ReelViews for PG-13 movies

Ava DuVernay’s Origin functions both as a bio-pic of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson and an exploration of the philosophy underlying her best-selling book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Although the movie has a narrative ...

The Orphanage is an effective mixture of horror and fantasy, with the supernatural bleeding into dreams that teeter on the brink of reality. It employs a similar, although not identical, approach to the one that marked 2006's late-year success, Pa...

Historical dramas aren't as popular as they were during the years when they were routinely clogging Oscar nomination lists and taking home awards, so it's a source of curiosity every time one comes out to see what concessions have been made to incr...

Will Ferrell's recent resume isn't anything to get excited about: Land of the Lost, Step Brothers, Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory. There's a sameness to all of them, not only in that the Ferrell characters are difficult to differentiate from one anothe...

Has it come to this for director Nick Cassavetes? The son of acclaimed iconoclast filmmaker John Cassavetes, Nick has been toiling in mostly indie circles for the better part of his career, making some fine motion pictures in the process: Unhook th...

In a welcome change from a growing number of dark, violent movies erupting in theaters this autumn, Outsourced is sweet and light. It's a celebration of cultural diversity and an affirmation that, despite differences in race, religion, and societal...

To fashion an endearing romantic comedy, there are only a few simple rules to be followed: find two likeable leads whose chemistry sizzles, provide them with a simple framework that allows them to gradually fall for each other in such a way that th...

I don’t understand how certain films are selected for remakes. Take Overboard, for example. The original, a 1987 production starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and directed by Frank Marshall, was a mostly failed screwball comedy that worke...

If you want an insightful movie about the grieving process, check out Grace Is Gone, which explores how a suddenly single father must cope not only with the loss of his wife but must face telling his daughters that their mother is not coming home. ...

Call it Godzilla (Toho version) on steroids. Or perhaps Transformers with a heart. Either way, there's no mystery what Pacific Rim is and, more importantly, what it delivers. It's the perfect summer spectacle, with giant robots pounding on monsters...