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Morgan Freeman and Jim Carrey star in a scene from the comic film "Bruce Almighty." The OSV News classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (OSV News photo/Ralph Nelson, Universal)

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon


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OSV News Filed Under: Movie & Television Reviews

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 Jan. 26, 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

“Bruce Almighty” (2003; Netflix)

Be-careful-what-you-wish-for comedy about a frustrated TV news correspondent (Jim Carrey) whose life is changed when God (Morgan Freeman) entrusts him with divine power after the reporter angrily accuses the Almighty of being asleep at the wheel. Despite its lighthearted irreverence, director Tom Shadyac uses humor to explore such issues as free will and offers a positive image of personal faith rare in Hollywood flicks. An instance of rough language, minimal profanities, some crass humor and an implied sexual encounter. 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.

“Hotel Rwanda” (2004; Amazon Prime)

Inspiring real-life story of Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), a hotel manager in Rwanda who, at great personal risk, saved the lives of thousands of refugees marked for death during the nightmarish days of the Rwandan genocide by sheltering them from the slaughter occurring outside his hotel compound. Well-written, directed and acted, the emotionally riveting and profoundly moral movie deals with an extremely dark chapter of history, but it is a powerful testament to hope, courage and the nobility of the human spirit, as well as the unsung heroism of “ordinary” people. Disturbing violence and images of mass slaughter, fleeting shadowy background nudity and some brief rough language. 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.

“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” (2005; Hulu)

Ruminative Western drama set in rural Texas about a grizzled ranch foreman (Tommy Lee Jones) who makes good on his promise to bury an undocumented migrant (Julio Cedillo) — with whom he had developed a deep friendship — back in his native Mexico, forcing the dead man’s murderer (Barry Pepper) to help in transporting the body over treacherous terrain and across the border. Set against a rugged Southwestern backdrop, the film’s textured performances, contemplative, unhurried rhythm and confident direction by Jones result in an affecting, if at times macabre, study of loneliness and the human need for connection that ends on a quietly moral note. Some violence, including a pistol-whipping and gunshot gore, the surgical lancing of a venom-swollen foot, a crass but fully clothed sexual encounter between husband and wife, adultery, brief pornographic images, suggested masturbation, images of a corpse in various stages of decay, pervasive rough and crude language and profanity. The OSV News classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Looking Ahead

Sunday, Jan. 26, noon-2 p.m. EST (TCM) “Rachel, Rachel” (1968) Joanne Woodward plays a painfully lonely, somewhat repressed schoolteacher in a small Midwestern town where she fears becoming a dowdy spinster. When an old school chum (James Olson) visits, she falls hopelessly in love and has a brief, intense affair that ends harshly and with bitterness. Director Paul Newman receives excellent performances from a fine cast in a story that is touchingly poignant and deeply human. Mature theme. 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 (First in a series of six films involving Newman, concluding with “Nobody’s Fool” (1994), 10:15 p.m.-12:15 a.m. EST).

Sunday, Jan. 26, 8:31-11 p.m. EST (ABC) “The Proposal” (2009). To avoid being deported back to Canada, a hard-driving New York book editor (Sandra Bullock) coerces her brow-beaten executive assistant (Ryan Reynolds) into getting engaged, but the hostility underlying their charade of love mellows during a visit to his parents’ (Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson) Alaska home for his grandmother’s (Betty White) 90th birthday. Brief interludes of questionable humor and a largely predictable plot aside, director Anne Fletcher’s effervescent romantic comedy is mostly a valentine to family affection and against-the-odds ardor. Implied premarital sexual activity, fleeting nudity, some sexual humor, a couple of crude and a dozen crass words, at least two uses of profanity. 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.

Monday, Jan. 27, 7-11 p.m. EST (AMC) “The Green Mile” (1999). Prison drama set in 1935 Louisiana where a death-row head guard (Tom Hanks) comes to believe in the innocence of a huge, gentle black man (Michael Clarke Duncan) whose miraculous healing powers affect those around him in startling ways. As adapted by director Frank Darabont from the serialized 1996 Stephen King novel, the movie is unduly long but presents affecting character studies of good and evil men with spiritual undertones and a sobering depiction of capital punishment. Some violence including a horrific electrocution, occasional profanity and intermittent rough 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.

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 9-10 p.m. EST (PBS) “Great Migrations: A People on the Move.” First episode of a four-part docuseries telling the story of African-American movement over the 20th and 21st centuries. This installment, titled “Exodus,” explores the first wave of the Great Migration (1910–1940), when more than a million Black Americans fled the Jim Crow South for the less oppressive regions of the North. Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. hosts. Continues Tuesdays, 9-10 p.m. EST, through Feb. 18.

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 8-9 p.m. EST (EWTN) “EWTN Live.” On this episode of the weekly program, series host Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa talks with scripture scholar and seminary professor Nina S. Heereman (TV-G — general audience).

Saturday, Feb. 1, 10:08-11:58 p.m. EST (Cinemax) “Arthur” (2011). The utterly frivolous, merrily alcoholic heir (Russell Brand) to a billion-dollar corporate fortune is threatened with disinheritance unless he marries a domineering executive (Jennifer Garner) who plans to curb his wayward lifestyle. A chance encounter with a working-class New York City tour guide (Greta Gerwig), however, leaves the previously heedless playboy smitten and forced to choose between luxury and love. Though director Jason Winer’s remake of Steve Gordon’s popular 1981 comedy intermittently touches on the limits of materialism, it gives a pass to its main character’s promiscuity and tends to trivialize his problem drinking. The fitful laughs on offer mostly derive from the tart observations of Helen Mirren as the man-boy’s affectionate but not uncritical British nanny — the distaff counterpart to John Gielgud’s butler in the original. A fleeting nongraphic bedroom scene, an obscured nude image, brief irreverent humor, frequent sexual references, a couple of uses of profanity and a few crude terms. 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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