and a pair of 18-year-old high school students (Emma Roberts and Carter Jenkins) planning to lose their virginity together. As unengaging as it is unwieldy, screenwriter Katherine Fugate’s tale of loves lost and found rejects marital infidelity, but otherwise takes the full physical expression of affection as a given, before marriage, before college and between members of the same gender. Implicit approval of nonmarital sexual activity and homosexual acts, partial nudity, adultery and phone-sex themes, sexual references and jokes, brief irreverent humor, a half-dozen crude and some crass terms. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 - parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

The Wolfman

Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro star in the action-horror film "The Wolfman." The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompan ying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Universal Pictures) By John P. McCarthy Catholic News Service Alternately spooky, savage and silly, this remake of the 1941 monster classic starring Lon Chaney Jr. tells of a decent if troubled man (Benicio Del Toro) periodically transformed into a hirsute beast after returning to his ancestral estate in England following the brutal murder of his brother in 1891. Striking a tone that might be described as “visceral camp,” director Joe Johnston entertains by rendering the trappings of lycanthrope lore with first-rate special effects and actors - Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving - willing to feast on the material. Frequent episodes of moderately graphic violence including fleeting images of human entrails, decapitations and severed limbs; an instance of partial upper female nudity; several references to prostitution; one use of profane language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III - adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

From Paris With Love

John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers star in a scene from the movie "From Paris With Love." The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Lionsgate) By John Mulderig Catholic News Service A Paris-based American diplomat and low-level CIA agent (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) yearns to be a real spy but finds himself bewildered when assigned to partner a trigger-happy visiting operative (John Travolta) whose wild pursuit of drug dealers and terrorists sees the pair cutting a bloody swath through the French capital’s criminal underworld while the novice’s prolonged absence from home causes friction with his live-in Gallic girlfriend (Kasia Smutniak). As directed by Pierre Morel, the proceedings are occasionally amusing but far more often gleefully violent, with Adi Hasak’s F-word heavy script glamorizing the mayhem and winking at the Travolta character’s tawdry encounter with a streetwalker. Constant, sometimes bloody action violence, offscreen sexual activity with a prostitute, cohabitation, drug use, a couple of profanities, pervasive rough and much crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Dear John

Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried star in a scene from the movie "Dear John." The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some mater ial may be in appropriate for children under 13.(CNS photo/Sony Pictures) By John Mulderig Catholic News Service This frequently sentimental drama, set in South Carolina, charts the love-at-first-sight romance between a Special Forces sergeant (Channing Tatum) home on leave to visit his mildly autistic father (Richard Jenkins) and an affluent college student (Amanda Seyfried), their prolonged separation due to his reenlistment following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and their efforts to maintain their bond by long-distance letter writing. Though the portrayal of the conflicted filial relationship is moving, director Lasse Hallstrom’s adaptation of Catholic writer Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling 2006 novel focuses mostly on the emotionally unrealistic evolution of the lovers’ attachment, and endorses its premature consummation along the way. Nongraphic premarital sexual activity with partial nudity, a few uses of profanity, at least four instances of the S-word. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III - adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 - parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Edge of Darkness

By John Mulderig Catholic News Service After his adult daughter (Bojana Novakovic) is brutally murdered, a Boston police detective (Mel Gibson) investigates her secretive work for a nuclear research firm (led by Danny Huston), aided by her fearful boyfriend and co-worker (Shawn Roberts) and by a shadowy fixer (Ray Winstone) whose loyalties are ambiguous. In a reasonably absorbing but gritty adaptation of the acclaimed 1985 BBC miniseries of the same title, director Martin Campbell mixes sometimes shocking violence into a stark tale of loss and corruption, and skirts the dark edges of vigilantism. Complex moral issues, considerable and sometimes bloody violence, an implied premarital relationship, a few uses of profanity, much rough and some crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L - limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

When in Rome

Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell star in a scene from the movie "When in Rome." The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some materia l may be inappropriate for children under 13. (CNS photo/Touchstone Pictures) By John Mulderig Catholic News Service Perky romantic comedy about a work-obsessed New York museum curator (Kristen Bell) who travels to Rome for her sister’s (Alexis Dziena) wedding and falls for the best man (Josh Duhamel), but their path to bliss takes a detour when she defies local custom by removing several coins from the “Fountain of Love,” causing the quartet of eccentric strangers who deposited the change (Danny DeVito, Will Arnett, Jon Heder and Dax Shepard) to become hopelessly infatuated with her. While the youthful, slightly pixilated priest (Keir O’Donnell) who performs the nuptials comes in for some gentle ribbing, director Mark Steven Johnson’s pleasantly diverting, blithely illogical ensemble piece is mostly worry-free with only a fleeting scene of newlywed friskiness barring endorsement for teens. Brief nongraphic marital lovemaking with implied nudity, mildly irreverent portrayal of a clergyman and a few crass expressions. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III - adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 - parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.