The Woman in Black

Rated: PG-13 for thematic material and violence/disturbing images
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, David Burke, Shaun Dooley
Running Time: 1hr, 35 min.

“During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air.
A bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed.
But the house in the marsh is by far the worst.
What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back.
The specter of darkness.
The woman in black.”

— The Woman in Black trailer, ©2011 CBS Films

My heart was still pounding for a good several minutes after the movie ended.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a widowed solicitor sent to a remote village in northern England to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman. The townspeople want nothing to do with him once they find out his business there. But why?

Just as he begins to unravel the mystery, tragedy strikes, and the village is forced to acknowledge its terrible fate.

This is a good, old-fashioned Gothic ghost story. Abandoned old mansion. Mysterious deaths. Creepy shadows. The PG-13 rating is spot on. We brought our 12-year-old son, but that is because he is used to scary, Gothic stuff, and we are an Edgar Allan Poe/Tim Burton/Halloween-throughout-the-year sort of family.

There were definitely some tense moments and several things that could haunt a younger child’s psyche for quite some time and cause nightmares. The reason the woman in black comes back to the village could be pretty scary for younger children.

I would say leave the young ones at home, but, by all means, bring your 12+ kids if they enjoy a good scare, and have a frightfully good time.

I know I did.



Reviewed by Karen Berner

Big Fat Liar: Loved It! (It's the truth, I swear!)

Rated: PG for some language
Starring: Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes
Running Time: 1 Hr. 28 Mins.


I don’t get out much. One would think I do, seeing as my kids are getting older (one is in sixth grade, the other a senior in high school), but, alas, with four different schedules, crazy work hours for myself and my husband, and general exhaustion as the weekend rolls around, more often than not, I find myself tucked in with a good movie on Friday or Saturday nights. I’m sure many of you can relate.

Consequently, I have chosen a DVD for my first movie review on Flixy Mom, a family favorite that is guaranteed to bring many laughs, Big Fat Liar.

Fourteen-year-old Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) has always gamed the system, manipulating the truth to suit his best interests. On his way to hand in the paper that will keep him out of summer school (a fate worse than death for any high schooler), he is hit by a limo containing big-time Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (brilliantly played by Paul Giamatti), who offers him a ride to avoid a lawsuit.

Jason accidentally drops his backpack, leaving the paper on the floor of Wolf’s limousine. The producer steals Jason’s idea and turns it into his next big Hollywood production, never wanting anyone to know his greatest movie idea came from a fourteen-year-old.

With the help of his friend, Kaylee (Amanda Bynes), Jason travels to California intent on having Wolf admit he stole the paper to prove to his parents and teacher that this time, he is telling the truth.

After spying on Wolf for an entire day, the kids discover the producer is the biggest jerk in Hollywood, mistreating everyone around him and refusing to call Jason’s father to back up the high schooler’s story.

What happens next are some of the funniest moments in a pseudo-kid movie I have ever seen. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say, it is a great comedy.

There are no sexual situations and no language, other than one “you suck.” Just an hour and a half of fun for ages eight and up.

Reviewed by Karen Wojcik Berner