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JANE HORWITZ - FAMILY FILMGOER

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March 15, 2007

``Premonition'' (PG-13, 1 hr., 36 min.)

From the corny, super-ominous musical score to the pained look on Sandra Bullock's face, we can tell early on that ``Premonition'' will be heavy going. This talented, likable star is not well served by the script or direction, which are derivative, heavy-handed and cliched. The film, about a wife who experiences recurring, time-bending flashes to the day she hears of her husband's death, is a mishmash of styles. It bounces from TV soap to ``The Sixth Sense'' (PG-13, 1999) and ``Groundhog Day'' (PG, 1993) to ``Gaslight'' (1944) and everything in between. Is someone trying to drive our heroine crazy? Why is her husband so distant? ``Premonition'' doesn't make you care much about the answers.

Teens who like supernatural tales may be drawn to the movie anyway, and it may disappoint them. POSSIBLE PLOT GIVEAWAYS FOLLOW: In addition to a sense of loss that weaves throughout the movie, there are scenes that could upset some teens. These include a brief glimpse of a severed head, a fiery crash, a bloodied, decomposing crow (the omens aren't subtle), stitched-up wounds on a child's face, a character dragged off screaming to a psychiatric ward and injected with a tranquilizer, and a child having a terrible, but not life-threatening, home accident. The film contains muted instances of sexual innuendo and marital closeness, rare but strongish profanity, and subtle allusions to infidelity and suicide. Bullock's character smokes, drinks wine and considers taking tranquilizers.

Bullock plays Linda, a stay-at-home mom with two adorable little girls (Shyann McClure and Courtney Taylor Burness). One day, she gets a cryptic voice mail from her businessman husband (Julian McMahon), and a few minutes later the sheriff arrives to tell her he is dead. When Linda wakes up the next morning, her family is happily intact, with hubby sipping coffee in the kitchen. The next day he's dead again. Linda questions her sanity at first, then in the throes of grief, tries to solve the mystery.

P.S. FOR TEENS: The idea of someone seeing a tragedy before it happens, or glimpsing something from the past as if it were happening now, has inspired many books and films better than ``Premonition.'' ``The Others'' (PG-13, 2001), with Nicole Kidman, created a spellbinding, eerie mood with few special effects. The Henry James short story, ``The Turn of the Screw,'' published in 1898, and an excellent read, inspired the film, ``The Innocents'' (1961) about a nanny whose little charges may or may not be alive. Then there's the 1944 film ``Gaslight,'' in which a woman is convinced her husband is trying to drive her crazy.

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``I Think I Love My Wife'' (R, 1 hr., 34 min.)

Chris Rock serves as director, co-screenwriter and star in ``I Think I Love My Wife,'' his not-all-that-edgy, intensely profane, moderately sprightly, but ultimately shallow comedy about the lure of infidelity for a family guy whose marriage has hit the doldrums. Teenage Rock fans may want to see it, but by many parents' standards the movie would be wildly inappropriate for audiences under 17, as it is heavily influenced by Rock's brilliant but raunchy stand-up style. The F-word peppers the dialogue, used in both nonsexual and sexual connotations. In addition to profanity, ``I Think I Love My Wife'' features explicit sexual language and a couple of steamy, though largely nonexplicit sexual situations. The most graphic element involves that rare side effect of Viagra that can last four hours -- no nudity, but graphic. The script contains racial jokes, lots of the rhymes-with-witch words and talk of someone's attempted suicide. Some characters smoke, drink and start to light up a joint; one gets beaten up. Despite all that, the film inevitably comes down in favor of fidelity. It is really just an adult version of a teen comedy -- boy yearns for the sexiest girl in school, not realizing that the nice girl next door is meant for him.

Based on French director Eric Rohmer's 1972 film ``Chloe in the Afternoon'' (R, 1972; sometimes called ``Love in the Afternoon''), ``I Think I Love My Wife'' couldn't be less of an art film. Rock's sensibility coarsens, but also energizes it. His acting, though, is not strong, and that sets a nuance-free tone to all the proceedings. Rock plays Richard, an executive with a large bank whose marriage to lovely Brenda (Gina Torres) has lost its zing. Then gorgeous, manipulative Nikki (Kerry Washington) shows up at his office -- the ex-girlfriend of an old pal. Needing a favor, she aims her wiles at Richard and starts visiting him daily at work. They embark on a flirtation that shakes the foundations of Richard's life.

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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME

-- 8 AND OLDER:

``Bridge to Terabithia'' PG (Touching story (based on Katherine Paterson's 1977 novel) about a deep friendship between fifth-graders Jess (Josh Hutcherson), a budding artist from a rural family that largely ignores him, and Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb), a free-spirited daughter of wealthy writers; the two create their own fantasy world, Terabithia, in the woods, facing down bullies there and in the real world; film's gritty naturalism is marred by a charmless, computer-animated effort to visualize Terabithia. Under-8s may be spooked by swooping, furry vultures, giant trolls, armored attack squirrels, and a huge tree that turns into a troll (pretty cool, actually) in Terabithia; adults use mild profanity; kid-scuffles with bloodied noses; verbal references to a girl whose dad hits her; kids discuss religion; WARNING -- PLOT GIVEAWAY: Central theme in film's last act deals with grief and loss.)

-- 10 AND OLDER:

``The Ultimate Gift'' PG (Cliched but well-acted, enjoyable, if ``Hallmark Hall of Fame''-ish, parable (subtle Christian themes -- no theology, little preaching) about a spoiled 20-something trust-fund kid (Drew Fuller) who must listen to video'd life lessons from his late granddad (James Garner), then go off and learn to be a better man or lose his bequest; a single mom (Ali Hillis) and her sick daughter (Abigail Breslin) change his life. Brief smoking, drinking; rare mild profanity; references to drug abuse; comic scene with an electric cattle prod; implication of adultery among married characters; themes about loss of a parent, a child; subplot shows protagonist trapped among South American drug thugs with guns (and possibly a joint), who hit him, hold him hostage.)

-- PG-13s:

``Premonition'' (NEW) (Sandra Bullock stranded in corny, endlessly derivative, clunkily directed, supernatural thriller about a stay-at-home mom who has a time-bending flash-forward to getting news of her husband's (Julian McMahon) death, then wakes up the next day to find him alive; the process repeats; her sanity threatened, she tries to solve the mystery. Some teens could be upset by: film's sense of numbing grief, loss; brief glimpse of a severed head; a fiery crash; a bloodied decomposing crow; stitched-up wounds on a child's face; character dragged off screaming to a psychiatric ward and injected; child having a terrible, but not life-threatening, accident; mild sexual innuendo in scenes of marital closeness; rare strongish profanity; subtle allusions to infidelity, suicide; Bullock's character smokes, drinks wine, considers taking tranquilizers.)

``Wild Hogs'' (Slow to start, but ultimately amusing comedy about four middle-aged Cincinnati guys (Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) who toss their cell phones and go on a cross-country motorcycle trip; in New Mexico they face a ``real'' motorcycle gang (led by Ray Liotta). Too lewd to be a total family comedy; crude language; sexual innuendo -- much of it homophobic; gross toilet humor; considerable midrange profanity; comic fights, mayhem; skinny-dipping scene with a character naked from behind; condom joke; prolonged subplot about a gay state trooper (John C. McGinley) who nearly stalks the guys; free-for-all fight; drinking, smoking. OK for high-schoolers.)

``Ghost Rider'' (Glitzy, energized, if nonsensical fable (based on the Marvel comic) about stunt motorcyclist, Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), who as a teen, sold his soul to Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) to save his dad from illness; as an adult he tries to be good, rekindles a romance with his teen sweetheart, now a TV reporter (Eva Mendes) -- in hopes of negating his satanic deal; but the devil wants Johnny as his bounty hunter, chasing a rogue demon, Blackheart (Wes Bentley); at night Johnny is the Ghost Rider, ablaze on a superbike, going after Blackheart and ordinary evildoers. Fights; skull-faced demons; middling profanity; smoking; drinking; mild sexual innuendo.)

-- R's AND AN UNRATED DOCUMENTARY:

``I Think I Love My Wife" (NEW) (Chris Rock co-wrote, directed and stars in edgy, intensely profane, moderately sprightly, but shallow comedy -- a Rock-coarsened update of a 1972 French art film ``Chloe in the Afternoon" (R); he plays a family guy toying with cheating on his wife (Gina Torres) with a gorgeous acquaintance (Kerry Washington) who appears at his office, flaunting her allure; he starts a flirtation, debating his moral choices. Repeated use of F-word in both angry nonsexual and explicitly sexual meanings; other graphic sexual language; rare steamy, mostly nonexplicit sexual situations; one graphic visual involves that famous 4-hour side effect of Viagra -- no nudity, but graphically implied; some racial jokes; the rhymes-with-witch word; scene showing someone beaten up; marijuana; drinking; cigarettes reference to suicide attempt. Despite sexual content and profanity, film comes down squarely in favor of fidelity, family, but too raunchy for under-17s.)

``Beyond the Gates" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Understated, yet heart and gut-wrenching drama, fact-based but with fictionalized characters, about a British priest (John Hurt) and teacher (Hugh Dancy) at a school in Rwanda, who tried to shelter some 2500 Tutsi children and adults during the 1994 genocide; filmed in the actual school in Kigali, re-enacting how United Nations peacekeepers were under orders not to intervene, and how French troops came to rescue white Europeans only. Depictions of people, including a mother and infant, hacked to death with machetes or shot -- harrowing, bloody, but not disrespectfully graphic, often partly hidden by tall grass; roadsides strewn with bodies; murdered Rwandan nuns, with implication one was also raped or mutilated; painful verbal description of murder of a baby; strong profanity; racial slurs; drinking; smoking. College students.)

``The Host" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Crackerjack, character and metaphor-rich Korean horror flick about an older man who runs a snack shack on the banks of the river in Seoul and his adult children and little granddaughter; a mutant monster with a dolphin torso, multiple jaws, several legs and a bad attitude emerges from the river and starts killing, eating, snatching people; it gets the little girl; the bickering family braves quarantines and police barricades to try to trace her to the monster's lair; film is harsh, killing characters we love, unflattering to United States power in Korea. Creature vomits up bones, shows legs of live victims dangling from its mouth; yet violence is understated; strong profanity; sexual innuendo; suicide theme. In Korean with subtitles. High-school horror buffs.)

``Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders" (Not Rated) (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Highly watchable, disheartening documentary about Americans' addiction to credit and failure to recognize how paying interest on bills mires them deeper in lifelong debt. Film focuses on individual tragedies and national issues -- a real cautionary tale, especially timely for college-age kids. Discussion of debt-induced suicides; profanity.)

``300" (Stunning, digitally enhanced, occasionally giggle-inducing, but mostly epic-feeling and sounding adaptation of a graphic novel (by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley) about Sparta's King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., when he and 300 men faced the army of Persian emperor Xerxes; narration, dialogue, battle scenes all seem effectively ancient, portentous. Stylized visuals, muted colors make battle violence seem otherworldly, less gory, but still harrowing -- not for all high-school-age stomachs; spears, daggers through guts, eyes; horses cut down from under warriors; strongly implied rape -- camera cuts away before it becomes graphic; more explicit, though very stylized, sexual montage between King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and his Queen (Lena Headey); back-view nudity; toplessness; a few subtle homoerotic verbal references; mild curses. High-schoolers.)

``Zodiac" (Long but riveting, naturalistic fact-based crime saga about search for San Francisco Bay Area's frightening Zodiac killer in 1969 and for years after, focusing on a police detective (Mark Ruffalo), a newspaper cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal, as Robert Graysmith, whose books about Zodiac inspired the film) and a crime reporter (Robert Downey Jr.), who all become obsessed with, and damaged by the case. Re-enactment of killings is fairly understated, but still upsetting, with point-blank shootings, stabbings, spattered blood; an infant and its mother shown at risk; drug use, drinking, smoking; cops discuss subtly a suspect's molestation of children; we see a sex toy suspect owns; strong profanity. 16 and older.)