W
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MPAA Rating is the rating given by the Motion Picture Association of America. Please note this is a voluntary rating, so some films (many times older films or obscure foreign films) are not rated.
G - General Audiences
PG - Parental Guidance Suggested
PG13 - Parental Guidance Suggested for those under 13 years of age
R - Restricted (those under 18 not admitted without parent or guardian)
NC-17 (X) - No one under 18 admitted.
USCCB Rating is the rating given by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Please note that some films are not rated simply because the Bishop’s Conference has not reviewed them.
A-I: General Patronage
A-II: Adults and Adolescents
A-III: Adults
L: Limited Adult Audience, problematic content
O: Morally Offensive
Fr. John’s Ratings
★★★★★ - Masterpiece. This film has to show aspects of cinematic excellence that are above and beyond the ordinary and even beyond the “excellent” classification. Because a true masterpiece can be determined only through its ability to endure through the passage of time, no film is even considered for this rating until at least ten years have passed from the date of its initial release.
★★★★ - Excellent
★★★ - Very Good
★★ - Fair
★ - Poor
War and Peace (1966-1967) ★★★★
Length: 147 minutes (1st film), 100 minutes (2nd film), 84 minutes (3rd film) and 100 minutes (4th film) MPAA Rating: Not rated. USCCB Rating: None. Director: Sergei Bondarchuk. Scenes of drunkenness and war-time violence.
This grandiose series of films, made during the Cold War and based on Tolstoy’s famous novel, was eagerly promoted by a USSR that was anxious to make greater film epics than those from Hollywood. The Soviet government gave director Bondarchuk over 10,000 soldiers to be used as extras along with over 900 horses. The result is a dizzying epic, shot on glorious 70mm film, that features the largest battle scenes ever seen in cinema. Personal drama is there, too, but comes across as only one part of a glorious (though sometimes ponderous) pageant. It is not surprising that Bondarchuk, who not only directed this monumental epic but also wrote the screenplay and played the lead role, went into full cardiac arrest while making the fourth film (but recovered). This epic is grand, sweeping, and often inventive.
Wizard of Oz, The (1939) ★★★★★
Length: 101 minutes. MPAA Rating: G. USCCB Rating: A-I. Director: Victor Fleming. For family viewing.
A girl named Dorothy runs away from home and is whisked away by a tornado to a wonderful land called Oz. Now she needs to make a perilous journey to see the Wizard to find her way back home.
We’ve all seen it, and we all love it. Forget about the behind-the-scenes difficulties, the strike by the “munchkin” cast, or a Judy Garland who was clearly too old to play the young Dorothy (Shirley Temple was initially considered for the role). It all works brilliantly. The transition from black-and-white to color is still one of the best transitions in the history of cinema. The music is delightful, the cinematography is beautiful, the sets and costumes are quite impressive, and even the effects hold up well (the tornado is still perhaps the best tornado in the history of cinematic visual effects). The mostly song and dance cast is extremely talented – this includes Margaret Hamilton, whose Wicked Witch doesn’t sing or dance but tears up the screen with a still-effective villainous performance. This is a family classic that can be enjoyed by all ages.