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Movies in Limited Releases
The following movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
 - -- Fairly interesting but ultimately unconvincing London-based drama about two financially needy brothers (Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell) asked by their rich uncle (Tom Wilkinson) to kill a business associate for pay. The two leads are excellent, but writer-director Woody Allen's Hitchcockian script fails to avoid a sense of contrivance, and Allen's nihilistic worldview, as espoused here by McGregor's character, is beginning to grow tiresome. An off-screen murder, brief violence, much conversational profanity, drug references, some brief sexual banter and nonmarital relationships. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2008 Full Review
 - -- Grimly powerful, hypnotic drama about a robbery that goes horribly awry, and the tragic after-effects on two brothers (Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman) and their families (Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei, among them). Veteran director Sidney Lumet has lost none of his prowess, and this film -- heavily imbued with a mood of inexorable doom -- almost has the feel of Greek tragedy, as the narrative methodically, grippingly unfolds, and there are sensational performances by all, including Rosemary Harris, Amy Ryan and Brian F. O'Byrne. Graphic violence and murder, vengeance, two sexual encounters with rear male and upper female nudity, pervasive rough and crude language, profanity, adultery, frank sexual talk and drug use. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) 2007 Full Review
 - -- Unremarkable, formulaic, only mildly entertaining story of two cancer patients -- a wealthy, womanizing tycoon (Jack Nicholson) and a middle-class garage mechanic (Morgan Freeman) -- who decide to hit the road and experience all their wildest dreams in the time they have left, that is, until they "kick the bucket." We've seen all this before, and except for seeing the two stars in standard reliable form, director Rob Reiner's film is predictably routine, though some problematic elements aside, imparting a positive message about finding the joy in life and bringing joy to others. An instance of the f-word; some crude expletives, crass expressions and scattered profanity; a vulgar gesture; an implied nonmarital sexual encounter; sexual references and innuendo; and domestic discord. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2007 Full Review
 - -- Artsy, impressionistic portrait of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with several top actors playing different aspects of his multifaceted character over the decades: Woody Guthrie acolyte (Marcus Carl Franklin), folksinger (Christian Bale), Arthur Rimbaud admirer (Ben Whishaw), plugged-in electric singer (Cate Blanchett), actor-husband (Heath Ledger), born-again Christian (Bale), and loner and "outlaw" (Richard Gere). Since co-writer and director Todd Haynes eschews conventional biography, the film requires some knowledge of Dylan's history for full appreciation, but ultimately, despite a fine earful of Dylan songs and some interesting performances (especially from Blanchett), this emerges as an arty, cinematic curiosity. Rough language and profanity, crass expressions, brief partial male and upper-female nudity, a nongraphic sexual encounter and drug use. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) 2007 Full Review
 - --Taut, though rather cold, remake of the 1972 film based on Anthony Shaffer's Broadway and West End hit play about a wealthy mystery writer (Michael Caine) who engages his wife's lover (Jude Law) in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Director Kenneth Branagh expertly sustains suspense, and his leads -- Caine switching roles from the earlier film -- are superb, though playwright Harold Pinter's radical and deft reworking of the original is peppered with expletives, and has one extended sequence with a strongly homoerotic undercurrent. Much rough and crude language and some profanity, violence, torture, adultery theme, frank sexual talk and strong innuendo, some of a homosexual nature. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) 2007 Full Review
 - Visually rich but dramatically deficient fable in which a 70-year-old Romanian scholar (Tim Roth) regains his youth and acquires superhuman powers -- as well as a split personality -- after being struck by lightning, is protected and given a new identity by his doctor (Bruno Ganz), romances a Nazi spy (Alexandra Pirici) but evades her masters who want to study him, escaping to Switzerland, where he falls in love with a tourist (Alexandra Maria Lara), who looks exactly like the deceased woman he loved in his youth and who has also been struck by lightning with equally unusual effects. Writer-director Francis Ford Coppola's film captivates the eye but numbs the mind as it moves at a snail's pace through a series of surreal images and didactic conversations. Graphic nonmarital sexual activity; side, rear and upper female nudity; strong imagery of a burn victim; light sexual references; and suicide theme. L -- limited adult audience (R) 2007 Full Review
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