PG Rated Movies

Moviegoing at the midnight hour

2013-05-04 09:00:00

El Monte high school teacher Trevor Schoenfeld is an omnivorous moviegoer, the kind who wants to see films he's interested in at their first possible screening. For years, he's been willing to line up at the multiplex for the first midnight showings of...

Review: 'Mary and Martha' can't connect

2013-04-20 08:00:00

Richard Curtis is indisputably one of the good ones. A British screenwriter who helped give the world the comic genius of "Black Adder" and delivered a string of smart rom-com hits including "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Bridget Jones's Diary" and...

MPAA unveils movie ratings awareness campaign for parents

2013-04-16 11:28:00

Chris Dodd, chairman and chief executive of the�Motion Picture Assn. of America, announced a new "Check the Box" movie ratings awareness campaign Tuesday morning at CinemaCon, the National Assn. of Theater Owners' annual convention in Las Vegas. The...

'Burt Wonderstone' could vaporize if 'The Call' dials up biz

2013-03-14 13:17:00

“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” would have to pull a rabbit out of its hat to avoid a disappearing act at the box office. Despite its bigger budget and higher-profile cast, the magic comedy starring Steve Carell and Jim Carrey will have to...

'Good Day to Die Hard' barely wins Presidents Day weekend box office

2013-02-18 09:41:00

Presidents Day was almost a bad one for "A Good Day to Die Hard." The fifth installment in the Bruce Willis action franchise narrowly won the holiday weekend at the box office, just stealing No. 1 from "Identity Thief," the Melissa McCarthy comedy...

Review: 'Escape From Planet Earth' an amiable adventure

2013-02-16 07:30:00

"Escape From Planet Earth" — an animated adventure that's more down-to-earth than earth-shattering — builds a family-friendly sci-fi constellation out of fresh chuckles and recycled parts, a number of them from Planet Pixar. Feel-good but...

Directors discuss the work and play angles

2012-12-06 08:00:00

In the costly and time-intensive discipline of animated filmmaking, every movie comes with high stakes. Five directors who recently came together for the first Envelope Animation Round Table discussed the artistic and business demands of the medium. In...

Television review: 'A Fairly Odd Christmas' offers cheer to show fans

2012-11-29 06:00:00

"A Fairly Odd Christmas," which premieres Thursday on Nickelodeon, is the second (mostly) live-action TV movie to be sprung from the network's long-running cartoon series "The Fairly OddParents" (ninth season coming! 2013!). Though its appeal will be...

Review: 'Inventing David Geffen' takes on the Hollywood mogul

2012-11-20 05:00:00

Susan Lacy's "Inventing David Geffen," which premieres Tuesday as part of the PBS series "American Masters," takes a long look at the agent-manager-record-mogul-movie-mogul (and Broadway producer and billionaire philanthropist). In Los Angeles, he is also...

'Life of Pi' a huge gamble for 20th Century Fox

2012-11-19 05:00:00

Many people in Hollywood considered "Life of Pi" to be unfilmable. Now that it's about to hit theaters Wednesday, there's a new question: Can it be profitable? Director Ang Lee's $120-million adaptation of Yann Martel's 2001 book, which has sold 9...

Chris Erskine: Tough break for the L.A. Galaxy, now do-or-die

2012-11-05 19:11:00

As with any great opera, the tenor dies in the end, falling upon his own scimitar as the teary-eyed vixen sings her heart out. And the fat lady is nowhere to be found. That's because the L.A. Galaxy still has a chance at resurrection Wednesday night...

Review: In 'Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,' Arnold Schwarzenegger holds back

2012-10-01 00:00:00

-------------------- Total Recall My Unbelievably True Life Story Arnold Schwarzenegger Simon & Schuster: 656 pp., $35 -------------------- It's much too early to predict the nature of Arnold Schwarzenegger's final Wikipedia entry, much less his...

PG; 2:10 running time Is "Oz the Great and Powerful" a prequel to the Oz we know best from the movies, "The Wizard of Oz," or a separate adventure culled from the L. Frank Baum books, or what? Yes to all three. In a nod to the 1939 classic, Raimi begins in Kansas in 1.

2013-03-07 08:28:00

PG; 1:37 running time DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg recently lamented the dearth of holiday-themed movies headed to your multiplex this year.

2012-11-20 00:00:00

PG; 1:45 running time Wait a sec. How did the Kevin James mixed martial arts movie end up a more convincing portrait of the plight of the American public school teacher than "Won't Back Down," a film that's actually about that subject?

2012-10-11 07:59:00