PICK OF THE WEEK
“GODZILLA” (PG): The prehistoric monster, played by a stunt man in a rubber suit, endures attacks by the Japanese military before saving Tokyo from a shape-shifting extraterrestrial monster.
A sympathetic scientist (Naomi Nishida), his young daughter (Mayu Sazuki) and a spunky girl reporter (Takehiro Murata) cheer Godzilla on.
Language: A couple of mild swear words are inserted into the campy, badly dubbed English dialogue, apparently to keep the movie from a G rating (a turnoff for preteen boys).
Sex: None, though at one point the other monster tries to swallow Godzilla to clone him.
Violence: Unlike the 1998 American version, the low-tech special effects are not particularly realistic. Though much of Tokyo is trampled, nobody suffers as much as a scratch – except maybe an evil government official, whose demise is implied rather than shown.
Audience: Best for boomer parents who want to introduce their 6- to 11-year-olds to the simpler pleasures of their youths, though they should be prepared to explain why the actors’ mouths aren’t in sync with the dialogue. A little intense for younger kids, while teens will find it quaint.
RECOMMENDED, WITH RESERVATIONS
“AUTUMN IN NEW YORK” (PG-13): Will (Richard Gere) is a hip Manhattan restaurateur who’s about to become a grandpa. He’s also a womanizer. Charlotte (Winona Ryder) is a hip Manhattan milliner young enough to be his daughter. She has a heart condition. The two meet at his restaurant on what’s bound to be her last birthday.
Charlotte’s wise granny (Elaine Stritch) warns the young filly to keep away from the playboy, but life is short, Will’s sweet and they don’t have to worry about long-term commitments. It’s a match made in Hollywood.
Language: A handful of cuss words.
Sex: Full frontal nudity on an X-ray; some artsy coupling behind glass.
Violence: None.
Audience: Teenaged girls and their grannies are the only audience who will watch this dreck and weep.
NOT RECOMMENDED
“THE CELL” (R): Believe it or not, Jennifer Lopez is a child psychologist in the near future who can reach into her autistic subject’s psyche through a newfangled spiritual time-travel machine.
When serial killer Vincent D’Onofrio goes comatose, G-Man Vince Vaughn sends Lopez on a fantastic voyage into the psychopath’s mind to find his latest victim, who’s still in captivity. Once there, she meets both the killer’s sweet inner-child and his more ferocious alter-bully. But can she free herself from his mind in time to save the girl – and herself?
Language: Profanity.
Sex: Polymorphous perversity with an MTV feel.
Violence: Think “Seven.” The ultimate in women-in-peril violence, along with a killer who hangs from hooks embedded in his skin.
Audience: Adults only.