ReelViews for PG-13 movies

With its curious fusion of tear-jerking drama and fish-out-of-water humor, Rental Family is indeed a strange brew—one of those films that sounds slightly ridiculous in synopsis but blossoms into something unexpectedly tender when experienced mom...

Rescue Dawn, which transpires in southeast Asia during 1965, makes three things perfectly clear. First, director Werner Herzog is obsessed with the story of Dieter Dengler. Second, Herzog loves making movies about men with a tenuous grasp on sanity...

Respect uses vignettes to provide an overview of the early years of Aretha Franklin’s life and career. Along the way, the movie touches on a number of weighty issues including domestic abuse, alcoholism, and Civil Rights activism. The film c...

The most surprising thing about Restless, the latest film from indie director Gus Van Sant, is how conventional it is. Of course, this is not the first time Van Sant, whose penchant is for offbeat productions with little widespread appeal, has ente...

A considerable amount of talent was assembled to make what has turned into a throw-away late summer film. Academy Award winning actors Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline headline the cast while Oscar winners Jonathan Demme and Diablo Cody handle the direct...

Ride Along, the new action/comedy starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, defies the cliché that you can't judge a book by its cover. Nothing unexpected lurks beneath a bland and predictable exterior. Those who have seen a 30-second TV commercial (or t...

It has been nearly a decade since Woody Allen last made an enjoyable movie (that distinction would go to either 2011’s Midnight in Paris or 2013’s Blue Jasmine, depending on individual preferences). Since then, over the span of five feature...

As far as I'm concerned, it's official: Hollywood has lost the art of how to make horror films. Consider this year's entries as Exhibit A - everything from White Noise to The Ring 2 has been horrible. There's not a worthwhile film in the bunch. ...

To describe The Ring, two adjectives leap to mind: spooky and lame. The former refers to the tone and atmosphere, which are about as good as it gets for a ghost story. The latter refers to the storyline, which is about as poorly constructed as c...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes represents Fox's attempt to reinvigorate a dormant franchise. The new movie is technically a prequel to the 1968 Planet of the Apes; however, it ignores the various sequels and spin-offs (including a TV series) that d...