How to Choose a Family-Friendly Movie

Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad is more than a book exhorting the readers about how bad movies are. The author Phil Boatwright realizes families may not all draw the same lines for their values. For the most part, Phil Boatwright doesn't make value judgments on the movies he lists in Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad.

Phil Boatwright has been a movie buff since he was a child, hurrying home from school to watch the Early Show. In fact, Phil Boatwright loves movies and that comes across in Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad. As the Movie Reporter, Phil Boatwright enjoys movies and likes being able to tell the readers of Movie Reporter about family-friendly movies as well as movies that don't insult their intelligence, their morals, their patriotism or their families.

In Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad, Phil Boatwright takes us on a historical journey from earliest movies, many family-friendly, to the present, and how many who make movies today seem not to care who may be offended and for sure have no desire to be accountable to anyone for any limitations. You might think that the only movies Phil Boatwright recommends will be those from fifty years ago. Not so. There are a surprising number of films that are family-friendly and/or suitable for those who look for a a solid story, a good plot without assaulting values, which have been released throughout the years up to the present time. Phil Boatwright doesn't always dismiss movies because they may contain factors that shock, such as Shindler's List and The Passion of the Christ. Phil Boatwright is careful to explain why the positive values outweigh the negatives. Phil Boatwright in Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad doesn't expect all his readers to agree with his choices or his thought processes on movies.

What Phil Boatwright does try to do in Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad is to focus on giving the reader a glimpse of the film, the positive messages conveyed as well as factors in the movie such as situations, language, sex and violence that will help individuals, parents and families choose appropriate films for their particular family and situation and which are family-friendly. He also tells when the movie was released and who starred in it. He lists films I'd never heard of, but that sound really good. Movies I'd like to rent.

For me, Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad is a relief. I don't know how many times we've gone to Hastings Entertainment to pick out movies, then spent endless time reading the blurbs on the backs of movie boxes. We always tried to choose something we'd all enjoy, and that were and are pretty family-friendly. I also don't know how many times we've been disappointed in our choice.

What Phil Boatwright's Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad provides is a better way to make those choices. As a family it would have been nice to have this book handy. Even now, when movies we choose affect only my husband and I, since our children are grown and gone from home, we still prefer movies that don't overly offend and that are basically family-friendly.

Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad will now be something we'll consult before we head out to Hastings Entertainment. Better yet, I'll slip Phil Boatwright's Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad into my purse to take with us so we can check it as we peruse for movies. Finding family-friendly movies has gotten a whole lot easier thanks to the balanced, even handed Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad by Phil Boatwright, the Movie Reporter.

How do you pick family-friendly movies? Here are a few tips for picking family-friendly movies.

Check the rating. (Of course, be aware that even the mildest of ratings may have objectionable material for your particular family, but it is a place to start.)

Talk to family and friends who've seen the movie. Ask specific questions.

Read reviews from such family-friendly sites as Plugged In, Kids in Mind, the Movie Reporter, Author's Choice Reviews or other review sites.

And, of course, check Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Really, Really Bad by Phil Boatwright.