HOLES
RATING: PG
STARRING: Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Sigourney Weaver, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, Khleo Thomas, Henry Winkler, and Eartha Kitt
DISTRIBUTOR: Walt Disney Pictures/Buena Vista
DIRECTOR: Andrew Davis
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Louis Phillips and Marty P. Ewing
PRODUCER: Andrew Davis, Lowell D. Blank, Mike Medavoy, and Teeresa Tucker-Davies
WRITER: Louis Sachar
GENRE: Adventure
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children to adults
SUMMARY: Holes tells the story of young Stanley Yelnats, who is told that his family is under a curse when he is sent to a reformatory camp for a crime he didn't commit. Yelnats, who "finds" a pair of stolen sneakers belonging to a famous athlete, is picked up by the police and sentenced by the judge to reformatory camp in the middle of the desert. Stanley's father is a goofy inventor, also named Stanley, who is trying to get the odor out of sneakers. The grandfather, another Stanley Yelnats, insists that all of their bad luck stems from a curse.
Clearly, there are a lot of Christian messages in Holes, from the stream of life-giving water, to carrying your brother's burdens, to sacrificing your life for others, and many positive allegorical touches. Holes is a well-directed movie with great production values, fine acting, staging, some beautiful photography, and a rousing, heartwarming, redemptive ending despite script problems and some occult content. Jon Voight alone is worth the price of admission.
CONTENT: Some politically correct elements, as well as moral and immoral elements; 9 obscenities and 2 profanities; some violence includes man hit with shovel, man shot to death in boat, boy hallucinates rattler bite, man shoots deadly lizards, vigilantes burn schoolhouse; light sexual innuendo and kissing; many shots of upper male nudity and woman buttons blouse; no alcohol; no smoking; and, theft, lying, intimidation, and bullying.
GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS
RATING: G
DISTRIBUTOR: Walt Disney Picture/Buena Vista
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
PRODUCER: James Cameron, Chuck Comisky, Gig Rackauskas, and Janace Tashjian
GENRE: Documentary/Undersea Exploration
INTENDED AUDIENCE: All ages
SUMMARY: Ghosts Of The Abyss is a captivating 3-D documentary by Director James Cameron of Titanic fame. The film is a documentary of the exploration of the actual ship, 12,500 feet deep at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In producing this movie, Cameron had a lot going against him, including the lack of a script, a dedication to factual accuracy, and his decision to make his movie in 3-D. Cameron overcomes many obstacles by bringing along Bill Paxton, who looks at the world as an adolescent would.
Since they were filming on Sept. 11, 2001, the poignancy of the sinking of the Titanic comes home to them in an incredible way. The question that Mr. Paxton raises, and everyone discusses, is what would you do? One of the Titanic's officers, Murdoch, single-handedly saved two-thirds of the survivors through his courage and self-sacrifice. The scientists have a spirited discussion about what they would have done. Thus, the movie emphasizes a moral, heroic point of view, which is clearly James Cameron's point of view.
The camerawork and editing make this an extraordinary movie. Once in a while, a documentary comes along of this caliber. It has some minor flaws, but it is the type of movie many viewers will want to see again and again. Movieguide commends everyone involved in this project.
CONTENT: Moral worldview with several other viewpoints represented by different crewmembers, including brief New Age and humanist views; one obscenity and seven exclamatory profanities; threats of violence and discussion of violence; no sex; men in swimming trunks; and, nothing else objectionable.
