Latter-day Saint Life

Mormon Moviegoer: What Parents Need to Know About "Only the Brave," "Geostorm," and "The Mountain Between Us" Before Seeing It with Their Family

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Mormon Moviegoers is a collective of LDS film reviewers helping you to make informed decisions about Hollywood films. It was founded by family counselor Jonathan Decker (of Ask a Mormon Therapist).

What's Only the Brave about?

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'Only the Brave' Official Trailer (2017) | Josh Brolin, Miles Teller

The compelling true story of how the Prescott (AZ) Volunteer Fire Department became the Granite Mountain Hotshots, the camaraderie of their brotherhood, and the harrowing fires they fought together.

Is it any good? (GRADE: A-)

Without a doubt the best-directed effort of Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion, Tron: Legacy), Only the Brave succeeds at creating authentic viewing for the audience. Every element feels true to the experience of being a “hotshot” firefighter– from the dialogue amongst the crew to the trials, frustrations, and fears of those who work in and around the profession.

There is plenty of action, a surprising amount of levity and humor – one scene, where two single crewmen attempt to care for a baby overnight was particularly hilarious – and a fair share of emotional punch. Although the runtime is a bit long (2 hours, 15 min), the story keeps you fully engaged. The film boasts an all-star cast and the acting is mostly outstanding, especially Josh Brolin as the team’s supervisor. The fire sequences do not disappoint.

Is it okay for your family?

Only the Brave is rated PG-13. There are three or four f-words and a medium amount of swearing throughout. There is no sexuality or nudity. However, there are a couple of overtly crude and sexual conversations amongst the crewmen and there is one scene showing a man taking drugs. The rating is largely due to the frightening fire sequences and language.

Any worthwhile messages?

The pain and joy associated with the repentance process (see Enos 1:4-9). Show compassion and withhold judgment on others, allowing them to grow (see Luke 15:11-32). There is no greater love than being willing to sacrifice your life for another (see John 15:13). Much of the film highlights examples of Christlike love, humility, and sacrifice. The conflict resolution and relationship dynamics between Josh Brolin and Jennifer Connelly effectively illustrate the complex love, devotion, and change required for a healthy marriage.


Chris Loumeau works as a healthcare consultant at Leavitt Partners in Salt Lake City, UT. He is married to his sweetheart Christina and has three daughters – London, Brooklyn, and Audrey.

What Parents Need to Know About Geostorm Before Seeing It with Their Family

What is Geostorm about?

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GEOSTORM - OFFICIAL TRAILER 2 [HD]

When a series of extreme weather events threaten the human race, world leaders come together to create a network of satellites that control the world climate. When the satellites start glitching it’s up to a team of scientists to discover what is going wrong before worldwide storms wipe out the planet.

Is it any good?? (GRADE: C)

With a name like Geostorm, you expect the movie to have, well, a geostorm. Unfortunately for the audience (and the movie), lack of the titular storm proves to be the movie’s biggest undoing, along with too many subplots and tedious main characters. Another problem? Every single complication written into the movie is solved within a matter of minutes, providing some glimpses into deeper (and better) plot devices, but ultimately falling flat.

The cast is led by Gerard Butler and Jim Sturgess, playing two brothers who spend 80 percent of the movie bickering over things that aren’t well established, leading to lack of audience investment in the lead characters or their problems. Far more interesting are the supporting characters who include Abbie Cornish as a Secret Service agent who [minor spoiler] is forced to kidnap the President, and Zazie Beetz playing a self-proclaimed tech-savvy millennial. These two actors provide some of the movie’s best humor while managing to ground their characters. Any scene with those actresses is a good scene.

Flaws aside, if you’re like me you go into a movie like this one expecting large-scale destruction and killer special effects, and this movie definitely delivers. Is Geostorm the next big Oscar contender? Nope. But is it a semi-fun way to kill two hours? Absolutely.

Is it okay for your kids?

Geostorm is rated PG-13. A good baseline for deciding whether or not this movie is appropriate for your kids would be to take into account how they handled the Transformers movies. The action, destruction, and violence are approximately at the same level as in those movies, with death being shown (though the blood and gore is almost non-existent) throughout the film. Didn’t let your children see those films? Then Geostorm is not the film for them.

Any worthwhile messages?

When we work together we achieve much more than working alone (see Moses 7:18, 2 Nephi 1:21). There’s nothing more important than family (L. Tom Perry "The Importance of the Family").


Lindsi currently works for BYU in the Theatre and Media Arts department and is a freelance technical director and stage manager for several theatre companies in the Utah Valley area. In her free time she loves photography, stand up paddle-boarding, running 5k’s, reading, spoiling her nieces and nephews, and (you guessed it!) watching movies. For more of Lindsi’s writing visit lindsimichellephotography.blogspot.com.

What's The Mountain Between Us about?

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The Mountain Between Us | Official Trailer | 20th Century FOX

Two strangers are stranded on a mountain after their plane crashes. They must work together to endure the extreme elements and terrain in order to make it down the mountain and back to civilization.

Is it any good? (GRADE: D)

Wasting what could be an interesting (albeit farfetched) premise on a mix of action/romance movie clichés, The Mountain Between Us is unfortunately predictable from beginning to end. Suffering from choppy editing and humor that nine times out of 10 falls flat, even the good performances by the two leads (played by Kate Winslet and Idris Elba) aren’t enough to save this movie, as the two aren’t given much more than exposition and poorly written argumentative dialogue to work with.

That being said: Kate Winslet and Idris Elba do give it their best shot (I found myself rooting for them throughout the film, even though I could see the ending coming from 30 minutes in) and the shorter runtime (less than two hours) means that the movie clips along at a decent pace. Finally, the movie does manage to surprise you a few times, but not enough to create a truly engaging experience.

Is it okay for your family?

The Mountain Between Us is rated PG-13 for a scene of sexuality, peril, injury images, and brief strong language. The plane crash itself isn’t very intense, and there aren’t any big explosions or gore. However, you do see a dead body being buried and some bloody injuries are seen up close. A mountain lion attacks one of the actors, creating an intense few minutes without any blood or gore shown. There are several profanities used throughout the movie as well, including one f-word. The “scene of sexuality” shows a shirtless man, a woman in a bra, and some kissing. While watching it you obviously know what is going on, but no nudity below the man’s chest is shown, and the woman does not remove her bra. There is also (spoiler) a short scene near the end of the movie where a man gets his foot caught in a bear trap.

Any worthwhile messages?

The biggest message in this movie is one of hope and faith. Without the hope (and subsequently the faith) these two have of living through their experience on the mountain, this movie would have been much shorter and would have had a much different ending (see Moroni 7:40 and Moroni 10:20). This movie also has themes that deal with overcoming and learning from life’s trials as well as trusting and loving the people in your life.

Lead image a screenshot from Only the Brave trailer.

Lindsi currently works for BYU in the Theatre and Media Arts department and is a freelance technical director and stage manager for several theatre companies in the Utah Valley area. In her free time she loves photography, stand up paddle-boarding, running 5k’s, reading, spoiling her nieces and nephews, and (you guessed it!) watching movies. For more of Lindsi’s writing visit lindsimichellephotography.blogspot.com.

For movie night recommendations and Gospel discussion guides, order250 Great Movies for Latter-day Families, available in paperback and Kindle.

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