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"The Seeker" (PG, 1 hr., 28 min.)
A 14-year-old American boy (Alexander Ludwig) living in England learns he is fated to be a warrior in a centuries-old battle between Dark and Light. He will be the Seeker, using newly acquired superpowers to travel through time (to 1690, 1290) and foil the evil, black-caped Rider (Christopher Eccleston) by retrieving six "signs" that will help good triumph over evil -- at least for a while. This adaptation of Susan Cooper's 1973 novel "The Dark is Rising" (part of her popular series collectively titled after that book) often feels like a pale imitation of the "Harry Potter" films (PGs and more recently PG-13s). While it is cinematically underwhelming compared to them, with banal supporting characters and family concerns, "The Seeker" remains different and well-enough made to engage kids 8 and older and perhaps send them to the original books. Parents will note that the story's Celtic and Arthurian imagery is infused in the film with subtly Christian images and teachings, but not heavy-handedly enough to put off most people of other faiths.
"The Seeker" includes a few scary moments that edge into PG-13 territory: Swarming clouds of ravens chase Will (Ludwig), the young hero, crashing through a huge medieval window. A manor house, where villagers gather to escape a violent blizzard, first freezes, then floods. There are slithering piles of snakes, and messengers of The Rider threaten and chase Will. A crystal ball pictures the Earth engulfed in evil darkness, and a strong family tragedy theme involves stories of the disappearance of a baby. Under the influence of the Rider, an older brother (Gregory Smith) threatens Will with a knife. Characters drink ale.
Will Stanton has rather ordinary teen troubles in the English village where his family has moved for his dad's (John Benjamin Hickey) new teaching job at a local college. He struggles with his emotionally distant father, teasing siblings, and shyness with a pretty girl he likes (Amelia Warner). So he's dumbfounded when a small group of villagers calling themselves the Old Ones (led by McShane as Merriman and Frances Conroy as Miss Greythorne) recognize Will as the Seeker and set him on his fated mission.
P.S. FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER: The story of fighting evil with the power of light is an idea that goes back to the dawn of history. If you like "The Seeker," you might also want to check out "The Once and Future King," by T.H. White, a big book about King Arthur, and of course if you haven't read it already, Madeleine L'Engle's classic story of good, evil and time travel, "A Wrinkle in Time."
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"The Heartbreak Kid" (R, 1 hr., 56 min.)
Real emotions go unexplored in this lowest-common-denominator farce, which shares title and plotline with the classic 1972 comedy of manners, but updates that PG film by sliming it. Nor do comic veterans Ben Stiller and his dad Jerry (playing his dad in the film) soften the lewd, crude touch of co-directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly, of "There's Something About Mary" (R, 1998 ) fame. The presence of Stiller the Younger will likely attract high-schoolers, but the comic-athletic explicitness of the sexual situations and the graphic (occasionally misogynistic) sexual slang, along with brief female frontal nudity and much seminudity make the film problematic for anyone under 17. Characters also drink excessively, refer to drug abuse and rape, and make graphic homophobic jokes. Toss in gags at the expense of old people and overweight people, gross toilet humor, a graphic photo on a porn video cover and much ordinary profanity.
Stiller plays Eddie, the 40-ish owner of a San Francisco sporting goods store who feels left out when he attends the wedding of his former fiancee. When he meets a pretty young woman, Lila (Malin Akerman), he marries her too quickly (at the urging of his dad (Stiller) and his pal (Rob Corddry), and on their Mexican honeymoon realizes she is too crude and crazy for him. While his new wife nurses a killer sunburn, he falls for the lovely, down-to-earth Miranda (Michelle Monaghan) at the poolside bar and spends the rest of the film lying to extricate himself from his situation.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:
"The Seeker" PG (NEW) (Well-acted adaptation of Susan Cooper's 1973 novel "The Dark is Rising" (part of her series titled after that book) about Will (Alexander Ludwig), a 14-year-old American boy living in England who learns from village elders (Ian McShane, Frances Conroy as leaders) that he is fated to be the Seeker -- a time-traveling warrior who must find six "signs" to help in a centuries-old struggle against the forces of darkness led by the evil Rider (Christopher Eccleston); film feels at times like a banal, less inventive "Harry Potter" movie, but isn't bad; Christian symbolism subtly mixed with Celtic, Arthurian themes. Some scary moments near PG-13 range: Rider's messengers chase Will, morph into swarming ravens; ravens crash through a huge window; manor house where villagers gather freezes, then floods; slithering piles of snakes; subplot about tragic disappearance of a baby; an older brother (Gregory Smith) threatens Will with a knife; adults drink ale.)
"The Game Plan" PG (Amiable but wholly artificial family comedy will entertain kids 8 and older, even as adults recognize its bald contrivances; Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's acting, OK in action flicks, falls short here; he grimaces and lumbers, trying to show the emotional changes in Joe, a star quarterback whose selfish life turns upside-down after the 8-year-old daughter (adorable Madison Pettis) his long-ago ex-wife never told him he'd fathered appears at his door; he learns to parent and does a bit of ballet with her dance teacher (Roselyn Sanchez). Scenes that gently imply footballers partying, with no details; mild hints that Joe has a girlfriend who stays overnight; child's life-threatening food allergy; themes on a child's fear of abandonment, grief over a lost parent.)
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"The Jane Austen Book Club" (NEW) (Occasionally sudsy but highly enjoyable, even comfy romantic comedy (based on Karen Joy Fowler's book) -- geared more to women and teen girls -- about a group of love-challenged friends and acquaintances who find wit, wisdom and advice in the surprisingly relevant novels of Jane Austen; Kathy Baker as the oft-married Bernadette; Maria Bello as loner dog fancier Jocelyn; Amy Brenneman as Sylvia, whose husband (Jimmy Smits) is cheating; Maggie Grace as their lesbian daughter; Emily Blunt as the prim, unhappily married Prudie, attracted to a hunky student (Kevin Zegers) of hers; Hugh Dancy as a sci-fi lit lover trying to win Jocelyn's heart. Occasional strong profanity; drinking; brief marijuana use; steamy, but nonexplicit love scenes. Too adult for tweens.)
"Sydney White" (Perky Amanda Bynes in an occasionally fun, but too often formulaic comedy intended as an update of "Snow White"; Sydney (Bynes) is a smart, pretty tomboy hoping to pledge her late mom's sorority, but she finds it run by a witchy snob (Sara Paxton); Sydney decamps to an old frat house with seven brainiac guys, gives the sorority witch her comeuppance, and finds romance with a guy named Prince (Matt Long). Much mild sexual innuendo; semi-crude sexual slang ("booty" and other synonyms); implications of promiscuity among students; matter-of-fact portrayal of a club for gay, lesbian and transgender students; references to drinking, acting hung-over; young women in tight, low-cut clothes; implied male nudity; toilet humor; mild profanity; mean jokes about overweight girls. An iffy choice for some middle-schoolers.)
"Across the Universe" (Ravishing, if occasionally incoherent musical from theater genius Julie Taymor, beautifully weaves Beatles songs, well sung by the cast, into a 1960s love story among artistic and anti-war teens in New York; Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) joins an underground newspaper; her slacker brother Max (Joe Anderson) drops out of Princeton and gets drafted; Jude (Jim Sturgess), a visiting Liverpudlian, falls for Lucy; cameos by Joe Cocker, Bono, Eddie Izzard. Drug use; psychedelic references; drinking; smoking; profanity; implied promiscuity; war scenes. Some high-schoolers will love the romanticized take on the '60s; not for younger teens.)
-- R's:
"The Heartbreak Kid" (NEW) (Ben Stiller in painfully crude, emotionally unplumbed remake of the 1972 comedy classic (rated PG), now slimed into a lewd farce by the Farrelly brothers (of "There's Something About Mary" R, 1998) about a 40-ish guy (Stiller) who weds a pretty woman (MalinAkerman) too quickly, finds her crude and stupid on their Mexican honeymoon; while she nurses an awful sunburn, he meets a perfect girl (Michelle Monaghan) at the poolside bar, then lies to all, trying to squirm out of his situation. Very explicit, comic-athletic sexual situations; graphic (occasionally misogynistic) sexual slang; brief frontal nudity; much seminudity; characters drink excessively; verbal references to drug abuse, rape; graphic homophobic jokes; gags about old people, overweight people; gross toilet humor; graphic porn photo on a video cassette box; ordinary profanity. Too lewd for under-17s.)
"Michael Clayton" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Writer/director Tony Gilroy's stunning morality tale, rich in secrets, betrayals, tests of character -- a board room drama made epic with sharp dialogue, inspired symbolism, clever time-line manipulation, great acting; George Clooney in the title role as a law firm's "fixer," struggling with his own problems when asked to clean up the mess created by another lawyer (Tom Wilkinson) who goes off his meds and decides their firm is on the wrong side of a pollution suit against a client company, whose general counsel (Tilda Swinton) is desperate to settle the case. Strong profanity and sexual language; a quiet, bloodless murder; a car bomb; theme about divorce, alienation from one's kids; drinking; drug references. OK for thoughtful teens 16 and up.)
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Gritty, gripping, gorgeous tale (adapted from Ron Hansen's novel) explores the myth surrounding post-Civil War outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and the worshipful young Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) who joined the James Gang in its waning days and finally shot Jesse in 1882, making himself a pariah; terrific turns by Pitt, Affleck et al. Pitt's James is steely-eyed, given to scary rages. Thunderous shootouts; bloody injuries, including a bullet in the head; pistol-whipping; a suicide; James tortures a boy, cuts the heads off snakes; implied shooting of a horse; lewd, misogynistic, sometimes archaic sexual slang; racial slurs; steamy, but nonexplicit sexual encounter; smoking. True film buffs 17 and older.)
"Into the Wild" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Sean Penn's ravishing, emotionally complex adaptation of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book (including some narration) about Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch in a great, raw portrayal), an idealistic college grad who responds to the rat race and family troubles by shedding his parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden), beloved sister (Jena Malone) and real name to trek cross-country, meeting others on society's fringes (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as a hippie couple, Hal Holbrook as a lonely widower), eventually meeting his fate in Alaska's wilderness. Frontal nudity; semiexplicit sexual situation; sexual innuendo; marijuana; drinking; profanity; graphic fatal illness; cutting up of animals shot for food, including a moose. For thoughtful older teens, college kids.)
"The Kingdom" (Riveting white-knuckle action flick pushes all our buttons about terrorism, but with a torn-from-the-headlines flavor that's more rational than hysterical; Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman as FBI agents who go to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terror attack against U.S. citizens living in a compound there; Ashraf Barhom as a Saudi colonel who helps them. Terror attacks done with shattering realism and a seasick-making lens; victims with bloody injuries, missing limbs, shattered skulls; children at risk; point-blank gun battles; terrorists prepare to decapitate a hostage; occasional profanity; rare mild sexual innuendo. 16 and older with strong stomachs for film mayhem, interest in world affairs.)
"Resident Evil: Extinction" (Visually impressive and stark, but narratively incoherent action flick -- the third based on popular video games about a genetically altered superwoman, Alice (Milla Jovovich), who travels in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a corporation that leaked a lethal virus; most humans are now flesh-eating zombies; Alice stalks the mad scientist (Iain Glen) responsible for it and protects a convoy of survivors (Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps as convoy leaders). Blood-spattering, skull-piercing zombie attacks; point-blank gunfire; attacks by zombie dogs, crows; a pit full of dead clones of Alice, used for experiments; profanity; rare crude sexual slang, innuendo; nongraphic nudity; marijuana; cigarettes. High-schoolers 16 and up.)
"Good Luck Chuck" (Raunchy romantic comedy offers a few laughs and lewd cackles, but feels crass, its rare charm painfully forced, despite likable stars; Charlie (Dane Cook), a promiscuous dentist, has a weird reputation: rumor has it any woman who sleeps with him will magically meet her true love next; his swinish pal (Dan Fogler) thinks Charlie's one-night-stand life is great, but when Charlie falls for an accident-prone penguin keeper (Jessica Alba) she's put off by his seedy rep; prologue shows 10-year-old Charlie "hexed" by a girl at a make-out party. Explicit sexual content; toplessness; graphic sexual slang, some used by tweens; profanity; homophobic slur; drinking; drug humor. More for college age.)
"The Brave One" (Jodie Foster in a searing performance as a New York radio personality -- a poet of the neighborhoods -- who, with her fiance (Naveen Andrews), is severely beaten by muggers; her fiance dies; she recovers, but is altered by grief, rage, post-traumatic stress, and becomes a vigilante killer; for all its literacy, the film seems to glorify lawlessness; Foster's acting redeems it, as does Terrence Howard's nuanced turn as a police detective. Stylized but very graphic violence -- point-blank shootings, stabbings, skull-crushing beatings; semiexplicit sex scenes; violent scene with a drug addict holding a young prostitute hostage; profanity; crude sexual language, smoking; drinking. Not for under-17s.)
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