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, 23, 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
“Dances with Wolves” (1990; Amazon Prime)
Set in the Dakota territory of the 1860s, the story centers on a soldier (Kevin Costner) at a deserted frontier fort who embarks on a voyage of self-discovery when he is befriended by a Sioux tribe and falls in love with a white woman (Mary McDonnell) adopted by them. Also directed and co-produced by Costner, the film’s sensitive treatment of Native Americans, exceptional cinematography and fine portrayals compensate for its excessive three-hour-plus length. Much gory battlefield violence, minimal, restrained lovemaking and a flash of rear nudity. 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.
“Isle of Dogs” (2018; Hulu)
This highly stylized stop-motion animation pushes the limits of writer-director Wes Anderson’s customary deadpan drollery, and the dark, lonely world he creates as its backdrop is most definitely not for small children. Feared as disease carriers, all dogs are banished from a Japanese city by its formidable and corrupt mayor (voice of Kunichi Nomura) and exiled to the aptly named Trash Island. There, surrounded by giant mountains of garbage, they compete for rotten food scraps. When the mayor’s 12-year-old orphaned ward (voice of Koyu Rankin) arrives, searching for his deported pet (voice of Liev Schreiber), he’s aided in his poignant quest by a quartet of other formerly pampered pooches (voices of Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban and Jeff Goldblum) and by the street mutt (voice of Bryan Cranston) with whom they have allied themselves in their struggle for survival. Well-grounded older teens can probably handle this weighty, grim fable that ultimately finds the animals threatened with mass extermination. Mature themes and images, fleeting surgical gore, a single instance of rough language. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
“Parasite” (2019; Netflix)
This South Korean feature begins as a sly comedy, then takes a surprising turn that leads on to a bloody, operatic climax laden with grim social commentary about class conflict. After the son (Choi Woo-shik) of an impoverished family uses false pretenses to secure a position tutoring the daughter (Jung Ji-so) of a wealthy household (led by Lee Sun-kyun and Cho Yeo-jeong), both his parents (Song Kang-ho and Jang Hye-jin) and his sister (Park So-dam) con their way into jobs with the prosperous clan while pretending to be strangers to one another. But the longtime housekeeper (Lee Jung-eun) they’ve displaced has a secret that threatens to upend their successful ruse. Clever and insightful, director and co-writer Bong Joon-ho’s film is too disturbing for casual viewers, though grown-ups willing to tackle its tougher elements, including some explicit sensuality within marriage, will encounter an accomplished piece of cinema. In Korean. Subtitles. Much gory violence, semi-graphic marital lovemaking, a couple of profanities, a few milder oaths, considerable rough and crude language. 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, Feb. 23, 8-10:30 p.m. EST (TCM) “All the President’s Men” (1976). The investigation by two Washington Post reporters (Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford) of the facts behind the 1974 Watergate break-in has been dramatized with restraint and objectivity. Director Alan Pakula’s deliberately low-key, well-acted and comprehensive account of a political scandal emphasizes the painstaking work involved in investigative journalism. Though it uses a few coarse words in a realistic context, the movie is one that older teenagers would benefit from seeing. 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.
Sunday, Feb. 23, 8:31-11 p.m. EST (ABC) “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022). Tongue-in-cheek humor paces the vivid action in this third direct sequel to 2011’s “Thor,” adapted, like its immediate predecessor, by director and co-writer Taika Waititi from a series of Marvel Comics. With a disillusioned former believer in the gods of paganism (Christian Bale) on a killing spree targeting them, the Norse deity of the title (Chris Hemsworth) rallies the sovereign of New Asgard (Tessa Thompson) and another of his sidekicks, an anthropomorphized pile of rocks (voice of Waititi), to stop the villain. But his crusade takes an unexpected detour when he’s reunited with his true love (Natalie Portman), a human astrophysicist who now turns up as his female alter ego, wielding his trademark hammer. While it’s an aesthetically satisfying extension of the saga, the film’s underlying values range from the straightforward to the complex and the downright murky, making it unsuitable for any but grown viewers, all the more so since elements of gender-bending and homosexuality are blended in, and the comedy surrounding the protagonist’s buff physique veers briefly into bawdiness. Frequent bloodless but sometimes intense battle violence, fleeting rear male nudity, some sexual humor, references to lesbianism, about a half-dozen mild oaths, several crude terms, at least one crass expression. 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.
Tuesday, Feb. 25, 8-10:15 p.m. EST (TCM) “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942). Born on the Fourth of July, George M. Cohan melded patriotism with Irish charm in his rise from song-and-dance vaudevillian to leading Broadway songwriter and producer in a career celebrated by this nostalgic, flag-waving musical starring James Cagney as the feisty entertainer. Directed by Michael Curtiz, it features a grand collection of Cohan’s best-remembered songs as well as Cagney at the top of his form singing and dancing his way to an Academy Award for the year’s best performance. Fine family fare. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-I — general patronage. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.
Tuesday, Feb. 25, 9-11 p.m. EST (PBS) “Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP.” This episode of the series “American Experience” profiles the longest serving president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Friday, Feb. 28, 9-11:30 a.m. EST (EWTN) “National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.” Coverage of the 20th Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, an event originally established in response to St. John Paul II’s call for a New Evangelization (TV-G — general audience).
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