A guide to movies from a family perspective: — "Star Trek Into Darkness"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Teens and older.
-- What you should know: This is the second "Star Trek" movie from J.J. Abrams, with a new cast that features Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and Benedict Cumberbatch. The movie is available in 2-D, 3-D and Imax, and will lose little in 2-D (the conventional, less expensive format).
-- Language: At least a dozen mild four-letter words and a few other crude or offensive terms.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: A man is shown in bed with a couple of alien women. A woman strips to her underwear to change clothing. A few kisses are exchanged.
-- Violence/scary situations: Pretty much from beginning to end, with a fiery volcano, images of a gravely ill child, a deadly bombing and other attacks or confrontations that leave many injured or dead, gunfire, chases, people sucked out of a hole punched in an airborne vessel, the crushing of someone's skull, a development that may remind some of 9/11 and an emotional scene in which a key character sacrifices his safety and health for others.
-- Drug and alcohol use: Characters drink in a bar or club.
"The Great Gatsby"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Teens and above.
-- What you should know: Baz Luhrmann, whose movies include "Moulin Rouge," directed this big-screen version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. It's available in 3-D (which may prove overwhelming or simply unnecessary for some moviegoers) and less expensive, conventional 2-D.
-- Language: A couple of uses of profanity and a handful of mild four-letter words along with a couple of ethnic or racial insults.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Kissing, plus sounds of sex from a nearby room. A couple of extramarital affairs are key to the story.
-- Violence/scary situations: Someone is struck and killed by a car. A man is shot to death and shown in a casket, and another commits suicide off screen. A man slaps a woman and men nearly come to blows. In addition to reckless driving, there are references or brief flashbacks to World War I.
-- Alcohol and drug use: The alcohol, legal or not, flows freely throughout the movie.
"Iron Man 3"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Mature tweens and older.
-- What you should know: Robert Downey Jr. returns as Iron Man. Still haunted by events in New York (dramatized in "The Avengers") and outraged when a close friend is injured in one in a series of bombings, he vows revenge on terrorists. You can see the movie in 3-D, Imax or regular old 2-D.
-- Language: Relatively clean, with at least one use of profanity and a sprinkling of mild four-letter words.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Couples are shown in bed, and there is a line about "going to town on each other" and a crude reference to breasts. A few kisses, too.
-- Violence/scary situations: This is where the movie earns its rating, with bombings that produce fires at such high temperatures that buildings are reduced to rubble and people are incinerated or reduced to shadows. Someone who is badly burned is shown in a hospital bed. Threats are issued against the White House. A house is attacked and destroyed. There are lots of fights, fires, explosions, people held captive and in pain, a child briefly in peril, a harrowing plane accident in which passengers are sucked out of the cabin, fatal falls and deadly shootings.
-- Alcohol and drug use: Adults drink, with one scene set in a bar.
"King's Faith"
-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Tweens and above.
-- What you should know: This is a faith-based drama about a young man who thinks he has found stability and an accommodating foster home, only to land in the news for saving a girl after a car accident. His old gang comes calling, bringing trouble, threats and temptation.
-- Language: Nothing notable.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: There is mention of an abortion. A few kisses are exchanged.
-- Violence/scary situations: A girl drives her car off the road and into a tree and the vehicle catches fire, but she is rescued, escaping with only a broken arm. Two boys are seriously hurt by the gang; one lands in the hospital, and the other is viciously beaten and dumped on a lawn. A building is torched. A character uses a shovel as a weapon, a gun is brandished and a knife slashes someone's hand. There is mention of a police officer who was shot and killed at the side of the road in a crime that remains unsolved.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Drugs, from pills to heroin, are shown in small or large amounts.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, shns.com.)
Content enhanced with OpenCalais.