The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of Feb. 24, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week. Televised films may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations while the programs listed have not been reviewed and therefore are not necessarily recommended by OSV News.
Streaming Now
“Gnomeo & Juliet” (2011; Hulu)
William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about star-crossed lovers morphs into a clever animated comedy as rival families of garden gnomes face off in a battle for backyard supremacy. It’s love at first ceramic clink for Juliet Capulet (voice of Emily Blunt) and Gnomeo Montague (voice of James McAvoy), but differences in clan allegiance threaten to drive them apart. Until, that is, a wise pink flamingo (voice of Jim Cummings) assures them that love conquers all including, in this case, the Bard’s original ending. Director Kelly Asbury’s slightly warped but ultimately winning film offers good, clean, wholesome fun for the entire family. The OSV News classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.
“Moneyball” (2011; Netflix)
Based on the book by Michael Lewis, this enjoyable, thinking person’s sports movie centers on the real-life general manager (Brad Pitt) of baseball’s Oakland Athletics who, together with a young statistician (Jonah Hill), gambles on a new approach to the game and fields a team with a comparatively miniscule payroll. Director Bennett Miller, working from a script by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, has crafted a mature, humorous and modest film that will appeal to aficionados and nonfans alike. Respectful of America’s pastime yet eager to spur positive change, it relays a timeless, double-headed piece of wisdom: Money can’t buy baseball pennants or happiness. Two uses of rough language, some crude and crass talk, an instance of sexual banter, a few sexist remarks and a scene in which a player’s religiosity is treated in a sarcastic manner. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
“My Left Foot” (1989; Amazon Prime)
Powerful dramatization of the life of Irish writer-artist Christy Brown (1932-81), born with cerebral palsy to a large, impoverished Catholic family, shows his triumph over physical disabilities as the creative intelligence bottled up inside his young, twisted body finds expression, thanks in large part to his mother’s love and encouragement. Jim Sheridan’s sensitive, unsentimental direction and brilliant acting by Hugh O’Conor and Daniel Day-Lewis as the young and the adult Christy provide a testament to the power of the spirit over adversity and a tribute to a mother’s unquestioning belief in her child. Some violence, rough language and sexual innuendo. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Looking Ahead
Sunday, Feb. 25, 6-8 p.m. EST (TCM) “Gaslight” (1944). Sleek thriller set in Victorian London where a rich young bride (Ingrid Bergman) is slowly being driven loony by her slick, greedy husband (Charles Boyer), until an old friend (Joseph Cotten) of her late aunt intervenes. Director George Cukor overplays the wife’s passive acceptance of her mate’s overbearing manipulations as she declines into a state of helplessness, but the contrived situation pays dividends after slowly building to its highly charged conclusion. Much menace. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-II — adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.
Monday, Feb. 26, 8-9 p.m. EST (EWTN) “The Journey Home.” On this episode of the weekly conversion-themed show, series host JonMarc Grodi talks with librarian and religious educator Courtney Comstock (TV-G – general audience).
Thursday, Feb. 29, 9-11:30 p.m. EST (AMC) “Rampage” (2018). Entertaining bit of outsized nonsense combining 1970s-style disaster movie spectacle with the even older altered-animal trope that gave the world Godzilla, and derived in part from the video arcade game of the same title. When a space station is destroyed, the DNA-changing chemical an evil corporation (led by Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy) was developing on board plummets to various localities around the world transforming and enraging, among other animals, a previously peaceful albino gorilla. To save the primate from running amok and being put down, his devoted trainer (Dwayne Johnson) teams with a geneticist (Naomie Harris) and an unconventional government agent (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). But the trio soon find themselves up against an enhanced wolf and a monstrous crocodile as well. Considered as campy fun, director Brad Peyton’s mayhem fest works well enough as a time-killer for grown-ups, though artistic or moral significance is entirely absent. Frequent monster violence, mostly stylized but with some gore, several uses of profanity and a couple of milder oaths, at least one rough and numerous crude terms, obscene gestures. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Saturday, March 2, 5:47-8 p.m. EST (HBO) “Blue Beetle” (2023). The resilience of the indestructible loving family, in this case, a Mexican American clan, forms the heart and soul of this DC Comics-derived adventure which, under the direction of Ángel Manuel Soto, mixes its fantasy elements with social realism and introduces the screen’s first Latino superhero (Xolo Maridueña). As the titular character’s youthful and ambitious alter ego and his equally hard-working relatives face a series of travails, he accidentally acquires the ability to fly, imperviousness to bullets and other powers (not to mention a nifty azure-highlighted outfit) after getting mixed up in the struggle between the scheming CEO of a powerful conglomerate (Susan Sarandon), who’s out to build a world-conquering army by the use of a magical amulet, and her morally upright niece (Bruna Marquezine). A comedy-lightened struggle against the forces of evil ensues, though some of the cliche-ridden humorous detours seem disappointingly out of place in a work that aspires to be viewed as pioneering. Still, screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer keeps both the mayhem and the smattering of vulgarity in the dialogue restrained while commendable basic values and a positive, if flawed, portrayal of Hispanic life make this an acceptable and attractive option for a fairly broad audience. Stylized but intense action, fleeting crude and crass language, a couple of scatological references. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Saturday, March 2, 8-10:10 p.m. EST (Cinemax) “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2015). James Bond gets younger, hipper competition via this suave but excessively violent adaptation of Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons’ 2012 comic book series “The Secret Service.” A young hooligan (Taron Egerton) is invited by a spy (Colin Firth) to turn his life around by joining a top-secret independent intelligence agency. The lad’s recruitment coincides with the organization’s efforts to save the world from a wicked megalomaniac (Samuel L. Jackson) bent on mass slaughter. While it’s intended as an amusing send-up of classic espionage movies, director Matthew Vaughn’s slick film is marred by an amount of bloodletting that even many adults will likely find repellent. Lost along the way is a positive message for wayward youth about achieving reform by learning to look out for others. Strong gory violence, brief partial female nudity, some sexual innuendo, frequent profane and crude language. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Saturday, March 2, 8-10:45 p.m. EST (TCM) “Lincoln” (2012). Daniel Day-Lewis’ bravura performance in the title role is the highlight — but by no means the only asset — of director Steven Spielberg’s splendid historical drama. The plot focuses on the Civil War president’s passionate yet wily struggle, during the closing days of that conflict, to steer a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. Aided by his secretary of state, William Seward (David Strathairn), but distracted by his troubled personal life — Sally Field plays his famously high-strung wife, Mary — Lincoln uses rhetoric to win over his hesitant Cabinet and patronage to woo his opponents. The trajectory of the tale is, by its nature, uplifting, while Lincoln’s multifaceted personality — which encompassed idealism, political shrewdness, melancholy, humor and even a few endearing foibles — is vividly illuminated in Tony Kushner’s screenplay. The educational value and moral import of the film may make it acceptable for older adolescents. Intense but mostly bloodless battlefield violence, a scene involving severed limbs, cohabitation, about a dozen uses of profanity, racial slurs, a couple of rough terms, occasional crude and crass language. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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